UNC

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

4 hours ago, Leg rider said:

The answer to that is invest in youth and middle school programs, too many wrestlers in NC get started in high school, it is a top 10 population state and absolutely could be producing a higher level of wrestler with the right investments imho

Of potential interest:   Oklahoma demonstrates consistently that being a southern state (which Oklahoma arguably is, geographically) does not preclude wrestling excellence.  But I've read that only about a third of high schools in OK have wrestling.    Nevertheless, wintertime is cold in OK, as it is in North Carolina.  So indoor sports are of use.   Maybe it's what goes on the other 8 months of the year that enables states up north to excel, though?   The longer it's cold, the more folks spend time on indoor sports, I guess.   Then again, states like Minnesota get so much ice & snow that it's not easy training or competing during winter months and such.   

[Idaho]

Minnow saying Koll announced today.... makes sense.... lots of dominoes falling in the coaching world lately...and to come. 

[nhs67]

 

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

2 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

 

Wouldn't Penn State even be "more full circle" for Koll?

[nhs67]

For those who are also 'up in arms' about Smith stepping away from OSU soon because he can't handle it... Koll is the same age.  Actually graduated the same year from College and I don't expect Koll to hang it up any time soon.

[nhs67]

Just now, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

Wouldn't Penn State even be "more full circle" for Koll?

He is going to take over for Sanderson in ten years while David Taylor becomes head coach at Iowa State for a season after he competes at the 2032 Olympic games at 95 KG (weight classes get changed between now and then).

[RegularStalling]

May be a biased take, but I’d imagine his coaching staff/class of ‘23 has to feel a pretty shafted. Made his “recommitment” to Stanford then jumps ship a couple months later the week before school starts and it’s likely too late for others to find new landing spots. 

[Idaho]

36 minutes ago, RegularStalling said:

May be a biased take, but I’d imagine his coaching staff/class of ‘23 has to feel a pretty shafted. Made his “recommitment” to Stanford then jumps ship a couple months later the week before school starts and it’s likely too late for others to find new landing spots. 

I believe if there is a coaching change, you have 30 days to enter the portal.... but yes, I agree.... it's like when football coaches change before the bowl season then coach their new team they don't know...or walk away from their old team that hasn't finished the season. I hate that stuff. There needs to be regulations for coaching changes - it's definitely not what's best for the program and woudl not hurt coaches to have a window themselves to change schools. 

[BigRedFan]

33 minutes ago, Idaho said:

I believe if there is a coaching change, you have 30 days to enter the portal.... but yes, I agree.... it's like when football coaches change before the bowl season then coach their new team they don't know...or walk away from their old team that hasn't finished the season. I hate that stuff. There needs to be regulations for coaching changes - it's definitely not what's best for the program and woudl not hurt coaches to have a window themselves to change schools. 

On the one hand, all those Cornell commits probably feel shafted, and portal notwithstanding they aren’t going to get into an equivalent school.

On the other hand, Koll got them into Stanford…

[bnwtwg]

Don't worry Ramos you will always have a room and warm bed waiting for you at home

[Voice of the Quakers]

1 hour ago, Idaho said:

I believe if there is a coaching change, you have 30 days to enter the portal.... but yes, I agree.... it's like when football coaches change before the bowl season then coach their new team they don't know...or walk away from their old team that hasn't finished the season. I hate that stuff. There needs to be regulations for coaching changes - it's definitely not what's best for the program and woudl not hurt coaches to have a window themselves to change schools. 

Not Koll's fault that between his flirtation with Oklahoma and now 1) Stanford's support for Olympics sports once again became tenuous due to the collapse of the Pac 12 and 2) Coleman Scott left UNC, opening up the spot.

My son is being recruited to swim in college. We've met some great coaches, but there's a reason why I'm advising him to choose a school and not the coach.

Edited August 31, 2023 by Voice of the Quakers

[Leg rider]

Anyone know when this announcement is going to get made? And any suspects for stanford guys following Koll to UNC?

