Hodge Trophy FAQs or Is the Hodge Trophy a Pinners Award? (Because we need another Hodge thread...sooooo bad.)

[Wrestleknownothing]

Is the Hodge Trophy a pinners award?

    Yes.

    Except when it is not. Oh, and not really.

    The first step is to become a Hodge finalist Here the obvious, but unstated criteria  is to win an NCAA D1 title in the year you are to be
    chosen.

          Exception: Great stories for non-D1 wrestlers.

          Exception to the Exception: This exception no longer applies.

                Author's note: Can we just agree right this minute to ignore 2020? I already do not know what you are talking about.

Now that you have won a title, do you need to be undefeated?

    Yes.

          Exception: No. The only D1 wrestler to win the Hodge with a loss was Brent Metcalf in 2008. That year there were six finalists, but
          among them only Keith Gavin (Pittsburgh) was undefeated. Unfortunately for Gavin he had only 5 pins to Metcalf’s 12 pins.

          From the WIN Magazine article, “Metcalf was selected over Gavin and other one-loss wrestlers primarily because of his number of pins, dominance in
           bonus-point wins and strength of schedule.”

OK, so it is a pinners award?

    Clearly

          Exception: Clearly not…..in the 12 seasons prior to the current voting structure for the award where there were also multiple finalists
          mentioned (1995, 2001 – 2011), on three occasions (25%) the winner did not have more pins than at least one of the other finalists.

         And in the 11 years since the current voting structure was established, on four occasions  (36%) the winner did not have the most
         pins among finalists culminating in 2022 when Gable Steveson won the Hodge with one single, solitary, lone, unitary, non-plural pin.

Does that mean it is also a career achievement award?                              

    Not always.

          Exception: But kinda. Sorta. Sometimes.

          Back in the early days there was some sense of that. After losing in 1995, Les Gutches won as a senior in 1996 with only 8 pins.

          And in 2016 sophomore Zain Retherford lost a close one to senior Alex Dieringer (who had himself come in second the prior year to
          senior Logan Stieber, who had himself come in second the prior year to senior David Taylor) in spite of having more pins, more tech
          falls and a higher bonus percentage. Thems the breaks, kid. You’re young. You’ll have other chances (spoiler: he did).

What does it all mean for this year’s crop?

    Al Davis summed it up best, “Just win, baby.”

But what if I have already lost?

  What Al also said, but no one heard, was that after you win make sure to have a compelling story to sway voters, especially if you
   lost at any point in your last year. Something like “I became the fifth / sixth wrestler to win four titles in an illustrious career that included
  some notable events like wrestling through freshly torn ligaments, for example.”

    So Spencer is the leader in the clubhouse among likely finalists with his unbeaten senior year to date that includes seven pins.

    Does Roman Bravo-Young’s 3 pins, 3 titles, and 0 loses trump Yianni Diakomihalis’ 1 pin, 1 lose, and 4 titles? Got me. But I think I am
    going to lean 4 titles over 3. Maybe it depends on the NCAA finals display.

    That leaves O’Toole and Starocci. Sorry, young’uns but you picked a bad year to have a great year.

    Oh, and Parris. Yeah, not gonna happen, but we love ya none the less.

[jchapman]

You can also be an NAIA Champ who "placed higher than the NCAA D1 Champ in a tournament during the regular season."

[Wrestleknownothing]

4 minutes ago, jchapman said:

You can also be an NAIA Champ who "placed higher than the NCAA D1 Champ in a tournament during the regular season."

Could. See the exception to the exception.

[Wrestleknownothing]

I forgot to include one other bit of Hodge trivia.

The fan vote started in 2013 and is worth two first place votes totaling eight points. It has never decided the winner of the Hodge, but it has decided the runner-up on at least two occasions, both involving Ed Ruth.

In 2013, Ruth won the fan vote to out-point Jordan Oliver 89-88 for second behind Kyle Dake. 

In 2014, the system got its revenge on Ruth as Logan Stieber won the fan vote to take second with 107 points to Ruth's 102 points.

[SocraTease]

1 hour ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Is the Hodge Trophy a pinners award?

    Yes.

    Except when it is not. Oh, and not really.

    The first step is to become a Hodge finalist Here the obvious, but unstated criteria  is to win an NCAA D1 title in the year you are to be
    chosen.

          Exception: Great stories for non-D1 wrestlers.

          Exception to the Exception: This exception no longer applies.

