Aiming for excellence: What I learned from Ohio State’s national champion pistol team

Graham Knapp
Thu, 29 Jan 2026 04:02:10 +0000
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A member of the Ohio State pistol team poses for a photo on Media Day. Credit: Ohio State Athletics

Ten national titles since 2000.
Six titles since 2018.
Five straight championships, including 2025.

Ask sports fans about Ohio State champions and they may think of football or women’s hockey. But tucked inside Converse Hall is one of the most successful teams on campus: pistol.

I can’t blame fans for overlooking the greatness of this team. Until recently, I was one of them. That changes now.

To better understand the sport, I went firsthand to learn from head coach Emil Milev how Ohio State continues to shoot at such an elite level.

Milev, a five-time Olympian and one of the most accomplished pistol athletes in the world, said the secret to success comes down to patience.

“Like any other sport, it requires you to want to do it,” Milev said. “The progress is very incremental, and you have to have the desire to go through the difficult moments, but finding fun in the repetition.”

Milev was not kidding.

The moment I stepped into practice, athletes were already deep into “dry fire” drills, repeatedly lifting the pistol, rotating the shoulder and setting it back down for 15 straight minutes. No targets. No noise. Just precision. The margin for error was razor thin, and attention to detail was everything.

After watching, it was my turn.

Milev led me back to his office and handed me an empty mock pistol. It looked nothing like the stereotypical firearm. The wooden grip was custom molded to fit the shooter’s hand exactly, designed for comfort and absolute consistency.

Then we went to the range.

How hard could it be to lift the pistol, rotate my shoulder and set it back down?

Very hard.

Within seconds, Milev was correcting me. My hips were misaligned. My shoulder was not high enough. My wrist was bent. Each adjustment revealed another mistake. No matter how many times I reset, nothing felt natural or controlled.

I looked exactly like what I was, a beginner.

I tried again and again, searching for any sense of rhythm or comfort, but it never came. Every repetition demanded total focus, and even then, perfection felt impossibly far away.

Before wrapping up, I asked sophomore shooter Blaine Simpson what separates Ohio State from everyone else. His answer came without hesitation.

“The first factor is obviously the coaching,” Simpson said. “Coach Milev is the best coach in the world, in my opinion. Our culture of accountability and respect, constantly pushing each other and relying on each other to get done what we need to get done.”

As I left Converse Hall, my arm ached and my aim was nonexistent. But I walked away with a new appreciation for the patience, discipline and precision behind every shot.

The pistol team may not draw 100,000 fans, but their quiet excellence defines what it truly means to be a Buckeye champion.