Oklahoma State Cowboys | |
---|---|
University | Oklahoma State University |
Conference | Big 12 Conference |
Location | Stillwater, OK |
Head Coach | John Smith (16th year) |
Arena |
Gallagher-Iba Arena (Capacity: 13,611) |
Nickname | Cowboys |
Colors | Orange and Black |
NCAA Individual National Championships | |
1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1971, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 | |
Conference Tournament Championships | |
1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925 (Southwest), 1925 (Missouri Valley), 1926, 1927, 1928, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 |
The Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestling team is a NCAA Division I wrestling program and is one of four Big 12 Conference schools that participates in wrestling. Since the team's first season in 1914–15, it has won thirty-four team national championships (three of which are unofficial), 134 individual NCAA championships, and 213 wrestlers have earned 425 All-American honors. The Cowboys won the first official NCAA Division I Wrestling Team Championship in 1929. The Cowboys have won 47 conference team championships and 234 individual conference titles. The program owns an all-time dual meet record of 1021-113-23. On January 28th 2011, OSU became the second school in NCAA history to record one thousand dual victories, joining Iowa State University.
Cowboy wrestling extends back to 1914–15 when A.M. Colville coached the school's first team. That team lost the school's first dual meet to Texas. The next season, legendary coach Edward C. Gallagher would take over the team. He coached the first national championship team in 1928. He was also the coach of eight of the first ten national champion teams as his teams won in 1928, 1929, 1930, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, and 1940. Only a strong 1936 Oklahoma team coached by Paul Keen kept him from sweeping the first 10 official NCAA Championships. He coached 50 official All-Americans and 26 official individual champions in the earliest days of the tournament. Following his death in 1940, the school had to find a coach who could continue their winning tradition.
The man chosen to replace Edward C. Gallagher was Art Griffith. Art Griffith was the coach for Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma before succeeding Gallagher. In his 15 years there, he won 94 of 100 matches, including 50 in a row at one point. Because of this experience, he was selected to be the new Oklahoma State head coach. It ended up being a good choice, as he won 8 NCAA Championships in his 13 seasons there and continued two streaks left by Gallagher. First, he extended the four consecutive championships Gallagher had left with to 7, finally losing out in 1947 to Cornell College. Second, he extended the 27 consecutive dual meet victory streak to 76, before finally losing in 1951. Griffith's wrestlers won 27 individual championships and were All-Americans 64 times from 1941–1956. He retired on top after winning three consecutive NCAA Championships and going 78-7-4 for his career, including ten undefeated teams.