Programs On the Rise

[Antitroll2828]

Seen a lot of negativity on the forum lately and always the talk of what coaches need to be replaced so I figured we could use a positive post , programs going in the right direction 

 

my vote goes to Tim Flynn and West Virginia , Flynn had been ok so far fixing the absolute mess that was WVU wrestling. Flynn has had a an AA for 4 straight years If you count Noah Adams 2nd place the no tournament season- Adams 2020, Cardinale 21, Hall 22 , Cardinale 23.

Recruiting has been on the rise and they now have a pretty competitive Dual team . Former #1 Recruit Jordan Titus is much improved at 141 , True Freshman and 2x Pa State champ Ty Watters has been strong 10-2 with a 67% bonus rate , another high level recruit from PA coming in next season in Rune Lawerence , plus throw in transfer ,last years NJCAA national champ Jett Strickenberger who already has wins over AA kaylor, R12 Poulin and NQ owens in his first month competing D1 and this could be WVU best year in a long time 

they currently have 3 guys who will be in the mix to AA ( Strickenberger, Titus, Hall) 2 other Freshman who have a shot to break through ( Watters and Conley) and 4 other guys who should be NQ. 

things are looking solid in Morgantown 

 

[Idaho]

Oregon State OSUW  of course.... Should be hearing something about a conference soon.  they landed 2024 recruit Hunter Taylor who finished 2nd at Ironman with 2 ranked wins.  Also landed Adrienne Reyes, Fargo champ out of CA - 2x state placer in CA. They have some good. young talent there from the last couple of  recruiting cycles ..... Whisenhunt, Tolentino, Singleton, Attao, Rademacher, etc.  Still have Olguin, Belton and Munoz for one more year after this one.  Coaches are doing a great job there.

GO BEAVS! 

[Wrestleknownothing]

NC State.

In the six years prior to Pat Popolizio taking the helm at NC State their average finish at the NCAA tournament was 39.5.

Since he took over ten years ago they averaged 17.4, but in the last five years their average placement has been 9.4.

This year they are projected to finish runners up.

Prior to Popolizio, NC State had 3 AAs in six years. After Popolizio they nearly average 3 AA's per year (2.7).

This year they should have 4 or 5 AAs.

[Plasmodium]

Northern Colorado is doing well.

[MIZ-DPT]

Little Rock. Nasir Bailey, Matty Bianchi, and Stephen Little make a strong young core. They're recruiting pretty well and I think have a lot of upside beyond this year. Kyle Dutton hurt his knee at the Tiger Style Invite and I'm not sure that he's healthy, but looked like a force up to the injury. They're one of those teams that I think could use the portal well as a smaller school for guys looking for a chance to start to round out their lineup, even if they're not a top guy. 

[11986]

3 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

NC State.

In the six years prior to Pat Popolizio taking the helm at NC State their average finish at the NCAA tournament was 39.5.

Since he took over ten years ago they averaged 17.4, but in the last five years their average placement has been 9.4.

This year they are projected to finish runners up.

Prior to Popolizio, NC State had 3 AAs in six years. After Popolizio they nearly average 3 AA's per year (2.7).

This year they should have 4 or 5 AAs.

I'm going to disagree with you because IMO NCSt is already an established program, though IF they do finish 2nd that's a significant jump even from their steady success of late. 

Now, maybe keep an eye on Coach Pop's old assistant Frank Beasley, he's slowly making progress at GMU. Hopefully they can be a top team in MAC soon and get some guys contending for AA spots. 

[Hammerlock3]

how about Columbia sticking it to UNI? Didn't see that coming

[Pinnacle]

Pitt over tOSU puts them in this category.

[TexRef]

5 hours ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Seen a lot of negativity on the forum lately and always the talk of what coaches need to be replaced so I figured we could use a positive post , programs going in the right direction 

 

my vote goes to Tim Flynn and West Virginia , Flynn had been ok so far fixing the absolute mess that was WVU wrestling. Flynn has had a an AA for 4 straight years If you count Noah Adams 2nd place the no tournament season- Adams 2020, Cardinale 21, Hall 22 , Cardinale 23.

