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Drew Mattin is a True Student Athlete

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I don’t know what I thought wrestling in college was going to be about. All I wanted to do was to wrestle at a school that I could get into. I didn’t think much further than that. My friends made fun of me because each time I went to visit a school, I’d come back with gear from the school, along with a matching declaration that I was going to that school. You guessed it, CMU was the last school that I visited. I won’t discount that I truly believed I could wrestle there, so it wasn’t just the blind ambition and impulsiveness of a 17 year old. I will admit that was part of it though. However, what nobody prepared me for was the student portion of being a college athlete. When I got to CMU, I was prepared to walk on, give it my all, and make the team. What was a surprise to me was that there were things like “study hours” you were expected to be at. There were meetings with counselors to schedule classes and such around the practices. There was I’m sure much more that I don’t even know about because I never did make the team. I just remember being so surprised that it wasn’t simply showing up to wrestle. Again, I was an idiot, but since then I’ve always felt that it’s important to stress and celebrate the student portion of the student athlete. Full transparency, I didn’t figure out how to actually take school seriously until midway through my Junior year. A year of academic probation was a clue to get it together. Then pair that with a panicked Sunday night realizing that I had a huge assignment due the next day, before realizing it was actually not due until the following Monday, is what it took for me to take it seriously. I was bad at school without the athletic demands, which is why in my more mature years, I value the academic aspects and demands so much more.

As a Michigan fan, I’ve been a fan of Drew Mattin since he got to the school a couple of years ago. I’ve really enjoyed watching his growth and development as a wrestler, but what’s been more impressive to me is following his academic career as well. He was recently accepted into Medical School in Ohio, and all the while continues to wrestle, get back down to 133, and help train and develop one of the top teams in the Nation, while continuing to drive towards his individual goals. I reached out to Drew to talk about his career on and off the Mat, and what follows is a transcription of that conversation.

Me: Alright Drew, I really appreciate you allowing me to connect with you. I wanted to talk with you about managing expectations on the athletic side and the academic side. First and foremost though, congratulations on your Championship last weekend at the Daktronics Open. I wanted to talk about that first. One of the main things I wanted to cover having watched the matches, you’ve always been very good on top with bar arms and turns, but it was really showing last weekend. You had at least the two pins in the quarters and the semi’s, did you get a pin in the finals also?

Drew: I did not, but at one point I had four minutes of riding time.

Nice, is it something different that you’re doing with your wrestling on top, is it a stylistic thing, is it you being more aggressive with it, or is it the opposite of that where you are baiting people into situations and capitalizing from there?

I think a lot of it has to do with maturity and experience on top. I’ve kind of had the same top game since High School, but it mostly comes down to in college wrestling you’re either good on top or you’re not. People want to get to their feet or cut people, but our philosophy is big mat returns and make them work to get away. I feel it pays big dividends, but top has always been one of my strong suits.

It’s really too bad how many people disregard top as a way to blow the match open. Then guys find themselves in 1-1 matches and you need to ride to win, and you think “well, probably should have worked on that.” Anyway, I wanted to focus on the student athlete portion of things. Maybe it’s just my perspective being a Michigan fan, but I see a lot of times very accomplished wrestlers, Eric Tannenbaum, Steve Luke, guys like that finish their college careers and they move on to their chosen profession. I kind of see you in that same light. A very accomplished and talented wrestler, and just recently accepted into Ohio’s Medical School of Osteopathic Medicine. Walk me through some of the academic programs you’re in, and how you have to manage your schedule with practices and everything with the team.

Yeah, it’s definitely been quite the journey through college. I come from a small public school in Ohio, very different from the rigorous academic requirements for Michigan. One of the main reasons that I chose Michigan was that it would open up a lot of doors that other colleges may not be able to open, so the opportunities that present itself with a Michigan degree, let alone the field that I want to go to, outweighed a lot of things. Dealing with the scheduling is a challenge, but I have a great academic advisor who I work with very closely who helps me schedule around practice, exam conflicts, so she goes to bat for me to adjust the exam time or to have a proctor with me. Practice is at 3:30 everyday, so I have classes from 9-3, then practice is out at 6, make some dinner, and then go to the academic center and study until it closes, and then just repeat. I did that for four years, and on top of that run at night when I was cutting to 125. So that was challenging, but worth it in the long run. There’s a lot of delayed gratification, especially in the Medical field, so just keeping what I want in life in the forefront of my brain to get me where I want to be.

