As the buzzer sounded on the 165-pound semifinal at the 2022 NCAA Championships, Keegan O’Toole had miraculously shut out All-American Cameron Amine on one good ankle. Bellowing over the public address speakers inside Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, the raucous crowd heard announcer Jason Bryant say one sentence, “Tiger Style is into the finals!”

It’s the slogan that’s become one in the same with Mizzou Wrestling all across the nation, but how did it come to be? What is Tiger Style?

Over Brian Smith’s 24 seasons at the helm of the Missouri wrestling program, he’s built Tiger Style into one of the most recognizable brands in all of collegiate wrestling. Buoyed by the individual successes of nine NCAA champions, 11 consecutive conference titles between the MAC and Big 12, and seven straight top-10 NCAA finishes, the slogan has become synonymous with success.

As Smith would tell you, Tiger Style is less of a catchphrase and more of a lifestyle that his team, his coaches and his support staff all live by. 

The genesis of Tiger Style began with Jeremy Spates nearly 20 years ago during the 2004-05 season. When Spates, now the head coach at SIU-Edwardsville, was in high school, his school mascot was the Tigers and they’d break down practice by saying “Tiger Style” each day. 

Spates brought the saying into the Mizzou locker room and it slowly began to build momentum. At the time, it meant wrestling tough. But prior to the finals at the 2004 Virginia Duals, the manifesto of Tiger Style was put on paper.

“I remember before the match, I sat the team down and said, ‘You know, what is Tiger Style to you guys?” Smith said. “They started coming up with all these things, you know, choosing to live your life right, doing everything right on and off the mat, wrestling hard. We started coming up with a list.”

Smith drew inspiration from his library of coaching books, including advice on coaching from John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, and Pete Carroll. Each coach developed their own philosophies that helped guide the behavior of their culture.

Tiger Style begins with belief. Both in themselves and in the support system in place around them. 

The next level is competing on and off the mat. Whether it’s in practice, in a live setting or in study hall, Smith wants his team to compete with each other and with themselves.

The final level is doing “one more’s”. To be servant leaders and look to help teammates, your classmates and the community. 

“If you believe, you compete, you're giving one more, there's going to be an expectation that when you go out and go into the test on the mat, in the classroom, in your first interview, whatever it may be, you're going to have the confidence that you're you expected to win because you've lived it right and done everything right,” Smith said.

Despite its name-level recognition at a national level, Smith was never concerned with building a well-known brand for the sake of popularity.

He has always been more focused on building the philosophy behind the slogan and being able to teach the next generation of coaches and athletes across the sports landscape how they can implement them in their own systems.

He harkens back to traveling to coaches clinics with his father, who coached high school football, where he listened to other coaches impart wisdom the same way Smith does now. 

When asked how he’d like to see Tiger Style continue to grow, he talked about continuing to share the wealth of knowledge.

“I think that’s what it would be — more and more people borrowing the ideas of Tiger Style,” Smith said. “That’s what becoming a great coach is. Learning from mentors how to become even better and what you can do to guide behaviors and get people to live life the right way and do it the right way.”

For his wrestlers, Smith instills Tiger Style as a compass that can be used for the rest of their lives, whether they go on to become Olympians or doctors. His goal is to help create a brotherhood that will last far beyond final matches in a black and gold singlet.

He takes pride in seeing his former wrestlers come back to Columbia and tell him all the stories of how they’re using Tiger Style in their adult lives. 

Whether they have five years in the program or just one, Smith has been able to make a profound impact on the lives and futures of his wrestlers. Each individual left the program with his own understanding and application for Tiger Style that’s been able to guide them through their post-athlete life.

Mike Monaghan, who wrestled for the Tigers in the 2015-16 season, talked of how joining the team was one of the best decisions he’s ever made. Monaghan played club lacrosse during his undergraduate years while interning for the strength and conditioning department.

When the Tigers were in need of heavyweights, Monaghan walked onto the team for his final year of college.

“I have used Tiger Style in the corporate finance world and it has shown me how to succeed and grow even during the toughest times,” Monaghan said. “I’m always challenging myself to be the best and put myself in the best position to succeed in the workplace because of what I have learned with Tiger Style.”

Jake Bohlken, who wrestled from 2016-2020, has been able to apply Smith’s teachings as he navigates medical school. He’s been able to apply it to his mental approach to overcome the obstacles that he encounters.

“Tiger Style isn’t just a mindset, it’s a way of life,” Bohlken said. “I don’t think there’s a situation in any job, life event, or time of adversity that the four pillars of Tiger Style couldn’t help [you] not only survive but thrive and continue to pursue excellence in whatever task is at hand.”

Smith says he doesn’t know what his legacy will be. On paper, he will be far and away the winningest coach in program history and one of the winningest coaches in terms of success at a conference and national level in the history of the university. 

But when his career is all said and done, he will have coached thousands of wrestlers and mentored many more people off the mat. Smith’s legacy will be reflected in every dad, boss, coach and athlete that’s adopted Tiger Style as their life motto.

“It's not surprising to me [how successful his former wrestlers become], because they know that when you choose to live a lifestyle where you're doing little things right, they know that they know [that they’ll be successful],” Smith said. “ They know what Tiger Style is and how it guides the behavior to become successful.”