Under head coach Mark Manning, Nebraska has always had a solid staff of assistants. In the past, those names have included the likes of Terry Brands and Tony Ersland. Brands is currently the associate head coach at Iowa under his brother Tom Brands, while Ersland is in his ninth season as the head man at Purdue.

But this crop of assistants may just be the best that Manning has put together. He has Bryan Snyder, who is in his 13th season at Nebraska and his 10th as its associate head coach. Along with Snyder, assistant coach Robert Kokesh is another former Husker wrestler that Manning has on his staff. Kokesh is second on the all-time wins chart at Nebraska with 144, while Snyder is third on the list with 136. 

Then there’s volunteer assistant Tervel Dlagnev, who is in his second season. He doubles as the head coach of the Nebraska Wrestling Training Center after an impressive freestyle career. He has a 2012 Olympic bronze medal and two World bronze medals to his name and is considered one of USA Wrestling’s best heavyweights ever. 

“We have a super staff, and our team is just the beneficiary of that,” Manning said. “They all do a great job and I’m really blessed to have them. They’re all fantastic people, and I think we have great unity within our team and we have a lot of fun.”

This season, Nebraska is breaking in six new starters after losing some of its biggest hitters to graduation while also missing returning NCAA finalist Ridge Lovett, who’s redshirting. Despite all the new faces and a 2-2 start in duals, Nebraska showed its potential by winning the Cliff Keen Invitational for the third straight time. The Huskers currently have seven ranked wrestlers, a testament to this year’s coaching staff.

“The guys bring a lot of energy to the room every day. I think we’re just scratching the surface of how good we can be. Obviously, we took an early loss to (North Dakota State) when we weren’t at full strength, but I think you saw what we’re capable of as a team in Vegas,” Snyder said of his team. “If everyone on our team is firing the way we know they can fire come March, absolutely we can get a (team) trophy – even without our boy (Ridge) Lovett.”

A lot of times, head coaches get almost all of the credit while also shouldering almost all of the blame for how a program is doing. But in reality, there’s a lot more to it than just the head man.

So, let’s get to know the guys Manning has assembled into this “super staff”.

Associate Head Coach Bryan Snyder

Snyder wrestled for the Huskers from 1999 to 2002. In fact, he was going into his junior year when Manning got the head coaching gig in Lincoln. All he did in his final two seasons under Manning’s tutelage was go 62-3 with two Big 12 titles and two appearances in the NCAA final, losing both matches in overtime. His winning percentage (.925) is tops in the Husker career record books as he finished his career with a 136-11 record.

“He had a pretty hard-charging staff, but I liked it,” Snyder said of Manning’s arrival back in the summer of 2000. “I was here because I wanted to be great. I liked the intensity and the atmosphere that we’re going to get after it.”

Snyder then spent a season as an assistant coach at Harvard in 2002-03 before returning to Nebraska as a grad assistant from 2003-05. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in sociology and communication studies, Snyder earned his Masters in 2005 before getting his Ph.D. in 2012.

Snyder served as the head assistant coach for Arizona State during the 2009-10 season before returning to Nebraska in 2011 as an assistant, just in time to coach Jordan Burroughs to his second NCAA title with a perfect 36-0 record.

Along with Manning, Snyder also helped coach Burroughs to his 2012 Olympic gold medal in freestyle as well as four World titles (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017). He helped coach former Husker James Green to two World medals (bronze in 2015 and silver in 2017). He was named the winner of the Terry McCann Award in 2017 as USA Wrestling’s Freestyle Coach of the Year. 

“It’s been good,” Snyder said. “We’ve had some special moments – obviously, the run we had with Jordan and James was pretty cool and special to be a part of.”

For Snyder, the opportunity to coach at his alma mater is a special one. It also comes in handy in recruiting since he’s been at Nebraska as both a wrestler and now as a coach.

“It’s really special to be able to coach at your alma mater. This place did a lot for me as a student-athlete,” Snyder said. “I’ve experienced it firsthand as a student athlete and now as a coach, so when I go on the road to recruit different kids around the country to come to Nebraska, I’ve lived it. It’s not a sale, it’s the truth.”

Working alongside Manning for so long while also bringing into the fold Kokesh and Dlagnev, it’s safe to say that Snyder likes the staff that’s assembled around him.

“We all bring something different to the table and we all work really well with each other,” Snyder said. “These are guys that I would want my kid to be coached by, and that’s not always the case.”

It’s no secret that Snyder’s name has been thrown around when talking about future head coaches. According to Snyder, it’s something he wants to do but also isn’t interested in leaving Nebraska for.

“It’s definitely something that I aspire to for sure,” he said. “I’m going to be in Nebraska. I’m not going to go anywhere else. This is where my coaching career is going to be.”

