Duke Wrestling

Duke's Club Wrestling Coach, Michael Irving, Shares His Story of Struggle and Success

2008-05-27T11:27:00.005-04:00

I was born in Rockledge Florida in 1980, and up until the age of 5 had a normal childhood. My father worked as a mechanic at Kennedy Space Center and my mother worked as a teacher’s assistant. In 1985, however, my life was drastically changed. My father was accused of a robbery and decided to take me, my two older sisters and younger brother, to South Florida in order avoid being arrested. Our family moved into our grandfather’s house. I had trouble adjusting to the new neighborhood and constantly got into fights. To make matters worse, in 1987, my jealous uncle hired someone to set fire to our family’s new home with us in it. We spent the next year homeless, living with different family members and staying in hotels.

In Middle School, I began wrestling but never took it seriously. I only practiced occasionally and continued to slack in my training; even more so in my school work. At the end of my freshman year, I had missed 40 days from school, had a 0.7 GPA, and a 1-7 wrestling record. During my sophomore year, I began to realize that I had talent, both academically and athletically. I simply needed to attend to be successful. That year, even though I got into trouble outside of school, I managed to finish my sophomore year with a 2.7 GPA and qualified for the Florida state tournament. At this point, I decided to change my life. I began to study and train harder than ever before and made it to the state semi-final match. I finished my junior year with a 3.0 GPA and 27-3 record. I spent the next summer training, intent on winning a state championship. Eventually I ended up training at the Seahorse wrestling club, where I met Steven and Jonathan Williams, the men who would eventually change my life. Up until that point, I hadn’t given much thought to the future and what I would do after high school. The Williams brothers got me thinking about going to college. The next year I transferred to the high school where these two men coached. That year, I went undefeated and won a state championship.

Later, I went on to college, where he became a 4X All-American and won a National Championship. After college, I went back to Florida, where I taught high school and wrestled on a part-time basis. I experienced some success, placing 2nd at the Sunkist International Open, 7th at the U.S. Open, and 5th at the World Team Trials. Even with this success, however, I did not feel as if I was reaching my full potential as a wrestler. I then made the difficult decision to resign from my job and move to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO, in order to pursue my dream of Olympic Gold.

In 2007, for family reasons, I decided to leave the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Co and move to the Triangle. I took a job teaching at a high school in Durham, NC and initially planned on training at all three of the universities located in the Triangle (Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, and NC State). However, after meeting Coach Anderson and the Duke athletes, I decided Duke would be my primary training facility. It has been an honor working with Coach Anderson because of his experience in the sport and his strong commitment to his Christian faith. I also teach wrestling at a local high school and consider Clar a role model for how I coach my own athletes.

Corey Bell Forges Ahead As Duke Wrestling's 'Smooth Operator'

2008-05-19T13:46:00.007-04:00

Corey Bell was a 4X ACC Champion wrestler for North Carolina and has been instrumental in the development of several of Duke's upper weights in his position of assistant coach over the past several years. Coach Bell led Frank Cornely to 2 ACC Championships (2004, 2005), Levi Craig to an ACC Championship (2004) and placed all three of Duke's big men in the finals in 2005 (Frank Cornely 1st @ 184lbs, Mark Thompson 2nd @ 197lbs, and Venroy July 2nd @ HWT). Despite his impressive wrestling and coaching accomplishments on the mat, he is most noted for spending the better part of the last twenty years compiling every remix of 'The Percolator' into one comprehensive anthology.

Since he was an NCAA wrestler at UNC-Chapel Hill, this Durham native has been the resident diplomat, politician, comedian, entrepreneur, and all around 'smooth operator.' Active in many student-based organizations as an undergraduate, Bell was also a noted barber on campus. He cut friends' hair on the side and upon graduating in 2001, moved on to open three barbershops in the Raleigh-Durham area.

Corey was featured in the May 2008 issue of "Black Enterprise," under the subtitle, "Recession-Proof Investments." The article below, taken directly from that issue, discusses Coach Bell's creative approach to business and ability to grow his business each year while the economy recesses.

SMOOTH OPERATOR

Corey Lee Bell Jr. offers a new business approach with The Renaissance Barbershop. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Renaissance is Bell's third barbershop. His others, Lewayne's and The Campus Barber, are located in surrounding areas.

The 29-year-old, who graduated from University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill with bachelor's degrees in African American studies and communications, pays barbers 50% of the profits they generate month to month, rather than renting out chairs. "While [the first two] businesses were making as much as $120,000 [annually], I was still collecting only $31,000 in rent from my barbers, recalls Bell, who chose to abort this structure since launching Renaissance in October 2007.

"Under this model, my barbers make about 50% more than the average barber that rents"

For 2008, Bell anticipates total revenues for all his operations to approach $400,000, with Renaissance generating nearly 60% of that figure. Intent on remaining debt free, Bell got creative in securing capital for Renaissance. He negotiated a five-year contract with his landlords, with one year rent-free. "You've got to be as proactive, creative, and as out-of-the-box as possible.

"In the beginning, I didn't want to take too many risks," continues Bell, who got his start cutting hair for friends. "Now, I have no problem taking risks because that's where the most potential comes from."

