Articles: Articleshttps://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/page/8/?d=1Articles: ArticlesenFoley's Friday Mailbag: February 17, 2017https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-february-17-2017-r82291/
By the time you read this entry the United States will have already won or lost their match, but regardless of the outcome some real signposts for the future have been planted.

The first major takeaway is that the team is well-coached. The American system for training can be a bit detached, with local coaches assuming much of the day-to-day training and the national team coaches left to prepare for individual matchups. The science of preparation for individual opponents seems to be at an all-time high with Coach Bill Zadick, a fact that either drives, or compliments the team's innate confidence. Down early? Down late? No problem, Team USA seems to always have an answer.

Maybe this takeaway will be muted Friday, but when tallying these early Freestyle World Cup results with the performance at the 2016 World Championships, the future of USA Wrestling has never looked brighter.

To your questions …

David Taylor defeated Jake Herbert at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Q: David Taylor has looked awfully good at the Freestyle World Cup. Are you taking Taylor, J'den Cox or someone else as Team USA's representative at 86 kilograms at this year's World Championships?
-- Mike C.

Foley: Taylor had a tremendous opening day at the 2017 Freestyle World Cup. Without Kyle Dake in the 86-kilogram bracket I think that we could see a very real battle between Taylor and J'den Cox for the World Team spot (followed closely by Richard Perry).

While Cox has been floating around the college scene all year it would be a mistake to look at DT's gains and not balance them with similar maturity on the part of Cox. He can wrestle anywhere and find his way to the podium and with only a handful of losses in his first season of senior level freestyle I still like Cox's chance to hold the spot.

Proposal for NCAA rule changes
By David F.

This proposal is to make collegiate wrestling more exciting and align to Olympic/freestyle wrestling.

  • Enforce out of bounds and the pushout rule
    If a wrestler walks backwards (intentionally or unintentionally) out of bounds, is pushed out of bounds or fleas the mat, then it is 1 point for the wrestler who stayed in bounds.

  • Award back-exposure points in scramble positions
    I'm all for a good scrambles in college wrestling, but things are getting a bit out of hand, especially with how good these kids are getting at scrambling. If a wrestler in a scramble position exposes his/her back (intentionally or unintentionally) for longer than a referee three count, whether from neutral position or the starting referee position, then the other wrestler is awarded 2 points. Similar to exposure rules in freestyle wrestling.

  • Break up the scoring and overall concept of riding time
    I'm guessing that not many like to watch the snore ride or the aggressive cuddling that has become riding time in college wrestling. To enhance our product we need wrestling to align with freestyle and have wrestlers trying to score from their feet or the top position.

    I propose that if a wrestler is taken down, then the top wrestler has 30 seconds to turn the bottom wrestler. If no exposure or pinning move is in effect at the end of 30 seconds, then the referee will stand both wrestlers back up, as if it was a stalemate. Logistically speaking the second referee would be in charge of clock awareness with the scorer's table.

    If the bottom wrestler is put on their back within the 30-second ride (by cradle, tilt, arm-bar, etc.) and gets back to his base (breaks the hold of the offensive wrestler, belly's out & is not pinned), then both wrestlers will be put back on their feet to continue from the neutral position.

    The bottom wrestler will still be awarded a 1-point escape if actively pursuing to get back to the neutral position and freeing themselves from top control within the 30-second rideouts. Also, reversal would still be 2 points, then that top wrestler would have 30 seconds to turn the bottom wrestler.

    The biggest change to riding time that I would make is if the top/offensive wrestler has two (full) 30-second rideouts, then they would be awarded a point. This would be the case for either wrestler that had top control for a full minute (two 30-second rideouts) and would rid the idea of "erasing" riding time and the technicalities of clock maintenance for riding time. Also, if a wrestler were to score two additional takedowns and another two (full) 30-second rideouts, after already being awarded 1 point, they would be given an additional point. Hence, every 1 minute of full riding = 1 point.

    I think these changes would bring more excitement to the college mat without completely altering the current product of college wrestling. Also, I believe these rules could be easier explained to the newcomer or casual fan of our sport (let's face it, it's never easy to explain riding time to a noob), as points are being awarded to the aggressor and it's a closer model to freestyle wrestling.

    Proposal for NWCA Division I National Duals
    By Mike M.

    A large part of the NCAA wrestling discussions this week surround the NWCA Division I National Duals matchups, what rules or lack of allowed those matchups and the format in general.

    I believe it's obvious the only way everyone is going to buy in currently is if it makes sense from a financial perspective. What would the magic number be for a minimal payout for a school to, for lack of a better term, be forced to participate?

    Here would be my proposal for a format change. But from a fiscal perspective, I don't know if there is enough incentive to get everyone to buy in with this type of format.

  • Championship Committee handles team rankings. The rankings initial release is the first week of December and is updated weekly.

  • Dual Championships will be held in one location on one day. Early session for Round 1 matches, late session for championship match. No third-place match.

  • Dual Championship will be held on the last Saturday of January to give more of a buffer before conference tournaments.

  • Four teams are invited based on the final rankings that will be posted two weeks prior to the National Duals date.

  • No more than two teams from any one conference will be allowed to participate.

  • At least three conferences must be represented.

  • The initial seeding it based on ranking.

  • If two teams from the same conference have wrestled each other already in the current season, they will not be matched up in the opening round regardless of seed.

  • The only way two teams from the same conference would be matched up in the first round is if they haven't wrestled yet met in the current season and the other two teams have already wrestled each other in the current season.

  • Participating schools will split a percentage of the gate, with the finalist receiving a slight bump (finalists 15% of gate, other two schools 10%). Possibly a percent of the sale of the TV rights as well.

  • Host the NWCA open tournament with a Journeymen type round-robin format on the same day or prior/following day in a location at or near the venue hosting the National Duals. This will allow schools to leave that date open and have travel arrangements already in place.

    Q: I'm really interested in your thoughts on what that magic number is to make it financially worth it for a program to participate in the Division I National Duals. Until everyone participates the prestige of being crowned the champion isn't going to establish itself. Once the prestige establishes itself it would seem the financial incentive would be less of a deciding factor.
    -- David M.

    Foley: First I love the ideas here. It's the type of thinking the NCAA and NWCA could use, though I imagine politics would be played out behind the scenes.

    To financially incentivize you would need to move to a cash prize system, but based in the way that the NCAA operates a direct financial payout for a victory on the field would NEVER be kosher. In a parallel universe it would be $100,000, $50,000 and $25,000 for the top three teams. Maybe you could get a one-time TV and streaming deal, but I'd be interested to see how that was brokered.

    Q: I'm a little frustrated that we're not seeing Iowa and Virginia Tech wrestle at the NWCA Division I National Duals. It seems like Tom Brands wants nothing to do with wrestling Virginia Tech. I don't think Iowa is afraid of Virginia Tech, but it seems like it's related to what happened over a decade ago with Brent Metcalf, Jay Borschel and others. Any thoughts on this?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I don't think that Tom Brands and Kevin Dresser get along super well. I don't think there is significant incentive for Iowa to compete against Virginia Tech without at least a semblance of the national title at stake. I don't think Brands is scared of Virginia Tech.

    This is very clearly not a black and white matter of principle. This is a collection of matters that has built up over the years between the NWCA, NCAA and some personal gruff. The end result is that two teams -- who control their schedule -- are choosing to not wrestle. While I'd love to see these two take the mats against each other this season, I'm not super upset at Iowa for not taking the matchup.

    If you're an Iowa guy, where's the upside?

    Q: What's the latest with Aaron Pico? Will he be wrestling for a spot on the World Team? I thought I read somewhere that he will be making his Bellator debut this year, but I could be wrong.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: You read correctly. He is expected to make his Bellator debut in July.

    Q: As it stands today, which teams do you think will produce the most All-Americans in St. Louis? Penn State and Oklahoma State will most likely have their fair share of NCAA placers, but what other teams do you think will have an impressive showing at the NCAAs?
    -- Sean M.

    Foley: Penn State with seven All-Americans. Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech each with six All-Americans. Iowa with five and Ohio State with four.

    Q: Johny Hendricks has had a successful MMA career, but has struggled a lot with his weight and is on the back side of his career. He fights Hector Lombard this weekend. Any predictions on that fight?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: This is a fascinating matchup. Both men are large one-punch fighters with platinum grappling credentials. Johny will find Hector to be a handful on the cage, but if he can weather an early storm of haymakers and overhooks he can tire out the Cuban judoka-turned Aussie fighter. If he fails to prepare for Hector's right hand, or was deficient in his strength training leading up to this weight class move, then Johny could face a very short, very painful night in the Octagon.

    COMMENT OF THE WEEK
    By Joe S.

    Every season there is a lot of hand-wringing about the number of forfeits in dual meets, the ducking of opponents to protect seeds or to avoid additional opportunities for tactical adjustment, the scheduling of weak opponents, the skipping of tough tournaments, etc. It seems to me that these problems are really symptoms of a simple, core truth that isn't being addressed: wrestling is a physically demanding combat sport for which a heavy load of competitions is not in the best interest of the athlete. David Taylor candidly remarked recently that his current great form is the result of a training formula that is supplemented by about 25-30 matches annually, and of course in freestyle that might mean just one tournament every other month. To do more competitions has the negatives of greater risk of injury, fatigue, inability to peak, not to mention the problems of making weight more often.

    Maybe by accepting this fact and reconstructing the NCAA season accordingly we could have healthier participants and offer a better product of major and minor events (chosen during the season to meet the athlete's needs) culminating in the NCAA tournament.]]>82291Fri, 17 Feb 2017 06:42:38 +0000Foley's Friday Mailbag: February 10, 2017https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-february-10-2017-r82201/
    The series has gone through a few iterations in the past few years and though attendance has been great for many dual meets this season, the series itself hasn't captured the imagination of fans and athletes. That is caused by many factors, not the least of which is a lack of larger influence on the teams and their wrestlers. Stake-driven matchups and dual meets with immediate consequences are the only way fans, wrestlers and the media will start to make a bigger investment in the sport and its future.

    Speaking of investment, it was announced this week that Wyoming Seminary will start a women's wrestling program next year -- a move that was met with plenty of cheer. This was an awesome move by one of the nation's top programs and one of the steps necessary to get our girls into the mainstream!

    To your questions ..

    Kyle Dake finished runner-up at the 2016 Olympic Team Trials at 86 kilograms (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Seeing Kyle Dake beat up on Alex Dieringer was a bit strange. I expected Dake to win, but that was a tad lopsided. Both had legendary achievements in college. It illustrates how hard it is to win on the international level. Only six wrestlers qualify for the Olympics now due to the reduced weight classes. If we look at the last quad there were 40 NCAA champs (10 weight classes x 4 years), only 29 individuals won titles, since some won multiple times. Of the six freestyle Olympians in 2016, only four were Division I NCAA champs and only two of those were from this past quad. It shows just how elite that next level really is.
    -- Chad L.

    Foley: That next level really is really NEXT LEVEL. Kyle Dake is a total flamethrower right now. I've been down on him the past few years, but only because he wasn't "wrestling" during his matches. When he did there was magic. When he was in blocking and tackling mode he lacked that spark that makes him special. When he's conservative he can be much less effective from start to finish.

    Kyle Snyder during the national anthem before Ohio State wrestled Arizona State (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: I don't understand the rules that allow Kyle Snyder to remain a college amateur. He can't be a full-time student with all his travel. I also thought that the Olympic winners were given a cash prize ($250,00?). So what am I missing here?
    -- Ed

    Foley: He can! Not too much travel for a guy like Snyder to take a week here or there. Think about the college basketball and football players. Those guys miss weeks upon weeks in a row and are often accommodated. Snyder is an Olympic champion and the academic staff at Ohio State is certain to know that success and want to play a part in his success.

    From what I understand Snyder's money is held in escrow until he graduates.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    The 2017 Freestyle World Cup is on. The USA has a difficult draw, but there is a lot of talent on the team that could result in some head-turning results.

    Wrestling at the Super Bowl

    Q: Do you see more major tournaments using a format like the Paris International tournament, with a mix of women's freestyle, men's freestyle, and Greco-Roman competing each day? Would this ever be an option logistically for the World Championships or Olympics? I really like the format, and feel it gives better exposure to all of the styles.
    -- Gabe S.

    Foley: That happens every so often and I'm confident you'll be seeing much more of that format in the future, too. Wrestling likes the cross-pollination and has looked to achieve this at every world championship for more than a decade. The bigger question is when will this be the norm for the NCAA?

    Q: I'm excited for Penn State vs. Oklahoma State in the NWCA Division I National Duals championship. I would love to hear your weight-by-weight predictions on that dual meet.
    -- Darren D.

    Foley: Penn State 25 , Oklahoma State 8
    125: No. 2 Nick Suriano (Penn State) dec. No. 11 Nick Piccininni (Oklahoma State), 5-1 (3-0 PSU)
    133: No. 3 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State) maj. dec. George Carpenter (Penn State), 13-1 (4-3 OSU)
    141: No. 1 Dean Heil (Oklahoma State) maj. dec. No. 11 Jimmy Gulibon (Penn State), 9-1 (8-3 OSU)
    149: No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) dec. No. 3 Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State), 9-2 (8-6 OSU)
    157: No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Joe Smith (Oklahoma State), 7-3 (9-8 PSU)
    165: No. 4 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) dec. No. 8 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State), 9-4 (12-8 PSU)
    174: No. 7 Mark Hall (Penn State) dec. No. 9 Kyle Crutchmer (Oklahoma State), 4-3 (15-8 PSU)
    184: No. 2 Bo Nickal (Penn State) maj. dec. No. 6 Nolan Boyd (Oklahoma State), 14-5, (19-8 PSU)
    197: No. 9 Matt McCutcheon (Penn State) dec. No. 8 Preston Weigel (Oklahoma State), 4-1 (22-8 PSU)
    285: No. 3 Nick Nevills (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Austin Schafer (Oklahoma State), 3-2 (25-8 PSU)]]>    82201Fri, 10 Feb 2017 13:42:26 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: February 3, 2017https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-february-3-2017-r82125/
    While the politics behind the issue may look problematic, the mechanics on why Team USA might be restricted from travel is ordinary. When the President of the United States signed an executive order barring Iranians -- and citizens from six other countries -- from entering the United States, he initiated a series of reciprocal protocols against citizens of the United States traveling to those seven countries.

    The limitation of movement by Iran, and later Iraq, are common reactions to this type of travel restriction by another country. Anyone who has traveled to Brazil has likely dealt with all types of hurdles with visas, registration, and even disclosing bank account information. The reason the Brazilians ask for that information is because the U.S. government asks that of their visiting citizens. Hence, reciprocity.

    No matter how common a response, the wrestling world was left in limbo.

    Like our wrestlers, I was also meant to travel to Iran for the World Cup -- the third time I'd be traveling to the country in three years. However, due to the travel ban and subsequent reciprocal measures, I can't attend the World Cup (even if the U.S. visas are approved). I was looking forward to tea with my friends, photographing the countryside and sharing meals with my coworkers. I'm disappointed that it will no longer happen, but the larger loss is to those who will never visit Iran. How else can they interact with a culture they'll never see, taste, or feel up close but for journalists, photographers and videographers?

    No matter your politics more interaction improves understanding and leads to a world with more empathy and understanding. As citizens, we can improve our dialogue, expand our comfort zone and learn about those we'd otherwise never consider. There is an exchange of ideas and trust that you simply can't acquire without personal interaction, or a common thread through the sport of wrestling.

    I hope that our wrestlers are awarded their visas and travel safely to Iran. I don't want that trip to happen just for the wrestling, but also so that they can return and tell family, friends and fans about the real Iran -- the people, not the government. Conversely, it would be wonderful for more Iranians to learn more about the American people and try for a moment to forget about the words of our government and instead look at the character of our citizens.

    Let there be diplomacy. Let there be wrestling.

    To your questions …

    Pat Downey gets his hand raised after a victory at the NCAAs (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Did you happen to read Pat Downey's Twitter this past week? If so, what did you make of his comments?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Well, from what I gather he took a heel turn and started a Mac Life (Conor McGregor) approach to pre-match provocation with Gabe Dean. I appreciate the effort, but those in wrestling (and jiu-jitsu) need to recognize that these are not fighting sports. You don't have a full arsenal of attacks, which means every besting of another man comes with an asterisk.

    I could do without the hype, but I also recognize that could make me sound like an old fuddy-duddy.


    Q: Why did the USA spend the money to send so many (something like 17) wrestlers to Paris only to have them wrestle each other. It was not a major international tournament. The Dave Schultz Memorial is this coming weekend in Colorado, where they all could have competed at a much lower cost. Who does pay these travel expenses? USA wrestling? Clubs? The wrestlers themselves? Doesn't seem to make good economic sense.
    -- JM

    Foley: The Paris tournament is traditionally a pretty tough tourney. Until a week before the tournament it was reported that Iran was sending 2016 Olympic champion Hassan Yazdani Charati (Iran) to compete at 86 kilograms along with a handful of other Iranian standouts. Olympic bronze medalist Frank Chamizo (Italy) was also scheduled to attend, but changed tactics at the last minute.

    Unfortunately, there is still some trouble securing guaranteed competition at early season competitions, and while the travel might have seemed excessive, remember that the World Championships will also be held in Paris, giving the wrestlers (and coaches/staff) a little more insight into travel, accommodation and food. Also, although they did wrestle each other, the simple fact of making weight overseas and working one's self through a tournament is good for most guys, especially Kyle Dake who hasn't wrestled in many overseas tournament over the past three years.

    Would it have been nice to have more competition? Absolutely. Will USA Wrestling take that into account for next year? Most likely. Waste of time and money? Not in my opinion.

    Q: The United States had great success this past weekend highlighted by Kyle Snyder winning Yarygin. Is Paris an open tournament where any U.S. wrestler could enter and Yarygin by invitation only based on international wrestling success?
    -- David D.

    Foley: Kyle Snyder's dominating performance at the Yarygin was one of the most welcome surprises of the week! It seems that more than most wrestlers, Snyder faces a lot of questions about his ability to keep winning. Overseas fans doubted him after he won the 2015 World Championships and heading into the 2016 Olympics you would have thought he was an outside shot to medal, if you'd only read blogs.

    Again, Snyder proved that he's always improving and put on an absolute whipping in Krasnoyarsk. Plenty for him to be proud of, and for the American fan to cheer.

    Only one thing was missing in Krasnoyarsk … Abdulrashid Sadulaev, who is reported to be making his way up to 97 kilograms.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Kyle Dake on FIRE

    Kyle Snyder takes Yarygin

    Q: The more I thought about this, I think let's stick with the 2-point takedown. Give the person on bottom 30 seconds to get out. If he gets ridden out for the 30 seconds the top wrestler can let a guy up without giving up a point for the escape. We could also remove riding time as well. This would create a more aggressive match I feel. What are your thoughts on that?
    -- Nick D.

    Foley: We are of one mind. NCAA wrestling needs to do a lot to clean up their rule set and incentivizes action. Like it or not, the action within freestyle is proving to be a more consumable product. Fans, coaches and wrestlers want more engagement and I think that it's time for the NCAA to deliver on their mission to develop the rules.

    Q: So, ISU. Want to speculate about a possible replacement for Coach Jackson? They need a big name. Iowa State has been bad for too long.
    -- John G.

    Foley: Top five candidates:

    Kevin Dresser (Virginia Tech)
    Pat Poplizio (NC State)
    Travis Paulson (Iowa State)
    Mark Perry (Illinois)
    Chris Bono (South Dakota State)

    To me it's clear that any job Kevin Dresser wants he would get, Iowa State included. He built the Virginia Tech wrestling program up from a lower place we now see the Cyclones. He teaches the technique of the sport better than most, motivates extremely well and is an institutional type leader.

    Next up could be Pat Popolizio, though I wonder if Iowa State would fit his goals. For now, he seems to be a better fit for the culture he created at NC State -- tough, fun and unique in style.

    Chris Bono is the second-best option for the Cyclones, but even as his personal story would progress full circle, I don't know enough about his relationships with the administration or the alumni, and both play the primary role in recruiting and signing a new head coach. He's showing early signs of creating a competitive program at South Dakota State and given extra resources it's not unforeseeable that he could make Iowa State into a top five program.

    Paulson and Perry would both be solid choices, but I think the school will first look to tap an experienced head coach before handing the keys to an assistant.

    Q: Does Ohio State have a shot to knock off Penn State tonight? Kyle Snyder will be back in the Buckeye lineup!
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The promotion for this dual meet has been fantastic. The Ohio State fans are expected to wear all black and the school has already sold more than 10,000 seats. If Penn State comes out flat they'll be in a dog fight for the W.

    Ohio State 20, Penn State 18
    125: Nick Suriano (PSU) dec. Jose Rodriguez (OSU), 11-8 (3-0 PSU)
    133: Nathan Tomasello (OSU) pinned George Carpenter (PSU)/Triston Law (6-3 OSU)
    141: Luke Pletcher (OSU) dec. Jimmy Gulibon (PSU), 9-4 (9-3 OSU)
    149: Zain Retherford (PSU) dec. Micah Jordan (OSU), 8-3 (9-6 OSU)
    157: Jason Nolf (PSU) tech. fall Anthony DeCarlo (OSU), 15-0 (11-9 PSU)
    165: Vincenzo Joseph (PSU) dec. Cody Burcher (OSU), 10-4 (14-9 PSU)
    174: Bo Jordan (OSU) dec. Mark Hall (PSU), 5-1 (14-12 PSU)
    184: Bo Nickal (PSU) maj. dec. Myles Martin (OSU), 11-2 (18-12 PSU)
    197: Kollin Moore (OSU) dec. Matt McCutcheon (PSU), 6-3 (18-15 PSU)
    285: Kyle Snyder (OSU) tech. fall Nick Nevills (PSU), 21-6 (20-18 OSU)]]>    82125Fri, 03 Feb 2017 06:06:23 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: January 27, 2017https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-january-27-2017-r82052/
    The saga surrounding the Gophers is winding down, and with the team outperforming expectations, all seems well in the Big Ten. Let's hope that their program, and others around the NCAA, can avoid this type of negative publicity in the future. Good luck to the Gophers and Coach Eggum.

    To your questions …

    Jim Zalesky coaching at the Pac-12 Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: What are your thoughts on the Oregon State wrestling program? More specifically do you think Jim Zalesky's job is at risk? He has no doubt done some wonderful things to the program, but over the years a lot of his highly touted recruits seem to consistently underperform their expectations, especially in their upperclassmen years (Mike Mangrum and R.J. Pena immediately come to mind). I feel like very few of his wrestlers peak and their development seems more stagnant in their time with the program than anything else. Couple that with their run of form as of late and I can't help but things may be a bit bleak for the Beavers.
    -- Dan L.

    Foley: Oregon State has a very proud wrestling tradition and hired Jim Zalesky to help them create a powerhouse West Coast presence. While he enjoyed some success the first 8-10 years at the helm, that success has waned and the Pacific dominance is being challenged by a resurgent Stanford program, an upstart Cal Poly program and an Arizona State team that has future NCAA champions floating in the lineup.

    Win or be replaced is what college athletics is about and if Coach Zalesky can't find more wins in the conference, a higher NCAA finish or an NCAA champion or two, then it's not difficult to imagine the school moving in a new direction.

    Q: I know it's all speculation and projection at this point, but I would be interested in hearing five candidates to take over as head wrestling coach at Pitt. Seems like a program with a lot of potential if they get the right coach in place.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The situation at Pitt is still developing and the impact of the wrestlers' actions might not be known for several months. We've seen with Minnesota that there is almost no way to determine how the administration will respond.

    If the Panthers are looking to become a powerhouse wrestling program it'll require that they make an investment in securing a top-level coach. Right now the top prospects will need to be woo'ed with a big budget, promises of administrative support and a hefty salary.

    Luckily for Pitt the school is in the single most powerful wrestling area in the country. Capitalizing on the school's location to land recruits should not be difficult.

    Here is my list for Pitt:

    1. Jody Strittmatter, Young Guns Wrestling Club
    2. Damion Hahn, Cornell
    3. Casey Cunningham, Penn State
    4. Scott and Josh Moore, Lock Haven and Cleveland State
    5. Matt Kocher, Pitt

    Q: Thoughts on Mark Hall? Do you think he can be in the top four come March?
    -- Ryan P.

    Foley: Mark Hall is very talented and well coached. Mark Hall can win big matches. Mark Hall's loss was not the end of his career or Penn State's title dreams.

    However, I do think the match exposed some flaws in Mark Hall's collegiate wrestling style. He's very upright, lacks a variety of attacks and displayed little top control. While he was stronger and more able on his feet than other high schoolers in scholastic wrestling, he's lost those advantages in college. I've said he was an All-American candidate this season and will stick to that prediction. He can place top 5-8, but I have trouble seeing him in the national finals and wouldn't be shocked if he didn't place in St. Louis.

    Q: What did you make of Brandon Sorensen nearly upsetting Zain Retherford last Friday? Has Sorensen closed the gap? Or was it just an off night for Retherford?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I was very impressed with Brandon Sorensen's effort last week, but also impressed with his technical finish to that first single leg -- locked the hip, set the table and drove forward.

    To me, Penn State looked off all night. They lacked some of the punch we'd seen out of their program in other big duals and certainly at the NCAAs. They typically wrestle with the enthusiasm of someone like Bo Nickal, more than the bleak post-apocalyptic facial expressions of Retherford!

    As for betting odds, I'd place the Retherford-Sorensen rematch as a pick 'em.

    Q: I noticed the rankings this week, and decided to take a closer look at the Penn State-Oklahoma State head-to-head matchup. I'm not going to dispute the individual rankings, but they do create a conflict when assessing the team battle.

    The question: If InterMat has PSU out-ranking Oklahoma State in 7 out of 10 weight classes, how can InterMat then rank Oklahoma State as the No. 1 dual meet team?

    Not trying to influence where this lands, but this is not possible based on the current team scoring system. Any thoughts?
    -- Chris W.

    Foley: From the InterMat rankings committee …

    Oklahoma State started the season ranked No. 1 and has gone undefeated, beating several ranked teams, including Iowa, Cornell, Minnesota, Oklahoma and South Dakota State. The Cowboys have not done anything to surrender their No. 1 ranking. Penn State started the season ranked No. 4. The Nittany Lions have continued to climb the rankings based on their dual meet results … and now sit at No. 2. While Penn State may be favored in more matches against Oklahoma State -- and may win on paper -- Oklahoma State remains No. 1 based on where they started the season and their season results. After the season begins, InterMat's dual meet rankings are based on dual meet results, not which team wins on paper.

    If the rankings hold, Oklahoma and Penn State will meet in the NWCA Division I National Duals finals. Obviously, if Penn State wins they become the No. 1 dual meet team. However, until Oklahoma State does something to surrender their No. 1 ranking, they will remain No. 1.

    Penn State moved to No. 1 in the tournament rankings, which is based on the rankings of their individual wrestlers.


    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Luke Pletcher wins Twitter


    Q: After reading Mark's piece on Jean Hazewinkel, I was struck by the fact that her twin sons, Jim and Dave, were able to jump into wrestling during high school and find immediate success in the sport, and this makes me wonder whether it's possible for athletes today to replicate this type of wrestling success in light of early sport specialization and the many other factors that surround youth athletics today. There's a lot at play here, and I don't know whether it's even possible to make this sort of analysis as I'm sure it depends on a lot of factors (i.e. locale), but I wanted to run it by you since I primarily have a soccer background and am only a casual wrestling fan.
    -- Evan B.

    Foley: There is a lot to unpack when determining the ability of a young wrestler to excel at the high school and collegiate level.

    First, the athleticism of the wrestler is most important. If he's coming in from gymnastics (Mark Schultz) then there is certainly no limit to what you teach them on the mat. Given the right incubator and balance between competition and technique there is some success one could expect.

    However, with the younger specialization what happens more often is that their relative success tends to draw more coaching resources from the lesser-talented individuals, regardless of their long term trajectory. Even high school coaches need to win to keep their job.

    I think the best approach might be to introduce young kids to wrestling skills while also giving them ample experience in body-knowledge sports like gymnastics. Recent work by those in education seems to show that movement is the best indicator of athletic development, not necessarily competition. Might be worth a think for some parents.

    Q: With all of the talk of making NCAA wrestling more offensive/exciting, why not make a takedown worth 2.5 points? It seems a lot of guys get a first-period takedown then try to ride that out to the end of the match stalling and exchanging escapes for a narrow victory. This would also award the more aggressive wrestler who is able to get multiple takedowns a larger lead, in turn forcing their opponent to become more offensive minded.
    -- Chris C.

    Foley: Why wouldn't it just be 3 points per takedown? Alternatively they could stop giving a point for the escape …

    I think most coaches -- including Tom Brands -- are requesting an overhaul of the rules via a meeting of top coaches and the rules committee. The tinkering of the rules over the past few years has left us with an odd product. The out of bounds rules are a sore subject for many analysts and while watching with my wife she noted that it made absolutely no sense that out of bounds was not indeed out of bounds. That led to an existential discussion of what is and is not in-bounds. Painful stuff.

    Q: I was trying to go through each weight class and see who will be the likely No. 1 seed at NCAAs and I realized there is a good chance every No. 1 seed will be undefeated come NCAAs:

    125: Thomas Gilman
    133: Nathan Tomasello
    141: Dean Heil
    149: Zain Retherford
    157: Jason Nolf
    165: Isaiah Martinez
    174: Bo Jordan
    184: Gabe Dean
    197: J'den Cox
    285: Kyle Snyder

    What I also realized is that unless Zahid Valencia gets the No. 1 seed over Bo Jordan (or obviously an upset like Nick Suriano over Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark over Nathan Tomasello, etc.), every No. 1 seed would not only be undefeated but they would've been the preseason consensus No. 1. Do you see these 10 wrestlers going in undefeated going into NCAAs? Do you know if something like this happened before?
    -- Eric B.

    Foley: I think that having the top guys undefeated at this point in the season is very possible as there are more tournaments in the early season as well as out of conference dual meets. That should change in the next few weeks as more Big Ten schools and close rivals begin to butt heads.

    If all 10 go undefeated? Then yes, that would be highly uncommon and has never (to my knowledge) happened in any other year. The normal number of undefeated national champions is 3-5 with some years coming in heavier. All 10 would almost certainly be unprecedented.

    Q: Kyle Snyder is going to miss the Ohio State-Iowa dual this weekend because he'll be at the Yarygin. However, I noticed that the World Cup in Tehran which Kyle is scheduled go to also looks like it overlaps with the NWCA Division I National Duals. While it's unlikely Ohio State will beat both Iowa and Penn State (even assuming Snyder is back for that dual), if the Buckeyes did go in the National Duals as the No. 1 or No. 2 team wrestling for the championship, do you think Kyle should consider wrestling in that instead of the World Cup, giving Ohio State its best shot at winning it?
    -- Eric B.

    Foley: I don't think Kyle is going to the World Cup in Kermanshah, leaving him available to compete at the NWCA Division I National Duals.

    Q: The NCAA was supposed to announce the sites for the 2019-2022 NCAA championships last month. Have you heard anything?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Nothing.]]>    82052Fri, 27 Jan 2017 07:32:21 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: January 20, 2017https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-january-20-2017-r81970/
    From all indications Kerrigan Kohnen is an example of the latter. A one-time wrestler, the Twitter personality has been accused of not delivering on shoe sales, falsifying donations to Pin Cancer and myriad other accusations too long to list here. A recent spike in pushback forced Kohnen to privatize his email, which is a bad look for someone hoping to maintain or defend themselves from accusations such as fraud.

    Conman or not, just be aware that he has a less-than-sterling reputation and that you shouldn't send him money or goods, and neither should your kids.

    The more you know.

    To your questions …

    Kyle Snyder won by major decision over ASU's Tanner Hall (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Has there ever been a college wrestler doing what Kyle Snyder is doing, as far as international pretty much full time, a dual here and there, then the Big Tens and NCAAs? Last year he was 3-0 entering the Big Tens. He's 4-0 this year, and will likely wrestle in a few more duals, but the Yarygin is coming up and that will send him to Russia for a while.
    -- Bob D.

    Foley: Never. John Smith was a full-time college student after his World Championships and there hasn't been anyone else from the United States to take on that dual role.

    Yarygin should be a blast for the Olympic champion. He will be facing an onslaught of talents, harsh conditions and less-than-friendly referees. And from what I know of Snyder, I'm guessing he's to the moon.

    Q: Can't wait to watch Penn State-Iowa on Friday night live on the Big Ten Network! How do you see this dual meet playing out?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Penn State 18, Iowa 15
    125: Nick Suriano (Penn State) dec. Thomas Gilman (Iowa)
    133: Cory Clark (Iowa) pinned George Carpenter (Penn State)
    141: Topher Carton (Iowa) dec. Jimmy Gulibon (Penn State)
    149: Zain Retherford (Penn State) dec. Brandon Sorensen (Iowa)
    157: Jason Nolf (Penn State) dec. Michael Kemerer (Iowa)
    165: Joey Gunther (Iowa) dec. Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State)
    174: Alex Meyer (Iowa) dec. Geno Morelli (Penn State)
    184: Bo Nickal (Penn State) dec. Sammy Brooks (Iowa)
    197: Matt McCutcheon (Penn State) dec. Cash Wilcke (Iowa)
    285: Nick Nevills (Penn State) dec. Sam Stoll (Iowa)

    Q: With Hassan Yazdani Cherati officially moving up, and it looks like Aniuar Geduev is moving up as well, is JB's biggest competition in America? With Dake coming back down, Alex Dieringer continuing to improve, even Mark Hall eventually, I think his World Team Trials might be just as tough as the World Championships, especially considering he doesn't have a bye to the finals.
    -- Chris

    Foley: Yazdani is massive and this week he officially weighed in and wrestled 86 kilograms at the Takhti Cup in Iran. No confirmation on Gedeuv, but judging from his post-Rio comments it won't be long until he too weighs in at 86 kilograms.

    The United States has a loaded roster of 74-kilogram wrestlers. From Jordan Burroughs to Alex Dieringer, Mark Hall to Kyle Dake the grouping makes for some compelling matchups at the Open and Trials. While Burroughs still gets the nod for events like the World Cup in 2017, it'll be a tough road for him to navigate with Dieringer nipping at his heels and Dake desperate to get healthy and prove his ability at the international level.

    Whoever emerges, there is no doubt that the competition is certain to help the United States representative come Paris 2017.

    Q: Any idea why Jason Peters is out at Pitt? Is it based on performance? Or something else? I know it's very early and nothing will be decided in the immediate future, but who do you like as a potential replacement?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: This article explains the situation.

    As it refers to Peters, the theory is that he didn't report the off-the-mat incident properly and the administration saw it as an offense great enough to warrant termination. I'm one-hundred percent certain that full details of the incident and Peters' response will be made public in the next 2-3 days.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Sakshi Malik and the future of wrestling



    I watched Rutgers-Penn State last night. Lots of guys pushing their opponent's face into the mat after the whistle. This is always a punk move. Ref did a good job of getting on them for this, and that seemed to help. Is this a violation that could lead to penalty points and possible DQ, or are the refs limited to warnings? We already saw penalty points cost Anthony Ashnault a match against Kevin Jack at Midlands, though it was for a different violation.
    -- Wes F.

    Foley: Always a punk move. Also a punk move is trying to fight someone in the handshake line.

    "See you at States!

    (*eye roll*)

    Q: I have been impressed with the Dakota programs in Division I, South Dakota State and North Dakota State. Both teams are ranked in the top 25 in both tournament rankings and dual meet rankings. SDSU is 8-2 and NDSU is 10-3. Both have wins over solid teams, so it's not like they are padding their records with cupcakes. Both programs have wrestlers ranked in the top eight. Do you think either of these programs can ever break into the top 10 and contend for team trophies?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Ever? Sure. In 2017? Unlikely.

    The Dakotas picked up excellent coaches who were committed to creating winners no matter their geography or perceived disadvantages. Wrestling is a wonderful equalizer. You don't NEED the big facility, or big money, to be a top ten program. You need the kinds of athletes who will work well in your system and are motivated to compete for national titles and All-American plaques.]]>    81970Fri, 20 Jan 2017 11:06:44 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: January 13, 2017https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-january-13-2017-r81906/
    'Dangal' wrestles against stereotypes, pins down the details

    Based on true events, "Dangal" tells the story Mahavir Singh Phogat and his daughters Geeta and Babita as they struggle against societal norms and institutional corruption to pursue a dream of becoming world-class wrestlers.

    The movie opens with Mahavir (Aamir Khan) as a young man forced to quit the sport of wrestling to take on a paying job and raise a family. Having only achieved national prominence, Mahavir in dogged by this decision, largely because as a competitor he was unable to reach his goal of winning an international medal for India.

    Mahavir has some hope rekindled when he finds out his wife is pregnant. He hopes for the birth of a boy, but his wife Daya (Sakshi Tanwar) delivers a girl named Geeta. Next it's Babita and then two more girls.

    Knowing that girls in India don't wrestle, Mahavir is sidelines his aspirations of coaching a wrestler capable of winning an international medal. Depressed, the former wrestler is left to sulk until a fateful incident proves that girls -- specifically Geeta and Babita -- are also capable of being wrestlers. The trio immediately embarks on their journey to international success, navigating 5am workouts, restrictive dieting and a traditional Indian society less-than-welcoming of female wrestlers.

    Mahavir is obsessed with his children's success and while the audience is taken through his story by the comedic narration of his brother Omkara (Aparshakti Khurrana) there is an underlying selfishness that seems to distract from Geeta and Babita's struggles. Though it seems odd to exalt the sacrifices of a man during a movie about women overcoming obstacles, the role of the male advocate proves to be essential in taking on established power structures.

    In the movie's first pivotal scene Mavashir assaults a tournament director unwilling to allow his daughter to compete in a "dangal" -- a traditional Indian style wrestling tournament. Once the tournament director allows Geeta (Fatima Sana Shaikh) to compete she's able to impress onlookers. That moment catapults the trio's journey to international success through an expected, though entertaining, tale of setbacks and triumphs.

    Read the whole review here.

    To your questions …

    John Smith at the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Who is the leading candidate for Coach of the Year?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: John Smith if he keeps Oklahoma State in the driver's seat for an NCAA championship. Lou Rosselli will likely be mentioned if he's able to stamp a top ten finish for Oklahoma. That's unlikely, but his recent triumph over Missouri shows that his team will be prepared for that challenge.

    Maybe I'm off here, but there is also a chance Kevin Dresser and the Virginia Tech Hokies make a run at a top-four finish. That might be worthy of recognition as well.

    Q: I coach high school wrestling, and have seen the 106-pound weight class turn into a forfeit fest even against some of the best teams throughout the Southeast. Even if it's not a forfeit, there isn't a lot of talented depth at the weight class like many other weight classes. Do you see any chance this weight class moves to 110 pounds in the near future? Who makes that decision?
    -- Mike Ca.

    Foley: Evidence is pointing to larger children and your anecdote is further substantiation for the realigning of high school weight classes. We don't need 106 pounds (once 103 pounds) as a number, we need athletes healthy and happy to compete in the sport. If there is a good reason for keeping the number at 106 I'd love to hear, but asking a 14-year-old to put on a few pounds shouldn't be that difficult and is certainly better than the alternative.

    Q: What are your thoughts on the University of Great Falls adding a women's wrestling program?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: BRAVO.

    There is a growing need for women's college wrestling programs and any school willing to meet that need fulfill the purpose of higher education which is to provide a varied and complete educational experience to both men and women.

    Q: Just for fun! You're starting a Division I program. Mark Hall, Spencer Lee, Cary Kolat, Nick Suriano, and David Taylor are in their senior seasons of high school. Rank 1-5 who you're recruiting the hardest.
    -- Jared W.

    Foley: I think you have to recruit every one of those athletes with a certain amount of gusto. None should fall by the wayside. However, since you asked, I will make my list.

    1. Nick Suriano. He might be the best freshman we've ever seen at 125 pounds.
    2. Spencer Lee. Winner like I've never seen before. His comeback in France at the Cadet World Championships was epic. I could see his legs wobbling and he just wouldn't give up. Guy lives for the deep water.
    3. David Taylor. Proven winner and the type of leader that helped establish a legacy at Penn State.
    4. Cary Kolat. Love me some twisty knees.
    5. Mark Hall. Great performances so far.

    Q: Bo Nickal has looked very impressive this season. What kind of chance do you give him to beat Gabe Dean in March?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: This is the most anticipated matchup of the year. Nickal has been torturing opponents this season, often with falls and tech falls. Dean is heading into his third NCAA championships with another solid season of wrestling behind him.

    Were they to wrestle today I'd probably choose Dean. The man muscles and experience are a massive unknown to Nickal, who seemed flat in his appearance in last year's NCAA finals. Dean can look to control the match from his feet and limit the danger Nickal presents most wrestlers from the clinch.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Dangal trailer

    Lead character weight cutting

    Q: Since Mark Hall won the Scuffle where would he rank if he wasn't redshirted? Would PSU be the favorite to win the NCAA if he was wrestling? They are very close to Oklahoma State today without him.
    -- Mike Z.

    Foley: If Mark Hall is in the lineup he's likely ranked fourth and Penn State is the top team in the country. That won't one-hundred percent translate to an NCAA team title, but it increases the likelihood and takes them from a slight underdog to the top team.

    Q: Do you have a prediction for Iowa vs. Oklahoma State on Sunday?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Oklahoma State 19-18

    Q: I believe there is an undefeated No. 1-ranked wrestler in every weight class this year so far. Is that normal?
    -- Willy D.

    Foley: Not by March, but it's definitely common in January prior to the Big Ten dual meet season and the Big Ten Championships where a lot of the closest matchups are competed. Not uncommon for an undefeated top seed to fall in a dual meet only to make it back in the tournament.

    Overall, pretty common.

    THOUGHT OF THE WEEK
    By Stacy B.

    Loved the latest mailbag article on the problems with scrambling. I think it is a serious problem. One angle you didn't address directly was the marketing aspect of it. To grow wrestling needs to be approachable by casual fans and scrambling does not help with this. It's basically impossible to explain to someone not already deep in the sport what is going on and that's a very bad thing.

    I don't have a problem with tilts scoring points but you do bring up an interesting point that maybe techniques that don't have a chance to actually pin the opponent perhaps should be worth fewer points. I'll have to think about that. I agree that it is absurd that there are no points awarded in a scramble for near falls. The whole point of wrestling should be to stay off your back.

