The Bader Show

Ben Askren and Donny Pritzlaff had a contentious rivalry back in 2007 and 2008. The two have gone on to become successful coaches, Askren with his AWA academies and Pritzlaff as head coach at Columbia University. The two join the show to talk through their past as competitors and share knowledge as coaches. In the end we see two former rivals become friends. 1:00 - Ben the content creator praised Donny the coach 1:35 - Ben watching Donny’s college career 3:00 - Donny learning who Ben was 4:05 - The mishap when Ben was recruited to Wisconsin 5:45 - Donny on Ben’s college career 7:45 - What it was like wrestling Donny 9:00 - What it feels like to wrestle Ben 9:50 - Warming up with the clinch pushouts everyday for a year 12:30 - Was it personal? 15:00 - Askren wants to know Pritzlaff’s coaching secrets 16:00 - Competitor vs paper boy 20:30 - Askren’s take on belief and confidence 22:20 - Don’t teach moves, put them in positions & figure it out 24:45 - Ben & Donny are now friends! #TheBaderShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recent college wrestling conference realignment has seen a rebirth of the Pac 12 as several teams leave the Big 12 to join the Pac 12. Chris Pendleton and Neil Erisman, head coahces at Oregon State and Little Rock have been a part of the Pac 12 for some time now. SDSU leaves the Big 12 for the Pac 12 and Nate Engel is the director of strategy for Pac 12 wrestling. The four wrestling minds join the show to share their excitement for the opportunities that lie ahead. 1:05 - The role of college conferences 2:00 - Chris Pendleton on Pac 12 changes since 2014 3:25 - How football and money has impacted college conferences 4:30 - Pac 12 experience for Little Rock 6:00 - SDSU experience in the Big 12 and why they are leaving 9:55 - Having voting rights in the conference 13:00 - When, how and why this conference alignment got going 17:15 - We need to be proactive instead of reactive 20:30 - Coming together and think outside the box 21:30 - What happens to the Big 12? 27:30 - How important conference championships can be for Mid Major schools 30:30 - Shifting more toward dual meets 36:15 - Having options and throwing all ideas out there 40:45 - Importance of collaboration 42:45 - Pendleton’s closing words 44:20 - Ability to host conference championships 48:15 - Damion Hahn’s perspective shift after leaving Minnesota 51:15 - Damion Hahn on the late great J Rob and how innovative he was in wrestling #TheBaderShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cesar Alvan captured the hearts of wrestling fans at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling championships when he was relatively unknown and came into the NCAA tournament as the #12 seed. He ended up fourth and attributes a lot of his success to Columbia head coach Donny Pritzlaff and his staff. 0:30 - Who the hell is Cesar Alvan? 3:00 - Loved wrestling and combat sports 5:00 - When Alvan went all-in on wrestling & college opportunities 7:30 - Eyeing the UFC in his future 8:00 - Why Columbia University? 11:30 - Out with the old coaching staff, in with the new 12:40 - Alvan recruited Pritzlaff (you read that right) 17:15 - First practice with Pritzlaff as coach 20:00 - Jumping levels under Pritzlaff 23:00 - Cesar & coaching staff LOVED his draw in the bracket 24:00 - Alvan pins Locket in OT, he was ready 26:40 - Being the Man in the Arena 29:30- Mitchell Mesenbrink 31:30 - Day 3 at NCAAs is NOT about who’s a better wrestler 34:00 - When it all sunk it, balling for an hour 36:00 - Mohammad Ali quote 37:55 - Alvan wants to continue to wrestle for Brazil, maybe RAF 41:00 - Wrestling wizard Jeff Buxton 42:10 - Artificial Intelligence 43:00 - Honey the night before a weigh in 44:00 - Who is Alvan’s all-time favorite wrestler? 45:00 - Wins and whoopins #TheBaderShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gabe Arnold had trouble with communication last summer which lead to trouble with the Iowa program. After thinking he was off the team, Arnold regrouped to help the Hawkeyes secure wins at 174, 184 and 197 this season. He capped it off with by earning All-American honors at 197 after losing his first match at the NCAAs. 0:40 - Gabe’s eventful morning 3:20 - Was Gabe kicked off the Iowa team last summer? 11:00 - Gabe wanted to wrestle 174 at the start of the year 13:30 - Getting to where Arnold was “locked in” 17:00 - Endene left, what did that mean for Gabe? 19:00 - Angelo Ferrari got hurt, Gabe fills in 22:00 - 197 for Big Tens or nah? 25:20 - Confirming with coach Brands on 197 27:40 - Pretending he liked NCAA brackets and seeds 31:45 - Iowa’s challenging season 37:10 - NCAA first round loss and the long road back 44:30 - Overwhelming emotion of earning All-American 49:30 - Gabe will wrestle 79kg at US Open 53:10 - 174 next year for the Hawkeyes #TheBaderShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forrest, Vega and Robideau all just won NCAA titles for Oklahoma State as true freshmen, helping the Cowboys to a second place finish at the NCAA Championships. Jax Forrest and Sergio Vega both finished the season undefeated, which had never been done before in the modern era. 0:55 - Coming home to Stillwater 2:25 - Robideau flipping from Minnesota to Oklahoma State 4:45 - Vega flipped from Cornell to Oklahoma State 8:00 - When Jax knew he wanted to wrestle at NCAAs 9:30 - Culture and development at OSU 14:25 - A lot of freedom at practice 15:30 - Robideau, Mike Meyers - Halloween - walkout 17:40 - Is Robideau a serial killer? 19:05 - When did each guy believe he could win NCAAs? 24:00 - NCAA Championship 26:15 - Robideau on semifinal vs PJ Duke 28:45 - Brock Hardy 31:15 - Jax vs Seidel 32:20 - Vega vs Jesse Mendez 39:25 - Robideau vs Antrell Taylor 45:10 - Jax vs Ben Davino 52:40 - Jax crazy story, got trapped in the arena! 56:10 - Freestyle season 57:10 - Sweat it out 1:02:30 - All-time favorite 1:03:15 - Wins and whoopins 1:08:00 - Final word #TheBaderShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Tony Robie just won the ACC Championships for the second straight year as head coach at Virginia Tech and qualified all 10 wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. 1:30 - Robie’s 2009 VT interview on Flo vs VT today 7:25 - Turning points for Robie at VT 11:30 - Likes, challenges and concerns of National Duals Invitational 16:10 - ACC Champions, back to back 17:50 - Aaron Seidel 19:50 - Jax Forrest vs Seidel 23:20 - Eddie Ventresca 26:50 - Free admission to VT wrestling matches 29:45 - Bo Bassett 34:40 - Dealing with the lineup log jam 35:50 - Would Robie consider having a recruit leave high school early 37:20 - How does Robie use AI in his daily life 39:00 - Sweat it out 42:30 - All-Time favorite 44:00 - Wins and whoopins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was announced that Cal Baptist University will drop their wrestling program at the end of the season. Senior wrestler Timothy Cowan joins the show to shed some light and share his perspective on the situation. 1:10 - The experience and brotherhood of CBU Wrestling 4:25 - Finding out the program got cut, being blindsided 7:20 - Coach Moore and others talking after finding out 10:30 - What are potential solutions? 12:00 - KeepCBUWrestling.com 13:40 - Wearing singlets inside out. Then being silenced. 16:20 - Senior night and all the drama from meeting with admin 21:15 - The intense 5 minute meeting before the dual 23:40 - Administration silenced them 27:50 - Coby Merill Waving the shirt after winning CA State title 29:40 - Community support 31:30 - Tim’s opinion of CBU 34:00 - Finishing his career is bittersweet #TheBaderShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brock Hardy is a 3x NCAA All-America and NCAA finalist from the University of Nebraska and is entering the final stretch of his college career. 