North Carolina State wrestling's Pat Popolizio puts friendship aside for CFFC Match Day opener
Wolfpack head coach welcomes healthy competition with Presbyterian College's Mark Cody on UFC FIGHT PASS.
In the relatively tight-knit community of college wrestling, it's not unusual for mentors to later become rivals – at least temporarily – as student is forced to try and outsmart his former teacher. Such is the case when North Carolina State University and Presbyterian College clash at the "Battle at Liberty" this Wednesday on UFC FIGHT PASS in the debut event of CFFC Match Day.
North Carolina State wrestling head coach Pat Popolizio wrestled for Presbyterian College leader Mark Cody during their shared time at Oklahoma State University and then later served under him as an assistant coach at American University. Now the two will square off as equals at North Carolina's Fort Liberty in the two squads' season-opening contests.
"Coach Cody was my college coach when I was at Oklahoma State, so he's been a great mentor for me, and I know he's going to do wonderful things with that program, starting really from ground zero – and he's building it up really fast," Popolizio said. "I think this is a good thing for him, too, to showcase his team and go out there and compete. Obviously, you know, we do have a good history and tradition, so I think it's going to help elevate his program as well as get our guys ready, and, you know, he's going to have 10 guys that are out there battling, and he probably has some under-the-radar guys right now that no one knows about, so we just don't want to fall victim of any of those upsets."
The Wolfpack and Blue Hose will close the show at the "Battle at Liberty" following an additional dual that sees Campbell University take on Army West Point. The inaugural CFFC Match Day event takes place inside an active military facility – the same venue that was used for UFC FIGHT PASS' historic "Battle at Bragg" event in 2022 – and Popolizio said his team is excited to showcase their talents in such a unique environment.
"It'll be a cool atmosphere," Popolizio said. "Seen pictures from last year's event. It looked first-class, so guys are definitely excited to be down there in that atmosphere."
But beyond the historic and incredibly unique nature of the event, there's some business to be done. The North Carolina State team features top talent in every weight class, has earned five straight Atlantic Coast Conference titles, and expectations are high for the squad that enters the the start of the year in the No. 6 slot in the nation in IntermatWrestle.com's pre-season dual poll and return All-Americans Trint Hidlay, Ed Scott and Kai Orine.
"You're always going to have those guys that have accomplished great things for us, but we do have some guys that are ready to break out and have a phenomenal year," Popolizio said. "One of them coming off of kind of a medical redshirt, Jakob Camacho, I think he's got a lot of good wins, quality wins under his belt, got to wrestle two NCAA tournaments and then had to take a year off last year and had a really good off-season and is looking forward to going out and competing right from the rip to win a national title this year, so I like where he's at.
"Jackson Arrington's another guy who was a round-of-12 last year that has made a huge, huge jump in our room, and I think he's going to be a force to be reckoned with this season. His expectations are extremely high, so you had those three guys and put those two in the mix. We also have a couple other ranked guys that are pretty high, so it should be a fun year with this team that we have and ultimately get those guys ready for the NCAA tournament."
Popolizio believes he'll have a number of top finishers at the 2024 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in March, and most pre-season pundits agree. But Wednesday's event is about more than just a single season, but rather an effort between CFFC and UFC FIGHT PASS to help elevate the profile of college wrestling.
Popolizio believes it's a worthwhile effort and one that is deserving of your time during this inaugural run of CFFC Match Day.
"I think you're starting to see a lot of growth with college wrestling and dual meets," Popolizio said. "Our fanbase here alone has grown tremendously over the years because of dual meets, and so the more exposure that we can get at the national level, I think the better it's going to be for the sport, for the athletes.
"There are going to be some great duals that are already lined up for this season, and as the season progresses, the intensity will, as well, so it's going to be a fun dualing season."
And it starts against a familiar face in Cody, but one that Popolizio insists will simply make for friendly competition over the course of 10 contests.
"We're all used to competing, so for two hours that day, we cannot be friends and put our best guys out there and let them battle it out," Popolizio said. "But no, he's had a tremendous impact in my college career – and then more so more than anything, gave me a good coaching opportunity. I was his assistant coach when he was at American, so a lot of the way that we operate with our culture and things that we do here, a lot of his philosophy is implemented at NC State, and he's well aware of that."
