David Taylor was pretty clear when he announced his decision to retire in May. Speaking to the press after being unveiled as the new head coach at Oklahoma State University, Taylor said his ” inner fire started to dwindle” and that his career as an active competitor was done. This decision had come after failure in the U.S. Olympic Trials and looked like a new beginning for him. However, four months later, the wrestler known as the “Magic Man” pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

In a surprise turn of events, Taylor announced his decision to return to the mat to compete once again. Donning his singlet once again, the three-time world champion competed in the US Senior World Team Trials in Omaha, Nebraska on September 14. Taylor was able to run through the competition and qualify for the World Wrestling Championships in Tirana, Albania in October. But what does his return to the mat mean for the Oklahoma State’s wrestling team?

There could be a worry that Taylor’s commitment to securing a fourth world title could hamper his efforts at OSU. It could prove to be a difficult task to balance personal goals with those underlined at Oklahoma. However, he quickly found support from OSU has a different opinion. In fact, the college was supportive and actually decided to break the news of Taylor’s return to competition on September 12.

OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg clarified the program’s stance and their backing of Taylor’s ambitions. “I think it’s a great thing any time that we can put the brand of the programme out in the wrestling world,” he said before the World Trials.

As Taylor gets ready for the World Wrestling Championships in Albania, it is evident that he is not returning as the man he left. He is coming back to conquer and remind the world why he is ‘The Magic Man.’ And as of now, Taylor is doing a great job of the same. On the first day of the Trials, Taylor started with a match that set the tone. He went up against NCAA champion Michael Macchiavello and All-Americans Trent Hidlay and Marcus Coleman and comfortably won.

That put Taylor in the best-of-three finals matchup against Zahid Valencia. After three wins, David Taylor was back on the World Team, cementing his spot on the team for the sixth time in the last seven years.

After the trials, Taylor was unsure of competing again as he mentioned, “Am I going to go to the World Championships? I don’t know. I still got to talk to the team, I got a lot of stuff going on. We (Oklahoma) have got a lot of momentum and we want to be national champions. My responsibility (lies) there.”

However, he seems ready to compete at the highest level again and earn that fourth world title. But how will his return to the world stage fare? He is not the first college wrestling coach to compete at the top level in the sports

Who will Taylor replicate as he treads a unique path

David Taylor is not the first to balance the tightrope of coaching and competing. He is, in fact, following the footsteps of his former coach, Cael Sanderson. After his retirement, he stepped into Penn State as a coach, where he was mentoring Taylor. However, in 2011, he too came back to wrestle again and finished fifth at the World Championships.

The parallels between Sanderson and Taylor are hard to ignore. Much like Taylor, Sanderson also wore his singlet again when he was in a full-time coaching role. But Sanderson did not have the results that he expected. However, Taylor has another person to look up to for inspiration.

John Smith, whom Taylor replaced as head coach at OSUwon his second Olympic gold medal at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics just months after finishing his first season as the Cowboys’ head coach. So whose path will Taylor follow?

This is not going to be an easy journey. David Taylor is likely to go against “The Tank.” Yes, that’s right! Taylor could go against the five-time world champion Abdulrashid Sadulaev!

It might just be time to settle it all on the mat. All eyes on the 2024 Senior World Championships with Coach Taylor hoping to add to his legacy.