Yeah, it’s funny I was just talking to my kids yesterday in the car while running some errands. My son is obsessed with the NFL right now, so I told him that everything you want to do with that you have to put that much effort and commitment into the rest of your life also. Ultimately that effort and energy will pay off. Whatever you want to do in life you can do it if you’re willing to invest into yourself in the end. Manage your priorities and balance accordingly.

Yeah, our coaching staff does a great job with understanding that we are student athletes, and student comes before athlete, which is cliché but true. We have deals in place where if you get above a 3.0 you get a steak dinner as a cumulative team thing, so it motivates us to push each other to make sure everything is going smoothly. There is a high correlation with athletes with good grades and how well they perform on the mat. Those same principles of hard work and discipline translate to all areas of life. Obviously there are exceptions, but for the most part the best wrestlers are the best students as well.

I think that one of the things you mentioned was the coaching staff, but before that you talked about the academic advisors. I think that they are an underappreciated and utilized resource. I didn’t end up being a college athlete, but even so I didn’t lean on that enough. That’s something important for people to realize is there for support. Going to academic advisors, professors office hours, and having that relationship really helps if and when there are difficulties with exam conflicts and other actual issues with scheduling. Athletes obviously have to do the same thing with their coaches.

Yeah, definitely. I’d say leaning on my academic advisor is an understatement. Bless her heart, she is a beast at what she does.

And so you walked through some of the challenges with your schedule and balancing all of the priorities, but what are the things that you are excited about with respect to your future. The main reason I’m asking this question is that I think there’s a lot of time where people just look at the work and see it as work rather than an investment into their future, so what are the things you’re excited about as far as what this is going to lead to.

Yeah, so my Dad is an ER Doctor in Toledo, so growing up in a Healthcare household, I’ve gotten to see the impact in the community that my Dad has made. Along with the life that I’ve lived. I’ve enjoyed it, so I try to focus on the goal of creating a life for myself. When you’re in school, you’re in school. A lot of people don’t look too far forward. You’re in your 20s, and obviously there is a lot more life to live. It’s been great to see the dream of going to medical school come to fruition, but just like College Wrestling, it’s a door that’s opening and then you’re looking towards the next thing. I’m not exactly sure what that is, other than becoming a Doctor, but it’s nice to have that weight off the shoulders and enter a new Chapter.

Absolutely. I wanted to talk a little bit with you also about some of the things you’ll be doing this year. I know you mentioned that you’ll be going to Midlands to compete, and some other challenges as you can, so tell me about what we can expect to see out of you this year.

Yeah, obviously competing with Dylan Ragusin for a starting spot at 133. With Stevan coming back, we didn’t know if he was, so I wrestled 141 the last couple years so making that trek back down to 133 has been difficult, but just getting down early for the weight and getting used to it is still a progression. I felt good at the tournament this weekend and catching Ramazon (Iowa State 133 pound wrestler) right off the scale, who was probably the next best kid in the bracket, so that was a good test for my conditioning and how well I managed my weight (*note, that was the first round match in the tournament). So that was a good confidence booster, and then just continuing to battle in the room with Dylan. I think we are both podium guys and we are going to push each other until one of us gets there.

I think that was one of the things that’s important to focus on also, obviously you have your goals in mind, but those goals help to build depth in the room and help the team get to it’s overall goals. Having NCAAs in Detroit this year, having such a stacked lineup top to bottom. Talk a little bit about what it’s like being in that room and seeing the depth and the goals as a team.

