David Taylor gives his honest opinion on Penn State Wrestling transfer portal moves

Wrestler turned coach David Taylor recently shared his thoughts about the transfer portal moves of the Penn State Nittany Lions. The former Olympic champion had represented the Penn State Nittany Lions during his collegiate career.

Taylor opened up about the competition between the Penn State and his team, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, over the possible recruitment of former junior world champion Bo Bassett. Bassett had recently announced that he would be withdrawing his commitment to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

In his conversation with the media, Taylor remarked about Bassett's choices for his upcoming collegiate season. In his words,

"I view him [Bo Bassett] at that level, and anything less than that would be, wouldn't be fair to him. So looking forward to competing in a battle tomorrow."

When asked if he would like to join the Penn State with his coaching model, Taylor simply replied,

"I like what Penn State's doing, and I like being part of that."

After winning the bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships last year, David Taylor bid farewell to international wrestling and joined the Oklahoma State Cowboys as their new head coach. He replaced John Smith, who has been one of the most successful wrestlers in the history of freestyle wrestling.

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David Taylor sends clear message to OSU wrestlers ahead of the 2025 World Wrestling Championships

David Taylor [Centre] sends a message to the Oklahoma wrestlers ahead of World Championships 2025 [Image Source : Getty]

David Taylor previously shed light on the upcoming World Championships while speaking to his team at the Oklahoma State University. In a video shared by the Cowboys RTC on their X page [formerly Twitter], the former Olympic champion wrestler remarked,

“It's not about just going out there and winning these matches, winning these tournaments. It's about separating yourself, it's about dominating, (it's about) establishing yourself as the guy that nobody wants to go wrestle. You want to be a world champion this summer, great, you gotta find that attitude. Everyday you're out doing something else, is a day less to recover, a day less to train, a day less than someone else.”

The former wrestler further added that every training session would count. In his words,

“When you're in a best of three, when you're in a dogfight in that fourth match, you're going to think about that Friday (that you skipped). On the flipside, you're also going to think about ‘I went there everyday, I was busting, I'm in freaking great shape and I'm going to take this guy to deep waters’.”

David Taylor was awarded with the 2025 NCAA Division I Coach of the Year award in his debut year as the coach of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. He led the team to a third place finish at the NCAA Wrestling Championships 2025.