Located in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Area is Brandon Florida. In Brandon Florida is Brandon High School. Inside those walls is a wrestling team, with a coach that went 647-6, and an unfathomable national record win streak: 459 consecutive dual wins (1974-2008). That was the longest win streak ever in high school sports.
“The Streak” as it has become to be known lasted 34 years. Documentaries and countless articles have been written about the “Streak”. Once the steak came to an end in 2008, the team still had yet another streak going: 17 consecutive state championships (2001-2017). (ESPN even did a DVD documentary on this called “The Streak”.)
Brandon wrestling has 28 team state championships overall, with teams finishing nationally ranked 16 times, including:
- #4 in 2004
- #1 in 2005
- #4 in 2010
- #3 in 2011
- #4 in 2012
- #6 in 2013
- #8 in 2014
At the helm for the program is the 2014 NFHS National Wrestling Coach of the Year and former 7X Veterans wrestling (35+) world champion and 1976 and 1980 USA Olympic Wrestling Team member, Russ Cozart. Along with his wrestling acumen, Cozart is also a Health and P.E teacher at Brandon High School.
These experiences have helped Cozart shape and mold the team, creating one of the winningest cultures in high school sports history.
Winning
“That is the one word Coach Cozart would use to describe the culture of Brandon Wrestling. “Everything radiates from there. The culture is commitment” shares Cozart “We have a really good tradition here. Tradition and culture are two words that blend. When kids come to our program it is “are you ready to commit?”. For 90% of them they are fully involved and fully committed. Their commitment is to hard work.
Wrestling is one of those sports where the harder you work the better you can be. There are weight classes, so you will compete against somebody your own size. Our culture is all about winning, commitment, commitment to excellence and commitment to the program.”
History
Cozart recalls “I had been coaching about 9 years, finally got a couple kids that were pretty good, hard workers. I started as a guy possessed with winning. As a young guy I was experimenting with learning about kids. I had to learn what it was that I was demanding of kids.
As I met kids that were totally committed to the sport, I had learned the challenges I could give those kids every day. About 7 years into it I was always challenging kids. We were not doing too bad; I thought I was doing good. Then I realized I could get way more out of the kids if I approached it in slightly different way. Started having a lot more rules, but not too many rules. More structure. The kids started demanding more of each other.
I remember I got these two kids and their level of work blew me away. They taught me that teenagers had limits that were a lot higher than I was pushing. I had been involved in the sport a long time and the culture was changing. The majority of the kids were not like that.
The training aspect of wrestling and getting the kids to commit more was becoming the norm. When I got to Brandon, they had been undefeated for 7 years but only won one state title.
I had to push myself, I have to do everything possible to not lose, to keep this streak going. These kids were working their butts off a few years into it, always had a great love and respect for kids and wrestling. You bring honor to the sport and your family.
We went undefeated. We had great kids, but we were learning the whole process. We still had kids who were missing practice. I had not developed a winning culture yet. I was looking for that level of commitment. We started having better teams with more committed kids. We were able to work them a little harder.
As a coach you are always tinkering with the ultimate team chemistry. You can make your team good. Technically sound. Make them great athletes. You can be their friend and have them believe in you as a coach. But when you develop team chemistry and get them depending on each other, you can get your greatest success.
When you have great captains, you can stand back. When you don’t you have to step forward. Our winning team culture happened in early 2000. We have always had a culture of winning; the streak threw that in everybody’s lap. The streak was hanging over everybody’s head. We have to work harder every day. The youth program, the high school program, and dedication and commitment of wrestling and winning was fostered through the streak.
I really believe in hard work, but not crazy hard work. Each guy reaches a point where he makes a decision. I really believe if you work hard enough, you will come away with the fact that you are not going to give up on the mat. I am going to work hard enough that I won’t quit.
The one thing about my life, when I wrestled, I gave everything I had. Through all the winning and losing, family things that happened, in the pursuit of being a champion, when I worked hard and was dedicated, things turned out positive whether I was a champion or not.
When you commit yourself to something and put everything into it, you are going to find you who you really are. The harder you work your instincts will take over. The things I have learned the most about myself were when I pushed myself the most. Total dedication to a sport for me was the purest form of life, along with believing in your religion and family. From that, I gained confidence and learned some of the most important values to live life by.
Every year I tell the kids my goals. They haven’t changed since my first day. To win state championship and go undefeated. Now, I am at the point where we have brothers and sons of my former wrestlers now wrestling. It is well known; we have that culture of winning here. Since we lost in 2008, we have another streak going; we have won 15 straight state titles. We have finished top 5 in US multiple times, top 10 etc.
We won the state title this year. We were supposed to be challenged by another school that was loaded with seniors. Our teams are always very diverse, never senior heavy. We beat them in a tournament, regionals, and states. The opposing coach was a little disappointed because we were supposed to be a little down this year.
I don’t worry about if some guy leaves; I pat him on the back and let him go, and let the next guy take his spot. It is great to watch a team work together and blend together. It is great to watch them push each other. Reminded me a lot of the 2008 squad. They were young but worked their tails off every day. Just to watch this team come together, 45-0, then win the state title.
