Up and Coming Hotbeds of Talent

[TwoPointsTakeDown84]

Established areas:

Central Valley, California

Pittsburgh, PA

Lehigh Valley, PA

Cleveland, OH

North Jersey, Jersey

Chicago Suburbs, IL

Where is the next hot bed of talent? Where should there be more/better coaching to help build up the area? 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

29 minutes ago, TwoPointsTakeDown84 said:

Established areas:

Central Valley, California

Pittsburgh, PA

Lehigh Valley, PA

Cleveland, OH

North Jersey, Jersey

Chicago Suburbs, IL

Where is the next hot bed of talent? Where should there be more/better coaching to help build up the area? 

Sandy Springs, GA

[MPhillips]

CBUS OH

[bnwtwg]

Carbondale, IL is doing alright. Middle of nowhere southern Illinois - 2 hours south of St. Louis, 3 hours north of Nashville, 6 hours south of Chicago.

Cam Caffey, Zane Richards, Alli Ragan off the top of my head. Not too shabby for a town of 20,000.

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Allen (near Dallas), Texas perhaps?   Bo Nickal went to Allen H.S.     They're a perennial team champ, too...   If only Texas had D1 wrestling again.   It's inching its way back in that direction though (knock on wood):

http://www.facebook.com/TexasCollegiateWrestling

Edited May 23, 2023 by TitleIX is ripe for reform

[bnwtwg]

48 minutes ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

Allen (near Dallas), Texas perhaps?   Bo Nickal went to Allen H.S.     They're a perennial team champ, too...   If only Texas had D1 wrestling again.   It's inching its way back in that direction though (knock on wood):

http://www.facebook.com/TexasCollegiateWrestling

I'm really surprised that UNT hasn't produced at least a men's team given the explosive growth of that athletic program. It would fit in well in Denton.

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

U. of North Texas (Denton) does have a club:

https://ncwa.net/teams/unt

Meanwhile:  https://www.facebook.com/NorthTexasWrestling

Former NCAA champion (U. of Oklahoma) Andrew Metzger has been actively involved with the team, too.    

Edited May 23, 2023 by TitleIX is ripe for reform

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

If one looks for "Texas" at the top of the 3 columns here (the one below is for women), one can see seeds for optimism:

http://www.ncwa.net/teams  

 

[bnwtwg]

58 minutes ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

U. of North Texas (Denton) does have a club:

https://ncwa.net/teams/unt

Meanwhile:  https://www.facebook.com/NorthTexasWrestling

Former NCAA champion (U. of Oklahoma) Andrew Metzger has been actively involved with the team, too.    

Right but club does not equal funded NCAA program unfortunately.

[Formally140]

City of Chicago is potentially on a trajectory to improve. Depends on how a few things shake out. We’ll see
Won’t get to the suburbs level but much better. Hopefully. 
 

Columbus Oh has rapidly improved. 
 

GA won’t take the next step until they build more depth. Yeah it’s nice when Archer and Colon’s Hill enjoy their 5 years of open enrollment. But they need more “programs” to build depth 

[Warm Up Champ]

Would Arizona/Valiant Prep be an answer to your question?

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

bnwtwg:

    Your point about "club" status is well taken.   In response I mention that I've been told that Liberty University's transition from NCAA D1(?) to NCWA status has been relatively painless, but I'm not sure how their budget was affected.   They even kept the same head coach (Jessie Castro, I seem to recall).  

Meanwhile, I can't help but learn from ODU wrestling's D1 example.   Students were having to foot the bill for a team that few even noticed, other than the student activities fee deduction.   Now the Monarchs don't even have a club program left.   Maybe clubs are the way to go on the frontier.   That said, I wish every school could afford to have a program as fine as the ODU Monarchs traditionally were.  I was their fan and I even helped encourage others to go wrestle for 'em.   Their program's discontinuation saddened me considerably.   But maybe UNT wrestling has already adequately braced itself from a similar fate by being a club.   Food for thought.      

Edited May 23, 2023 by TitleIX is ripe for reform

[bnwtwg]

10 minutes ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

bnwtwg:

    Your point about "club" status is well taken.   In response I mention that I've been told that Liberty University's transition from NCAA D1(?) to NCWA status has been relatively painless, but I'm not sure how their budget was affected.   They even kept the same head coach (Jessie Castro, I seem to recall).  

Meanwhile, I can't help but learn from ODU wrestling's D1 example.   Students were having to foot the bill for a team that few even noticed, other than the student activities fee deduction.   Now the Monarchs don't even have a club program left.   Maybe clubs are the way to go on the frontier.   That said, I wish every school could afford to have a program as fine as the ODU Monarchs traditionally were.  I was their fan and I even helped encourage others to go wrestle for 'em.   Their program's discontinuation saddened me considerably.   But maybe UNT wrestling has already adequately braced itself from a similar fate by being a club.   Food for thought.      

ODU experienced the same quick but still painful death of my alma mater. Brutal example and thank you for reminding me to waste an email to the current AD of both institutions.

Liberty I cannot morally or ethically support.

UNT has hope. Denton, TX is an oasis, a bastion of light in a plight of darkness. I am rooting for the UNT club. I used to travel to DFW frequently and if the opportunity comes up again I will try to observe the room and extend some financial support.

[MPhillips]

13 minutes ago, Formally140 said:

Columbus Oh has rapidly improved. 
 

2023

2. Camden McDanel Teays Valley 190, Nebraska ( I took some liberties here. Close enough.)
4. Dylan Russo Olentangy Liberty 215, Oklahoma

5. Dylan Newsome Bishop Hartley 175, Oklahoma

13. David McClelland Columbus DeSales 138, Clarion

2024

1. Omar Ayoub Dublin Coffman 138, Nebraska
2. Ty Wilson Dublin Scioto 144, Penn
4. Max Shulaw Columbus DeSales 126, Virginia
5. Ethan Birden Dublin Coffman 157, Ohio State

 

 

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

25 minutes ago, bnwtwg said:

ODU experienced the same quick but still painful death of my alma mater. Brutal example and thank you for reminding me to waste an email to the current AD of both institutions.

Liberty I cannot morally or ethically support.

UNT has hope. Denton, TX is an oasis, a bastion of light in a plight of darkness. I am rooting for the UNT club. I used to travel to DFW frequently and if the opportunity comes up again I will try to observe the room and extend some financial support.

U.T. @ Arlington has a club program, too.   There are other programs as well (including in Houston).  They had considerable momentum heading into the pandemic.  Since then, seemingly not nearly as much.     

What's your wrestling alma mater?   I'm sorry it dropped our sport, regardless.    

[flyingcement]

What about the southern corner of Wisconsin where AWA is from?

[MPhillips]

1 hour ago, flyingcement said:

What about the southern corner of Wisconsin where AWA is from?

Lake Country / Hartland.  Messenbrink

Edited May 24, 2023 by MPhillips

[ionel]

1 hour ago, flyingcement said:

What about the southern corner of Wisconsin where AWA is from?

"southern corner" 

[Pinnacle]

8 hours ago, TwoPointsTakeDown84 said:

Established areas:

Central Valley, California

Pittsburgh, PA

Lehigh Valley, PA

Cleveland, OH

North Jersey, Jersey

Chicago Suburbs, IL

Where is the next hot bed of talent? Where should there be more/better coaching to help build up the area? 

 

Central PA (M2) called. They'd like to weigh in on this subject matter. 

[ionel]

Payne County

[MPhillips]

1 minute ago, ionel said:

Payne County

You're always quite difficult.

I know, I know, "It's fun."

[ionel]

Just now, MPhillips said:

You're always quite difficult.

I know, I know, "It's fun."

Just trying to channel my inner Penn State.

[MPhillips]

2 minutes ago, ionel said:

Just trying to channel my inner Penn State.

If you can get your wife to throw things at ya and then you try to dodge them... it may help.

[Fudge Tunnel]

2 hours ago, bnwtwg said:

 

UNT has hope. Denton, TX is an oasis, a bastion of light in a plight of darkness. I am rooting for the UNT club. I used to travel to DFW frequently and if the opportunity comes up again I will try to observe the room and extend some financial support.

UNT is positioned best for starting a program in Texas, because…

- it’s not associated with the UT system 

- proximity to Allen, Martin & other top schools in the state, as well as less than an hour from OK and 5 hrs from the panhandle (lots of tough kids) 

- cheaper than UT, A&M, Tech and the private schools (SMU, TCU, Rice)

- they do have a club team, though Andre Metzger is not exactly someone you want as the face of an NCAA program.  Not a bad guy, just off his rocker 

- it’s a growing school, and Denton Co is exploding as well

- Denton ISD does NOT have wrestling in any of their schools, which could hurt (lack of local interest), and no real club presence.  It’s not a popular sport in the city of Denton 

[ionel]

1 hour ago, MPhillips said:

If you can get your wife to throw things at ya and then you try to dodge them... it may help.

You really think that isn't already my every day thing?