Konrad Dudziak Talks About Training for the Olympics and Becoming a The Most Talked About Heavyweight in NCAA Wrestling

2008-05-12T15:00:00.001-04:00

Konrad Dudziak spent the last year living and training in Dagestan, Russia and The Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Finishing 3^rd in the ACC Tournament in 2006, Konrad set out to compete at the Olympic level and return to Duke this fall as a top contender for winning NCAA’s at heavyweight. He took an Olympic redshirt to train and the results have been astounding. This past spring alone, Konrad won the Northern Plains Regional Olympics Trials over Sean Stender, previously ranked 3^rd on the Olympic ladder. Additionally, Konrad placed 8^th at the Western Regional Olympic Trials and 2^nd at University Nationals. In all of these tournaments, Dudziak has either defeated or placed ahead of highly regarded All-American and National Champion wrestlers from various programs.

Konrad is excited to build on his success beginning this fall, as he has managed to retain two full years of NCAA eligibility. He recently took a moment to collect thoughts regarding his training, success, priorities headed into the upcoming Olympic Trials, a chance to compete in Beijing, and NCAA competition next fall.

“Leaving Duke my after my freshman year, I was better than nearly all of the wrestlers on the team. Yet it still took me 3 months in Russia, a wrestling season at Duke, a year and a half in Poland, and 8 months at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) just for me to be able to achieve that success I have so far. It will possibly take twice as much to make sure I do even more in the future.

Think about it.

I am very far from being rich and none of this has come easily. For three months, I lived and trained in Dagestan, the terrorist capital of Russia, without a soul to talk to. My dad did a lot to arrange my tickets and living expenses there before I earned the right to have my training funded. After training there in the fall, I showed up at the door of USA Wrestling one day in Colorado, asking to train there, without a place to live or even knowing if they’d accept me. Luckily, my father cares a great deal about my success and smoothed over the arrangements once again. Others from Duke paved the way for me to train at the OTC as well. Coach Clar, Tom Cass, Mike Mitchell, and of course, Frank Cornely, all trained there in the past for at least one semester. They have not only showed me this was possible, but in a way, they paved the road for Duke Wrestlers to have the chance to train there.

You’ll find that winning feels awesome. Being good feels awesome. It’s addictive too. There have been many in our program at Duke that realized it; some too late to do anything about it. I realized that my freshman year. I was actually stuck at a crossroads - either sacrifice the next three years and put in all the work to maybe have a shot at being the best, with no guarantee that I’m even able to be that good - or quit. I faced that question in high school and held off answering it for quite some time. I was actually leaning the other way at one point, if not for my senior captains and Coach Anderson’s nudges in the other direction.

I’d like to issue a challenge to my teammates as well. What are your priorities? When Coach Anderson recruited you, he offered academic excellence and the chance to work as hard as you are willing to in order to achieve greatness in wrestling. What does your daily life look like and what are your priorities? I believe that each of you came here to compete. As Sir Isaac Newton once said, ‘If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ Thank You.

_Konrad”

John Barone Prepares to Lead Duke Into Next Season

2008-05-06T11:21:00.006-04:00

Signing with Duke in the Spring of 2005, John Barone was one of the most sought after big men in the country. John took visits to several Big Ten powerhouses, but found his home with the Blue Devils and Coach Clar Anderson. Barone finished 5^th at Senior Nationals and 2^nd in the New York state tournament twice, while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. The native of Shirley, New York is the prototype for the Duke student-athlete. As a sophomore this year, he became a team captian and set Duke's single-season win record at 35. John took a moment to give us his thoughts on this past season and his goals for the next two years in a Blue Devil singlet.

“When addressing this season in its entirety I am by no means satisfied. I did not accomplish my primary goal of becoming an All-American or of setting the record for most pins in a season. However, I believe I made a name for myself on the national stage and in the ACC which creates a great base to work from in order to achieve those primary goals this upcoming season.

Each week as the Sports Information department would write out articles on the team, they would highlight my accomplishments, saying that I was “assaulting records” and “creating a legacy”. Not only did this motivate me, but I think that it made my teammates proud of me and, as I am sure many of them wanted to be mentioned more, I think it motivated them to work harder as well. I wouldn’t have thought that much about the record for fastest pin and I don’t believe I’d have been aware of my pace for setting the record for most wins in a season had the Sports Info dept, my coaches and my teammates not reminded me of it daily in the practice room. Furthermore, my peers around campus read the articles put out on GoDuke.com and encouraged me to keep on pushing it and to reach towards obtaining more records. As encouraged as I was I was also a bit nervous, I didn’t want to have all the hype around me and not have achieved what people thought I would or were claiming I would. I didn’t want to make anyone a liar and I didn’t want to live below what was expected of me. This helped me to believe in myself a bit more. I had family, teammates, coaches, friends, the local media, and even some professors looking to me and pushing me. All of them wanted to see me achieve big things.