    In my opinion folkstyle rules largely reward boring conservative wrestling and the much of the risk taking that does happen is because there are perverse incentives like with scrambling or out of bounds rules. Rule changes I would like to see in folkstyle wrestling in no particular order:

    1. Step out rule similar to freestyle (out of bounds should not be a safe place)
    2. 3 points for a takedown (escapes are overvalued currently)
    3. 4 points for a feet-to-back technique - no reaction time or control needed (there is no incentive to try throws or other high risk techniques because the risk/reward balance thoroughly discourages the attempt)
    4. Get rid of riding time (just promotes riding with no intention to turn)
    5. Give choice of position in 2nd and 3rd periods to the wrestler leading the match. Neutral if score is tied.
    6. Award 1 point for near falls less than 2 seconds (techniques like a leg lace or 2on1 gut could actually score -- eases transition to freestyle as a bonus)
    7. Put near fall criteria at 90 degrees instead of 45 (and possibly award extra points for reaching 45 degrees.

    THOUGHT OF THE WEEK (PART II)
    By Nicholas K.

    I have always been frustrated by the "riders" who don't actually do anything. I propose a clock of say 30 seconds where the top wrestler has to turn or release the bottom wrestler. If the wrestler is turned with back points awarded, the clock starts over. If the top wrestler does not turn or release in the given time period, they are given a stalling warning. You could keep the riding time point to reward aggressive wrestlers on the top but someone who just hangs on hoping for a point would actually get penalized. This would force more aggressive wrestling or get them back to their feet. It would also carry over to the feet because if someone already had been given a stall call on top they would have to be more aggressive once they get to their feet or run the risk of giving up more points. And best of all, no more 1-0 and 2-0 wins with no takedowns or turns.]]>    81906Fri, 13 Jan 2017 06:52:20 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: January 6, 2017https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-january-6-2017-r81744/Dean Heil edged George DiCamillo in the Southern Scuffle semifinals (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)
    The Southern Scuffle ended last week with Penn State true freshman Mark Hall capturing the 174-pound championship with a combination of dazzling offense and upperclassman composure.

    While Hall's performance has State College interested in pulling his redshirt, there was another moment -- perhaps less glorious and somewhat controversial -- which also sparked discussion: The 141-pound semifinal match between George DiCamillo (Virginia) and Dean Heil (Oklahoma State).

    The match was 3-1 in favor of Heil with about 30 seconds remaining in the third period when a scramble caught fire sending the pair into the ever-familiar exchange of funk rolls. Heil ended the match on his back, but somehow remained in neutral, winning the match and leaving some scratching their heads.

    As an alumnus I have an inherent bias towards the University of Virginia, but this entry is to discuss what to do about the recent proliferation of stop, drop, and roll. To help carry us along, I'm going to start with a brief historical guide to scholastic wrestling rules, then discuss why we are in our current rule set, and finally analysis on some possible changes that could improve the situation while also moving the sport forward.

    History and inspiring principles for scholastic wrestling

    Modern collegiate wrestling is a direct descendent of the "Collar and Elbow" style of wrestling brought over and popularized by Irish farmers in the 1850s. Those most-hardy of recent immigrants would pass time at harvest meetings with wrestling matchups between competitive families and farms. The gatherings were popular throughout the northeast and, coincidentally, held each March. The rules varied, but wrestlers began with their hands gripping their opponent's collar and elbow (today's collar tie -- this stuff doesn't come from nowhere!) with the aim of winning via pin, submission from a painful lock or an opponent conceding due to exhaustion.

    Matches would sometimes last days, but despite these growing time slots were soon drawing interest from non-farmers. For many years, there was no way to win a wrestling match but to deliver one of the simple outcomes. Over time that, and much more, would change.

    (Note: Volumes have been written on this topic. This is a simplified, 10k-foot view of the wrestling landscape. For more information check out Wikipedia entries on the classic styles.)

    As these competitions grew nationwide two things began to happen: money began to play a primary a role in promotion/matchmaking, and wrestlers began to improve. Money and skill improvement would end up creating a significant impact on wrestling at the turn of the century.

    On March 21, 1903, Columbia and Yale became the first intercollegiate schools to host a dual meet where two pins were necessary per weight to prove a winner.

    From Bill Stienman, longtime Columbia SID, "Intercollegiate wrestling began quietly, with a challenge delivered in February 1903 from Columbia's students to Yale, published in the Yale News. The men from New Haven accepted and agreed to two matches, the first at Columbia, the second at Yale, to take place the following month. Rules were agreed upon, four weight classes with two falls required to win, and a gold medal was donated by Columbia to go to the winning team."

    As the college kids kicked around pride, fans of barnstorming saw a massive professionalization in their operation. Throughout the first two decades of the 20th century professional wrestling was the most popular sport in America, but with attention came more money and a need to deliver entertainment. This growth would prompt larger-than-life personas, costumes, and eventually pre-determined outcomes. (There were also those still interested in traditional barnyard wrestling, known today as catch-as-catch-can whose ruleset also briefly appeared in the Olympics.)

    OK, so what does this all have to do with NCAA wrestling in 2017?

    In 1906 several schools got together and formed the NCAA. This brought the sport of wrestling into the realm of education, and presumably, fair play. The institutions were now in charge of directing the sport of wrestling. The sport was also in the Olympics and a unified rule set within collegiate wrestling was sought.

    It was evident to many that the pin-only format for wrestling needed some changes towards a "sport" model popularized in other sports. Simply put a sport model would create a point system for a variety of maneuvers which resembled the control, namely takedowns. (Jiu-jitsu is currently going through this growing pain, with submissions harder to find, rule sets have been developed. Currently there are more than a half dozen popular competition rule sets.)

    For the next 50 years wrestling rules at the collegiate level would be tweaked and refined. Many of the changes were a variety of point allocations given to incentivize the aggression of wrestlers. Positional advantages were given at the start of each period, back points were added, stalling points, and riding time were all brought into the sport to help spur action.

    Some ideas worked well, but as athletes and coaches began to game the system many of these were tweaked, replaced or removed.

    The perfect storm

    Sometime in the mid-1990's Fresno State (and others) began to negotiate the variety of risks coming from exposing one's back to defend takedowns and possibly score a takedown in the resulting scramble.

    There is no question that these series of moves, known colloquially as "funk" were innovative and exciting. Throughout the next two decades wrestlers nationwide began to work with this "funk" series and develop new ways to score points from countering offense. Perhaps the most successful of the funk practitioners was Missouri's Ben Askren, who won two NCAA titles largely from the confusion he created for opponents during these risky exchanges. Still, there were hundreds more (myself included) who were also effective at using this counter-based approach to build successful wrestling careers.

    As it happens the funk, once an outlier during technique sessions, became the must-have stuff. Soon, the prevention and defense to funky wrestling also became required technique. This of course spawned a new counter-offense, and subsequently the layers upon layers of technical minutia that now goes into defending and attacking during these exchanges.

    In a vacuum this type of spaghetti wrestling can be entertaining, often resembling a highly active jiu-jitsu match sans the consequence of such leg entanglements (toe holds, knee bars and heel hooks). However, recently the result has more often been a whole lot of nothing with stalemates, out-of-bounds, and dangerous holds replacing back points, falls, takedowns and other forms of match progression.

    Not insignificant is the fact that many of these exchanges become complex, almost theoretical exercises in what "control" means and how to award for such positions. Fans, wrestlers, coaches and wrestlers are in constant disagreement about where control occurs within these exchanges.

    The primary theoretical difference between Olympic-style wrestling and collegiate wrestling is that the former awards points based on technique while the latter is based on control. This difference is best seen in analyzing points awarded for throws from the feet. Olympic style wrestling awards the act of throwing and exposing a back to the mat, while collegiate style awards holding the position for takedown control (2 points) and back points (2-4 points). The way you travel to the mat is inconsequential.

    So how does this history inform us about actions to take regarding wrestlers who self-expose their backs during a match?

    Possible solutions

    There are a multitude of possible solutions, here are the top three:

    1. Award back points even if the position is not definitely controlled.
    2. Award takedown and back points if two swipes are started. No takedown needed to start swipes.
    3. Re-write the rules of a takedown to include these situations directly.
    4. Leave it alone and educate the referees on existing rule set.

    The first solution would create the most havoc, but likely also help wrestlers find even more creative solutions for fighting out of single and double leg attempts (or sprawl).

    By curtailing the number of inconsequential exchanges, you change the risk-reward evaluation of the wrestler. You also start creating more consequential action -- fewer 30-second scrambles ending with panting wrestlers and zero points. The wrestlers would be incentivized to look for "next level" techniques with their defense (sprawl) and if necessary to funk, which could progress into finding moments of control and subsequently, points.

    Awarding takedowns would be the right answer since you are then taking a scramble situation and handing out 4 or 6 points for a mistake. Two seems like a number that gets wrestlers to re-think strategy both from the offensive and defensive side.

    Final thoughts

    Scrambling is not the only thing amiss with the rule set in 2017.

    If we all agree that TO PIN IS TO WIN, then we also need refigure the incentives for riding versus looking for a fall. If you want to stay inspired by the sport's roots then it's obvious there is far too much tilting, and not enough pinning combinations. Ask yourself if a four-second hold from a cheap tilt be valued at four points, but a 37-second scramble with multiple back exposures be a scoreless void?

    We are kidding ourselves if we think the motivation for a cheap tilt is the same as one for a wrist-and-half, one is for points and one is for pinning.

    I'm interested to see if the NCAA rules committee addresses these issues. There is certainly an abundance of ideas on how to improve the rules, but with many also supporting a firm out-of-bounds and the elimination of ride time it'll come down to how they all intersect and what that will mean for the gamesmanship of the next generation of wrestlers and coaches.

    Oh, and as currently defined, no takedown should have been awarded to DiCamillo ... and that's a rub.]]>    81744Fri, 06 Jan 2017 07:45:59 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: December 30, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-december-30-2016-r81810/
    I was first sent to Midlands my junior year as an attempt to see if I had indeed made the progress my early season results were indicating. There was a tight race for the starting position and since I'd only been a walk-on the tournament was a litmus test as to my actual out-of-room competitive status.

    The tournament was a moderate success with a low placement and a nice win or two against ranked opponents. My style was still developing and being forced to try it against some of the biggest names in the country was certainly instructive in refining some of the details. I'm certain that my experience has been repeated for hundreds of wrestlers over the course of the tournament's 50-plus years, which is a valuable line of connectivity in our sport.

    There are plenty of ways to improve the product of our sport through singlet change and better promotion, but I still enjoy the subtle traditions like Midlands. There aren't many (if any) locations in wrestling with an institutional history tied to the sport and wrestlers from every corner of the country. The NCAA tournament moves every year and big programs like Iowa don't/could never be expected to compete against every team in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

    The shared memories are what makes Midlands unique. Almost all of us have been as a coach, athlete, parent or fan. We've cursed the cold, battled the traffic and sat on uncomfortable wooden bleachers. Division I, II and III have all attended the tournament, as do washed-up former wrestlers and those looking to prep for the World Championships. The Midlands tournament has been both a crucible by which our athletes must prove themselves worthy and a mecca where we return year after year to pay homage to our sport's past.

    I'm sorry to be missing the show in-person, but happy as ever to know that time (and constant change) haven't taken from wrestling its most shared and sacred experiences.

    To your questions …

    Q: Is Patrick Downey of Iowa State injured? I have not seen him in the Cyclone lineup and noticed he is not entered in Midlands.
    -- Jason H.

    Foley: Downey injured his rib in November at the Harold Nichols Open. He has not competed since then, and is being held out of the Midlands for precautionary reasons.

    Gabe Dean gets his hand raised after a victory at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Do you see Gabe Dean contending for a spot on the World Team at 86 kilograms in 2017? Or do you see him as being a couple years away from challenging?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I tweeted this after the Cornell wrestler bested Ed Ruth at the Southern Scuffle in early 2014:


    While I've since come to know more of Dean's style and ability through his NCAA success, I'd be hesitant to think he could match wrestling wits with the likes of David Taylor or J'den Cox on the freestyle mat. Cox is too crafty an opponent and Taylor too seasoned for either to have Dean surprise them during the U.S. Open, or outpace their field at the World Team Trials.

    Could he be a contender in 2018? Maybe 2019? Certainly.

    Q: Do you think we will ever see amateur MMA in the Olympics? There already is an amateur World Championship. Why or why not?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: FILA, the once international governing body of wrestling, had an active amateur MMA organization under its umbrella for several years. However that effort was ended after President Lalovic took over and renamed the organization United World Wrestling, as the IOC requested that the sport not be given a platform. Also, United World Wrestling is first and foremost a wrestling organization, which makes the promotion and support of striking sports somewhat outside its core directive.

    There is a Pankration federation associated with United World Wrestling. Though the sport allows some body strikes, it dates back to the ancient Olympic Games and has maintained a passionate following for more than 100 years.

    Q: Will Mark Hall make the finals of the Southern Scuffle? His weight class (174 pounds) includes Casey Kent, Brian Realbuto, Kyle Crutchmer, Ethan Ramos and some other really solid wrestlers.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: We are essentially seeing Mark Hall face his first established competition. Assuming that he's been growing in the Penn State wrestling room (a solid assumption) we should be prepared for him to be the equivalent of an All-American candidate for the 2017 NCAA tournament.

    That as my base assumption I think it's likely that Hall comes away with third place or better at the Scuffle. Having watched a lot of him on the international scene I've consistently been impressed with his positioning and scoring ability from neutral. However, I have to balance that with another known truth, which is -- freshmen are typically terrible from the bottom position.

    Outside chance to win. Likely to be third or better.

    Q: Michigan announced that Domenic Abounader is redshirting this season. How is that possible? He competed in a dual against Virginia in November.
    -- David D.

    Foley: From the Michigan press release, "Abounader, a two-year team captain, was a perfect 5-0 through the Wolverines' first two events of the season, winning the EMU Open 184-pound title and clinching U-M's home opener against Virginia, but will have season-ending surgery. A three-time NCAA qualifier, Abounader captured a Big Ten title as a sophomore (2015) and owns a 69-23 career record, including an impressive 31-8 mark in dual meets."

    Abounader has applied for a medical hardship, which allows him to utilize his unused redshirt season. In certain cases we see medical hardship applied to sixth-year candidates, but its most commonly used in situations such as Abounader, where an athlete who hasn't redshirted becomes injured midway through the season.

    The qualifications for a medical redshirt:

    1. Not having competed past the halfway point of the season.

    2. Having not wrestled in more than 20 percent of the scheduled dates.

    3. Have a legitimate season-ending injury.

    From the outside I don't see any reason he wouldn't receive his hardship and redshirt.

    Q: Were you surprised that Bob Patnesky made the decision to leave Davidson to become head wrestling coach at Penn State Behrend? What went into that decision?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: No. Pennsylvania is a great place to test your coaching talents. Not having to convince a group of recruits to attend a VERY expensive university far away from wrestling hotbeds is likely not as exciting as sitting square in the middle of wrestling country and recruiting to a commuter school.

    There is nothing to say that he'll be successful at Behrend, but I'm certainly excited for him to face that challenge and further his coaching career.

    Q: What do you think of the season Luke Pletcher is having? How far do you think he will go this season?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: Ohio State's Luke Pletcher has been on a tear in 2016. The true freshman was in redshirt for the start of the season and earned his first nine wins at 133 pounds before debuting at 141 pounds against Missouri and picking up a 6-4 win over Zach Synon. Yesterday he reached the quarterfinals of Midlands before losing 9-3 to Princeton's Matthew Kolodzik. We'll see how Pletcher bounces back today.

    The 141-pound weight class is pretty open with only Dean Heil and Joey McKenna seemingly a lock for All-American status in 2016-17.

    Also of note is that Pletcher isn't some fluke. He understands how to win. He's a three-time state champion from Pennsylvania and owns a win at Who's Number One over Cadet world champion Yianni Diakomihalis. He also gets to train with world champion and four-time NCAA champion Logan Stieber.

    Q: Who wins tonight: Ronda Rousey or Amanda Nunes?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Ronda. She seems like a psychological mess at the moment, but I think that Nunes will have some trouble defending Rousey's armbar once they hit the mat. Nunes is a better all-around fighter, but until the women's bantamweight division matures the one-move wonders like Ronda will always have more than a "puncher's chance."]]>    81810Fri, 30 Dec 2016 06:38:20 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: December 23, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-december-23-2016-r81743/
    One note from this last week of wrestling was the impressive run Vicky Anthony put together at the U.S. Open. The young grappler looked sensational in her gold-medal run at 48 kilograms, winning her finals match by pin, though setup by an even more impressive foot sweep.

    Anthony and the other wrestlers who competed should be commended. The Olympics aren't that far in the rearview and already many of them are looking forward to making national teams and maybe even earning a spot in the 2020 Games.

    No matter what the season, or the reason, the commitment of athletes like Anthony should be recognized.

    Congrats!

    To your questions …

    Virginia freshman Jack Mueller is 10-0 and ranked No. 11 at 125 pounds (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)

    Q: I have been impressed by what I've seen in the early part of the season from Jack Mueller of Virginia. Do you see him as a potential All-American this season at 125 pounds?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: An undefeated freshman with wins over a pair of top twenty opponents? Not shabby! I think that he certainly can't be counted out of contention. He's winning with a lot of points on the board, stays aggressive and doesn't rely on any gimmickry.

    When I look at a wrestler I usually try to find their one gaping hole, and with the matches I've seen from Mueller he doesn't have any major deficiencies. Better still the coaching staff sees him as a leader and someone training and living his life the right way. As an alumnus it's certainly encouraging to see his early season success.

    Boo Lewallen topped MSU's Javier Gasca in the Reno TOC semifinals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: What do you make of Oklahoma State's third-string 141-pounder Boo Lewallen winning the Reno Tournament of Championships and earning OW? He beat NCAA finalist Bryce Meredith!
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Ahh, gimmickry. John Smith knows a thing or two about shutting down the styles of opposing wrestlers. Like many of today's funkier wrestlers there are ways to limit the effectiveness of their counterattacks -- usually through superior position and patience.

    Meredith has a very specific game and when faced with someone ready to tackle his creativity with solid technique he's put into trouble. (In watching the tape it seems that Meredith also had a banged up right knee, which could very well have come as a result of too much bending and twirling during shot defense.)

    As for the actual match, from the first whistle you could see that Lewallen was cued into a double leg and quick, solid finishes. There was little climbing up Meredith's back, at least until he could secure the two points. And when Meredith's hips got loose Lewallen chose the correct time to bail.

    The second takedown was a misdirection low single finished off to a low double. On Meredith's bad side there was little he could do to stop the attack, or launch a counter. He repeated it again at the end, earning a third and final takedown.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Best takedowns of 2016

    Link: Senegalese wrestling on CNN

    Q: Any idea why Penn State is not competing in the Southern Scuffle? The Nittany Lions have been a staple there.
    -- MC

    Foley: Coach Cael answered the question during Penn State's media day, telling reporters that he really enjoys the Scuffle, but that he couldn't manage that tournament and a turnaround to two major Big Ten dual meets.

    Still, he ended his response with an important side note: that he wants his guys to stay "healthy and happy" … which is indicative of a new approach some programs are taking to the holiday season tournaments. From my vantage points there has been a push in recent years to limit the amount of wrestling done over break, and instead give some family time back to the athletes. The Scuffle and Midlands have felt too good to pass up, but the benefits of rest and relaxation seem to also be significant.

    Many wrestlers have a shared experience of coming back to campus on December 26 to train for an upcoming tournament. While at the time I remember feeling like I was investing more through that sacrifice of time without family, I wish I'd have reimagined my value system and placed that family time higher than some extra training.

    Penn State's schedule is tough enough without the Scuffle. No question they'll get all the matches they need from their current 16-date calendar.

    Q: What happened to Fox Baldwin?
    -- Nick M.

    Foley: I don't think anything happened. He's just in redshirt for the season.

    Baldwin placed third at the Mat Town Invitational wrestling at 174 pounds. He pinned all of his opponents, but lost (via pin) to Chance Marstellar. Last year he started off hot with an impressive 9-0 start before his season was cut short by injury.

    Comment of the Week
    By Coolbeans

    Since wrestling is a sport that often requires weight cutting, I am shocked to see wrestlers that eat the GMO meat, soda, pesticide-laced fruit, vegetables, bread and food. Many people say, "I eat healthy," yet they don't consume all organic food. The public doesn't seem to realize that consuming poisoned food is like putting kerosene in your car. What fuel that you feed your body is EXTREMELY important, especially if weight cutting.

    Furthermore, meat and dairy are actually bad for humans, which are really wired for vegetarian. Many say that "I need meat for protein." Totally false. The primates are mainly vegetarian and are four times stronger than humans. Long-term true studies prove vegan is the best diet for humans … I mean studies that are not funded by the doctors (who want customers and money) as well as the meat and dairy industries.]]>    81743Fri, 23 Dec 2016 07:29:38 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: December 16, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-december-16-2016-r81749/
    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 Pico

    Q: 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.]]>    81749Fri, 16 Dec 2016 07:09:18 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: December 9, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-december-9-2016-r81688/
    Like most of what some learn on the Internet -- and later come to BELIEVE -- the idea that participation trophies are handed out with consistency among all children, and that they poison our youth by staining their concept of winning, is a theory that's both bogus in actuality and predicted outcome. While Montessori schools and progressive neighborhoods may not keep score during kickball games, the overwhelming majority of youth sports leagues DO keep score and announce a winner at the end of the competition. Still, Coach Walz proclaims that the "problem" with this generation is that they get too many participation trophies. This weakens them, he says. This weakens, you guessed it, America.

    Trophies for young athletes are meant as a means of congratulating them for effort, not propping up a fake victory. Does this guy even know a 9-year-old? They aren't dumb. They know who wins and who loses. Just because they are tinier versions of grown-ups (save Limp Bizkit inspired facial hair) doesn't mean they are self-delusional because they were handed a $3.25 piece of plastic after losing 13-5 in youth soccer. Like you and me kids don't enjoy being manipulated and fight hard to distinguish themselves from each. THEY ARE ALWAYS KEEPING SCORE.

    And if they do get something shiny for their efforts, so be it. Trophies for 9-year-old semi-professional tee-ball players at the tail end of a highly stressful, parent-driven season might be the one actual thing they have to show for their time spent handling an over active mom and dad.

    (Side note: Say it is happening at an epidemic level? Who does Coach Walz think is handing out the trophies? His generation, not 18-22 year olds on his girl's basketball team having to suffer through his shortsighted public lashing.)

    Maybe it's best for Coach Walz to think of a participation trophy like he does his college degree. Let's not-so-boldly assume that Coach was not top in his class. Let's say he wasn't in the top ten percent. Does he still get a degree? Should we withhold his degree because he didn't "win" at school? Acknowledging effort isn't weakening sports or culture any more than printing a degree for someone who I'm certain consistently confuses irony and coincidence. (Irony being that he blamed his kids for not taking responsibility for their play, by -- as a coach -- not taking responsibility for the loss. )

    After writing this on Monday I read what a former wrestler and educator had to say about the incident and found it enlightening.

    The idea of participation trophies being the downfall of our generation (or the next one, I'm not sure how what I count as exactly) is a canard. I've never encountered any child (aside from the VERY young) who liked receiving a participation trophy. Most of them were in fact keenly aware that they were being patronized. I don't think this has affected their moral fiber. On the other hand, some of the most deplorable and entitled human beings I have met have been highly successful athletes; who would have thought that being glorified for your athletic success from a young age would lead to this? I digress however; and this is hardly the case for the majority of such people.

    Whenever you throw around the participation trophy rhetoric and try to generalize "big life lessons"; you are using language that has been specifically coded to make you feel like a big, tough, man and to reinforce the idea that you are competition with everyone around you for everything. This Hobbesian conception of life is, in fact, not at all to your benefit. It's to the benefit of the people who are really running this world and getting rich off of your labor.

    To your questions …

    Mason Manville works to lift Tarrence Williams at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)

    Q: I was looking at the Penn State roster and noticed Mason Manville is not enrolled. Did I miss something?
    -- Dave D.

    Foley: This year Mason has been training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Greco-Roman in April, where he finished 2-2 in Greco-Roman at 75 kilograms. He plans to head to Penn State next summer and wrestle for the Nittany Lions.

    Q: How do you think Alex Marinelli (assuming he doesn't redshirt) and Michael Kemerer will fare this year for the Hawkeyes?
    -- Jack E.

    Foley: Michael Kemerer is already ranked in the top five at 157 pounds and scoring some early season wins. He doesn't need to win the NCAA championship in November or December -- just stay consistent and train up for the second half of the season. A finals appearance may be a reach, but he can certainly get on the podium.

    Assuming Alex Marinelli comes out of redshirt, I'd guess he would compete within the top ten at 165 pounds. Winning the weight class seems highly unlikely, so I'm not sure that we can expect more than a low All-American finish from him in his first season.

    In some ways I think the duo's performance could be a nice barometer for fans to judge the developmental process within the Iowa room. We've seen some great starts from the Penn State and Ohio State freshmen over the past few years. Can we expect the same from Iowa's heavy hitters? What will this tell us about Spencer Lee and his freshman campaign?

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Coach Walz has a raspy voice! Listen to that man! I'm kidding. Of course you shouldn't listen to him and his archaic ill-informed ideas on modern society and how to coach.

    70-kilogram World Championships weight class preview

    Q: What will be wrestling's "second story?"
    -- Zach A.

    Foley: I think we need to start with defining what wrestling's first story was, or has been. My mind immediately traveled to Title IX and the loss of collegiate programs over the past 40 years. No matter what you think of Title IX, the law itself has defined the sport of wrestling, twisting and turning it in ways that have been complicated to understand, but consistently discussed. Losing hundreds of programs, the setbacks for the women's sport and the millions of dollars spent fighting the legislation and its effects have dominated that larger social discussion around the sport for at least the last three decades.

    I'm in Budapest right now (just landed, no sleep) preparing to cover the Non-Olympic Weight World Championships. That proximity and my role in helping to rebrand and promote international wrestling certainly inform my opinion on a second conversation. My initial thought was the rise in popularity of the Olympic styles. All the controversies aside, the sport is exponentially more a part of the sport's landscape (as in actual exponential increases in viewership, interest and discussion) than ever before. I think the styles and what they offer in terms of enjoyment are something being batted around a lot more since 2013.

    Ignoring that as a possibility, I think wrestling's second discussion is almost certainly women and their massive popularity in the sport. It's sometimes hard to see the impact of women on the sport, but if you look back at the last two years of press regarding the sport of wrestling it was absolutely dominated by women. They were in major national and international publications, there were TV appearances and endorsement deals. There were also important firsts including the first African medalist, first Indian medalist and first Grand Prix champion from Africa.

    How we greet, treat and discuss the inclusion of women in the sport is likely to dominate the discussion around our sport for the next several years. For now we are doing many of the right things. Maybe not fast enough, or well enough, but as a group we are all looking for improvement and equal opportunity in the sport and women are at that forefront.

    Q: What if Worlds were held this way every year, as in splitting up the weight classes into two tournaments? You could even add 86 kilograms into the second tournament for a little parity in non-Olympic years. My reasoning is that the split championships have made these weight classes more exciting domestically with lots of guys moving up, some moving down and with most competing in both the Olympic trials and the Farrell. It makes for great storylines and for matchups we wouldn't get to see normally, plus some guys get two chances to make a World Team.
    -- Timmy B.

    Foley: As the sport grows at the international level and interest begins to drive more investment there is a great chance we will see an increase in meaningful matchups. The World Championships are currently the prize, but with more professional leagues popping up there could be room for these types of tournaments with a combination of cash value and intrinsic value that will force the types of storylines you enjoy as a fan!]]>    81688Fri, 09 Dec 2016 07:59:29 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: December 2, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-december-2-2016-r81630/Kyle Snyder secures a takedown on Elizbar Odikadze (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    The Titan Mercury Wrestling Club traveled to Ukraine this week to participate in the World Wrestling Clubs Cup. The team was composed of seven American-based wrestlers and 2016 Olympic champion Vladimer Khinchegashvili. The event, held annually, has become an increasingly competitive offseason event for many wrestlers over the past few seasons.

    With bigger team payouts in 2016 this iteration became something of an All-Star event.

    The TMWC, with guest star Khinchegashvili at 61 kilograms, wrestled to team gold on Thursday and completed an impressive undefeated run. For many fans the performances by Nazar Kulchytskyy, Nico Megaludis and Nick Gwiazdowski were especially enjoyable to watch as they showed real growth as wrestler and knocked off top competitors.

    However delightful the improvement of some athletes, a pair of losses by 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Snyder seems to have left some American wrestling fans curious about the quality and longevity of Snyder's dominance at 97 kilograms.

    To recap, Snyder's first loss came via criteria to Elizbar Odikadze (Georgia) in a match that he seemed to have in control, but was unable to finalize in the closing seconds. The second loss was a little more random or concerning or depressing in that it came at the hands of Iranian youngster Abbas Tahan, by the score of 3-1.

    While I agree that there is no reason to panic about Snyder's skill set or his viability as the USA's top 97-kilogram wrestler, the tournament certainly showed that the Olympic champion will have to fight for every point for the next four years.

    To be clear, Snyder was never outmatched, and in seeing his losses it never occurred to fans that his Olympic championship was won by fluke. Still, the losses showed that there is something delayed, or halting, about his offense which is now being picked apart by nations with motivated head coaches.

    As an example of a strategic shortcoming, Snyder typically scores late. But with some great coaching from Iran and Georgia much of that aggression was stalled in Ukraine. Snyder has typically excelled late, but in the two big tournaments he's won at the international level (World Championships and the Olympic Games) there was a certain amount of pressure that seemed to inspire his late actions and get nervous opponents wrestling on their heels. That scenario was absent in Ukraine.

    Still, the biggest concern for the Kyle Snyder fan base isn't the losses, but the likely inclusion of Abdulrashid Sadulaev as a 97-kilogram entry. With Anuiar Guduev moving up from 74 kilograms to 86 kilograms, and whispers that Sadulaev is himself still growing, all signs point to the Olympic champion making his way up in weight to challenge Snyder.

    While a daunting task to take on the top wrestler in the world, Sadulaev's presence might prove to be just the motivation a young and much-accomplished wrestler like Snyder needs to improve aspects of his game. Knowing he has a full six minutes against the No. 1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the world should be inspiration for him moving forward.

    Win or lose, one thing we know about Snyder is that he's able and willing to learn from mistakes and improve each time he steps on the mat. Also, as we saw with Varner and other competitors, Snyder almost never loses twice to the same guy. Now is not the time to worry. Sit back, enjoy the journey and cheer on what has become unquestionably the best in the world.

    To your questions …

    Q: What are your thoughts on the World Wrestling Clubs Cup?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Love the atmosphere and competitiveness. I actually kind of liked the free agency aspect, too. Good for these nations for having their wrestlers change clubs and compete at will!

    Q: I'm a fan of Northern Iowa wrestling. There's been much discussion among the fans as to why Iowa and Northern Iowa don't wrestle. What is frustrating is that Iowa will wrestle a community college, but won't go 70 miles to wrestle the Panthers. Is there something between Tom Brands and Doug Schwab that we don't know about? It seems odd and counterproductive for wrestling that these two teams don't meet. Thoughts?
    -- Jay A.

    Foley: The lack of an Iowa vs. Northern Iowa dual meet has been mentioned in the past. Depending on who you support there are a variety of reasons that the schools have yet to meet in a premier dual meet.

    Fans from Northern Iowa think that Brands and company are scared of this new in-state rivalry. From their perspective if Iowa wrestles and loses then they cede over some in-state recruiting and prestige to the Panthers. If they were to win then it's business as usual. A classic lose-lose situation.

    Iowa fans probably think that they don't need another tough dual meet in a season that promises a bunch of Big Ten hitters and specialty rivalry matches already slated against Iowa State and the National Duals. Another weight cut and a date off the calendar just to face another Iowa team? Meh, they probably think that they can see each other enough at tournaments.

    As for the relationship between Brands and Schwab I couldn't tell you a thing. From what I know they are respectful of each other, but extremely competitive. Both have innovated in recent years so my hope is, like yours, that they could collaborate and make something happen for the fans in Iowa, but also those on the coasts who love to peer in on the inner-workings of the sport's most competitive state.

    Q: I think that adding a few Mexican schools to the NCAA Division II ranks would be a really cool idea. Simon Fraser is in Canada and competes in the NCAA. They should consider suitable candidates from over our southern border as well. I imagine that they'd start with fútbol, but if one day they could add some folkstyle teams that would be great.
    -- Timmy B.

    Foley: Really interesting idea and one I hadn't much considered. One hang-up might be the style. The national program of Mexico is still working through some early kinks in educating coaches on the sport of freestyle and Greco-Roman, so adding a third style for scholastic purposes seems unlikely.

    Q: Joe Benavidez is a -205 favorite vs. Henry Cejudo this weekend at UFC TUF 24 Finale. What kind of chance does the underdog Cejudo have in this fight?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Joey B. is no joke with his hands and has plenty of wrestling to stymie Cejudo. My only question is endurance, which I would actually give to Cejudo. Also, love him or hate 'em, when he makes weight Cejudo usually finds a way to win.

    Good line. I'll take Cejudo.

    Q: Do you have any idea how the movement between schools of both athletes and coaches is viewed by coaches? I am specifically asking about the relationship or lack thereof between Coach Garland at Virginia and Coach Smith of Missouri. The last couple of years it seems like there have been quite a few kids and coaches that switched between the schools. Do the coaches get along?

    Corollary: Are coaches "recruiting" kids while they are competing for other schools? It seems like college wrestling is becoming similar to college basketball with a large number of kids second guessing their original college choice after a year in the program. Is this a product of coaches' continuation of recruiting, kids changing their mind, false advertising, a combination, or something I am not thinking of.

    Side note: My kids (daughter 8 and son 5) are both wrestling fans. It is mostly the only sport on in our house in the winter. My son is starting to wrestle at a junior team once a week for an hour. My daughter is interested, but I am struggling to find any youth girls wrestling leagues. Do you know of a database or someplace I can look into local wrestling programs? We live in Las Vegas.
    -- Josh W.

    Foley: Coach Alex Clemson had been a coach at the University of Virginia for several years. The year after he returned to his home state of Missouri and coach the Tigers, a U.Va. wrestler Blaise Butler chose to pursue his Masters at Missouri. Though I'm sure the coaches are still tight, a lot of their interactions are still dictated by the desires of the wrestlers to be close to family, friends and people they know well.

    The recruiting of college wrestlers does stop once they enter school Sometimes verbal commitments can be wishy-washy, but after signing -- and especially once they are on campus -- the overtures usually stop. Some wrestlers make really difficult decisions on where to attend school and sometimes aren't happy with their choice. I've seen it several times up close where a wrestler doesn't fit into the culture, can't keep up grades, is too far from home, or simply doesn't get along with the coach. This isn't just blue chips guys. This is everyone from the walk-on up to the star recruit. Kids change their minds.

    As for women's wrestling I don't know of an existing database, but check the comments as I'm sure someone will post a link to any that do exist. You can also check out the NWCA website and the Wrestle Like a Girl page on Facebook. They might be good resources. Your state chapter of USA Wrestling should also have a comprehensive list of all girls registered to wrestle in Nevada.

    Q: Cory Clark (Iowa) -3.5 vs. Seth Gross (South Dakota State) on Friday night. What side are you betting?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Most readers remember that Seth Gross was booted from the Iowa wrestling team two years ago after a run-in with the law. Though the charges seemed to have been reduced, he was sent out from Iowa and landed at South Dakota State where he wrestled at 141 pounds last season.

    This year Gross moved down to 133 pounds, and is set to face off against former teammate Cory Clark tonight.

    While Gross recently showed some high-level gumption in winning the Junior World Team Trials at 60 kilograms, I think Clark is on a warpath this season. The Hawkeye has been NCAA runner-up on two occasions and it's doubtful (at least to me) that he'd be rattled by competing against a former teammate.

    Love your line. I'm taking Clark to cover.

    Q: This may be a hard question to answer, but what is the best district for high school wrestling in the country? And by that I guess I mean what district has had the most NCAA All-Americans? I would think it would be WPIAL or District XI out in PA, but I am not sure if anyone has already done this research.
    -- Brian B.

    Foley: WPIAL. By light years.

    Q: Every year I do an annual trip to watch a popular wrestling event. I am very fascinated in the Iowa style, although I am a Michigander myself. Three years ago I began this tradition where I watched Penn State defeat Iowa, the following year Missouri beat Iowa for the 2015 National Duals championship, and last year went to Carver to witness the Big Ten Championships. Considering this year Iowa will be wrestling Michigan and Michigan State the same weekend in the land of the mitten, I have no desire to travel to Carver this year. I am curious aside from the NCAA Championships in St. Louis this year, what you think would be the highest event of interest for the coming year? Currently I am considering traveling to Indiana for the Big Ten Championships.
    -- Nicholas F.

    Foley: I've been to a few Big Ten Championships and loved the atmosphere! You really can't go sideways if you choose to spend a couple days binge-watching the best wrestlers in the nation scrap for both conference gold and a seed at the NCAA tournament.

    As for the festivities outside the arena, I've only been to Indiana a few times and thought it was a tough place to "Capital P" party, but I imagine that you can surround yourself with some wrestling people and you'll be happy as Brent Metcalf at a yard sale filled with camouflage pants.]]>    81630Fri, 02 Dec 2016 07:15:22 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: November 18, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-november-18-2016-r81561/
    Initially the season was believed to have been canceled (a la Harvard men's soccer), but Columbia University athletic director Peter Pilling issued a statement on Thursday clarifying that the investigation is ongoing and no determination regarding the season had yet been made.

    The backlash towards the Columbia wrestling program has been immense with repudiations trickling in from around the sporting world. While most wrestlers and fans agree that the language is inappropriate, the truth remains that the vast majority has either lived with these remarks in their locker rooms, or are aware that they exist within collegiate programs.

    I was an assistant wrestling coach at Columbia University from 2005-2008 and at no point did this type of behavior live within the team. We had our share of disciplinary issues, but most were behavioral or academic, with none rising to the seriousness of these latest allegations.

    Yet as a coach I was understandably insulated from knowledge of their worst behavior. As a staff it was possible that we might hear about fights and minor altercations, but it would have been somewhat unprecedented for us to be read-in on the daily going-ons of group chats or common banter.

    Like Hudson Taylor mentioned in his piece on the matter, while we as coaches may not have heard anything we are still informed on the situation from our competitive days. My years were pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter and mostly pre-text message, but the culture of our team was undeniably misogynistic and what many would consider anti-LGBT. For the first few years there was no effective voice within our team to tell us to tone it down.

    As for race, I can't say with absolute certainty that we were without racial issues, but we had several black athletes on the team and I don't recall overhearing any name-calling, and certainly there was no disparity in treatment. The only memory of a racial slur being used at the time was when a Southern fraternity (already well known for its racism) used the N-word after denying my roommate entrance to a party. As a consequence more than half the wrestling team descended on the fraternity to let them know we didn't stand for such behavior.

    In looking at our sport it's undeniable that racism, misogyny and an anti-LGBT attitude exist, but unlike most other sports I think we are well-equipped to fight that behavior, but have so far (save Hudson Taylor) lacked the courage.

    Wrestling is a sport of big men and bigger egos, yet we are immobilized by cowardice. Leaders in our sport are either too afraid to call out their colleagues, feeling the same way themselves, or fearful of missing out on a buck. We've become comfy in tweeting out banalities and shouting down those who think that the sport should make progressive changes, instead of advocating for real change. To me the behavior has always been wimpish, but now increasingly it seems contagious.

    We know that today's world is primed for anger and reductive thought. In 2016 there has been a record-shattering number of hate crimes committed and more seem to hit the news every day. The general attitude among Americans has been somewhere between ideologically divisiveness and outright class and racial warfare.

    It doesn't take a big man to throw an insult, and maybe writing that makes me sound sanctimonious or self-righteous, but if you stare long enough at the culture of wrestling in America you should be disturbed and you should want to act for its betterment. Columbia was not an isolated incident. Racism and misogyny are a reality of our sport. The vocal nature of those who believe in backward thoughts like these pollute the culture of our sport and without a radical shakeup it's certain to worsen.

    Let's find the mettle to make positive change. Instead of protecting a brand, or worrying about the fallout for correcting the immoral behavior of others it's time to be fearless and take a stand for what is right. Tell the bullies and trolls to take it elsewhere. Don't shrink. We can improve our sport by calling out their behavior in-person and online.

    Wrestling doesn't have to settle for the lowest common denominator, we just have to summon the nerve fight for something healthier.

    To your questions …

    James Green went undefeated at the Freestyle World Cup in LA (Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Do you see both Logan Stieber and James Green as potential medalists at the Non-Olympic Weight Class World Championships this year? Who has the better chance to strike gold?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: James Green is in a slightly less-stacked weight class and has medaled at the World Championships, which gives him a better edge to place at this year's World Championships.

    Stieber is a monster, but I'm concerned that his style is still too open for the international level. While the refereeing is never totally without bias, even a totally impartial jury will be likely to award some points for many of Stieber's moves during the finals with Jordan Oliver.

    In the USA we are used to seeing that type of funk roll, but at the international level any exposure (or near-exposure) is seen as a reason to gain points or throw the cube. Remember that international wrestling is about technique and NOT control, which doesn't play well into Stieber's current game planning, especially when he's tired.

    Green is a little more compact and strict with his movements. I like his chances to take home as high as silver. Would put him as a long shot for gold with Russia and Azerbaijan likely to bring top competitors.

    Q: When will Iran allow me to open a Five Guys franchise in Tehran?
    -- @JaroslavWrestle

    Foley: Will you have a burger named after Yazdani? If so, you might be able to get some great traction with the political class.

    What are your thoughts on Mark Hall's redshirt at PSU?
    -- @dmehcsg

    Foley: I'm a believer in both outcomes. Mark Hall has the talent to win this season or next season. Should Coach Cael decide to use Hall halfway through the season I think we'd see an All-American performance.

    Penn State might win the NCAA tournament with Hall on the sidelines, and it's common logic (though not always accurate) that another year of on-the-mat maturity can help some college wrestlers win additional hardware during their four years of eligibility.

    Assuming Hall sees himself as a four-time NCAA champion I think this is the right decision … for now.

    Q: Kyle Snyder is expected to face Tanner Hall this weekend. The betting line is Snyder -6.5. What side are you betting?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Tanner Hall is a real talent, but I'll take Snyder by technical fall. Too much gas tank.

    Q: How about Yoel Romero destroying Chris Weidman?
    -- Ryan O.

    Foley: Yoel Romero is an absolute freak of nature! The athleticism at his age and his killer instinct are very rare. But when you factor in his increasing ring savvy he has the makings of a superstar champion. Assuming Romero gets his title fight against Michael Bisping I'd expect to see the first-ever UFC champion from Cuba.

    As for Chris Weidman I think he is having some confidence issues post neck surgery. While he was the right fighter to beat Anderson Silva, the neck injury will likely put him on the downslope of his career. Incredible talent, but age and injuries eventually snag every fighter.

    Also, for Weidman it'll be even more difficult to bounce back after consecutive losses -- the second of which was a flying knee to the head.

    As our friends at Bali MMA say so succinctly: "Fighting is crazy, man."

