The Ohio State graduate added a senior level world championship to his medal stand last weekend after securing the 61-kilogram gold in Budapest with an 8-4 win in the finals. Stieber's performance in the finals was nearly anticlimactic given that he won back-to-back matches in the quarterfinals and semifinals with last-second takedowns.
While the action on the mats was impressive, the buzz surrounding Stieber was almost more notable. After his quarterfinal win over the Russian many people in the arena (including staff) were cued into his semifinal match against Iran. As time ran down the majority of workers, delegates and staff were biting fingernails, arms crossed and staring at Logan to see if he could pull off another upset. He did, and those people (maybe less likely to root for Americans than other nations) began a raucous applause of respect and bewilderment. He was technical, aggressive and savvy -- everything European fans of wrestling enjoy watching on the mat.
Burroughs has his double leg, Snyder his stamina, but Stieber showcased something unique for an American wrestler -- creativity and adaptation. He was unique in finding turns, persistent in creating angles and aggressive from whistle to whistle. When the Iranian tied up his lead arm, Stieber adapted. To me that signaled a potential for another true American wrestling legend -- to be able to wrestler a European style, but with a distinctly American flare for the dramatic.
I'm not ashamed to say I cheered out loud for Stieber, something I try my best to limit while on the job. But in the end it was all too impressive and too important. A great day for Logan Stieber and all of USA Wrestling.
To your questions …
Brandon Eggum coaching at the NWCA All-Star Classic (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)Q: Minnesota has kept it together pretty well despite missing some key starters who are suspended. The Gophers had a strong performance in Las Vegas, and have started the season 3-1 in dual meets, which includes wins over South Dakota State and Michigan. Thoughts on the job Brandon Eggum has done so far leading Minnesota?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Brandon Eggum has been in the Gopher wrestling family for more than 20 years. He learned to wrestler under J Rob, lead under J Rob and refine his coaching under J Rob. From the outside, it's little surprise that he's been successful in delivering equal results through stability and accountability. We aren't in the room, but based on these results the wrestlers are adjusting to whatever quirks he may have, but their practices, techniques, lifts and culture are consistent with what J Rob provided for 30 years.
As a note, that win over Michigan showed me that the Gophers have the potential to head back to the top ten in the next two years, and could even be a team to consider for a top-three finish at the National Duals.
Q: I am wondering how Kyle Snyder can be enrolled in school and be out of the country wrestling instead of attending class.
-- John R.
Foley: I think that Snyder has limited overseas travel this semester. He's not living or training out of the country, just taking weeklong sojourns to compete against large Eastern European men with obscene amounts of back hair.
Snyder took off the first semester in 2015 for his Olympic redshirt, but was back in school the second semester in early 2016. From what he told me at the time they had to petition the professors to be a little more lenient, but once they saw his level of commitment to academics they were willing to accommodate his needs.
All's well.
Q: I heard Cael tried to enter Mark Hall in the Midlands, but was told the field was full. Don't you think they could have made room for Hall? Is there some friction between the Midlands organizers and Cael?
-- Mike C.
Foley: No friction.
The Northwestern wrestling program has been helping run the Midlands for decades. The tournament is historic, popular and delivers dependably deep brackets. While I think that you can be disappointed in not seeing Mark Hall compete at the tournament, the explanation for his absence is straightforward and devoid of controversy: registration was closed.
According the Northwestern wrestling staff, Coach Cael contacted them this week about adding Hall. The staff had been turning down extra entries for more than five weeks and they felt it was unfair to allow Hall to enter while simultaneously turning down other requests.
Being equitable and consistent is a reasonable and admirable position. I know that when I was a youngster I'd wanted to compete in that tournament, and was honored when I was accepted. Can only imagine that were I denied a late entry, but another late entry was granted access, I'd be ... well, pissed.
Good on these guys for making the right decision. Hopefully Hall will be in next year's tournament.
Q: Who was the most impressive wrestler at the World Championships last weekend?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Hard to argue against Mayu Mukaida (Japan), who posted 43 points on her four opponents while only giving up 2 points. I mean, Japanese or not, that's next-level stuff.
In the finals Mukuaida tech falled a three-time word finalist who she'd only beaten 5-1 earlier in the year at the Klippan Ladies Open.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Mayu Mukaida (Japan) with her gold medal performance
Logan Stieber's gold-medal match
Aaron Pico been liftin', huh?
