Wyoming coach Mark Branch ready to ride, whether it's horses or Camels: 'It's time to buckle up'

Cowboys welcome Campbell University to Deerwood Ranch this Friday on UFC FIGHT PASS

While the NCAA wrestling season kicked off just two weeks ago, the University of Wyoming has raced out to an awfully quick start, posting victories in three dual meets over the course of just a seven-day span.

Cowboys head coach Mark Branch has been steadily improving the quality of the team during his incredible 14-year tenure, but even he admits this year's group has a unique feel.

"It's been exciting so far," Branch said. "We have a lot of young kids in the lineup. We wrestled four true freshmen this weekend, and I think in our first dual, all four of them came out with bonus points, and so it's just refreshing to have some really young, hungry guys that want to make a splash and are excited to be out there competing. 

"We have a few veterans, and I think they need to feed off the energy of our young kids in some respects because, you know, sometimes you have some old habits that we've been trying to break, and to be honest, those young kids have really come in in the preseason and absorbed everything, and we're not really breaking old habits – we're creating new ones – and so, I definitely like what I'm seeing out of them."

Branch's squad will look to continue their early success this Friday, when they welcome Campbell University to Wyoming for an incredibly unique dual that will stream live on UFC FIGHT PASS. Rather than meeting on campus, the teams will clash at Deerwood Ranch Wild Horse EcoSanctuary in a matchup being deemed "Battle in the Barn."

Inspired by the recent "Battle at Liberty" at "Battle at Bragg" events that saw Campbell compete at an active military installation, Branch said he's excited to host a dual that will offer a real sense of life in The Cowboy State and is appreciative of Fighting Camels head coach Scotti Sentes for being willing to make the journey.

"I've been looking forward to this since last spring," Branch said. "I give a lot of credit to coach Sentes. He reached out to me and asked about the 'Battle at Bragg' and if I watched it last year, and I said, 'Yeah.' He asked if I'd be interested in doing that, and I said, 'Sure, that would be great,' and then he kind of flipped the script on me, which surprised me. He goes, 'What if we came out there and did something country?' and I'm like, 'All right, I'm listening.'"

Branch, a four-time All-American at Oklahoma State University during his own wrestling days, is no stranger to life on a ranch after 14 years in Wyoming, and he often takes his athletes outside to the mountainous terrain in the area for training. Those sessions provided inspiration for Friday's event, which promises to showcase one of the most unique backdrops the sport has ever seen.

"We're going to be packed in there, and it's going to be loud," Branch said. "It's going to be crazy, but it's definitely going to be something that you can't replicate, and we're really excited about it, and our guys have been fired up about it. I think it's cool to have something that's a little bit outside the box for our guys to get excited about. 

"I know a couple of years ago we were really close to wrestling in a baseball stadium, and my guys were just fired up at the prospect of maybe being involved in something that people are going to pay attention to across the country – maybe across the world – so our guys are really excited. I know Campbell is excited. It's going to be a super unique event. We've got some surprises coming in for the guys that are competing, and I think they're going to walk away with some good memories."

But the setting of Friday's dual isn't the only interesting storyline surrounding this dual. Wyoming features a pair of nationally ranked athletes in Jore Volk and Gabe Willochell, and the team is primed to make an impact in the Big 12 this year.

Branch welcomes the competition Campbell will provide for his team.

"This is definitely going to be the biggest test," Branch said. "I mean, there's no doubt about it. Watching film on Campbell this week, they're solid, and they wrestle hard, and I wouldn't expect anything less from Scotti's team. We've developed a good relationship through this, and I think we share a lot of the same ideals when it comes to training, when it comes to discipline, when it comes to preparation, philosophies. I think we have a lot of similarities, and I know they're a well-coached team. 

"They're going to be ready to scrap, and they are really solid, but I always see these things as a great opportunity for us, and especially with such a young team. It's like, you want to make a name for yourself? You want to get noticed? You want to get recognized? You've got to go beat guys like this, you know? And so you can't do it if you don't have the opportunity. They're going to have the opportunity this Friday, November 17."

Who will step up for the Cowboys in their stiffest test to date this season? Time will tell, but Branch believes his squad has the character to deliver, and he's looking forward to the opportunity.

"Wrestling is a fight, and you better go out there ready to go to war and you better fight the entire time that you're out there," Branch said. "If you do that, well, win or lose, we'll walk away and figure out how to get better. If you go out there and you don't fight for seven minutes, we've got bigger problems, so I keep it pretty simple, and I want you to go out and have fun and wrestle hard – but you fight from whistle to whistle, I'll be proud of you either way. 

"Like I said, we'll turn around, and win or lose, we're going to get better because we're going to have a lot of information if you go out and fight. You may have fought too hard and got a little reckless and maybe got out of position, maybe got sloppy, but we can fix those things. We can't fix guys that don't go out and fight. We've got to get that fight in them first, so that's it, man. Come ready. I'm going to have my chaps on and my spurs, and it's time to time to buckle up and get ready to ride that horse – or that camel, I guess."