Even the best things occasionally need fine-tuning.
BMW tweaks its world-class engines, General Electric adds new executives to its internationally acclaimed board and the Penn wrestling team bolstered its Ivy League and national powerhouse program last summer by hiring a nationally renowned assistant coach -- Mike Duroe.
Although Duroe will be moving from Colorado, where he currently serves as the National Women's Coach and Developmental Coach at USA Wrestling, he will certainly not be leaving behind his amassed accolades and experience.
Duroe boasts an unbelievable portfolio of wrestling history.
As a wrestler, Penn's new assistant coach was a two-time Drake regional champion, three-time national freestyle place winner and a current member of the Drake Wrestling Hall of Fame.
After his days on the mat, the freestyle afficionado began his coaching career as the head coach of Northwestern and Northern Michigan, where he coached 27 wrestlers to All-America status, as well as three to national championships.
Penn head coach Roger Reina, in search of a third assistant following the departure of Zane Stickel, scoured the nation for someone of Duroe's caliber.
"We conducted a national search, and brought three candidates to Penn's campus for in-person interviews," Reina said. "Our pool of candidates was excellent, and Mike was the unanimous choice of our selection committee."
Duroe's main purpose, along with assistants Brian Dolph and Glenn Pritzlaff, will be to ready the wrestlers for competition both mentally and physically.
"Coach Reina is here to maximize the potential of the wrestlers," Duroe said. "Our job is to make sure the athletes are well prepared. My expertise is in motivating and training."
It is the motivational aspect of Duroe's coaching style that has been recognized by several Penn wrestlers.
"Duroe brings to the table a unique combination of intensity and a dry sense of humor," Penn wrestler Yoshi Nakamura said.
Having spent the last three years working primarily to train women, Duroe will be returning to coaching men when he comes to Philadelphia. However, Nakamura, one of the nation's best wrestlers at 157 pounds, feels Duroe's coaching strategies with women will transfer easily to the Penn wrestlers.
"Women's and men's wrestling have no differences in technique or rules," Nakamura said. "Coach Duroe is going to train you the same way whether you are male or female, young or old, earthling or alien -- that's with a lot of technique and a lot of intensity."
Coming to a wrestling dynasty formed under Reina's 16 years of guidance, Duroe knows he is not arriving at Penn to revolutionize the program. His main hope is to motivate and train Penn athletes as much as possible.
"Hopefully I'll bring a renewed sense of energy," he said.
Nakamura summed up Duroe's enthusiasm and energy best:
"He pushes himself to the limits, which he exemplified by running our annual preseason 12-mile run," the Penn All-American said. "He finished third out of all the team members who ran."
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