    Q: Will UWW ever do anything substantial about Russia's PED usage, official bribing and their president abusing a female athlete?
    -- @Bpaynecpa727

    Foley: I can't predict the outcome of any investigation, but all the matters you mentioned are in front of the organization, not behind. There is a bureau meeting in a few weeks where these and other matters are sure to be discussed. That will be a closed-door meeting, but one can assume that opinions will be expressed and updates on all investigations will be decided. Once I know more I'll be sure to share!

    As a side note, the official "bribing" is more hullabahoo and hot air than anything substantial. Influences are certainly something to be investigated, but I'd be cautious about using the word bribery without ANY substantiating evidence.

    Q: Is Zahid Valencia the most impressive freshman in NCAA wrestling?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: It's early, but Nick Suriano ain't bad.]]>    81561Fri, 18 Nov 2016 06:44:36 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: November 11, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-november-11-2016-r81513/
    Questions are below, so let's start with the election.

    The election of Donald Trump was a wakeup call for many Americans. As recently as last week most thought he had no chance, a year ago that number was exponentially larger. Today he's the president-elect. While Trump didn't win the popular vote, he was within .001 percent of the total votes cast. Those numbers and the incredible difference in rhetoric from the candidates points to a nation divided.

    We can all agree that the wrestling community, as with much of the country, came a little unglued during this election cycle. While many progressives focused on the drum roll of insults laid out by president-elect Trump, the other half of the country focused on the corruption of the elite ruling class. Within our sport those who held blood and soil tightest tended to repeal any notion of continued balanced governance -- they thirsted for a revolt.

    Within our sport the fights took place online -- the tip-tap of keystroked aggression ramping up as Election Day neared. The online echo chamber creates ideological silos, but with wrestling there seems to be enough overlap in politics to cause mass agitation, resulting is repeated shouts in to the abyss -- none fruitful, and all meant to sizzle and stoke rather than provide substantial calories of intellect.

    Agree or disagree with the outcome, civil revolt by the people is what America does best. Nobody will die as a direct result of the next 90 days and the transition of power, despite the riots and despite the seeming uptick in racist and xenophobic acts. For America the pride comes from the electoral process, not being correct in your selection of the next leader, or self-righteous in the virtues of the runner-up. The elites were complacent and the system worked. Disruption won the day.

    Maybe it's the fresh mountain air of Patagonia, or cruising on motorcycles watching indescribable vistas come and go, but I'm ready to move forward and greet the next cycle. Showboat if you must, despair if necessary, but each of us should be ready to engage in the next step of the democratic process.

    We should all invest in those things we care about, love our neighbors and leave behind the divisiveness of 2016 so that in 2017 we do … not just shout.

    To your questions …

    J'den Cox at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Do you think that there's any chance J'den Cox would move up to 285 pounds for the NCAA Championships? Barring injury, he's basically assured of a third title (with no redshirt year) at 197, which would be an awesome feat. But there are maybe 20 three-time champions. J'den would join the top of the all-time list (maybe right after Cael, alongside Gable) if he could win his third title by beating the defending Olympic champion. Think how awesome this would be. They could probably weigh in relatively close to one another (say, 215-230) so size wouldn't be a big deal. And it would be great for Snyder also, giving him the opportunity to defeat two different two-time champions in the finals (probably also something that hasn't been done before).
    -- Irvonian

    Foley: While this is a compelling matchup it feels more like a high-level scrimmage between bored wrestlers! These guys may certainly win their next titles with little issue, but I don't think they need to scan up or down to find their toughest opponent when they are constantly traveling overseas and wrestling the Caucuses.

    The real question becomes, can either repeat their medal performance in Tokyo, and if so will that make them one of the all-tine best for the Stars and Stripes?

    Q: With a number of wrestling documentaries bursting onto the scene, between the ones on Flo and the ones that you worked on for UWW, could you list a few wrestlers who you would like to see future documentaries filmed about? Obviously, if someone went to Russia and did one on Alexander Karelin that would be amazing. I would also put Chris Campbell out there. I think he was supposed to be on the Olympic team in 1980 when the U.S. boycotted, and then he came back in '92 and won bronze in Barcelona when he was almost 38. Probably an interesting story to tell there.
    -- Mark R.

    Foley: The docu-film industry in the sport of wrestling is BOOMING! Yes, United World Wrestling and FloWrestling have both been producing some great docs, but I'd keep your eye out for the Olympic Channel as well. They have a number of original series featuring Olympians and future Olympians from all their sports. Wrestling has been promoted a few times, and there is work to get a lot more in the future.

    One item that seems to be coming for sure is a documentary on Alexander Karelin! Not sure in what format or length, but the production company is excellent and the Olympic channel doesn't do bad content.

    As for specific UWW projects in the works -- we'll see!

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    UFC 205 on Saturday night in NYC is going to be legit …

    Q: Of these wrestlers turned MMA fighters, who in your opinion made the best transition and why: Logan Storley, Ed Ruth, Henry Cejudo, and T.J. Dillashaw?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: Big ups to Ed Ruth and Tyrell Fortune for winning their Bellator debuts last week. While I was happy to see them both come out as dominating forces, I think the experience likely worked to humble both. Ruth was rocked early and you could tell he hadn't been hit like that in the gym.

    From your list I think T.J. Dillashaw is clearly the most successful and made the most impressive transition. He's a confident fighter with superb striking and solid grappling.

    We still have to see about Logan Storley…

    Q: Do you happen to know why Macedonia and Montenegro were suspended by the UWW? The website just states that they were suspended but doesn't give any additional info.
    -- Mark R.

    Foley: Failure to pay necessary fees.]]>    81513Fri, 11 Nov 2016 08:04:15 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: November 4, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-november-4-2016-r81482/
    Or maybe I could have written about the Cubs and relate their 108 years of losing to the small conference title drought in NCAA wrestling?

    But alas I avoided comment on the Trump-ian chicanery; I dodged penning passages on the poignancy of another college wrestling season; I sidestepped a self-indulgent examination of my upcoming ride through Chilean and Argentine wilderness; and I skirted having to discuss Harry Caray, Bill Murray and the Celebrity of Cubbies.

    In the end, all I know is that I was saved these embarrassing misfires by the news, the brilliant, life-affirming, smile-stretching information that Brent Metcalf is the new developmental coach for USA Wrestling!

    Why the excitement?

    To my eye, Metcalf has always been a special case. He's certainly had moments that left him in a poor light (we all do), but every time I've seen him wrestle, or heard him speak, or been recounted an interaction -- every single time -- it seems as though the Brent Metcalf I thought I knew, or that was open to the public, was only a sliver of the whole story. He seems to be in constant growth and change. At the risk of being too on-the-nose, Metcalf seems to have been developing well over the past ten years.

    The development job is not meant for a cement-head, and Rich Bender and the rest of USA Wrestling knows this. Bill Zadick, having molded the role over the past several years, certainly knows this. The developmental coach is asked to recruit talent to the room for weeks of sparring with the national team. He's meant to entice the youngsters into seeing the benefit of the OTC in their growth and find new ways to challenge the Cadet and Junior level competitors in-house.

    Metcalf is the right guy for this job. He can make it successful, he can make it grow, and he can find happiness hunting in the variety of nearby mountain ranges.

    Congrats to Metcalf and congrats to USA Wrestling on finding the right guy for the job.

    To your questions …

    Mark Hall with his coach Brandon Slay at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials (Photo/Mark Beshey, The Guillotine)

    Q: During Penn State's media day on Wednesday, Cael Sanderson didn't completely rule out Mark Hall competing in the Nittany Lion lineup this season. He's said it's not the plan to wrestle him, but hinted that it could be a possibility. What do you think it would take for Cael to pull Hall's redshirt?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I'm guessing it would take underperformance at Hall's weight class, a number of other wrestlers not performing well enough, and Hall absolutely running over his competition for Cael to prompt that type of move.

    Or … Hall's desire to start. There is something about that type of athlete sitting that might be harmful to their overall development. Something I read about Siberian Tigers really stuck with me and I see some similarities to top-level wrestlers,

    "In an effort to express the depth of [an] obsession Pikunov cited a Russian proverb usually reserved for wolves, 'No matter how much you feed him, he keeps looking at the forest.'" -- John Valient, The Tiger

    Q: I always enjoy when ESPN and other outlets have "Uni-watch" articles or cover some of the unique uniforms in sports today. I know you (and many other people) are tired of the singlet, but I was curious if you had some recent favorites. While the singlet is not the greatest, you must admit there are some classic looks that would be missed if/when the singlet disappears (Oklahoma State, PSU, Iowa). Possibly an InterMat Singlet-watch?
    -- Matt F.

    Foley: The Penn State singlet has always stood out to me as one of the sport's defining singlets. However, there is almost nothing as intimidating or ingrained in wrestling culture as the Iowa Hawkeye all-black singlet. Some looks are the best with they replace cheap frills, with implied skills.

    On to other singlets, I definitely liked Ohio State's "O" placed on the lower hip and torso. I find white singlets to be less fashionable than they were a few years ago so the finals singlets this color don't get me too jazzed up.

    Some of the smaller schools have also been doing well with designs. Looking forward to the new season!

    Q: Phil Davis is -250 vs. Liam McGeary in Bellator on Friday night. Would you bet Davis at those odds? Ed Ruth and Tyrell Fortune are also on the card, but I haven't seen lines on them.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I love Phil Davis and I get that wrestlers have the edge, but something about Liam McGeary from the ground creates too much danger for me to give -250 odds to Phil.

    The other issue is that McGeary can throw his hands, has a massive gas tank and precisely no quit. Bellator has done a wonderful promotion for the event with cartoons, stories, and even some faux-political ads featuring Phil Davis. Scott Coker has done wonders to draw eyes to his promotion.

    The Ruth and Fortune fights should be pretty easy to predict. Coker and Bellator have invested a lot of money in young wrestlers and would like to see them succeed. So long as the duo are capable at self-promotion and can show a knack to submit, KO and/or brawl they'll be given a few fights that are easily winnable without seeming like outright mismatches

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Q: Do you like that John Hangey is finally getting a shot to lead Rider's wrestling program after Gary Taylor announced his retirement after this season? Or would you have liked to see the job opened up after the season?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I've known John Hangey for several years and like most other wrestling coaches was happy to hear that he earned the head job. The Taylor-Hangey coaching duo has put up some really impressive performances at the NCAA tournament, and my hope is that it continues with Hangey himself.

    From 30K feet it's really heartwarming that the administration didn't go out and assume that some new name would be better than the person who had dedicated so much time and energy to their school. Division I sports are cutthroat, but despite that draw of the unknown, Hangey proved that he's up to the task of being the head coach.

    Nothing but the best of luck to the new head coach of the Rider wrestling program!

    Q: Not counting NCAAs, what's the best college wrestling event to attend? Geographical location doesn't matter. I want to bring my son to an event. Just not sure which would be the best. A dual meet between top teams? Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational? Southern Scuffle? Midlands? Conference tournament?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: You'll almost always find the most excitement in a dual meet between top teams. Iowa and Penn State would be my top choice this season.

    Even if there is some disagreement on the point spread top teams create mega-promotion and bring on the type of competitive anxiety most of us felt last night during Game 7 of the World Series between the Cubs and Indians.

    I've never been to a dual meet in Iowa City, but my hunch is that the scene there is worthy of a father-son road trip. Just don't forget to bring your camera and a 12-pack.]]>    81482Fri, 04 Nov 2016 06:25:07 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: October 28, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-october-28-2016-r81423/Last week's mailbag churned up a productive discussion on the role of women in the future of wrestling in America. Forgiving outliers, most fans agreed that women should have a role in the sport of wrestling, even though that type of consensus is decades delayed.

    At some point we will look back and see that the women's current role in the sport (while an improvement) is still woefully inadequate. We are a sport that honors meritocracy and thus should be a sport that welcomes and promotes progress not panders to backwards ideologies.

    This is clear and simple.

    Women are wrestlers and wrestlers are women. That role is historic, that role is contemporary and that role will be the future of our sport. It's time to get on board or get out of the way.

    If you need an introduction to women's struggle for recognition in the sport, pre-order "Wrestle Like a Girl" written by Jamie Moffatt and Craig Sesker. The more you know …

    To your questions …

    Isaiah Martinez gets his hand raised after winning in the NCAA semifinals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Isaiah Martinez's Twitter bio says "The face of NCAA wrestling." Do you agree with him? If not, who is the face of NCAA wrestling?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Two-time NCAA champion with some crafty language skills!

    I think that he is one of the faces, but in stating "NCAA wrestling" on his Twitter bio, I think he might be acknowledging Kyle Snyder's celebrity and Olympic gold medal.

    No question that Imar has captured the imagination of the younger wrestling crowd and created a sincere and deep admiration of the older crowd. He's a generational talent, lovable and a total hard ass. What's not to love?

    The face? Nah, there are many, but he is one of the top celebrities in the sport and I respect the self-promotion.

    Team Imar.

    Q: There will be some intriguing matches when Ohio State travels to Tempe to wrestle Arizona State on Nov. 19. Bo Jordan and Zahid Valencia will likely wrestle at 174 pounds, and Nathan Tomasello and Ali Naser will meet at 133 pounds. What sides would you bet with these lines?

    174: Bo Jordan -2/Zahid Valencia +2
    133: Nathan Tomasello -3.5/Ali Naser +3.5
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Making lines is always a blast, none more so than when two of the wrestlers are largely unproven at the NCAA level. Are you adjusting for their redshirt freshman status? Are you operating on insider information?

    With 2 and 3.5 point spreads I'm very much inclined to take book action with Ohio State. They are proven Division I winners with several big matches under their belt. While Zahid Valencia and Ali Naser have the home-mat advantage, I don't know what type of crowd Coach Jones will have supporting his new all-star lineup, especially this early in the season.

    So, in short, the lines are soft, but I do think this will be an excellent barometer to measure where Arizona State is in developing their big-name talent. Many programs have hired new head coaches, recruited well and then failed to grow that talent. Coach Jones won't follow that path, but it's important to keep in mind that a winning program takes the right combination of talent, timing and coaching.

    If Jones can pull off a victory over Ohio State -- if Naser and Valencia can step up on the big stage -- it'll show that Sun Devil program is progressing through a full maturation off and on the mat.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Brent Metcalf in Tokyo teaching wrestling is among my favorite moments on Twitter. Love this guy.


    Solid self-promotion from Conor McGregor

    Link: Mates to Mentor: How Franklin Gomez sparked Jaime Espinal's success

    Q: Will Oklahoma State win the Duals championship?
    -- @MtBSpartans

    Foley: Yes!

    Maybe? While Penn State's dominance over the past several years leaves me uncertain about placing any large bets, the best wrestling team in the country is in Oklahoma -- and they have a pretty damn good coach, too.

    The only problem will be how the dual meet season shakes out in and out of conference. Though we know there is no guarantee of a 1-2 matchup, I'd like to know that there will be less interference in this year's bowl season.

    Americans often complain about the follow-the-leader style of international wrestling because they want to see the best rewarded for their hard work. I think that same logic can be applied to the bowl selections at the end of the season.

    Mark Cody coaching against Missouri last season (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)

    Q: Do you expect Mark Cody to return to college wrestling coaching at some point? Or do you think he's retired from coaching?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I find it tough to think about college wrestling without Mark Cody. For more than four decades he's worked for the sport in nearly every capacity and had success at each step. Oklahoma seems to have been a late career letdown, but I don't know that it should be enough to pull him off the mats.

    My hope is that Coach Cody will become an athletic director, or take on a senior leadership role at a school that could use his leadership skills. We have lots of great young coaches who can stay on the NCAA Division I grind, but there are few that would be capable of handling large administrative tasks.

    Mark Cody is the type of wrestling leader able to grow the sport from the C-suite, but I'd miss seeing him on the mats.

    Q: Any rules changes this year? Any new rules being tested at the NWCA All-Star Classic?
    -- @kuhn23

    Foley: Not that I'm aware of.]]>    81423Fri, 28 Oct 2016 06:29:16 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: October 21, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-october-21-2016-r81433/
    We all understand that a vote for president is personal (unless you expose it on Twitter), but there are lessons we can learn from the dialogue of the campaign. The most obvious conclusion being that a majority of our fans, athlete and members are conservative and vote Republican. And just so we're clear, that's not an issue.

    However, in talking about politics some of our members reveal that there is a surprising lack of empathy for those less fortunate, minorities and women -- as it happens also three very important sectors of the wrestling community and keys to its future growth.

    Wrestling needs to open itself up to more people, welcome all classes and make women feel comfortable on the mats and in our conversations.

    Wrestling in the United States has been abysmal at welcoming women to the mats. Title IX was a time and resource suck that cost us growth opportunities and millions of dollars and yet at every turn, every opportunity, rather than pivot to inviting women on a massive scale we instead shirked and filed another meaningless court case. Throughout the 1980's and 90's there was no long-term progressive vision in our sport and no interest in understanding on how women could become valuable members of our community. Had wrestling approached our gender equity by providing more opportunities for women it's likely that today's sporting leaders would hold our sport in higher regard -- instead of the reputation we wear for fighting against equal rights.

    Wrestling needs to consider its future and not be drug down by diminutive men and their backward ideas. We need to show that our sport is about more than celebrating brutish men figuring out their psychological and emotional issues in seven minute spurts, and instead turn towards a more progressive approach that welcomes all to the mats and celebrates every journey regardless of gender or social class.

    Wrestling does not belong to the sexists, the racists or those that might support that ideology. The sport belongs to you, and me, and those who want to make it more accessible, fair and friendly to women and those who could benefit from the sport's many lessons. Respect for women and those less fortunate is a matter of consistency. There is no bartering, no allowance for hate or misogyny. Even a spoonful of such hateful and criminal rhetoric poisons progress.

    Never accept less or allow someone to imply that our sport can be anything but tolerant, reformist, fair and socially conscious.

    To your questions …

    Jimmy placed fourth at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at 65 kilograms (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: I noticed Kennedy is ranked at 70 kilograms, not 61 kilograms. Assuming he's there at World Team Trials, thoughts on how he, Green and JO match up at that weight class?
    -- Eagle Fan

    Foley: Jimmy Kennedy is incredibly talented and capable of taking home the title any time he enters a tournament. The cut to 61 kilograms was brutal for him and many other athletes and it's been fun to see the 65-kilogram wrestlers move into the 70-kilogram weight class. I give him a solid 20 percent chance of making the team, which is generous considering the path he needs to take through the mini-tournament and best-of-three against James Green.

    Jordan Oliver pops up for these tournaments and causes a mess to national rankings, but I don't see him beating Green or Kennedy up at 70 kilograms in 2016.

    On a side note, this concentration of talent we see going towards the non-Olympic weights in the Olympic year should make the tournament in Budapest a can't-miss event. I imagine there is a lot of similar shuffling going on in Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Japan and many more nations.

    Q: Any thoughts on Bloomsburg hiring Marcus Gordon as its head wrestling coach?
    -- Derek L.

    Foley: I don't know too much about Marcus Gordon, but it seems as though Bloomsburg chose the closest option and someone that they trust.

    "Marcus emerged from a very talented pool of applicants and we are thrilled to be able to name him as our next head wrestling coach," said (VP of Student Affairs) Somerville. "He is a quiet, but passionate individual who we feel has what it takes to grow our program on the mat as well as in the classroom. His love for the sport and the University is evident."

    Many in the wrestling community attach successful hires to prior head coaching experience and association with top programs. However, in-program knowledge of a smaller school like Bloomsburg (and how to operate and recruit within your limitations) is a major asset to an athletic director. Though a larger program, this mentality in choosing a leader is what helped Matt Storniolo land the job at Northwestern -- a full layout of the organizational limitations were already absorbed and he was already creating answers.

    Best of luck to Coach Gordon!

    Q: Is Brent Metcalf retired?
    -- Eagle Fan

    Foley: No confirmation, but judging from Metcalf's Twitter he is DEEP into bow hunting and to be honest I love it. Metcalf seems to know as much about bows, animals and hunting as he does wrestling. Should this be his next step I'd be thrilled to watch on as a spectator. Metcalf gave the wrestling community 100 percent dedication and sat squarely in the middle of the spotlight for more than 10 years. If he's going out to pasture it's with his head held high and a compound bow in hand.

    Q: I'm in for the Freestyle World Cup, but where can I buy tickets? My girlfriend is also in. Do you know whether women are permitted to attend wrestling events in Tehran? If so, whether they are restricted to certain sections of the venue? I recall reading somewhere that restrictions may apply, but I haven't seen anything definitive. Are the dates for the World Cup final, or are they likely to change again? Inquiring visa authorities want to know.
    -- Jacob J.

    Foley: Traveling to Tehran for the freestyle World Cup is a major investment in the sport of wrestling. Nothing but respect for the commitment!

    The dates will not change, but note that they did swap dates with the Greco-Roman World Cup and will now be in February.

    Tickets are certainly doable, though you may need to work with USA Wrestling on transportation and some of the details. They should be able to let you know where they are staying and how they plan to tackle the city. I've done it both on my own and attaching myself at times to members of the USA delegation.

    As for your visa, unfortunately I think it'll take a few attempts to be approved. There are VERY few visas given to American tourists each year. I've even been denied in the past! Currently women are not allowed to attend wrestling matches in Iran. There might be some other activities for you both to enjoy. Tehran is beautiful.

    Definitely don't book your flight until you get approval and I'd recommend sending that application in right away.

    PARTING WORDS
    By Jacob R.

    It's been two months since the folks at Flowrestling declared that NBC had slapped wrestling in the face. The main theme in their article was the lack of coverage the network had given to Helen Maroulis and her amazing feat. Interesting how since the end of the Olympics Flowrestling has released two full-length documentaries and neither one of them was about Helen.]]>    81433Fri, 21 Oct 2016 13:56:15 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: October 14, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-october-14-2016-r81382/
    Like all larger organizations the NCAA is deeply flawed, but for the past few years the wrestling action has been improving. I'm hopeful that the 2016-2017 season will see a more aggressive style brought to the mat and that the competition stays intense from wire-to-wire. Our fans are the best in the world and I'm sure everyone is looking forward to supporting their teams. I know that I am.

    Happy wrestling season, folks!

    Go 'Hoos!

    To your questions …

    Q: Adeline Gray's signature shoe was recently released. Do you expect Helen Maroulis to get her own shoe since she was the first American to win a gold medal in women's wrestling?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Given the release date, Adeline's shoe was in the pipeline prior to the Olympic Games. Like most of us it would seem ASICS saw Adeline as a lock to win the Olympics and with her massive social media following and mainstream media appearances she was a slam dunk.

    Also interesting to consider that Helen Maroulis was competing to win her Olympic title facing Japanese legend Saori Yoshida. ASICS, I'll remind you, is a Japanese company.

    Taylor Massa gets in on a shot against Utah Valley's Ethan Smith at the 2015 NCAAs (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)

    Q: Taylor Massa's name does not appear on the 2016-2017 University of Michigan wrestling team roster. Any news on him?
    -- Jim

    Foley: Taylor has retired from competition after a series of injuries left him sidelined for good. He's still enrolled at Michigan and helping out at Davison High School.

    Wrestling is an incredibly grueling sport and Taylor Massa racked several hundred, if not more than 1000, matches in his prep career. That kind of wear and tear can't be endured forever, and unfortunately for Taylor it seems that his clock ticked to an end in Ann Arbor.

    Best of luck to the young man as he pursues a coaching career!

    Q: 165 pounds looks super loaded to me. I didn't realize Logan Massa, Anthony Valencia and Vincenzo Joseph are all projected in this weight class, along with Brian Realbuto going down to it from 174 pounds. Who do you think poses the biggest threat to Imar? What percentage would you put it at that Imar will not win the title this year?
    -- Ross B.

    Foley: The idea that there is a deeper field certainly increases the chances that Imar could drop a match, but I don't think any of those individuals reaches his level of talent or is better than a one win out of ten matches. Collectively it feels like he's more likely to face a roadblock given the names, but one-to-one he's still unmatched.

    Look back at last year and review the match Imar lost. It was a dual meet with one hour weigh-ins. Give that kid more time and a few extra pounds each day and he seems to increase the likelihood of his winning any individual match. Now he's got an extra eight pounds! Buckle up.

    Realbuto can threaten most top-level opponents with his mixture of offense and creative scrambling, but both are areas where Imar is already more established. Also, Realbuto seems deficient in whatever gene Imar has coursing through his DNA which allows for scoring early and/or late.

    Also, while you cite Logan Massa, I think we need to see him on the mats in the Michigan singlet before we draw too many conclusions. He's certainly got the firepower to be an All-American on his first trip to NCAAs, but I'm never willing to put a lot of stock in national championship potential unless the wrestler has worn the uniform.

    I think Imar is better than 90 percent to win the NCAA title at 165 pounds.

    Q: I'm old school, two piece wool top/long pants combo….

    I don't have any great preferences … the rash guard tops seems an improvement, and it does NOT appear that the looseness of the top resulted in any inadvertent snags or illegal grabs requiring penalty, but the shorts are a non-starter.

    I attended the Flo Who's Number One meet again this year, and again this year the majority of the participants either sewed or rolled up the shorts to get them out of the way. Too long, they covered the knees when in neutral position, and too loose, they caught while in the down position. Perhaps a work in progress?
    -- Mike M.

    Foley: One size does not fit all. Imagining that they were given the uniforms that day it's easy to see that they would adjust them a touch. I wear a long sleeve rash guard and shorts for every no-gi jiu-jitsu practice and can think of almost no time my feet (or exposed toes) were caught in my opponent's shoes. From where I sit there doesn't seem to be a functional issue, though I agree the wrestler's may *think that they disagree.

    A work in progress indeed. The human body varies significantly and there will need to be a way to cut the cloth to allow for a better fit. Likewise a moderate amount of stretch may help. Lucky for wrestling there is money to be made in these uniforms which means that those invested in creating competition clothes might look to innovate.

    On that note …

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Nebraska will now allow fight shorts and moisture wicking as a suitable alternative to the singlet!



    Q: Is Andy Bisek done competing? I haven't seen anything come out after Rio.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: There hasn't been much for the Greco-Roman team to enter since Rio. Also, the stress of the Olympics wears people down. If he's like Jordan Burroughs, Adeline Gray, or any number of top-level wrestlers, Bisek is trying to spend time with family and get his circuit boards cleared up for the next step in life.

    I'd like to think that Bisek would continue to wrestle. With the rules changing to no forced par-terre I think that the Americans are going to see a significant increase in their winning percentage. We aren't the most technical bunch, but the Americans are certainly in shape come match time, and few more so than Bisek.

    If you do want to watch some wrestling this weekend the freestyle team will be in Khasavyurt. Check out Wrestdag and Wrestrus for links.

    Q: These are my picks in order of likelihood to win the NCAA title this season:

    Hwt: Kyle Snyder
    197: J'den Cox
    149: Zain Retherford
    157: Jason Nolf
    165: Isaiah Martinez
    125: Thomas Gilman
    133: Nathan Tomasello
    174: Bo Jordan
    141: Joey McKenna
    184: Zahid Valencia

    Thoughts? Obviously, Zahid Valencia is a risky pick in what looks to be the most loaded weight class and has Gabe Dean in it, but I like him as an upset pick.
    -- Ross B.

    Foley: C'mon, man! Gabe Dean is looking for his third NCAA title. You can certainly make the argument he doesn't light up the scoreboard, but he's consistent in March. Not loving that you sleep on Dean or that you chose Valencia to emerge as a freshman atop the podium.

    Also, the McKenna pick is a touch risky. Heil gets the job done.

    Q: Dana White just announced that Ronda Rousey is returning to the UFC and fighting Amanda Nunes on Dec. 30. How do you see that fight playing out?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The UFC would love to see Ronda Rousey return to her pre-Holly Holm form, but Amanda Nunes poses a mighty difficult obstacle for MMA's queen. Nunes is without question a better striker than Rousey and her grappling IQ is equal. Rousey certainly has an advantage in earning the takedown, but she won't be as equipped to find a quick submission from top. Ground and pound? Maybe.

    Rousey's coaching staff is abysmal. Should she find the heart to leave them before her fight then she has a chance to create a nuanced and successful fight plan. If she stays with Edmund she's destined to fight from HEART and, I see Nunes having an immense tactical advantage.

    It should be noted that Rousey opened as a 2-1 favorite when the fight was announced on Thursday.

    Q: Do Iowa Hawkeye fans tailgate before wrestling meets? I've never been to Carver-Hawkeye Arena and always wondered that.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I've never been to Carver-Hawkeye Arena and not certain I'd be welcome. In an ideal world I'd dress up as Dan Gable and slug Bud Lights in the parking lot with Brent Metcalf.

    Road trip, anyone?]]>    81382Fri, 14 Oct 2016 05:25:23 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: October 7, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-october-7-2016-r81383/Cody Brewer shoots on Tony Rmaos at Flo's Who's Number One event, an event that ditched the singlet (Photo/Juan Garcia)
    USA Wrestling this week stoked the singlet-free discussion with Matt Krumrie's article Is it time for wrestling to ditch the singlet?"

    In addition to the issue of spandex, the article prompted social media to debate about the wide array of issues wrestling needs to fix before approaching the matter of sartorial selection, including the perception of corruption and the need for alternative rules sets.

    While both matters are important, the real opportunity behind changing the singlet may not even lie in potential increased to retention and recruitment, but in a very conservative constituency making progressive changes for the sake of modernity. The act of change will require buy-in from several leading organizations, which means that a successful alteration of outfits could be the type of collaboration wrestling has been missing.

    I've been writing about the need to kill the singlet for more than three years and what I've learned is that there are loyalists unwilling to change, but that they are only a small faction. As time has passed I've read more and more public support for a change and Krumrie's article is the latest installment in the shifting attitude of our public and the sport's leadership.

    Political courage aside, Krumrie's article was fascinating for another reason -- his reporting that the NWCA has already done a comprehensive survey and found their constituents really do want change at the youth level.

    Last year, 8,500 coaches responded to a National Wrestling Coaches Association survey. In that survey, coaches were "overwhelmingly in support" of moving to an alternative uniform option, citing the importance of retaining wrestlers and growing wrestling, said Mike Moyer, Executive Director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

    "What we found was that the singlet was definitely a barrier to entry into the sport," Moyer explains. "This was especially an issue with first-year wrestlers, and at the middle school level."

    Moyer is all for an alternative option, and feels it would help move the sport forward. "We've heard enough perspective from coaches across the country that they absolutely believe an alternative option would enhance recruitment and retention."


    What could be better for the sport, but to make it more available to the next generation?

    To your questions …

    Q: What do you make of Jordan Burroughs' recent blog post and the discussion of his retirement?
    -- C.Y.

    Foley: Burroughs initial blog post "Dear Wrestling" ended with the cliffhanger: "Maybe I'll see ya around. Maybe." That line is fairly clear in stating that Burroughs is/was contemplating a retirement from competitive wrestling. However, the next day Burroughs tweeted a message saying he was definitely not retiring.


    While Burroughs' non-retirement now seems indefinitely definite there is still plenty left to discuss. The letter -- written to the sport of wrestling as though it was the other half of a human relationship -- was very confusing. Parts of it read like an attempt to rationalize his pre-Olympic position within the sport, some of it was visualizations of his own struggle and there were parts that read like a conversation about values.

    If you were looking for answers as to "What happened to Burroughs in Rio?" then this letter was underwhelming. At times Burroughs' message seemed cheeky ("It's not you, it's me") and other times distant (the lack of parades for non-medalists). The desire to pour his heart out was obvious, but what did we learn by our rare peak inside Burroughs' thought process and mentality towards wrestling?

    From my perspective it seems Burroughs carried a lot of pressure when it came to the expectations of others, most notably his sponsors and the idea he needed to live up to the brand he'd created. To be clear, there has never been a wrestler with a more financially successful brand and no other combat sport Olympic athlete (ever?) who has created that brand solely on the amateur stage.

    No athlete has ever been sponsored by names like Hershey's, Chobani, and Ralph Lauren, and had to put himself or herself into the precarious position to have their physical, psychological and emotional fortitude tested by another man in hand-to-hand combat on a once-a-quadrennial occasion.

    Burroughs writes, "When the IOC wanted you gone, I defended you. When you needed someone to help you appeal to the masses, I was Mr. Right. This was always a mutually-beneficial relationship, until now. Carrying us this far has wore me down. 'Heavy is the head that wears the crown,' they say. And you snatched my crown without my permission. You took years to turn me into a superhero, and then just at the peak of my powers you took six minutes to make me human again."

    I disagree that wrestling (as the other side of a relationship) made him into a superhero, I think that was largely his own doing. There have been other wrestlers who have faced the same type of expectations as Burroughs: Karelin, Icho, Yoshida and even Kyle Dake. To paraphrase Dake in his run-up to a fourth NCAA title, "Pressure isn't a real thing that can hurt you, it's imagined." For Burroughs and others that pressure became a real thing, and in the case of Jordan it was complicated by the additional financial considerations (remember that JB lost out on $500k for not winning the Olympics).

    Burroughs came to be as a wrestler because he started off as the underdog -- free of expectation and with growing talents he exploded onto the scene in 2011 with a world title. He continued to work hard, found a winning strategy and capitalized for the next five years. The fall wasn't because of a (known) physical ailment, or the speed of the wrestling world catching up to his talents, it was an internal battle that manifested itself in the physical.

    Burroughs shouldn't retire, but he should readopt the mentality of the underdog if only so he re-examines and approaches the sport as a student rather than a mentor, a learner rather than a load-bearing celebrity. He has the physical abilities to win a world title today just as he did in 2011, but that'll require a shrug of these sporting responsibilities and a loss of celebrity.

    Maybe that is that the big bargain Jordan isn't sure he can make.

    Q: The three remaining candidates to host the 2024 Olympics are Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris. What city do you think will win the bid? What city would like to see win the bid?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Like many Americans I'd love to see Los Angeles earn the bid, but I honestly wouldn't be crushed if the Games ended up in Paris. Both are beautiful cities with governments willing to foot the massive bill for a bidding and hosting system coming under intense scrutiny. My gut says LA has the lead, but you can never tell.

    Rome (where I am today for a wedding) recently began the process of ending their bid, citing the financial strain it might cost the city. Seeing it up close for the first time I can see no reason the city should want the headache of the Olympic Games. Vanity of rulers might be the only reason some cities bid, and I applaud Rome for having the foresight to predict their people may not enjoy hosting such a movable feast.

    Q: Who do you see winning the Hodge in each of the next two seasons? Below are potential contenders.

    2016-2017:
    Zain Retherford (two-time NCAA champion,
    Jason Nolf (one-time NCAA champion)
    Isaiah Martinez (three-time NCAA champion)
    Gabe Dean (three-time NCAA champion),
    J'den Cox (three-time NCAA champion, Olympic bronze)
    Kyle Snyder (two-time NCAA champion, world and Olympic champion)

    2017-2018:
    Zain Retherford (three-time NCAA champion,
    Jason Nolf (two-time NCAA champion)
    Isaiah Martinez (four-time NCAA champion)
    Kyle Snyder (three-time NCAA champion, world and Olympic champion)
    -- Tim H.

    Foley: Kyle Snyder in 2017 and Isaiah Martinez in 2018! What a race!

    Q: What do you make of all the media scrutiny/praise regarding Nate Parker?
    -- Jacob R.

    Foley: I think this is a very difficult discussion to have. The courts have shown that he wasn't guilty and I think he deserves the opportunity to move forward with his life. The tragedies that the woman in the case endured in her all-too-short life are heartbreaking and I can't imagine the pain of her family.

    I'm proud of Parker for making the film and look forward to watching it in theaters as soon as I get back to the States.

    Q: Why on earth would Ryan Milhof leave Oklahoma with Lou Rosselli taking over as head coach? Do you suspect his decision to leave Norman was because he felt Mark Cody was wronged? I realize he's going to ASU with one of the best lightweight coaches in Zeke Jones, but he has to sit out this year and isn't eligible until second semester next year. If he stayed at Oklahoma he could wrestle this year and train under another top lightweight coach.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I don't know why Millhof left, but as you wrote you'd have to assume that he was displeased with Mark Cody's firing and wouldn't be happy continuing to compete in Oklahoma.

    Arizona State is certainly an awesome option, even if he needs to sit out a season. Remember that these are just kids and sometimes their emotions can be front-and-center in their decision-making.]]>    81383Fri, 07 Oct 2016 13:42:21 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: September 30, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-september-30-2016-r81346/
    The NCAA kickoff weekend has become quite the event. Recently the matchups have been between high octane, generational talents like Kyle Dake and David Taylor, and while those horses won't be running, the NWCA has done a great job of finding watchable, likable talent. The Wrestlers in Business Network (WIBN) has also been instrumental in insuring the event goes off every year with great production value and high ratings as a result.

    While the NWCA All-Star Classic is on solid footing the dual meet season seems under duress. I've long been a proponent of the dual meet season as a way to build the sport, but in hearing a close friend discuss mini-tournaments I'm not longer as certain.

    Essentially the argument is that you might reserve dual meets for the top-drawing events of each team's season like Ohio State vs. Michigan or Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma, but that you'd replace the rest of the dual meets with min-tournaments. The wrestlers would get more action in shorter season, teams would save costs, and you could market more stars per event. Rather than have 28 dual meets a weekend you could have five mini-tournaments with wrestlers receiving more reps.

    I'm not sure I see all the angles here, and this seems pretty similar to the idea of a dual meet tournament, but I like the notion that we could save budget on travel and shorten the season to something more manageable. Just a thought to share with the community for us to ponder together and possibly mature it into a workable solution.

    To your questions …

    Nathan Tomasello at the Big Ten Championships (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)

    Q: Nathan Tomasello is reportedly moving up to 133 pounds. Do you see him as a title contender there? Or do you think his height could be a hindrance against taller, longer 133-pounders?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: But Tomasello has always been that tall.

    The issue of height is, for me, not an issue. Having never wrestled him I wouldn't know, but it seems like he could pick up a forklift and throw it across a warehouse. With that type of Herculean strength I think he can more than make up for a lack of comparable leverage.

    NATO is a force and with one of the best coaches in the NCAA I think that he has a chance to win it at 133, 125 and hell, maybe even 141!

    Q: Does USA Wrestling have anything set up to hire people to make our sport better? Are there any organizations other than USA Wrestling that do that? The NCAA has their committee of coaches, but they can only do so much as the NCAA trumps the coaches. How would one help our sport the most, outside of being a competitor or coach? What would be the best avenue to take?
    -- Ben H.

    Foley: One of the most influential bodies in the sport is the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), which provides resources and insights to coaches around the country.

    Unlike the NCAA, the NWCA has more autonomy to make recommendations on the future of the sport and tends to be former wrestlers, rather than a mixture of professional collegiate administrators and coaches.

    Also, we have to define what we mean to make the sport "better." When you look at the totality of wrestling's place in the United States things are looking pretty good. The sport is growing rapidly among women, there is increased participation in NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and the NCWA. High school numbers are less stable, with some overall participation figures pointing towards a downward trend.

    As for video content, there is FloWrestling, Trackwrestling and the individual governing bodies like United World Wrestling and USA Wrestling who are all providing video to those who'd like to watch. Jason Bryant's podcast network is hooking thousands of listeners a week up with an inside track on their favorite program or discussion topics. And we have a robust social media culture (even if it gets a little hot at times).

    Things could always be "better" but for the most part we are seeing some good results. Yes, you could cut this the other way and see a different story, but I'm choosing the positive angle … this time.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Helen and Simone!


    Q: With Jordan Burroughs not winning in Rio, how much does that affect his marketability? Can you give a ballpark figure on how much money it might have cost him?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Off-the-whistle he's losing $500,000 for not repeating as Olympic champion. I think that after that number the rest is sort of inconsequential.

    I don't know if there is any real way to gauge how much market value he lost. There are contracts that I'm sure were signed before the Olympics to ensure that he still could capitalize on his fame. Also, I don't know that I think he lost that much value form his previous popularity, as much as he has lost income opportunity. That number could be enormous when you start factoring in book deals, attire and other items.

    Crazy to think about what happened at the Olympic Games and not feel some empathy for his position. How many other wrestlers were being paid by Hershey's, Asics, Ralph Lauren and Chobani? How many could deal with that level of expectation? Tough to say, but I think that he has served the sport well, and while I wish to see him on the mat soon, I wish more to see that he is healthy and happy.

    Q: Any word that Isaiah White will or will not be enrolling at Ohio State this fall? He is not listed on their roster. I've heard that grades may be a problem.
    -- J.M.

    Foley: Update: Twitter is telling me he is at Notre Dame College.

    Q: Who are your top five pound-for-pound NCAA wrestlers?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Kyle Snyder has to be at the top of the heap, given his dramatic win last season and, oh yeah, the Olympic title. After that I'm choosing J'den Cox, Isaiah Martinez, Zain Retherford and Gabe Dean.]]>    81346Fri, 30 Sep 2016 05:51:26 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: September 23, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-september-23-2016-r81333/
    What you'll find is that Salopek's a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who, with the support of National Geographic, began a seven-year journey in 2013 to walk around the world (roughly) following the path of human migration out of Africa.

    Salopek is undertaking something so simple, but extraordinary, that one can't help but be inspired. Every photo, recap and story. He's enduring seven years of pain and suffering to help the rest of us bums better understand how and why our world is composed of these vastly different cultures. He's slowing down so he can observe, report and, on the deepest level, feel.

    Salopek's journey of loneliness and commitment stands against much of the world's current trajectory. As information has sped up to the lightning speed of distraction, Salopek has chosen to slow it down. We have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other technologies to pull us away from life. Salopek has his feet to draw himself (and us) closer to life.

    Maybe Salopek's lesson can be adapted to wrestling and the way we monitor success. Our sport is no doubt on a slog not a sprint. We need focus, patience and diligence much more than we need 140 characters and 8-second highlight films. The Save Olympic Wrestling movement prompted significant change, but that was only to one sliver of our complex worldwide network of wrestling styles and cultures. Each could use exploration, promotion and adaptation. But that can't be done from behind our keyboards.

    Salopek saw this when he set off in 2013. He isn't firing off about human migration and the intricate, delicate and subtle difference of cultures from the comfort of his home, he's out in the world documenting it through his senses and through stories that typically go unheard or quickly forgotten.

    Seven years may be too long for most of us to give to the sport, and walking would be a tad nonsensical, but wrestling could use some more journeys of inspiration. We need this next generation to explore our sport's history first-hand, to intervene on its behalf in times of need and in a meaningful way. Young or old we all should to strive to become a little bit more than just monsters of social media. We should be a little more like Paul Salopek.

    Follow Paul on his journey here, here and here. Maybe we'll all catch some inspiration.

    To your questions …

    Nick Suriano defeated Devan Turner (Dixon) to win the Doc Buchanan Invitational (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: What are realistic expectations for Nick Suriano this upcoming season as Penn State's starter at 125 pounds?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Nick Suriano's expectations are (I'm guessing) to be a national champion. Outside looking in I'd lay $200 to win $100 that he's an All-American and lay $50 to win $300 that he's in the national finals.