After the season was over one of my teammates showed me that I had made in onto a couple of lists that distinguished me nationally. I was in the top 25 of people with the most wins in all weight classes. I was on the list of most wins by pin and I was given the back handed compliment of achieving the distinction of being on the list of top guys who did not qualify for nationals this year, alongside my teammate Addison Nuding. The things that I accomplished this season and the attention and support I received show me just what I can do and what I am capable of doing. I am right there and I have very little to go until I stand on the podium on the national stage.

I’m doing more than ever this summer in order to continue to build my legacy as I am staying around Duke for 8 weeks to wrestle with the coaching staff and train with the support staff – lifting, running, wrestling, dieting, and training myself mentally to do things no Blue Devil before me has done, and hopefully, what many after me will.

_John”

Frank Cornely Discusses His Decision to Wrestle for Coach Anderson

2008-04-28T15:00:00.006-04:00

Frank Cornely wrestled for Duke from 2000 - 2005. He was a New Jersey State Runner-Up, Senior National Runner-Up, and a 2X ACC Champion at 184lbs. He currently works for Wachovia in Charlotte as a Junior Analyst and is an integral component for the newly established Friends of Duke Wrestling. As one of Coach Anderson's early recruits, Frank offered to go through one of the most important decisions of his life with us: choosing to study and wrestle at Duke University, under Clar Anderson's direction.

"When I was in high school, figuring out what college program I wanted to be a part of was a long and stressful process, especially when I had a different a coach calling me every night. There were many instances where while talking to one coach, another would beep through on the other line. Conversations all became very similar in nature; talking about how great an addition I would be to the program, how they would help me achieve my goals and get to the next level, scholarship/financial aid to make it affordable, the types to degrees they offer, etc.

I believe it came down to 2 things: “what were my goals and objectives?” Specifically, what exactly was I looking for in a college program that I could take with me when I unstrapped my headgear after that final match of my senior year? I knew I was not going to wrestle the rest of my life, but I did know that wrestling would continue to be a very big part of it. So for me, I wanted to go to the best school, with the best offer, with a coach I liked. I generally liked all of the coaches I spoke with, but there was one that definitely stood out, Coach Anderson.

I first spoke with Coach Anderson after the New Jersey state tournament my senior year. I didn’t know much about Duke except that they had a good basketball program. There was something about him during our first conversation that I immediately liked. We covered every topic you could think of from practice schedules to campus culture. The two things, however, that coach emphasized were the value of an elite education and being part of rising program. My parents were drawn to Clar instantly - especially my father. After they spoke for an hour, (mostly about politics, they are both very conservative) he told me, “Frank, that is the guy you need to wrestle for next year.”

Sometimes the difference between coaches is very small. Most of them are very accomplished wrestlers themselves and know what it takes to succeed. Those intangible qualities make all of the difference. I found that his character was truly genuine - so much so that I committed to wrestling for him before I went on a recruiting visit. Obviously, being a top university, located in the beautiful south, and its culture of excellence all played a huge factor in my decision. But ultimately, Coach Anderson was the reason I decided to wrestle for Duke. I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Almost everything in my life now is a direct off-shoot from my relationship with him.

_Frank"

Kellan McKeon Reflects on 4 Years of Duke Wrestling

2008-04-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

Kellan McKeon came to Duke Wrestling four years ago as one of the few North Carolina wrestlers on the squad. After coming out of redshirt multiple times in his career, he established himself as one of the Blue Devil's most consistent and top-performing wrestlers. As he finishes his final semester at Duke, he collected his thoughts on his overall experience for us:

"Hey guys,

Four years ago, I could have never imagined what I would go through during my four years at Duke University. My entire college experience has been shaped by my involvement with athletics. As a wrestler, I have put more time and effort into my sport than anything else. Luckily, the academic part of college came sorta easy to me. This let me put more work into the sport of wrestling.

As a senior in high school coming into college, I had two moves: a low single takedown and an armbar tilt. As I developed into a more experienced wrestler, these moves were rarely relied upon. The different series and moves that I came to use involved a lot of strategy and technique that worked off one another. My complete mindset as wrestler changed in my four years.

Fortunately for me, I ended my career on a good note. I know that I gave it my all this year and that I held nothing back. As I got a little older and was able to grow into the 125-pound weight class, I felt that I could compete with anyone in the nation. My last two years were so much fun. I am truly going to miss the competition and the physical and emotional release that wrestling has provided for me.

Last year, I beat a 4-time North Carolina state champ in the ACC Tournament. Ironically, my high school coach (and legal guardian at the time) was also a 4 timer from North Carolina. It was cool to see this come full circle for me and for North Carolina wrestling. This year, once I got my weight under control, I truly believed that I was going to win the match each time I stepped onto the mat. Although I did not achieve the ultimate goal of becoming an All American, I could not have asked for more out of myself.

Knowing this, I move on. I look forward to any challenge that comes across. The sport of wrestling and my four years at Duke University have given me more than enough skills to tackle the world ahead. Next year, law school will take the place of wrestling for me. Thanks to my coaches, teammates, and parents who have helped me out tremendously along the way.

-Kellan"

Clar Anderson's Blue Devil Wrestling Camps

2008-04-22T15:40:00.000-04:00