2025 was a step in the right direction for the United States Greco-Roman program as demonstrated by the results. While they did not come home with a medalist, the Senior World Team did combine for the country’s highest win total in several years. Prior to that, the Seniors had also raked the field at the Pan-American Championships to the tune of six golds, two silvers, and one bronze. And, of course, there was the U23 World Championships this past October in Serbia, where the US accomplished two objectives: it was the first time that the program had at least one medalist in consecutive years, and it was also the first time that more than one wrestler made the U23 World podium as both Otto Black (67 kg, NYAC/NTS) and Payton Jacobson (87 kg, NYAC/NTS) walked away with bronze.
But now the goal is to move forward and reach higher. The US is in a strong position in terms of their talent pool due to the increasing number of young athletes who have been on a developmental fast-track in conjunction with a collection of reliable veterans who had long ago already established themselves. Therefore, reinforcing cohesion is necessary in order to keep everyone on the same page. So too is simultaneously encouraging intense, urgent domestic competition in order for the World Team selection process to produce the best candidates possible. This process does not begin in April. If anything, it has already begun for the most dedicated lot, but it is certainly being put on overdrive this week at the annual “January Camp” in Colorado Springs.
The start of the year for US National Team head coach Herb House has meant bringing the program’s top athletes (as well as those from Norway and Poland) together for training and tone-setting. It is the latter directive which tends to make January Camp unique. The opportunity to emphasize goals and specific messages is best seized at this point in the season, and is just as advantageous to do so when there are plenty of athletes in attendance to absorb what is being taught. However, technical work and physical conditioning are part of the story, as well, and Coach House expounds upon these topics and more in this latest report.
USNT Head Coach Herb House
January Camp 2026
5PM: How do you think having two U23 World medalists impacts the perception of the program?
Coach Herb House: I think it’s great. I also think that everyone needs to realize how back when this age division first started, we had zero medals. For years and years. Then last year, Beka (Melelashvili) became the first; and in October, we had two bronze medalists and a 5th place (Max Black), and we probably should have had more than that. So, I think that you can see how we are developing and that Greco is moving in the right direction. It might not be going as fast as everyone wants, but right now you can see the future. You are seeing the point where Greco can just take off in the United States.
5PM: What were your favorite parts of that tournament?
HH: Just watching the guys wrestle. Payton Jacobson was my favorite athlete to watch because of his energy. In a couple of his matches, he had to come back to win and I was very motivated by that. I was motivated by witnessing how other guys were becoming motivated as they were watching Payton. Otto wrestled great, too. He could have won it. He lost to the eventual champ 1-1 with the new criteria. That guy then goes on to win the whole tournament.
I was very impressed and loved the way we were fighting. These guys went out there and felt a lot more comfortable at the tournament.
5PM: As we move to the halfway point of this quad, the younger guys are now starting to be in position to take over from the guys who have been part of this program over the past ten or more years. Do you think that there is more of an awareness about these younger athletes given that they are overall more prepared and educated about international Greco than wrestlers in the past?
HH: I think that the younger guys are figuring it out. They want to take it over and they know that it’s their time. They are eager to learn. We have guys like Payton, who after this camp is going to Denmark. He is going to stay there until the “Ranking Series” tournament, then he is going to the camp (in Porec), and after that, Albania. Guys like him in that age range know what it takes to become World champs, and I see that they are doing whatever it takes to get there.
5PM: Do you think that the older athletes become motivated by how the younger ones are approaching their careers?
Coach Herb House: I think so. I think that the more they see the younger guys creeping up on them and coming closer and closer, the more they see that they have to step up their game. They have to push themselves that much more in order to maintain an advantage over our younger guys. But it is difficult. You can’t outrun father time. That is why it is very interesting. I know that the younger guys see that. And I know that the older guys can see the younger guys coming for them. It is a balancing act for both of them.
5PM: Georgia was a big trip. We had not been there as a team in six years. What was the most productive aspect of that camp?