                Author's note: Can we just agree right this minute to ignore 2020? I already do not know what you are talking about.

Now that you have won a title, do you need to be undefeated?

    Yes.

          Exception: No. The only D1 wrestler to win the Hodge with a loss was Brent Metcalf in 2008. That year there were six finalists, but
          among them only Keith Gavin (Pittsburgh) was undefeated. Unfortunately for Gavin he had only 5 pins to Metcalf’s 12 pins.

          From the WIN Magazine article, “Metcalf was selected over Gavin and other one-loss wrestlers primarily because of his number of pins, dominance in
           bonus-point wins and strength of schedule.”

OK, so it is a pinners award?

    Clearly

          Exception: Clearly not…..in the 12 seasons prior to the current voting structure for the award where there were also multiple finalists
          mentioned (1995, 2001 – 2011), on three occasions (25%) the winner did not have more pins than at least one of the other finalists.

         And in the 11 years since the current voting structure was established, on four occasions  (36%) the winner did not have the most
         pins among finalists culminating in 2022 when Gable Steveson won the Hodge with one single, solitary, lone, unitary, non-plural pin.

Does that mean it is also a career achievement award?                              

    Not always.

          Exception: But kinda. Sorta. Sometimes.

          Back in the early days there was some sense of that. After losing in 1995, Les Gutches won as a senior in 1996 with only 8 pins.

          And in 2016 sophomore Zain Retherford lost a close one to senior Alex Dieringer (who had himself come in second the prior year to
          senior Logan Stieber, who had himself come in second the prior year to senior David Taylor) in spite of having more pins, more tech
          falls and a higher bonus percentage. Thems the breaks, kid. You’re young. You’ll have other chances (spoiler: he did).

What does it all mean for this year’s crop?

    Al Davis summed it up best, “Just win, baby.”

But what if I have already lost?

  What Al also said, but no one heard, was that after you win make sure to have a compelling story to sway voters, especially if you
   lost at any point in your last year. Something like “I became the fifth / sixth wrestler to win four titles in an illustrious career that included
  some notable events like wrestling through freshly torn ligaments, for example.”

    So Spencer is the leader in the clubhouse among likely finalists with his unbeaten senior year to date that includes seven pins.

    Does Roman Bravo-Young’s 3 pins, 3 titles, and 0 loses trump Yianni Diakomihalis’ 1 pin, 1 lose, and 4 titles? Got me. But I think I am
    going to lean 4 titles over 3. Maybe it depends on the NCAA finals display.

    That leaves O’Toole and Starocci. Sorry, young’uns but you picked a bad year to have a great year.

    Oh, and Parris. Yeah, not gonna happen, but we love ya none the less.

Great post.  For some reason, it reminds me of a poem by Beatnik writer Gregory Corso called "Marriage" (see link below).

Of course, after all the interesting discussion and analysis of the Hodge (the Saturday as opposed to Monday morning quarterbacking) , it is probably going to come down to very subjective voters who (and votes that) may not follow the stipulated criteria.   

Someone might be robbed.  Someone might claim the election was rigged or stolen.  Someone might even be searching for years for their missing (and imaginary) 11,780 votes (in Georgia).

So the "best man" (note the marriage metaphor) may not win. 

But if he is damn lucky, perhaps he will go home with a bawdy bridesmaid ... and a participation trophy.   

https://www.litkicks.com/Texts/Marriage.html

 

 

 

Edited February 9, 2023 by SocraTease

[Mr. PeanutButter]

This is all fine and good but what I really want to know is:

Who is the least likely to win the Hodge and what sort of chaos would need to ensue in order to make it happen?

[Wrestleknownothing]

57 minutes ago, Mr. PeanutButter said:

This is all fine and good but what I really want to know is:

Who is the least likely to win the Hodge and what sort of chaos would need to ensue in order to make it happen?

Of the most likely I think the least likely is Keegan O'Toole. Not a senior, has all his ligaments, and only four pinfalls so far this year in a weight class that has two other returning champs. For me Mason Parris outpaces him by being a senior and having eleven pins of the fall variety this year.

[ionel]

Ok ... what is Wkn drinking today cause I needa see if my liquor stores got it.  

[Wrestleknownothing]

7 minutes ago, ionel said:

Ok ... what is Wkn drinking today cause I needa see if my liquor stores got it.  

Last night it was a touch of the grape. Otherwise, putting the finishing touches on some Angel's Envy.