0:50 - Brock is youngest of like 20 cousins that wrestled 2:30 - Wrestling clicked against Braxton Amos at Reno Worlds 6:30 - Watching Brock’s 10U, 100lbs Reno finals 9:00 - 4x State Champion 12:00 - Juggling recruiting with potentially taking a 2 year mission 14:40 - Brock’s two year mission in Rio de Janeiro 19:30 - Surround yourself with the right people 21:30 - Back to wrestling after 2 years off the mat 24:25 - Wrestling is completely opposite than the mission, BE selfish 26:25 - How age has impacted Brock Hardy. It’s a mental battle 31:05 - Sergio Vega 36:25 - Jesse Mendez 39:00 - The spladle seen round the world 42:00 - How will experience help Brock in March? 45:25 - What’s next for Brock after graduation? 47:00 - How does Brock Hardy use artificial intelligence? 49:00 - Sweat it out - 5 TRIVIA questions 1:00:00 - All-Time favorite 1:01:15 - Wins and whoopins 1:04:15 - Wrestling is fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donny Pritzlaff is the head coach at Columbia University, they won the IVY League dual title for the first time since 1982. 0:30 - It’s Pritz-laugh not Pritz-loff 2:00 - Establish mentality and culture 4:45 - Most important time of season is March 6:50 - Highlights from last year, 5 NCAA qualifiers 9:00 - Beat Cornell first time in 40 years 11:25 - Big moments this season 14:20 - Sebastian Rivera, Jeff Buxton and coaching staff 20:10 - Goals and expectations are high 23:10 - Realistic long term goals 25:10 - What AI tool would Donny build? 27:20 - Sweat it out 30:25 - Wins and whoopins 35:18 - Donny Pritzlaff’s all-time favorite wrestler 36:35 - NYC is a unique place to to live Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rutgers head coach Scott Goodale has lead the program for 19 years and had one of the biggest wins of that span when they beat Minnesota for the first time in program history last Friday night in front of a big crowd at Jersey Mike's Arena. 1:00 - Big moments over the years for Rutgers 3:15 - Jersey Mikes Arena on Friday night 5:00 - Pep Talk! Let’s go party on these guys! 8:45 - Goodale is obsessive about dual meets, match ups, strategy 10:10 - Second half of Minnesota 11:30 - Halftime routine 12:30 - Momentum 14:20 - Winning the dual at 197 16:05 - Jersey MIke’s Arena went Bananas! 19:06 - Water dumped on coach Goodale 21:25 - - B1G Dual season is a grueling roller roaster 26:00 - Taking Rugers from no fans in a gym to 5,000 fans in an arena 29:40 - Sweat it out 32:15 - Anthony shot him down 33:35 - Wins and whoopins 35:00 - All-time favorite wrestler 36:20 - OneWord Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Casey Swiderski was an NCAA All-American at Iowa State and transferred to Oklahoma State for this season. He defeated former ISU teammate Jacob Frost last weekend as Oklahoma State beat Iowa State in their Big 12 dual. 0:40 - Casey’s introduction to wrestling and his hard-nosed dad 3:30 - Wrestling Dylan D’Emilio in the blood round 6:30 - Swiderski has swagger and wrestles with a chip on shoulder 7:30 - Looking to get your butt whooped 9:40 - Casey and Frost 10:30 - Why Casey went to Iowa State 11:30 - Why did Swiderski leave Iowa State? 15:25 - From training with dogs to training with wolves 16:30 - How Oklahoma State has helped 18:15 - Casey lost the first four matches of the season 19:30 - Oklahoma State vs Iowa State 22:05 - Pheasant hunting story 23:10 - Looking forward to the NCAA Championships 25:00 - Sweat it out 28:30 - Wins and whoopins 32:30 - Casey Swiderski’s All-Time Favorite Wrestler 34:00 - One Word Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Princeton head coach Joe Dubuque joins the show after Princeton lost the IVY MAC Rivalry dual to Rider 20-19 after losing a team point when a Princeton wrestler's headgear landed on the mat after a match. 1:00 - Princeton vs Rider the IVY MAC Rivalry 5:00 - Princeton battled injuries prior to Rider dual 7:34 - Dubuque “thanks the refs for keeping everyone safe” 8:00 - We need to use common sense 9:00 - Only sport where they can take points away 10:50 - Watching the controversy of the headgear hitting the ground 12:25 - Calling the IVY ref assigner at the end of the dual 14:45 - A point of emphasis for the referees 17:05 - There’s other ways Princeton could have won that dual 19:20 - Dubuque in his third year as head coach 22:20 - NIL, Transfers, Social Media - College athletics has changed 26:50 - Coach Dubuque still scraps, Princeton coaches all run practices 29:10 - Princeton opened the season in a great dual against Pitt 33:00 - Dubuque wants their wrestlers to be optimized for NCAAs 35:30 - Fun dual meets Dubuque wrestled in 39:00 - Sweat it out - 5 questions designed to make you sweat 42:20 - Joe Dubuque’s All-Time Favorite wrestler 45:10 - The final word Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stanford wrestler Nico Provo knocked off returning NCAA Champion Vincent Robinson of NC State over the weekend. 