Oklahoma State head coach John Smith is not only the greatest American wrestler of all time, he is one of the greatest coaches as well. We get to hear Coach Smith talk about his success in this conversational format, where he came from and why he was able to reach the levels that he did. The 7th of 10 children, Smith had to compete his whole life and sometimes it was for a hot shower or breakfast.

Being one of ten children was tough and there were plenty of battles and tournaments wrestled in the Smith living room. John Smith could go around the state and the country and beat just about anyone, but when he was home he couldn't even beat his sisters.

John Smith won his first world title in 1987 while he was still in college, one year later he won an Olympic Gold. After that, silver was not an option. Smith details the way he lived his life and the adjustments that he had to make along the way to keep himself sharp and to give him a mental edge. Even though he was doing well financially, Smith decided to give himself a budget of $1000/month to live on.

As far as the training goes, Smith made adjustments to get himself prepared. He would wake up at 2:00am to walk to Gallagher-Iba Arena to run stadium stairs. The idea, for him, was to be training while his Russian opponents were sleeping. John Smith also touches on his development of the low single leg takedown. A commonly used technique today, it was completely new an innovative at the time. Since his development of the move it has spread worldwide and been evolved, tweaked and adjusted for different people and body types.

Listen to this awesome session with the most awesome American wrestler of all time: