University of Minnesota Athletics
Ski-U-Mah: The Family That Pins Together
1/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
To see this story as it appears in print (complete with fantastic photos) and to read the entire January issue of Ski-U-Mah click here.
Jan. 26, 2015
By Jake Ricker
As much as any other sport, wrestling demands total commitment to achieve greatness. The shared dedication and sacrifices of every wrestler on a team galvanizes an incredible bond between them. The Gopher wrestling program embraces that bond, a brotherhood as they often say, among its wrestlers. That feeling of brotherhood, that powerful connection to each other, has often taken on a more literal meaning throughout the program's history. Dozens of brothers - brothers by blood - have wrestled for the Gophers through the years, many accomplishing great things.
Despite those accomplishments, no two have ever each captured an individual National Championship, nor each been four-time All-Americans. As a senior this year, Dylan Ness has the opportunity to make the Nesses the first. He's a three-time All-American, a two-time national runner-up and is currently the top-ranked wrestler in the country at 157 pounds. His older brother Jayson, now a volunteer assistant coach at Minnesota, claimed the title at 133 pounds in 2010, his senior season, capping his fourth career All-American campaign.
The Ness brothers now sit on the cusp of making history because of one simple misunderstanding 20 years ago.
"Jayson liked WWE and that is why he started [wrestling]," said Dylan, smirking. "He found a flyer for wrestling [and he] was pumped because he thought he was going to be throwing chairs and stuff like that."
"I thought I'd be one of those guys jumping off the turnbuckle," Jayson recalled with a chuckle.
He was devastated to find a room full of mats, headgear and singlets instead of championship belts, costumes and body slams.
"I hated it," said Jayson. "I didn't want to go. My mom literally dragged me to practice. I was a 39-pound kindergartener, so it wasn't very hard for her to grab me and make me go, but I fought her every practice."
It was an honest mistake. Jayson thought he was going to have the opportunity to imitate some of his idols from pro wrestling on television, like the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan. But that mistake set in motion everything that has led to the Nesses becoming some of the most recognizable wrestlers in Gopher history.
"One of the things my parents instilled early was you can't quit," said Jayson, adding that his parents - Jay and Sally - told him "you decided to join this team, you're going to see it out."
Though wrestling wasn't a love-at-first-sight situation for Jayson, he quickly warmed up to the sport. A year later, he shocked his parents by telling them that he wanted to return and wrestle for a second season. "They said `Are you sure? Remember, you have to go to everything.' ... but I loved the competitions. I loved the kids that I was with. They became some of my best friends."
While it took Jayson time to overcome his initial disappointment at what wrestling truly is, Dylan embraced it immediately.
"Growing up with an older sibling, especially a brother, you kind of imitate what they do," said Dylan. "Jayson got into wrestling and right after he did, I was pretty much going to practice with him when I was three years old. I was crawling around the mats."
From an understandable mix-up, pre-practice temper tantrums and crawling around on wrestling mats, the legacy of the Ness brothers was born.
We Took the Name
Though he never wrestled, Jay Ness quickly embraced his sons' passion for wrestling and became heavily involved in the sport, coaching the boys through much of their early years.
"I loved it," said Jay. "People say I was a coach, but I never looked at myself as a coach. I was more of a guide for my boys, to get them good coaching and hang around good people."
That role as guide led to developing relationships with some of biggest names in Gopher wrestling, including Brandon Paulson, the Thorns, the Zilverbergs and the Morgans.
"My dad kind of jumped in there," remembered Dylan. "He picked up [tips] from everyone, like (former Gopher wrestler) Gordy Morgan. ... My dad kind of consumed all of it and drove us all over the place to wrestle."
Gordy Morgan's influence on both of the Ness boys is evident when watching their matches. Gordy and his brother, Marty, are all over the records books at Minnesota, the latter winning the 1991 National Championship at 177 pounds and going on to be an assistant coach for the Gophers. The brothers were known for the "Morgan Half Ride," a half-nelson they used to turn opponents on their backs and rack up pins. Gordy coached the Nesses throughout their junior careers and taught them the famous move.
"Gordy show it to me when I was in third grade and we worked on it all the way through high school, worked on really perfecting it. We always called it the Morgan Half growing up," said Jayson. "You know, Dylan, being five years younger, by the time I was in third grade he was just starting to wrestle. He started doing it as soon as he started wrestling. He was already working on it."
Growing up, "Jayson and I worked on our top series and half-nelsons," said Dylan. "We learned that half-nelson series from the Morgan... [but] it's the Ness Half now. We took the name."
Name of the move aside, it's provided a lot of wins for the Nesses and a lot of team points for the Gophers in the past decade. Together, the Nesses have more pins than any combination of Gopher wrestlers not named Ness in the program's history, brothers or not.
