Kellen Russell | Episode 12

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability.

Shane Sparks

And welcome to episode 12 of Stories from the Resilite. Today's guest, one of the all-time greats in that maize and blue singlet in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was a four-time Big Ten champion, the 11th in conference history to accomplish that amazing feat. Three-time All-American, two-time national champion, spent five years at Cornell coaching. Now he is back at his alma mater at Michigan under head coach Sean Bormet, Kellen Russell. Kellen, it's great to see you. How are you?

Kellen Russell

I am good. I just pulled intown on Wednesday with my truck full of stuff. So just getting to work these first few days, and I got one more trip to load up a U-Haul and bring my wife and two-year-old daughter out here. So it's been a hectic summer, but super excited to be back in Ann Arbor and working with these guys.

Shane Sparks

Out of college, you were an assistant coach for I believe it was seven years there at Michigan. Then you went to Cornell for five years. You guys did some amazing things with the big red runner-up finish. Couple times, brought a trophy back to Ithaca. What was most difficult in leaving Cornell?

Kellen Russell

I think just kind of getting to know everybody that's involved in the program. You know, it's a smaller athletic department. It's a it's a smaller university, so they take just a ton of pride in the wrestling program there, so you know, building those relationships over the last five years-that was probably the most difficult thing to leave. And then, obviously, you know, the guys that I recruited there was kind of, you know, five years is sort of the recruiting cycle. So it was kind of a team of all guys that I'd been part of recruiting. So you know, you always feel a little bit bad leaving those guys behind, but I know they're in great hands with Mike, Dave and Yianni. So, I'm sure they'll just continue the success that we had the last five years.

Shane Sparks

You're a New Jersey native. What was your introduction to the sport?

Kellen Russell

My dad grew up wrestling, started in high school, so was kind of always involved. He was a high school coach when I was little, and then, you know, I started when I was like five or six, just kind of going to his high school practices and the little kids club there. And then when I got to middle school, he kind of stopped coaching the high school and just coached me all through middle school. And then obviously I ended up meeting Buxton. His son was going to the same club that I was going to, so I kind of built that relationship, and that's kind of how I ended up at Blair.

Shane Sparks

What club or clubs did you train at growing up?

Kellen Russell

Red Hawk with the Casales. It was in Phillipsburg. I think now it's actually over in Easton or somewhere in the Lehigh Valley. But yeah, we had a ton of hammers growing up that all trained there. It was it was a great group of guys to be around, and we kind of just traveled around and wrestled a bunch of tournaments. You know, there wasn't the big national tournaments like there is now. There was a few of them, but you know, we'd be driving to upstate New York or Western PA or down to Delaware, just kind of hitting one or two tournaments every weekend.

Shane Sparks

Who are some of the hammers that you grew up with?

Kellen Russell

You know, obviously the Casales, all those brothers. They all wrestled d1. Mike Rogers, a lot of guys that had a ton of high school success. Frank Perrelli, who was who I coached with up at Cornell for a little bit, he would come in there and train. Jordan Oliver would come in and train once in a while with us. He kind of bounced around a few different clubs, but he was, you know, he and I got to scrap a little bit when were younger.

Shane Sparks

How well do you know your high school career?

Kellen Russell

Decently.

Shane Sparks

Let's. I want to play a little game with you, Kellen. I've never done this before, and again, I'm going off what the Michigan website said about your high school accomplishments, but digging into these things, I'm like, we got to play a game. We'll see if you remember this stuff because this is going back about 20 years. Yeah. All right. 2007, you won senior nationals. Yeah. Who did you beat?

Kellen Russell

Tyler Nauman.

Shane Sparks

Junior freestyle title in 2006. Who did you beat?

Kellen Russell

2006. From Oklahoma, I think. Right.

Shane Sparks

I don't know. I just had the credentials.

Kellen Russell

Can't remember.

Shane Sparks

You won a cadet freestyle title in 2005. Do you remember that

Kellen Russell

one? Yeah. Who did I wrestle in the finals? There, I know. I know I lost to Mangrum my senior year in the junior finals.

Shane Sparks

That was my next question. I remember. I remember the. I remember the

Kellen Russell

loss is a lot better.

Shane Sparks

So, who beat you in 2007 in that junior freestyle final?

Kellen Russell

Mike Mangrum.

Shane Sparks

He was a stud. I remember him. You won three prep titles at Blair. You remember who you beat to win those titles?

Kellen Russell

I beat Luke Silver my freshman year. I think that was either semis or finals. I think that was that was finals. I think my freshman year, sophomore year I didn't start. Junior year,

Shane Sparks

who? You out as a sophomore,

Kellen Russell

Max Shanaman, who was also my best friend in high school. So it was a little awkward, but we wrestled off a bunch, and he kept beating me in overtime. I had to learn to overcome that, but it was it was a great it was a great kind of learning experience. I actually got to wrestle with the PG team a lot because they needed a 25 pounder, so I got to wrestle a bunch of college guys that year, but it was definitely a little bit of a. It was a tough year, but you kind of learned the most out of those.

Shane Sparks

Okay, you remember who you beat to win the other two?

Kellen Russell

Don't okay.

Shane Sparks

You won the Beast. Who did you beat to win that title?

Kellen Russell

Robinson,

Shane Sparks

and then you lost the Beast once. Who beat you?

Kellen Russell

Nauman.

Shane Sparks

So he beat you again at the Beast. Okay. Yeah,

Kellen Russell

he beat he beat me at the Beast and the Dapper Dan my senior year. Oh, that's right next week at senior nationals.

Shane Sparks

And then you were a two time Iron Man finalist. Remember those two finals?

Kellen Russell

Yeah, Aaron Hart beat me my freshman year, and then I won my junior—no, I won my senior year, I think. And it was, oh God, he was a Walsh guy too.

Shane Sparks

Okay, but it's so funny talking to you guys, Kellen, on this podcast. I mean, so many of the great wrestlers. If I won one of those events, just one of those events I just mentioned, I'm 50 years old. I'd still remember it. It's just amazing when you do so much winning at that higher level. It's just about getting better and obviously you know moving forward, when you were at Blair, you talked about Coach Buxton, one of the great wrestling minds, legendary coach. Describe the impact he had on you. What really made him click with you?

