Ask HQ wrestling beat writer Bob Asmussen if Illinois ever was in the picture for Sanderson here

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Cheerleaders waved pom-poms, the lights dimmed and about 500 fans cheered and rose to their feet as Cael Sanderson walked out for his official introduction as the new wrestling coach at Penn State.

He stopped at a podium set up in the middle of the Rec Hall floor under the scoreboard, right where the wrestling mat is laid out for home meets.

Quite fitting for an Olympic gold medalist and undefeated four-time NCAA champion who made waves in the college wrestling world when he accepted the Penn State job last week. The moved ended Sanderson's hugely successful three-year coaching run at his alma mater, Iowa State.

"I don't really have a lot to say right now ... I'm ready to get my feet on the ground and start moving," a soft-spoken Sanderson said to the crowd. "My plans are big, and my vision is big. It's just a matter of getting it done."

Sanderson, 29, is held in high regard in wrestling circles. Some fans throw out superlatives like "the Michael Jordan of college wrestling" in describing his feats on the mat.

He's not bad at coaching, either.

The Cyclones were an elite program under Sanderson, finishing in the top five at nationals each year of his tenure. Over the three years, all 30 of his wrestlers qualified for the NCAAs.

He's looking to build the same success at Penn State, which has had wrestling since 1909. The Nittany Lions won their only national title in 1953; the program had finished in the top 10 at the NCAA championships for most of the 1980s and 1990s before becoming inconsistent during the 11-year tenure of Troy Sunderland. He resigned earlier this month.

Iowa State has won seven NCAA wrestling titles, most recently in 1987.
Asked what attracted him to Happy Valley, Sanderson listed the challenge of building Penn State and the quality of Pennsylvania high school wrestling.

"Pennsylvania has the best high school wrestling the country. Or second to Utah," joked Sanderson, a native of Heber City, Utah. "This is a school that people want to come to ... I knew about Penn State when I was a little kid."

He sidestepped a question about salary during a news conference.
In a blog posting Sunday on his personal Web site, Sanderson wrote, "I have answered many questions where people are speculating that I got a $1 million dollar contract ... or something ridiculous like that. The truth is that the offer I received was less than a 10 percent increase from what I made last year."

A 2008 analysis by the Des Moines Register found that Sanderson's base salary of $110,000 was tied with Oklahoma's Jack Spates for highest among Division I wrestling coaches.

"The reasons I'm here are simple. I've said several times it's not anything about financials," Sanderson said. "It's about the unique situation that Penn State University has. It's really that simple."

Curley also declined comment about salary, citing university policy not to release such information.

"He certainly deserves to be paid as one of the top coaches in the country," Curley said.

Tom Elling, who runs the Web site "Pennsylvania Wrestling" and has covered the sport since 1973, said he was stunned by Sanderson's hiring.

"There is no wrestling person in the nation that would be better than Cael Sanderson. He is the ultimate," Elling said. "When you have someone like Cael Sanderson, (Penn State) has the magnet to take it to the next level."

Sanderson's high-profile introduction was a marked change at typically reserved Penn State — as was his hiring itself. The Nittany Lions had a reputation for filling coaching vacancies with candidates who had ties to the university.

Coupled with women's basketball coach Coquese Washington, who was hired two years ago, Curley's last two coaching hires among the school's higher-profile programs haven't had Penn State ties.

"Every situation is different," Curley said. "We're trying to attract the best coach, the best candidate for the position regardless if they have a Penn State background or not. Certainly, if they do ... it's certainly a nice benefit."