I worked with a very good collegiate wrestler at a sports camp a couple years ago and he said some wrestlers can make a career out of wrestling through camps, olympic sponsorships, endorsements or something of that nature. Doesnt Cael Sanderson coach at Iowa State as well?
A lot of wrestler in the ufc say "there is no career in wrestling, so they go into mma." Its a way for them to still compete after the college level. And they say the Olympics only come every four years and only a few out of hundreds make it.
If only the Real Pro Wrestling thing would take off. I watched the first season but now I can't find it on TV anywhere and their website is jacked. ANyone know if it's still around? Real Pro Wrestling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
a handful of college coaches make really good money. I think Cael makes $400,000 per year at Iowa State- thats about the same as a basketball coach at a solid mid-major. there are another handful of guys like Ken Chertow and Gene Mills that have made a life out of running kids camps and HS camps. I went to Chertow's camp in HS. He also ran weekend mini-camps year round. Then there another few guys like Rulon who are so famous they can get a few commercials and endorsements. BUT, we are talking 1/100 of 1%. and it appears to be based on business sense rather than wrestling ability, save a few college coaches at big wrestling schools. Side note: when i was at chertow's camp, Matt Hughes was a coach. So was Kurt Angle. I got to wrestle Hughes and got demonstrated a suplex on by angle. Something that gets overlooked about hughes is his ability to throw people... back then he was throwing headlocks like a mad man. This was before he got into MMA, and was wrestling at E. IL. He and his brother were punching each other in teh face and laughing about it. just thought id share.