North Carolina State University Athletics
Caldwell Q&A: Champion Wrestler Talks About Plans
3/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Darrion Caldwell barely had time to get a few hours of sleep before the opportunities started presenting themselves.
Caldwell, a junior from Rahway, N.J., won NC State’s fifth individual national championship in wrestling Saturday night in St. Louis, with a dramatic upset of No. 1 seeded Brent Metcalf of Iowa. He was also named the NCAA Championship’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, giving him the claim to the title as America’ top amateur wrestler.
By the time he returned to Raleigh Sunday, he had taken dozens of congratulatory phone calls, from friends and relatives all over the country.
Monday morning Olympic coach Zeke Jones called three times to talk to NC State wrestling coach Carter Jordan about Caldwell. Wrestling hall of famer Bobby Douglas called as well. They weren’t offering anything specific, but they wanted to know about Caldwell’s plans.
And there’s a lot to tell. Caldwell will likely redshirt next season, according to Jordan and Caldwell. He will spend the year away from NCAA competition by participating in open and international tournaments, which will help him prepare for the 2012 Olympics in London.
Caldwell would also like to give football another try. That’s the reason he considered leaving NC State last spring to transfer to his hometown Rutgers. He did spend some time working out with the NC State football team as a walk-on, and would like to give it another try.
It was one of several things the champion wrestler talked about with GoPack.com after his Monday morning classes.
GoPack.com: So, was winning a national championship everything you thought it would be?
Caldwell: Oh, my gosh it was everything, plus more. It’s been an experience I have been looking forward to since my freshman year. Right now, I have been riding a wave.
GoPack.com: You knew you would have to go through Brent Metcalf, who brought a 69-match winning streak into the final match, to win the national championship. So you were a pretty big underdog.
Caldwell: I love when the chips are stacked up against me. It’s just that much more for me to do to prove people wrong. When everyone believes in you and riding the wave with you, the only place to go is down. I had nothing to lose I could only gain. I think the national title only solidified myself as the best college wrestler in America right now. I don’t want that to sound too cocky or anything, but I feel like I wrestled in a dominant fashion.
GoPack.com: Plenty of other people thought the same thing. What was it like hearing from Zeke Jones and Bobby Douglas?
Caldwell: Having them send messages that say that they think I am the nation’s best college wrestler right now words can’t really explain how that makes me feel. That’s like bobby Knight calling up and saying you are the best.
GoPack.com: Right after the championship, you gave your dad a big bear hug and then you sent the championship trophy home with him. What was going through your mind as you celebrated with him?
Caldwell: He has been there from the beginning, taking me to tournaments, back when I wasn’t even close to being the best in my weight class. He was there to push me, to tell me I could get better and how successful I could be if I did this or did that. To be able to share that with him and have him there for the whole thing was a dream come true to me. It can’t be explained. That was all he wanted, to see one of his sons become successful like this. We accomplished the goal together. Without him, none of this would have happened.
GoPack.com: You lost a match in February, to Kyle Terry from Oklahoma, when you were suffering from back spasms, which kept you from having a perfect record. Does that diminish the title in your eyes at all?
Caldwell: Not in the least, because when it is all said and done, 10 years from now, people won’t remember that I had a loss on my record. They will just remember me as a national champion. I admit that I did want to go this season without losing a match. But I don’t regret taking that loss, because I went out in that match to try to help the team and put them in a position to win a match.
GoPack.com: You have never taken a redshirt season, and that’s a possibility for next year. What are the advantages of doing that when you are at the top of the wrestling world?
Caldwell: I will probably be in more competitions than I have ever had in college, wrestling in open meets and international meets. I will be wrestling the No. 1, 2 or 3 guys in the world, not just the best guys in college. It will make me be that much better when I come back in 2011. If I want to be able to pursue all that I want to do in wrestling, it would be a good idea to keep working out like a mad man. Then I can put all my focus in coming back to win another national championship in 2011 and then start training for the Olympics in 2012.
GoPack.com: You also have the dream of playing college football, right?
Caldwell: That was the reason I thought about leaving last spring. I wanted to do both sports. I hadn’t won a national championship in wrestling, as a sophomore or as a freshman, so I was looking for a way to make that happen. Football is still something I am definitely going to give some thought to. I can’t forget that football was my dream. I just have to be able to take these next couple of weeks now and make a good decision on it.
GoPack.com: So, after all these months of training and working out to maintain your wrestling weight, what will you do to celebrate your national championship?
Caldwell: Probably eat a whole box of pizza, something I love to do. I like plain cheese pizzas, since I don’t eat pork. Sometimes, if I order Dominoes, I will get ground beef on the pizza, but what I am really craving is an all-cheese pizza from Megabite on Avent Ferry Road. That sounds good to me right now. I have been waiting to sit down and eat a whole pie for a while now.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
