In his 25th year as head coach, Minkel’s many years of experience has brought MSU’s wrestling program prestige and recognition. His 171 wins with MSU is second all-time, only behind former head coach Grady Peninger (1963-86), with 213. With this season being Minkel's last at MSU, the celebrated coach has a lot to reflect on before retirement.

Finding his calling

For Minkel, his historic wrestling career began when he was in fifth grade, after his mother, Jeanette, signed him up for a wrestling camp, and he found his lifelong calling shortly after.

“I was in elementary school and and my mother got be involved in some kind of wrestling event, and I immediately fell in love with it,” Minkel said. “I mean, I was just a child but I knew right away that it was something that I was meant for.”

By the time he was in middle school, Minkel had ambitions of beating wrestlers, which were grades above him, and before his freshman year of high school he was already preparing to make the varsity team. But to his surprise Minkel’s father, Clarence Minkel, a world-renowned geographer and administrator, moved his family to Guatemala City after taking a job there.

Just as Minkel was adjusting to life in Central America, he was still bettering himself and was constantly striving to become a better athlete. Minkel and his family would spend the next two years in Guatemala before his father accepted a new job, this time as the Acting Dean of the Graduate School at MSU.

Minkel and his family found themselves right outside of East Lansing, in Williamston. Minkel’s two years at Williamston High School allowed him to make a name for himself and for his school. He raised the eyebrows of many by becoming the school’s first state champion in wrestling.

After high school, Minkel was tasked with the decision of picking a college. After much consideration, he chose Central Michigan University so he could branch out from his family and begin his adult life.

Throughout college, Minkel continued to make a name for himself, as he was elected as a three time All-American, was named conference champion in 1969 and 1970 and is also the only wrestler in CMU history with an undefeated record (35-0-1) in dual meets.

After his successful collegiate career was in the books, Minkel and his wife, Jackie, decided to try their hand in the music business. Minkel, who played the guitar, and Jackie, who sang for the group, along with fellow band members and friends called themselves The Masque. Minkel and company would travel around the country for the next five years, from 1971-76. He toured more than 25 states and even landed a deal with Carnival Cruise Line. The Masque even performed with famous musical acts like rock 'n' roll legend Little Richard.

But even when he was on the road, wrestling always found a way to peak Minkel’s interest. When his band was touring in 1976, he took a few days off and went to Montreal to watch the Summer Olympics. To Minkel’s surprise, there were Olympians competing for the U.S. National team he had beaten in college and in his short time with the U.S. World team.

“I told my wife that if he could make an Olympic team than I could make an Olympic team,” Minkel said. “Of course the difference was he was training and I was out playing in nightclubs and we had went in different directions in terms of athletics.”

So that’s exactly what Minkel did. After The Masque’s touring contract expired in mid-1977, he and his wife moved back to Mt. Pleasant so he could revive his wrestling career.

Shortly after Minkel moved back to Mt. Pleasant to start training, he began his coaching career as a part-time assistant with his alma mater at Central Michigan. In 1978, Minkel took his career one step further and competed in the World Wrestling Championships for the U.S. in Mexico City. Just two years later, Minkel was on the U.S. Olympic team, but wasn’t able to compete because the United States withdrew from the games and boycotted because of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan.

Passing it on

Minkel’s wrestling career ended when he retired after he failed to make the 1984 Olympic team.  Nevertheless, years of hard work didn’t go unnoticed and Minkel would begin a new chapter in his life and take a serious role in coaching.

“Central hired me as an assistant coach and they paid me quarter-salary and later on I moved up to a part-time salary and then full-time,” Minkel said. “But during those training years, that’s when I started to coach and that’s when I realized that coaching was a possible profession and how much I enjoyed it, it was a fairly easy transition so it really worked out.”

From there, Minkel went on to serve in numerous coaching gigs with USA Wrestling, which included the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and the 1992 Olympic Games head coaching job in Barcelona. Minkel led the U.S. to three gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals, before he eventually wound up at MSU in 1991, where he's been ever since.

