It did not take very long for Carl Albert State College to figure out who it wanted to succeed Jake Lords as its Vikings wrestling coach when Lords, who started both the men’s and women’s programs for CASC, took a men’s wrestling job at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan.
Lords’ assistant coach Nathan Marek was hired to become the new Vikings coach earlier this month.
“I’m super excited,” Marek said. “I’m excited for this incoming recruiting class. My biggest philosophy in coaching is brotherhood and building that family bond. I’m going to have a good group of guys coming in. Being their head coach and having them trust me is making me excited for this next year. I think we have a really solid chance at becoming a top-four team in the country (in NJCAA Division II).”
Marek definitely believes it will be an advantage that he was the Vikings’ assistant coach last season, thus he knows the current wrestlers aswellasthosecoming inasfreshmanforthe202526 season.
“It’s definitely going to make the transition a lot easier,” Marek said. “When new coaches coming in, it is usually a whole new process with a new group of guys. It’s hard to build a team culture for a couple of years. That’s why I’m also excited (to become the new CASC Vikings wrestling coach) because I’m already going to know the guys. They all trust me. We’er going to hit the ground running. It’s really a good opportunity to have.”
The new CASC Vikings wrestling coach is going to make sure his team will get the community involved.
“We’re going to have a lot more community support,” Marek said. “We’re going to involve the little league Vikings (Viking Youth Wrestling Club). We’ll have a Little League Viking Night where we’ll have some little league wrestlers paired up with the (CASC) wrestlers, so when they go out and shake hands they (little leaguers) will go out for that. We plan on doing a lot of community service in town. We have a lot of great community support. We’ll have about 200 people there. It will be loud. We plan on supporting children’s hospitals, and helping out with the little league (Vikings Youth Wrestling Club).”
Fans will notice the competition will be a lot stronger and stiffer for the Vikings when the 2025-26 season will begin in November.
“We also plan on competing at a higher level,” Marek said. “We have a dual with the University of Arkansas-Little Rock to start the season off. We’ll dual Ouachita Baptist twice. We’ll dual Oklahoma City University. We’re just chasing that top competition. We have a lot of good guys coming in. We expect a team that is going to be really tough and chasing that national team title.”
Marek does not have any issues with following Lords, who is the one who built both the Vikings’ and Lady Vikings’ programs from scratch.
“We have a very similar coaching philosophy,” Marek said. “Our biggest thing will be family and brotherhood, and it’s been established here. I don’t worry so much about filling his shoes, although they are big to fill. He’s done a lot of good things here. I think pressure has always been a privilege of mine, wrestling at the top levels in college. When things get stressful, I get excited. I want to see how much I can make of this. I’m very looking forward to it. I love my job. I’m appreciative every day I wake up.”