Kellen Russell

I think he just instilled a lot of lot of discipline. You know, nothing was super fancy. He spent a ton of time just going fundamentals, doing a ton of like I call them staple drills now. Just things that you kind of have to hit every day, so you get really good at the at the basic things. But if you watch the world championships, you know if you watch the NCAAs, a lot of the guys that are winning can do the fundamental stuff, you know, perfectly or close to perfectly. So just instilling that kind of confidence and knowing, like, all right, I can down block, I can I can sprawl on anybody, and really dialing in the fundamentals. I think was kind of where anyway for me that's what worked for me, and he did a great job of just you know making us do reps of stuff and making sure that we're doing everything all the little things right.

Shane Sparks

Do you have a favorite Coach Buxton story?

Kellen Russell

Ooh, probably when I was moving into Blair my freshman year. You know, they have like a move-in day, so it's me and my parents were waiting in line to I don't know get a room key or get books or something, and we're standing in line, and I see Buxton walking up. So he's like, you know, he's talking to my parents, and he just looks at me and he just kind of punches me right in the chest. And there's, you know, another freshman girl that's standing behind me, and she just looks at her dad, and it's like, we don't know him, right? Like she thought he was just going to start punching everybody, but he's he used to drive a red Toyota Highlander around campus, and I still see that car, and I get a little nervous because I just I have flashbacks of him rolling his window down and just pointing his finger out and waving us over because we did something that he's not happy with.

Shane Sparks

What led you to Blair?

Kellen Russell

So I was training at Red Hawk. Buxton came in with his son one day, and I didn't know who he was. And my dad at the time was kind of running like a separate practice in the back. So, you know, this guy comes hobbling over to me. He's like, "Hey, dude, do you want to wrestle? I'm like, "Yeah, I don't know who this old dude is. So we actually wrestled for like an hour, and he kicked my butt. And then afterwards, I was like, "Dad, who is that guy? And that's kind of how I got introduced to him. And then he started running some like eighth grade practices up out of the Blair Room later at night, and we only lived about 30 minutes away from there. So meeting a kind of a core group of guys that were in Red Hawk and a few other guys in the area started training up there, and then that kind of just led me to want to apply there and go. The

Shane Sparks

recruiting process. What visits did you go on?

Kellen Russell

I went to Lehigh, Virginia Tech, and Michigan.

Shane Sparks

What made Michigan the right fit?

Kellen Russell

I think it was just the whole atmosphere. I think I really liked the guys on the team. We had like you know Josh Trella, Steve Luke, Eric Tannenbaum, Tyrel Todd. I clicked. You know, those guys were older at the time, but I kind of saw the success that they were having, and I kind of wanted to go to a bigger school. I went to you know Blair's a really small high school. I wanted to be in the Big Ten. I love the idea of that. Just kind of being able to test myself every weekend at a duel because that's what we did at Blair. That's what Buxton always. He didn't want to. be undefeated, he wanted to go out and find the best competition, and kind of like he would say, like my job is to you know find you guys a match to lose. You know, obviously, hopefully you win, but you can't be scared of that competition and be dodging people. So, you know, being in the Big Ten, like I said, you could wrestle a top 10 guy every weekend once you hit the Big Ten schedule.

Shane Sparks

You had an amazing career, 134 and 1211, of those losses in your first two years, seven as a true freshman. You started as a true freshman at Michigan.

Kellen Russell

Yep, I came in, and there was a couple other guys at 41, but I was, you know, were training together, and they thought it was best, and I thought it was best too. I wanted to wrestle right away. I felt like I was ready. I was prepared, and I started off really hot. I think I was like 18 and zero, and then I kind of hit a little rough patch. It's definitely a learning curve when you get to college. I was used to wrestling the best high school guys, but now you wrestle in the best college guys. So I learned a lot that freshman year. You know, I won Big Tens, and I had a letdown at the NCAA tournament. I think I was seeded three and ended up not placed and losing in the blood round, so I kind of used those lessons, you know, in the future years.

Shane Sparks

When you were a true freshman back in that was the 2007 2008 season, that was not nearly as common as it is today. When these true freshmen come in and not only start but have big time success, was that was the plan a redshirt originally?

Kellen Russell

I kind of think the plan was always to have me wrestle right away coming in, especially I was at 41. They had they had a few guys, but no one that was having real success. So in my head, I always planned on wrestling. I'm not sure what Joe's plan was. I think they wanted me to wrestle, so you know I felt like for me I like being busy, so I wanted to have that schedule of wrestling every weekend. So I was super excited to be the starter. I thought it was pretty cool, and yeah, I learned a lot.

Shane Sparks

That season, as you mentioned, you win the Big Tens was that against Tanelli? I'm trying to think back to when you won that first one, or was Canelli the second one at second

Kellen Russell

one? Yeah, Tanelli was the second one. That was Rivera from Minnesota. Was he was a stud too,

Shane Sparks

Manuel Rivera

Kellen Russell

at Minnesota. So it was it was a hostile crowd there when I was when I was when I was running up.

Shane Sparks

You mentioned the great veterans that Michigan team had when you came to Ann Arbor. Give me one guy that had the biggest impact on you as a teammate.

Kellen Russell

I think probably Josh Churella. You know, he was one of my main training partners those first few years. You know, he were on the team together for one year, and then he graduated. But he was obviously still wrestling freestyle, so he was coming back, and he kind of him and kind of the whole Churella family kind of took me under their wing and kind of helped me. Obviously, being so far away from home, so it was good to have kind of people looking out for me that way.

Shane Sparks

Joe McFarland, the Silver Fox, one of my all-time favorite guys in the sport. I just think he's an amazing person. His coaching resume speaks for itself. What was your first encounter like with Coach McFarland?

Kellen Russell

My first, well, I remember the first day he we only wrestled one time, and it was like the first week or two I was on campus, and I think I got the better of him for most of it, and then he got on top of me and started riding me like a dog, and then you know he rode me for about 10 minutes, and then he's like, "All right, we're done. And then we did wrestle again. So you know, super competitive guy. It was it was awesome. I loved having him in my corner, and you know, even outside of just wrestling, you know, he was thead coach when I first started coaching here, so I was able to learn a ton from him on how to run a program and stuff like that.

Shane Sparks

What are a couple of things specifically that you took from Coach McFarland?