Aside from his praise and recognition on a national level, he brought MSU wrestling to levels it hasn’t been to in years. In his 25 seasons with the Spartans, Minkel has produced 38 All-Americans, 13 Big Ten championships and has had 13 teams place in the top 25 at the NCAA Championships.

Minkel has also produced two National Champions in Kelvin Jackson in 1995 and Franklin Gomez in 2009. Two of Minkel’s athletes, Gray Maynard and Rashad Evans, have fought in the UFC. 

But regardless of the consistent yield of successful results or his numerous personal acclamations, Minkel claims the rewarding feeling of developing an athlete is what he feels most accomplished about.

“My favorite part of coaching is the day-to-day routine,” Minkel said. “When you go down to work with a kid and you make some progress with a guy who’s struggling with whatever it is, maybe it’s his positioning or his technical skills but the impact that you have on the young men is extraordinary. ... You have an influence on their academics. You have an influence on their discipline and on their growth as individuals. You teach them how cope with success and failure and you just have this really strong bond with these young men."

Minkel has already started to hand over responsibilities to his successor, Roger Chandler. Chandler has been a part of Minkel’s staff since 1997 and was promoted to assistant coach in 2011. After nearly 20 years of working with Minkel, Chandler is sure he’ll be able to keep the program moving forward and he’s excited about the years to come.

“Tom has already turned a lot of stuff over to me administratively,” Chandler said. “I definitely have a lot more on my plate now. ... The biggest thing is getting athletes in here that will buy into the system, and buy into what we’re doing and where we want to go. Even in the conference that we’re in, it’s second to none in the country.”

Chandler also appreciates what Minkel has been able to do here at MSU throughout the years.

“Tom does a really good job of working with the guys one-on-one,” Chandler said. “Talking to them, explaining things, breaking things down he’s done a good job to the kids that buy in and to understanding the finer things, a lot of people overlook that and want to get to the bigger picture and Tom really changes their perspective on that and it tends to help them out in the long run.”

Along with the immense respect Minkel has earned throughout the sport of wrestling, he has gained trust from his players by giving them respect and expecting it back in return.

“He’s always been really encouraging in the sense of persevering and that there’s a bigger picture," fifth-year wrestling senior Joe Johnson said. "He really never gives up on people and that’s important. Even when I wasn’t able to wrestle, he showed that he cared and made sure I was getting healthy, getting ready to compete and looking more long term. ... He does a really good job at taking wrestling beyond itself and he knows that we are going to be in the real world soon."

The next step

Even at 66-years-young, Minkel not only practices with the team, but he continues to push himself and ensure that he stays as agile and nimble as ever. 

“He runs the entire runs, he runs the stadiums he plays soccer,” Johnson said. “He does everything that I will not do when I am that old and it’s really impressive. It’s hard to have a coach tell you to do something that he can’t do himself but with his age that would be acceptable but he doesn’t accept it, he keeps pushing.”

Instead of the typical retirement cliches such fishing or hunting, Minkel already has a good idea of what he’ll be doing after his time at MSU is through, and it most likely involves him sitting down at a poker table. Minkel looks at poker in a different light and sees it just as competitive as wrestling. In fact, Minkel competed in the World Series of Poker in 2010.

“Poker is 100 percent what I plan to do (after I retire),” Minkel said. “It has all the same elements that wrestling has. It’s about making decisions under pressure, keeping your composure when things go badly, being well-rested when the other guy is tired. And then there is a pretty significant mathematical component to it. I’m looking forward to being the competitor again, as opposed to the coach. It’s going to be fun.”

But until his final days finish up in June, he’s going to continue to push his team to do great things. He still takes practice one day at a time, gets in the office early, leaves the office late with the company of his 18-year-old hyacinth macaw, Indigo.

“I want to be remembered as someone who had a positive impact on the young men in this program,” Minkel said. “And if that’s my legacy, that’s certainly what I want it to be.”