Cael Sanderson Honored After Dominant Penn State Wrestling Season

Cael Sanderson led Penn State wrestling to one of its best seasons in program history but received little recognition for it. But Sanderson finally did win one national coaching award.

The Open Mat recently named Sanderson as its 2026 NCAA Division I Coach of the Year after what it called "another historic season" for the Nittany Lions. Penn State won its fifth straight team title at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, breaking its tournament scoring record for the second consecutive year.

Penn State scored 181.5 points at NCAAs in Cleveland, 50.5 ahead of second-place Oklahoma State, whose head coach David Taylor was named WIN Magazine's Dan Gable Coach of the Year. Four Nittany Lions finished their seasons as undefeated national champions, including Mitchell Mesenbrink, a two-time NCAA champ who won the Hodge Trophy as the nation's top wrestler.

As The Open Mat noted in its release about Sanderson, Penn State wrestling had an epic 2025-26 campaign. The Nittany Lions went undefeated for the sixth consecutive season, finishing 15-0 and 8-0 in the Big Ten. The team has won an NCAA-record 86 consecutive matches since the 2020 season.

Penn State shut out shut out eight opponents last season and won nearly 93 percent of their bouts in dual matches. The team entered the postseason after the most statistically dominant regular season of its recent five-year run.

The Nittany Lions had seven starters go undefeated and finished with a cumulative individual record of 139-11 in dual meets. Penn State outscored its opponents by a combined margin of 39.4 points in dual meets. Penn State wrestlers scored 486 takedowns during the regular season while allowing just 42.

In the postseason, Penn State won its fourth straight Big Ten Tournament title at home at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Nittany Lions won a program-record seven individual Big Ten titles and set a school scoring record with 184 points.

Sanderson became just the second Big Ten coach, with Gable, to win 10 conference titles. However, Ohio State's Tom Ryan was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year. Penn State's starting lineup went 74-6 vs. Big Ten opponents during their eight regular-season matches.

"We work every day," Sanderson said at Rocket Arena after the NCAA Tournament. "We love what we do. We love each other, our staff. The kids in the program and the staff we work with, that's what it's all about. Seeing those guys every day is what motivates me and just continuing to learn and grow."

"We're a blessed program. We follow the rules. There's not a lot of that going on right now. And that's one of the reasons we can sleep when the wind blows. We train hard and do the right things to the best of our ability and things will work out."

“We’re a blessed program. We follow the rules. There’s not a lot of that going on right now, and that’s one of the reasons we can sleep when the wind blows.”

Penn State’s Cael Sanderson after winning his 13th NCAA Wrestling title. pic.twitter.com/LRet5BGyYB
— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) March 22, 2026

Sanderson will enter his 18th season at Penn State seeking his 14th NCAA team title with a roster that could be even better than last year. The Nittany Lions lose just one starter from its lineup, two-time NCAA champ Levi Haines, and return five NCAA finalists. They also return eight All-Americans, including one who redshirted last season in Tyler Kasak.

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