After a winning season, coaches can enjoy certain benefits they don’t see after a season of losses. One is better recruiting, and NIU wrestling head coach Dave Grant has taken full advantage of it.

“This is the best recruiting class I have had since coming to NIU,” Grant said. “This past season’s success had an enormous part in it.”

Grant’s 2001 class includes Josh Wooten, Mike Boyd, Alex Nelson, Jim Swanson, Jack Dennis and Seth Livingston. Livingston and Boyd are Illinois state champions, and Livingston is ranked fifth in the nation at his weight class.

Nelson and Wooten received interest from Big Ten schools Purdue and Wisconsin but decided to come to NIU instead. Both wrestlers are two-time state champions ranked in the top 12 by Intermat.

“Assistant coach John Stutzman and I hit the phones day and night to get these guys signed,” Grant said. “We will probably red-shirt most of the guys, so their impact on the mat may not be felt for another season.”

The most immediate contribution could come from Dennis, a Kansas state champion and High School All-American before going to Colby Junior College. At Colby, Dennis went on to become a two-time College All-American.

“I think that this recruiting could be ranked in the Top 20 in the nation, but we will have to wait and see,” Grant said.

Grant also attributes the strong recruiting to NIU’s forthcoming arena and the reputations of current NIU wrestlers.