The Guillotine Grapevine

Bobby Steveson came into the University of Minnesota from nearby Apple Valley High School as the top-ranked 195-pounder in the country. A champion at the USA Wrestling Junior Nationals, Steveson looked to be one of the anchors for the upper weights for the Gophers. 

But injuries took their toll and even though Steveson made one trip to the NCAA Division I Championships, his high school accolades and expectations didn’t match up. Now with his college career over, Steveson talks about what’s next, what it’s been like to corner his younger brother Gable at the World level and the disappointment he and his Gopher teammates felt when the 2020 NCAA Championships, set for U.S. Bank Stadium, were canceled. 

Steveson talks about connecting with this musical side, his outdoorsy hobbies and how much he changed as a person after enrolling in college. Not all high school wrestling super studs have glittering careers, but Steveson’s looking back at his while moving forward with life.

A trip to Totino-Grace High School in Fridley had one goal in mind, profile the private Catholic school and its accomplished wrestling program. What happened was what makes sports great - kids doing great things to create great results. Totino-Grace wouldn’t hoist the Section 5AA trophy on Saturday, it’s be a group of kids from Orono who came into the sectional tournament with a 6-12 dual record. Coach Joe McPherson’s Orono Spartans upended Totino-Grace to reach the team state tournament for the first time in school history. Episode 66 of The Guillotine Grapevine unfolds the story of one wrestling program and chronicles the history making outcome of another. Learn about Totino-Grace but hear about Orono’s section championship. We talk with Totino-Grace President, Dr. Craig Junker as well as head coach Doug Svihel and Orono’s Joe McPherson and Danny Striggow.

The snow couldn't prevent Augsburg from winning the first women's dual in school history on Sunday, January 19 at Si Melby Hall. Originally scheduled for Saturday night, Augsburg beat UW-Stevens Point 30-12 in the lone home dual of the year. The win ushered in a new era of women's wrestling in the midwest and in Minnesota.Episode 65 of The Guillotine Grapevine talks with Augsburg women's head wrestling coach Max Mejia and Athletic Director Jeff Swenson on their reaction on the outcome and how the future of women's wrestling is here before us today.SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINEApple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Castbox | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to SUPPORT THE SHOW and all the on-demand audio offerings, free newsletters and historical research AND you want to get some of that cool Compound gear, you can support this program by making a small monthly contribution to the network by following this link: https://patreon.com/mattalkonline/ GET DAILY WRESTLING NEWS! You like wrestling news, right? Of course you do. Did you know you can sign up for FREE to subscribe to the Mat Talk Online DAILY WRESTLING NEWS e-mail newsletter that's published EVERY morning with the previous day's top news stories from outlets all around the globe. It's free and it's a great way to start your wrestling day. Sign up at http://www.mattalkonline.com/news

The 18th Clash National High School Wrestling Duals got going on January 3 at Rochester Community & Technical College's Regional Sports Center. Today on The Guillotine Grapevine, we get an insight into the relevance of the tournament, its impact on Minnesota and the Rochester area as well as get insight from sponsors, visiting coaches and locals familiar with the event.Today's show features Al Venz, a parent from Farmington and the host of the Al and Josh Show podcast, Punahou School (Hawaii) associate head coach Maika Nagata, Waverly-Shell Rock (Iowa) head coach Eric Whitcombe, event sponsor and program hustler Mike Busch of Mike Busch State Farm, and former Rochester Post-Bulletin Sports Editor Ben Pherson.SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINEApple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Castbox | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to SUPPORT THE SHOW and all the on-demand audio offerings, free newsletters and historical research AND you want to get some of that cool Compound gear, you can support this program by making a small monthly contribution to the network by following this link: https://patreon.com/mattalkonline/ GET DAILY WRESTLING NEWS! You like wrestling news, right? Of course you do. Did you know you can sign up for FREE to subscribe to the Mat Talk Online DAILY WRESTLING NEWS e-mail newsletter that's published EVERY morning with the previous day's top news stories from outlets all around the globe. It's free and it's a great way to start your wrestling day. Sign up at http://www.mattalkonline.com/news

Leading the Fish House Parade in Aitkin is coach Larry Liljenquist and his Aitkin Gobblers.This episode of The Guillotine Grapevine stumbles across the Aitkin Fish House Parade the day after Thanksgiving. The Grand Marshal for this year's parade, that ran right through the center of town and right down U.S. 169 was the Aitkin wrestling program.While up in Aitkin with my family, I had a chance to interview coach Liljenquist about the town's tradition and how Aitkin loves its wrestling. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINEApple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Castbox | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to SUPPORT THE SHOW and all the on-demand audio offerings, free newsletters and historical research AND you want to get some of that cool Compound gear, you can support this program by making a small monthly contribution to the network by following this link: https://patreon.com/mattalkonline/ GET DAILY WRESTLING NEWS! You like wrestling news, right? Of course you do. Did you know you can sign up for FREE to subscribe to the Mat Talk Online DAILY WRESTLING NEWS e-mail newsletter that's published EVERY morning with the previous day's top news stories from outlets all around the globe. It's free and it's a great way to start your wrestling day. Sign up at http://www.mattalkonline.com/news