HH: Georgia was so much fun, I’m not going to lie. Hanging out with the coaching staff and how they treated us was so much fun. Their wrestlers just have so much talent, too. I have so much respect for their coaches because they don’t look at us differently. When we are all in that room, the head coach is coaching my guys, he is pushing my guys, I’m pushing his guys… It was a great experience for us to be there. We learned a lot. We built some great relationships with Georgia. One thing we all agreed on is that we are going to do more of these. We are going to do our acclimation camp for the World Championships in Georgia, and they are coming here again in June. It was the best camp I had been to in a while.
5PM: How did it work that you wound up inviting Poland and Norway to this year’s January Camp?
HH: Since I started bringing international teams to the Olympic Training Center, I have had a list. I get calls everyday and I have to pick and choose. The funny thing about Poland was that they wanted to come last year to our big June camp, but we had no more spots available. So, I promised that I would bring them in to the next available camp if they could make it. Then at the U23 Worlds, Norway asked if they could come. I was excited about it. I was like, Sure, I’d love for you guys to come. We have beds. And I’m still getting calls. We have another camp in March with a list of teams who want to come to that one. I have a list for the camp in June but no more spots are available. We have Hungary, Georgia, and Ukraine coming for that camp. It is going to be a good camp.
5PM: This January Camp was an opportunity for you to get a close look at most of our top athletes to assess where they are at during this point in the season. As a whole, how did you view their conditioning levels and so forth?
Coach Herb House: Conditioning-wise we were pretty good. The message that we were trying to send out was that they have to have a strategy. That has really been my main focus since the beginning of camp. Seeing these guys score — that’s the goal. You cannot go out there and have a close match, and expect to win. If you are not actively trying to score offensive points, there is a much greater likelihood that you will not win the match. We had matches on Friday and I loved what I saw. I saw guys scoring, and I saw them winning. That made us feel great as coaches because we saw this approach working. And it is not just January Camp. I had also visited Northern Michigan University, and our other training centers and club coaches are on the same page. We are trying to the same way and send the same message to all of our athletes.
5PM: How were guys able to maintain an appropriate level of intensity during the more competitive portions of the camp?
HH: Guys were just hungry to wrestle. When we bring foreigners in, I always sense a different attitude, like ‘Okay, not in my house.’ It’s funny because I always hear that part — ‘No, not in my house. You aren’t beating me up in my house.’ I love that intensity from our wrestlers. They do not like to lose in our house. They always try to take that up to a new level. It has been great to see. This has been one camp that I have been able to see how if we continue with our goals — and can adapt as needed — we will be successful at the World Championships. But we have to be able to learn how to adapt and change.
5PM: How do you want January Camp to lead to the first “Ranking Series” tournament of the year?
HH: I wanted them to come into this camp and have a game plan. I did not want them to come in and just wrestle. I want us to have a game plan. I wanted them to look at their mistakes from last season and correct them. We have to work on trying to correct our mistakes. We cannot keep making the same mistakes every year and thinking that, somehow, what we’re doing wrong is suddenly going to work. It won’t. So, they need to learn to be adaptable.
I wanted them to have a game plan, and now I want them to work on executing it at the “Ranking Series” tournament. And after that, regardless of the results from the tournament, we will go into training camp and try to fix our mistakes again. Everything is a learning process, and we have to learn how to adapt and fix things on-the-go. We have a block of time here in which we can compete, train, and make corrections. Then hopefully by April when the World Team is selected, we will have a baseline for each guy regarding where they are strong, where they need to make corrections, and how to implement their plans leading up to the World Championships.
5PM: What are your short-term goals for the roster during and after this impending trip overseas?
Coach Herb House: The short-term goals are simple: stay healthy and score. Score, score, score. Finding ways to score. To keep that mentality. We have to score on our feet and we have to score from par terre when we have our opportunities. Those are our short-term goals. And par terre defense is a goal all of the time. That always has to be a goal because that is where we lose the most matches.
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