David Taylor reacts as Joey McKenna states reason for joining Cowboy RTC at Oklahoma

David Taylor reacted to Joey McKenna's reason behind transferring to the Cowboy Regional Training Center at Oklahoma State in Stillwater. McKenna, the two-time Pan American Continental champion, was previously trained at the Pennsylvania Regional Training Center.

David Taylor gained recognition for his wrestling prowess at the NCAA level when he was part of the Penn State program. He won two National titles and Dan Hedge Trophies, besides four Big Ten titles in his collegiate years.

After capping his NCAA journey, Taylor joined the Oklahoma State program as a head coach and helped two wrestlers, Dean Hamiti and Wyatt Hendrickson, to national titles in his first season. Shortly after, he extended support to the former Ohio State wrestler, Joey McKenna, who joined the Cowboy RTC a while ago.

"Cowboy Joey"

David Taylor reacts to Joey McKenna's career update; Instagram - @magicmanosu

The latter shared that he partly wanted his career to come full circle since he started at the Pasquette Hills Cowboys. He also credited a conversation with David Taylor that motivated him to join.

"With the new change of coaching staff at Oklahoma State, there's a lot of excitement. I think there's a lot of power that the coaching staff has recently done what I want to do. They know what it takes to get to the highest level, to be a world champion, to be an Olympic champion. And this is wrestling country. There's a lot of tradition behind the Oklahoma State brand, the Oklahoma State program.."

"I came out here for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame event in June of 2024. And I got to sit down with David back then and just talk. You know, I was in the room just rolling out, looking at the wall, seeing cowboys. And I just had this thought in my mind. And it was interesting, this realization that the first ever wrestling club I wrestled for was the Pasquette Hills Cowboys. And so I thought it was pretty poetic, you know, pretty full-circle moment to kind of end my career as a cowboy."

Taylor was also a formidable wrestling name in the freestyle domain, having won the Olympic gold in the 2020 edition.

---

David Taylor recently hailed Oklahoma State's massive achievement as Wyatt Hendrickson won the Dan Hedge Trophy in 2025

Taylor at the Wrestling Senior World Championships Belgrade 2023 - (Source: Getty)

Taylor has started strong in his coaching journey, securing the 13-1 dual meet record and earning the Big 12 Conference title, among other laurels. At the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships, the 34-year-old witnessed two of his mentees win the title in the 174kg and 285kg categories.

Wyatt Hendrickson, who outshined the 2020 Tokyo Olympic heavyweight champion, Gable Stevenson, on the NCAA stage, earned the Dan Hedge Trophy. The honor garnered appreciation from head coach David Taylor, who shared the post on his Instagram story and wrote:

"Let's go Cowboy! 3rd wrestler in the Oklahoma State wrestling history to win the prestigious Dan Hodge Trophy (wrestling Heisman)"

Taylor won three World titles in the 86 kg category in 2018, 2022, and 2023.