This past week was a big one for college wrestling. The NCAA championships saw some incredible performances and record-breaking wins. It also saw… President Donald Trump and Elon Musk in the audience. In his latest episode of the Nickal and Dimes podcast, former Penn State wrestler Bo Nickal recalls seeing his friend, President Trump, and his senior advisor, Musk, at the NCAA championships. And though Nickal was elated with their attendance, he had some feedback for the NCAA organizational crew regarding the seating arrangement.

“You know what’s funny,” Nickal said when asked about the president of the United States and the world’s richest man being there, “They should have given him better seats; you couldn’t really see where he was at. You were right behind the coaches quarter, and they covered the majority of the mat.”

Surely the NCAA should have seen to better seats for their VIP guests, especially considering Nickal believes that their attendance would do some good for the sport at large, saying later in the podcast, “I’m glad they were there; I hope that pushes the sport forward a little bit and gets some more people interested in it.”

However, President Trump didn’t seem to mind it all too much, as, according to Anthony Cassar—former Penn State alum and friend of Nickal who co-hosts the podcast with him—who said, “Yeah, he seemed mad cool about taking pictures with all eight All Americans for each weight class. I was like right above him and he was interacting with so many people.” 

And this isn’t the first time President Trump has shown support for the sport. He even attended the NCAA championships back in 2023 and had some very supportive words for now five-time national title holder Carter Starocci. 

President Donald Trump’s relationship with NCAA wrestling

President Trump entered the 2025 NCAA championships at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia to resounding applause. He even posted a video of his reception to his X account, where much of the crowd of more than 11,000 can be heard chanting, “USA, USA.” Trump was seated next to Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick, billionaire and advisor Elon Musk, and Representative Jim Jordan…but behind the coaches quarters, as Bo Nickal mentioned.

President Trump stayed on afterwards to congratulate five-time NCAA title holder Carter Starocci on his record-breaking win. In an interview with Fox News, Starocci shared some of their conversation. “[He told me], ‘You’re one of my favorite wrestlers to watch in the world. I love your tenacity. I love your interviews.” Starocci said.

But this isn’t the first time Trump has been seen building a relationship with an NCAA champ. The president attended a UFC fight between Bo Nickal and Paul Craig last November, and when the Penn State alum proved his middleweight dominance, the president invited him out for a round of golf!

Which explains why Nickal so keenly stated in his podcast, “Trump, Dave Mccormick, Jim Jordan, all my boys, all my dawgs.” Though Musk didn’t get a personal shoutout, Nickal mentioned chatting with him for a bit, and didn’t discount the fact that, “It was really crazy for the president of the united states and the richest man in the world just to be sitting at the NCAA championships.”

Surely the president’s growing interest in the sport will give more exposure to the sport and invite an even larger audience next time. One can hope appearances like this pave the way for better futures for someone, somewhere, and perhaps the NCAA will take this on board and next time give the man a better seat.