Our Coaches
PAT smith
Smith made wrestling history when he became the first wrestler to win four NCAA Division I individual national championships. Competing for Oklahoma State University, he earned NCAA titles in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1994. He was a member of Oklahoma State teams that won the NCAA team titles in 1990 and 1994.
When Smith won the NCAA title as a freshman, he joined his older brothers Lee Roy and John as an NCAA titlist, making it the first time that three brothers had won NCAA Division I wrestling titles. During his career, Smith won four Big 12 Conference titles, only the third wrestler in Oklahoma State history to win four conference crowns.
He ended his college wrestling career with a 121-5-2 record. He set the Oklahoma State wrestling record for consecutive matches without a loss with 98 straight.
He ranks fourth in winning percentage (.953), fourth in career falls (46) and sixth in victories (121) in the storied history of Oklahoma State wrestling.
Smith has received numerous major awards during his career. He was named the 1994 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year. Smith was also one of just 15 athletes who were named to the 75th NCAA Anniversary Wrestling Team. He was inducted into the Oklahoma State Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
He also had a successful freestyle wrestling career, which included taking second place to three-time Olympian Kenny Monday at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Spokane, Wash. He won gold medals at two U.S. Olympic Festivals. Smith was second in the 1995 U.S. Nationals, and was a six-time All-American at the U.S. Nationals. He won a bronze medal at the 1997 World Cup. He also won USA Wrestling age-group national titles on the Espoir and Junior levels.
He has served as an assistant wrestling coach at Oklahoma State Univ. for 10 years. He has helped build the Cowboys into one of the nation’s best programs, working with head coach John Smith. He has worked with the middle weight wrestlers on the Cowboy team, and has personally coached six wrestlers to individual or multiple NCAA titles. Oklahoma State has won the NCAA Division I team title the last three years with Smith serving as one of the coaches (2003-2005).
Smith won three Oklahoma state high school titles for Del City High School (1987-89), and was twice named Outstanding Wrestler. A member of one of the nation’s top wrestling families, four Smith brothers were NCAA All-Americans for Oklahoma State (Lee Roy, John, Pat, Mark) and all four were state high school champions.
roosevelt hadley
Mr. Hadley was born in Chicago, IL which is also where he discovered his love of wrestling through a Chicago Park District youth wrestling program. Roosevelt’s first wrestling coach was David Johnson. He attended Morgan Park High School where he wrestled under the guidance of Coach Jim Duffy from ’88-’90. He attended UAPB in 1991 and he served three years with the Marines beginning in 1992. Roosevelt coached wrestling at his Chicago high school alma mater in 1997 and 1998.
Roosevelt returned to Arkansas in 1999 with his wife Telisa, whom he met in college. He volunteered to coach wrestling at the Arkansas School for the Blind, Hall High School and CAC when they moved back. Currently Mr. Hadley resides in Jacksonville with his wife Telisa and their 13 year old daughter. He has officiated wrestling for the last four years and still volunteers 10 hours a week coaching wrestling. “Wrestling is the best sport in the world because it teaches discipline. Wrestling is 10% physical and 90% mental. The one-on-one competition definitely builds confidence.”
Greg Hatcher