One thing that Snyder is looking forward to is breaking Nebraska’s drought of individual NCAA champions that goes back to 2011 when Burroughs won his second title. Nebraska has had 10 individuals win a total of 11 NCAA titles with Burroughs being its only multi-timer. 

“Obviously, that’s the pinnacle for each of these guys in their weight classes is to be NCAA champs,” Snyder said. “Those are our guys’ individual aspirations, so it’s something we work at every day. We try to get these guys in position to be successful now but more importantly be successful in March.”

In fact, Snyder thinks this team has a number of guys who are capable of winning titles at some point in their careers. And that list starts with both #2 Peyton Robb at 157 pounds and #2 Mikey Labriola at 174.

“Peyton Robb has been the model of what we ask for. When Peyton is wrestling his best, he’s really damn good. He’s solid and doesn’t have any holes when he’s wrestling well. He’s one of the most coachable guys I’ve ever been around,” Snyder said. “Labs has been great this year. The thing about Mikey is his overall orientation to the sport this year. He’s having fun with it, and it’s translating into how he practices. He comes in with a great attitude every day, which is really important and sometimes it’s tough to do.”

For Snyder though, if the team and the coaches continue doing what they need to do every day, they’ll find themselves in the thick of the trophy hunt.

“Our philosophy is if you focus on falling in love with the sport and getting better every day, then the result will take care of itself,” he said. “We try to have our team get locked into that. Everyone is worried about getting better and competing with courage”

Assistant Coach Robert Kokesh

Much like Snyder, Kokesh is an all-time great for the Huskers. He is second on the all-time wins chart with his 144-15 record, sitting in second place just behind Snyder in career win percentage (.906). A three-time All-American, Kokesh is Nebraska’s only two-time Big Ten champion.

Now in his fourth season as an assistant for the Huskers, it was the presence of Manning and Snyder that really led to Kokesh coming back as a coach.

“It’s a pretty special feeling. I always told myself that this is a place I take a lot of pride in,” Kokesh said. “Going through this program, I already know their system and what their mentality is. It’s very similar to mine, so that’s why we click so well and that’s a big reason why I came back.”

Someone who’s always been known as a hard worker, Kokesh caught Manning’s eye long ago as someone who would make a great coach.

“Robert is exactly like he was as a competitor. One, he’s tenacious. He’s a guy that’s going to follow through on everything he does,” Manning said. “He’s an amazing worker. He never has a lack for effort. He’d run through the wall for any guy on the team and they know it. He brings a lot of passion and he loves the sport. He gives all he has to the guys.”

As already mentioned, Labriola is a leader on this year’s Husker squad and he’s coached closely by Kokesh. According to Kokesh, it’s the senior’s mental and emotional approach to the game that’s really gotten better since last season when he finished seventh at NCAAs for his third All-American finish. This year – with two NCAA champions in the field already – it’ll be a tall task to stand on top of the podium in March.

“Mikey’s focus has been different. His goal has always been the same ever since he stepped inside the Nebraska wrestling room,” Kokesh said. “I just think that it’s his approach this year – maybe he’s taking it to heart a little more since it’s his last year, but he’s been dialed in. He knows it’s going to be tough at the NCAA tournament and that’s why he’s challenging himself now.”

Despite the fact that Labriola already beat Virginia Tech’s NCAA champion Mekhi Lewis at CKLV, Kokesh knows that Labriola needs to continue to push the pace and make guys like Lewis and Penn State two-time NCAA champ Carter Starocci get on the mat with him in scramble situations where Labriola excels.

“He has to continue working on getting his attacks off, and if you’re not getting to your shot or the offense that you need, you just have to be comfortable working from the front headlock position,” Kokesh said. “You just have to be able to get comfortable there. I was a shooter, and I knew I wasn’t going to get to the legs every time, but the more shots I take the more I’m making this guy wrestle. Mikey just needs to keep working on making guys wrestle him because when Mikey can get the match going, there’s wrestling, there’s scrambling, and that’s where Mikey needs to be.”

As for the practice room, Kokesh doesn’t shy away from teaching his guys about the benefits of being good in the top position. In fact, Labriola recently said that Kokesh is a “buzzsaw on top” and he likes to pick him out for a training partner.

“It’s a position that I’ve bought into a lot as an athlete because I know what it can do to the bottom guy mentally if you can continue to ride a guy and turn a guy,” Kokesh said. “They like to pick me out in the room because they know I’m good there and they want to get better there. They want to get better in the bottom position, and they know I’m going to give them a full go when I’m in the top position.”