Kellen Russell

I think just you know building relationships with guys on the team. Like he was really good at connecting with whether you were a starter, whether you were you know a backup, or if you're injured, he always kind of was able to keep those relationships really strong. And I think, you know, in our profession, that's super important. You got to coach every guy a little differently, and being flexible that way is huge. And I've kind of adopted that into my coaching philosophy of, you know, I'm not going to coach everybody the same just because it worked for me doesn't mean it's going to work for you. And being really flexible that way.

Shane Sparks

How did you find success in the way that you were coached? What was the right way to coach Kellen Russell, and what would not have worked in coaching Kellen Russell?

Kellen Russell

I think the big thing is I didn't like to scout too much on the guys I was wrestling. You know, obviously liked watching my own film and picking stuff apart, but for me, I always felt like I wanted to focus on what I was going to do, not necessarily what that guy was going to do. And as a young coach, I probably leaned too much into that because some guys want to know. And so I think for me, was just focusing on what I was going to do versus what the other guy was going to do, and me being in control. Be in control of the hand fight and be in control of the offense, and not worry necessarily what that guy's going to do because I'm going to make him wrestle me in the areas I want.

Shane Sparks

I go all over the board on this podcast. I'm it's like a like a wrestling match. You know, I'm going to I'm going to club you with the light. I'm going to you know fake here, stutter step, outside step, mixing things up a little bit. Who is that guy, Kellen? That you, for whatever reason, hated wrestling?

Kellen Russell

I don't know. Probably Tyler Nauman. He beat me a couple times in high school. I think he majored me in Vegas one year in college. I don't know why. Just I had a really hard time wrestling that guy, and I think I beat him once or twice. He, I think he beat me more than I beat him for sure. So he was a guy who always just gave me fits through high school and college.

Shane Sparks

You didn't have a ton, at least on paper, of down times. You did a lot of winning, won a lot of big tournaments, big events. What were some of the toughest stretches in your college career?

Kellen Russell

Hmm. I mean, I think I went through a little bit of a losing streak my freshman year after starting off. You know, in my head, I'm like, "Oh, I'm 18 and 0. I won Vegas as a true freshman. And then we kind of got to that January, February, that Big Ten grind, and I started dropping some matches. And I think, you know, and I got a little sick during that time, so you know, wasn't feeling good. I wasn't having success, so that was probably, you know, the biggest slump I had in my college career. And it took me talking to those older guys to kind of pull me out of that slump a little bit towards the end. But that was definitely a tough time. I think I yeah lost like five matches, kind of from the national duels. We went out there. I lost a few times, and I had a few home duels that I lost. And that was just, I think, me mentally not prepared for how long the college season is and how much of a grind it is.

Shane Sparks

Do you recall any of those impactful conversations you had during that time that kind of got you back on track.

Kellen Russell

Yeah, I think a lot of it was just you know getting that self belief again. A lot of guys are like, "Hey, like, look, how you wrestled in November and December. Like, you can get back there. Like, you're in a little slump. Let's go back. Let's train. Let's see what we're doing wrong, and just kind of not focusing on what just happened, let's focus on what's going to happen, and sending that positive energy out. And I think that was a kind of a light switch that flipped my head. Like, all right, yeah, it doesn't matter. I lost that match. What we're training for right now is March, so let's get back to work.

Shane Sparks

And then you win the Big Ten's your first of the four titles, as you mentioned. You go to the national tournament. You're the three seed. You lose to Jay Jaggers, who always showed up big at the national tournament. Of course, assistant coach at Ohio State did not place as a three seed. He had that great season, some ups and downs. What do you remember leaving that national tournaments and the weeks and months after falling short of the podium, the

Kellen Russell

biggest thing was I was just kind of mad at myself and beat myself up because I know in that blood round match I wasn't mentally locked in before the match. In my head, I went into the tournament being like, "I'm going to win, you know, win, it, or nothing type of mentality, which you know wasn't the right mentality to have. I wasn't able to bounce back from that quarterfinal loss, so just spending a lot of time thinking like, why, couldn't I reset my mind to get to get myself on the podium? But I kind of felt it all throughout that blood round match where I started really slow and then it kind of started coming back at the end. But you know, you got to wrestle the whole seven minutes, and I didn't wrestle the whole seven minutes. So just really focusing on in the future, all my training, like we're gonna we're gonna wrestle for seven minutes, no matter what happened an hour ago. We gotta be ready to get back on the on the horse. The

Shane Sparks

mental aspect of this sport, the mental aspect of life, is fascinating because if you can solve that, I mean, it's the that's the billion dollar puzzle right there. From a mental standpoint, the approach of the sport and the way you navigated the mental side. Where did you make the biggest gains? Like, do you remember anything that happened or that you heard? I don't know if you saw like a sports psychologist. What did you do to sharpen up mentally?

Kellen Russell

So I worked with a sports psychologist all through high school and college. He actually works with the U-M team now. His name's Jared Spencer. He's awesome. Grew up wrestling. He's from the Phillipsburg area.

Shane Sparks

Yes.

Kellen Russell

So I worked a ton with him in high school and then in college, and just you know the biggest thing is just you know building that self belief, that self confidence, and every day when you train, like it should make you more confident. And you know my biggest thing was I had kind of a mantra before every match was just relentless attack, and I would just repeat that in my head over and over again, and I did you know some self talk about how like you know this guy doesn't want to wrestle me, you know he's scared to wrestle me, and just kind of psyching myself up that way. I was kind of I like going in my own head. I didn't need to talk to anybody else. I was just all self talk.

Shane Sparks

Did you listen to music before you wrestled?

Kellen Russell

Not really, once in a while, but no, I kind of like just being locked in and ready to go.

Shane Sparks

I was doing a podcast once, I believe it was Cody Brewer, national champ from Oklahoma, and I just always kind of assumed everybody wanted to be all fired up and you know get after it, listen to the music, put the Metallica and AC/DC, how that would like build you up, and he basically told me like did not listen to music because he just didn't want that to like suck his energy away. Made a lot of sense, so that just popped in my head asking you. So you didn't listen to music either?

Kellen Russell

No, I like to. You know, I think sometimes if I listen to music, I would I would kind of do a similar thing where I'd get so worked up and so that I'm draining my emotional battery, so I kind of wanted to remain calm until that first whistle blew, and then I could let it rip.

Shane Sparks

What aspect of your discipline was most important to have the level of success that you did?