[Voice of the Quakers]

2 hours ago, nhs67 said:

For those who are also 'up in arms' about Smith stepping away from OSU soon because he can't handle it... Koll is the same age.  Actually graduated the same year from College and I don't expect Koll to hang it up any time soon.

True, but the trajectory of the OSU program has been downward for many years. And, while I don't know Coleman Scott at all - his record at UNC was good, not great - this seems like a case where "keeping it in the family" may not be the best path forward for OSU.

Koll, in the meantime, gives no impression of having lost a step in the coaching/organization front. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

57 minutes ago, Voice of the Quakers said:

Not Koll's fault that between his flirtation with Oklahoma and now 1) Stanford's support for Olympics sports once again became tenuous due to the collapse of the Pac 12 and 2) Coleman Scott left UNC, opening up the spot.

My son is being recruited to swim in college. We've met some great coaches, but there's a reason why I'm advising him to choose a school and not the coach.

Now you have my interest. What events does your son swim?

[ionel]

28 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Now you have my interest. What events does your son swim?

says @Swimknowsumpn 

[goheels1812]

I feel terrible for the staff/wrestlers at Stanford. I also feel terrible for Tony Ramos, who is a great coach and an even better person. I can imagine how crushing this hire must feel.
 

But as a Tar Heel it’s hard not to feel all kinds of excited about this. I personally had the feeling that the only coach I’d want over Ramos would be Koll. Our program could really use a CEO type coach as a guide right now (especially with the ACC also teetering on conference realignment). I fully expect fundraising and recruiting to improve dramatically in short order. I may be ahead of myself, but I’m thinking by 2025-2026 UNC will be right back in the thick of things in the ACC with NC State and VT and hopefully competing somewhere in the top 10 nationally on a consistent basis.

 

[Leg rider]

15 minutes ago, goheels1812 said:

I feel terrible for the staff/wrestlers at Stanford. I also feel terrible for Tony Ramos, who is a great coach and an even better person. I can imagine how crushing this hire must feel.
 

But as a Tar Heel it’s hard not to feel all kinds of excited about this. I personally had the feeling that the only coach I’d want over Ramos would be Koll. Our program could really use a CEO type coach as a guide right now (especially with the ACC also teetering on conference realignment). I fully expect fundraising and recruiting to improve dramatically in short order. I may be ahead of myself, but I’m thinking by 2025-2026 UNC will be right back in the thick of things in the ACC with NC State and VT and hopefully competing somewhere in the top 10 nationally on a consistent basis.

 

I agree, he is a program builder, I liked Coach Scott, but this is an upgrade for us and I have high expectations of what he can do

[nhs67]

1 hour ago, Voice of the Quakers said:

True, but the trajectory of the OSU program has been downward for many years. And, while I don't know Coleman Scott at all - his record at UNC was good, not great - this seems like a case where "keeping it in the family" may not be the best path forward for OSU.

Koll, in the meantime, gives no impression of having lost a step in the coaching/organization front. 

I don't understand this claimed 'downard trajectory' that is stated basically everywhere by a lot of people.

In the same time that Scott was at UNC (which, to be clear - I HAVE BEEN A FAN OF!), Scott went a total of 75W - 49L to finish with a 60.4% winning percentage (winning).  He went 23W - 17L to fellow ACC schools, which is a 57.5% (winning) winning percentage.

In that same time Smith has gone 105W - 16L to finish with a 86.8% winning percentage (also winning).  To take that further, he went 13W - 1L against ACC schools (including 2W - 0L against North Carolina proper) for an even better 92.9% winning percentage.

There have been 'bad' things about the program, but the results are still considerably positive.  He had what I would consider is ONE down year in the 13W - 4L campaign that was directly after the Focus drama.  This last year they still went 14W - 3L on the season.

I don't see anybody calling for Brian Smith's head at Mizzou.  He has less wins and more losses than John Smith at Oklahoma State in that same time span and that is with having SIX of those seasons being in the MAC (90W - 17L for those who are curious... 84.1% winning percentage).

The trajectory is up.  Had this focus crap happened to any other program, save for Penn State and Iowa,  it might have been much much worse.