1:05 - Nico’s dad, brother and sister all wrestled 5:05 - Nico went to Greens Farms Academy prep school 10:00 - Development at GFA in wrestling and academics 12:50 - Effort is more important that being smart in school 14:10 - Treating an exam like a wrestling match 17:00 - Originally committed to Cornell, followed Rob Koll to Stanford 22:00 - You’ll know when you know 23:10 - NCAA Championship experiences, being unprepared 25:20 - Nico wrote a note to himself 28:25 - Rob Koll leaves Stanford, Ayres and new staff come in 30:45 - Internal health issues kept Nico out last year, no training 32:00 - Forced to the sideline, blessing in disguise 34:30 - Nico beat NCAA Champion Vincent Robinson 44:50 - Sweat It Out TRIVIA | 5 questions designed to make you sweat 49:05 - Nico Provo’s All-Time Favorite wrestler 50:10 - Wins and Whoopins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ty Snook was a Delaware state champion, he wrestled at the University of Maryland and became a member of the Delaware police department. Just before Christmas he was killed in the line of duty. Iowa assistant coach Bobby Telford was very close with Ty and the Snook family. Telford joins the show to tell stories and honor his fallen brother. 1:30 - When Bobby forst met Ty 3:00 - Ty went out a hero 4:15 - Bobby, Ty and his buddies at Tyrant Wrestling 6:50 - Ty picking Bobby up after a lossl 9:15 - Ty was the ultimate gas man! 11:15 - Ty had to work hard for success 12:20 - Ty broke his leg and won states the same year 13:30 - Snooks are salt of the Earth people 15:55 - Be a lumberjack Bobby 18:15 - Keeping in touch over the years 22:10 - Ty went into the police academy right after school 24:15 - How Ty defused a situation 28:00 - Who would you let date your sister? 29:30 - Ty Snook was the American Dream 33:20 - Club wrestling and playing together like a family 37:35 - Last time Bobby saw Ty 41:45 - Prayer for Ty’s family and thank yous Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aeoden Sinclair wrestled at Askren Wrestling Academy and values that experience. He is now a redshirt freshman at Mizzou and is ranked #2 at 184. 0:45 - Aeoden ran 7 miles this morning 1:30 - Aeoden was too rough for football, so he wrestled 3:20 - It was more fun when he got beat up less 4:10 - Meeting Askren’s & Tristan Moran 5:55 - Wrestled Mitchell Mesenbrink in state finals 8:50 - Patient Panda 11:00 - Learning from Askrens & love for AWA 17:30 - Aeoden hit a deer on the way to practice 20:30 - Recruiting and deciding on Missouri 23:00 - Crazy stories about Keegan O’Toole 26:00 - Wrestlers are funny and that makes it fun 28:30 - Disagreements and trust, you need both 30:15 - Aeoden’s redshirt year 34:15 - Wrestling 2 age groups and weight classes at the US Open 37:45 - Aeoden’s perspective on Ben getting sick over the summer 43:30 - This season is going well 46:15 - Ferrari and McEnelly at National Duals Invitational 53:25 - Attending the NCAA Championships and feeling the energy 54:45 - Sweat it out 1:01:45- All-Time favorite wrestler 1:02:50 - Wins and whoopins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaxon Joy is a 3x state champion from Ohio who is now the #2 ranked wrestler in the NCAA at 149 for Cornell University. Last weekend he won first place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite. 0:58 - Jaxon’s introduction to wrestling and love for it 3:40 - Wrestling loft at his parent’s house 8:15 - How did Jaxon develop his wrestling style? 