Kellen Russell

I think just consistency, in my training, consistency my preparation before I went out on the mat, and just kind of trying to be consistent in everything I did, and that kind of that would give me the confidence. Like, all right, I know how hard I worked. I know I've done. I haven't cut any corners. I haven't done, you know, I haven't missed any reps doing extra. So the biggest thing for me was just being consistent in everything I did.

Shane Sparks

What area, Kellen, of your life on the mat, off the mat, was the biggest threat to your excellence?

Kellen Russell

Oof, I don't know. I mean, probably injuries. I was out for that one year. That was that. was tough. I was off the mat for like 10 months between my between the second year and my and my third year. So you know that's always tough when you're when you can't train, you can't do what you love. You got to sit there and watch practice every day. That can kind of mentally drain you and make it really hard to come back.

Shane Sparks

What kind of leader were you? a guy that talks lead by example? What was your take on that?

Kellen Russell

I was more lead by example. You know, as I got older, I would start talking a little bit more. But for the most part, I was I was a leader. I think I led by example. I probably could have been a little bit better of a leader. I think if I was a little more vocal, but at the time, I was kind of really, focused, and I wanted to bring guys along with me. So, you know, bringing guys in for extra workouts and stuff like that was kind of how I led.

Shane Sparks

Who's the best leader that you were ever around, teammate wise?

Kellen Russell

I think, honestly, probably Josh Churella too. I think he was, you know, obviously for me, he was a great leader because I could look up to him and train with him. But I think overall, a lot of the guys on the team that first year when he was there kind of looked up to him and followed his lead.

Shane Sparks

What do the great ones do, Kellen? Like what? I mean, there's no magic pill, but Tyrel is one of those guys. An amazing career, disciplined, successful. Like, what do the great ones do? What does it take?

Kellen Russell

I think he was, you know, he was confident in himself. He was confident in his decision making, and I think, you know, if he wasn't scared to kind of call you out if he thought you were you were cutting a corner, and I think that's the biggest thing, especially when kind of those underclassmen turn into upperclassmen, teaching them to be like, you know, it's all right to call somebody out for not doing the right thing. You know, leaders aren't always loved all the time, but at the end of the day, you know, 1015, 20 years from now, those are the guys that you remember. You know, the guys that called you out and made you better, and you know you don't have to be mean about it, but you can call somebody out and it just shows that you care about them. Really,

Shane Sparks

you still got that lightning bolt tattoo?

Kellen Russell

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Shane Sparks

Tell me the story of the lightning bolt tattoo.

Kellen Russell

So were junior or seniors in high school, and Paul Clavell, who's actually the AD at Blair now, he went to Blair, and he came and coached my junior and senior year, I think, or maybe just my senior year. But he had the bolt, and I guess it was a thing in the you know late '90s that all the football players and wrestlers would get a bolt. I don't know why, because they're the Buccaneers, but for some reason, I think they had a lightning bolt on their football helmet or something. So me and a handful of other wrestlers were like, you know, we're going to bring the lightning bolt back, and so we had it going for a few years. I don't think guys do it anymore, but there was a good like four to five year period where a bunch of guys were getting it,

Shane Sparks

and that's on your leg. Do you have any other tattoos? I

Kellen Russell

got I got the black M.

Shane Sparks

Oh, nice! When did you get that?

Kellen Russell

I got that after my senior year of college, or maybe my junior year. I don't know. It's so long ago now. I'm getting old.

Shane Sparks

Yeah, I was surprised. You're 37 now. You said 37 years young. We're just getting started. Podcast is called "Stories from the Resilites. Slap of the Resolite is a pin. What is your favorite or most memorable pin in your high school or college career?

Kellen Russell

Ooh, most memorable pin. I didn't have a lot in college. I had a few. I think back in high school. I don't know what my most memorable pin

Shane Sparks

is.

Kellen Russell

That's good. That's a good question. Ah, I think probably my true freshman year, were dueling Iowa out at the national duels, and I was I was getting picked apart with an outside step, and I ended up chin whipping them and pinning them. So that got me fired up because I was not in a good position at the time. I needed to pin out of my back pocket. Who was that? They ended up wrestling someone else at the Big Tens.

Shane Sparks

Okay,

Kellen Russell

wasn't search. I wrestled searches at the Big Ten's, but it wasn't him. I can see the guy. Okay, see him in. But getting back to the national tournament, 2009, and this is another thing, Kellen. I've been so fortunate in this podcast to talk to the greatest guys to ever toe the line. You being one

Shane Sparks

of those, and one thing that has become abundantly clear to me is even the greats of this sport suffer some big time defeats. Okay, so 2009, you are the number one seed, and you get pinned in the second round. I mean, when you hear the slap of the mat and you're on the wrong side of it, like what do you remember going through your mind and dealing with that disappointment?

Kellen Russell

Oh, I was angry. I was angry. I think that was Ryan Prater. I'd beaten him like two or three times throughout the year, he Jonesy tilted me for the pin. It was just one of those things where I think Joe told me a million times, "Don't finish a single leg like that on him. And I didn't listen to Joe on that one and got rolled through and pinned. Just, really frustrated because I knew it was kind of like my mistake. I knew he liked that Jonesy tilt, and I let him get in that position. And it was just kind of big disappointment. But again, the year before, I was like, I need to get on this podium. I need I need to scratch and claw my way back. And I was luckily I was able to kind of have a shorter memory about this that loss in the year before. But it was definitely kind of shock and just frustration of like you know. I felt like I did everything right, and I just he got he got me a Jonesy tilt, and the ref called the pin.

Shane Sparks

How did the conversation start with Coach McFarland after that match?

Kellen Russell

Oh, I don't think he could track me down. I think I took off pretty good, and probably found a corner, and was trying to trying to act like you know, did that really just happen? Like, I'm number one seed. This supposed to be my tournament this year. But again, Joe kind of once I cooled off a little bit, Joe kind of pulled me aside and was like, "Hey, listen, like you're not going to reach the goal that you set in the beginning of the year, but you can still get on the podium. Like that's going to be between your ears. Like are you ready to go right now? And he kind of got me fired up that way, where I'm like, all right, I can't win this thing, but I'm gonna I'm gonna try my best to get on that podium.

Shane Sparks

Was that the toughest loss of your career?

Kellen Russell

Yeah, I think so. Just because I felt like I had a lot of confidence going in, I felt like I was wrestling pretty well, and you know, again, it was it was a guy that I beaten multiple times throughout the year, so I felt really confident going into it, and that's wrestling though. Sometimes you feel confident, and the guy gets the better of you.

