 "Photo: Patrick Breen")
“Time to make the doughnut.”
It’s a phrase Nebraska wrestling coach Mark Manning has used to turn his wrestling team into a perennial power.
“He always has his famous quotes,” junior Craig Brester said. “We like to give him a hard time about that. It’s his way of motivating us.”
The chuckle in Brester’s voice as he talks about Manning shows there is more to the simple saying and the simple coach than meets the eye.
Head assistant coach Mike Greenfield agrees.
“There’s not a lot to him,” Greenfield said. “There’s no fakeness to him. He’s simple and easy going, but his intensity level goes from zero to 100 just like that. When you talk about his intensity changing from being a relaxed guy, the phrase is always his last comment right before the intensity hits. The guys know that it’s time to get going.”
The quick phrase is the only warning the Cornhuskers get as a jolly Manning pulls a Jekyll and Hyde transformation. By the time his morning coffee is gone, the ninth-year coach is a fireball of emotion, passion and intensity.
It’s taken years to find a squad of wrestlers that can match Manning’s spirit. Greenfield said the wait is beginning to pay off.
“We’re starting to finally reap the benefits of the rebuilding process,” Greenfield said. “He’s changed the mentality and the attitude of the program to the one that he wants, the one that fits what he’s trying to accomplish here.”
The transformation under Manning began to show during the 2004 and 2005 seasons when Manning’s own recruits filled the roster. His fourth and fifth seasons as head coach each produced 19 dual wins.
While the attitude of the program was healing from a major face-lift, Manning was setting a standard of dedication that Greenfield had never seen.
“He’s not afraid to get in his car and drive five or six hours to see a recruit,” Greenfield said. “Sometimes you don’t even know he’s gone. He’ll just call you and say, ‘Hey, I’m on the road,’ and I’ll say, ‘Where are you going,’ and he’ll say, ‘Well, I’m going to go see this kid. I need to go see this guy.’”
Manning’s strength as a head coach doesn’t dwindle when his recruits step on campus. That’s because while his intensity has an on/off switch, the passion he holds for his wrestlers and his sport doesn’t.
His fervor has kept him on the mat, grinding out practice after practice right along with his wrestlers.
“He does what he preaches,” Brester said. “He’s one of us out there working hard. You know he’s working for the same goal we are.”
The work ethic Manning brings to the practice room every day is something he said is a God-given blessing – an attribute he wouldn’t be able to do his job without.
“I’m passionate about whatever I set my mind to do,” Manning said. “I thank God every day for the energy he gives me. I’m excited about helping young men reach their goals and fulfill their potential.
“It’s a challenge to work guys through the maturity levels, to get them to understand how to work and why they need to work that hard to be successful.”
Manning has embraced that challenge the same way he embraces his wrestlers as a part of a family.
Greenfield said Manning teaches just as much outside of practice as he does inside.
Greenfield attributes what he’s learned to Manning’s personality, and how that character has been the driving force behind the program’s success.
“We’ll be at a tournament or we’ll just be traveling though the airport and we’ll see somebody and he’ll remember their name,” Greenfield said. “He’ll go right into conversation with them like he’s known them his whole life. You can talk to him about more than just wrestling, it’s about more than just the mat.”
davehoufek@dailynebraskan.com