I think being in Detroit this year has a big emphasis on this being Team 100. So it’s a special year for that, and then on top of that it adds a new level of excitement. So we’ll do things at the end of practice just throwing in 100 extra push-ups. Just reminders that this is special. Our coaches have made that very clear.  Bringing back some guys for a special year and that we are all in, and everyone is buying in and believing that we can win a National Title. One thing I wanted to touch on is that everyone talks about the Team and Team goals, but with wrestling ultimately it comes down to individual goals and people trying to reach those. I think those come first but having the culture to incorporate those individual goals into the Team goals is what makes Michigan Michigan. Nobody comes into college talking about wanting to win a Team Championship. It’s ‘I want to be a National Champion and I want to be on a National Championship team’ and if each guy takes care of their individual goals, the team goal will follow. That’s what makes wrestling so special. You can’t rely on anyone else, everyone has to be bought into being the best version of themselves to make the best team.

It’s funny because even when you think about good teams even with team sports, let's say Football, those people each have a specific job to do and they have to do their job well. Once they stop doing their job, and try to do someone else’s job, it can result in a blown coverage, or other mistakes that way. With Wrestling if you do your job, the team will reach the desired outcome. 

One of the other things I wanted to emphasize, and wrestling usually has this as a big motivating factor, so I like to ask about it. Family, you have such a cool dynamic at home, your Father as an ER Doctor and the impact on the community, so walk us tell me about your family at home and there in Ann Arbor and how they’ve had an effect on your career.

Yeah, it’s been so amazing to go through this journey with my Brothers. Currently there are three of us living together in a house, so the dynamic feels like home back in Delta. We are only an hour away, so my parents can swing by, and we can go home and visit the youngest Brother. Going home and getting some workouts in with him are good, he’s a Freshman in High School now. Michigan in general is a very family oriented place, which you can see with the Pantaleo’s, Amine’s, Churella’s, and just people’s kids coming back to Michigan just because it’s such a great place to be. It’s a family within a family. So like this last weekend my Mom and Dad went out to Columbia to watch Cole, then my Dad flew from Columbia to South Dakota to watch me. He came and we got back Monday morning, then he had work Tuesday morning at 5 in the morning, so I know that they are very supportive, and I’m excited to see Zack and Cole excel, and I think both of them are doing a very good job of taking their academics very seriously as well. 

It’s funny too, like you begin to think to yourself ‘oh when I get older, my schedule will lighten up as well’, but clearly your Dad’s schedule has not lightened up. It remained as complicated if not a little more. 

So that last thing I wanted was some general advice that you’d give someone coming into College Wrestling. What advice would you give someone who is coming in to wrestle in college? Also, what does that realistically look like?

With someone who wants to come into college wrestling, it’s too hard if you aren’t all the way bought in. It’s too much if you aren’t completely bought in. It can be too overwhelming, and that’s where you see guys fade away and think ‘what happened to this guy’. You need to know what you want out of this experience in the forefront of your mind from the very beginning. You have got to be prepared to work very hard and have the work ethic in all areas of life. Some tips that I tell all the Freshman coming in, the basic one is go to class, but not only go to class but develop relationships with people. I try to develop relationships with everyone, whether it’s a TA, Professors, Academic Advisors, the more people that know you by name and have a genuine connection with you the more that they’ll go to bat for you. I’ve found that to be one thing that’s super important and has helped me.

At this point I thanked Drew for making some time for me in his schedule and speaking with me about one of the least publicized aspects of college athletics. In college wrestling, the vast majority of graduates are going to be using their degree for their future. It’s not a one and done thing where guys know they need to show up for class for a semester or two before testing the draft, or figure out a way to stay eligible to play so that they can go to the NFL. Wrestlers, in my mind, are the most dedicated and committed athletes on a college campus. The cutting weight, the battles in practice, traveling, competition, injuries, surgeries, recovery, sacrifices, and all of that is before I even begin to talk about the academic portion which can shape the rest of their lives so dramatically. Wrestling is a tool that used correctly can build a strong foundation with which to create a life on. Drew Mattin seems to have a damn fine foundation built up at the moment, and it’s going to be exciting to see what kind of a life he builds on top of that foundation.