Shane Sparks

You took a red shirt after that season. What did you learn during the red shirt season?

Kellen Russell

I think you know. I ended up getting staph in my knee twice, so I had to get two surgeries. So I was really off the mat for like probably a total of eight to nine months or something like that. And it kind of gave me the time to reflect and have to focus. I couldn't wrestle, but I still wanted to be involved. So that's really kind of when I started pouring into helping some of the other guys on the team, and you know helping them technically, which I think helped me in the long term. I think the best way to you know to get better at wrestling is to teach wrestling, right? And it forces you to break skills down and stuff that might come naturally to you is isn't going to come natural to somebody else. So you really actually got to think like, oh yeah, actually, I do move my right hand here. I do turn my foot this way, and so I kind of just really poured into that and trying to be, you know, kind of like a you know a fifth coach on the on the staff.

Shane Sparks

You come back in 2011, 2012, you lose one match. I mean, you were a wrecking ball. Those two seed. Who did you beat to win the Big Tens as a junior and senior?

Kellen Russell

Junior was Thorne

Shane Sparks

from Minnesota. Yeah, dude.

Kellen Russell

Yeah, he was me and him. That

Shane Sparks

would have been Mike Thorne.

Kellen Russell

Yeah, Mike Thorne. Yep. Yeah, me and him had quite a few battles. They usually ended with one of us hitting the other one. So it was always fun to wrestle him, I always enjoyed that. And then my senior year was Montell Marion, and then

Shane Sparks

you beat Montel to win the national title as well. Yeah, to win that second national title, 2011, he beat Boris Novachkov. What do you remember getting to the top of the mountain and beating him? That would have been in Philadelphia winning your first national title. What made that run special?

Kellen Russell

I think I was just you know super consistent. I was you know I knew Boris. I've known him you know since were in high school. We were on a couple. We were on like Dapper Dan or Dream Team, one of those teams together. So you know I knew he was competitor. I knew that it was going to be a tough match. I knew that he was real funky, and it kind of had some unorthodox style, so just kind of really focusing on getting to the positions that I wanted, forcing him to take a bad shot so I can I can get it go behind or something like that. He got in on his legs a couple times, but again, he was he was real unorthodox. When he got in the leg, he would kind of I got in on a single, I think, and kind of drove up, and he was able to get kind of a key lock. I just remember thinking, like, oh man, he's going to try to throw me here. I don't want, I don't want to be in this position. You know, this isn't where I want to be right now. And kind of making good decisions that way, being maybe a little more conservative than I should have been. But you know, I was able to. I kind of blew my ankle out in that match, which was which was tough. But I was able to kind of just dig deep and find a way,

Shane Sparks

and then in 2012, Montell Marion, and that was overtime again. Yeah, and you get that second national title. I mean, it's just what would what was it like, Kellen, being the hunted in comparison to being the hunter? I mean, how different is it coming back when you're the reigning champ?

Kellen Russell

It's definitely a little different, you know. Everyone's watching you. Everyone watched you the year before. Everyone's studying. You know, you're the guy that everyone wants to beat. So it's definitely a different, mentality. But in my head, I was always, you know, just super confident because I did win it the year before. I felt like it was my spot, and you know, these guys were trying to come and take it, and I'm not going to let him take it.

Shane Sparks

What um, what was the most critical match you think? If you had to put your finger on one or two, that was the that just really big matches that senior campaign.

Kellen Russell

Um, you know, I lost to Hunter Stieber in Vegas. I think that kind of fired me up a little bit because, again, I was probably overly confident going into Vegas. I'm like, all right, this is a true freshman. You know, I'm a returning national champ. Like, just not being dialed in the right way mentally, and that was kind of the kick in the butt. I think I needed for that senior year to kind of motivate me to train a little bit harder to do all the extra stuff, and so you know I was super glad I got a wrestle hunter at NCAAs that year too, so I was able to get that match back. But just kind of you know taking that loss early in the year, kind of I think drove me to work even harder than I did the year before.

Shane Sparks

Thinking about some crazy like wrestling stats and nuggets, winning Cliff Keen an amazing tournament as a true freshman, and then losing it, getting beat by a true freshman. I'm thinking that probably hasn't happened before. That's my guess. Another great stat, Kellen. When I think of Kellen Russell, my mind goes to one place. I mean, you had ice in your veins, cold-blooded savage, 14 and zero, 14 and zero in overtime matches. Explain that.

Kellen Russell

Ah, well, I think I might have given Joe the Silver Fox nickname by giving him a few more gray hairs for that. Probably didn't have to do that many overtime matches, but I think again I was just super consistent in my training, and I felt like you know if went into overtime, I knew I could ride you out. I knew you couldn't ride me, and I knew if you shot, I was probably going to get a go behind, so I think just confidence and it just kind of fed off itself after it started happening a few times. You know, I'm like, oh yeah, I've been because I even remember when I graduated, we didn't even realize it. I think I was talking to our SID Lee about, and she's like, you know, you were at 14 and 0 and over. The

Shane Sparks

great Lee Howard.

Kellen Russell

Yeah, I'm like, yeah, you're right. I didn't lose an overtime match. I never even thought about that. I had too many of them, but

Shane Sparks

were you? I mean, were you ever nervous?

Kellen Russell

I don't think so. I again, I was. You know, when you grow up wrestling, you're kind of like, and you love the sport. It's just like, I some free wrestling. We're getting some extra time right now.

Shane Sparks

What are what are some things when you reflect on your career? What. You love it so much.

Kellen Russell

I just love the kind of one-on-one aspect of it. You know, you get out of it what you put into it, and I think that's kind of the best lesson wrestling can teach you is, you know, you work as hard as you can, right? It's important to you, and sometimes it's not going to work out. Kind of like those first two years, right? And you can either kind of put your head down and walk away, or you can get back to work. and I like to work, and I like to wrestle, and I and it's just something that I'm really passionate about. You know, my dad instilled that in me at a young age. He, I think he was the perfect kind of youth coach for me because he was always, you know, he pushed me, but he wasn't. He was like, if you don't want to do it, then we're not going to do it. Like I'm not forcing you to go to practice, and I remember a few conversations with him when I was in middle school, and you know I'd want to go go hang out with my friends or something instead of go to practice, and I think my mom a few times was you know oh I'll get you a pack of Pokemon cards if you go to practice, and my dad's like no no no no we're not doing that, like this is driven by him, like we're driving 45 minutes to go to practice. Like he's not getting anything for it. Like he's the thing he gets is to get better at wrestling. And it didn't really click with me when I was younger, but now as I'm older and a parent, I'm like that's actually a really good lesson. Like everything was kind of left to me. He's going to guide me and he's going to help me as best he can. But at the end of the day, it's my decision whether I wanted to go or not.