    Winning the national championship? 15-1.

    Q: Must we as wrestling fans tolerate UWW corruption with the understanding that Olympic wrestling would be gone without it?
    -- @rickmathern

    Foley: I don't agree that wrestling needs corruption in order to function. However, what I think you might also be hinting at is that there are a number of countries or individuals that keep the sport in play in Europe who may also have selfish reasons for governance.

    As you might imagine I've been asked to answer a lot of questions about the federation since Rio de Janeiro, and most of the time I'm more than happy to engage with anyone who wants to hear how things work (this is different than my opinion of how I think things should work) and I tell them the same thing each time. International sports is dysfunctional for many reasons, most of which are outside of any federation's domain.

    International federations tend to allot one vote to each nation in choosing their leadership councils. This naturally tips the balance of power to Europe, which has a multitude of contributing nations who can be easily co-opted come the time to vote. One side effect of that regional concentration of power is that the power leads to more nations in Europe hosting events, which means that they make money and now have more money with which to sponsor sport. It's almost cyclical in that way and is true in judo, fencing, and a ton of other sports including wrestling.

    The one nation, one vote issue is also what hampers progress at the UN and other multinational organizations, as it doesn't weigh population or make adjustments for scale of influence, but simply gives Trinidad and Tobago as much power to influence as it does Russia.

    From where I sit the one nation, one vote system causes imbalances that can negatively affect the sporting world.

    FIFA has taken steps to reduce some of this influence by offsetting powers into regional committees, but who knows if that'll change much in the long run. In the meantime some creative thinking might be in order to try and ensure that smaller nations have a voice and that sport can enjoy a better worldwide balance.

    Q: What did you think of Team USA's performance at the Cadet Worlds in freestyle?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Incredible. There is World Championships talent on that team, and as many people pointed out their opponents sometimes looked as though they graduated from high school last decade.

    Regardless of their competitors age, the quality of the wrestling coming from the USA is arguably the best it's ever been. Much of the team's success comes from the implementation of a development program focused on introducing young talent to the national team coaches and athletes in Colorado Springs. Most, however, seems to come from the expansion of RTC's which has created the availability of high-level coaching from an earlier age.

    The wrestlers coming through today are in a very unique position in that they also have full-time wrestling coaches in their hometowns and can train year-round with top-flight partners. Also a growing familiarity with the rules has improved the on-the-mat tactics and strategies for our Cadet and Junior level wrestlers.

    Where does it go from here? That's a tougher question to answer, but I think we are topping out on what's possible since the folkstyle season remains dominant. While I don't doubt that the grind of the season and the number of matches and practices help our wrestlers win at the senior level, I think that changing the rule set to freestyle would multiply the advantage of that system. If not, I don't see more than seven medals in the USA's future at Cadets and more than four medals out of every eight weights at the senior level would shock me.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Africa's first-ever female medalist in wrestling, Marwa Amri.

    Q: Mailbag million $ question: When will United World Wrestling take a hard stance on corruption and legitimize the sport at the international level?
    -- @adamtirapelle

    Foley: From my understanding there was an ethics report filed with United World Wrestling and the bureau agreed to hire an independent ethics panel to investigate certain cases.

    While referees at the Olympics were dismissed for suspicion, it's important to remember that you don't want to over-adjust and allow people in positions of power to self-regulate. Let's assume for a moment that the leadership agreed that there was corruption and dismissed those responsible immediately, but didn't follow a process. What would then stop those same individuals from casting off anyone who disagreed with them on "suspicion" of corruption?

    The wheels of justice are slow in some cases and faster in others, which I know is frustrating, but no matter where you land on the issues of the day the need to have a fair investigation should remain.

    Here's to hoping it all gets figured out in the near future.

    Q: Former Edinboro wrestler Gregor Gillespie is making his UFC debut this weekend. How do you see him doing in the UFC?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I'm bullish on Gregor Gillespie and his chances of becoming a massive success in MMA. First, he has the wrestling background, which means he is a proven physical learner, has been through the grind of the NCAA season, and has the skills necessary to thread together the various parts of the fight game. Secondly, he is lanky, which gives him distance for a jab and the opportunity to land leg kicks from a distance. Finally, I think that he is also fairly proficient at jiu-jitsu defense, which is more important than being proficient at landing submissions.

    Also, he has a lot of tattoos and those play well for the UFC demographic!

    Q: What's your problem?
    -- Chris

    Foley: Bah humbug.]]>    81333Fri, 23 Sep 2016 07:44:37 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: September 16, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-september-16-2016-r81315/
    This Thursday marked the Mid-Autumn Festival for the people of China, Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan. The festival shifts depending on the lunar calendar but is the 15th day of the 8th month and coincides with a full moon.

    The diversity of cultures celebrating the same holiday means you have a variety of events and traditions accompanying the day. For the Chinese it's important to give moon cake to friends and family and release floating sky lanterns. Filipinos play a dice game and Koreans cook a massive feast called Cheosuk, which is essentially their version of Thanksgiving.

    The festival takes a slightly different form in each country, but there is another common thread to these festivals outside of eating and seeing a new moon rise: traditional wrestling.


    The Chinese hosts a variety of matches in villages throughout the country, but one of the biggest is in Xinzhou, Shaanxi, China where competitors take part in a version of traditional wrestling (known as Shuai Jiao) where they look for takedowns against six straight opponents. There is no touching of anything except the bottom of your foot and opponents simply walk out from the collection of fans. The winners (there are usually three rounds) are awarded a sheep and roughly $1500.

    The Koreans celebrate Cheosuk with a traditional wrestling event as important as watching the Lions get smashed on Thanksgiving. Traditional Korean wrestling tournaments -- the style is known as Ssireum -- are held nationwide, with the top tournament being shown on national television. The style is most closely associated to belt wrestling, but is extremely entertaining and high-flying.


    In Vietnam traditional Dau Vat tournaments are held in villages and town centers, often in stadiums built only for wrestling. Like with the other styles there are no weight categories or other classifications and prize money is awarded to the last wrestler standing. The aim of the style is to either lift your opponent off the ground or expose his belly to the sky. The Mid-Autumn tournament is usually the most important of the year, with the possible exception of the New Year tournament in February and the end of season tournaments in April and May.

    Wrestling is everywhere.

    To your questions …

    Q: What do you make of Kyle Snyder's comments about wanting to fight in UFC? What kind of fighter do you think he will be?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I mostly have mature thoughts that tell me he can handle learning the new techniques without taking away from his wrestling. However, my initial reaction was more "eww" than anything positive. While I think MMA is a great career path for athletes to take after their career has ended, I don't think you can be great at more than one sport at a time.

    Snyder hasn't spent much time in jiu-jitsu practices, Muay-Thai sessions or boxing classes. While he is a physical freak and natural athlete there is A LOT to learn and those interested in excelling need to have an appetite for humble pie. I'd prefer that he tackle school, NCAA wrestling (if he HAS to) and compete overseas. Most mortals would break with only having to approach the above, never mind the additional considerations of family and a significant other.

    I'd be a touch depressed to see Snyder miss an opportunity to be a legend of our sport, just for the chance to be decent in another.

    Q: Here is an idea for an offseason tournament that would make matches interesting. Matches would consist of three, two-minute periods all starting in neutral. The three periods would each be a different style (folkstyle, freestyle, Greco-Roman). The match would begin with a flip of a coin, the winner could either pick the style of the first period. The second period the other wrestler gets his choice of the two remains styles and the third period wrestled is the remaining style. It would take a lot more strategy. What do you think?
    -- Mark M.

    Foley: I'm totally in for this type of madness!

    As you might be able to figure out there are a variety of nationalities at work during most international wrestling tournaments. Among the group of IT workers and cameramen, is a former Serbian Greco-Roman wrestler in his young 30's. After two years of talking trash to each other about wrestling each other we finally took to the mats at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014. Like your scenario, however, we faced an issue of which styles to wrestle.

    Ultimately, we flipped a coin and went freestyle first and Greco-Roman second. My Serbian friend was completely incapable of stopping a shot, which helped me rack up an eight-point advantage. That spread was almost eliminated in the second period when I was tossed through time and space for a five-point throw. The match was certainly difficult in terms of my conditioning, but I liked that the various styles forced us into strategies -- some of which worked, others that ended with me being tossed onto my head.

    Q: I am working on recruiting some football players right now. Do you have or know of a list of current NFL players who have wrestled? The only lists I can find have some great players, but most of the middle school guys I am trying to recruit are too young to know who they are.
    -- S. Mead

    Foley: I did a quick Google search and came upon this list, which might be the one you are referencing. If you look around there are quite a few quotes from big-time college coaches that advocate for their recruits to wrestle as it teaches them about balancing and conditioning.

    Good luck!

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Korean Ssrieum

    Dau Vat

    Chinese Shuiajiao

    Q: Team USA failed to get a medal at the Cadet World Championships and Olympic Games. The Americans won a couple bronze medals at the Junior World Championships. Why is Team USA struggling so much in Greco-Roman, especially on the senior level? Is it simply because the best athletes in the United States just aren't wrestling Greco-Roman?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: There are a number of issues for the Greco-Roman team to solve, primarily how to score early, in bunches and hold a lead. For many American fans (and wrestlers) the sport is just too distant, with very few entry points. There are limited youth club opportunities and very little upper-level coaching.

    Even if the majority of American athletes choose freestyle, there are enough eligible athletes in this country to make any dream a reality. The numbers are an issue, and I'm not sure that we have the correct development program in place to help the middle and high school-aged wrestlers improve quickly. Even if they chose to only wrestle Greco-Roman year-round there are almost no tournaments to enter between September and April. No tournaments means no style-specific training or on-the-mat learning session and that is a massive concern when considering the likelihood of positive growth and development for Greco-Roman in the United States.

    Q: Do you think Chance Marsteller will focus on senior level freestyle wrestling now? Or do you think we will see him back in college wrestling?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I think Chance's days on the mat are over. There is always room for forgiveness, but from what I'm being told Chance doesn't want to make the tough decisions. He was great for his span of time. He excelled and then he hit a downward spiral. As much as I'd love to see him fulfill his potential, my instinct says this behavior is part of his character, not an exception.]]>    81315Fri, 16 Sep 2016 06:47:36 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: September 9, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-september-9-2016-r81234/
    Soon after the release of the letter J Robinson published a response explaining that he felt the University of Minnesota mischaracterized his actions and avoided culpability for their own lack of institutional control and cooperation.

    So who's right: The University of Minnesota's Athletic Director, or J Robinson?

    After reading the University's explanation and J Rob's response the best conclusion might be both and it might be neither.

    College kids are dumb and college wrestlers even more so, often making tragically, cosmically stupid decisions regarding their own health and wellbeing.

    As a coach I've seen wrestlers stumble into the office with massive cuts on their brow from "playing WWE." I've seen a whole side of a body turned into a scab after a wrestler crashed during a downhill long board luging race. Then there are the fights, the booze and YES -- drugs.

    As a wrestler I saw teammates jump off roofs, commandeer a bar for personal use and attempt to play chicken with a train. Sometimes the scene around a wrestling program filled with testosterone and empty on leadership can be something more akin to an episode of Jersey Shore, or maybe the Sopranos. Tough-guy attitudes, rampant immaturity and easy access to intoxicants can make a tight-knit group of wrestlers into one muscular ball of bad decision making.

    To combat this behavior many coaches set rules with strict consequences. From the outside it seemed that J Rob had always set very clear expectations for his team and was effective at enforcing penalties for poor judgment, but also rewarding positive behaviors and actions. There was never much question as to his ability to lead young men and it showed itself with several individual NCAA champions and a handful of team titles.

    However, from 10k feet it seems as though maybe even he was perplexed by what to do in response to the team-wide abuse (and sale) of drugs. I know that I would be lost on how to respond, and that most coaches I know would be hopeless to figure out the correct response. While J Rob laid out very clear expectations, there was likely no answer in place for an incident this far-reaching.

    For many in the wrestling community J's response seems fair and even-keeled -- the drugs were gone, the wrestlers forced into programs to repair any addictions issues they might face, and the stakeholders in the wrestlers' lives were informed. Could anyone come up with a more complete and thoughtful solution to the issue? J did the best he could by his team and for the health of the individuals, but that might not have been enough to save his job.

    The University of Minnesota doesn't seem to take issue with J's intentions as much as the fact he forgot who signs his check. Like all institutions there is a level of transparency that must be met, and like J oversaw his wrestlers and their expectations for behavior, the University had expectations for J and his behavior. In the end they felt he didn't meet those expectations and was subsequently fired.

    So who's to blame: J or the University? Neither or both, but I don't think you can blame one without indicting the other.

    My hope is that J takes another job, but this time something off the mat. Administrative positions have the ability to make big changes and I think that J's outlook on the sport and its future are important to preserve.

    Here's to wishing everyone involved a better future: the administration, J Robinson, and especially the wrestlers.

    To your questions ….

    Spencer Lee won his second straight junior world title (Photo/Justin Hoch)

    Q: Biggest takeaway from Junior Worlds?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Spencer Lee is a monster. Forget the quick technical falls, he GUTTED out a win in the 50-kilogram finals and won over the anti-American crowd with his effort. I think that I said in a previous mailbag that he might not be ready for 57 kilograms in 2020, but that's an opinion I can see changing if/when Lee adds some muscle.

    Another takeaway is that the Americans aren't peaking at 18 as much as they are 23-25 and that's OK. Even as that's the case, the team had an impressive performance and as freestyle adds appeal with more visibility I think the Americans will continue to approve.

    Q: Is there any chance that women will compete in Greco-Roman sometime during the 2020 Olympic cycle? Also, will Iran ever field a women's wrestling team?
    -- Jacob R.

    Foley: No. Under the current IOC rules, the first time wrestling could be added as a new style to the Games would be 2024, and only then as an exhibition sport. Assuming that wrestling adds a style it's highly doubtful Greco-Roman would make the cut since beach wrestling has been around for several years, is highly marketable and would be more likely to bring along with a men's program as well.

    Iran just fielded a women's team for belt wrestling, and Rasoul Khadem was just elected to the United World Wrestling bureau. Those are good indications that there could be some progress. However, that would come from the government, not just the federation.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    The single most watched wrestling video … ever? (Seriously)

    Q: You mentioned how Iranians receive some money from the government and Turks get a salary for Olympic medals. However, in the U.S. we have a private organization in USA Wrestling and the Living The Dream Medal Fund that pays our guys. For some of the more successful countries in wrestling (Russia, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Iran, etc.) where does their funding come from? Is it the government or are there similar organizations in other countries that preside over the wrestling there?
    -- Chris P.

    Foley: The Russian government provides a large gift (this year it was a BMW) and some cash. That is then supplemented by the regional governments (Abdulrashid Sadulaev got a horse) and then a untold amount of money comes from private donors. There is a story that Makharbek Khadartsev would receive several hundred thousand dollars for world championships.

    Cuba is paid $1200 for gold and given a very insignificant monthly salary from the government.

    America leads the way in terms of paying their wrestlers …

    Q: What happened to Anzor Boltukayev in Rio? Sick? Injured? He looked like a shell of himself.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The Russians said he had food poisoning. Your guess is as good as mine, but he not only looked tired, but sloppy.

    Q: How did Coleman Scott become the 2012 Olympic gold medalist? Will there be a medal ceremony? Lastly, has this happened before?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: Togrul Asgarov has NOT violated WADA's anti-doping code. There is not gold medal to be redistributed.

    Should it happen in the future I highly doubt there would be a ceremony in the USA and certainly not at the international level.

    However, he would GET PAID.

    Q: Did you see this? Sacred Heart head wrestling coach Any Lausier is riding a bike to St. Louis to raise funds for his program.
    -- CC

    Foley: I'm a big fan of cycling and put down a long ride in 2008. Coach should be commended for this endeavor! Very tough ride that I hope goes really well. I'll be donating a few bucks and hope more of the community pitches in to help one of Division I wrestling's least supported programs!

    Go Coach!

    Q: What excites you most about the upcoming college wrestling season?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Uh, watching Olympic champion Kyle Snyder eff around versus highly talented and woefully outmatched college heavyweights.

    You?

    Q: Can you give the wrestling community insight or history as to why NCAA wrestling never adopted the NCAA track & field model of two separate seasons for very similar but different sports? Did the powers that be in wrestling and the NCAA ever consider an official NCAA folkstyle season for the winter, fall, spring and have an official NCAA freestyle and Greco-Roman and corresponding season?
    -- Marcus R.

    Foley: Until you wrote this question I never considered this as an option! Obviously, funding would be a huge issue, but I think that there is some validity to the idea of making a LOW KEY collegiate dual meet season to help our guys transition from the college style to the freestyle and Greco-Roman rules.

    Something modest like 5-7 matches? I think that's a workable idea!]]>    81234Fri, 09 Sep 2016 06:31:37 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: September 2, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-september-2-2016-r81257/Kyle Dake finished second at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    The Junior World Championships are this week in Macon, but the real drama might be off the mats as United World Wrestling holds its bi-annual congress and elections for the sport's leadership bureau.

    Most of the issues from the Olympic Games focused on the potential influence of this body and their election is often a chance for nations around the world to vote in new blood. Six seats are up in this election with at least two new members to join after previous members announced their retirement. New voices should be good for the sport as they might add new perspective.

    I will be sure to let the wrestling community know the results of the elections as soon as the votes are cast.

    To your questions …

    Q: If you are Kyle Dake, do you move back down now that Jordan Burroughs would have to go through the gauntlet at the Trials? Is it likely that David Taylor would stay at 86kilos?
    Frank C.

    Foley: If I'm Dake, I don't know that I'd want to head back down and take on a super motivated Jordan Burroughs in an open field any more than I'd want to challenge an ever-improving J'den Cox at 86 kilograms.

    The big thing fro Kyle should be to get healthy and travel to as many tournaments and camps as possible. There is nothing more he can do here in the states to give himself an edge. Overseas will get him up close and help him figure out his weight class and learn the winning strategies and techniques of wrestlers from Iran, Russia and Turkey.

    Q: Do you know what wrestlers from other countries get as a reward for bringing home a gold, silver or bronze medal? Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey?
    -- KK

    Foley: The most celebrated returns seem to come from these countries, and though I don't know much about each reward I do know that Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia has so far received six million rubles ($100k), a brand new BMW sports car … and a golden horse. The Turks are rumored to pay $500k for each gold medal and a lifetime salary. The Iranians are certain to pay a good amount, but I will need to ask very personal questions. I'd heard in the past that they receive money, but most of their income comes from sponsorships and finding themselves in preferential business arrangements. An interesting side note, the most celebrated Iranian wrestler Gholamreza Takhti is in part beloved for refusing a gift of land from the government. There was some argument about who had currently owned the land and Takhti didn't want to take from his countrymen. The decision endeared him to the nation.

    Q: It was difficult to watch a devastated Migran Arutyunyan on the podium accepting his silver medal after the ref decided he was not worthy of gold. Some have suggested the match was called in favor of the Serb in an effort to please the head of UWW. Could there be any truth to this or are we talking way-out-there conspiracy theory?
    -- KK

    Foley: I don't know what was in the mind of the referee from Taipei! Obviously Arutyunyan should not have been put down twice. However, I never thought it was a conspiracy as much as poor officiating. Though the match was not as many would have hoped, it's also not as though Stefanek is a nobody. He had a great tournament prior to making the finals.

    Q: I caught the 48 and 58-kilogram women's finals last night. I thought the 48-kilogram final went smoothly with Azerbaijan girl choking at the end. Japanese girl really swarmed her at the end, pretty impressive and great way to close. What I could not understand was how the Russian 58-kilogram wrestler got put on the shot clock twice, and I don't believe Icho took a single shot the entire match?!?! That last score was a counter off the Russian's sloppy 'diving' shot.

    Seems like many wrestlers' fates are being put in the ref's hands and not their own. Help me make sense of this.
    -- Willy D

    Foley: First of all, we have to come to a consensus in the wrestling community that women's wrestling was the most entertaining of the Olympic Games. High drama, massive upsets and last-second victories defined their two days of competition. They also attracted the most media and had the highest attendance of any style.

    The women also competed well and with a high level of technical acumen. There were WAY more throws and a wider variety of takedowns than the 2012 Games, showing that the sport is rapidly growing and changing.

    As for Icho's match I think that the Russian should have been penalized much earlier in the match for repeated blows to Icho's face and head. That tactic benefited the Tunisians in the first round and was imitated by the Azerbaijani wrestler in the semifinals. However, Valeria Koblova's attempts were more direct and with little offense in mind. To me her late period shot clock violations also seemed warranted.

    Q: Can you provide any data on the viewership of the Olympic wrestling events and how it compared with other Olympic sports?
    -- KK

    Foley: We will be working on these numbers over the next several weeks. I can say that if you look on NBC Sports the top posts were all from stories surrounding wrestling: Helen's win, Burroughs' interview, and the throw by Kawai.

    Also, the Mongolian protest skewed a lot more attention in wrestling's direction, even if it was for unwanted reasons.

    RANT OF THE WEEK
    By Ben H.

    How is wrestling at the NCAA level recognized as an Olympic sport but they don't even wrestle the same style of Olympic wrestling? Shouldn't it be that all sports at the NCAA level, that are Olympic sports, look the same at the NCAA level as the Olympic sport? I don't know any of the other sports -- swimming, track and field, water polo, gymnastics -- any of them that play by a different set of scoring/rules during the NCAA level then switch to a different style for the Olympics. Student-athletes are allowed to take an Olympic redshirt but again they aren't even competing with the same rules and style as they do during the NCAA season. My thoughts are we should go freestyle and/or freestyle/Greco during both NCAA season and high school season then if we want to keep folkstyle wrestling as something special to our country everyone can do it for "fun" during the summer months or offseason.

    Or …

    Why don't we flip the folkstyle and freestyle/Greco seasons in America? Have high school and colleges compete in freestyle/Greco during the actual season then in the offseason train folkstyle as we do with freestyle/Greco now. It's pretty ironic that we have Olympic redshirts in college wrestling but those same wrestlers never wrestle the Olympic style EVER in a school uniform. Every four years wrestling is showcased in the Olympics and we have people like Jordan Burroughs and Adeline Gray all over talk shows but then the casual fan watches it on TV it looks nothing like the couple of duals they saw on the ESPN/Big Ten Network/online. Then people like you and me are explaining wrestling once again on the couch to someone that we tried to get to understand the scoring and what's going on just a couple months ago watching the ESPN/Big Ten Network/online. Switch the freestyle/Greco seasons with the folkstyle seasons.]]>    81257Fri, 02 Sep 2016 14:48:43 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: August 26, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-august-26-2016-r81239/After winning her fourth Olympic gold medal, Kaori Icho paid tribute to her late mother (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    The 2016 Olympic Games for wrestling might be remembered for stripping coaches, once-in-a-generation upsets and an ever-expanding refereeing controversy, but its legacy will likely be with the success of women on the mat.

    In no other Olympic Games have we seen such popularity and support for women's wrestling. Leading the pack was Kaori Icho's improbable, record-breaking fourth gold medal in wrestling. In addition to becoming wrestling royalty, Icho also became the first woman to ever win four gold medals in the same event across four Olympics -- making her an Olympian for the ages.

    We also saw Helen Maroulis win the United States' first-ever gold medal in wrestling, overcoming three-time Olympic champion Saori Yoshida. Ask Rulon, interrupting history has a way of leaving an indelible mark on the sporting world. All of this with the single largest collection of media for any single day of judo or wrestling.

    The other two major achievements by women were less celebrated, but likely more consequential. Tunisia's Marwa Amri won bronze and became her country's first-ever medalist in wrestling AND the first woman to ever medal from the continent of Africa. Equally as major an accomplishment is Sakshil Malik of India who became her country's first-ever female medalist at the Olympics and the first to ever place in wrestling.

    These achievements will change the world, and for the better. To paraphrase one of the Indian coaches, we are about to see 10,000 more Sakshil Maliks in India. Women who grow up in extreme poverty but through wrestling rise up and change their life for the better.

    This Olympics was for the women and I hope we see the sport's continued growth and support by fans.

    To your questions …

    Q: Will Kaori Icho retire after winning her fourth Olympic gold medal? Or do you see her wrestling in Tokyo 2020?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: As you know I've been able to cover Icho extensively over the past few years. Through filming her documentary I was certain she would wrestle in Tokyo, but after her nail-biting finale in Rio I tend to think she will retire.

    Though she hasn't made a definitive decision, I'm betting Icho retires, heads overseas to coach, and makes an equal impact in the chair as she did on the mat.

    Q: In the 2000 Olympics, Rulon beat Karelin and was rewarded with an Asics shoe deal (now the Aggressors). Now we have shoes and singlet lines named for several male wrestlers who have never medaled at (or competed in) world or Olympic championships.

    Now that Helen Maroulis has world titles and scored the biggest Olympic win since Rulon-Karelin, will we see her break the gender barrier and be given a shoe deal like her male counterparts? Seems only fair...
    -- David (MA)

    Foley: Shoe deals aren't emotional! They need to make dollars to make sense.

    Helen will certainly NOT get a shoe deal from Asics as they are a Japanese company heavily invested in Saori Yoshida. However, Helen is already sponsored by Adidas and I'd expect -- or hope -- that we will in fact see the first women's shoe in the coming year.

    I don't KNOW that she will, but I am willing to bet. Any takers?

    Also, I haven't bought a pair of shoes since college. If Helen gets a deal I'm hoping that they are gender neutral because I want my first pair in over a decade.

    Q: What surprised you more: Jordan Burroughs failing to medal or Adeline Gray failing to medal?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Jordan Burroughs

    You can see Adeline having really bad luck with that tip-over, but Burroughs lost his matches while not looking like himself on the mat. No question, Adeline was the best wrestler in the bracket who got unlucky in three seconds, but Burroughs was beaten handily by a duo of wrestlers.

    In the end, after endorsements and media and expectations, not many wrestlers could deal with the pressure Burroughs was under in Rio, even Burroughs.

    Q: I am very frustrated with the TV coverage of the Olympics. The times and channels that wrestling was supposed to be on were often not correct. In addition, there was much better coverage of power walking, water polo, handball, etc. … sports that are much less popular or viewed as wrestling regardless of the metric used to determine popularity. I would like to know if there is any way we can help ourselves. I fear that network executives are going to say, "See, we televise wrestling and no one watches" … when the fact is it was extremely hard to find it even for the hardcore wrestling fan. The Olympics were a chance for us to "move the needle" a bit in regards to popularity. Who would be the "they" that could help wrestling in the United States? Is it USA Wrestling? I believe that the United States wrestling powers need to take a lead and hire a PR or marketing firm to take an unbiased look at the sport in the U.S. at all levels and recommend changes that can be made to improve its popularity. What are your thoughts on this? I appreciate your view. Thank you. Go USA!
    -- Michael S.

    Foley: NBC Sports came under fire from Flowrestling for this same point. I thought that Jim Bell, the executive producer of NBC Olympics (who has four sons who wrestle), did a solid job of answering that criticism. Essentially he stated in tweets that NBC did cover Helen and Kyle live on NBCSN -- their station for live content -- and that they were spread around to a variety of talk shows, including the Today Show, the most-watched show in the USA.

    I should also point out that social media impact was well documented and no sport in America came close (within a 100 light years) to wrestling! As a sport we crushed everyone else and while that isn't creating income right away it does have an impact on their long term planning for sports. While speed walking may have been put in the spotlight for a moment, I think that wrestling came out of the Olympics in an excellent position (from a media standpoint) heading into 2020. You should be happy!

    Also, the positive feedback on the numbers of viewers came before the incident with the Mongolian coaching staff. Helen, Risako Kawai's slam of her coach and the interview of Jordan Burroughs were the top three most viewed items on NBC Olympics.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Kyle Snyder Level 10

    Link: Helen Maroulis win

    Link: Risako Kawai slam

    Link: Jordan Burroughs interview

    Q: What is your opinion did on how Team USA fared in wrestling in the Olympics? Who do you see as the future Team USA?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: Not an excellent showing. I'm happy for Team USA that they finished in third in men's freestyle, one place ahead of Russia, but on-level a disappointing Olympics.

    There doesn't need to be any wholesale change at the federation level, but I do think we all need to sit in a room and decide if we want to move college wrestling over to freestyle and Greco-Roman. Snyder and Cox didn't win at the international level because they wrestle folkstyle (that makes no sense) but it does say that the regimented schedule, constant training and Regional OTC's are a model that we should explore and expand.

    Here's one idea I liked from my buddy Will Durkee: make Division I freestyle/Greco-Roman and keep Division II and Division III as folkstyle.

    … Fight!

    Q: If the Olympic Games gave out Outstanding Wrestler awards, who would be your OWs in each of the three styles?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Soslan Ramonov of Russia was the most impressive wrestler in any styles. Creative, aggressive and tactical he improved the sport with his performance in Rio. By default he's also my Most Outstanding Wrestler for the freestyle event.

    Risako Kawai of Japan was wrestling up a weight class and was dominant throughout the women's tournament.

    Roman Vlasov of Russia is a total machine and works hard for every point. I know that people thought he earned a controversial won over Kim Hyeon-Woo of Korea, but if you look at what was awarded four point for Vlasov's throw and what some wanted awarded four points for Kim, it's obvious that one was more spectacular that the other. Also, he was ILLEGALLY choked unconscious and still won the gold medal.

    Q: Was this one of mat officials that was suspended? If not, he should be banned for life. He was on the video review panel for the Gomez and Yardzani matches and advocated for points for their opponents in both. If you haven't already, re-watch those matches and see his influence.
    -- Craig T.

    Foley: Suspended indefinitely (forever) after the Gomez match and removed from the floor of the Olympics. Ethics Commission is investigating along with several other complaints.

    Q: In the bronze-medal match between Mandakhnaran Ganzorig and Ikhtiyor Navruzov, was the fleeing call justified? I see both sides of the argument. It was clear that Ganzorig won that match and probably should have left Rio with bronze. However, it doesn't seem fair that you can run for 18 seconds and give Navruzov no chance to score.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: It wasn't 18 seconds. Was 3 seconds. The correct call is to whistle the wrestler into attention before ever making a fleeing call. Not just correct, but the ONLY decision. It was absolutely the wrong to call to make, especially to overturn the match outcome. Infuriating to watch.

    RANT OF THE WEEK
    By EB

    It's time to address the elephant in the room.

    Rio was a step back for wrestling. The Mongolian strip show and the Franklin Gomez screw job are just the tip of the iceberg. Then throw in numerous other moments of questionable officiating, the Ukrainian bites hulk moment, the Russian doping scandal, the Narsingh Yadav soap opera, and ol Mikhail Tyson playing punch out (allegedly) on Inna Tranzhukova. Quite a week for a sport that had to fight to stay in the Olympics and isn't secured past 2020. On top of all that our best ambassador for the sport over the last couple of years was dealt a major setback.

    Don't get me wrong. There's still a lot right with wrestling on the international scene. There were some great moments. Icho's historic win, Burroughs candid interview, Lopez's third gold, and the Maryland duo of Kyle and Helen.

    The point is we still have a long way to go and this past week highlighted that. It also highlighted why wrestling is worth fighting for. I'm looking at you UWW.]]>    81239Fri, 26 Aug 2016 10:35:11 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: Olympic Games Coveragehttps://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-olympic-games-coverage-r80997/J'den Cox, Jordan Burroughs and Frank Molinaro at a press conference in Rio (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    The 2016 Olympic Games wrestling competition begins on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Get ready to watch, comment and enjoy!

    Schedule

    Sunday, August 14: Greco-Roman 59,74
    Monday, August 15: Greco-Roman 85, 130
    Tuesday, August 16: Greco-Roman 66, 98
    Wednesday, August 17: Women's 48, 58, 69
    Thursday, August 18: Women's 53, 63, 75
    Friday, August 19: Freestyle 57, 74
    Saturday, August 20: Freestyle 86, 125
    Sunday, August 21: Freestyle 65, 97

    How to watch

    USE THIS LINK: http://uww.io/live

    Yes, this exact link … clicks you through and counts for the IOC metrics.

    Follow United World Wrestling for results, links, photos and more. InterMat will also be providing daily stories from the Rio Games.

    Social media

    Facebook
    Twitter
    Instagram

    Pre-Olympic rankings

    Greco-Roman
    Women's wrestling
    Freestyle

    Style previews

    Greco-Roman
    Women's wrestling
    Freestyle

    Weight class previews

    PLAYLIST: Olympic preview video

    Greco-Roman:
    Aug. 14: 59 kilograms and 75 kilograms
    Aug. 15: 85 kilograms and 130 kilograms
    Aug.16: 66 kilograms and 98 kilograms

    Women's wrestling:
    Aug. 17: 48 kilograms, 53 kilograms, 69 kilograms
    Aug. 18: 53 kilograms, 63 kilograms, 75 kilograms

    Freestyle:
    Aug. 19: 57 kilograms and 74 kilograms: Coming Friday
    Aug. 20: 84 kilograms and 130 kilograms: Coming Saturday
    Aug. 21: 65 kilograms and 97 kilograms: Coming Sunday

    Documentaries

    Kyle Snyder: Level 10
    Yoshida and Icho: The Celebrity and the Samurai
    Battsetseg: Mongol Queen
    Frank Staebler: Melee Machine of Musberg]]>    80997Fri, 12 Aug 2016 06:26:17 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: August 5, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-august-5-2016-r81178/
    Brazil has sacrificed a lot to put on these Games. From perilous health conditions to evictions of long-time residents, the Games brought a mixture of darkness and light to the Brazilian condition, which one can only hope ends in societal improvements.

    I'll be heading down to Rio with a good-size media team from United World Wrestling. We will be creating content throughout the day to both help our current fans connect with their stars and help new fans find a way into the sport. We will be posting interviews, stories, photos, videos, and lots of social media content from now until the end of the Games, and likely beyond.

    One thing to keep in mind is that viewership counts. For sports like wrestling there is a lot at stake these Olympic Games. This is the first Olympics with a well-matured online presence featuring thousands of hours of live sporting content viewable online and on TV. My guess is that with a lot on the line, wrestling is about to shock the Olympic world.

    And here's how we do it:

    Download the NBC Live Sports Application and tune into ALL the wrestling events you can for as long as you can. Aggregate minutes matter. Wrestling has been very quietly breaking records and with even more attention given to viewership I think we might be able to shatter some preconceived notions about the sport's popularity and reach.

    How to watch from anywhere in the world (re-direct is geo-based): http://go.olympic.org/UWW

  • Follow the Olympics and NBC Olympics on their various social media platforms and be sure to share content about the Games hashtags #Rio2016 #wrestling and #RioWrestle. That's something that we can (and likely WILL) count up at the end of the Games.

  • Engage with content generated by United World Wrestling and its partners. This should happen mostly over social media, but be sure to also prompt your friends, family and wrestling-minded folks to get online and stay online.

  • Go to the Olympic site for wrestling and United World Wrestling from NOW until the end of the Games for all your information. These sites should be locked in as favorites on your mobile and desktop.

    Enjoy the Games!

    To your questions …

    Olympic silver medalist Jamill Kelly is an assistant coach at Stanford (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: Any idea why Jamill Kelly stopped competing after his Olympic silver medal in 2004? He's 38 now and looks like he could still be in the mix with the best! It feels like there was so much more left in the tank for him after 2004. He was only 26 years old and was just starting to get really good. It was his life and his career and can only imagine the amount of work that goes into it, so I don't fault him for retiring. But as a fan I feel like we missed what could have been some special moments.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Rather than speculate on the reasons, I gave Jamill a shout. His answer:

    I had decided before the Games that regardless of outcome that would probably be it. Financially, it was a struggle those four years and I wasn't ready to go another cycle when nothing's guaranteed and be 30 years old and just starting my life. We didn't have the Living The Dream Medal Fund or sponsorships these guys have today. If things were like they are now I probably would have considered it. The other huge factor was the rule change. I absolutely hated them and that stalled any thought of my potentially competing again.

    The rule change portion surprised me at first, but the more I considered it the less surprised I was by his logic. The changes were incredibly consequential, especially for a guy who didn't rely a ton on his size. What was once a technical sport went the way of the brute for a few years, with positioning and ball draw clinches becoming the norm.

    Also his response was/is a solid reminder that wrestling doesn't pay a lot of money. Today, that's changed a bit, but it makes you wonder how many guys like him got out early because they wanted to provide a different lifestyle to their family.

    It's great to hear the Semnani Foundation is adding an additional cash prize ($20k, $10k, $5k) to U.S. and Iran wrestlers who place at the Olympic Games. When considering how much Jamill was being paid in his prime wrestling years that extra boost is very generous.

    When I was the No. 1 guy in 2003 and 2004 I was making maybe $25k a year, which was $1k a month from OSU and the rest from my USA Wrestling stipend, bonus for winning nationals and the Trials. In 2001 and 2002 I was making $15k-18k. It was tough.

    Abdulrashid Sadulaev won his second straight world title in Las Vegas (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

    Q: On the eve of the Olympics, what makes Abdulrashid Sadulaev such a special wrestler?
    -- @HalfAgain

    Foley: Shorthand: The combination of strength and flexibility possessed by a man who lives a purpose-driven life and sacrifices for his passion.

    That … and he was born in exactly the right place for a man of his values and talents to become an Olympic champion in wrestling. The coaching and effort put in by his family cannot be overstated. I remember reading a quote from him that said he only sought to make sure his parents were never embarrassed by his actions and that he wished to honor them with his wrestling. He then went on to say another dozen things about how it was his responsibility to never let them down. For all we think of him as a physically imposing human, he seems to have been raised with values that make him an equally good person.

    Q: Have we seen the last of J Rob as the head wrestling coach of the University of Minnesota?
    -- @ShogunOfSonoma

    Foley: Given the length of the investigation and the announcement of Brandon Eggum as acting head coach it would seem that the administration is building a case to fire J Rob. Why? I don't know. There is no repercussion to his staying. Are donors backing out? No. Is this still a news story? No. Did he violate the principals of academics or coaching in any other major way in the past 30 years? No. Does he distract? No.

    There are only negative consequences to firing J. The school will go to court, which will cost them significant money and likely publicize their incompetence in managing this case (and other administrative blunders) over the past few years.

    Q: What are your thoughts on the five sports just added to the 2020 Olympic Games? What impact does the addition of those sports have on wrestling for 2024 and beyond?
    -- @JackGillespie5

    Foley: I think that the sports chosen for 2024 represent a youth push from the IOC and also reflect what will be popular to watch for denizens of Tokyo. That latter part is important since it incentivizes host nations to bid based on the idea that they can approve sports (within reason) that will appeal to their constituents. In this circumstance that is baseball/softball a sport that has been booted in the past and requires a significant capital expenditure.

    As for the youth movement, I think that skateboarding and surfing are just sports we think of as youthful but have significant adult followings. I for one really enjoy the World Surf League updates on social media.

    The impact on wrestling? None that would be negative. The addition of sports only opens the door for wrestling to add another style to the Olympic program. Maybe beach wrestling?

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    The Celebrity and the Samurai: Learn more about the life and struggles of the world's two greatest women's wrestlers of all time. Hope you enjoy.

    Link: Jordan Burroughs' work ethic comes from his blue-collar dad

    From ESPN: Pin Kings is a story about high school wrestling teammates who end up on the opposite side of the law. Told through several storytelling platforms, including magazine and podcast.

    From The Ringer (Bill Simmons' new site)

    The Olympics Watchability Matrix


    The "Jason Statham Movies" Quadrant:

    And finally: Items plotted in the fourth quadrant are supremely watchable and so cool that they actually have negative lameness. These are sports that evoke maximum joy, and you will watch when it beckons time and time again without question or complaint, like Jason Statham taking out a bunch of dudes with guns using only a fire hose in The Transporter 2. Or really, any Jason Statham action movie. There are like, a hundred of them, and they're all great. These are usually the sports with the oldest traditions in the Olympics, the ones that ancient Greeks painted on vases and whatnot.

    Q: Based on what you know, do you expect Jason Tsirtsis to be eligible to compete in college this upcoming season at a different college? Seems like it could be difficult based on the fact that he was not in good academic standing at Northwestern.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I think that it would take a full year to regain eligibility for academic probation, unless he had entered summer school which doesn't seem to be the case. Poor guy had a tough year and wish him the best wherever he lands, regardless of whether or not he wrestles.

    Q: Kaori Icho says men's wrestling is different. I've watched her matches and found the skills she uses are the same. Why does she say that?
    -- @ShogunOfSonoma

    Foley: I'd agree that men's and women's wrestling are very different in their execution. The rules are the same, but that doesn't mean that the techniques and tactics are also similar. For Icho the difference has been in acquiring more technical knowledge. Women's wrestling will tend to focus more on a few techniques and then seeing how to become dominant in every facet of that position (i.e. Yoshida's double leg, Adeline's leg lace), whereas most men seek to be well-rounded on their feet and on the mat. Scrambling positions take on more importance, as does positional superiority. These are areas that Icho focuses on in practice and I think carries over to her wrestling.

    Overall, when you watch the men and women compete you tend to find favored techniques in each style that simply won't work in the other. For example, there are almost no front headlocks in women's wrestling as their weight is distributed in their hips more than shoulders and also have more flexibility up top. Likewise you also see more throws in men's wrestling for pretty much the same reason.

    Q: I see Daniel Dennis is bringing Spencer Lee as a training partner to Rio. Do you see Lee challenging for a spot on a senior level team during the upcoming quad?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Certainly challenging. He's an incredible talent who is well-coached at the high school level and next year will be moving to a college program that creates Olympians. I'm suspect about Dennis bringing Lee as his training partner, but that's his preference and he's earned the right to bring anyone he likes. The coaches must approve so who am I to judge?

    With the man Daniel Dennis! I may not be competing but let's bring home some hardware Team USA!

    A photo posted by Spencer Lee (@spencerlee365) on


    Q: Who are your three biggest locks to win gold in Rio?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley:
    1. Abdulrashid Sadulaev, freestyle, 86 kilograms
    2. Kaori Icho, women's wrestling, 58 kilograms
    3. Jordan Burroughs, freestyle, 74 kilograms]]>81178Fri, 05 Aug 2016 05:32:23 +0000Foley's Friday Mailbag: July 29, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-july-29-2016-r81089/Henry Cejudo celebrates after winning an Olympic gold medal (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)
    The Russian doping scandal is in its final days and with its passing comes a moment for reflection on the values of sport and the Olympic event.

    Money certainly corrupts and it seems that too often doping is tied to the accumulation of wealth through triumphing during sporting competitions. That might be something that we can never change, but I hope that the lessons of sport -- for all age groups -- doesn't take on this singular value.

    Sport, wrestling especially, teaches us about ourselves with every practice and competition. Given the time and sacrifices it takes to be successful in sport, it would be a shame if in the end we competed as nothing more than money-hungry vessels interested in self-worship.

