Former SDSU wrestler Martin Mueller leading DWU wrestling with toughness, honesty

Dec. 23—MITCHELL — Martin Mueller could've never pictured he'd be here at age 26.

The former South Dakota State wrestler is in his first season as the head wrestling coach at Dakota Wesleyan and has already led the Tigers to a 43-3 win over Hastings. DWU has also been close in both of its losses this season, falling by a combined seven points to Northwestern and Concordia, two teams that beat the Tigers by a combined 29 points a year ago.

"Just putting them in situations where they have to challenge themselves," Mueller said about why he feels his team has been having more success. "You got to challenge yourself. There's going to be situations where you're either going to get stronger or you're going to break."

It was a bit of an unconventional path to Mitchell for the former Jackrabbit. He missed his senior season due to an ACL injury he suffered and was not granted a medical redshirt. Upon graduating, he found himself working at a BP gas station in Brookings when he got a call from DWU about the women's wrestling opening.

"(Women's) is a completely different style that I'm not as familiar with," Mueller said. "I got off the initial interview and about five minutes later and they called me and asked if I wanted to take the men's job. I said, 'Well, I'm probably more fit for that, so yeah let's do it.'"

With him, he brought his former teammate at SDSU Aric Williams, who's wrestling at 149 pounds and has been the leader of the team, according to Mueller. Former head coach Casey Mouw is still on the staff, and though he has a different job, Mueller said he does as much as he can and that he's been an asset in helping him transition into being a head coach.

Given Mueller is a young coach — some of the wrestlers on his team are just three months younger than him — he took an honest approach to gain the respect of the locker room.

"I've always told my guys I'm going to be honest with them," he said. "I think honesty goes a long way, just telling them not what they want to hear. ... There are some tough truths."

One of those truths was getting tougher coming into the season, and Mueller has seen his team get tougher and become more confident. He referenced Tyson Johnson at 157 pounds, who's winning big matches as his confidence grows and even pinned the No. 16 wrestler in the country. Mueller also mentioned Lane Miller, a freshman from Howard, who has two top-15 wins to his name already this season.

Mueller feels he's a better coach than he was a wrestler and that he sees things differently, and he's using that ability to lead his team, even at a young age. He's also not letting his youth at the helm get in the way of his team's success.

"This isn't about you, you do as much as you can, but this is about the kids," Mueller said. "When we go on these trips, it's a business trip. I'm not here to make friends. You step across from us, we're going to war. We didn't drive five hours to make friends. We drove five hours to compete and win battles."