Shane Sparks

What are your mom and dad's names?

Kellen Russell

Ed and Maria.

Shane Sparks

And are they still out in Jersey?

Kellen Russell

They are. They're still in the house that I grew up in. Still in High Bridge.

Shane Sparks

Tell me your favorite thing about High Bridge, New Jersey.

Kellen Russell

Ooh, probably Gronsky’s Milk House. It's the little the little restaurant. Both my sisters work there. I took my daughter there a couple weeks ago when I was visiting before I moved out here. But yeah, it's just a nice little town. It's like a one square mile. Everybody knows each other. You know, super small school. I think I had like 60 kids in my class or something like that graduating eighth grade. But yeah, Gronsky's was always a staple.

Shane Sparks

What's something within the sport, Kellen, that you like to debate? You know, what's something within the sport that you're pretty passionate about? Whether I mean, it could be a rule, could be anything. I mean, what anything come to mind?

Kellen Russell

I like discussing the push out for folks now, I've gone back and forth on both. I

Shane Sparks

have two. I have two.

Kellen Russell

But I like discussing it with people that you know I can see merits to both with implementing it and not like I love the edge of wrestling in college. Like it can get really exciting out there. But then you know I like the way that they've kind of upped the backing out stall and call again. It's a little more subjective because the ref has to make that decision versus the push out where it's pretty black and white. But I just really enjoy the edge of the mat wrestling and the tactics that go involved in it and stuff like that. So right now I'm in the camp of no push out, but I have been in the camp of push out. So if you talk to me in a month, it might be flipped.

Shane Sparks

I agree with you, Kellen, 100% I go back and forth. It depends on what day it is, just like you. But I'm with you. I appreciate good edge wrestling. Just the mad awareness, the tactics, I mean, there's different things going on, and I mean, then it's on the flip side. If they would just call the stalling a little bit faster, but with that being said, I'm not a big fan of the subjective stall calls either. Even though, because I've always believed this, you've kind of earned the right to stall. Quite frankly, right? I mean, if you're the guy taking the risks and scoring early, then you kind of dictate the tempo. You dictate the match.

Kellen Russell

Yep.

Shane Sparks

So I will never. Yeah, I'm. with you. That's always an interesting topic. Is the edge wrestling? You know. So let me ask you this: What is something that is kind of alluded to this before, Esty, about what it takes, but what all the all-time greats have in winning. What is something that you think is underrated, like an underrated principle in winning?

Kellen Russell

Underrated. Not really sure. I gotta think about that. Like, I think you know the one theme that I see on guys that win is kind of that grit. I don't necessarily think it's underrated because I think a lot of people, you know, talk about it a lot and try to try to up their grit, I guess. But there are certain kids that you that you wrestle and you just you're like man, this kid's got grit. Like he's gonna, he if he's if he's not having success right now, he's gonna have success later on because of that grit and determination and kind of refusal to back down, especially when you know you get freshmen that are coming into a college room for the first time. You know that first month at college is tough. You know these guys are really good coming in, so. Maybe it's not as tough for him anymore, but I remember when I was a freshman, like that first month, I was like, "Man, I stink at wrestling. Like, I'm getting beat up by these guys, and like, and so kind of, but I kept coming it back every day. Right, I remember calling my dad and being like, "I don't, I don't know if I'm gonna be good in college. Like, I haven't scored a takedown in the first month I've been here, and just having the grit to come in every day and be like, "All right, I got I got to his leg today. All right, I got I got one takedown. You know, after spending a month trying to get it, and that's kind of I think the biggest character that I see in the guys that are successful is just they refuse to give up. They just refuse to put their head down, no matter what's going on in the match. They just get up, go right back to the line.

Shane Sparks

You had an amazing career. You were twice Michigan Male Athlete of the Year. I mean, this is Michigan. Great football, basketball. I mean, greathletic department. When you look at all you accomplished in the sport of wrestling with the two national titles, the four Big Ten titles, everything else that you've won. What accolade means the most?

Kellen Russell

Probably, I mean, probably the two national titles. I think that was kind of my goal going into college, you know, I wanted to be a four-time undefeated national champ. Right, that's what everyone wants to do. But being able to finish on top like that is probably my favorite accomplishment.

Shane Sparks

Did you watch wrestling growing up?

Kellen Russell

Yeah, we watch. I would watch with my dad a little bit. It wasn't, you know, we didn't have FloWrestling. We didn't have all these streaming stuff that we could just pop on and watch, so we'd have some VHS tapes of, you know, NCAA tournaments and you know state championships and stuff like that. So I watched quite a bit of wrestling growing up.

Shane Sparks

Did you have any favorites or the guys you liked?

Kellen Russell

I like Kendall Cross. I liked watching him, you know, Sergey. My dad would have some tapes of Beloglazov, so that was cool to actually kind of come full circle and be able to coach with him. The last few years I was here at Michigan for the for my first stint, but yeah, Kendall was a guy that I liked watching. He was fun to watch. He was super creative and super athletic and kind of all over the place, so he was probably one of my favorites to watch.

Shane Sparks

What impresses you most about Sean Barmet?

Kellen Russell

Ah, you know, I think his composure. I think he's got you know, he's obviously a great leader. You know, I loved him as a as an athlete. He came in for my senior year. Him and Donnie Pritzloff really helped me. I think you know finish the way I did because they both were obviously super successful. But you're just really learning from him, and I think he's got a grasp. And as college athletics keeps getting more and more complicated, there's more and more buckets we got to fill. So that's kind of the big thing that I've been that I'll be doing for this next month is trying to figure out all the different aspects that weren't here the last time I was here.

Shane Sparks

Yeah, it's pretty amazing when you think about it. I mean, especially assistant coaches. I mean, it used to be the assistant coach again. Correct me if I'm wrong. Running the practice, you know, helping with technique, really focusing on the wrestling side of it, and now this is a whole new animal with transfer portal and NIL. You know what are your what are your thoughts on this stuff?

