Cornell wrestling’s Dean returns to competition

Back in 2017, Gabe Dean went down as one of the greatest wrestlers in Cornell University history after winning a pair of national championships. Since then, he’s exclusively been on the Big Red staff as an assistant coach. On Oct. 31, he’ll make his return to the mat as part of an eight-man, one-night tournament held by FloWrestling.

The competition will be held in Texas in the same place where Lansing’s Kyle Dake defeated Olympic bronze medalist Frank Chamizo in July. Dean was at the event with Dake, so he already has a feel for the venue and was contacted by FloWrestling to take part in the tournament. With his regular training at Cornell practices, Dean feels more than ready to end his three-year retirement.

“I’m pretty up there, eight or nine [out of 10],” Dean said of his readiness. “I got to fine-tune some things. … I compete in the room with all these great wrestlers on a daily basis. Like I said, I have to fine-tune things, but I’ll be ready to go come Oct. 31. I’ll make sure of it.”

Dean has a little over a month to get to where he wants to be in preparation for the tournament. The prospects of ramping up once again have him eager to get back on the map.

“It’s actually really exciting,” Dean said. “I’m really looking forward to it, just the challenge, the preparation and everything that goes into it. I’m just looking forward to the opportunity. I haven’t competed in a long time. It’s been about three and a half years. It’s just the timing with everything the way that it is. It just worked out.”

While he’s remained in the wrestling room constantly since retiring, there’s a different mentality necessary for competition. Dean talked about what he’ll have to do to return to form and why he stepped away in the first place.

“To prepare yourself for a big-time competition, there’s a lot that goes into it: your diet, your training, your attention to details, the way that you’re peaking and everything,” Dean said. “It’s just to get back in that mindset. I’ve been so about our kids and our recruiting trail and building our program. I retired because I didn’t ever want to take away from our kids. I wanted it to be about them. I wanted it to be about their goals and everything that they have in front of them.”

Dean’s passion is still building the next generation of great Cornell wrestlers, but getting those competitive juices flowing again was too enticing to turn down.

“During this time, we’re under a lot of constraints,” Dean said of his Cornell coaching duties. “I can get myself ready and compete in this. It just seemed like a really fun challenge that I’m excited to take on. Being a part of our program, we encourage our kids and our staff and everybody to go directly at new challenges and things that get our blood flowing. This is one of those things.”

Dean believes he’ll arrive at the competition at the end of October a better wrestler than he was back when he retired due to all the time he’s spent around fellow Cornell coaches Rob Koll, Mike Grey and Kyle Dake.

“I’m just in a room that’s surrounded by wrestling knowledge, the best of the best in our country,” Dean said. “It’s some of the best in the world. I just think being a part of that environment has been incredibly healthy in terms of growth. I don’t know if I was the most technical wrestler in college, but my technique has blossomed since I’ve been a part of the staff post-college competing.”

Competition wasn’t necessarily on Dean’s radar at all. There wasn’t an urge to get back on the mat and wrestle due to his full commitment to coaching.

“It just kind of appeared,” Dean said. “An opportunity appeared. I just find myself feeling grateful that I get to do that and that Flo put this event together. I don’t know if I had any dire itch myself to come out of retirement or do anything like that, but they put this together, and it just is an opportunity and I’m excited. Not a lot of people get to do stuff like this in their lives, and I’m thankful that I get to.”

Dean has a big challenge ahead of him. After not competing for three years, he’ll have to win three matches in one night to win the grand prize of $20,000. The event will be held Oct. 31 and will be streamed live on FloWrestling.com.