Has Coleman Scott been tabbed as Cowboy Wrestling's heir apparent?

Dec. 7—Coleman Scott and his family were stuck in Los Angeles traffic when he received a phone call from Oklahoma State wrestling coach John Smith.

Smith wanted Scott to accept a demotion — step down as North Carolina's head coach and become the associate head coach at OSU, returning to the school where he was a student-athlete and began his coaching career.

Scott, 37, had a lot to consider. And in the L.A. traffic, he had plenty of time.

He had just finished his eighth year with the Tar Heels and had taken them to their fifth consecutive top 20 national finish, which was the most successful run for the program since the late '80s. He appeared to be a made man on the verge of something special in Chapel Hill, but Smith's phone call changed the trajectory of his career.

"I was loving life and doing my thing out there and really enjoyed my time and was grateful and thankful for the opportunity I had out there, and we were sort of just getting rolling in my mind," Scott said. "My family loved it out there but really just a call from Coach and he explained what his mindset was, and he sort of had me from there."

Why Scott would renounce the power he had at North Carolina and upend his family isn't clear, unless one chooses to make this leap: He's being lined up to one day succeed one of the greatest coaches in college wrestling history.

Zack Esposito, OSU's former associate coach of 21 years, accepting USA Wrestling's National freestyle developmental coaching job the day before Scott announced his resignation backs this theory. Did Esposito sense that he wasn't the top candidate to replace the 58-year-old Smith?

Neither Smith nor Scott have explicitly stated what the change signals in the long term.

"That's above my head. I don't make those decisions," Scott said. "I'm just here to help Cowboy Wrestling and see where we can go. If it's an opportunity, it's an opportunity. I'm in a great place and love what I'm doing and love where I live. That's what I view it as."

The coaches holding their cards is a good move if the speculation is true.

What's not are the majority of cases of teams publicly naming somebody as the successor, only to have things not turn out the way they were intended. Nobody can predict the future.

A worthy candidate?

Smith recruited Scott, a three-time state champion from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, and the 2004 Junior Schalles Award — awarded to nation's the best scholastic pinner.

At OSU, Scott compiled a record of 120-24 and became one of 15 four-time All-Americans in program history. He was the 2008 NCAA champion at 133 pounds, and the Pokes won the team title in his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Scott was a volunteer assistant from 2012 to 2014 and was then hired as a full-time assistant with North Carolina. Just one year later, he was named the head coach.

He left the Tar Heels with the second-best winning percentage in program history after coaching 16 All-Americans and North Carolina's second two-time national champion, Austin O'Connor.

Like any viable coaching candidate, he has put the work in.

Smith in November said Scott's success with individuals "at a hard place to coach" impressed him.

"It was not a real difficult decision for me," Smith said. "I think he's got a great demeanor with the student-athlete, and in the end up to this point, it's been really good."

This season presents itself as a fork in the road for the most successful program in intercollegiate athletics history.

The Cowboys finished the 2022-23 season with their worst NCAA Wrestling Championships placement ever (18th) and scored the fewest points in a national tournament since the modern scoring era began in 2001 (28.5).

On Dec. 2, they placed ninth at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational. It was a good outing for a young team but not a great one for a historic one. Izaak Olejnik, the redshirt senior transfer via Northern Illinois, was the team's big standout as he went 6-0 to win the 165-pound title and was named Big 12 Co-Wrestler of the Week.

It's a phenomenal early return for Scott, using Smith's litmus test of success with individuals.

Yet, if the day comes when Scott emerges as Cowboy Wrestling's next head coach, it would take boundless optimism to forecast a Smithian level of success. Scott could turn out to be the best coach in the country and still not match the success of Smith, who has won five team titles as coach and has led 33 individuals and counting to championships.

But the very thought that Scott might be under consideration is a good sign: he was a winner as a competitor and coach, and he is an OSU man at heart.

"I love being back," Scott said. "I really do believe we're in a great spot pushing forward not just this year, but in the future."