The fitting representation of the Axe of St. OlafWhat’s the most notable sports story that’s involved St. Olaf in the past 18 months outside of its announcement to drop wrestling?The answer, known to the entire sporting world, is the school’s place in the fight to kick out Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference juggernaut St. Thomas out of the conference.The story wasn’t just prominent in the Star Tribune here in Minnesota, but it made the AP and even ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt noted the boot. If you scratch the surface of the St. Thomas story, you find St. Olaf. So when wrestling gets cut, what are the optics? From the top down, it looks like there’s an allusion to giving up rather than fighting. Quitting, rather than getting better. Yes, you got beat 97-0 in football to a school with more students. Let’s rally the troops and kick them out of the conference. No, you didn’t give your wrestling team and its student-athletes the basic resources teams need to be competitive – let’s penalize them even further by ruining their college experience with no option to save it. The school has made its priorities known, being competitive isn’t what they want to be known for. I’m Hall of Fame wrestling announcer and writer Jason Bryant and today on The Guillotine Grapevine, I continue to look into the issues at St. Olaf surrounding its wrestling program and talk with alum Ryan Timmerman, a two-time All-American for the program under coach Sean Ahrar. SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINEApple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Castbox | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to SUPPORT THE SHOW and all the on-demand audio offerings, free newsletters and historical research AND you want to get some of that cool Compound gear, you can support this program by making a small monthly contribution to the network by following this link: https://patreon.com/mattalkonline/ GET DAILY WRESTLING NEWS! You like wrestling news, right? Of course you do. Did you know you can sign up for FREE to subscribe to the Mat Talk Online DAILY WRESTLING NEWS e-mail newsletter that's published EVERY morning with the previous day's top news stories from outlets all around the globe. It's free and it's a great way to start your wrestling day. Sign up at http://www.mattalkonline.com/news

What level of a responsibility should a college have to take care of its students? That’s the question Florida’s Melissa McGlynn has for the entire St. Olaf College administration. By now, the Minnesota wrestling community knows that St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota announced it would discontinue wrestling at the end of the 2019-20 season. This announcement was released after business hours on Friday, October 18. I’m Hall of Fame wrestling writer and broadcaster Jason Bryant, and this is a special series of The Guillotine Grapevine about the impending loss of the St. Olaf Wrestling Program. Today’s episode takes the parental perspective as I talk with Melissa McGlynn of Florida. Her son Robbie is a freshman this season at St. Olaf and came to Northfield to wrestle. The saying silence is golden has been used in many different forms over the years. One I remember was from AMC theaters back in the 1990s. In the case of St. Olaf College, silence is golden is becoming the rallying cry from the school’s athletic and academic administration. When the news dropped on Friday, the timing was deliberate. The Friday afternoon news dump is designed to mitigate response during business hours. On Monday morning, me and many other wrestling fans and specifically St. Olaf parents and alums went looking to Athletic Director Ryan Bowles and school President David Anderson for answers. After two requests from Bowles were shot down, as he declined the opportunity offered to answer the athletic administrative side of the story, I tried Anderson. Messages for Anderson’s office weren’t declined – they weren’t answered. Also unanswered was a request to Facilities Coordinator Judy Tegtmeyer. To be honest, St. Olaf wrestling has not been good for a while. A dismal win-loss record in dual meets and a small roster size. The program still been in the top 20 in recent memory. It’s not very hard for a Division III wrestling program to get good quickly. All it takes is two good recruiting years. The value comes with Sean Ahrar, an Iranian-born U.S. military veteran who has served as the program’s head coach for the past 15 years. That’s also a part-time position. Ahrar has no paid assistant by the school and operates on what’s been reported as a $25,000 a year budget. I have to go on those numbers, since as a private institution, St. Olaf is under no obligation to provide anyone, other than themselves, those numbers. Ahrar is firm, a man of strong convictions and a very no-nonsense demeanor. He cares about his athletes, as evidenced by working full-time hours for a job that pays him less than a student might make at the nearby Taco John’s in Northfield. Ahrar is also convincing. His athletes believe in him. But what’s also important is the parents also believe in him as someone who can teach and coach their sons. So when the very thing these student-athletes came to school for, wrestling, gets cut, it’s logical they’d want answers. They aren’t getting any as Bowles and Anderson, and essentially they’re sticking to the silence is golden motto. Now, we get a parent perspective and how a school isn’t just cutting a program, it’s cutting off the parents of tuition-paying students from around Minnesota and the country. We hear from McGlynn and get some information from another parent, John Ridgway. All that on part one of our special Guillotine Grapevine series covering St. Olaf wrestling.SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINEApple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spreaker | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Castbox | RSS SUPPORT THE SHOW If you'd like to SUPPORT THE SHOW and all the on-demand audio offerings, free newsletters and historical research AND you want to get some of that cool Compound gear, you can support this program by making a small monthly contribution to the network by following this link: https://patreon.com/mattalkonline/ GET DAILY WRESTLING NEWS! You like wrestling news, right? Of course you do. Did you know you can sign up for FREE to subscribe to the Mat Talk Online DAILY WRESTLING NEWS e-mail newsletter that's published EVERY morning with the previous day's top news stories from outlets all around the globe. It's free and it's a great way to start your wrestling day. Sign up at http://www.mattalkonline.com/news