Aaron Pico with J.D. Hawkins and Patrick PicoQ: Let's be honest, the non-Olympic weight World Championships in Hungary was essentially a junior varsity tournament. It was only open to those athletes who did not compete in the 2016 Olympics, which made it a tournament composed of second stringers. Why is it that UWW decided to adopt this model for World Championships? In the Olympic years of 2008 and 2012 the World Championships was held for women's freestyle for ALL the weight classes, even those that were included in the Olympic program. I assume this was done because similar to this year not all the weight classes were included in the Olympics. I get that having a tournament with all weight classes for all the styles would be costly, but it makes no sense to exclude athletes who did compete in the Olympics. Bringing in those athletes would raise the level of competition and bring about exciting matchups. Who wouldn't want to see a Haji Aliyev vs Logan Stieber matchup? Likewise it could have opened up the possibility of seeing Odunayo Adekuoroye bump up to 55 kilograms and attempt to become the first African to win a gold medal in women's freestyle.
Obviously, there would be no need to have a World Championships in the same year as the Olympics, but until all the weight classes are included in the Olympic program we will likely see some event that includes those weights that are excluded. Let's hope that in 2020 UWW decides to open up the field and ensure that it is open to any athlete that is designated by their national governing body for the competition instead of this year's format. Not doing so will leave us with the same event that we had this year, a junior varsity tournament.
-- Jacob R.
Foley: Rubbish. I like your hot takes, but there is nothing JV about the lineups brought by some of these countries. The fact that Olympians were restricted from competing had no influence on the tournament quality since a tournament held together with all 24 weights would have been similarly restrictive. The only difference I saw was in representation from South America. Since the tournament was announced after the first of the year many of these countries lacked the budget. Missing out on a Cuban certainly took a bit away from the tournament, but it wouldn't be a competitive demerit large enough to knock down the prestige of a world title.
Q: This week USA Wrestling announced the 2017 Freestyle World Team Trials will be held in Lincoln, Nebraska. Any thoughts on that selection?
-- Mike C.
Foley: USA Wrestling wants to draw an audience and heading to the home of what could be two world team members with ties to the University of Nebraska is certainly a smart play.
In today's Internet-first world, venue is not that important to 99 percent of wrestling fans who will only ever see the event through their computer screen. Like you, I tend to enjoy the action a touch more knowing there is a full house, but as long as there is streaming, archives and some discussion before and after the event I'm happy, as are the majority of fans.
That said, I'm certain that the University of Nebraska would love to see a full house so they can turn a profit off the event. Buy some tickets, people! Make a pilgrimage!
Q: Allowing wrestlers to roll across/expose their own back to the mat while neutral in folkstyle is hurting our guys' defense internationally, IMO. We've talked about the need for a pushout point, but what about the need for a rule to help folkstyle more closely reflect freestyle in this area, namely, back exposure rules? What kinds of rules could we include in folkstyle to keep guys from doing this without completely switching to freestyle?
-- Timmy B.
Foley: I've been mulling this over for a few days and think I've found a few solutions to the epidemic of self-exposure in college wrestling.
Let us first straighten out a few problem areas with the rampant scrambling seen in high school and college wrestling. The issue with a broadening of funky technique is that referees are given an immense amount of leeway from interpretation of control. With the funk becoming more technical with each scramble the length and complexity leaves the referees in a difficult, no-win decision to interpret control as given enough time the temporarily subdued wrestler will have time to gain a more neutral position. Referees' tolerance for scrambling is a change from ten years ago when wrestlers (like me in my first-round NCAA matchup with Alex Tirappelle) were considered taken down after being on the ankle for only a few seconds. This leniency has increased to the point where the wrestlers keep flopping around and the referee refuses to cite control, thinking the outcome could change given another second or two.
The solution could be to permit only two back exposures in any given scramble. Once you've tried for the funk, been countered and re-countered it's time to get your chests flat to the mat and find a new way to score. The other option could be to call back points without any control. The referee would not need to signal a takedown to add up some points. Once a back in exposed for one second a count starts and once there is a second swipes (roughly three seconds total) the other wrestlers I awarded two points. Once the wrestler receives a fifth swipe it's considered a takedown and four back points.
The sport has grown and while I think that it resembles grappling more than freestyle, I don't think it's directly hurting the United States' freestyle performance. I think pushouts and preventing back exposure may be helpful for the young folkstylers in their development, but unless the NCAA adopts freestyle rules it's really just trying to split the baby.
Q: Thoughts on Ed Ruth's potential as an MMA fighter? Here is a link to watch his latest victory.
-- Mike C.
Foley: Monster performance. With a touch more self-promotion I can see Ruth with a title shot in the next 18 months.
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