Volunteer Assistant Tervel Dlagnev

Dlagnev also serves as the head coach of the Nebraska Wrestling Training Center where he works with a number of guys in freestyle – including former Huskers Eric Schultz, Christian Lance and Collin Purinton. During the college season, Dlagnev focuses more on the Husker team while shifting back to freestyle as soon as March is over.

But it’s freestyle wrestling that Dlagnev really loves.

“You have to take leg attacks and take volume shots. You have to have a hand fight progression you’re comfortable with and good leg defense,” Dlagnev said. “My passion has been freestyle. Most of my career has been freestyle because I started late. The bulk of my career has been post-college freestyle, so I really enjoy that style more. The feet is something I’m very passionate about and I really enjoy that style of wrestling and coaching it.”

As a collegiate wrestler at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, Dlagnev was a four-time All-American and two-time NCAA DII National Champion. He then went on to become one of American’s best heavyweights ever. He was able to win a pair of World bronze medals while also capturing an Olympic bronze medal from the 2012 London Games.

Wrestling with Burroughs on multiple World and Olympic teams, Dlagnev got to know Manning long before entering the coaching world.

“I’ve known Tervel since back in his Kearney days. I didn’t know him, but I knew of him. Then once Jordan (Burroughs) made the 2011 World team and Tervel was on that team. He was on the Olympic team in 2012 and in 2016. Shoot, we traveled the world together. We spent a ton of time together,” Manning said. “He’s really helped Christian Lance a lot with his freestyle development, and with Eric Schultz who just won the Bill Farrell. Tervel played a huge part in Eric winning that. If you’re a heavyweight guy, I mean Tervel is the best in the business.”

Something that really struck me in talking to guys like Labriola, Robb and Hardy was the high praise they heaped on Dlagnev for his approach to the mental aspect of things. Labriola called him “one of the greatest mental coaches ever.”

To hear Dlagnev talk about his mental approach to the sport is inspiring, and according to Manning, he just has a way of making you look at things in different ways.

“We share in the messaging, but as a staff we’re very meticulous in what we want to be said. The things you motivate your team with can either add stress or relieve stress,” Dlagnev said. “This sport is very difficult in its nature. It has extreme anxiety attached to it, and I think just the element of combat is scary just naturally. You have to combat those with this idea of getting someone to understand the reality of what they signed up for. We didn’t sign up for winning, we signed up for wrestling. It’s a battle and it’s a fight, and if you’re excited to fight, you have a much better chance than if you’re excited to win because winning is scary when things get hard. But if you’re there to fight, you’re there to fight. Wrestling can be very fun and impactful and rewarding if you stay present and be a wrestler. We try to be wrestlers before we’re winners.”

As for where his different perspective comes from, Dlagnev says it’s just what ended up working in his own head during his freestyle days.

“I just kind of try to regurgitate all the stuff I told myself. I funneled through a lot of different motivators, and I think the ones that I landed on in the end of my career kind of freed me up to get excited about the challenge ahead of me,” he said. “We all understand that we want to be stress relievers and we want guys excited. We try to just regulate ourselves and try not to get too high or low and just see the guys compete really, really hard.”

One big project that Dlagnev is helping to take on this season is helping Lovett develop some go-to attacks from his feet. While redshirting this season, Lovett is looking to add to his repertoire. Already a hammer on top and an adept scrambler, it seems the only thing the junior is missing is a reliable set of attacks from neutral.

“Right now, (Lovett) operates in chaos. He’s really good when chaotic situations happen – he finds a way to come out on top of them. Just being able to create more precise wrestling is kind of his focus,” Dlagnev said. “His consistent threat is top and just his conditioning. There really isn't a ‘Ridge Lovett has this go-to takedown.’ He just finds a way on top of you. We’re trying to hone in on his discipline in his set-up routine and just consistently getting to a leg because when he gets his hands locked, he can finish incredibly well, even from really bad positions. He just needs to feel really comfortable popping off those shots.”

As for an interesting story from his days on the Team USA bus with Burroughs, Dlagnev chose to give an example of how expectations can mean everything in sports.

“This is kind of my caricature of what expectations can do. In 2014, (Burroughs and I) are the only two medalists, we had kind of a rough year,” Dlagnev said. “Afterwards, I remember one of the guys from USA Wrestling came up and we’re sitting next to each other. (Burroughs is) kind of bummed and I’m in a good mood because I had been fifth the last three years, so I kind of broke through and got a medal. He had been first the last three years and he takes bronze. It was really funny to me because (the USA Wrestling guy) comes up to me and was like, ‘Tervel, great job man! What a tournament!’ and then he looks over at Jordan and says, ‘Jordan, I’m so sorry.’ And we both got the same thing. It was almost like he was lamenting like a relative died like, ‘I want to offer my condolences for your bronze medal.’”

If anything, it’s an interesting lesson in the power of perspective and expectations.