Coach Green's Friday Mailbag (5/22/2026)

What's up, gangstas?  Plenty of great questions to answer, so let's get right into it

What’s an aspect of folkstyle that you prefer as compared to freestyle and vice versa? - Dylan (Rhino) Ryan

That's a really tough one, Rhino.  I guess I would say the ability to earn additional points while holding an opponent on their back.  For sure, I have been frustrated in matches before when an athlete hits a big, dominant move and holds them on their back for a long time, and the score is only two.  We used to have a hold-down point.  

Where do you feel the biggest benefits of NIL, RTC’s, and RAF have helped student athletes and post grad athletes and what are some of the fears or biggest negatives that have happened to this point and moving forward?  - Kevin Claunch

Hey, I think it is awesome that a kid can go out and make money now, especially when he is using his own image to do camps, clinics, sell gear, etc...There is a pathway for income, a variety of pathways that actually never existed before.  So years of work can be rewarded.  

My biggest fear is tougher, because I have a lot.  We have always had a competitive imbalance at the NCAA level - all sports do.  But this has exacerbated that.  Bigger than that, though, is my worry with younger athletes is that no one is preparing them to have these massive paydays and the money is getting burned through like the Washington Nationals bullpen.  It isn't an issue for some kids, but I know some situations where a kid spent $75k in two weeks, no degree, in the portal again, and is racking up surgeries.  We gotta find a way to do better.

Excluding Mike Macch at Army. What is the best fit for a coaching hire so far this year? - Mike B

Clearly, it is Scott Green at New York Military Academy.

A bunch of new faces in new AND familiar places, but my eyes are on two.  Hayden Hidlay back  in Raleigh and Anthony Ashnault in Rut-gahs.  Both are giving off Prodigal Son vibes.  It's a neat dynamic as they should hit the ground running in programs they are very familiar with.  I imagine there will be high expectations for both, as neither are rookie coaches anymore.   I'm a big fan of both kids, so I'm gonna be watching.

I saw Shane Sparks talk about this on Twitter. When was the first NCAA Tournament you went to in person and what were some of the highlights? - Albert M.

The crazy truth is, I never went to NCAAs until I coached in it. I was a crazy coach when I was younger, so I was at a FS/GR tourney in Syracuse that weekend every year, or finding other places for my athletes to wrestle. So, my first year at Binghamton was in St Louis. I think we had one kid and he won a match. My lasting impression of the weekend was how bad it sucked to be sitting in the coaching corral watching other people's kids wrestle and that I never wanted to do that again. That being said, I had some club kids from my previous gig do pretty well that weekend, so it wasn't a total loss

Explain Paris/ Trumble for me. I have never experienced anything like that- JCover

You could give me 100 mailbags and I couldn't do it. I just think they got it wrong, period. I've actually seen kids wrestle their way into "strangulation" a few times- there is a Greco guy on the circuit right now who does it on purpose when things get tight so he passes himself out. I don't think that was the case here. Trumble had a tight, legal hold. There were options available for Mason and he chose to keep wrestling and trying to score points. The result should have stood.

I'm also surprised that Paris was allowed to continue after the fact. Probably a bad look to bring a guy back from unconsciousness matside and get him going again. I know it was probably ok, but I hope that doesn't become a thing. If they thought it was "strangulation" and the kid is out, have a protest procedure and wrestle it later.

All in all, a bit of a goat rodeo and a shame to see.

Special shout out on the MB this week to all my guys graduating from West Point and commissioning into the US Army as 2LTs. Congrats guys.

Have a great weekend!