David Taylor set the tone in the first presser itself as head coach of the Cowboys. “We want to win national championships at Oklahoma State. We want a team championship at Oklahoma State.” The 2025 NCAA Championships didn’t reveal anything that would suggest otherwise. Obviously, they were trailing Penn State by some distance, who became the champions for the fourth straight time.
If the Cowboys are to switch places with Penn State, David Taylor will need to keep up the work he is doing. His own experiences and standards as an Olympic Champion have played their due part in the Cowboys dominating the US Open and Final X tournaments. Olympic-level exposure is always enriching; the more, the better. And that has got the OSU boys in Colorado as they get their grinds on ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Wyatt Hendrickson and co. have traded their beloved Gallagher-Iba Arena for a rather well-known setting we are all familiar with. The Low Single podcast shared a tweet on August 12, which read, “Cowboys getting some work in at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs!”
Along with it was a pic taken from Cowboys coach Zoheir El Ouarraqe’s Instagram account. All the usual suspects were there, at least most of them. Wyatt Hendrickson, Zahid Valencia, Jax Forrest, Joey McKenna, and D.J. Hamiti were all smiles for the camera. But you could see they have been on the mat. Well, nothing is more fulfilling than an honest day’s work.
The Olympic Training Center comes with a High-Altitude Training Center that can simulate any required altitude and climate conditions. That’s definitely a handy setup for preparing for the upcoming World Wrestling Championships in Zagreb. Hendrickson, Valencia, and Forrest are on the World Teams.
Cowboys getting some work in at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs!
: Coach Zo’s Instagram pic.twitter.com/8BEo1GFiFH
— The Low Single (@TheLowSingle) August 11, 2025
The Colorado Center is also augmented with state-of-the-art technology, not to mention the 6000 ft elevation of the Training Center that gives the wrestlers a perfect boost to enhance their stamina, aerobic efficiency, and adaptability. All in all, it’s been the perfect build-up to the season.
David Taylor has been at it, too, mixing it up to give his boys an edge. The difference he has made is quite visible.
Coach David Taylor’s role in bringing the Cowboys into prominence
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics champion broke away from Penn State to be his own man. And in May 2024, the Cowboys head coach role became his first stint at trying to be as successful at coaching as he was at fighting it out on the mat. Taylor was undoubtedly a wrestling icon, regarded as the torchbearer of the modern wrestling era in the USA.
One year down the line, and it’s been a successful journey so far. He has truly put his mind to elevating the program and helping wrestlers compete at the highest level. We got to see how he brought his own experience as a wrestler into the coaching manuals to help his wrestlers confidently deal with unpredictable situations on the mat. Taylor’s precious advice: “Sometimes, you just gotta wing it.”
Not everything can be taught. Life always hits us with something we didn’t prepare for. You gotta adjust, adapt, improvise. And speaking of adaptation and versatility, it’s not a coincidence that Taylor had been bringing MMA grapplers to Stillwater. Maybe David Taylor is ushering in the modern coaching methods that see the lines between wrestling and MMA blurred.
At the end of the day, it’s about winning. Does it matter who they train against? That thought process even got Taylor setting up a training program with the Chinese national team. Yes, the Olympian is not being bound by regional limits. He is bringing reinforcements from across the globe. Whatever helps his boys get better.
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