9:00 - Learned penetration step and leg riding at the same time 10:00 - Cradle innovation 12:30 - Thinking about wrestling 13:25 - Recruiting process and choosing Cornell 14:50 - Training with Ian Miller helped prepare for college 17:45 - Grey shirt year after graduating high school 20:35 - First time competing overseas 21:35 - Stressing himself out over winning, lesson learned 27:40 - Expectations 30:00 - Assessing his performance at CKLV 31:30 - Tech fall over Kaleb Larkin 32:35 - Watching his CKLV finals match 36:40 - Boost of confidence, finally winning a big tournament 40:00 - Sweat it out - 5 questions designed to make you sweat 43:10 - All-time favorite wrestler 43:45 - Wins and whoopins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MJ Gaitan is a 2x NCAA qualifier at Iowa State. He recently had a big win over Patrick Kennedy in the CyHawk dual which helped propel Iowa State over Iowa for the first time since 2004. 0:50 - MJ did jiu jitsu first, then started wrestling 3:10 - MJ made a big jump and went all in on wrestling during COVID 8:15 - Gaitan made a break through at Super 32 9:30 - How MJ developed his tricky/funky style 13:20 - Committing to CBU, eventually deciding on Iowa State 15:45 - Wrestling at NCAAs and the blood round on Friday night 19:50 - The CyHawk rivalry 23:45 - The chirping at Carver 26:30 - What Gaitan was doing all dual meet 30:10 - Gameplan for Patrick Kennedy 31:45 - Scrambling and beating Kennedy 34:40 - Stalling to send it to overtime 37:50 - Forget the big win and start to focus on Vegas 39:15 - Confidence boost 40:40 - Sweat it out 44:35 - All-time favorite wrestler 45:00 - Wins and whoopins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kaleb Larkin is a redshirt sophomore at Arizona State University. He is taking college wrestling by storm and is currently ranked #2 at 149. 0:45 - Wrestling in first home dual at ASU 2:00 - Early years during his dad’s Sunkist practices 4:00 - Dad as his youth coach and work arounds to that 6:00 - Valiant Prep 7:30 - Kaleb didn’t fall into love with wrestling until 11th grade 10:50 - Getting into ASU room and wrestling at Bill Farrell were big 12:00 - Training a lot without competing a lot 14:00 - Thinking about wrestling when off the mat 15:20 - Knowing the positions and not being stressed 16:15 - Wrestling hard in positions that matter 18:35 - When Kaleb started to beat his dad, a Hodge Trophy winner 22:00 - Injuries 23:30 - Kaleb likes college wrestling and longer matches 24:50 - Wrestling Lachlan McNeil at National Duals 26:00 - Never pressure to win, just pressure to wrestle hard 31:40 - CKLV on the horizon 32:30 - Attending NCAAs in the past 33:27 - Adam Satiev is his all-time favorite wrestler 34:30 - Wins and whoopins 36:35 - Optimum level of arousal 37:45 - Kaleb is big for 149 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State freshman Ben Davino had an impressive weekend at National Duals which included a win over 2x NCAA finalist Drake Ayala of Iowa in the finals which helped propel the Buckeyes over the Hawkeyes for first place. 0:40 - Ben started wrestling at the age of 5-6 and cried a lot 2:45 - Consistency and always showing up 3:50 - Goals and state titles 4:55 - COVID and missing the 8th grade state championship 6:40 - Development during COVID and the barn tournament 9:10 - Going in on freestyle 10:00 - Experience at U17 World Championships 13:20 - Rebounding from Worlds at WNO 14:00 - Recruiting process 16:15 - Adjusting to college wrestling 17:00 - Deciding to redshirt 19:30 - Improving mentally 21:15 - Mental reps are just as important for improving 23:00 - Watching his practices afterward 24:00 - National Duals 25:55 - Prepping for Iowa and Drake Ayala 27:00 - Learning to keep things simple 29:00 - Watching Bouzakis get a pin against Iowa 30:50 - Breaking down his win over Drake Ayala 36:55 - Dual meets are awesome! 39:10 - What makes Jesse Mendez great? 41:30 - Potential eventual match with Lucas Byrd 42:50 - Feeling fresh all season 44:30 - All-time favorite wrestler 45:50 - Wins and whoopins #TheBaderShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices