The latest Marquette Matters featuring Northern Michigan University-National Training Site head coach Andy Bisek is unique compared to all other previous editions. This time around, the focus resides entirely on one athlete, which is 2024 Olympian Payton Jacobson (87 kg).
In April, Jacobson became the first NMU Greco-Roman competitor since Spenser Thomas Mango in ’08 to win the Olympic Trials. As most are aware, Jacobson had moved up from 77 kg to 87 this past spring and went on to defeat a succession of top domestic opponents in order to make the Olympic Team. The time since has been a whirlwind. The traveling and training is one part of it. Another is increased attention. While Jacobson was already certainly well-known within the Greco community, his status as a member of the ’24 US Greco-Roman Olympic Team has raised his profile by orders of magnitude. How he has been able to balance the newfound interest in his career from outside of traditional wrestling circles with his immense work ethic and preparation for the biggest tournament of his life thus far is no small topic in and of itself.
Thankfully for Jacobson, he has Bisek. The two-time World medalist coach was himself an Olympian in ’16 and experienced similar potential distractions prior to competing in Rio. Bisek was long an established and highly-respected Greco-Roman athlete ever before he stepped on the mat at the Olympics. But upon his own Trials victory, an enormous influx of media outlets, mainstream and otherwise, suddenly wanted a piece of him. And much like Jacobson, Bisek was a fanatically hard worker who preferred to shut out any and all unnecessary outside noise. But doing so takes equal measures wisdom and resolve, thus highlighting the idea that Jacobson perhaps has had the most suitable head coach plausible to help walk him through this step of the journey.
Other items are discussed, as well, including the foreign partners with whom Jacobson had trained earlier this summer, how he has fared against several top international opponents, and, of course, the impending dawn of a new season for an NMU program that has now been in existence for a quarter of a century.
Payton Jacobson begins wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Wednesday, August 7.
NMU Coach Andy Bisek – August 2024
5PM: What have you shared with Payton Jacobson as far as your own Olympics experience and how to prepare for it?
Coach Andy Bisek: Things that I shared with him would be in the lead-up here. After the Trials, his life changed to where he was getting numerous interview opportunities, a lot of attention, and he was thrown into training camps where numerous coaches worked with him and helped him — all with the best intentions. I tried to prepare him for what that is like and also to remind him that he knows how to wrestle. He has to trust himself to not second-guess anything. With the press stuff, it gets to the point where it’s like, Alright, enough talking. He realized that on his own, too. Just a few weeks after the Trials, he was like, I don’t want to do anymore interviews. I want to start preparing. Let’s go, let’s get to work.
Really it was those two things: getting that much attention not only from the press but also from other coaches, and what it’s like when you’re the #1 guy.
5PM: After coming back from Hungary there was an interim and then he was out at the Olympic Training Center. Then he came back to NMU and he had foreign partners.
AB: He had a guy from Switzerland, Damian Von Euw, and Exauce Mukubu from Norway. Then I had received a request from a guy from Mexico who wanted to check out our program. His name is Diego Macias and I believe that Payton might have wrestled him in the repechage of the Junior Worlds at 77. We also had a fourth guy from India, Narinder Cheema, who has family in the US. He had spent just a little over two months in the US and came over from Columbus, Ohio and flew up here. So, we had four guys here for him. He mainly used the two 87’s, Damian and Exo, but I think it was a really good experience. Cheema had wrestled at the Asian Championships and at a couple of age-group World Championships. But he was a 97 guy and Diego is more of an 82 guy. But it kind of gave Payton that variety.
5PM: Was there anything in particular that you wanted to see worked on with these foreign partners?
AB: I think the big focus of this training camp was par terre and helping him with his defense, lift defense. Then also on his offense, the way I saw it, was by applying more pressure a number of times while letting the other guy move underneath him. To apply pressure to set up his attacks.
5PM: How did you identify who to ask to come over for Payton? How do you do this in general?
Coach Andy Bisek: I think Damian might have reached out to Payton, or they were training together maybe in Croatia at the camp. Payton had spent time training with Exo, too, and he had said to me that he would like to get those guys here. Okay, what are the dates? And it is not like Payton did not know the other two were coming, it was just me who was organizing that because they were reaching out for opportunities. I was just trying to coordinate with them, ‘Come at this time, we have two other guys who will be here’. We just tried to make it the more, the merrier. A bigger group type-thing.
One thing Payton wanted, and I was glad he said it to me, was that he didn’t want that training to be all eyes on him. He wanted there to be a full practice going with watching other guys, as well. Even if we only had eight guys in the room and four pairs wrestling, it’s a different environment for him. We wanted to be able to give him that, to make sure that other people were also wrestling in the room.
5PM: Payton has had a few very good 87 kg international opponents thus far in only a couple of tournaments. These events were obviously not the Olympics, but there is at least a baseline. What do you think he has done well against these types?
AB: You’re right in that he hasn’t been at 87 for a long time, but I think that he has made an impression on the guys he has wrestled. It’s like, Okay, this guy is young. He might be a little smaller, but he’s hungry and it’s going to be a fight. I think on the feet that Payton has shown them his continuous attacking, and not just getting into a position and holding it. He’s continuously attacking throughout and I think that is something they would remember about him.
5PM: How much of an impact do you think Payton being on the Olympic Team has made, or can make, with regards to the cause of getting more athletes to commit to Greco younger?
AB: I think it is still from the same group of kids, the ones who truly want to do Greco. Some might say, I need to do this sooner rather than later. But the majority of the wrestling population — whether they are on the fence about Greco or are just doing it to enhance their skills, or just to entertain the idea of the tournament — I don’t think you’re getting those kids. But the kids who are all-in for Greco and are coming into Greco regardless, you might see a handful of them decide not to wrestle their entire high school careers.
5PM: How do you yourself approach coaching your guys when they are at a big event like the World Championships and now the Olympics?
AB: My approach is the same, trying to give off the same kind of energy. Being calm, being encouraging, being there for them, recognizing the little things that they are doing and letting them know that. I try to remind them of the little things. Make sure you are ready for every restart, or when it is par terre, Make sure that you are absolutely ready before you put your hands on them. Just try to keep them locked-in that whole time. Of course, they are, but maybe they are not focusing on everything. Just trying to make sure that they are aware of possibilities.
5PM: It’s August, which means that startup is soon to be underway at NMU. When are practices set to fully begin and how many new athletes are coming into the program?
Coach Andy Bisek: We are in August and students will be on campus in three weeks. Our first practice will be the first day of classes, which is August 26th. We’re looking at having 15 incoming guys this year.
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