David Taylor, Penn State's Legendary Wrestling Champ, Becomes Head Coach at Oklahoma State

Taylor, Penn State's first Olympic gold medalist and a three-time world champ, replaces John Smith as the Cowboys' head coach.

David Taylor, pictured at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials, is the new head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

David Taylor, the two-time NCAA champion who helped launch Penn State's stratospheric rise in college wrestling, is the new head wrestling coach at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys announced the hire Monday night, making a seismic move in college wrestling akin to what Penn State did in 2010 by hiring Cael Sanderson.

Taylor, a three-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist, becomes a first-time head coach for of the nation's most historic college wrestling programs. Taylor replaces John Smith, who announced his retirement in April after 33 seasons, five NCAA team titles and 23 conference titles. Taylor operates the M2 Training Center in State College but has not coached or recruited at the college level, making this one of wrestling's most fascinating hires since the Nittany Lions plucked Sanderson from Iowa.

There are a few similarities. Taylor, like Sanderson, was an elite college and international wrestler with a championship resume. Sanderson spent four years coaching at Iowa State, his alma mater, before a team of Penn State wrestling enthusiasts helped recruit him to Penn State to revive the program. Since then, Sanderson's teams have won 11 of the last 13 NCAA team titles and crowned 38 individual champions. Taylor won two of those NCAA titles, in 2012 and 2014, as one of Sanderson's most important first recruits.

Taylor, 33, went on to win three world freestyle championships, in 2018, 2022 and 2023, and became the first Penn State wrestler to win Olympic gold at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. Taylor's bid to become a two-time gold medalist ended surprisingly at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials, where he fell to Aaron Brooks in the best-of-three championship series at 86 kg.

Before the Trials, Taylor professed his fondness for Penn State wrestling and even did some proxy recruiting for Sanderson and the program. Taylor competes for the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, which Sanderson oversees, and which has an important relationship with the Penn State wrestling program.

“It starts at the top," Taylor said of Sanderson and his staff. "Our coaches are the best leaders, role models that you can ask for. Coach Cael is who I wanted to wrestle like when I was a kid. I dreamed of wrestling for Coach Cael. Still to this point, to achieve every goal I wanted to achieve and beyond, and to still be doing that along someone I look up to, is great.

“And I’m just a small example of that. I think every athlete who comes to Penn State, their desire’s to be great. That’s why they come. Over the last 15 years, Penn State has shown that if you want to be a national champion, you come to Penn State."

Taylor now seeks to bring that energy to Oklahoma State. The Cowboys lead all programs in team (34) and individual (143) NCAA titles but have not won a team title since 2006. Oklahoma State's last individual champion was A.J. Ferrari in 2021.

Welcome to Stillwater, Head Coach David Taylor. Let’s make some magic!#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/PEFPkuRzRL

— OSU Cowboy Wrestling (@CowboyWrestling) May 7, 2024

AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.