    I'm eager for the Olympics to begin and for the stories of individual sacrifice and triumph to bubble into my Facebook feed. I look forward to big throws on the mat, but I also anticipate the moments leading up to a consequential foot race -- to see who can run the fastest or jump the highest (not much into swimming).

    Every four years the run-up to the Olympics is used as a way to gauge what's backwards about a country (Zika, corruption, protests) and international sport (bribery, doping) but come August 5 that all goes away and we are treated to three weeks of Games. A way to forget troubles, applaud triumph and celebrate athletic achievement.

    Count me in as someone content to cheer.

    To your questions …

    Q: What are you top three USA Olympic wrestling performances ever? Why?
    -- @J_Agnitsch125

    Foley: Henry Cejudo because he outwrestled everyone he faced at an insanely competitive weight class.

    John Smith's second Olympic title in 1992 came at the end of A LOT of winning for Smith. Not only was there a bullseye on his chest for being so dominant, he had the expectations of the Americans also weighing him down. Remember he BARELY got out of the pool, but despite losing to the Cuban at the end of the pool he goes out and put a spanking on the Iranian.

    Rulon Gardner … Not sure it has to be restated!

    Q: Congrats on the new film "Battsetseg: Mongol Queen." What was most enjoyable about that project?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Mongolia has long been my favorite place to visit. Heading into the countryside, sleeping in a ger and interacting with people whose outlook on life has been informed by a totally different set of stimuli are all reasons I look forward to going back. The "Eternal Blue Sky" is probably another, but really, as with any trip, the best moments are enjoyed seeing friends and spending time with their families.

    Guillaume filming in sub-freezing temperatures
    Anecdotally my favorite part about making this movie was watching my cinematographer Guillaume head out into sub-freezing temperatures with his camera to grab a panning shot of a massive statue. I wanted nothing more than to watch him freeze as I sat in the warm car, but I couldn't bring myself to be THAT inconsiderate and lazy. I ran out and helped carry equipment, paid a small bribe to a gatekeeper and tried my best to block the wind from shaking Guillaume's camera.

    What I'll remember about that afternoon is that while I sat with my hands shoved in my pants Guillaume was dead-eye focused on his viewfinder and steadying the tripod to ensure a good shot. That's when I noticed his nose dripping blood. I did what any true friend would do and, instead of grabbing a tissue, I grabbed my camera snapped a shot and then pointed at him like he was a monster.

    There was a lot put into that film, and the three others that will be coming out in the next two weeks. So I guess this anecdote stands as proof that when I tell you that we put blood, sweat and tears into this project, I'm not exaggerating.

    Q: Have you seen the Bollywood film "Sultan" yet? I had a chance to catch it in a theater near DC and was impressed, the production value of the film was phenomenal for a wrestling film. Did the folks at UWW provide any insight for the film makers?
    -- Jacob R.

    Foley: No insights that I'm aware of, but they were in touch regarding promotion. Loving the previews! The story seems to tie together traditional wrestling in the country and future Olympic success, which is both neat and has the luxury of being true. Also, that there is a popular girl wrestler draws on plenty of recent examples.

    Looking forward to seeing it, but I still choose Jason Bourne for this weekend's trip to the box office.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Battsetseg: Mongol Queen (FULL MOVIE)

    Sultan

    Smith's loss at 1992 Olympics

    Q: I read that 2016 Olympians are not eligible to compete at Non-Olympic World Team Trials. Any idea the reasoning behind this?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: They aren't eligible to compete at the international level. The idea is that you want to keep the weights separated and resist the urge by some to send a wrestler out for a medal who already had a world-level opportunity in Rio de Janeiro. Just like they were running side-by-side you couldn't have one wrestler compete in two weights, you can't have them enter the World Championships for new weight categories.

    Q: Predictions on who enters World Team Trials at 61 kilograms and 70 kilograms?
    -- @Eagle_Fan

    Foley: We know that James Green will be in the finals of the World Team Trials at 70 kilograms, so that's an easy tick of the box. Staring him down could be an array of wrestlers from around different weights. Nick Marable, Jason Welch, Dustin Schlatter, Kevin LeValley, Moza Fay and Adam Hall.

    At 61 kilograms I'm looking at Tony Ramos, Reece Humphrey, Joe Colon, Tyler Graff, Frank Perrelli, Nahshon Garret, and maybe Matt McDonough.

    Teshya Alo recently won her sixth Fargo title (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)

    Q: How good can be Teshya Alo be on the senior level? She's only 18, so it's hard for me to get a feel for it. It certainly looks like she has a lot potential. Do you see her winning some world medals and potentially titles by the time the dust settles?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I've watched Teshya at the Cadet and Junior level for the past three seasons and while I totally understand it's hard to judge a women's growth in the sport (we just haven't seen it a lot), I'd have to predict she's going to be nails.

    Everything is in place for Teshya. She's brilliant in understanding how to win, she's hard-nosed and has opportunities to compete based on her previous success.

    Is she a multiple-time world champion? I don't know. But I do think she makes World teams and competes for medals at the senior level.

    Q: Iowa State landed the No. 3 recruiting class by InterMat. In Fargo, future Cyclones claimed a combined seven All-American finishes and four national titles. Does KJ have ISU back primed for a return to national title contention?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I don't keep a close beat on the youth scene, but I read some tweets about these finishes and the ranking and took pause. Maybe Kevin Jackson gets a much worse wrap than he deserves.

    Winning anywhere is tough. If we can all agree that the times have changed and power shifted East then we can also agree that being in Iowa is not a great recruiting benefit for Coach Jackson. National titles are great, but after 40-plus years they lose their luster in the eyes of 17-year-old recruits.

    So on nothing but staff and some incredible performances by individuals over the years Coach Jackson has proven to be an effective recruiter and developer of talent.

    That said, I don't know that the class is enough to boost the Cyclones into national title contention, but its certainly a great place to start.

    Q: Johny Hendricks has struggled mightily since he first became a UFC champion. He has now lost three of his last four fights, and looked especially bad in his last two. What do you attribute to his struggles?
    -- MC

    Foley: There are some obvious dieting issues that were never addressed, but I think that he also didn't develop with the sport. One thing that might have harmed that development was a focus on his big-bomb striking, which took his wrestling for granted and didn't work on submissions. The MMA game changes quickly and without a lot of focus on all areas a fighter can get passed up in a hurry.

    Another reason for a decline is the number of absolutely insane man-battles Johny faced in the previous two years. Something is taken from you in the fights he had with GSP and Lawler. I wrestled hard for 90 minutes yesterday and in that pure exhaustion I was given a quick reminder (sans contact) how hard it is to compete in combat sports. Adding back in a fully actualized barbarian like Robbie Lawler punching you in the face … I don't know who could keep up that type of fighting for very long.]]>    81089Fri, 29 Jul 2016 07:12:23 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: July 22, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-july-22-2016-r81101/IOC president Thomas Bach
    Earlier this week the World Anti-Doping Agency's independent report on doping was released and the findings were less-than-flattering in indicating widespread corruption within the Russian Anti-Doping Agency.

    The accusations are being mulled over by the IOC this week, in their consideration as to whether or not to ban the entire Russian Olympic Committee from attending the Games in Rio de Janeiro. For IOC president Thomas Bach it's not an issue to take lightly and I'm certain that the political ramifications are more complex than most of us have taken time to consider.

    Shifting gears, this week it was announced that former UFC champion Jon Jones had failed his B Sample from as out-of-competition test conducted by USADA. We also found out that Brock Lesnar failed a pair of USADA tests for the same estrogen-blocker, Clomiphene, found in Jones' system. Finally, Chad Mendes also received his two-year ban for a myriad of agents that were not allowed to be in his blood.

    The suspensions of the UFC fighters and the potential political ramifications of a Russian-ban in Rio has some asking, "Are PED's really all that bad?"

    There is a growing number of journalists in the MMA and sport's industry who are stating that there is no evidence to prove most PED's actually harm the body, and even less evidence that they can injure someone else.

    If you hate seeing the top athletes suspended then the argument is compelling since it seems to beat back against prevalent stereotypes of the 'roided athlete: shrinking balls and early onset cancer.

    However, those don't speak to the larger issue of doping within sport, which is what would happen if there were no tests. What would happen if everyone could do all the time? For fans it would mean more Herculean Humans bashing skulls, but for the athletes it would take away the meaning of sport, making it more of a science experiment than an athletic competition.

    One of the major issues with doping is that those most at advantage are those already at the top of the game -- those with funding behind them and entourages (or governments) willing to assist. This is a typical rich-get-richer monopoly that if left unrestricted would lead to an incredible concentration of talent among camps and nations, but also increase significantly the barrier to entry within combat sports -- a variety of sports which always welcomed the disenfranchised.

    Left untested in the offseason juiced athletes who can cut down on recovery time, can gain 20 to 30 percent more time to train. That's an incredible advantage that fundamentally disrupts the core idea that effort and intelligence can lead to a winning outcome and instead replaces it with money and science.

    Doping in sport is a problem, but it's one that is being addressed. Like any scandal or illegal activity, uncovering it makes it feel worse than it was before. That's not the case. Every time someone gets caught it's a warning to the rest of the competitors to not undergo the same strategy and that deterrence is what will ultimately save amateur and professional athletics.

    I know it's hard to see sometimes, but sport is about more than money and science. There is something human about competition that we can't lose -- that we shouldn't sell to the pharmaceutical giants. Sport is about what you can get out of your body, not what you can put into it.

    Whether or not Russia gets banned, the fight for anti-doping needs to continue. Imperfect and frustrating, yes, but nonetheless a requisite part of the modern sports world.

    To your questions …

    Q: You coached at Columbia. Do you like the hiring of Zach Tanelli as head wrestling coach?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Columbia certainly didn't grab the biggest name in the hopper, but overall I like the idea of a young, motivated coach with Big Ten bench experience.

    No question Columbia is a challenging place for anyone to coach. The city provides a massive distraction to the already preoccupied college student's mind. While there it was easy to see that some of the student-athletes simply veer off towards life in the city rather than life on the mats. That's natural.

    Curbing the number of AWOL student-athletes and incentivizing wrestling will be a major aspect of Tanelli's responsibilities in his first few months in Morningside Heights.

    Wish him the best of luck!

    Q: How important to college coaches is it to wrestle at Fargo? What's your favorite Fargo moment of all time?
    -- @J_Agnitsch125

    Foley: I never competed in Fargo, but my favorite moment as a coach was getting into a five-minute discussion about NYC with the drive-thru attendant at the Starbucks. She was so kind and I kept having to remind myself that not everyone in America acts like a New Yorker.

    Attending Fargo is certainly a recruiting advantage for wrestlers outside of the top 100 recruits since every college coach will have a chance to see you compete. The simple act of going to Fargo shows a level of dedication to the sport of wrestling that I think coaches also find attractive. I'm all for seasonal athletics, but I stand in the minority and know it might be hard for some wrestlers to get recruited to a school in 2017 if they haven't been competing and training year-round.

    The results in Fargo are not THAT big of a story among college coaches. Winning Junior freestyle is something to discuss, but a Cadet Greco-Roman trophy doesn't really convert 1-1 into projection as an NCAA All-American and national champion.

    Really, at the end of the tournament the college-bound athletes should have met the same number of college wrestling coaches as matches they wrestled.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Woah.

    Great video from Western Mongolia

    Mark Madsen: The Will to Victory

    Tough little girl

    Q: Some are talking about the fact that the contract with Fargo is up, will they continue to have the Junior & Cadet Nationals in that location or will they look for other locations to host the event? Does tradition win out over trying to make the product better? Or more central to the country? I would like to see it stay in Fargo.
    -- Hylnder133

    Foley: I'm really not zeroed in on this item, but I think that it will come down to finances over tradition. Fargo likes the tournament for the boost in revenue so I'll go ahead and assume they won't look to push out (get it?!) USA Wrestling with increased monetary requirements.

    I think that there is full participation from member states, correct? So the financial issues for each state, including transportation, doesn't seem to be a big factor pressuring USA Wrestling to make a move to something more central. Though please let it be known that Fargo is pretty darn close to perfectly central … if maybe a little north.

    Fargo is close to perfectly central


    Q: If Russia is out of the Olympics, does it cheapen an Olympic medal in Rio?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: No Olympic medal is cheapened if you show up and compete on a level playing field. The wrestlers have no control over the decision of the IOC.

    It's worth noting that from the conversations I've had with the USA team members every one of them said they preferred to have Russia on the mats. They like the idea of competing against the best. The mentality isn't that they want to win Olympic gold so much as they want to prove to themselves and to the world that they are the best in the world at the sport of wrestling.

    But again, the participation of Russian wrestlers at the Olympics is not their decision and rather just another distraction to deal with once in Brazil.

    Q: Is UWW going to publish a full list of all the Rio competitors?
    -- @JaroslavWrestle

    Foley: Yes. The MOMENT it's finalized the lists will be shared with the wrestling public and sent out in a press release.

    Q: Thoughts on the new ACC Network that will launch in 2019?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: More money for college athletic programs could be a good thing, though I'd be interested to see how the ACC ends up monetizing their online content. That'll be the key: turning a profit not only on live sporting events (a rapidly decreasing viewership) but in the shorter bits that become popular through social media.

    There is a complex marketing platform that needs to be integrated and I'm curious to see how the ACC adapts, because by 2019 what we think we know about viewership of sports online and on TV will almost certainly be changed.

    Q: Thoughts on safety, security, well-being of U.S. athletes in Rio? Also, Jordan Burroughs made Twitter comments about race. That OK?
    -- @tenner73

    Foley: The USA athletes will be very well-managed and under plenty of protection in-and-around Rio de Janeiro. There is no doubt that Rio can be an incredibly dangerous place, but within the Olympic Park there will be very little for anyone to worry about in terms of safety.

    That said, it's always best to stay vigilant on the road. I'll be there for two weeks and have no plans of wearing anything flashy or transporting expensive items around the city. Heck, I'll even bury my sandals in the sand if I go into the ocean.

    As for Burroughs and his comments on the use of force by police, I have nothing but respect for him and endorse him expressing his opinions in any format he sees fit. However, he didn't mention race directly.

    Q: Darrion Caldwell fights tonight in Bellator. He's 9-0. Obviously, he hasn't faced the stiffest competition, but has still been impressive. Do you think we will ever see him move to the UFC and become a title contender?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Bellator is a solid promotion!

    While Cadlwell hasn't gotten his hands on the very, very best he has put in dominating performances against Joe Warren and Shawn Bunch -- wrestlers with an ability to put a stop to Caldwell's perceived strength. Each opponent was dispatched with a choke.

    My guess is that his opponent Joe Taimanglo puts up a decent effort, but is really just a minor hurdle before Caldwell finds his way to the 135-pound title fight against Eduardo Dantas. Caldwell has the ability to draw fans and when he's given top billing I'd expect he also receives top payment and a new contract.

    Does North Korea have a shot at a medal at 57 in men's freestyle? If so, what do they receive?
    -- @Bloodround

    Foley: Assuming they send two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist Yang Kyong-il they have a better than 50 percent chance of placing. The North Koreans don't show up for much, but when they do they tend to earn medals.]]>    81101Fri, 22 Jul 2016 05:28:29 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: July 15, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-july-15-2016-r81091/
    The events in France, the shooting of police officers and Black Lives Matter movement show us all a world that's violent and divided. It's easy to embrace fear during turbulent times and without an external jolt we individually, and as a culture, can fall into a cycle of anxiety and hatred.

    There is no doubt that as a nation we are heartbroken by the recent spat of violence and frustrated from what feels like a lack of answers. We look to France and within our own borders and we've never been less secure in the experiment of democracy, or the idea of freedom.

    That trepidation infects everything we do, which makes the Olympic Games a well-timed distraction, but also something more. Something like a lesson in humanity.

    The Olympics are a time for the world to enjoy what's possible and reflect on the best qualities of Man. On the field of play the passion of the planet's most-gifted and hardest working athletes will inspire us to do more with our minds and bodies; and in the post-competition embraces we see inspiration for the possibility of peaceful interplay between cultures, ideals and societies.

    Our sport of wrestling is special even among Olympic sports. The contact and measured aggression creates a deeper level of compassion than most athletes and fans will ever understand. Still, wrestling is only a small part of these Games. There are thousands of other athletes taking the field with stories to inspire and we should all watch with wide eyes and open hearts.

    I'm looking forward to the Olympics for many reasons: I want to see Jordan Burroughs repeat as Olympic champion; I want to watch as Kaori Icho or Saori Yoshida win their record-setting fourth Olympic gold medal; I want to watch greatness in action.

    But more than medals -- more than the on-the-mat heroics or medals -- I'm eager for the opportunity to disregard anger and fear. I'm ready to celebrate love and embrace forgiveness. I'm ready for the chance to move forward. Together.

    To your questions …

    Q: The Olympics are around the corner. It rubs me the wrong way when I hear people refer to Michael Phelps as the 'greatest Olympian ever.' I know they will be wearing that line out on TV. Maybe it's accurate, but it's all relative to the sport athletes compete in.

    Granted I'm biased, being a wrestler, but how many golds does he have per event he has qualified for? How many events can a SINGLE swimmer/track athlete/gymnast qualify for in one Olympics? Medal count shouldn't be used to represent 'greatest ever.' Understandably competing in multiple events takes a toll on a body and should be taken into consideration too, but c'mon.

    Obviously wrestling has multiple weight classes and two styles, but if you lose one match, it's 'OK, make the team again in four years.' If Michael Phelps loses an event, heck he can still win multiple golds tomorrow! What other sport does a single athlete only have one chance to medal every four years? Can you think of any other athletes across the board that have dominated their sport across multiple Olympics? It would be interesting to see an infographic of events qualified/gold medals from different sports.

    Also, some countries don't have as much participation in certain sports as others. I feel participation should be taken into consideration when dominance is the topic. Which sport has the most participation across the board at each Olympics? Soccer I'd assume?

    Hope I'm not asking anybody for too much research. I just thought this would be a fun topic right now.
    -- Willy D

    Foley: The most dominant athlete across the Olympics is Carl Lewis. I don't think Jordan Burroughs can upend Lewis.

    Carl Lewis is probably most famous for his FOUR straight Olympic gold medals in the long jump, but he won an additional FIVE gold medals in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and the 4x200m relay.

    Like Phelps, you could discount the relay for its repetitiveness, and then again discount 100m and 200m for being the same activity but different lengths. However, Lewis is STILL the most dominant athlete as he was able to RUN and JUMP to gold. Those aren't the same skill (at all) as evidenced by the fact nobody since has medaled in both, much less earned gold.

    Burroughs can certainly lay claim to the greatest ever in freestyle should he win a third Olympic gold medal in 2020, but prior to that the argument is just opinion. I realize that the one USSR entry is now 25+ and that the weight classes have shrunk from 10 to 6, but unless he captures three there just isn't the gold on the table to make it happen. Remember that no matter how many countries entered or how many weight classes there were the Olympics are still four years apart -- and length of domination has to be a criteria in terms of Olympic dominance.

    Also, we absolutely don't have the budget for your research request and infographic!

    Mark Manning talks to James Green at the Freestyle World Cup (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Q: Does Mark Manning deserve more credit for the work he has done with Jordan Burroughs and James Green? Do you think he gave any thought to potentially becoming the National Freestyle Coach for USA Wrestling?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Mark Manning probably doesn't have the name ID he deserves given all he's accomplished at Nebraska. Burroughs and Green are just two examples, but in addition to his freestyle commitments he's done a heck of a job with his college program over the last decade.

    Manning won't be the national team coach any time soon, as USA Wrestling recently hired Bill Zadick through to the 2020 Games in Tokyo. I think Zadick will be around for a while and I think USA Wrestling (and the nation as a whole) seems to really benefit from Coach Manning raising talent in Lincoln.

    Q: How far can Frank Molinaro and J'den Cox go in Rio? Medal?
    -- Mike Z.

    Foley: Of course they both can medal. In a seeded, balanced bracket they both have a low-percentage chance of placing, but in a lopsided bracket with repechage I think that they both have a great chance at making it to the medal round.

    If made to bet I'd give Cox more of a chance if for no other reason than 86 kilograms is not as deep as 65 kilograms, thereby reducing the chance that he loses to someone who isn't in the finals.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Link: Conquering a video game addiction

    Iranian Pahlevani

    Q: Are you surprised this University of Minnesota investigation is taking so long? What's your hunch on what comes out of it?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Colleges and universities are the worst when it comes to internal investigations. If I had to guess they know the outcome but are being diligent in ensuring that they are covered for all legal eventualities.

    From afar the safe bet would be to keep Coach Robinson on staff. Regardless of how it looks to the outside world, that Advocare shake has already been spilled. The Minnesota wrestling team and athletics family is tied to a Xanax case. Unwashable. The only way to really prolong this case would be to fire J Robinson and get dragged into court where ALL your departmental emails are under subpoena review. That's not what anyone wants, especially a new athletic director.

    #FreeJRob

    Q: If Jordan Burroughs wins gold in Rio, where does he rate in regards to the greatest wrestlers in United States history, including college and international? I have it John Smith, Jordan Burroughs, Bruce Baumgartner, Dan Gable.
    -- David D.

    Foley: I don't think that talk of greatest American wrestler ever can extend much past John Smith and Bruce Baumgartner. Smith won six titles, two of which were Olympic gold medals to go along with two NCAA championships. Baumgartner has 14 Olympic and world medals -- by far the most in American wrestling history, and he's the only one to medal at four Olympic Games.

    As much as Gable is a saint in the sport and leader of men, I don't think that the single Olympic title really equates to that of Smith and Baumgartner's accomplishments at the world level, even with his two undefeated seasons and two NCAA titles. As a coach, I think there is no equal to Gable, but on the mat I don't think that it's the same company, if it were then Cael Sanderson would be ranked higher than Gable.

    Burroughs winning a second Olympic gold to go along with three world titles puts him on the heels of John Smith for aggregate gold should he win another world title. Pulling even with Smith in gold medals would probably give Burroughs the overall edge since he also has a world bronze medal in his pocket and the potential for a heck of a lot more gold.

    Q: Explain to me how a wrestler/athlete can be banned from competition for failing a drug test and then readmitted later? How confident can we the public be in a system that flags multiple athletes and then allows them to compete anyway?
    -- Nanette R.

    Foley: Athletes who violate USADA's and WADA's anti-doping regulations earn either a two or four-year ban, with four years being the more common outcome recently. That is a VERY long time to be out of competition and punishment enough for an action, in my opinion. Athletes who violate the doping policies are out until the end of their suspension.

    There is a review process by which athletes can appeal suspensions on the grounds of tainted supplements or other extraordinary circumstances and have their ruling reduced. Geno Petriashvili successfully defended himself a few years ago and earned a reduction. Olympic wrestler turned UFC fighter Yoel Romero also earned a reduced sentence after claiming tainted supplements, and then providing substantial documentation and proof.

    Q: InterMat listed the fundraising pages for the individual members of the Olympic wrestling team that had them set up. I'm glad they did. Hopefully it helped and if you're reading this and haven't drop at least 10 bucks in your favorite wrestlers account, you should. They entertain us all year, the least we could do it support them in their quest to be the world's best.

    So … I only follow wrestling, but I would assume other sports (fencing, swimming, lacrosse, etc.) have college-eligible athletes on the team as well. My questions is, if an athlete still has college eligibility, would or could taking donations from a GoFundMe account affect his/her eligibility? Could the school or university support them in any way or does the NCAA have rules against this? I know I'm just a fan and don't understand all the NCAA rules, but if I were an AD and had an athlete make the team it would only make sense to put the support of the school behind them.

    Just curious to see what's "doable" and what's not?
    -- Jason R.

    Foley: The NCAA has apparently made some exception for college athletes to use GoFundMe as a method to get families to Rio, since Kyle Snyder has a page. My guess is that he can't be in charge of the account, though I noticed he raised $25,401 of the requested $20,000. Some big donations in the mix, too.]]>    81091Fri, 15 Jul 2016 06:06:39 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: July 8, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-july-8-2016-r80977/Jordan Burroughs battles Andrew Howe at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Jordan Burroughs has been receiving a lot of attention over the past several months.

    One of Team USA's biggest stars, Burroughs has been the face of the Polo Ralph Lauren campaign for Rio 2016 and has repped Chobani, Asics and a few other brands. He's been featured in several magazines and is even the subject of upcoming documentaries by two well-known media outlets.

    As wrestling's most popular figure for the past few years, Burroughs is now showing significant mainstream appeal.

    This week Burroughs used his platform to speak about the frustrations of many in the African-American community regarding police brutality and the social injustice. The posts came in the wake of the police shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castille, which were caught on camera and watched millions of time via social media.









    Regardless of how any one reader feels about the police, guns and the situations which prompted Burroughs' response, there is much to admire in Burroughs' standing up for what he believes is an issue that affects his family and friends. He's taking his position as father and role model with seriousness and thoughtfulness.

    The wrestling community has plenty of opinions, but few quality opinion-makers. Burroughs is one of those opinion-makers and for him to speak up about this type of issue, especially as it would have been easy to cower away during this pre-Olympic period, shows his courage to stand for what he believes is right.

    To your questions …

    Q: In 2004, Team USA won six medals (across all three styles) at the Olympic Games. In 2008, the Americans won three medals. Last Olympics, in 2012, Team USA captured four medals. Over/under for Team USA medals in Rio is 5.5. Are you betting over or under 5.5?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I'll take the over.

    1.5 from Greco-Roman
    2.5 from women's wrestling
    2.5 from men's freestyle

    I like where you placed that line! Any thoughts from Brian Muir?

    Q: Looks like a segment of one of Jordan Burroughs' Olympic athlete profile videos was used in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Taking this plug and Adeline Gray's appearance in the upcoming ESPN Magazine's The Body issue can we assume that USA Wrestling has hit a promotional turning point and expect to see the sport gain more exposure in popular media outlets?
    -- Jacob R.

    Foley: Wrestling is very visually pleasing, which lends many creative outlets to lean against our stars in the promotion of the Olympic Games. The highlights are radical, the bodies are in-shape and the characters are even a bit brighter.

    We speak a lot about Burroughs' fame, but no wrestler has received more media attention in the run-up to the Olympic Games than Adeline Gray. Her feature in the upcoming Body Issue is groundbreaking, but she's also seen write-ups in magazines and websites ranging from women's focused to airlines. In fact, even I have a 4k+ word profile piece on her coming out on ESPN right before the Olympic Games.

    The women have been wonderfully promoted, as have our freestyle stars. The crew at USA Wrestling has done a phenomenal job getting their athletes front and center for external media. Years of hard work and relationship building has created this opportunity for the athletes and I hope we see it continue to grow.

    MUTLIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Second teaser for upcoming documentary on Battsetseg

    Hamid Soryan: The Long Road to Rio

    Link: Adeline Gray ESPN Body Issue photos

    Q: Do you think the World Championships will return to the United States within the next 10 years?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Sure, why not. Ten years is a pretty long time and the 2015 World Championships were some of the best received in the history of the sport. I don't know how interested USA Wrestling would be in hosting, but I think that the event and fan, athlete and viewer experiences were all top of the line.

    As far as averages it would be a little quicker than normal. USA had last held it 12 years prior in 2003 and then 7 years prior with the Olympic Games in 1996 and the LA Games in 1984.

    Q: Do you see Boris Novachkov as a legitimate medal contender in Rio?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Hard to count out anyone that athletic, but he has struggled to break through against the top five talent at 65 kilos. I'd put him at 10 percent to medal.]]>    80977Fri, 08 Jul 2016 09:10:06 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: June 24, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-june-24-2016-r81009/
    This week there comes a new addition to the catalogue of wrestling content. Working along with United World Wrestling and some talented videographers there comes the first documentary series to ever focus on international wrestling stars. The first of the subjects is Battsetseg Soronzonbold, a two-time women's wrestling world champion from Mongolia.

    Wrestling is a sport that takes us many places and while for some it's only emotional and educational, for Battsetseg the journey started on the Mongolian countryside -- raised as the daughter of nomadic herders -- and continues this summer in Rio de Janeiro where she looks to become that country's first-ever Olympic champion. The money, housing, education and social mobility she will (and already has) experienced is nearly incomprehensible.

    The teaser for this first docu-bio is in place with the full video (10 minutes) to be released in 3-4 weeks. A variety of teasers and trailers will also be released in the coming weeks with each subject and their story at center stage. I'm proud of what I think will be a significant contribution to pre-Olympic hype, but I'm happiest that these four extraordinary athletes will have their stories told.

    BATTSETSEG: Mongol Queen

    To your questions …

    Q: Abdulrashid Sadulaev of Russia has to be the best pound-for-pound wrestler in the world. He wins everything, and in dominant fashion. When is the last time the "Russian Tank" has lost?
    -- Mike C.

    Russia's Abdulrashid Sadulaev (86 kilos) after winning a gold medal at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Foley: Sadulaev last lost at the 2013 Golden Grand Prix where he wrestled Gamzatat Osmanov at the senior level and lost via a five-point move with a total score of 8-2. He was 17.

    This guy is arguably the best wrestler the world has ever seen at 86 kilos. There are legends and guys with small collections of world and Olympic titles, but not many have combined The Tank's size, strength, technical acumen, athleticism, mat savvy, confidence and command of the mat.

    You asked about his last loss, but it's interesting to note that before the Poland tournament he hadn't given up an offensive point overseas in almost two years. We revere Dan Gable for his shutout Olympics (no stepout), now imagine that happening for two years.

    This is why I have a shirt with his face on it. Not because I love Russia (too cold), but because you have to admire that type of dominance.

    Q: When is this University of Minnesota situation going to be resolved? The early recruiting period is fast approaching, and this scandal can't be helping Minnesota's recruiting efforts.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Given this week's release of Coach Robinson's emails to the administration -- which plainly showed the coach's attempt to include their involvement -- I'd suspect the new AD will have little choice but to lift the paid suspension and reinstate J as head wrestling coach.

    The other alternative is to fire J, which I'm assuming the school's lawyers have informed the AD would be costly to defend against if/when J would file a wrongful termination suit.

    This entire incident is the function of poor reporting and this inane desire to get clocks for headline journalism. An essay to reflect on poor decision making is not some unforgivable sin of leadership. J Robinson has been the leader of young men for quite some time and in all his years as coach there has been very little criticism of his treatment of his wrestlers (harsh or otherwise).

    Let's hope the good coach is back on the recruiting trail by July.

    Q: I recently came across your 2014 article on the best female amateur wrestlers at that time. Pretty impressive list.

    Have you -- or do you know of anyone who has -- ever prepared a top 10 (or 20) list of the best female amateur wrestlers of all-time? My Google searches have not revealed anything like this.
    -- Patrick P.

    Foley: Here is a top six list. Who are four more to add? Let the arguments commence!

    1. Saori Yoshida (Japan)
    2. Kaori Icho (Japan)
    3. Carol Hunyh (Canada)
    4. Kyoko Hamaguchi (Japan)
    5. Adeline Gray (United States)
    6. Natalia Vorobieva (Russia)

    Q: It sounds like Gabe Dean and J'den Cox could potentially meet at the NWCA All-Star Classic. If that match happens, how do you see it playing out?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: A match between Gabe Dean and J'den Cox would certainly drive a lot of interest in one of wrestling's premier early season events. The idea that an Olympic Team member (and potential Olympic medalist) is facing off against a two-time NCAA champion will certainly compel me to briefly shut up about snore rides and lack of an established out of bounds. Briefly.

    Dean is strong, but I wonder if he'd have enough strength to break through Cox's positioning on his feet. If freestyle is teaching him lessons for folkstyle it's that remaining in good position is as important as proper shot selection. Cox may also benefit from match poise that comes with facing Olympic-caliber talent.

    Where Dean may find his advantage is on the mat. Cox is unlikely to be held down, but who knows if a whole summer of waiting for the referee to return him to his feet will have an impact on his desire to act on bottom.

    Overall I'm thinking this stays on the feet and that Cox strings together enough offense to secure a nice 2-3 point victory. However, Dean has every chance to even the odds on the mat and if I were Cox I'd be aware of that slight mismatch.

    Though for now, I'd prefer he worry more about Abdulrashid Sadulaev than Gabe Dean.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Sadulaev loses

    Cauliflower ear

    One takedown is enough? Doubtful.

    Q: What's going on at Columbia? Do you think there will be a decision soon? Any thoughts on who the next coach will be?

    If you don't put in the mailbag, I would love to know your thoughts. My son committed there and will be attending in the fall. We really liked Carl, but understand the situation. We are getting a little anxious and love to see what's going to happen next.
    -- John W.

    Foley: I wouldn't be doing anyone favors if I released the names of who they were seeking, but I will say that when I heard two of the names I was VERY impressed. If they are able to land one of these guys, or even guys in this ballpark, I think that you'll be exceedingly happy with the outcome.

    My thought is that the delay means one of these big names is in serious discussions, but that is just my own speculation.

    As an alumnus I want to see the program in the hands of some top-level talent!

    Q: Is there any way you and/or Intermat could tweet a link and encourage fans to vote for Beat the Streets Philly? Link: https://www.thewawafoundation.org/hero-award.

    Voting takes about 15 seconds (even for me!). Obviously, no pressure and no worries if you can't. Totally understand. Just wanted to throw it out there.
    -- Nick M.

    Foley: Done. Vote!

    Q: Are Andy Bisek and Robby Smith Team USA's only legit shots at medals in Greco-Roman in Rio?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Jesse Thielke has plenty of the world's top wrestlers wary of him appearing in their bracket. How do you know -- I mean have 100 percent confidence -- that you win a matchup with Thielke when you've seen him come back from 6, 7, 8 even 9-point deficits. There is something special about him. Maybe he won't place, but he certainly can place.

    Other than Thielke the best shots are Robby Smith (40 percent) and Bisek (30 percent), but much of that will be determined by repechage and draws.]]>    81009Fri, 24 Jun 2016 05:04:44 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: June 17, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-june-17-2016-r80986/
    The team had a few backups in the lineup, namely the absence of Tervel Dlagnev at 125 kilos and Jordan Burroughs at 74 kilos. The team tied a powerful Iranian squad with four wins a piece, but lost on classification points, and did the same against Georgia's complete lineup in the bronze-medal final.

    While there are several takeaways from the event, perhaps the most intriguing was what happened off the mats between Jordan Burroughs and the Iranian Wrestling Federation.

    Burroughs had missed the World Cup due to the birth of his second child, a daughter that he and his wife named Ora. The Iranian Wrestling Federation, though disappointed they couldn't give young stud Hassan Yazdani Charati a spin, sent Burroughs a gift to welcome the birth of his daughter.

    That's not some next level type of psyche out or intimidation, that gesture is at the soul of what it means to be a wrestler, or any martial artist. Honor and respect among combatants.

    The federation's actions were simple, but thoughtful in a way you almost never hear of in modern international sports. Family is at the center of life for both Iranians and Jordan Burroughs and it was refreshing to see that mutual interest and respect come to fruition.

    On a similar note I found the latest musings of jiu-jitsu professor John Danaher equally enlightening. In a social media post the longtime Renzo Gracie NYC-based instructor discusses what it means to be a martial artist. Seeing as how he's an accomplished writer and brilliant human I won't do him the disservice of paraphrasing.

    Building a culture of respect: One of the favorite moments of my coaching career occurred at the ADCC world championships. My student Garry Tonon squared off against the very talented Dillon Danis, student of the great Marcelo Garcia. The two had a rivalry and met in the first round of the tournament. After a fierce exchange of technique, Mr Tonon prevailed with a very powerful heel hook. In a gesture that made me far more proud than the actual victory, Mr Tonon immediately went over to check if his rival was alright, then went to bow and shake the hand of his great coach and mentor - showing his respect for all his wonderful achievements in the sport. I dare say that that bow and handshake made me more proud than all the leg locks, armlocks and strangles my students have performed put together. Respect for an opponent is the foundation of the martial arts. It is what distinguishes the martial arts from mere violence. If a man fights another with hate in his heart - it is a fight. If he does so with respect in his heart - he is a martial artist. Remember - in the end, whatever trivial differences there are between teams and schools, they are insignificant compared with the many similarities- there is so much more that unites us than separates us. Building a culture of respect is the basis of our enterprise. Photo: Tiago Molinos

    A photo posted by John Danaher (@danaherjohn) on


    To your questions …

    Q: How successful will Joey Davis be in MMA, in your opinion? Why did he sign with Bellator over UFC? Lastly, why did he not wrestle internationally?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: Bellator is offering some of the best financial conditions to young fighters. In addition to developmental money, they are also able to carry more sponsors with them into the cage, which seems to help many of the sport's up-and-coming fighters.

    If the UFC is sold this week then that might change. New owners might see the possibility of higher paychecks for young fighters, or a change in the way contracts are written. Until then Bellator will likely draw a lot of the young new talent to their promotion with the promise of money now and the hope of a bright and competitive future.

    Q: What does the future hold for Jake Varner? Is he done competing? Will he move to heavyweight?
    -- Mike C.

    Jake Varner gets his hand raised after a victory at the Freestyle World Cup (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)
    Foley: I think that for now he'll be moving to heavyweight and training with the national team through the 2016 Olympics. There were plenty of rumors swirling around that Varner could replace an injured Tervel Dlagnev at the Olympics.

    For that to be the case I think Dlagnev would have to become more injured than he is currently and Varner would need enough time to file a motion with USA Wrestling for the right to wrestle for the starting spot against Zack Rey. I don't think that is a realistic possibility, especially considering that it would severely impact training schedules.

    The other case might be is Dlagnev got to the event and Coach Burnett deemed him unhealthy to compete. There is at least a chance there could be a last-minute replacement, but I'd be shocked if it were anyone but Rey.

    As for Varner post-2016 … I think that he's hanging them up and moving into another role within the sport. He had an incredible career, but at 30 years old there isn't much wrestling left.

    Q: Can you explain to me the reasoning why wrestler Joel Bauman lost his eligibility from the NCAA for selling a song using his name while it seems that the wrestlers who don't seem to be facing the same loss of eligibility for a drug offense? Why was J Robinson rightfully allowed to handle the drug matter internally until it became public, whereas the Bauman situation was not given the same institutional courtesy? From my point of view it seems like inconsistency by the NCAA and the University of Minnesota but more so the NCAA.
    -- Marcus R.

    Foley: I'm pretty sure this comes down to exposure and optics. Bauman was in the media eye for his works, whereas the discipline associated with a very private -- possibly criminal -- act didn't draw attention.

    Also, the rules that apply to these situations are vastly different. Bauman took money which is the NCAA's Rule 1.1. The suspension was therefore easy to make at an institutional level. For the Xanax athletes the discipline for their action was probably within a much looser definition. There was much more to consider and, ultimately, to prove.

    Again, for Bauman it was an open and shut case.

    Because Bauman performed under his own name and identified himself as a Minnesota wrestler, the NCAA ruled him ineligible for the remainder of the season. J. T. Bruett, Minnesota's compliance director, said Bauman violated an NCAA bylaw prohibiting student-athletes from using their name, image or status as an athlete to promote the sale of a commercial product.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Things got awkward in the Octagon a few weeks ago …

    How the hell did I only now see this?

    Q: Biggest takeaways from the Freestyle World Cup?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Dan Dennis has the opportunity to improve and I hope he spends some time with the national team coaches to help him with strategy and match pacing.

    Tony Ramos is a 61-kilo wrestler with the ability to place at this year's World Championships in Budapest.

    Frank Molinaro is an absolute machine and a better than 30 percent chance to medal at the Olympic Games.

    Alex Dieringer is about as good a backup as you can find in the world. He'll get plenty of wrestling in the next four years and is my pick for 2021 and beyond!

    J'den Cox was exposed a little, but I think that he will adapt and find solutions to some of his weaker areas. The loss was probably a humbling reminder that it's a big world of wrestling and it will never be conquered, much less with something like beginner's luck on his side.

    Kyle Snyder, Olympic champion.

    Zack Rey is a really solid heavyweight with a bright future after the 2016 Games.

    Q: Do you think Logan Storley has what it takes to make it to the UFC and be as successful as other wrestlers like TJ Dillashaw, Frankie Edgar, and Henry Cejudo?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: My doppelganger!

    Sure, like I've written before he's a hammer and has a unique set of skills and intensity that should get him higher profile fights in the immediate future.

    Q: I get the feeling Coach Lindland isn't making a push to recruit NCAA wrestlers to go Greco after college. It seems as if much more of his focus towards recruiting is to get kids to go Greco full time after/before their high school career ends. This seems odd considering the path he and Brad Vering took to world/Olympic medals. Any idea if recruiting college guys is on his agenda?
    -- Matt C.

    Foley: I get the same impression. If he has a plan to pluck high school kids then I can't say that I disagree with his logic. Currently Northern Michigan is the only place for Greco-Roman minded athletes to go train outside of Colorado Springs. If Lindland can get in their ears now then he has the ability to develop their talents without having to correct habits from four more years of folkstyle.

    Whether or not that is the best option for each athlete is to be determined, but in principle I endorse his recruitment methodology.

    Q: Could you explain a little about Titan Mercury Wrestling Club, its structure and Reece Humphrey's role?
    -- @Robbybobbi

    Foley: The structure will be Reece as their travel coach in charge of all organizational matter. I think he'll also be developing a training program for the team members to use while also creating and coaching at a youth development center in Los Angeles. That center will be built in the next year or so.

    I think that Reece is a special character within our sport who connects to the younger generation with ease and confidence. He's also accomplished and bright. There is a really good chance that this decision will further help improve the state of the United States freestyle and women's wrestling programs.]]>    80986Fri, 17 Jun 2016 05:30:07 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: June 10, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-june-10-2016-r80939/
    I'm not sure why this crop seems so much more talented than those in years past, but as I watched technique and live session I was struck with the thought that a lot of the guys I was watching had the talent to be future Olympic and world champions.

    And this isn't fanboy behavior. I've been fortunate to watch a lot of international wrestling over the past several years, from practice to competition, and what I saw last week in Colorado Springs struck me as some of the best yet. Some of my perspective was shaded by the consideration of their "potential," but the raw talent level was simply undeniable and awesome.

    Zain Retherford is a hammer who haunts my thoughts. Imar is a generational type of talent with the winner's attitude that'll extend past the NCAA. Kyle Snyder is a transformative figure in USA Wrestling who beat the defending Olympic champion in back-to-back years en route to winning a world title and making the Olympic team.

    There others that impressed but simply put I will watch the University World Championships with a lot of red, white and blue-themed optimism.

    To your questions …

    Q: Bill Zadick was hired over Kenny Monday and Lou Rosselli to lead the U.S. freestyle program. Did USA Wrestling get it right?
    -- Mike C.

    Bill Zadick coaches Kyle Snyder in the gold-medal match at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Foley: The USA Wrestling head coaching position is about much more than simple name ID and is dissimilar to many traditional coaching jobs in what it asks of occupants. Before Zeke Jones and Bruce Burnett the main goal of the head coach was to convince the various stars to live at the training facility, sleep in dorms and take international tours.