Kellen Russell

It is. I'm just getting my head wrapped around it. We didn't we didn't do too much of it at Cornell because of Ivy League rules and stuff like that. So you know when I was you know taking this job when Sean called me up and he, were talking about you know what have I learned being at Cornell like what where do I think I'm lacking and I was like this NIL and transfer portal stuff because I haven't had to deal with it so that's something that you know Sean and these guys have obviously done really good job with and kind of figuring out have a good plan so I'm kind of jumping on board and going to try to help push that as much as I can.

Shane Sparks

With over a decade coaching now between Michigan, Cornell, now back to Michigan, what are the biggest differences in you as a coach from a philosophy standpoint and overall?

Kellen Russell

I think, like philosophy wise, I feel like I probably when I first started coaching, which I think is pretty common, is you try to coach the way that you like to be coached. So whether that's a technique or whether that's you know just an attitude or personality during practice, and I think you know being able to be more adaptable is what I've really stressed the last you know seven eight years as I've gotten older in the coaching game. Obviously, there's some fundamental stuff that you know everybody needs to do, but being flexible, you know these guys are all really good at wrestling. Like they've all at this point, like most these guys have had world class coaching since they were you know 1011 years old. So in. Instead of reinventing the wheel, let's sharpen the knives you already have. And just because I was successful doing one thing doesn't mean that you're going to be successful doing it. So let's see where you're really good at and make you even better. And let's try to try to you know tighten up where you're lacking.

Shane Sparks

What's the best coaching job you've Done.

Kellen Russell

Like athlete-wise,

Shane Sparks

yeah, You got one that stands out.

Kellen Russell

I really liked, you know, Vito's last two years. I think obviously, you know, I was, I wasn't all that. I mean, I was, I was coaching him, but obviously, that's not all on me. But, seeing him make those jumps where you know he was just coming up short, he was just coming up short at the NCAA tournament, and then to see him be on the podium on top the last two times, and his senior year had the crazy, Daton Fix 35 minute match that were sitting on the stage. So being able to see him accomplish that because I know how good he is, right? And I wrestled with him a lot, and I'm like, man, this guy's got to win. Like, he's doing everything right, and I think again, he kind of locked in those last two years, and was really locked in mentally, and that was the biggest jump for him, I think, because he was always that good. It wasn't like he got that much better at wrestling, but he learned how to be composed, and he learned how to kind of let things slide and just go and get the next point.

Shane Sparks

And those two title runs-correct me if I'm wrong-beat Roman Bravo-Young to win his first one, who was going for his third, right?

Kellen Russell

Yep.

Shane Sparks

And then he beat Daton Fix, who is one of the all-time greats. I don't care what anybody says. Yes, he was. He was so good. Talk about when that you were you were in the corner with against Fix when that match was going on. I remember the stoppages and the stoppages and the stoppages. What I mean, what are you telling Vito? I mean, what what's going through your mind as a coach? What was most critical during that time? Because matches, as you well know, Kellen, they're the circumstances. Wrestling's the circumstances of the day. Sometimes in those matches, it's the circumstances of the minute. How do you respond? How are you poised? Walk us through that.

Kellen Russell

I think the big thing for me was just telling Vito, like, relax. Like, you're gonna get it. You're going to get the takedown. You're putting yourself in a situation, kind of keeping his emotions in check and letting him settle down. And he did a really good job of spending a ton of time with a sports psych, like learning how to settle down in the moment, because you know I think sometimes he would get a little worked up over certain situations that were happening in matches and against you know Roman Bravo-Young and fix. He did a great job of just kind of locking in. I remember talking to him before the RBY match, and all year I'd been telling him like Vito, you're too fast. Like you keep like doing a drag and then like doing a 360 around the guy. I'm like, you got to slow down. Only like 50 Vito, I would say. So you can only use 50 of your speed. And me and him were warming up before the finals, and he like looks at me and he's like, "said Roman's pretty fast. I'm like, "Yeah. He's like, "I can go full veto. I'm like, "You can go full veto. Go for

Shane Sparks

it. And he

Kellen Russell

did, and he did. But I think for the fixed match was just trying to get him to refocus every stoppage because there were so many of them, and then there was blood time. You could see him getting a little flustered, and he was able to calm down and lock in and get that win. What were some of the more heartbreaking moments for you as a coach? Because obviously, as a coach, you know when you're wrestling, it's all about you. When you're coaching, I mean, you're coaching everybody. What's what was a really disappointing time for you, or a guy you just knew he worked so hard, but just like wrestling so often is, it just doesn't work out the way you want it to. Yeah, I mean, this I tell our guys all the time. I'm like, it's way harder to be a coach than a wrestler. Like, you're on an emotional roller coaster. You know, NCAA tournament. By the time we're done, I'm like, my brain's fried. I'm like, got no emotional energy left. I need like three days of just sit sitting in a room somewhere just to kind of get my emotions back in check. Kind of one that sticks out just that was fairly recently was probably Vince Cornell at his true freshman year. He was wrestling the blood round. He was he was going for the major and he ends up getting mixed and pinned, and I know how hard he works and how hard he trains and he does everything right, you know, in the room, out of the room, and to see him, you know, go down that way was heartbreaking. I actually felt like physically ill, like I saw it happening in slow motion. I was like, this can't be happening. Probably similar feeling that Joe had when I got Jonesy tilted and pinned by Prater the my sophomore year, but that one was really hard for me to you know to kind of find the silver lining in that.

Shane Sparks

When it comes to wrestling, finish this. I believe. Finish that.

Kellen Russell

I believe.

Shane Sparks

Yes,

Kellen Russell

I believe wrestling is the greatest sport. I think it builds character. It builds toughness. It builds self-reliance on yourself. Right? Like it's at the end of the day, when practice gets hard, you know, coaches are pushing you, but it's not like, you know, you can put your head down and hide in the corner, right? Or you can go back in there and fight. And I think those are those are lessons that carry you know even further off the mat. It is

Shane Sparks

a great sport because it's tough, right? I mean, it is it'll make a tough sport. Yeah, you got to love

Kellen Russell

doing tough stuff.

Shane Sparks

Absolutely, you're married. You have a daughter. What's your wife's name?

Kellen Russell

My wife's name is Delia, and then I got a two-year-old daughter named Ella.