Though they share that signature move, Jayson and Dylan look very different when they wrestle. That half-nelson became a staple of Jayson's repertoire, a key tool for an All-American known as a lanky tactician who ended more matches early with a pin than not. It wasn't the only strong move in his arsenal, but it was one of the most-used by someone who was defined by technical proficiency and tenacity. Fast forwarding to today, Dylan is, by his own definition, "unexpected." In a YouTube clip with more than 86,000 views, Big Ten commentators describe him as "highly combustible" after an electrifying move to pin fourth-ranked Dylan Alton of Penn State in front of a raucous, capacity crowd at the Sports Pavilion. Others have said his style is unpredictable, the result of endless hours spent watching film and incorporating a vast array of influences.
"Growing up, I watched so much film. Almost too much," Dylan recalled. "When I was in high school I watched every wrestler in every match. I could tell you what shoes guys wore. I would try to imitate every wrestler I saw. I would watch someone wrestle and then the next day at practice [I'd] try to do what they did."
"In practice, he used to drive me nuts," said Jay. "I talked to Marty Morgan one time about it. I said `he's imitating all these guys and he's driving me nuts.' And Marty said `Jay, relax. When he starts imitating the crummy guys, then you got to worry.' ... I learned, that's just Dylan. He loves to wrestle."
Same Difference
Beyond divergent wrestling styles, Dylan and Jayson are very different people. Jayson is quiet and measured. Dylan, sporting colorful sneakers and a flair for the dramatic, is the more outgoing of the two. One of the people who knows the two the best sees those differences.
"[Jayson is] like a lot of first-borns. They're very orientated, they're very controlled, they're very methodical about what they do," said Minnesota Head Wrestling Coach J Robinson. "The younger one (Dylan in this case) is a free spirit, caring, open to anything."
For all the ways Dylan and Jayson are different, they are still brothers, which creates a few undeniable similarities.
"Jayson is a little more reserved I guess and Dylan's a little more extroverted," Jay noted. "That what people see. But actually, they're a lot alike."
"The things that are important to them, their core root system, is exactly the same," said Robinson. "But they're getting where they're going in a different way."
Jayson's way led him to the final match - win or lose - of his career in 2010 in Omaha, Neb. It was the NCAA Championship match at 133 pounds against Daniel Dennis of Iowa. With 20 seconds left in the match, Dennis led Ness 4-2. In wrestling, a takedown is worth two points, so Jayson was wholly concentrated on that as the final seconds of his career melted away. To compare it to the sport his father played, what happened next is something like scoring the game-tying goal with seconds left on the clock and the goalie pulled, then putting the goalie back in and scoring again to win at the horn. With Dennis looking to play defense and run out the clock, Jayson made a slick duck-under move and took down Dennis with six seconds left to tie the match, then controlled him on his back as the match ended to score an additional two points for a near fall, winning the National Championship with a miraculous four-point surge just before time expired. As unlikely as that victory was, it was Jayson's way.
While his senior season remains largely unwritten at this point, Dylan's way has produced three seasons with the Gophers that mirror his older brother's, even if the way they go about so many things is different. Like Jayson, Dylan is a three-time All-American entering his final season. Like Jayson, Dylan has lost a national championship match at this point in his career. Like Jayson, expectations are high that he will capture that elusive National Championship as a senior. Those lofty expectations bring out yet another commonality the two share.
"Jayson really handles pressure situations well, and so does Dylan," said Jay. "The bigger the match, the higher performance you get from Dylan. Dylan loves crowds ... he just loves the atmosphere. He loves the spotlight."
Brotherly Advice
Jayson has been on the Minnesota coaching staff for four years, basically all of Dylan's career with the Maroon and Gold. Both boys grew up being coached by their father, so family involvement on the team is nothing new to either of them.
"People ask me about what it is like having your brother as your coach," said Dylan. "I say, `Well, he's been my coach my entire life and just because there's a label on it doesn't change anything for me.'"
"I try to be more of a big brother than a coach. That's kind of a hard thing to separate, but I try to be more of a brother," said Jayson. "I'll help him out here and there, but more for encouragement and support. Just be there for him."
If anyone in the Minnesota wrestling room understands Dylan, it's reasonable to assume it's his brother. But more than that, Jayson's been in those Nike wrestling shoes, figuratively, at least. That said, the two don't often discuss their career parallels, or what this season could mean for the family's legacy in the program.
"We haven't really talked about that," Jayson said with a bit of a shrug. "I keep telling him just keep wrestling the best you can. ... A lot of times what happens is guys go out there and they're so focused on winning, they just shut down. [Instead, if] you're wrestling your best, you're relaxed, you're having fun and there's no pressure. You're just competing."
When the two arrive at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis this March - one as a coach and the other as a wrestler - the spotlight will be shining brightly. The one on the Gopher bench will truly understand what the one on the mat is going through, having gone through a similar situation himself. And if Dylan were to ask Jayson for brotherly advice before he steps on to the mat, the reply would be the calm common sense that so often comes from a coach... or an older brother.
"If I had to say something to him, I'd say relax. Relax and have fun. Go out there and score points. That's all you have to do."
Players Mentioned