    The new model will be one of development -- to attract younger wrestlers to the camps earlier in the careers, let them discover what the place is about, develop skills and get them on the freestyle path. For that job Zadick was most qualified given his understanding of the development program and his thoughts on where it may lead. I'm also sure that Lou Rosselli could have followed through on that mission as well, but Zadick (who I think is the man) has a much better vision given that current role and years of experience.

    Also, I think that right coach needed to understand what the modern wrestler is getting from his club programs and find ways to supplement their training rather than remove them from their surroundings. From what I can tell, being at "home" in their respective college towns has assisted both Kyle Snyder and Jordan Burroughs.

    Q: Is Brock Lesnar's return to the UFC merely a publicity stunt to sell PPV subscriptions? Or is he a real threat to become the UFC heavyweight champion again?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Everything the UFC does is a publicity stunt to sell PPVs! Brock Lesnar is a more transparent move to grab PPV buys, but it's not a move outside of the promotion's recent history of moves.

    I'd normally be very vocal in stating the obvious -- that Brock can't win the heavyweight crown -- but with so many big stars getting knocked out at heavyweight I suppose anything could happen.

    Then again, no, there is no chance that even a series of softball fights would lead Brock Lesnar to another UFC championship.

    Q: When will countries buy in to the World Cup as a real long-term option? Will there be qualifiers beside the World Championships?
    -- @wrestlingnomad

    Foley: I'm not sure what you mean by "long-term" option, but I do think that there are difficulties in hosting the World Cup concurrently with the Olympic Games. For example, while the United States, Iran and Turkey are using this as a warmup for Rio 2016 the Russians are staying inside the borders. That could affect the quality of the competition overall, but I don't think it's discouraging viewership.

    Q: I want to hear some more technical in-depth talk about Fresno State. What are the big hurdles? Who do you think will be on the staff? How long until they're contending individually and maybe as a team? What do you think their singlets will look like?
    -- Ben R.

    Foley: I like that you started with wanting to hear about the technical in-depth and then trailed off with a sartorial inquiry into their color and design of their singlet! Love the focus.

    The coaching staff could be anyone, but I think that Fresno State will certainly have two years of recruiting before they are allowed to compete at the Division I level in 2017-2018. That's going to mean a tough start for the program as they are starting from scratch -- no existing wrestlers or mentality, only that distant memory of the program's glory years in the 1990s.

    I think I'd be aggressive in projecting an All-American before the 2020 NCAA Championships. For now, the team title will be a 15-20 year goal for the program. Not sure even Cael Sanderson could put all the keys for victory in place with any more efficiency than that.

    Q: What's the biggest thing that watching international wrestling from every angle has taught you? What is the 'key' to wrestling? I wouldn't/you don't need to tie it into American wrestling. God knows when you say anything critical the Anons of the community dig in ridiculously.
    -- Ben R.

    Foley: The Anons already love to dig in, so I don't mind pushing all in! From what I've seen there are typically a few factors at play with the very top competitors from around the world.

    The first is that they have tight family relationships and rely on those for emotional support during their career. Someone to cheer you up is an important factor to keeping it on an even keel as your wrestling (unavoidably) goes sideways at times. Another VERY consistent theme seems to be faith. Whether Christianity, Islam or Hinduism wrestlers at the highest level tend to have a lot of faith in their God. Just an observation.

    In terms of training I've seen that most of the world's top wrestlers don't train with insane in-the-room intensity, or that those moments are much more rare than we see and feel in America. For example, I was in Germany this week shooting a documentary on Greco-Roman world champion Frank Stäbler and watched his practice routine. Last week I was in Colorado Springs filming world champion Kyle Snyder for another documentary and saw his practice routine. These guys aren't relying on aggression to solve their on-the-mat issues, but are instead intensely focused on technique, strength, conditioning and situational live. More with Frank and older wrestlers, but there is WAY less head-banging than you may imagine -- and Frank is known for his conditioning and aggressiveness on the mat. Were I to head up a program I'd love to foster that type of mentality and training schedule as I think it keeps wrestlers much healthier and more psychologically capable to manage longer careers.]]>    80939Fri, 10 Jun 2016 07:47:57 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: June 3, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-june-3-2016-r80944/J Robinson (Photo/David Peterson)The Minnesota wrestling drug scandal hit full throttle this week with the announcement that head wrestling coach J Robinson was placed on immediate paid administrative leave.

    While the details of the Xanax-for-sale scandal aren't quite clear, what has become evident is the reporting of the "essay writing" story by Joe Christensen and Amelia Rayno of the Minneapolis Star Tribune doesn't seem to pass journalistic tests for veracity of sourcing, and instead relies on the uncorroborated story of one source whose name, motivations and relationships to key players in the piece is not further specified.

    For me, the story comes down to this quote, which cannot be verified and if J Robinson's letter is to be trusted, is false.

    Robinson tried to handle the Xanax issue internally, the source told the Star Tribune. He ordered suspected users to undergo mandatory urine testing and had them write a one-page essay. On April 5, the coach texted some team members with a reminder about their assignment.

    Robinson's letter states he didn't try to handle the situation "internally" and had instead contacted the administration, a claim he went so far in backing as to file a motion that the university email servers be protected from hampering or the deletion of files. Robinson believes that there is evidence in his correspondence with the school will exonerate him of wrongdoing, namely "handling it internally."

    The issue with poorly reported stories from respectable news organizations is that no matter how flawed the reporting gets, the headline sticks. Often the juicy the gist of the story "DRUGS, COLLEGE SPORTS, COVER-UP" is regurgitated by blogs lacking original reporting but with massive followings like Deadspin and Bleacher Report. Now, other news outlets like the Washington Post who have also switched to a blog method of information dissemination wherein they just make snarky comments on the existing flawed story.

    Here's a little ethical test for your Thursday morning.
    Let's say you're the coach of a successful Division I wrestling program and you find out that some of your players are both abusing Xanax and dealing it to other students. What do you do?
    a.) Call the police?
    b.) Tell your bosses?
    c.) Confiscate some of the drugs and have the players in question write a one-page essay in which they write about letting down the team.
    If you answered a. or b., you are probably fit to coach Division I wrestling. If you answered c., you're probably Minnesota Coach J Robinson, who reportedly did exactly that. (Yes, that's his real first name.)

    So … What then happens if J Robinson is shown to have done the right thing all along? What if the source ends up being someone with an axe to grind, who told falsehoods because he wanted Robinson to resign? Will those stories be broadcast in the same fashion as this piece? Will the larger media world apologize?

    No.

    Anonymous sourcing is an essential part of journalism, but it's also extremely risky for editors and papers. Leaks from the White House or State Department can help realign policy and inform the American people about what is going on in the world. However, an anonymous source must be corroborated in detail by an independent second source to ensure that the information isn't being offered up as a misdirection, or an outright lie. In general, quotes on personal feelings are acceptable without a second source, but an accusation (even in-quote) if stated as fact must have a second source.

    Another wrestler who spoke to the Star Tribune on the condition of anonymity said he did not receive that same text message, but later received an e-mail from U police who were investigating the wrestling team.

    I've been around J for a while, and this is the first time anything of that level has hit our program," the second source said. "Obviously we were a younger team last season, and this was more a younger issue. A few guys came in that maybe weren't ready for the college transition.

    What the writers of the article failed to do with this attribution is to make the second source substantiate the story offered by the original source. That an investigation exists shouldn't provide the journalists the latitude to then publish the otherwise shallow claims of the source. Why not interview a third wrestler that can talk about the exact claims? Why not talk to someone in the administration off the record? A list of people unwilling to return your phone call is wonderful to show you did your due diligence, but it provides no additional veracity to the claims of the unnamed source.

    There is no paper trail or printouts of sent text messages. There is no Xanax-addled youth telling of the wrestler's sweet deal via Coach Robinson. There are no photos or videos, Facebook chat, Snapchat story, or Instagram post. There is no administrator, no coach, no trainer. There is no wrestler on the record.

    Assume for a moment that the wrestler is telling the truth and that Robinson had the students write a letter. How does that reflect on Robinson having told the administration? Those two things are mutually exclusive and the fact that the journalists here only consumed them together weakens their narrative, and the credibility of an otherwise (maybe) credible source.

    Right now Coach Robinson is at the receiving end of what looks like journalistic malfeasance and an NCAA culture that tolerates no negative press.

    It's no secret that Robinson and the Minnesota administration have a tense and challenging relationship. How much that played into their choices has yet to be seen, but in reading the letter posted by Robinson's lawyer there is at least some belief that the administration will do anything to ensure that they are pegged as having been responsible for some part of the initial response to the drug allegations.

    I'd love to know the truth, but with the reporting so far the truth seems to be less important than the number of clicks received.]]>    80944Fri, 03 Jun 2016 06:36:57 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: May 27, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-may-27-2016-r80922/
    With such a massive event on the horizon you would think spots had been earned and teams named, but in two prominent freestyle stories those answers are amiss. The most compelling drama belongs to two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar's court action against the Indian Wrestling Federation. Though he's been absent from competition for much of the last four years, he's requesting a special wrestle-off against Narsingh Yadav, the 2015 World bronze medalist for India at 74 kilos.

    While Kumar is unquestionably the best wrestler in Indian history, his absence from the sport and bumping up of weights can't be ignored. For their part the IWF has been stalwart in their repelling of Kumar's attempts at securing the wrestle-off, saying that since Yadav qualified the spot he should go to the Olympics. A fair assessment, since allowing Kumar an opportunity to wrestle off would open a Pandora's box of challengers across all weight categories.

    Yadav will likely retain the spot, but the entire drama has been fun to watch and is worth the read.

    The other drama is going on now with the Russian National tournament in Yakutsk. Earlier today the match Dagestan's Muskaev started a fistfight and prompted the entire Dagetani contingency to boycott wrestling after a bad call gave Yakutia's hometown hero Viktor Lebedev a controversial win.

    Be sure to watch and see how the rest of the tournament unfolds!

    To your questions …

    Q: Why are our top guys competing in Beat the Streets and the World Cup? What if they get hurt? Seem a bit much to have folks going full out live within 60 days of the Olympics, no?
    -- Bryan R.

    Foley: The Beat the Streets event was up in weight and against opponents who either offered a great learning opportunity (Kim Hyeon-woo of Korea) or who offered little real threat of winning (see: entire freestyle opposition).

    As for the World Cup I think it's a perfect time to tune the engines. There will be a nice weight cut, some good match experience (again, against lower accredited opponents) and a warm-up to the atmosphere expectant in Rio.

    The rest of the world is actually choosing to wrestle 60 days out as well. I'm currently in Tokyo for a documentary on Yoshida and Icho and learned that Icho is headed to Poland for a tournament in two weeks. Along the same lines Frank Staebler is also headed to Poland to compete, as is most of the Mongolian women's national team.

    Overall, I think 60 days is a nice time to get in one last tune-up tournament, or at least a few matches.

    Morgan McIntosh battles J'den Cox in the NCAA finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Q: About 14 months ago Morgan McIntosh beat both Kyle Snyder (4-1) and J'den Cox (3-1). Granted, these were folkstyle matches. But do you think McIntosh has a chance to make a World team in the next Olympic cycle?
    -- Ronald M.

    Foley: After Frank Molinaro made the U.S. Olympic Team, it's safe to say that everyone has a chance. McIntosh's best chance would be if Snyder moved into heavyweight at some point and allowed for some room in the lineup. Otherwise, he may need to move up on his own and see how he fairs.

    Important to note as well that freestyle and folkstyle are dramatically different. Would need to see more of Morgan before I could endorse him with an upset victory over two very promising young Olympians, with one of them being the defending World champion.

    Q: What are your thoughts on the Minnesota state of affairs? J Robinson handled a Xanax case in house?
    -- Todd S.

    Foley: This is a shorter mailbag so let me leave you with my initial reaction. J Robinson did what he thought was best by his team and the individuals involved. There was nothing nefarious about his actions and it was never (in my opinion) his job to turn the athletes into the police. So far no cover up seems afoot, so it's really just a concerned father figure looking to help his athletes make better decisions.

    And for anyone who thinks that pills aren't on every campus and being sold by damn near everyone with a prescription, you're fooling yourself. Abuse of prescribed medications like Xanax and Oxycontin is an epidemic and like all good American scandals someone is getting rich off it … and it's not the Minnesota wrestling team.

    For J I imagine that the real rub is that the drugs were being sold by his team and to his team. While there were pills being sold outside of his program, he knew that correcting their behavior would benefit everyone.

    Whether pills or marijuana or other recreational drugs the impulse to punish those involved is too high (pun not intended). Should they be forced into jail, or clog the justice system because they helped others consume a drug to help them relax? This argument isn't for the wrestlers, but a broader issue we face in determining what the right course of action is for this behavior. On the scale of just punishments J Rob's was much more in line with a sensible solution than that of a random judge adjudicating the process. And again, I feel this way about most recreational non-habit-forming drug users and sellers.

    Q: Will J Robinson survive this drug scandal at Minnesota? Or is too early to know?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Dealing strictly with J Rob's job security -- not the above mentioned analysis of right/wrong -- I'll guess that he resigns rather than is made to suffer some ongoing investigation. These things have legs because they find clicks and reaffirm the belief that college athletics is dirty business. Basically he'll go because there will be pressure by the media, for the sake of the media.

    In my opinion, J's career is far too distinguished for him to be bogged down in this type of mess. My hope is that he stays this year and resigns at the end of next season, handing off to someone like Damion Hahn whose name recognition and coaching pedigree are fantastic and appropriate.

    Overall, probably too early to know, but in my experience these stories -- especially on college campuses -- don't just disappear.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Panda-monium



    Water Bottle Flip is the best Internet video … Ever?

    Q: With Mike Mendoza leaving CSU Bakersfield for Boise State, any thoughts on who might take over at CSU Baskersfield?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I haven't the faintest. There are a lot of challenges to that job. Bring back Joe Seay?

    Q: I know this is very subjective, but if Spencer Lee keeps winning like he has been, do you put him as the greatest high school wrestler of all time? What he has done the last few years on the high school, national, and international stages is mind blowing.
    -- Joe F.

    Foley: Yes, but I think he needs to make a senior team or log some type of senior level victory to be on the same level as Cary Kolat.

    That and he needs to win out the rest of his matches until graduation on both stages and do so in dominant fashion. I think that the amount of attention he receives (InterMat, Flo, etc.) will help further the argument that he's as good, or maybe better, than Kolat.

    Q: Who wins American Wrestling Idol between Olympians Kerry McCoy (2000, 2004) playing the cello (pre-YouTube, apparently) and J'den Cox (2016) playing the guitar and singing?
    -- Irv O.

    Foley: J'den is undefeated on the mat. Imagine that will remain when he steps on stage since in addition to playing an instrument the guy also can belt a note.]]>    80922Fri, 27 May 2016 07:11:45 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: May 20, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-may-20-2016-r80908/
    While I'd typically land on the side of administrators when it comes to protecting wrestlers on the mat, the latest rule clarification from the National Federation of State High School Associations is a little bit of an overreach.

    The rule states that an arm-trapped body lock from the rear position should be considered potentially dangerous and monitored closely by referees. The impetus for the ruling seems to be the assumption that a defensive wrestler may be injured without finding an arm to post out in defense. However, the rule already in existence which states that a wrestler must return a wrestler to the mat safely already exists.

    Why the extra clarification for this position?

    That's unclear, but with a multitude of referees around the country with varying level of expertise, the results will be predictable. My guess is that coaches on the losing side of the exchange will appeal each trapped-arm maneuver, including chest-to-chest throws. Referees, with only limited training, are going to overcall the holds, which could eventually work to see it eliminated by coaches unwilling to take the risk.

    The time spent on this clarification may have been better spent on a multitude of other areas. Banging of the head with the back of the hands has a much more detrimental effect on the athlete and the sport than a once-a-dual-meet type of situation. There are clarifications that may also be made to pulling on ankles from funk defense or where hands can be positioned in a front headlock.

    Certainly the NFHS meant the best in recommending this latest rule adjustment, but this one clearly misses the mark.

    To your questions …

    Q: Why was Frank Molinaro selected instead of Dave Habat for the Olympic spot, when both won bronze at the 2nd World Olympic Games Qualifier? Was it because Molinaro lost to the eventual champion (who won by default in the finals)? Assuming that this is the case, any chance UWW sees the potential problem here (i.e., Garcia doesn't want to potentially wrestle Habat again, so he defaults in the finals), and move to true third (or for that matter, true second) place finishes in future qualifying tournaments?
    -- Irvonian

    Foley: The adjustments were made well after the event and to your point, Boris Novachkov qualified in Mongolia two weeks earlier, not by his top placement in Turkey. While I see where the qualification system was weak to these types of doping citations, I don't know that there was any established protocol that would have elevated Habat to the OG qualification spot given the circumstances.

    True second and true third place finishers have been discussed for years, but they leave a lot to be desired for many reasons, not the least of which is concern for injury in what would 99.9 percent of the time be a meaningless match.

    Remember: MANY fans were wondering aloud online why ANYONE would wrestle in the repechage of a tournament. Well, now we see, but that isn't always the case.

    Frank Molinaro battles Aaron Pico in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)
    Q: I am also a bit dismayed at the way the wrestling fan base has turned on Frank Molinaro. He simply did what every wrestler should aspire to do: wrestle his heart out and leave everything on that mat. That he may not be our best wrestler at 65 kilos has nothing to do with his abilities and everything to do with how our qualifying system is constructed. As a wrestling coach, I can certainly say that the way Mr. Molinaro continued to compete after he realized (thought) he wouldn't be going to Rio is a testament to his character and serves as a fantastic example for my kids after disappointing losses. He picked himself up and continued to compete. In the end, he deserves his opportunity because he did everything he could to achieve that opportunity. What could be a better example to a young competitor?
    -- Steve T.

    Foley: Frank's story isn't done. He should be the type of athlete that coaches point to as an example of never giving up on a dream. Not only did he continue competing after placing sixth at the U.S. Open in December, he kept competing at the tournament in Turkey and took third, which is what cemented his trip to Rio.

    Q: Any insight into why Carl Fronhofer resigned as Columbia's head wrestling coach? What's next for him?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Carl is the man. I ran into him this week at the Beat the Streets New York event and was told that he's leaving coaching to move closer to family in California and take an exciting new job. We see this happen in wrestling all the time, but in addition to long hours and stress related to the Division I job, he was battling the costs of raising a family in NYC. There are pre-schools in NYC that cost $30k and have a two-year waiting list, according to my sister-in-law.

    Life on the West Coast seems like the logical choice. Excited for him and hoping for a great hire in my alma mater at Columbia.

    Do you see any resemblance between Wade Wilson and Cael Sanderson? Is Deadpool Cael's doppelgänger?
    -- Dave D.

    Foley: I have not seen the movie, but doesn't the character of Wade Wilson have a terrible burn on his face? If so, then I disagree. If you mean Ryan Reynolds with his correct skin, then maaaybe.

    As a note, I don't watch movies at home or in the theaters. With the Olympic Games coming up I've been traveling every weekend (Tokyo tomorrow) and keep these unwatched movies as a way to pass the time in flight. I'm telling you it's really something when you start tearing up to Frozen crammed between two large Turkish men on your way to Istanbul. (My claim is the airplane was "dusty.")

    How good is Logan Storley as an MMA fighter? Do you see him being in the UFC or another organization? Will he be as successful as other wrestlers turned MMA fighters?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: I like the idea of Logan Storley making it in MMA. There are a few fights online and though he's not very good at jiu-jitsu and still exhibits the grind-em-out style we've seen from too many wrestlers, he has one hell of a killer instinct.

    Remember that what makes these wrestlers effective is their ability to execute a new skill set and then use their wrestling as their best defense. For example, what makes Aaron Pico so interesting to fight fans is that he can box so effectively as a stand-alone skill. Also, when adding that to a VERY MMA-ready wrestling style there is no real attack that fighters can quickly find to make Pico vulnerable.

    Can't strike with a guy like that and you can't take him down.

    What's the next best option, a head kick?

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Logan Storley in the cage

    Q: Sparked from the 65-kilo weight class, it looks like TWO people with U.S. citizenship will be competing in Rio with Boris and Tank. Since there are TWO wrestlers who failed the doping test in Magomedmurad Gadzhiev of Poland and Andriy Kvyatkovskyy of Ukraine, could Dave Habat be the next in line to fill the void? Then it would be THREE wrestlers in that weight ckass with U.S. citizenship. Who are the notable competitors in the Olympics who can claim more than one country? Names that come to mind are the aforementioned, plus Haislan Garcia from Canada (by way of Cuba), Bekzod Abdurakhmonov and Tervel Dlagnev.
    -- Dan C.

    Foley: There are pretty strict citizenship rules when it comes to international athletic competition. Yes, there has been a dramatic increase in wrestlers competing for other countries, but those you mentioned I think are all wrestling for their home or adoptive countries. From my understanding, athletes must spend 180 days a year in the country for which they compete.

    I could be wrong, but I'm not sure Boris is an American citizen. Same with Bekzod. Tervel is, which is why he competes for the USA. Habat is a dual holder since his mother was born in Slovenia. Garcia (I believe) is a Canadian citizen, post-defection.

    Q: Which weight class (any of the styles) intrigues you the most in the Olympic Games?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Women's freestyle at 53 kilos is incredibly intriguing! On the top of the heap you have three-time Olympic champion Saori Yoshida -- untouchable, unbeaten in major tournaments and a total killer. Next, you have Sofia Mattsson, the Swedish superstar who has lost two close matches to Yoshida the last two years, but who is closing the gap and fast. Then you have Helen Maroulis, a talented, multi-dimensional wrestler who won the World championship at 55 kilos.

    But the most compelling wrestler is Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria who took bronze at last year's World Championship at 53 kilos. She had an incredible India Professional League tournament, was 6-6 with Helen Maroulis at the Golden Grand Prix … and has only been wrestling FOUR YEARS!

    Do not miss this weight. Do not, do not, DO NOT blink.

    Inspirational stuff.

    Rant of the Week!
    By Irvonian

    Why is wrestling so insecure that every time we find a minor celebrity (Ray Lewis, Billy Baldwin, Mario Lopez) with any sort of tangential relationship to wrestling, we want to bring him front and center? Does the community really think that mainstream media are going to start paying attention to BTS because we're trotting out Ray Lewis?

    OK, rant over. But really, Ray Lewis? Now look, I went to Penn State, so I understand that anytime you try to honor somebody, even someone with a lifetime of good works, there could be huge skeletons hiding in the closet. (Hastert is another example of this.) But with Ray Lewis, the skeletons are already public knowledge. And anyway, what are his "lifetime achievements" that we want to celebrate? Playing a professional sport (that isn't even wrestling)? I'd imagine that with a 60-second Google search you could find a dozen former high school wrestlers who have achieved things over their lifetimes that actually benefited society (and didn't just enrich themselves while entertaining others). So I guess the rant wasn't actually over before, but it is now.

    "Thrown to the Wolves" Submission of the Week
    By Jacob R.

    Lee Greenwood's anthem "God Bless the USA" (also known as "I'm Proud to Be an American") has a special place in my brain housing group. It was not too long ago in 2002 that I found myself coaching some kids at a freestyle tournament in Lowell, Michigan, when as usual before the beginning of the competition a voice on the sound system asked that everyone in attendance in the gymnasium stand and remove their hats for the national anthem. For all of my life this was simply standard operating procedure for any wrestling event that I had attended, but something different occurred. Instead of hearing a subpar recording or the brilliant rendition of Whitney Houston singing the "Star Spangled Banner" from Super Bowl XXV the aforementioned song by Mr. Greenwood was played. In retrospect I am not too shocked that song was played. Considering the overt sense of nationalism that was abundant in the country just under a year after 9/11 it makes perfect sense. But, at the time I was baffled.

    Nearly, fourteen years have passed since this event which have allowed me to observe and critique the phenomena of national pride and nationalism that are displayed within not only our political spheres, but also within the minutia of our daily lives and from the scope of things sports and in particular wrestling events are a rather minute detail of our lives here in the U.S.

    So, where is this little rant taking me you might ask (or maybe not?)?

    With regards to wrestling in the United States or what many fans refer to as the "wrestling community" (personally the term "wrestling community" inhibits an air of masculine hegemony.... for more on this I'll refer you to Blake 2013 and Walton & Helstien 2008) there appears to be an abundance of persons -- coaches, wrestlers and fans -- that adhere to what I consider antiquated ideologies based on concepts such as colorblindness, meritocracy, rugged individualism, masculine hegemony, christian hegemony etc. Considering this I am not too shocked that comments submitted by readers from your mailbag last week were riddled with criticism of your comment on Trump. Walton & Helstien 2008 discuss the need to do away with communities of identification (e.g. the wrestling community) and instead move towards communities of articulation. I second that and challenge you and your readers to engage in this paradigm shift with regards to your discourse revolving around your views of the sport (both the political and the minute aspects).]]>    80908Fri, 20 May 2016 06:09:08 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: May 13, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-may-13-2016-r80877/
    After initially failing to qualify the 65-kilo category at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Frank Molinaro was granted a license on Wednesday after it was discovered that some wrestlers at his weight class had earlier accumulated doping violations.

    While the intrigue about how and why these violations came up has international intrigue, the online reaction to Molinaro's original inability to qualify the weight class ended up being the story of the week. There was rage and then more rage and then a whole heck of a lot of finger-pointing.

    The biggest gripe registering with fans was that Molinaro, despite his win at the Trials, was not the best wrestler in the country at 65 kilos. As such, the USA should reform their qualification process to not allow for wrestlers to "simply" breakout at the Trials and become an Olympian for the Stars and Stripes. There was also advice that the Trials be decided before the Pan Am qualifier -- an idea with some merit. However, that seemed to be the end of the positive idea making and the Internet pretty much did what it is designed to do, and devolved into a Trump-themed birthday party for 5-year-olds.

    Altogether the episode was a regrettable step back for a sport priding itself on national unity.

    Though I think that 65 kilos is America's most vulnerable weight class, I think Brent Metcalf has been a consistent top twenty wrestler for the past two years and that should the takedown against Franklin Gomez get called correctly there is no Frank issue. However, that's not where we stood after wrestling on Sunday.

    All that aside, it's fairly evident that for unqualified weight classes, where no major international titles have been won and no significant international ranking is held, there should be an open tournament to decide who is the wrestler to qualify the weight class and go to the Olympics. It's that way in most every country in the world and is the system used by the Russians and Iranians.

    Where there is a difference in selection process might be for wrestlers who are returning World champions and Olympic champions. Russia rarely sits a wrestler from the national tournament. In recent memory it's only been multiple-time World champion Besik Kudukhov and undefeated-since-2013 Abdulrashid Sadulaev. The theory goes that if they are doing the job asked, why risk upsetting that balance, or worse, injuring them? Nobody at 86 kilos in Russia, or worldwide, has come close to compiling a win-loss record or title history within the same stratosphere as Sadulaev. So why would you ever send them to the Olympics?

    That might be the lesson for the United States. Kyle Snyder and Jordan Burroughs made it through their national tournaments, but maybe they shouldn't have to at all? Does anyone give us a better chance to win at 74 kilos? No. Why take on the chance that Burroughs could get hurt, or be upset?

    Molinaro was competing at a weight class where almost no major international successes were recorded in 2015 and 2016. Why not let him represent the country if he's able to beat the entire field in a seeded tournament? The accusation against him -- that he performed well on one day -- is exactly what fans should want in their competitors. That single day of greatness describes a whole bunch of the USA's Olympic and World greats, most recently Henry Cejudo.

    The real improvements need to come much sooner than the Trials. There should be a real examination of what the goals are for wrestling in the United States. If international success ranks highly on that list then a gradual move from folkstyle to freestyle (and Greco-Roman) should be discussed.

    If international success is not a major priority then the community needs to accept that, due to time not competing in the style as a lifelong pursuit, America will have some weaker weight classes, including those that might not qualify for the Olympic Games.

    The change wouldn't be easy, but the outcome is obvious: increased international success and more gold medals at the Olympic Games.

    To your questions …

    Q: I was impressed with Nico Megaludis at the Olympic Team Trials despite the fact that he went 0-2. Both losses were by a point. I believe with full-time freestyle training he will blossom as a freestyle wrestler and represent Team USA at 57 kilos in the coming years. Thoughts?
    -- Mike C.

    Nico Megaludis with Penn State coach Cael Sanderson (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Foley: Agreed! And if not for his personal potential, his coaches have shown panache for preparing their athletes to win medals.

    I don't know how Cael and staff manage all the workouts and techniques, but the Penn State room is simultaneously the best collegiate wrestling program in the country and is quickly becoming a go-to spot for Olympic-style competitors. In addition to Frank Molinaro, the Nittany Lion room has Olympians Franklin Gomez and Jaime Espinal.

    Megaludis on the international stage is going to be something to get excited about for most American wrestling fans. With some added muscle and a year or two of tournaments under his belt I think the odds are that Megaludis will be on top of the heap at 57 kilos, likely with teammate Zain Retherford holding down 65 kilos.

    Megaludis' biggest competition going forward might be from Nahshon Garrett -- a thought that should keep American audiences excited about the future of the 57-kilo weight class, and the future medal chances in Tokyo.

    Q: I feel like Joe McFarland has underachieved at Michigan. He continually leaves redshirts on the table with his wrestlers: Rossi Bruno, Alec Pantaleo, Brian Murphy, Domenic Abounader and Adam Coon. All of these wrestlers could have used a redshirt their freshman year, but the lack of depth in the wrestling room doesn't allow him to maximize his wrestlers potential. He continually has top flight recruiting classes, but it doesn't seem to materialize tournament time continually hovering around the top 10 the last few years. When does Michigan break through?
    -- Dave D.

    Foley: The Michigan program hasn't had a terrible two-year run. Under McFarland and assisted by Sean Bormet, Josh Churella and Kellen Russell, the Wolverines finished tied for ninth in the NCAAs in 2016 and they were 11th in 2015 with five All-Americans, including NCAA finalist Adam Coon. The 2016 team only had three All-Americans but one of those, Conor Youtsey, was fairly surprising.

    While breaking through can certainly take on many meanings, I imagine you mean for a trophy. No matter what school you support, finding a trophy at NCAAs will from now
    on be a difficult accomplishment. If you just assumed some combination of Penn State, Iowa, Oklahoma State and Ohio State as shoe-ins for two of the top four trophies each year, you're pretty much putting yourself in a tough spot against teams like Minnesota, Virginia Tech, NC State and Oklahoma.

    If you add in the coming resurgence of Arizona State and Rutgers you are faced with a steep hill to climb in finding a trophy.

    Still, Michigan has talent, depth, coaching and recruits well. They have the right keys to victory and are just in need of a great tournament.

    Maybe that'll happen in 2017.

    Q: Fresno State hired Troy Steiner. Thoughts?
    -- Gary B.

    Troy Steiner was officially introduced as Fresno State's head wrestling coach on Thursday
    Foley: Incredible hire.

    Not only was Troy Steiner a great wrestler, but he's been in the coaching game for almost thirty years. That's a lot of experience to tap into when starting his program. Building the Fresno State program will take considerable time and that means a patient leader. From what I know of Coach Steiner, and from what I've seen, that won't be an issue.

    Lastly, Steiner has considerable regional ties from having been at Oregon State for so many years. Not that he'll need much when heading into such a wrestling-rich area as the Central Valley.

    FresYes!

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Must-watch video. Well done by judo…



    Link: My favorite type of story on the Internet: self-righteous man busted for doing what he preaches against.

    Q: Outside of Jordan Burroughs and Kyle Snyder, what American freestyle wrestler has the best chance to earn a medal in Rio?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: J'den Cox. I don't think that he has a style or game plan that other nations can prepare to defend. Even if a nation like Iran teaches their guy to stop Cox's deep underhook, the youngster is so capable of adaptation (both before a tournament and during a match) that he'll figure out a way to score.

    That will matter at the Olympics, which is essentially a 16-man bracket that moves quickly. There won't be much time to scout and prepare for each wrestler, and with the exception of Abdulrashid Sadualev, there aren't many that I think will be able to hang with Cox for a full six minutes.

    Q: It's great to see there will be a World Championships for non-Olympic weight classes later this year in Hungary. Predict the Team USA lineup in men's freestyle for the Worlds in December.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I'm not sure if they will hold a separate World Team qualifier, but my guess right now is Reece Humphrey at 61 kilos and Zain Retherford at 70 kilos.

    Q: If Adeline Gray wins gold in Rio, will she be considered the greatest American women's freestyle wrestler ever?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The Olympic gold would tie her for World titles with Tricia Saunders, who had four World gold medals and one silver medal. However, if you properly weigh the advancement of the women's sport, the depth of 75 kilos and give a nudge for an Olympic gold then there isn't much doubt that Gray is the best women's wrestler in the history of the USA.

    Comment of the Week
    By Tyler

    So the United States qualified the fewest weights since the 50s. This happened during a time where wrestling talent in the country seems to be very high. How can this possibly happen?

    To me, it seems we have a very flawed qualifying system. The winner of a single tournament is who we send but this is often not the best guy. Frank Molinaro really spotlights this problem. While he is good, he is not better than the guys he beat on that day. I think Aaron Pico, Logan Stieber, Jordan Oliver and Brent Metcalf all have a better chance to not only qualify but also medal. James Green, Zain Retherford, Jimmy Kennedy and Kellen Russell all also are probably better on a number of other days.

    Our qualification system ignores international results and instead focuses only on domestic. David Taylor has shown the most promise, but we almost sent Kyle Dake who has not done well internationally and if J'den Cox gets hurt it will be Dake instead. The single tournament looks to be more based on fairness rather than results. Coleman Scott has an Olympic medal, but lost a criteria match to a wrestler who likely should have lost in a previous round and was unable to go. Daniel Dennis even said he thinks Scott is the best guy at the weight class!

    In the other styles, four weight classes were also not qualified. I do not know the competitors as well, but I am sure similar things happen. Should more be done to make sure the best team is sent?]]>    80877Fri, 13 May 2016 07:14:12 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: May 6, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-may-6-2016-r80857/
    The Last Chance Qualifier advances two wrestlers per weight to the Olympics, with no true second. That means only finalists will be granted tickets to the Games.

    The American side will feature Frank Molinaro attempting to qualify 65 kilos on Saturday, while Tamyra Mensah (69 kilos) and Kelsey Campbell (63 kilos) look to lock up the remaining berths for Team USA on the women's side.

    Though not decided as of this writing on Thursday night, Greco-Roman wrestlers Jesse Thielke (59 kilos), RaVaughn Perkins (66 kilos) and Joe Rau (98 kilos) will have likely already decided their fate by the time you read this sentence. To watch how they perform, you can watch for free at UnitedWorldWrestling.org. Follow the action on social media by searching and using the hashtag #lastchance2rio.

    To your questions …

    Q: With the recent commitments of Spencer Lee and Gavin Teasdale to Iowa, I started to wonder about the difficulty in receiving one-hundred percent full-ride scholarships at the top flight programs. Do wrestlers who are top tier recruits like Mark Hall, Spencer Lee, Gavin Teasdale, David Taylor, etc. receive one-hundred percent full rides, or is it more of an eighty or ninety percent scholarship to allow for money to pull lesser touted wrestlers?
    -- Derek O.

    Foley: Every school handles the allocation of scholarships differently. I know some that say they never move off a top opening bid of sixty percent, but there are other grants that could supplement a kid's education, which makes that number a bit disingenuous.

    If you're asking me if Hall, Lee or Teasdale is paying for college then the answer is "no, they are not paying for college." What percentage comes from scholarship and what percentage comes from other means I wouldn't know, but the value of those particular athletes seems indisputable.

    Remember also that until 2015 scholarships had been subject to annual review based on athletic performance. The NCAA recently moved to have the performance distinction eliminated.

    The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships return to St. Louis in 2017 (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Q: Any inside track or thoughts on the next cycle of NCAA tournament host cities after Cleveland?
    -- Frank C.

    Foley: The NCAA has shown no interest in changing direction and hosting the event in one location over several years. Assuming they stick to their tradition of moving the championships I could imagine another visit to NYC, possibly Atlanta and then the same Midwestern characters with St. Louis, Kansas City and Des Moines all making bids.

    There is profit in hosting the event so I also predict we'll get a number of new cities down south willing to show serious bids.

    Q: I find myself continually frustrated with only six Olympic weight classes per style. There is too much talent left out of the Olympics. I think you've covered this in the past. But, instead of six double bronzes, why doesn't the UWW work with the IOC to shift the six extra bronze medals to two new weight classes? This doesn't increase the total number of medals for wrestling. What are the barriers?
    -- Mark H.

    Foley: My first contention would be that there is "too much talent left out of the Olympics." When you look at the number of countries qualifying wrestlers it looks as though none will qualify all their weight classes in 2016, just as they didn't in 2012. To conclude that there is too much talent being kept at home you'd have to show me that several countries (or at least one) suffered from this problem.

    Take the United States as an example of a country with boundless resources, a strong wrestling tradition and solid support from their National Olympic Committee. There are currently six Olympic positions still not qualified, despite three opportunities. One of these openings is at 65 kilos, a weight class most in the USA would argue has the depth you describe as being left out of the Olympics. I'd disagree, but were there THAT much talent at 60-70 kilos wouldn't just one of those guys gotten the job done by now?

    Six weight classes may not seem like enough, but it's already too much for most national federations to support. If you want a robust and growing sport you need to make participation reachable for young national federations. As is countries like Palau, Indonesia, Namibia and others have trouble supporting one style of the sport. Adding weight classes for them to fill would not solve anyone's problems.

    In regards to the medals, that has never been an issue. The real issues is number of participants and with wrestling hosting 19 per weight in Greco-Roman and freestyle along with 18 in women there is almost no room for contraction in a way that would allow for a competitive event and for robust participation from wrestlers around the world.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Link: Back to the Sand

    Q: Will the May 19 Beat the Streets match event be televised?
    -- @Gyonekura

    Foley: Yes. FloWrestling.org.

    Q: InterMat's article about Jake Clark said that a Minnesota native has been in every Olympics since 1968. What other states have long streaks sending representatives to the Olympics?
    -- Jeff S.

    Foley: From our man Mark Palmer …

    I did some quick research, and found a string of Oklahoma natives as members of U.S. Olympic teams running unbroken from `1924 thru 1976 (no Olympics in 1940 or '44). Here we go:

    1924: Guy Lookabaugh, Charles Strack
    1928: Clarence Berryman
    1932: Bobby Pearce, Jack VanBebber
    1936: Harley Strong, Frank Lewis, Ross Flood
    1948: Bill Jernigan, Dick Hutton (born in Amarillo, but moved to Tulsa as a baby)
    1952: Bill Borders, Joe Henson, Dan Hodge
    1956: Myron Roderick, Dan Hodge, Tommy Evans, Dale Lewis
    1960: Shelby Wilson, Doug Blubaugh, Dale Lewis
    1964: Wayne Baughman
    1968: Baughman, Wayne Wells
    1972: Wells
    1976: Bruce Thompson

    As for Iowa natives … Allie Morrison was first, in '28, then I believe the next from the Hawkeye state was in '48, with Bill Koll and Glen Brand, so that's a long absence.

    Without looking up hometowns of other U.S. Olympians, I would think California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York would not be in contention RE the streak as would be Minnesota or Oklahoma.
    ]]>    80857Fri, 06 May 2016 06:52:22 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: April 29, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-april-29-2016-r80837/
    Dennis Hastert holding a trophy after the wrestling team he coached won the state championship in 1976
    The wrestling community is rightfully dismayed about one of the sport's most important public figures admitting to being a child molester, and later, to committing crimes in the hopes of keeping that secret quiet. The scenario is playing out far too often, and with community leaders we not only trust but revere.

    I was once an employee of Speaker Hastert, interning in the summers of 2000 and 2001 for his congressional office on Capitol Hill. In my first year the work was basic, if not droll, with little more being asked of my faculties than shuttling constituents along on Capitol tours, answering phones and taking care of the mail. The time was made more interesting by the Chandra Levy crisis and the various media-driven fallouts that would affect interns from around the Hill. Some had mistakenly chosen to speak with the press about THEIR relationship with the male congressman only to find their desks empty the morning after their interviews aired on TV.

    My role matured a bit in 2001 after I was asked to compile stories of men affected by Title IX. The assignment was meaty, allowing me both an opportunity to work on something more than my letter opening skills and to be part of something possibly consequential. As a wrestler at Virginia we had ourselves just dodged a previous year's attempt to cut our program -- largely for reasons, we were told, to do with Title IX.

    The Speaker didn't directly address my work, but on the occasions I met him he'd ask about the project and about my training. In the end a commission was formed, but needing majority approval for changed to the Office of Civil Rights' standing interpretation, the two nay votes cast by Brandi Chastain and Sheryl Swoopes torpedoed the effort.

    After college, a coworker from the Speaker's office got me a job working as a low-level staffer for the 2004 Mel Martinez for Senate campaign in Florida. We won, but by the end of the campaign I'd seen enough of politics. I'd spent a considerable amount of time with some of the biggest Republican names at the time, but politics -- specifically Martinez's dismantling of opponent Betty Castor's support of equal rights for the LGBT community -- left me jaded. Martinez -- whose posturing and antics around the matter knew no limits -- actually employed more than a handful of gay men and yet each week stumped about their sins.

    I left my behind-the-scenes political ambitions and returned to coaching, then later to this career which allows me to travel for, discuss and practice the sport I love.

    With some perspective it became easier to see what is now abundantly clear. Speaker Hastert was never "Coach" or a man focused on positive change in his community. He was always an opportunist and a pragmatist. What made him great at politicking is the same part of his ethos that was effective at manipulating and silencing of the boys he molested. The sexual abuse of his high school wrestling team is not morally comparable to some drunken night at a Vegas strip joint. The former Speaker of the House violated the trust of those in his command in the most intimate manner and did so without remorse -- his current attrition only a show in the hopes of finding fewer years locked in a steel cage. His whole career was a sham, a series of personal gains based on a lie about wholesome Midwestern values and conciliatory policy making.

    The unfortunate reality is that America, like the wrestling community, continues to fall for these unscrupulous leaders. The men (and women) who display outward badges of HONOR and SUCCESS so often become leaders who most entangle and endanger our communities. In the midst of being led astray we are too quick to assign them labels as holier-than-thou leaders, free of personal fault or indiscretion, and give them access to the highest realms of power and influence.

    For wrestling, the clown show of manipulative, self-interested leaders is as old as the sport, but America, in the last 20 years, has the distinction of giving national titles for excellence to a would-be murderer (John du Pont) and a child molester. To add insult to the current set of circumstances University of Chicago head wrestling coach Leo Kocher wrote a letter to the presiding judge asking for leniency, in part because of Hastert's work in combating Title IX. Were there a ranking of all-time boneheaded, thick-skulled, tone-deaf responses to a tragedy, Leo Kocher's would be an almost impossible to top nugget.

