Life is a little sweeter for Jason Maurer these days. Smiles, never in short supply before, are even more frequent. For Maurer, now in his third year as wresting coach at Buffalo, a windowless wrestling room is a little slice of heaven.

And why shouldn't it be? Barley six months ago, he was flat on his back on a softball field, a victim of a complete cardiac arrest at age 34. Staying alive was the only thing that mattered.

"It wasn't like it was something I could see coming," said Maurer, a 1998 Buffalo graduate. "I'm a big guy, but my heart was OK. There weren't any blockages or anything. I found out that it was just too big."

In this case, having a big heart didn't mean he was a softy. Maurer's abnormally large ticker, a genetic anomaly, stopped for nearly two minutes that early June evening. One minute he was returning to the bench after an at-bat in a men's league softball game. The next he had two softball fields of players rushing to his aid and trying to revive him.

"There was a doctor on the other team," Maurer said. "And the next field over was a game with police and paramedics. So I guess there were a lot of people to help out. Thing is, I don't remember any of it."

Maurer was taken to the hospital in Buffalo before being transported to the University of Minnesota. Word spread among those he coached that he was in bad shape.

Maurer still deals with speech difficulties when he gets tired. His wrestlers say they just listen more closely.

"I think I broke down crying right away," junior heavyweight Robert Sahli said. "We went down to the hospital that night. He's meant so much to the wrestling program, and he's been a great coach to me."

Visitors were frequent, but Maurer's condition and the medications used to combat it kept him in a semi-permanent fog.

"I'd go down there to see him every day," senior captain Hunter Durand said. "He doesn't remember that."

The damage to Maurer's health was significant. His motor skills took a big hit, as did his ability to speak. Extreme fatigue cropped up frequently and was a constant concern.

When he left the hospital for good a month later, a pacemaker and a defibrillator had been permanently inserted in his chest. Months of rehabilitation lay ahead, yet the idea of stepping down as the head wrestling coach never crossed his mind.

"Everything just happened so fast," Maurer said. "First it was the hospital and then it was coming home, and then school starting and then coaching. I never had the chance to think about it."

Maurer, who teaches special education at Buffalo, tried to ease back into coaching in the fall as an assistant with the football team. But the residual effects of his trauma were still too prominent and he backed away from that commitment about month into the season.

"I was just getting too tired," he said. "I'd have to leave and go home and take a nap."

Two months later, his stamina has returned. "I feel like I'm almost back to where I was before everything happened," he said.

Now the biggest hurdle is his speech. The slurring of his words, which was pronounced when he first tried to come back, is lessening. But it worsens when he gets tired.

Other than that, his wrestlers agree that he's back to being the same old Coach Maurer.

"We still joke with him and have fun," junior Adam Treptau said. "We make sure we pay attention more in the wrestling room because when he gets tired, it gets hard to understand him."

Maurer agrees that communication with his wrestlers has been trying at times.

"That's probably the biggest thing," he said. "I've had to talk to some of the younger wrestlers to let them know what happened and why I might be slurring my words. Sometimes I have to repeat myself, and that's frustrating."

While he hasn't sought attention for health issues, Maurer admitted that he's not above using it to get his point across.

"I'm like any coach and use all the tools in my coaching toolbox," he said.

The Bison, coming off an 11-victory season, have responded well to Maurer's sooner-than-expected return to coaching. He's provided the inspiration his team needs to continue to improve. Durand, for example, has dedicated his season to Maurer. Others say that having him come back so quickly is all the motivation they need to get better.

''He came back from being dead to be here," Treptau said. "If he can do that, we all know we can do a little more."

Jim Paulsen • 612-673-7737