Shane Sparks

And where did you meet Delia?

Kellen Russell

We actually grew up together. So I have a twin sister, and her and my twin sister are really good friends. And so I had known her for a while. We hadn't really talked in 10 years, and then in 2019, I convinced her to come out to Michigan to visit. And then the COVID craziness happened, so I ended up living with her in South Jersey while we couldn't practice. I convinced her to move out to Ann Arbor, so she was here for a year. And then I got the call from Mike and was like, "Hey, how do you feel about moving to New York, and then now we're moving back. So, you remember the first date? The first date. Well, the first date went on a date in like eighth grade to the movie. What was it? The day after tomorrow, or something. Okay, that the movie there in like the city or something like that. There's a big apocalyptic storm. So yeah, that was our first date in eighth grade, and then we reconnected, and you know, however long ago that was 12 years later, 13 years later.

Shane Sparks

What does she work?

Kellen Russell

Yeah, so she's actually a physical therapist. So she actually, when I was at Cornell, would travel to the NCAAs, the EIWA Championships Ivy League tournament with the team. So she worked with the wrestlers, and then she works worked in a hospital up in New York, and kind of had her own her own little side hustle with at home PT.

Shane Sparks

Oh, that's great! What about her? What about her? Kellen impresses you most?

Kellen Russell

I think just her work ethic, man. She works super hard. She, you know, kind of went, you know, put herself through PT school. Is just a grinder, man. She does everything, and it's great. If I'm beat up, she'll get me back feeling good, which is awesome. She can realign me and you know do all that stuff, and I think she's really good at working with wrestlers. She's you know she's got great personality, and she can kind of she's really adaptable. I remember when Foca was still on the Cornell team, I looked over before his third place match, and my wife and Foca were dancing before he went out in the mat because that's what he needed. He needed to be loose. He needed to feel good, you know, so just kind of watching her interact with the guys and being able to settle certain guys down, fire other guys up, and that was really cool to be a part of.

Shane Sparks

I don't have the analytics on this, but I'd be curious to see what the analytics are on great wrestlers that have daughters. Like it's just it just seems just I'd love to see the analytics because I feel like off the top of my mind, Kellen, I would tell you that it's like 80% It's like all these great wrestlers have daughters. I mean, going back to Dan Gable, I mean, you mentioned Donnie Pritzlaff before. I know Donnie's got daughters. You know, Jared Freyer comes to mind. He's got daughters. I just feel like all these guys got daughters. James Green, I had him on the podcast. He's got a couple daughters. You got a daughter. What do you enjoy most about being a girl dad?

Kellen Russell

Oh man, it's awesome. It's been, I think just being able to you know take her in the wrestling room, roll around with her. You know, when I show up at home, it's just something bigger than yourself and your job. And she's at you know she's just over two, so she's getting a little personality now. We can, you know, we both like to kind of poke fun at each other, and she's starting to learn how to do that. So might drive my wife crazy a little bit now because you know I'll do the fake mad thing at her, and she'll do it right back to me. And now my wife's like, "Well, now that now when I'm trying to tell her do something, she thinks I'm joking. I'm like, "But it's really fun to do, so I got to keep doing

Shane Sparks

it. You think she'll wrestle?

Kellen Russell

I think so. She grew up in a wrestling room. I had her in there when you know she was three months old. I'd bring her in her car seat for morning workouts and stuff like that. So she's definitely grown up in a wrestling room. If she wants to wrestle, that'd be awesome. If she doesn't want to wrestle, that's okay too. I think either way, she's going to be an athlete. So,

Shane Sparks

you're back in Ann Arbor, rocking that amazing blue. You're alma mater. You're one of the all-time greats. What does it mean to? You to be back with the program.

Kellen Russell

I'm just super excited to get back to work. You know they've done a done a great job. You know since I was here last. I think going to Cornell was a great decision that I made because I learned a ton. You know being in a different program, being a different alumni base, different university, like all these things that I kind of had to navigate when I first got to Cornell, I think is going to help me be a better coach here now, and just all the resources that they have here. You know, they have everything in place to win a team national title, and they have the right guys on the team now. They got a great freshman class coming in, so I'm just really excited. A lot of the guys are out of town right now. They got a little two-week break, so I'm excited for everybody to get back in town and kind of get to work and keep building on the great tradition of Michigan wrestling.

Shane Sparks

You back in the same office, or you got a different office?

Kellen Russell

I'm in the same office, but in a different desk.

Shane Sparks

Okay.

Kellen Russell

I'm in Josh's old desk now. KJ's got my old one, so I got a different view, but same office.

Shane Sparks

Final question for you, Kellen. Making a drive from New York to Ann Arbor, and you get to pick three people that you've never met, dead or alive. You get to make that ride in a car. Three people, dead or alive that you've never met. Who are you picking?

Kellen Russell

Who am I picking? General Patton. I think he'd be interesting.

Shane Sparks

Yeah, you would.

Kellen Russell

Trying to think of guys I haven't met that I'd want to. Let me see, Patton. Abe Lincoln. He was a wrestler. I like to pick his brain. Yeah. Can I say Gable? I've met him, but I've never really had a conversation with him. So I think that would be cool.

Shane Sparks

Okay, close enough. We'll let you know. I think

Kellen Russell

all three of those guys would get along.

Shane Sparks

If you if you were to talk to Dan Gable about something, what would you be most intrigued to learn about him?

Kellen Russell

I think just his like psyche going in as a competitor and as a coach. Like I've heard a lot of really good things about how you know he was able to kind of motivate different guys differently, so I think, and that was before all the sports psych stuff was out and about, you know. So I think he kind of pioneered a lot of it for wrestling, and I think it would be cool to kind of learn about his thought process and how he developed these different ways of motivating people and finding the right guys and training them the right way and knowing when to back off and knowing when to push him.

Shane Sparks

If you guys wrestle in Iowa City, you'll have to set something up. He's great, yeah, and he'll talk wrestling all day. I mean, once he starts, he just keeps going. He's great. He's great. Well, Kellen, this has been awesome. Really appreciate you joining the podcast. A lot of great stuff reflecting on your career and all is right in the world. Kellen Russell is back at Michigan. Happy for you and your family and for the program, and looking forward to watching you succeed in Ann Arbor. Thank you so much.

Kellen Russell

Thank you, Shane. Go Blue.