    Dennis Hastert
    In addition to not voicing support for a man recently admitting child molestation, would-be Hastert supporters also have to recognize now that Title IX didn't kill wrestling and that the years and money spent fighting the law only weakened our sport.

    Today, with the court cases sidelined, the sport is rebounding, adapting and growing. There is a burgeoning women's wrestling culture in this country in large part thanks to pro-Title IX efforts, like those Mike Burch led in the 1990s, made by effective leaders hoping to bring the sport into more schools. Title IX, like the wars Hastert helped rush us into, the restrictive social policies he helped enact, and his general pandering to the lowest common denominator, all have been proven backward and reductive.

    The Hastert case should serve as a wake-up call to our community. Now is the time to dispel with the honoring of characters carrying false promises. The Ponzi schemers and liars, the all-show-and-no-content bullshit artists trying to make a name for themselves on the backs of our community. Ignore them and we will make them irrelevant. Instead, look closer at the good people we still have in the sport and let them be our emotional leaders. With the Olympics coming up, it won't be difficult to find a new batch of heroes to follow.

    To your questions …

    Q: As a former Pennsylvania wrestler I've taken great pride in Penn State's surge to the top wrestling program in the nation. Lehigh, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Pitt, F&M and others have done their best in past years to represent PA on the college level, but it took Sanderson at Penn State to bring it all home. And when Sanderson took the Penn State job he went out of his way to say that Pennsylvania is the heart of the nation's wrestling and he was going focus on recruiting in-state, which he has done successfully (Ed Ruth, Zain Retherford, Jason Nolf, Nico Megaludis).

    So that set up is a long-winded way of asking what happened with Spencer Lee and Gavin Teasdale? They are two world-class products of Pennsylvania wrestling, so why did they end up going to Iowa? Can you shed some light on the situation? And I'm not buying the rationale that Penn State was full up with Suriano and didn't have room either on their roster or for scholarships. You don't pass up a kid like Spencer Lee … ever.
    -- Steve S.

    Foley: There are any number of reasons that Spencer Lee traveled to Iowa for college rather than stayed in Pennsylvania. My instinct tells me that Jody Strittmatter, who coaches both guys on the Young Guns, influenced their decision to go to Iowa. However, I am almost as certain that Strittmatter wasn't heavy-handed about the approach, and rather these kids just grew up knowing about their coach's Iowa roots, hearing stories and maybe envisioning themselves in the singlet.

    Coach Sanderson probably didn't go down without a fight, but the reality is that these guys probably saw much less opportunity to start right away at Penn State than they did at Iowa. You mentioned Suriano, but there are others in the room waiting to get their chance. Maybe that was something the duo chose to ignore. It's also possible that they wanted to wrestle together in college and Iowa was the best fit for that situation.

    Coach Sanderson is smart enough to realize missing out on one or two recruits doesn't sink a program. However, if this somehow continues to happen, then there is something with which Penn State fans can finally start to worry about.

    Q: Haley Augello's rise has been incredible. I have been very impressed with her. Do you see her as a potential Olympic medalist in Rio?
    -- Mike C.

    Haley Augello gets her hand raised after a victory over Victoria Anthony in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Foley: Agreed. She has been wrestling really well the past several months and showed real talent in navigating past Vicky Anthony and Alyssa Lampe at the Olympic Team Trials.

    She also looked solid in Mongolia, beating her first four opponents before falling in the finals to the North Korean. That loss might be a bad bell-weather as the North Korean has seen underwhelming results versus much of Asia and Europe.

    My guess is that Haley can earn a bronze if landing in the right position. She's going to have a very tough time against Mariya Stadnyk, Eri Tosaka and Sun Yanan. All three have shown the ability to wrestle at a level above the rest of the girls at 48 kilos.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Link: Take the money and run

    Not aimed at everyone, but if anyone wants to surf, train and have a great time, Bali MMA is owned by former college wrestlers.

    Link: Let's eat

    Dagestan Training Camp

    Q: What do you think our chances are for qualifying the remaining weight classes at the last Olympic Qualifier? Specifically, with Frank Molinaro, do you think criteria wins at the Trials mean we don't have our best foot forward to qualify the weight class or medal in Rio?
    -- G.H.

    Foley: As someone pointed out to me at the 1st World Olympic Qualifier in Mongolia, the system seems to be working out pretty well. With the notable exception of Hamid Soryan of Iran, almost all the top wrestlers in the world are qualified and the best from each nation seem to also be included in the Olympic roster.

    Molinaro is the least experienced on the roster and faced a wrestler in Yakup Gor who has placed at the World Championships. Still, he managed to come pretty darn close to pulling off that upset and possibly finding a path to qualification. As it was, he lost a heartbreaker.

    In my opinion, Molinaro is better than 50/50 to qualify in Istanbul. Most of the heavy hitters have qualified and any shuffling by the remaining countries will probably not reap positive outcomes.

    As for the women, Tamyra Mensah should be qualifying. There is an enormous amount of talent that hasn't yet been realized, but once she sees what others do there is no limit to what she can achieve. Kelsey Campbell didn't look great in Mongolia, but she's wrestled plenty of international tournaments and could bring some veteran grit with her to Turkey.

    The Greco-Roman qualification will be the toughest. RaVaughn Perkins took bronze in Mongolia, but lost in the true third-place match. His style may not lend itself to success in Europe where many more classic style enthusiasts will show up from smaller cash-strapped countries. Jesse Thielke can get the job done but needs to close out matches more effectively in Istanbul than he did in Mongolia. Joe Rau didn't show much in the first qualifier, leaving many question marks about what will happen in Turkey.

    Q: How do wrestling fans outside of the United States view Kyle Snyder? As a one-hit wonder?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Everyone has an opinion on who is legit and who isn't, but I think it's universally accepted that Kyle Snyder is not a flash in the pan. He wrestles with the very best in the world while simultaneously wrestling a collegiate season. That's not unnoticed by the Russians, Iranians or other opponents. This past week in Mongolia I heard a lot of inquiries about his position on the team, as many thought that the USA would still send Jake Varner given his Olympic gold medal.

    More importantly however, when Snyder's name comes up it's usually always framed in the question of if he will win the Olympics. That's a sign that most think he's at the top of the heap.

    Request of the Week
    By Dexter H.

    I'm writing because I want to conclude the chapter with a brief discussion of the way wrestling has proven a common cultural practice between United States servicemen in the military and the local communities where they are stationed. I know that many of our servicemen and women have had the chance to engage in wrestling (formally and informally) while stationed overseas, and I wanted to see if any of your readers might be interested in contacting me to discuss their experiences of either training or competing with local Afghan, Iraqi, Kuwaiti or other communities while stationed overseas. For example, I know that the Army 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division hosted a Palawan (Afghan wrestling) tournament on FOB Wilson in Kandahar Province back in 2012. I'm also aware of our servicemen wrestling when stationed in Europe and the Pacific. I'm wondering if any readers might be able to give me some insight into their wrestling experiences abroad so that I can speak to how wrestling continues to cross cultural boundaries and connect peoples globally, even in times of international conflict.

    If you wouldn't mind, could you plug this in your mailbag section to see if I can find some informants for the closing of this article? I can be reached at dex@berkeley.edu.]]>    80837Fri, 29 Apr 2016 07:54:42 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: April 22, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-april-22-2016-r80829/
    The two freestyle weight classes are the focus of most fans and also the biggest concern. After his stunning set of upsets two weeks ago Frank Molinaro will head into the Ulaanbaatar event facing down arguably the most difficult weight class in the competition. Similarly, senior-level freestyle newcomer J'den Cox will take his 86-kilo upsets into the qualifier with a loaded field of opponents standing in his way.

    Though he hasn't wrestled much freestyle, Cox's aggressive and explosive attack-style of wrestling will throw many of his opponents off their game plan. There is no way for most foreigners to prepare for Cox and that'll leave the first few of his opponents in a stunned state. Can he carry that to the finals, or at least to a true third? Of course. After his Olympic Trials performance who'd dare doubt him.

    On the women's side, 55-kilo World champion Helen Maroulis is down to 53 kilos where she hopes to qualify. Assuming a solid weight cut she should be a lock to get the job done and focus on dethroning three-time champion Saori Yoshida. Tamyra Mensah (69 kilos) and Haley Augello (48 kilos) are also hoping to book their ticket. Mensah has shown incredible potential in the past year and with some coaching help should be able to place in the relatively light field. Augello, who has won a Cadet World title, will have a tougher road, but will need to work past top-level completion in North Korea, India and Mongolia. Kelsey Campbell is facing an uphill battle at 58 kilos with a slew of talented women entering the fray, including Grace Bullen of Norway, In Sun Jong of North Korea, and Natalia Golts of Russia.

    The Greco-Roman results are already decided with everything available for review at unitedworldwrestling.org.

    To your questions …

    Q: We've seen how successful our Cadet/Junior World champs can be at a very young age (see Aaron Pico and Kyle Snyder at World Team Trials). Do you think that our two-time World champ Spencer Lee will be a threat to make the 2017 World Team? Or is he still a few years away?
    -- Irv.

    Foley: Weight class and strength both play significant factors when sizing up the opportunities of youngsters at the senior level. Pico, and some extent Henry Cejudo, have overcome those obstacles by being full-time in the sport. Snyder seems to already have man strength at his age (out of puberty) and through hard work has learned how to stay in position.

    Spencer Lee, who this week committed to Iowa, is not done growing. That's good for Iowa, but bad for his chances of making a World team on the senior level any time soon. He'll need to specialize in the NCAA game, grow and find some man strength before he can compete with guys like Tony Ramos and Dan Dennis. However, I do like his chances of putting together a nice run in 2020, though I still think he'd have some filling out to do.

    Q: In my opinion, Ian Miller has been one of if not the most exciting college wrestler to watch over the past few seasons. I think he's as dynamic from the neutral position as anyone in the country, including a lot of the senior level guys around his weight. (Jordan Burroughs is probably the lone exception.) Has there been any information regarding what his future plans in the sport are? I think he could absolutely be in the mix at 74 kilos, but his athletic ability and penchant for explosive moves could make for an interesting transition to MMA? What do you think?
    -- James R.

    Ian Miller battles Isaiah Martinez in the NCAA semifinals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Foley: Something about Ian Miller feels like an MMA fighter, but I think there is a lot to your point that he is explosive and can score moves quickly.

    If I were his agent -- or running his life free of knowing personal responsibilities -- I'd advocate giving freestyle a real try. Move to the training center, get funding to wrestle overseas, and make the most of his talents on the mat. If after giving it two years he still isn't competing with top international guys he can raise his hand and be chosen by any number of fight teams around the country. There is no loss at starting MMA later, but there is almost no going back to wrestling after you slip on the gloves.

    Q: I think Tom Brands should be on the hot seat at Iowa. He needs to recruit better and change his ways a bit to compete with Penn State. Like any biz, you need to adapt to the changes to compete.
    -- Paul E.

    Foley: In fairness you wrote this question before Brands landed top recruits Spencer Lee and Gavin Teasdale. Those guys are pretty sure bets for the podium, and one could assume that includes that top of the podium.

    As for changing his ways … there you might have a point. If Brands can find the right balance between intensity and technique, he can win big with recruits like Lee and Teasdale.

    Q: What is the pay for USA Wrestling athletes? In light of the recent institutional discrimination by USA Soccer, I want to know specifically what our women and men make when on the Olympic and World teams and in camp at the USOTC. Are travel and per diems standardized? Do world and Olympic medal bonuses pay identically? Are accommodations identical when on the road?
    -- Nate H.

    Foley: Each athlete on the ladder (top three) is paid the same stipend, with men and women receiving equal pay. The athletes are given increases to their stipend for winning tournaments like the World Championships, which means that Dan Dennis is not making the same monthly stipend as Adeline Gray -- not even close. The bonuses from Living the Dream Medal Fund pay the exact same amount to both men and women medalists, too. Accommodations on the road are exactly the same at any given tournament.

    Q: I notice a larger public push for NCAA (male) athletes football and basketball players to be paid. If the push is successful do see it having adverse effects on college wrestling at the Division I level?
    -- Marcus R.

    Foley: Loaded question, but I don't think so. In fact, I think it'll be a boon. The NCAA is most likely going to allow athletes to sign endorsement deals while still in college. This means that the school won't assume any more financial burden and athletes across the board can make extra income. For example, Kyle Snyder could sign with Asics and maybe wear their shoes, or maybe even sing with Milwaukee Tools and do TV spots.

    More money in the system may only be the start. Once the NCAA moves closer to admitting these aren't amateurs they may open up the legal route to having the entirety of the system be challenged (again) in court.

    Q: What is going on with Chance Marsteller? Is he done? Is he transferring?
    -- Matthew R.

    Foley: I don't know. There hasn't been any solid rumors and the guys I depend on for this information didn't know much as of two weeks ago.

    Q: If you're the AD at Boise State, who are the coaches you're calling about the head coaching position?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: There was a weird turn of events at Boise State with the wrestling program first parting ways with longtime assistant coach Chris Owens, and then Greg Randall getting fired. That tells me the administration learned of something they didn't like, or possibly that the team spoke up. I'd keep an eye on what happens next because that might tell us a lot about the future of the program. Yet, it could just be a lack of performance as they were 9-25-1 in the past three seasons.

    You're going to see the same names applying here that you see for most jobs, but I don't have someone in mind that would be a shoe-in option. Randall was at that program for so long that I'd have to think of regional ties in order to fill that role. For me the best option may be Cody Sanderson.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Power of Sport



    Cornish Wrestling



    Q: Watching Anthony Valencia at the Last Chance Olympic Team Trials Qualifier reminded me of how stacked Arizona State will be next year. What do you think is their team's ceiling at the NCAAs? Can they win a trophy? Beat Penn State/Ohio State/VPI?
    -- Irv.

    Foley: I love that you called Virginia Tech "VPI." That feels like an old school dig from my Wahoo days, but I don't know that it is really anything more than their appropriate acronym.

    No, Arizona State won't beat Penn State, but I do think that a well performing Zeke Jones squad is in the top ten. An incredible performance puts them in the top five. They certainly are showing signs of sparkle, but until these all-star recruits, namely the Valencia boys, start wading through the NCAA season you can't project their total impact. Case in point is judging the effect of Myles Martin midseason, or Chance Marstellar at the start.

    Possessing promise is only part of the equation in a collegiate season that spans five months and 30-plus matches. In reality promise is mostly a handicap, especially if you find out that you have thin skin or delicate ears.

    Q: Does Henry Cejudo have a legit shot at beating Mighty Mouse for the UFC title on Saturday night?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Mighty Mouse looks about as unbeatable an opponent as we've seen in the UFC. The smaller guys don't have as much knockout power, so Johnson can depend almost entirely on outpointing an opponent. While Cejudo has good striking he hasn't yet perfected it for the octagon in the same way as Johnson. He also lacks that KO power to even the fight or make Johnson honest in the pocket.

    Most concerning for Cejudo is that Johnson's wrestling might be on the same level while in the octagon … seriously. The champ's techniques are adapted to the octagon and he's proven very difficult to take to the mat and hold down.

    I'm pulling for Cejudo, but he's winning this fight, at most, two of ten times.

    Q: The Madison Square Garden NCAA tournament was cool. I know the attendance wasn't quite as high, but I agree they need to put it on both coasts occasionally or even the South to grow the sport. What was not encouraging was the slight drop in the TV ratings. The common wisdom was that it would go up due to being in NYC. Two years ago Bob Bowlsby spoke to the Wrestlers in Business during the St. Louis NCAAs. He was very supportive of wrestling, but very frustrated at why they don't move the tourney back a week so it's not up against the opening week of NCAA men's basketball March Madness. This would be a great change and I was wondering if there is any traction for that move?
    -- Mike S.

    Foley: I think that the attendance was about as sold out as you're going to find. The numbers were lighter, but that was mostly based on the size of the arena. Money was made and crowds were joyous. Pretty much all you can ask for in terms of crowd size and makeup.

    The international sports community loves to send tournaments to smaller countries because they are able to make money for their federation AND typically earn more medals (which usually results in more money from government officials). The NCAA model works differently. You need to have a large local fan base, or the accessibility of a major transportation hub like something in Dallas or Atlanta. Still, you run a risk of having light crowds, or worse still, unenthusiastic crowds.

    The days of the tournament are silly. The NCAA controls that, though I think they would be responsive to pressure from a proposal, which outlined a benefit to student welfare and the bottom line. The larger matter is having the sport span two semesters. Solving that should be top priority, but not letting perfection be the enemy of good, I think that moving conference a week earlier (Pac-12) along with the NCAAs would be an easy solution and result in much more viewership.

    Q: Is Aaron Pico done wrestling? I'm excited to see him compete in MMA.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I don't know. I think it would be foolish to give up when he still has another four years to travel the world, make the World team and generate a livable income. What's the pressure to go work on jiu-jitsu and boxing for three years when in that same time he can make more money and likely increase his name recognition. There is so much for him to learn about the sport of wrestling it would be a shame to see him leave.

    Q: While watching the Olympic Team Trials, I started to wonder about something. When the weight classes are qualified and the team is officially set, do they practice in Colorado as a team or do they remain with their respective clubs and practice partners until competition time?
    -- Derek O.

    Foley: Both. There are team training camps that every wrestler must attend, including the second and third team members. When not at a training camp they will supplement with their respective clubs.]]>    80829Fri, 22 Apr 2016 07:05:30 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: April 15, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-april-15-2016-r80806/
    From everything we are reading online, the center of last week's controversies seems to center on the matches featuring Nahshon Garrett and J'den Cox. In reviewing the tweets at the time and since, the one thing that seems abundantly clear to me isn't that there were refereeing errors, but that most American fans, coaches and athletes simply don't know the freestyle rules well enough to lodge complaints with much veracity.

    The majority of American coaches, wrestlers and fans don't watch international wrestling until the Trials or other major events. USA Wrestling and United World Wrestling have gobs of content up (for free) on their site and YouTube, with more coming every week from tournaments around the world. Still, most content doesn't reach the core American wrestling fan. Why? Because the NCAA and local high school seasons run simultaneous to the international season and we believe in American exceptionalism in making international sports our own and then claiming their "objective" superiority (rugby to football, cricket to baseball). I like NCAA wrestling, but freestyle is a totally different sport with different rules, motivations for referees and outcomes for wrestlers.

    Unfortunately, in wrestling, that exceptionalism and blind eye is resulting in the mistakes like we saw last weekend in Iowa.

    From where I sit it looks like the issues faced in America are always unique to the world discussion. The stalling this weekend is just the most recent iteration. Before that it was the near takedown and other since-clarified rules. Never in another country have I seen or heard of the controversies that bubble up stateside. Part of the issue is that referees and coaches are bringing in too many habits and notions from NCAA into a sport that has drastically different rules.

    The best example of this is the kerfuffle surrounding Nahshon Garrett. He was absolutely, one-hundred percent stalling in trying to protect his lead in the last 30 seconds. That is a conditional call we are used to seeing be ignored on the NCAA mat, because we don't want referees involved. International referees are asked to get involved from the very start of the match to ensure that the athletes wrestle. If action is maintained they fade into the background. When they don't they are forced to prompt action. No referee at the international level would have allowed Garrett that type of repetitive hold fleeing. Garrett was explicitly warned of this action and told to not flee … and then immediately fled!

    And yet there is another wrinkle …

    The call which cost Garrett the match was not confirmed by all three referees and should have been challenged by the coaching staff where it would have been overturned! Not only would the referees have seen the white paddle of the mat chairman, but also, even if he'd somehow lost the challenge, Garrett would have still needed the same takedown. It was a gimme challenge that the coaches never took.

    With more international wrestling experience, all these issues, from understanding referee judgment to knowing what to challenge, would cease to exist.

    On the other side of this issue, J'den Cox was correct in not being called because Kyle Dake was not making any wrestling actions in his attempts to score. While fans think a pushout is a pushout, there is mention in the rules that extended arm pushing does not receive the single point for stepping out of bounds. The international community doesn't want to see a shoving match and it was obvious that Dake wasn't attempting a takedown, but a series of pushouts.

    In Dake's case, were he not in Dake country, he would have been cautioned for stalling in the second period. International referees don't let you drop into a sumo squat, pull and underhook and sprawl. They believe the losing wrestler should attack or move position just the same as the winning wrestler. In the final few seconds Dake made almost no wrestling maneuvers. This match really should never have been equated with the happenings of Garrett since they were much different realities and flees.

    Americans should love freestyle! There is an incredible impetus put on action. Unfortunately the NCAA control-based rules system has infected our brains and made us believe that MORE time is somehow the key to action-based results. It's one-hundred percent not. The amount of wrestling action we saw in well-competed matches at the Trials far outstripped the best of the NCAA wrestling tournament where many matches saw fewer than TWO offensive scoring actions.

    The Mongolian Qualifier is next week. For fans looking to get ready for the Olympics I recommend watching these matches not just for Team USA but to get a feel for the rules and nuances of the international style.

    To your questions ..

    Q: When watching Kyle Dake wrestle, he is consistently seen complaining about calls to the refs and in a match against J'den Cox seemingly purposefully pushing him off the stage when they were clearly already out of bounds and the one point was awarded. Does he lack good sportsmanship and is this overlooked because of his stature as one of the most successful college wrestlers ever?
    -- K.K.

    Foley: Dake is popular and carries a lot of cache in the American wrestling community for having won four NCAA titles. That might be why he avoided an absolutely blatant penalty call when driving Cox off the mat after the whistle had blown and he'd earned his point.

    Dake's behavior was unacceptable, but like you mentioned not totally out of character. Should Dake have hurt Cox, it would have major consequences for Team USA and that type of wrestling only sets back the team's ability to win at the international level. To most fans, it looked like Dake was too focused on relieving his frustrations than trying to solve the technical problems he was facing on the mat.

    There is a bigger message here. Wrestlers from around the USA need to chill the hell out with their tough guy bravado. Stop trying to win matches with "intensity." Stop chest-pounding and screaming into the air. Focus more on technique, game planning and match experience. Being humble and gracious in victory and defeat is not easy, but it's a richer path forward than having to always act as though the man in front of you is holding your family hostage and you have to club their freedom out from the back of his head.

    Look around the world, we are the only ones with a habit for this behavior and it's time to take a hint and drop the act.

    Q: I believe there should be some tweaks when it comes to winning by criteria. Specifically, winning the match when it's tied on equal criteria with a passive point I think is completely and utterly absurd. Most of us are used to a situation like that in folkstyle: you're winning by a point, and the ref hits you for a stall point to send it into OT. But in the case where criteria is the same, and that passive point decides the match, there is a problem -- passivity (like stalling) is subjective. The last thing we want is to give too much control to anyone other than the two guys wrestling. Case in point: Tony Ramos vs. Nahshon Garrett.

    The referee basically decided the match there. I don't see that much difference in what Cox did in the final match against Dake. Again, it's all subjective, and another ref could have easily hit Cox for a passive point there. I am not saying Cox should have been called for passive, but another ref in another country could have seen it differently. My solution would be simple: in the case of a tie match where criteria is the same, and the losing wrestler earns a passive point, we should go to sudden death. So in the case of Ramos vs Garrett, it would be overtime, not the ref declaring him the winner. I am sure that many people in both instances think the right calls were made, but that is not really the point. This has huge implications internationally. Go watch or re-watch the Cary Kolat documentary; the goal is always to keep it as objective as possible. I heard Rob Koll got an official warning (think they said a yellow card) because he went ballistic after the call, and rightfully so! What are your thoughts?
    -- Frank C.

    Foley: The absolute beauty of criteria is that you have to wrestle six minutes but ONLY six minutes. Referees are there to ensure that the action is maintained. Though I was tuxed up on Saturday and in transit Sunday I saw enough of the American college kids wrestling to see that there is WAY too much focus on trying to eke out a one-point victory starting in the FIRST PERIOD.

    The international guys know better and don't turn off their offense. The attacks don't stop! Maybe they take fewer risks in their attacks, but they don't just shut it down. Same can be said for Jordan Burroughs. He doesn't just sit back and allow his one point edge to carry him into the next round. He is constantly looking to score.

    Kyle Dake battles J'den Cox in the finals of the Olympic Team Trials (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)
    As mentioned above, please go back and watch Kyle Dake in the second period. He's losing by a takedown but sumo stances and drops his haunches … that is preposterous unless he's planning to edge it out at the end via pushout. But why do that? The guy is an incredible athlete with a myriad attacks. Why risk it all on some uber-level of gamesmanship that is both ineffective and basically illegal?

    Overtime is not a solution to anything. The only thing it would provide is even more action like you saw from Dake and many others. Lead holding and dancing for OT when a regulation tie is in effect. The difference is that in America the wrestlers think it's OK to just wait around as you're losing on criteria or points, whereas internationally nobody ever thought that doing nothing was a method for winning.

    Q: What did you make of Tony Ramos' comments about Tom Brands and Iowa following his loss to Dan Dennis? Do you see where he's coming from? Or is just sour grapes?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I don't think Olympian Tony Ramos says anything about the coaching staff at the press conference, but I don't think it was just sour grapes. He had his feelings hurt when seeing the coaches he trusted to help him secure his dream backed a guy he knew. If they also helped find a flaw in his technique then he's got a case for some serious professional misconduct.

    I think Dan Dennis has a style that will likely see more success at the international level.

    Q: Per Wikepedia (yes, that's right, Wikipedia), your boy Sadulaev won't have to wrestle off for his spot on the Russian Olympic team. Do you know anything about this? I could be wrong, but I feel like even Buvaisar Saitiev had to wrestle off at Russian Nationals for his spot each year. Speaking of Russian Nationals, do you happen to know when they are (I think early June?) and if there is a way to watch?
    -- Mark R.

    Foley: I have zero problem with this decision. Even if some clown beat him, none of the backups have yet to win anything of merit, or even place. There would be no reason to take them over Sadulaev. The deal he cut was that he had to win U23 Europeans and he could sit out. He did that with relative ease and is on his way to Rio.

    The matches will be livestreamed on a Russian site. The Russian Nationals are at the end of May in Yakutsk.

    Q: I'm still a little confused … Is wrestling an 'official' or 'core' sport for Rio? I though it wasn't until 2020 when it would be back as a full sport after some sort of probationary period. From the screenshot from the official Rio 2016 page, it looks as if the men's disciplines are fully integrated, while women's freestyle is not. How does this impact media coverage, medal count (are the medals counted if the sport is not 'official'), and historical records?
    -- Coach K

    Foley: Not only is it an official sport of the 2016 Games but going forward it is among the 28 core sports of the Olympic Games. That list will not change, or be put back up for reconsideration. The only changes made will be additional disciplines added by the organizing committees of each Games, starting with Tokyo 2020 who will most likely choose baseball and softball as an additional sport.

    Q: As former wrestler and coach, I am now starting my BJJ journey. In being a loyal reader to your mailbag on InterMat and knowing that you also train BJJ, I would like to know if you have any good references/blogs/articles for someone transitioning from wrestling to BJJ?
    -- Nick J.

    Foley: The best piece of advice for anyone entering into BJJ is to try to let go of your ego. There is so much to learn, but to understand the roll more you have to understand that there is a lot of tapping at each stage of your journey. There is always someone out there who is doing it bigger and better than you, so make the sport about personal growth and challenging your learning patterns. Wrestling is checkers. BJJ is chess. Embrace that difference and it'll become extremely enjoyable and fulfilling.

    As for some of the details this is a pretty good primer.

    Q: With so much talk about Jake Herbert, Kyle Dake, David Taylor, etc. leading up to the Trials, I am surprised there is not more news coverage about J'den Cox's performance and his victory at the Trials, especially given his admitted limited training in freestyle. Why isn't this bigger news?
    -- KK

    Foley: Unclear! I think that there is more coverage to come on Cox and his achievements, but right now he needs to focus on qualifying the weight for Rio!

    Q: With the Olympic Team Trials over, who do you see retiring and/or moving on to MMA?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Unfortunately, I think we've seen the last of Brent Metcalf. For me his recent improvements on the mat, and in his demeanor since the NCAA days, has been a pleasure to watch. He's got incredible insights into competition and has been a leader for the USA team on and off the mat. I don't know him well, so I don't know that he is retiring, but I do know that if he does I'll miss watching him wrestle and wish him the best in his next career.

    Uniform Update of the Week
    By Dan B.

    I am the team lead for Team Nevada wrestling. I have been following your commentary for several years regarding the need for a change in the uniforms in our great sport. I want you to know that Nevada USA Wrestling is on board. Attached is a picture of our national team, which competed this last weekend at Folkstyle Nationals in Cedar Falls. Fight gear was the uniform we chose. Our tiny little state finished with two national champs, a runner up and four additional All-Americans. Did it all in compression shirts and board shorts.


    Thought of the Week
    By Nate H.

    After watching the Olympic Team Trials, I should add ...

    I can't help but notice the name recognition that NCAA success brings to U.S. male freestyle athletes. It builds really compelling storylines at home and that's great, I love seeing prominent NCAA champs compete in the international styles. But … this lends itself to a men's freestyle bias where everyone wants to see former NCAA stars match up, even if said NCAA stars are markedly below the world's elite.

    Here in the ol' USA, both our women and our men put damn good wrestling on the mat. Although just as impressive in the quality of technique and scrapping, the women's matches have a noticeable PR disadvantage with the average American wrestling fan whose international knowledge comes from former folkstyle name recognition. The male Greco athletes who go through Northern Michigan or straight to the OTC have the same PR disadvantage.

    In the U.S., freestyle and Greco, men and women, all have fantastic, ascending programs. I hope that come August, our U.S. fan base (including media) can get just as hyped about Adeline Gray or Robby Smith et al. as watching former NCAA champs rematch their collegiate rivalry in the quarters of domestic freestyle meets.

    I look forward to seeing Helen Maroulis' and Adeline Gray's gold medal runs right next to Kyle Snyder's and Jordan Burroughs'!]]>    80806Fri, 15 Apr 2016 06:40:25 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: April 1, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-april-1-2016-r80648/
    There isn't much about the actual event or wrestlers involved that is interesting to most readers. These are mostly the overworked assistant coaches of college programs, guys coming off season-long injuries and athletes who've been training in the background for three years, looking, hoping and wishing for that last chance at Olympic glory.

    The action this week won't be as technical as it will next week, and it won't be as dramatic as it will be in August, but it will be heartfelt and passionate competition. There is no recent precedent in men's freestyle where a last-chance qualifier has gone on to win the starting spot, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Who doesn't love a good Cinderella story?

    As a broadcasting note, all the action of the Olympic Team Trials will be on NBCSports.com with the Saturday finals live on NBCSN and a short tape delay version for Sunday's broadcast.

    On a personal note, I'm getting married next Saturday and while I'm sure it will be a low stress affair, anyone who has gone through the process can probably agree that it's best I be present this weekend and focus on my family and friends.

    Alas, no mailbag next week. However, I will be watching the opening rounds of the tournament as I climb into my monkey suit and rehearse my vows. In two weeks I'll be ready to discuss the results. Until then it's matrimony, trying to prevent my wrestling friends from burning down the reception hall and a brief mini-moon filled with sun and gambling.

    To your questions …

    Q: Who do you think has the best chance to medal for the U.S. at each freestyle weight class, and who do you think will win the Trials at each weight class?
    -- @J_Agnitsch125

    Foley: I'm not as good as I'd like to be in knowing how freestyle wrestlers from the United States match up with each other, but I've seen most of the top guys overseas. That might not play a major factor in Iowa City next weekend, but it has always given me some insight on how they will do internationally, which is only to say I'm more likely to flub a qualifier than miss on Olympic placement. Still, this is a tall task!

    In order of likely qualification with chance of earning an Olympic medal in parenthesis.

    57 kilos: Tony Ramos (20%), Nahshon Garrett (10%), Coleman Scott (20%)
    65 kilos: Logan Stieber (20%), Brent Metcalf (35%), Jordan Oliver (10%)
    74 kilos: Jordan Burroughs (99.999%)
    86 kilos: Kyle Dake (10%), David Taylor (25%), Richard Perry (10%)
    97 kilos: Kyle Snyder (80%), Jake Varner (30%)
    125 kilos: Tervel Dlagnev (40%), Nick Gwiazdowski (20%)

    Q: Seems like Jim Zalesky was fired as head coach of Iowa for getting results similar to what the Hawkeyes are currently experiencing. Will Tom Brands be on the hot seat if he does not bring a team title back to Iowa soon?
    -- Matt

    Ryan Morningstar and Tom Brands at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)
    Foley: Whoa. Uh, no …

    The problem facing Iowa isn't that they have Tom Brands, it's that Penn State has Cael Sanderson.

    I think the firing of Zalesky was built into that post-Gable ideology that Iowa should exist for epochs as the best wrestling team in the country. They believed his NCAA team titles were the result of inertia and then he progressively did worse each season.

    The Brands bros. don't suffer that same fate since they took the program back to the top, winning NCAA titles from 2008-2010 in his second to fourth seasons. While he hasn't won in the last six years, he also hasn't finished outside of the top four. The standard of fans caught in the 1980s might be to win an NCAA title each season, the ground has shifted and that's just not likely for any program.

    Maybe the only way for Iowa to win an NCAA title is to be in position to strike in the off-chance that Sanderson's Penn State squad is in a rebuilding year.

    Q: Zander and Evan Wick became the first twins to win California state wrestling titles. How many other sets of twins have won state high school wrestling, NCAA, or Olympic medals? Who are they and when was the last time this has happened?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: The most famous set of twins to win Olympic gold at the same tournament are Ed and Lou Banach, who both won gold at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

    For others we are going to need the comments section to help us!

    Q: So what's the deal with Iowa? Why does it seem that they cannot shoot a leg attack? I was in New York for the tournament and I feel I can count on one hand how many leg attacks they fired off (aside from Thomas Gilman and Cory Clark). They were often in OT in 1-1 matches and I recall one Iowa wrestler being down by a point in the third and getting hit for stalling. Back in the day, they were non-stop attacking. The Brands' were non-stop attack guys. Why does it seem that they simply cannot fire off an attack?
    -- Sean M.

    Foley: I'd need to revisit all their matches to confirm how little they shot, but I do remember that Coach Gable said during the broadcast he was noticing a lack of penetration. Some of that was opportunity-based, since guys like Clark couldn't make it past the hands of their opponents, but others were simply not attempting attacks at all.

    There might have been a lack of game-planning for certain athletes, but I also think that the rule changes, which kept wrestlers in the circle more effectively meant that Iowa guys weren't getting more opponents who could hand fight. That's a reach, but for certain we were not seeing the types of attacks that hammers like Brent Metcalf made famous for the Hawkeyes.

    Something to watch for next year will be how they are firing off attacks at the start of the season in contrast to the end of the season. Might be a significant difference and an area to investigate.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    A discussion by author Josh Waitzkin on making opponents feel uncomfortable and the idea of transitioning positions in combat sports. For those who hate-read you can also see me getting almost-choked by an angry 200-pound black belt!

    Traditional wrestling does have comical moments

    Posted by Funny on Friday, February 26, 2016


    Q: What do you think of this new headgear?
    -- Brian L.

    Foley: No.

    We should always welcome innovation, but adding a pad to the front of your head does not in any way prevent a concussion. The science has shown that football players suffer more blows to the head simply because they do have a helmet on their head. The padding only incentivizes the contact which causes a concussion!

    While I don't want to discourage anyone from trying to create sensible solutions, this product should be seen as a weapon on the mat. It will decrease inhibitions and increase head-butting and ramming, both of which are far too common already.

    The key to reducing concussions in American wrestling is to make illegal the extracurricular bats to the head and senseless aggression that often becomes the centerpiece of matches. With less focus on aggression and more on technique there would be a reduction in concussions and an increase in American wrestling success overseas.

    We don't need or want helmets of any sort.

    Q: J'den Cox announced he is going to 86 kilos for Olympic Team Trials. First, what are his chances to make the team? Second, with the NCAA two-hour weigh-ins vs. the international day-before weigh-in, why don't we see more guys who wrestle 197 pounds cut to 189 pounds with a day to recover as opposed to wrestling up at 215 pounds like most seem to do?
    -- Dan B.

    Missouri's J'den Cox rides Minnesota's Brett Pfarr in the NCAA semifinals (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)
    Foley: As I mentioned last week, I don't see Cox making the team, but I do think that he can be a powerful addition to Team USA for the next Olympic quad.

    Another eight pounds is roughly an additional five percent of their body weight. I'd assume that most guys don't have it on them, but I also can't think of an example of a wrestler like Cox who right out of college went up instead of down.

    The additional time is certainly helpful, but in no way should we assume that the wrestlers don't feel the burden of the cut. Emaciated, gaunt and otherwise dreadful looking, often the cost of the cut isn't just physical, but emotional. These are dangerous, labor-intensive cuts that have an effect on athletes. I suppose that if some don't cut it's because they simply hate that part of the sport.

    Looking back, I certainly do.

    Q: This question may show my lack of knowledge of international wrestling as I am a relatively new spectator, but I am curious as to why most competitors for the U.S. men's World and Olympic teams tend to stay with their collegiate coaches when competing in freestyle? At least from what I can tell there are not too many coaching changes made by athletes with the transition from college folkstyle to international freestyle. I would think some athletes would benefit from a change in coaching and hearing a new voice. Is the system similar for the top U.S. female competitors?
    -- Scott S.

    Foley: Most of the top college coaches seem to also be top freestyle coaches. That's at least true with Cael Sanderson, John Smith, Zeke Jones, Mark Manning and other coaches with regional training centers.

    One exception is Tom Ryan and Ohio State who does have an RTC but is not the main coach. That role seems to be filled by Lou Rosselli.

    A major factor may also be age and exposure. The top guys coming out of college have really only known one elite system and most lack a social network that provides them the opportunity to move about. That dynamic shifts a little once they make their way to the OTC in Colorado Springs and meet more coaches and athletes. As we saw with Ed Ruth, that can end up influencing coaching changes.

    Michigan is also an example of a place that aggregates talent, having attracted a smattering of athletes from Illinois, Northwestern, Cal Poly and others to their training facility.

    For women most of the coaching is concentrated in Colorado Springs with the USA National Team coaches. Most will move there as soon as it's possible, which seems smart since they have such a variety of training partners. There was also a training facility at Northern Michigan led by Shannon Gillespie, which helped produce many of the women on the current roster, including three-time World champion Adeline Gray.]]>    80648Fri, 01 Apr 2016 05:58:01 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: March 25, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-march-25-2016-r80743/
    Kyle Snyder and Nick Gwiazdowski battle in the NCAA finals at heavyweight (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)
    I always enjoy writing curmudgeonly gin-soaked rebuttals to universally accepted facts, but in the case of Snyder and Gwiazdowski I've fallen victim to effusive hyperbole when describing the match to a generous ear.

    No matter how you analyze the action, theirs was the greatest heavyweight match in collegiate wrestling history. Beyond the technical action and on-the-mat heroics, there was additional satisfaction in seeing a season-long storyline play out to expectations.

    Not a lot of dressing was needed to make the match appealing to a diehard or a newcomer.

    Wrestling talks a lot about promotion, and while there are areas for improvement, the Snyder-Gwiazdowski match should remind us that that sport attaches itself to our soul with more vigor than spectacle ever will.

    Sporting purity is the righteousness by which all wrestlers hang their credentials. There aren't PR-manufactured rivalries, or the lingering scent of predetermined outcomes. Sport, and wrestling in particular, are immune to these nefarious traps of profit-based sporting organizations, based simply on their tournament and advancement-based competitive structuring.

    So if there is something to take away from Saturday outside of awe and respect, it's this: Wrestling is perfect just the way it is. We need ring girls and public weigh-ins like a beach sunset needs monster truck rally. What we have is simple, beautiful and forever. What we have is ours.

    Now let's give those big guys one more round of applause, because they not only showed new fans what our sport can be, but it restored in old fans the focus to see what always was.

    To your questions …

    David Terao is a blue belt in jiu-jitsu
    Q: Which wrestler did you enjoy watching the most in NYC? I had two: David Terao and Dylan Palacio.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Terao received two standing ovations! There is a lot of passion behind his wrestling, but what fans seem to respond to was Terao's creativity on the mat. There were plenty of fans who told me that his performance was one of their favorite moments of any NCAA championship.

    Maybe it's unrelated, but I saw on Facebook that Terao is a blue belt in jiu-jitsu. There is a good chance that some of what we saw came from training with Ryan Hall at 50/50 …

    Q: Have you heard anything about the Northwestern coaching situation?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Not directly from the administration, but I did hear from alumni that they don't see Coach Storniolo as at fault for a subpar season. Having a coach fired, suffering a number of season-ending injuries and dealing with off-the-mat all affected the outcome of the season. From what I saw in person Storniolo isn't just a good mat coach, but he's the type of leader that the guys wanted to see in the room.

    (After writing the above paragraph, it was announced that Storniolo has been named the permanent head wrestling coach. Congrats, Coach!)

    Q: Which of the NCAA champions have the best chance to make an impact at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Iowa City?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Um … Kyle Snyder?

    After the defending World champion I'm thinking that Nahshon Garrett may have something to add to the discussion at 57 kilos.

    There is also a chance that Nick Gwiazdowski could take a run at Tervel, but that's hasn't been a good matchup for him in the past.

    Q: Now that the opening for the U.S. national freestyle coaching position has been posted, are you hearing any rumblings? Who do you expect to apply?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The rumblings remain that same. I know that like any college staff the assistants (Brandon Slay and Bill Zadick) would like the opportunity to lead the program. I also assume that stakeholders in the USA program will at least have conversations with Cael Sanderson, John Smith, Terry Brands, Tom Brands, Mark Manning and others.

    Who ends up on top? At this point in the process I don't think there is a strong direction.

    Q: Handing out Foleys every year and make up your own criteria. 1) doesn't mush, 2) hugs after matches‬
    -- @_Homme‬

    Foley: Done.

    2016 Foley Award Winner: Bernardo Faria, Alliance (see video below)

    (Actual answer: Kyle Snyder, Ohio State)

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Bernardo!

    Link: Faces of college wrestling

    Gabe Dean reads letter

    Q: Do you know if the U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be streaming live on the Internet?
    -- Mike T.

    Foley: The Saturday night finals will be carried live on NBCSN and on brief tape delay at 10:30 p.m. ET Sunday. All matches will be streamed online at NBC Sports.

    Q: Can you comment on how important a program's assistant, associate, and volunteer coaches are to success? It seems that the programs that are at the top and rising have this key ingredient. Casey Cunningham, Mike Zadick, Mark Perry, Donny Pritzlaff.
    -- Mr. J

    Foley: I think that you pointed to several great examples of a powerful assistant coach impacting their wrestling programs. There are some on that list that will become head coaches at some point, but there are some that do very well in the role they occupy.