Minnesota USA Wrestling head Greco-Roman coach Dan Chandler talks about the performances of the 16U team in Greco-Roman and some of the challenges that the style presents when coaching at all levels. All three 16U champions, Caleb Thoennes, Jore Volk and Gavin Nelson, all join the show. They also verify or dispel rumors of coach Justin Lavalle's fashion and driving ability.SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINEApple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/guillotine-grapevine-podcast/id1032548516?at=11ly5XStitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mat-talk-podcast-network/the-guillotine-grapevine-mat-talk-podcast-network?refid=stprSpreaker: http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-guillotine-grapevineSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4VKmfx02sKGNFKyPa1koFb?si=u-Ks2gvKQbmbPWjroWON2QGoogle Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Ifu46r7ti5hq4f6c54j43jtwb24?t=The_Guillotine_Grapevine_The_Podcast_for_the_Land_of_10000_Wrestlers__Mat_Talk_Podcast_NetworkRSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/1498950/episodes/feedSUPPORT THE SHOWAnd if you're a fan of the extensive and broad-based reach of the shows on the Mat Talk Podcast Network, become a TEAM MEMBER today at www.patreon.com/mattalkonline. There are various levels of perks for the different levels of team membership. If you like wrestling content -- scratch that -- if you LOVE great wrestling content, consider becoming a team member. You'll get some cool stuff too.

Minnesota USA Wrestling head freestyle coach Jayson Ness talks about the performances of the team in freestyle. We'll also talk with Junior freestyle national champion Patrick Kennedy.SUBSCRIBE TO THE GUILLOTINE GRAPEVINEApple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/guillotine-grapevine-podcast/id1032548516?at=11ly5XStitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mat-talk-podcast-network/the-guillotine-grapevine-mat-talk-podcast-network?refid=stprSpreaker: http://www.spreaker.com/show/the-guillotine-grapevineSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4VKmfx02sKGNFKyPa1koFb?si=u-Ks2gvKQbmbPWjroWON2QGoogle Play Music: https://play.google.com/music/m/Ifu46r7ti5hq4f6c54j43jtwb24?t=The_Guillotine_Grapevine_The_Podcast_for_the_Land_of_10000_Wrestlers__Mat_Talk_Podcast_NetworkRSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/1498950/episodes/feed

A national event has a distinctly Upper Midwest presence as the 2019 USA Wrestling Junior & 16U Nationals will come to the Fargodome just across the Red River in Fargo, North Dakota from July 13-19. On this episode of The Guillotine Grapevine, we visit with Steve Saxlund, a Pipestone, Minnesota, native who was a four-time All-American and three-time NCAA Division II champion at North Dakota State.Saxlund is part-owner in a NDSU-themed bar and grill called Herd & Horns, which rolls out the green and gold carpet for wrestling fans this coming week. Saxlund talks about the impact of the tournament on the business, the impact of the other tournament that's known around Fargo, the Rumble on the Red, before diving into his backstory on what pushed him to compete and battle at NDSU after winning a state title in 1A back in 1996.SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you'd like to SUPPORT THE SHOW and all the on-demand audio offerings, free newsletters and historical research AND you want to get some of that cool Compound gear, you can support this program by making a small monthly contribution to the network by following this link: https://patreon.com/mattalkonline/GET DAILY WRESTLING NEWS!You like wrestling news, right? Of course you do. Did you know you can sign up for FREE to subscribe to the Mat Talk Online DAILY WRESTLING NEWS e-mail newsletter that's published EVERY morning with the previous day's top news stories from outlets all around the globe. It's free and it's a great way to start your wrestling day. Sign up at http://www.mattalkonline.com/news