Duane Bastress

2026 addition to front wall of Penn State football team meeting room.

💯 AVERAGE Players: Show up for workouts. 💯 GOOD Players: Get better during workouts. 💯 GREAT Players: Make others better during workouts.

Pretty cool note I got from a tech CEO/founder who watched NCAAs about hiring wrestlers: “I'll say this: without question my favorite hiring profile is a D3 All-American wrestler. You competed in the darkness. No lights, no crowd, sometimes literally no one watching. You showed up anyway and you figured it out. Give me 10 of those guys and they're worth 50 fancy Ivy League degrees. Every time. The mat doesn't lie.” Thoughts?

Overprotected kids become unprepared adults. Dawn Staley nailed it.🔥 You can’t shelter your child from every hard moment and then expect them to handle adversity when it counts. Hard is the lesson. Watch. Share. Bookmark.

Radio silence from a coach isn't a "no" Often times it means busy, or out of office Not interested looks different Don't assume you should write off a school just because the coach didn't get back to you on the first email or DM

The Importance of Nothing. By Nick Saban. If you wake up in the morning and you feel entitled, what would that get you? Nothing. If you think somebody owes you something, what would that get you? Nothing. If you lose your discipline and your work ethic, what would that get you? Nothing. If you fail to prepare and pay attention to detail, what would that get you? Nothing. NOTHING is more important than staying focused on being the best you can be no matter what you choose to do.

If your admin is not supportive, winning is much harder.

Coach Cal praised HPU for flying students out postgame. He added: “Administrations win championships. Coaches win games. In this era of NIL, if you’re not totally into it and they’re not committed, you’re not winning. You just can’t. And High Point is.” Worth the full listen.

“Administrations win championships. Coaches win games… if you’re not totally into it and they’re not committed, you’re not winning. You just can’t.” True at the high school level as well… x.com/slancehoops/st…

Klemm Becomes York Women’s Swimming First All-American @ycpswimming @gomacsports @YDSports ycpspartans.com/news/2026/3/20…

Coaches Work -vs- Coaches Salary

Testament to his hard work and dedication. #CommitToTheSpartan

The weight room is biased. It only rewards those who work. And it will see right through anyone not willing to do it. It’s a truth teller. You can’t fool it. It will let you know exactly where things stand.

Stahl Secures All-American Status on Day One of NCAA Championships @YCPWrestling @YDSports @gomacsports ycpspartans.com/news/2026/3/13…

This sport is tough. As a previous college athlete ( don’t judge that on my Appearance now or the hurt I feel getting up and down Matside 9 hours in…), but…. I wish I had known or someone Had told me these things a few more times….. So for all of you athletes…( my bigs/lils and others) if you need to hear it- Read these…… 1- If 40% is all you can give and you give me that 40- you’re giving 100% of what you are capable of giving. 2-Don’t forget how far you’ve come- The time and sacrifices it takes to even get to this level is truly inspiring and never a waste of time or passion. 3-Failure doesn’t hold a candle to What regret feels like. 4-I’m proud of you. Not because of your win/loss record or the accolades you have received, but simply having the courage to walk out on that mat knowing that today your best may not be enough to win- and yet you do it anyways. 5-Don’t be so quick to hurry through it. Through the joy and through the pain. Let them both sink in a little. Don’t linger too long, but enough time to recall what confidence feels like and enough time to grow from the pain you felt. 6- Anything can be used For motivation. I used to think I had to be motivated by something or someone. We can create motivation ourselves. 7- Trust. You will only go so far on your own. No one reaches the highest of levels without help. Trust the ones put in positions to help you. 8- Take knowledge from anywhere you find it. Sometimes someone can explain something by a different phrase or motion that just clicks. You are limiting yourself by working with/asking questions to only one person. 9- I love you. Why do we hold back saying this so much? Love isn’t meant to be conditional or earned. * told Doug one day I’m gonna just say it to all our kids because I do love them and if it’s weird it’s weird, but if I sent my kid off to college I want him to be loved and cared for just as much as he is Pushed and taught. 10- Lastly, mental health isn’t something you have to wait until you’re struggling to work on. I can look back now and identify anxiety and perfectionism all throughout my college sports experience. Heck we are trained to be performance driven and usually rewarded for good performance. What happens if we don’t make an effort to work on this? Well as we get older we start to associate good performance =valued, Lovable, worthy and a bad performance=not good enough, unlovable, unworthy. * *COACHES ( and parents) THE WORDS YOU SPEAK IN THE MOMENTS AFTER A practice, meet, or tournament have an exponential effect on how some will view their Worth and if it will be based On Their Performances. If you read any of these and you wish someone had told you it growing up a little more or maybe even now go ahead and🩷 this and send to someone you know who needs to read it too. I wrote this in 2024 and felt the need to share it again and read it again for myself.

M🤼: 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗢𝘂𝘁. Shoutout to @CoeAthletics for laying the mats for the 2026 @NCAADIII Men's Wrestling Championship ‼️ Teams incoming 🔜

This is women’s wrestling.🏆 #NCAAWrestling

𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 ... NOBODY reminds anyone of the standards 𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 ... COACHES remind team of the standards 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 ... CAPTAINS remind team of the standards 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 ... EVERYONE reminds each other of the standards

Reality of college recruiting: D1: ~2% D2: ~2% NAIA: ~3% D3: ~3% Juco: ~7% It is a privilege to get the opportunity to play college sports at ANY level. Take your recruitment seriously.

Being coachable means you're willing to consider feedback even if you don't like what you hear. It means resisting the urge to make excuses or get defensive when challenged. Getting better is more important than your ego.