[nick]

2 hours ago, Leg rider said:

Anyone know when this announcement is going to get made? And any suspects for stanford guys following Koll to UNC?

https://goheels.com/news/2023/8/31/national-champion-rob-koll-named-carolina-wrestling-coach.aspx

[1032004]

2 hours ago, Voice of the Quakers said:

True, but the trajectory of the OSU program has been downward for many years. And, while I don't know Coleman Scott at all - his record at UNC was good, not great - this seems like a case where "keeping it in the family" may not be the best path forward for OSU.

Koll, in the meantime, gives no impression of having lost a step in the coaching/organization front. 

I wouldn't be so sure Coleman gets the HC job.  I did initially think that was a foregone conclusion, but it sounds like he may have gotten a pay raise, and has family in the area, etc.  It may be a good move for him even if he doesn't get the HC job...as long as the new coach wants to keep him of course if he doesn't get it.

[Leg rider]

28 minutes ago, nick said:

https://goheels.com/news/2023/8/31/national-champion-rob-koll-named-carolina-wrestling-coach.aspx

Awesome, this is a home run hire for UNC, coach Koll is one of the best coaches in the country and excellent at building up a program

[Voice of the Quakers]

51 minutes ago, nhs67 said:

I don't understand this claimed 'downard trajectory' that is stated basically everywhere by a lot of people.

In the same time that Scott was at UNC (which, to be clear - I HAVE BEEN A FAN OF!), Scott went a total of 75W - 49L to finish with a 60.4% winning percentage (winning).  He went 23W - 17L to fellow ACC schools, which is a 57.5% (winning) winning percentage.

In that same time Smith has gone 105W - 16L to finish with a 86.8% winning percentage (also winning).  To take that further, he went 13W - 1L against ACC schools (including 2W - 0L against North Carolina proper) for an even better 92.9% winning percentage.

There have been 'bad' things about the program, but the results are still considerably positive.  He had what I would consider is ONE down year in the 13W - 4L campaign that was directly after the Focus drama.  This last year they still went 14W - 3L on the season.

I don't see anybody calling for Brian Smith's head at Mizzou.  He has less wins and more losses than John Smith at Oklahoma State in that same time span and that is with having SIX of those seasons being in the MAC (90W - 17L for those who are curious... 84.1% winning percentage).

The trajectory is up.  Had this focus crap happened to any other program, save for Penn State and Iowa,  it might have been much much worse.

OSU has won 34 NCAA team titles. The standard is different for them. If you're good with finishing 13th, 3rd, 3rd, 14th and 18th at the past five tournaments, I'm not going to argue with you.

[BigRedFan]

3 hours ago, Leg rider said:

Anyone know when this announcement is going to get made? And any suspects for stanford guys following Koll to UNC?

I’m sure the former Cornell recruits who switched to Stanford will jump at the chance to transfer to UNC.

Snark aside, very few Ivy recruits ever transfer.

[Voice of the Quakers]

2 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

Now you have my interest. What events does your son swim?

Sprint freestyle and butterfly. He's really hard to beat at 50 in every stroke.

Rising junior. Lots of room to improve - he just finished his first year of club swimming, and he's still never been in the pool more than four practices a week. He'll probably swim D2 or D3 - he could swim low D1, but we're more focused on finding a school that's the right size, environment, and offers his potential majors, and some of these low D1 schools have no business playing D1 sports. (Many are smaller than his high school.)

I should say, recruiting in swimming is absolutely cutthroat. The whole goal is to recruit over the top of your roster - in a sport of early bloomers, that's pretty easy to do. Makes me more impressed by how Cael is able to keep things so copasetic (at least, on the surface) with his kids at PSU.

[nhs67]

39 minutes ago, Voice of the Quakers said:

OSU has won 34 NCAA team titles. The standard is different for them. If you're good with finishing 13th, 3rd, 3rd, 14th and 18th at the past five tournaments, I'm not going to argue with you.

I mean... it isn't my school.

All I am saying is that Smith has still been considerably more successful the last eight years still even with the damn Focus drama clouding the program.

Also, I am sure we can agree that Koll is a homerun hire.