    Americans tend to put a lot of value on bettering their position: to be rewarded with hard work and success by earning the next position. Onward and upward mentality at its finest.

    However, as much I may agree that we should always challenge ourselves, I'm beginning to think, nay realize, that being an assistant is likely a better fit for many, many coaches. Some are too shy for the CEO-type leadership of a Division I program, or maybe some lack the fundraising duties. Others still may excel on the mat, a place they might not spend much time after taking over a head position.

    No matter the reason, there are coaches whose skill sets are better suited to being an assistant coach, and to me that's pretty honorable.

    Q: What do you think of Jason Nolf's punk move kicking at Imar's head?
    -- Wes F.

    Foley: At the end of the second period Nolf had his ankle caught and kept kicking on the back of Martinez's head before the stalemate.

    I don't know that it was malicious as it looked much more situational, but no matter it was illegal and Nolf should have been warned for unsportsmanlike conduct. A proper way would have been to keep the foot in place on the head and push, but bringing it upwards made it into a kick.

    Q: Tell us more about Joey Davis. I don't know much about Division II, but I figure anyone who stays healthy and goes undefeated through four years of collegiate competition has to be legit. I know he got blown out by Alex Dieringer at BTS but I imagine he wasn't in tip top condition. Does he have a future in freestyle? Do you think he'd be on the podium this weekend if he was in Division I?
    -- Bryan R.

    Foley: Uber-talented Joey Davis seems to be fast-tracking to MMA. I don't know that to be 100 percent true, but his online presence seems to insinuate he will give the Trials a year and then move onward.

    Google some of Davis' highlights. He is an impressive talent.

    Q: Do you see Jason Tsirtsis getting back to the top of the podium? Possibly bigger issues on the horizon?
    -- @Robbybobbi

    Foley: He had a terrible personal tragedy in the beginning of the season. While I don't think he will win in 2017 (the rule changes affected him greatly), I do think he will find his way to becoming an All-American. Tough kid.

    Q: What do you think about J'den Cox going to 86 kilos at the Olympic Team Trials? How are our chances to qualify remaining weights in last two qualifiers?
    -- @fitzstrength275

    Foley: It's too soon to know who will win the Trials at 86 kilos, but I'm 99.9995 certain it won't be J'den Cox. Not that he can't win in the future, but the tactics and experience of many in that weight class probably excludes him from being a realistic contender in 2016. That said, I'm ready to see what the young man can bring to the weight class.

    The winner of the 65-kilo and 86-kilo Olympic Trials will head out to Mongolia to try and qualify their respective weights. There are three spots up for grabs and I think that the USA has a very solid chance to qualify both based on numbers and the extra match required benefits guys like Brent Metcalf.

    (By the way, I think Brent is often a great representative of Iowa wrestling on the international stage. Go HAWKEYES!)]]>    80743Fri, 25 Mar 2016 05:01:10 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: March 11, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-march-11-2016-r80672/
    There are myriad benefits to the change. First, BTS now has the leadership of a prolific fundraiser who knows the sport of wrestling and is able to manage a large staff and budget. The biggest non-profit wrestling organization in America's largest city gives Buckley the opportunity to help an incredible number of youth wrestlers, but also continue to push the growth of the sport.

    This year, under Ken Bigley, BTS launched a coed league, has been wearing modified competition outfits and is ever expanding. With Buckley in place this is certain to continue and possibly expand in new and exciting ways.

    For Cal Poly the change means they can pursue a new direction. The program didn't have a qualifier in 2016, but even as the Mustangs haven't seen a lot of success on the mats, they did re-energize their donor base and excel in the classroom -- factors that can mean more to long-term sustainability on the West Coast as titles.

    The Cal Poly athletic director will be in NYC to recruit head coaches. It's unclear who will apply, but along with Fresno State and the simultaneous rise of Stanford and Arizona State the West Coast and Pac-12 could be in for a renaissance on par with that of the ACC.

    With NYC on the mind, we also turn our attention this week to the 2016 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships being held next week at Madison Square Garden. The event will feature all the same pomp of previous wrestling championships, but in the country's most famous arena and in the media capital of the world. Let's hope that these factor into a successful and well-covered event.

    To your questions ...

    Q: Which No. 1 seed do you see losing first at the NCAAs?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: As with any year, there is little chance that any of the top seeds are losing in the first round. As much as we like to romanticize the first-round upset it rarely happens to the nation's top wrestler.

    Despite the unlikelihood of a loss, Gabe Dean has the worst first-round matchup of any top seed, potentially having to face unseeded All-American Jack Dechow of Old Dominion (should Dechow he makes it out of the pigtail). Dean is a heads up favorite, but Dechow has the horsepower and skill to test Dean early. Add in the panic of potentially getting behind early at the tournament along with a warmed up Dechow and it could be dangerous for Dean.

    Dean Heil is in the awkward position of having to look down the bracket and face North Carolina's Joey Ward in the quarterfinals. Ward recently beat Heil in Stillwater with an inside trip in overtime.

    Q: What do you feel like was the biggest surprise coming out of the conference championships? Any predictions for surprises to come at nationals?
    -- Ryan P.

    Virginia Tech's Zack Zavatsky battles Michigan's Domenic Abounader at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Foley: I was able to watch the ACC Championships in person, which definitely skews my perspective of what is and is not a surprise.

    However, I was blown away by Zack Zavatsky of Virginia Tech. Having spent much of the last three years watching the international guys battle it out, I was shocked to see similar fluidity with ZZ. Like Bo Nickal, the Virginia Tech freshman is less concerned with head-banging and more focused on wrestling through to dominant positions.

    ZZ does many things well, but what struck me is that he never looked to stop the action. There was always another smart option for him to pursue, and he possessed the athleticism and conditioning to carry through.

    Prediction: ZZ wins the NCAA tournament

    Q: Is ESPN going to televise the early rounds of the NCAAs this year? I have blocked off my calendar to stay home and watch, but I haven't seen anything published regarding coverage.
    -- Tom G.

    Foley: ESPN will cover every match of the NCAA tournament, meaning your stay-cation isn't for naught.

    I haven't seen this year's broadcast schedule, but I can imagine it will mimic that of last year's with much of the early action on ESPN3 (you can catch every match there), but with some other rounds dispersed across platforms such as ESPNU and ESPN full-calorie.

    Here is last year's schedule.

    I will be doing the Off the Mat show during finals, where I sit next to a bunch of men who have won a variety of very impressive medals and compete for who can act most-crotchety about refereeing and funk wrestling.

    In this competition I believe I can steal the gold.

    Q: Any tips on where to suck a few beers between sessions in NYC? I would prefer a place that is close to MSG and not a zoo, if possible.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The wonderful thing about this year's NYC-based NCAA Championships is that spectators have an abundance of choices when choosing their local watering hole. I live very close to the Garden and have a selection of favorites, but if I post it here there is a good chance that the #FaceMush brigade may be trolling these spots in an effort to collect my head as tribute to Brands & co.

    There really are no bad choices, except Brother Jimmy's, which is directly across the street and sure to be mobbed by fans interested in wrestling and March Madness. If you want something a little more laid back you should head south on 6th or 7th Avenue and find a pub on any of the streets between 34th and 14th. Heading over further to 8th and 9th and deep into Chelsea is also an option, though the neighborhood might not be most wrestling fans' pace.

    Stay away from anything north of 34th and into Times Square as you'll be asking for even more crowds and frustration.

    The other option is to head directly across town and into Murray Hill. My guess is that most wrestling fans won't make the trek across five avenues, but for those that do there is a very relaxed strip of bars that, at night, caters to the 20-something's of NYC.

    The real treat of being in NYC is the food selection. Chelsea has an incredible selection, but there is also K-Town (Korean) 32nd between 5th and Broadway which has the absolute best chicken wings in NYC. If you're looking for a nice tapas plate dinner I've heard Lupolo, a Portuguese-inspired menu, is better than average.

    The best way to search for places in NYC is Yelp. I still use it daily.

    Q: I think it would be interesting if you wrote about NCAA weigh-ins/times and the impact they have on the tournament. I've heard some finalists are 20-25 pounds over the weight by their finals match.
    -- Dave A.

    Foley: I don't think that's very true.

    There is a one-pound allowance given each day, meaning the third day of wrestling finalists are scratch plus two. Though finalists don't wrestle until the evening I think it's a stretch to think that anyone who is in the finals and wrestled all year would be ballooned up another 18 pounds in only 12 hours. Are they maybe 10 pounds heavier? Sure, but I think that would be true across the board.

    The NCAA weight cutting rules are actually really advanced for combat sports worldwide. Every major international combat sport has night before weigh-ins, whereas the college wrestlers on the mat are getting a TWO HOUR weigh-in. While I'd like to see other restrictions on weight cutting in-place, the current system is not broken.

    I suppose that if you really wanted to regulate match-time weight you could simply add a weigh-in for finalists, but I don't think that emaciated, weakened finalists is what the American viewing public wants to see.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Sofia Mattsson!

    Q: Why does it appear like Bruce Baumgartner's career seems to get overshadowed by wrestlers like Dan Gable, John Smith, and Jordan Burroughs? His freestyle stats are amazing, which include four Olympic medals and several world medals. With that all being said, do you think there will ever be another United States wrestler like him?
    -- Seth S.

    Foley: The best explanation I can give you between national and international perceptions of Bruce Baumgartner comes from a waiter in Tehran.

    Bruce Baumgartner
    I was there in 2014 to report from the Greco-Roman World Cup. The USA had qualified for the event and on the night before the competition I'd gone to dinner at a famous seafood restaurant. There was beautiful bistro lighting, fish swimming in outdoor aquariums and very pleasant conversation.

    Our waiter comes over to take our order and through a combination of cauliflower ears and insignia realizes that we are wrestlers from the United States.

    He's thrilled. Like me going for a sprint workout with Tom Cruise kind of thrilled.

    "You're American!" he exclaimed. "My wife is a physical therapist!"

    This, for me, was a non sequitur and as the waiter's words hung in the air we all tried on our most-polite grins. The waiter, whose eyebrows were now in his hairline in anticipation of our responses, finally relented.

    "Bruce Baumgartner! His wife is a physical therapist, too!

    Of course, how could I have been so incomplete in my knowledge of our wrestling great's wives?!

    But think of it: this man, a humble waiter in downtown Tehran, had been carrying this morsel of knowledge and wacky coincidence in his mind for decades and with flawless timing and pride he delivers it only to get back ... crickets.

    Some of those at dinner actually considered Bruce a dear friend and even they had sat stunned. They'd known of his wife and her occupation, but were stunned at the inquiry and cheerfulness with which it was offered.

    The truth was that Baumgartner lost in the 1989 World finals to Alireza Soleimani, who to this day remains Iran's only World freestyle wrestling gold medalist at heavyweight. When you're talking up your guy there is no better way to advance his victory than to build up the resume of his opponents, and Bruce's is incredible. (Sadly, Soleimani died shortly after we had this conversation in Tehran.)

    There are many who think that John Smith was the best American wrestler, and much of that has to do with his athleticism, creativity and overall win-loss record. But when it comes to overall Olympic and world medal haul nobody in the nation and only a few in the world can compete with Bruce's resume.

    Knowing that, I'd think that we can assume that Bruce's accomplishments and length of career were once-in-a-century.

    Q: With the recent push toward more aggressive stalling rules and the general outcry about the boring nature of stall riding at the college level, why when a match is tied after 2 full overtime and tiebreaker periods do we reward the wrestler who has several more seconds of riding time with a victory? To me, that's like a soccer game being tied at the end of regulation, staying tied through overtime, and then the winner being declared based on time of possession. Do you think that the rules committee would consider an alternative criteria or a totally different overtime format?
    -- Pat S.

    Foley: Let's be clear. The NCAA wrestling rules, as they stand, leave every wrestling match up to the possibility of criteria. The NCAA overtime is no different in theory than that of international wrestling, save the fact international wrestling doesn't add a point on at the end -- something they should adjust for simplicity if nothing else.

    From what I saw last weekend in Charlottesville there were still several matches in which wrestler chose early in the second period to aim for overtime, or at least to attack in the last 15 seconds. The problem wasn't the wrestler's tolerance for risk as much as it was the referee's lack of enforcement on stalling calls. No action means stalling. Just because you both aren't doing anything doesn't somehow make it less of a stall.

    The stall calls should come early and often in college wrestling. Once that power dynamic has been set we will see fewer overtime matches and fewer of the four most boring minutes in sports. I want the referee to help promote action as much as I want him to monitor point scoring.

    The NCAA rules committee could (and should) review the rules for the year after next, but I sincerely doubt that they'd move away from what they believe is an elegant solution to both having overtime and hiding the much maligned "criteria" in plain sight.

    Q: What is USA Wrestling and NCWA doing to save Grand Canyon. It is absolutely their responsibility to help this sport. Don't tell me how they do this or that, if we don't have post-high school opportunities at the collegiate level the sport will die. I know there are NAIA and Division III opportunities, they do not have nearly the same level of visibility and typically, not always, but typically they are much smaller schools with limited academic program variety. We need to start growing Division I and Division II opportunities. USA Wrestling should have learned by almost losing the Olympics! Let's help ignite a movement or at least get USA and NCWA to respond
    -- Michael S.

    Foley: You have the passion that is required to get this movement headed in the right direction. Unfortunately I don't have a lot to add to your comment since you took away all my good talking points about other divisions and the fact that this falls somewhat outside the realm of USA Wrestling's jurisdiction.

    What I think hurts about Grand Canyon is that the program was being groomed to be added and that attracted a lot of attention over the last couple of years. To lose that opportunity to lose promise and hope, something that wrestlers liked and could enjoy once more.

    I wish I knew more about why they cut the program, but the only thing I can tell you is that this is not the first time a school has turned back on a Division I commitment at the last moment. Several years ago Southern Illinois at Edwardsville was prepared to go Division I when suddenly in their leap year the school cut the program.

    We will learn more in the coming weeks and I hope we can gain some context for the decision.

    Rant(s) of the Week

    By Pat S.

    This past weekend, I watched the Big Ten finals with several non-wrestling fans with the hope that they would be intrigued by some top-level action and maybe even consider tuning in for other events down the road. Unfortunately, the response I got from them was one of fairly extreme boredom.

    The lack of offensive output was fairly alarming especially from the neutral position (with the exception of Bo Nickal). It seemed like most wrestlers were content with one takedown or to wait out the match until overtime. Surprisingly, I haven't seen a lot of condemnation from the wrestling fan base about the snorefest that was the finals of America's toughest conference tournament (but maybe I'm not looking very hard). I feel like dedicated wrestling fans are sometimes entertained purely by the context of a match and tend to excuse the lack of action because of the nature of the matchup or because they can really appreciate the nuance of technique, etc. The casual fan or possible convert to wrestling fandom does not share in this same excitement and instead simply sees the scoreboard reading 1-1 late in the third period for the fourth consecutive match. And they shut it off.

    I hope that the upcoming NCAA tournament, the crown jewel of our domestic wrestling schedule, does not fall victim to the same fate of scoreless neutral periods and dull, action-less matches that befell the finals in Iowa City. At such a critical time in our sport's development we can't afford displays like that if we are truly hoping to attract outsiders to our community. I don't know whether the blame in these situations rests with the rules, the officials, the wrestlers themselves, or some other factor. What I do know is that when several non-regulars begin watching a wrestling event with an open mind and their only comment after the first 30 minutes is, "Are either of them going to do anything? … that's a problem.

    By Jay A.

    For at least the second year in a row, the NCAA wrestling committee has made a joke of the seeding process for the NCAA Division I Championships. I'm particularly drawn to the committee's habit of wrestling conference foes against each other in the first round. I realize that a change was made that eliminated the conference exception to this, but I don't believe that it has improved the seeding process or the event experience. To wit: the MAC conference has conference foes wrestling against one another in the first round, the winner likely wrestles another MAC foe in the second round at 125 and 157. (Shame on Mizzou coach Brian Smith of the MAC for allowing this to happen.) No other conference was required to share this burden. Why would I want to watch a mini version of the conference tournament at the NCAAs? I have attended the championships in Iowa City, St. Louis (twice), Omaha, and Oklahoma City. After my disappointment with the championship "product" and the inherent unfairness of the seeding process, I decided not to attend the event in NYC this year and likely will not return to St. Louis or Cleveland. I understand that it is difficult to have several strong-willed individuals, many of whom have a stake in the outcome of those decisions, make seeding decisions. In the end, my complaint is this: the process is flawed and there has to be another way that improves the process. It's time to hold the committee accountable before they alienate more of the core of wrestling's fan base.]]>    80672Fri, 11 Mar 2016 14:34:19 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: March 4, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-march-4-2016-r80613/
    It's an exciting time to be a wrestling fan, but an even more thrilling time to be on the mat.

    There is a lot of extra commentary that is sometimes poured atop wrestling, which can sometimes confuse and imbalance our own perception of the sport. But stripped down and seen through the lens of this is a battle of preparation and willpower, strength and wit.

    The NCAAs garner much of the attention, but when watching wrestling from top-to-bottom, few weekends in the sport compare to the one weekend each year that hosts a half dozen NCAA Division I qualification tournaments across almost every time zone. There are many wrestlers who feel complete satisfaction with making the NCAA tournament and this is their weekend to do so. Last-second comebacks, unexpected upsets and heated team races will make this a great weekend for wrestling.

    Also this weekend brings us closer to filling out our brackets! This year we will be re-welcoming a special one-time-only Back Points podcast with linemaker extraordinaire Brian Muir (@muirorless). Tune in and get a leg up on the lines.

    To your questions …

    Q: Please look into your crystal ball and tell us who is the 2016 NCAA champ by weight and the team champion.
    -- David E.

    Foley: As you may expect I have to remind you that this is heading into the conference weekend and will almost certainly change after the Resilite residue settles Sunday night …

    125: Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State)
    133: Nahshon Garrett (Cornell)
    141: Kevin Jack (NC State)
    149: Zain Retherford (Penn State)
    157: Jason Nolf (Penn State)
    165: Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State)
    174: Bo Nickal (Penn State)
    184: Gabe Dean (Cornell)
    197: J'den Cox (Missouri)
    285: Nick Gwizdowski (NC State)

    Team: Penn State

    Q: Gardner-Webb University is also in the SoCon. They beat Appalachian State and lost to Chattanooga with some starters out of their lineup. They have also beaten Duke this year and deserve recognition in the rankings.
    -- Rich C.

    Foley: When I read this I thought you might be mistaken, but you're not. This is a solid team! I don't know where you want them in the team rankings, or if there were individuals who were overlooked, but the win over Duke and UTC are excellent markers for the program and its growth.

    Congrats on the success and I will be sure to keep an eye on their performance this weekend.

    Q: What is your most anticipated match from the ACC tournament? Between conference tournaments and the Olympic qualifier here in North Texas this weekend, it doesn't get much better than this!
    -- Brad B.

    Virginia Tech heavyweight Ty Walz gets his hand raised after winning the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December(Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Foley: The biggest match of the ACC tournament? Hmm.

    I'm liking Kevin Jack vs. Joey Ward for best scrambles. I'm picking Thomas Gantt vs. Nick Brascetta for most physical. I'm liking Ethan Ramos in the mild upset over Zach Epperly. I'm choosing Nick Gwiazdowski vs. Ty Walz as most entertaining.

    And I'm pretty excited to see who comes out of the Pan Am Qualifiers. Definitely hurts the Americans that no Cubans made it out at the World Championships. They are on-location and ready to scrap. Their men and women are both very dangerous in a small tournament and I wouldn't be surprised to see them qualify 6/7 in freestyle along with another pair in women's wrestling and three in Greco-Roman.

    Also keep an eye out for the Venezuelan men, up-and-coming Canadians, and the trio of Ecuadorian middleweights who could each win the title at their weights.

    Q: What are the chances that Ohio State and Penn State sweep the Big Tens with individual champions? Combined, they have a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in nine weight classes and the No. 3 seed at 133 pounds.
    David D.

    Foley: Ten percent?

    I don't see Jordan Conaway or Johnni DiJulius making their way past Cory Clark (Go Iowa!) or Illinois' Zane Richards, who I think has an outside chance of winning the NCAA tournament.

    Still, you make a valid observation that there has been a massive consolidation of power in the Big Ten over the last few years. Worth checking on again heading into next year's finals.

    Q: Isaiah Martinez-Jason Nolf II this weekend. You are you taking? Why?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Jason Nolf is the favorite heading into the match and will be the favorite to the win the NCAA title after their rematch. Nolf is strict with his forward pressure and positioning. He's relentless on angles and following through with scrambles. There are no hiccups in his motion. He is constantly progressing with his positioning and once he slaps a pinning combination he simply doesn't let go.

    However, their first match also implied that Martinez was out of shape or suffering from a deep weight cut. That might not be the case come finals. He could be ballooned up, rested and have a full tank of gas for this most epic of rematches.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Celebrations from Minnesota's state wrestling tournament. This is cool. (Maybe a little too much chest pounding?)

    Ryan Shaver caught wrestlers' reactions after they won their state titles!

    Posted by KARE 11 on Sunday, February 28, 2016


    Q: If you're Fresno State's AD, what coaches are you looking at to lead the program?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The list would be pretty short. I'd aim for some of the top assistants in the country and would almost totally focus in on regional affiliations. The first names that popped in my head were the Tirapelle brothers, Alex and Adam, whose family runs deep in the area.

    Adam has been coaching wrestling at the high school level in recent years. Alex is the head coach at Penn and seems to be well liked and enjoying some success early in his career. Would he want to make a move back west to start from scratch? That might be a bridge too far for a young coach.

    Assistant coaching options include Jason Welch!

    Q: Can you please review which weight classes the United States has qualified for the Olympic Games, and which ones have not?
    -- Mike C.

    You have to win your semifinals match at the qualifier and wrestle in the finals to ensure that you have qualified your nation for Rio. As you know, the wrestler who qualifies is not necessarily the wrestler that goes to Rio. The team will be chosen at the Olympic Team Trials April 9-10 in Iowa City.

    Women's freestyle:
    Qualified -- 75 kilos: Adeline Gray
    48 kilos: Alyssa Lampe
    53 kilos: Whitney Condor
    58 kilos: Alli Ragan
    63 kilos: Erin Clogdo
    69 kilos: Tamyra Mensah

    Men's freestyle:
    Qualified -- 74 kilos: Jordan Burroughs
    Qualified -- 97 kilos: Kyle Snyder
    57 kilos: Anthony Ramos
    65 kilos: Brent Metcalf
    86 kilos: Jake Herbert
    125 kilos: Tervel Dlagnev

    Greco-Roman:
    Qualified -- 75 kilos: Andy Bisek
    Qualified -- 130 kilos: Robby Smith
    59 kilos: Spencer Mango
    66 kilos: RaVaughn Perkins
    85 kilos: Jordan Holm
    98 kilos: Joe Rau

    Q: Why is it we don't see more Western European stars internationally? Zelimkhan Khadjiev has come to prominence, placing fifth at the World Championships last year, and taking second to Jordan Burroughs at the Yasar Dogu, but where are all the athletes from Spain, England, Germany? I know that Greco is somewhat more popular than freestyle there, but even that is scarce compared to the rest of Europe. Why is this?
    -- Brian B.

    Foley: Khadjiev is one of my favorite wrestlers to watch, but he's also got a wonderful backstory. Although you would assume that he is a Russian transplant purchased by the French federation, he's actually pretty French having moved to the country when he was 3 years old.

    As for the freestyle talent in Western Europe there are two reasons. First, some of these countries only celebrate Greco-Roman, a style that was first developed in France in the 1800s. The second is that there is a dearth of freestyle-based traditional styles in the region and very few clubs that support those programs.

    There is an effort to import talent and development at the international level is underway, but when looking at Europe as a whole it doesn't need to get much more difficult or concentrated with talent.

    Q: Any comments about Easton (Pa.) Area High School's streak ending this year? Easton wrestling teams produced at least one district champion for 68 consecutive years. Are you aware of other lengthy streaks?
    -- Charles W.

    Foley: The Streak.

    Impressive run by Easton, but like all good streaks they need to end to be fully appreciated. That is one hell of a long time to be putting out district champions in arguably the toughest wrestling hotbed in the nation.

    In NYC? Wanna wrestle?

    On March 12, BTS is hosting our first ever Step Into The Circle Fundraiser. It's an adult wrestling tournament. Basically instead of asking friend to sponsor you to run for a cause, you're asking your friends to wrestle for a great wrestling cause.

    So far we've raised over 24K (all through small donations). We have college alumni teams, corporate teams, teams with old friends, etc. It's going to be a ton of fun and it's a pretty unique fundraiser. You can check it out at https://www.crowdrise.com/StepIntoTheCircle.

    Email of the Week
    By Rich W.

    I am an NC State wrestling fan and enjoyed your column about NC State and Virginia Tech. I saw their dual this year and have some thoughts.

    Both teams have been built with a "whole team, 10-man" approach. If you look at NC State's big wins this year -- Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Missouri -- it was wins by their unranked wrestlers at 133, 149 and 174 that sealed it. Against Virginia Tech, NC State lost because Virginia Tech's unranked wrestlers at 133 pounds and 149 prevailed.

    Even when NC State didn't win, the unranked wrestlers contributed by not giving up bonus points. Against Oklahoma State, Missouri, Iowa, and even Old Dominion, NC State only won five matches but in every case they prevailed on bonus points. Giving up only two bonus points to Iowa was huge.

    I think Skip's single best move to turn the season was convincing Tommy Gantt to redshirt last season in what would have been his last year at NC State. It turned what would have been a last year with a mediocre team into a last year with a special team. However, Skip also let one get away, Bryce Meredith. He was the biggest new contributor for most of last year until Kevin Jack emerged. We'll never know if Bryce could have been comfortable wrestling at 133 this year.

    Your column focused on the East Coast phenomenon. But I see it more as a Southern thing. How many top-recruit wrestlers really don't want to spend four or five winters living in freezing cold? If this is the issue, maybe NC State has the edge over Virginia Tech!

    P.S. I think the ACC Championships will come down to who wins two finals matchups between NC State and Virginia Tech, 184 pounds and heavyweight. Both are tossups.]]>    80613Fri, 04 Mar 2016 08:31:36 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: February 26, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-february-26-2016-r80578/
    What we know is the outcome of the matchup, but what is less clear is how we got to a place where two teams from the ACC are ranked in the top five in the nation.

    Pat Popolizio (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)
    The first bit of credit is extended to coach Pat "The Skip" Popolizio who took the Wolfpack from solid ACC outlier to NCAA title contender in his fourth season. For a non-legacy program that type of turnaround is absolutely unique. Cornell took almost two decades before they placed in the top five. Popolizio did that in less than one presidential term.

    Virginia Tech, who is the only team to beat NC State this season, is ranked No. 3 in the nation in the tournament rankings and No. 4 in the dual meet rankings. Rutgers is ranked No. 10. Lehigh is ranked No.11. Three of the top five teams are East Coast and five of the top ten are within a car drive of each other for the first time in … well, forever.

    So just what is going on? Has the East Coast become new the center of the collegiate wrestling universe?

    There are many factors in deciding where to fall on this issue. First, there is an undeniable trend that the East Coast teams are doing a much better job or curating local talent. The "why" seems to be an increase in budgets and higher wrestling acumen of all first-year wrestlers.

    The second might be the rules. Funk and the ability to roll around for extended amounts of time skews toward benefitting the East Coast wrestler. Iowa, Oklahoma and Minnesota don't encourage "spaghetti wrestling" whereas the East Coast has all but lived off a technical approach to this new trend in the sport.

    The third reason might be luck. Cael Sanderson, Pat Popolizio and Kevin Dresser have their competitive roots in the Midwest but have journeyed eastward to pursue coaching opportunities. Add in Rob Koll, Scott Goodale, Pat Santoro and there seems to be an entrenched talent pool of coaches that is stationary for years to come.

    Whatever the reason, the shifting of power eastward is likely good for wrestling in that it expands the media reach of the sport and accelerates the acquisition of new fans.

    Still, nothing is concrete until after the NCAA tournament in March, which this year is being held in, coincidentally, New York City -- the media capital of the world.

    To your questions …

    Q: Do you think Iowa looked past NC State?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I don't. I think that NC State showed everyone they were capable of winning any match when they rode into Stillwater as underdogs and came away with a win.

    The wrestling community has continued to underestimate the Wolfpack, despite their ranking. At first blush you may assume that a team from the ACC is ranked high and boasts a big record because they don't compete against a tough schedule. However, even a cursory glance at the NC State schedule shows that isn't the case. In fact, they wrestled THE toughest schedule in the country.

    Iowa wasn't over-confident or under-prepared. They wrestled a better team and where in previous years they've muscled past these type of competitors, The Skip's team is not one to be bulldozed by anyone.

    An incredible team, but I'd caution people from assuming the success at NC State is lightning in a bottle. There is a future to this success. The Wolfpack will be in the top 10 for years to come.

    Q: I see that Adam Batirov is back competing. Do you see him winning an Olympic medal, possibly gold, in Rio?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Adam Batirov was a star for the Russians as recently as 2011, but has spent the past few years off the mats, likely deep in the bowels of Russia wrestling a bear.

    I don't know why he took time off from the sport, but I do know that the recent changes to the transfer rules allows for a more lenient transition of athletes to new nations. The rules, which were adopted two years ago, make it easier for nations to purchase athletes from other federations, but limits those purchases to one per year, per style.

    Batirov looked formidable against a weak field at the Asian Championships, but has a tough road to even making the Olympic Games. Now that he wrestles for Bahrain he will need to qualify for the Olympics at the Asian qualifiers in mid-March, or at one of the two World qualifiers.

    Assuming Batirov qualifies, he would have an uber-difficult bracket. He may follow the leader all the way into repechage, though, where he would be even money to beat anyone in the world.

    Still, that's a lot for Batirov to manage. Let's check back with this question when/if he qualifies.

    Q: This has been the best season I can remember for the ACC. Both Iowa and Oklahoma State lost to an ACC team (NC State) for the first time ever. In the final dual team rankings NC State was ranked No. 2 and Virginia Tech No. 4. VT is also No. 3 in the tournament rankings which brings me to my questions … Has an ACC team ever won a team trophy (top four) at NCAAs? Which ACC team had the highest finish and when? (I know VT and UNC have been in the top 10 before.) Even as a diehard UVA fan it would be kinda cool to see a ACC team take home a trophy.
    -- Dan C.

    Foley: The 1982 UNC Tarheels finished fifth!

    I'm sharing the same bandwagon boat as you in wishing to see a huge performance from Virginia Tech and NC State at the NCAA tournament in three weeks. Though I doubt they can win the NCAA title -- Penn State seems too mighty -- I see both teams making a push for the runner-up position. Of course, Iowa will have a say in the matter, too, but if these teams wrestle like they have all season I think you'll see the two best-ever finishes in the ACC happen in the same year.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    Tom Brands post-loss press conference

    Q: I really hope that Flo lays an egg with their coverage of this year's Pan Ams and UWW never utilizes their live streaming for their events. Call me a cheap skate, but the international tournaments that are UWW sponsored should be made available free of charge. Any chance you know if the matches will be made available outside of the FloPro pay wall after the tournament is over? It would be a shame to have the matches archived behind a pay wall.
    -- Jacob R.

    Foley: Yes, the Pan Am Championships and qualifiers livestreams will be behind the paywall and the archived matches will be available within a week of the competition.

    I understand your frustration and know that it's hard to pay for a service after it's been provided for free since its inception. As you can imagine there are an incredible number of things on the agenda of an international federation that requires investment. Primary among these investment areas is sport development, which includes opening and staffing training facilities around the world but also extends to research studies, meetings and the facilitation of athlete participation. There are a myriad other ways to spend money on development, and that's only one of six departments.

    Media, or the ability to provide photos and videos of competitions, is something UWW put on their own shoulders after the Save Olympic Wrestling campaign. Livestream, social media, photography, highlight videos, and an upgraded website are only a few of the items added to the user experience. That stuff costs money -- a lot of money. Whereas other sports have substantial coverage and usage agreements for these items, wrestling is forced to do all the heavy lifting internally, which costs money.

    The Flo partnership will allow UWW to explore the cost/benefit analysis of putting select tournaments behind the paywall. All matches will still be made immediately available to coaches and within one week for fans outside the paywall. The immediacy of a livestream is costly to produce and seen increasingly as a premium. With less to take on and a burgeoning partnership, the perspective of UWW is that this may allow for an incredible growth of viewership opportunities around the world, including non-UWW events ranging from the Klippan to the Medved to the Yarygin. In the end a huge increase in the amount of wrestling available to the fans.

    After the weekend you should be sure to let Flo and UWW know what you think of the arrangement. I'm sure there will be plenty of opinions, and all of them should be heard.

    JohnMark Bentley (Photo/Rob Moore)
    Q: Appalachian State is ranked No. 22 in InterMat's dual meet rankings, and picked up a win in the NWCA National Duals. What do you think of the job JohnMark Bentley is doing?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: I don't know all the ins and outs of Coach Bentley's situation, but I think that his results are speaking to the quality of his coaching. Nothing can directly influence the outcome of a wrestling program's season more than solid leadership. Coach Bentley seems to be leading a great class of wrestlers.

    Also worth noting that the SoCon, with the addition of Chattanooga at No. 23, has two teams in the top 25, a first for the conference.

    Q: Do you think Henry Cejudo has what takes to become UFC champion? Why? Or why not?
    -- Gregg Y.

    Foley: At times I've been a harsh critic of Cejudo for his lack of professionalism and career ambition. There was odd, lackadaisical behavior and the constant missing weight, but his behavior seems to be changing.

    In his previous form I don't think there was much evidence to show he could punch, or wrestle, his way to a UFC title.

    But now? My views have changed. To my knowledge, Cejudo's PR team hasn't been subbed out, which makes me think his recent spat of caught-in-the-moment training sessions only lends credibility to the fact he's a hard-working, dedicated-to-gold MMA fighter. If I remember correctly, only a few months ago he was seen in the background of a UFC Behind-the-Scenes living and training in the mountains of Mexico alongside current UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum. For me, it was an insight into where Cejudo wanted to take his MMA career.

    There is little question right now that Cejudo has the tools necessary to be a UFC champion. However, I think that the 2008 Olympic gold medalist is up against an incredible challenge when facing Demetrious Johnson. Cejudo can certainly wrestle, but his talents will likely be neutralized by Johnson who can also wrestle and has incalculable quickness in the cage.

    Can he be champion? Yes.

    Will he be champion? I'm not so sure.

    Q: What's your most anticipated matchup at the conference tournaments or NCAAs?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: The ACC tournament. Period. No question. Some of that is homerism, but the competitive dynamic between Virginia Tech and NC State is must-watch wrestling. I'll be in Charlottesville to see it up close and will be sure to tweet images of these maniacs in battle.

    On my NCAA excitement scale I'm logging in at a 10.

    Q: So, can you explain why Penn State won the NWCA National Duals without wrestling Iowa? I don't understand this dual tournament thing. Another question about National Duals: shouldn't NC State now wrestle Penn State for the championship? Or am I just not getting it?
    -- @german663

    Foley: HEY! YOU! You just don't get it!

    The National Duals are like the BCS pre-2014 where they are meant to have the top teams compete and the top two of those are competing for the national title. It seems that the NWCA was unable to place Iowa vs. Penn State due to the fact that they required non-Big Ten teams to wrestle Big Ten teams.

    Maybe some changes will be made for the future, but your confusion and some bad press seem to be affecting the viability of events past 2017. The dual meet concept is the bee's knees, but there needs to be a wider publicity push made by the NWCA to ensure that fans know exactly what is happening and what this all means.

    Q: Has @PackWrestle ever beaten Iowa before?
    -- @caroten_158

    Foley: First time!

    Query of the Week
    By Nick M.

    I enjoy your work and look forward to it EVERY WEEK! As for the singlet, I was speaking to a high school coach in Oklahoma and his school is cutting nine teaching jobs! There are a lot of districts in Oklahoma that are doing the same thing. He said that he was told if they go to a "different" uniform option that requires them to replace what they currently have, the program will not be able to survive. Now I understand that this may just be a smoke screen for a different problem that does not involve the wrestling program. I just wonder how many other teams/clubs would be or already are strapped financially.

    I disagree with you that youth participation numbers would go up if we get rid of the singlet. My experience has been that the kids/parents that are worried about the singlet are not be lifelong fans. After Johnny doesn't get a medal in EVERY tournament that he goes to, they will quit and go play a team sport where they can go eat pizza after every game. What happened to using wrestling as a way to combat childhood obesity?]]>    80578Fri, 26 Feb 2016 07:44:28 +0000    Foley's Friday Mailbag: February 19, 2016https://intermatwrestle.com/articles.html/mailbag/foleys-friday-mailbag-february-19-2016-r80503/
    Logan Stieber gets in on a shot against Kellen Russell at the 2015 U.S. Open (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
    Stieber would eventually go 4-1 on the day and take the bronze, signaling to many in the wrestling community that the former Buckeye is a serious contender for Rio 2016. Stieber's failures have mostly come from a lack of conditioning, lackadaisical/dangerous defensive positions and last-minute (last-second) failures in tactics. While all very critical parts of wrestling success, his victories in spite of these issues seems to reaffirm that he's rocketing to the top of the 65-kilo division.

    In his way is Brent Metcalf, who is still one of the best wrestlers in the world at the weight class, despite not taking home hardware. Most American fans are interested in medals as the only sign of progress, but on close inspection Metcalf too has been making significant changes and improvements for more than two years.

    Also at 65 kilos is Jordan Oliver who on his best day is very difficult to outwrestle. He has incredible coaching and owns the last win over Stieber.

    Still, Stieber intrigues a lot of wrestling fans, if only because he wrestles with fluidity in difficult positions and often comes out with points. That conversion reminds many of the best Russians we've seen over the last twenty years. Winners. Guys who take a dead-to-rights hi-crotch attempts and turn them into ballet-like four-point throws. Stieber, more than anyone at the weight class, can make those highlight reel moves happen.

    The Olympic Team Trials will be can't miss programming in April for several reasons, but none more so than the impending free-for-all at 65 kilos.

    To your questions …

    Q: What is your stance on the argument that we (USA) should replace folkstyle with freestyle because "we'd win more world/Olympic medals"? Is increasing the likelihood that elite wrestlers win international medals a goal of our high school/college level wrestling programs? What's wrong with promoting a traditional American style that we can (proudly) think of as our own?

    None of this is intended to say that folkstyle can't be improved (pushout rule, please!), but why would we want to discard folkstyle? I think that UWW is doing a great thing trying to promote/support traditional wrestling styles all over the world, and I hope that other Americans can see the value in ours.
    -- Irv

    Foley: We discuss these rule changes often, but I don't think it comes through enough that I see the value in preserving our traditional form of the sport.

    Can it be wacky? Yes. Are the rules nonsensical at times? Obviously.

    But there are a lot of people who love the sport just the way it is. I think pushouts would help and a little more attention to proper stall calls, but overall Americans enjoy the product and want to see more of it all the time. I think that there is a balance that can be struck, where more medals would be won at the international level if only for a few changes.

    Still, there is success at the international level, interest at home and a longstanding well-documented history attached to the sport. There is value in that tradition, which I and others like you want to preserve.

    Q: Virginia Tech is the second best non-Big Ten team. Why the hell aren't they wrestling Penn State (again) or Iowa in the NWCA National Duals Championship Series? Selecting NC State over them is a slap in the face.
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: For me the new NWCA National Duals was a very confusing situation to follow.

    What is the long term goal behind this year's format? Who supports it internally? Why this format?

    Maybe I had my head in the sand at the beaches of Rio, but this snuck up on me. Re-reading the press releases has given me much more insight, but the first-blush response to hearing about everything was more head scratching than head nodding.

    The jump is based on the USA Today/NWCA Division I Coaches Poll, which fed back to strength of schedule, number of wins and a variety of other numbers. NC State did wrestle a brutal schedule and a Penn State-Virginia Tech rematch seems kind of anti-climactic so I don't mind the matchups. However, if they want to use this as a formula for eventually choosing the team title in March I think that some adjustments would need to be made. I don't see an undefeated Alabama losing in the SEC title game to an undefeated Florida and the latter not jumping the former.

    Yes, I just used a football metaphor.

    MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

    John Danaher discusses the need for cross-training in grappling sports for all grappling sports … Very smart human

    Blind female high school wrestler

    시각 장애 '엄친�"�' 레슬링에 도전

    의대생 '엄친�"�', 시각 장애를 �"�고 레슬링에 도전했습니다.

    Posted by YTN on Saturday, February 13, 2016


    Oh … think YOU have great balance?!

    �"ай�…амшиг

    Энэ чинь л Монгол бө�…ийн гай�…амшиг...

    Posted by Эр бор Харцага on Friday, February 12, 2016


    Q: What is your takeaway from the Kyle Snyder-Khadzhimurat Gatsalov match at the Medved International?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: First, for anyone who missed the match, Snyder was winning 2-1 before getting caught chasing a shot and pancaked for four points, losing 5-4.

    The match was a decent display for Snyder. He opened up a nice 2-0 lead in a hostile environment and wrestled hard for six minutes. Was a silly mistake to make, but overall it's fixable and it's not the Olympics. At no point was Snyder outclassed.

    What Snyder is trying to achieve this year is absolutely bonkers! I understand that he came late to the NCAA season, but when he did so I thought he'd stay on the collegiate mats. Instead, about a week removed from a dual meet he heads to Belarus to take on a pack of former World and Olympic champions -- many of whom are hitting the mats for only the second or third time in the last six months.

    Despite this schedule, I know that Snyder won't be run down by the Olympic Games in August. It's difficult to remember, but Snyder won a World title after very few senior level freestyle matches. Now is his learning time, and I suspect that the product will be improved by the start of Rio 2016.

    So, overall, a very positive outing.

    Q: Should college wrestling move to a light/dark singlet rather than ankle bands? This is a leading question … of course they should.
    -- Darrin H.

    Foley: Sure, but that would take some re-education of referees, some startup capital for each team and some progress on ensuring that white singlets don't reveal too much about our athletes' private lives.

    I'd prefer to keep drawing closer to the idea of a rash guard and fight shorts. I roll jiu-jitsu every day in the type of shorts we'd use and have yet to see an issue. Also, as I've stated ad nausea we would increase youth participation, create higher revenue sales and be more palatable to the main stream.

    The argument for keeping them is shorter: Because … tradition.

    Q: Seems like it's going to be a sad ending to Hunter Stieber's college wrestling career. How are you going to remember him?
    -- Mike C.

    Foley: Agreed on the sad part. Wish he'd have found more success after his surgeries.

    When I think of Hunter I think of the Mitchell Port loss at the 2013 NCAA Championships and how a win there would've probably propelled him to an NCAA title and bumped the family title total to five -- one more than the over/under set by Brian Muir.]]>    80503Fri, 19 Feb 2016 06:59:49 +0000