We did have a little adversity this year. We had 4 state place winners move away from school. We lost 2 state champs and 2 place winners. Each of them won state titles at other schools in other states. I never mentioned their names and didn’t draw attention to it for the team. We moved on.I knew when the door closes, when some people leave, it leaves the door open for others. It opens the door for new opportunities.
After I tell them my goals, I tell them to state their goals. They are going to work hard and want individual state championships. Captains won’t let guys have other goals than that. We brought nine to states and all placed. This shows the level of commitment! Not one guy was willing to go out and not place. They were all on the same wave length. We had a kid who injured his knee and came back limping to a fifth place win.
They are wrestling for their school, their community, and each other. I tell them, because I grew up in a high school that had a lot of pride, that pride is very important. They are representing the school. I drill this into our guys. We are here for Brandon high school. The maroon and white on your uniforms. Your buddies in science class. What this does is creates a sense of more than wrestling for yourself. They knew that had the backing of their school, their classmates, their families, and their teammates, and didn’t want to let them down by not putting in the work and commitment needed to succeed.
I believe this program not only makes you a great athlete but also makes you a great person. I think culture is the most important thing. Do you want to have a team you are really proud of? You create the culture on your team. Need great team chemistry. When you create a winning culture on your team, and you have an unstoppable force.
Culture is about all the other things except for the X’s and O’s. It is the way to work harder, to support each other, to wrestle for each other.”
Commitment
According to Cozart, commitment “looks like 20 guys together doing everything together. Working hard today, practicing together, team talk at end of practice every day. Demanding from each other. In the beginning of the season, it is guys getting on each other, pushing each other, not too critical of each other. Sometimes team chemistry and culture can get out of hand that is why you have to be in the locker room and on mat with these guys.
The beginning of the season is a critical time where the captains are testing their leadership and critical of everybody, getting them on board and working hard. At the end of season, they are hugging each other, patting each other on the back. They have gone through the adversity, tests, and challenges of the season together, and have become strengthened as a group.
The off-season every year is different. You can win it one year one way then next year you might win it a different way. Might be top 5 one year then top 50 the next year.
As I watch the team early in the year, I am trying to figure out who, what, and where they are. What is going on in their heads? I am trying to get my finger on the pulse of the team. Trying to find the pulse of this year’s team. Know when they are feeling great, when they are not, then, by end of year, I know them better than they know themselves. Know what they are capable of and help them realize their potential.
During the off season we are active, but I believe in a lot of down time. They just finished 5 weeks off of team sports. Today we start back up with off season skills. Some guys are ranked high nationally and we want to get them some national competitions. We want them doing some team stuff as well.
We encourage them to play other sports. I believe in the coaches’ creed of ethics. You can see how other sports can make athletes better. I find my kids quit other sports and come to me, but I encourage them to try other sports. It teaches them to compete.
I realize the responsibility of having a successful program and how you can hurt the other programs or school spirit by hoarding athletes. It is my responsibility to help other programs.
In 39 years, I have seen a number of football coaches here. I think it is very important that the football and wrestling teams have a great relationship. When I was in high school, the ultimate goal for an athlete was to be a 3 sport letterman. Football, wrestling, and baseball. I think wrestling and football need to work together, at the very least, they need to respect each other.
We have had some state champs that played in the NFL. I am a big fan of football. Football coaches make their football players work hard. They develop a sense of working hard. That will push them to try wrestling. The wrestling then feeds this desire to work harder.”
Values
“Honesty, truthfulness, compassion, being a gentleman, being a good kid, being humble, supporting each other, being a good teammate, being an animal on the mat and a gentleman off the mat” shares Cozart.
The Coach continues “Honesty and trust, you cannot have a relationship without those. It is critical to have a great relationship with the kids. They come to practice every day; I will be here every day. I give 100% you give 100%. Chance to be a better person. Trust is very important. Parents have to trust you as well.
I want to care for the kids. I want to mold them. Athletics are so great. It is such a teaching opportunity. Sports are more than winning and losing. It is taking winning and losing the right way and moving on. This takes honor, integrity, and perseverance.
My basic thoughts are, practice is the most important thing. In practice with the kids I am working with them, teaching them about life, wrestling, humility, accepting losing, winning right this is the great challenge of coaching. I know if I do those things we are going to win. We are going to compete, and each kid is going to understand the demand to give 110%.
We focus on the day to day process. I take one day at a time. I give everything I have every single day. I try to lead by example. I try to mold these guys every day. We are a public school. The kids live at home come to school each day; there are a lot of things going on in their lives. Attendance at practice is 99%. This is amazing in a public school.
The team chemistry is amazing. The kids take care of each other and keep each other dedicated. It is good for them to try to keep things light. They like to have fun and focus on life and learning.
You can’t build team chemistry and culture in one day. It is very complex. Something a coach has to work on every day, then have the personality to demand of the kids. I am also a health teacher. I am involved in the school in both an education and athletic way. I have always been a teacher; I teach the skills on the mat and try to get the most out of a kid. If you want to coach, exploring all of the techniques of creating a better athlete and a better person is imperative.”
