After Troy Sunderland resigned as head coach, it was clear that the Penn State administration was committed to fielding a winning wrestling team.  Still, few expected them to lure one of the greatest college and amateur athletes of the past decade to step in for him.

That’s right, the Big Ten Network is reporting that Penn State has hired the Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson, who went a ridiculous 159-0 in his college career, to take over the wrestling program.  What makes the move so shocking is that Athletic Director Tim Curley has lured Sanderson away from his own alma mater, Iowa State, where he ran a wildly successful program.

Just how good were Sanderson’s Iowa State teams?

Sanderson’s teams did not finish any lower than fifth at the NCAA Championships and never had a wrestler not qualify for nationals, getting 30 of 30 grapplers through to the championship tournament.

In 2007, Sanderson’s rookie campaign, he led ISU to a 13-3 dual meet record and the first of three straight Big 12 Championships.  An NCAA Runner-Up finish in Detroit capped off a wildly successful year as the Cyclones crowned one national champion and Sanderson was honored as Big 12 Coach of the Year, National Rookie Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year.  The next year, Sanderson led ISU to a 16-4 dual meet mark, another Big 12 title and a fifth place finish at nationals.  Iowa State’s seven All-Americans in 2008 were the most at the school since 1993.

This past season, Sanderson’s team went 15-3 in duals, won its third straight Big 12 title and took third place at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis (just 12 points out of first place).  The Cyclones also crowned another national champion.  In three years, Sanderson’s teams went 44-10, won three conference crowns, qualified all 30 wrestlers for nationals, and earned 15 All-America awards and two individual national titles.

So yeah, not only is Sanderson a hell of a wrestler in his own right, but he’s also a pretty good coach.  Certainly, expectations are high for the historically successful Penn State program, even though Sanderson inherits a program that finished a meager 8-11-2 in dual meets this past season.  The team’s struggles even trickled down to the individuals, as Bubba Jenkins, considered a contender for an NCAA Championship, lost in the first round at the tournament.  Jenkins, PSU’s best wrestler, is going to take a redshirt season next year to rehab some lingering injuries.

Expect Sanderson to be making some mad money. KCRG out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, reports that Sanderson received a base salary of $132,500 during the 2008 fiscal year, according to Iowa public records. I imagine that number will look small compared to his PSU salary, but what do I know?  [Edit: The Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting a 5 year, $2.5 million deal, for a salary of about $500,000 a year. Nice little pay raise, huh?] He’s definitely got a fertile recruiting ground to dig around in, as Pennsylvania, and most of the Big Ten region, boasts some of the best high school wrestling in the nation.  Sanderson is going to be held to a very high standard.  Whether he can live up to that will determine his future at Penn State.