The online home of the
Simple Man Wrestling Podcast
Currently the Simple Man Wrestling Podcast can be found on both YouTube and Spotify. Please use the links below to follow on those platforms or just come back here to find new episodes.
Episode 51 - Riley Orozco
Riley Orozco coached at CSU Bakersfield from 2011-2016, helping build CSUB into a Top-25 nationally ranked program, despite being community funded. In 2016, he followed CSUB’s Head Coach Mike Mendoza to Boise State to coach for a year before the school dropped their wrestling program.
Orozco is currently a Senior Firefighter in Boise, Idaho, and works with Meridian High School and their youth program.
In college, Orozco was a four-time NCAA qualifier, was a PAC-12 Champion his Junior year, and eclipsed over 100 wins.
In high school, Orozco was a state champion in Nevada out of Churchill County High School.
In this episode, we talk about our shared experiences at CSUB, coaching philosophies, and his move from Bakersfield to Boise.
Episode 50 - Adam Hall
Adam Hall is the new Head Coach for Utah Valley University. Hall comes from NC State where he was the Associate Head Coach and had been coaching in Raleigh for 9 years.
In college, Hall was a two-time All-American for Boise State #saveboisestatewrestling
In this episode, we talk to Hall about his unique coaching transition, what it is like taking a program by the reigns, and the vision he has created for Utah Valley wrestling.
Episode 49 - Michael and Jacob Wright
The Wright Brothers jump on the show to talk about their wrestling experiences through youth, high school, and college and how those experiences have influenced what they are doing now at the high school and club level.
Michael Wright II is an assistant coach at Redwood High School, which just captured their second straight Central Section D2 championship, and sent four wrestlers to the state tournament.
Episode 48 - Lori Ayres
Lori Ayres is the Director of Operations for the Cardinal WC and an advocate for D1 Women’s Wrestling. She is also the wife of Chris Ayres, and has been around wrestling since she was a kid.
In this episode, we talk about the state of women’s wrestling nationally as well as girls wrestling in the state.
Episode 47 - Al Fontes
Al Fontes is in the California and National Hall of Fame for his 40 years of contributions to the sport through the California wrestler, coaching, and writing in multiple national wrestling newsletters.
In this episode, we talk about wrestling history, we compare Idaho and California wrestling, and we get into the hot topic about possibly splitting California into divisions.
Episode 46 - Daniel McCune
Daniel McCune is a teacher and coach for Fremont High School. He also coaches for the Sunnyvale Wrestling club and the SCVWA association team. He manages and helps run non-profits like Beat the Streets in San Jose. He has been building the wrestling website caliwrestling.com. He also works as a tournament director for many competitions in the CCS area such as the Pat Lovell Memorial, Webber Lawson Memorial, and the MidCals.
In this episode, we talk about what it is like to coach and manage organizations and the challenges that come with it.
Episode 45 - California State RECAP
Get ready for a great episode where the whole gang shows up to recap the state tournament. We go weight by weight in an episode that lasted almost as long as the state finals did.
Episode 44 - John Meyers
John Meyers has been coaching at Poway for the last 22 years, the last 6 years of which, as head coach. Under Meyers leadership, Poway has transformed into a national powerhouse, ranked 3rd nationally as a team, and recently winning a California High School State Team title, breaking the team scoring record.
In this episode, we talk about Meyer's coaching philosophy, his vision for the program, and what this remarkable team was able to accomplish this past season.
Episode 43 - Cali State Preview Show
Brian Navarro and Oren Dramen return to the show to talk about the California State Tournament this weekend. We preview each weight class, talk about the team race, and share our favorite things about the state tournament.
Brian Navarro and Oren Dramen have been on the call for state tournament together for the last few years. Both having experience working for Flowrestling and other productions in setting the video streaming and being commentators for major wrestling events such as Reno TOC, Doc B, The Big One, Battle for the Belt, and the California State Tournament.
Episode 42 - Cody Vasconcellos
Cody Vasconcellos is an assistant coach at Pitman High School and runs Vasky Bros, an elite club program in northern California.
In college, Cody wrestled for Sac City and was a JC State Champ in 2008, before transferring to Chadron State. He finished in the blood rounds at the D2 NCAA Tournament.
Episode 41 - Doc B Recap with Brian Navarro
Flo and California State Wrestling Commentator, Brian Navarro, rejoins the show to talk all things Doc B.
Episode 40 - Derek Moore
Derek Moore is the Head Coach for Cal Baptist University, a D1 school located in Riverside, California.
In this episode, we talk to Coach Moore about his coaching experiences at CBU, and delve into his coaching philosophy.
Episode 39 - Chris Ayres
Chris Ayres joins the show to discuss Stanford’s recent success at the Cliff Keen Invitational, where Stanford had 6 placers and a champion in Nick Provo.
Chris Ayres is in his first season on the Farm, arriving right before the college season started. He has spent the last 17 seasons coaching at Princeton where he was able to transform the program into a wrestling power, where in the 2022-2023 season, was able to produce a national champion in Pat Glory and a program high 13th place team finish.
Episode 38 - Manny Rivera
Returning Guest Manny Rivera rejoins the show to talk about his experiences at the Senior World Championships.
Manny Rivera is a former D1 Head Coach at CSU Bakersfield. In college, he was a D1 All American in 2008 and 3-time NCAA National Qualifier for the University of Minnesota.
Episode 37 - Grant Leeth
Grant Leeth rejoins the podcast to share his experiences these last few months, from being in the car when Koll was asked to interview for UNC, designing a comfortable shoe for professionals, to getting hired as the first Head Coach for a brand new division 1 school in Texas.
Grant Leeth is the new Head Coach for Tarleton State University, the first D1 school in Texas. Leeth has spent the last three years as a Stanford assistant coach.
Before coaching at Stanford, Leeth was an All-American at Mizzou, finishing 6th in the nation at 149 pounds in 2018.
In high school, Leeth was a 3-time Missouri State Champion out of Kearney High School.
Episode 36 - Tye Monteiro
Tye Monteiro is a Freshman wrestling 184 at Stanford University. In high school, Monteiro was a three-time state placer. He wrestled at Garces and Bakersfield High Schools.
In this episode, we talk about Tye’s transition into college wrestling, his experiences at Stanford so far, and his wrestling journey before college.
Episode 35 - Brian Navarro
Brian Navarro is the commentator for the California State Tournament as well as numerous other wrestling events including the Clovis-Buchanan dual, Doc B, and the Battle for the Belt.
Navarro has been a part of the Temecula Valley wrestling program for over 30 years. In this conversation, he shares with us his favorite wrestling moments, including commentating when two Temecula Valley wrestlers made the state finals.
Episode 34 - Nick Coco
Nick Coco rejoins the podcast as we discuss D3 wrestling, the wrestling scene in New York, and ways in which we can bridge the gap between the west coast and the east coast.
Nick Coco is the Head Coach for Hunter College, located in New York. He is also a wrestling mindset coach.
Episode 33 - Doug Zapf
Resident Athlete for Penn RTC
U23 National Champion
3-time NCAA Qualifier
Pennsylvania State Champion
Our conversation with Zapf goes from his experience as a University of Penn athlete, to weight management, and how easy it is to have your identity become tied to the outcome of a wrestling match. We get an inside look at how Zapf has been able to use his experience as an NCAA competitor to now having fun competing on the freestyle circuit.
Episode 32 - Dual Meets, Sasso Got Shot, OSU News
We talk about our favorite duals, what happened with Sammy Sasso, and the Coleman Scott coaching change.