Recruiting has been on the rise and they now have a pretty competitive Dual team . Former #1 Recruit Jordan Titus is much improved at 141 , True Freshman and 2x Pa State champ Ty Watters has been strong 10-2 with a 67% bonus rate , another high level recruit from PA coming in next season in Rune Lawerence , plus throw in transfer ,last years NJCAA national champ Jett Strickenberger who already has wins over AA kaylor, R12 Poulin and NQ owens in his first month competing D1 and this could be WVU best year in a long time 

they currently have 3 guys who will be in the mix to AA ( Strickenberger, Titus, Hall) 2 other Freshman who have a shot to break through ( Watters and Conley) and 4 other guys who should be NQ. 

things are looking solid in Morgantown 

 

Did Tim get rid of the age ol cheer for WV fans? Beers, cheers, Mountaineers! 

[Winners Circle]

Gotta put Naval Academy on this list. Dual meet wins over Illinois and the aforementioned Pitt (who just beat tOSU). 

Oregon State also comes to mind also. What they did at 2021 NCAA's was something special.

Edited December 11, 2023 by MidwestWrest

[Gus]

Stanford looked like a team on the rise at CKLV. 

[Antitroll2828]

56 minutes ago, TexRef said:

Did Tim get rid of the age ol cheer for WV fans? Beers, cheers, Mountaineers! 

Lol from everything I’ve heard the issues with wrestlers out partying in Morgantown is at an all time low, you re never going to get every athlete to live a clean life at WVU but I think Flynn is doing a solid job ..hell 10-15 years ago I used to go down to WVU to visit a former teammate ( he was a career backup) and the night before matches you could find half their starters at the bar and another few doing keg stands at a house party 

[Antitroll2828]

9 minutes ago, Gus said:

Stanford looked like a team on the rise at CKLV. 

Stanford has looked great so far , Provo, Cardenas, Norman they have a really solid young core to build on

[Antitroll2828]

25 minutes ago, MidwestWrest said:

Gotta put Naval Academy on this list. Dual meet wins over Illinois and the aforementioned Pitt (who just beat tOSU). 

Oregon State also comes to mind also. What they did at 2021 NCAA's was something special.

When I made this post the 2 teams I had in mind were WVU and Navy , I was hoping someone would bring up navy .Kolat has done a great job and even though a military academy is always going to have a ceiling in terms of how good they can be compared to Big 10 schools  I could see Kolat eventually having a NC and competitive dual teams year in and year out 

[TexRef]

7 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Lol from everything I’ve heard the issues with wrestlers out partying in Morgantown is at an all time low, you re never going to get every athlete to live a clean life at WVU but I think Flynn is doing a solid job ..hell 10-15 years ago I used to go down to WVU to visit a former teammate ( he was a career backup) and the night before matches you could find half their starters at the bar and another few doing keg stands at a house party 

Sounds like some of those old NAIA programs from the early '80's! 

[flyingcement]

Columbia seems to be on the rise.  I was shocked the defeated Northern Iowa in a dual.  They seem to have improved the last few years, but maybe it was just my impression.

[flyingcement]

2 hours ago, Hammerlock3 said:

how about Columbia sticking it to UNI? Didn't see that coming

Sorry didn't see your post but I was equally surprised 

[Hammerlock3]

Just now, flyingcement said:

Sorry didn't see your post but I was equally surprised 

Yeah, UNI isn't a powerhouse, but really welll coached, solid, obviously care about all their starters, and has a lot of recruting advantages over columbia (location withstanding). For Columbia to take them out in a dual meet means tanelli is doing something very right.

[Antitroll2828]

25 minutes ago, Hammerlock3 said:

Yeah, UNI isn't a powerhouse, but really welll coached, solid, obviously care about all their starters, and has a lot of recruting advantages over columbia (location withstanding). For Columbia to take them out in a dual meet means tanelli is doing something very right.

Have to think that Columbia  training with the NYCRTC often has to be a factor too 

[Topper]

3 hours ago, Antitroll2828 said:

When I made this post the 2 teams I had in mind were WVU and Navy , I was hoping someone would bring up navy .Kolat has done a great job and even though a military academy is always going to have a ceiling in terms of how good they can be compared to Big 10 schools  I could see Kolat eventually having a NC and competitive dual teams year in and year out 

The Mids are built to win duals more so than scoring deep into individual tournaments but the thing that jumps out is that they are starting 4 freshmen at 125, 149, 157 and 174.  So yes, with that nucleus the tide is rising in Annapolis.  

[flyingcement]

1 minute ago, Topper said:

The Mids are built to win duals more so than scoring deep into individual tournaments but the thing that jumps out is that they are starting 4 freshmen at 125, 149, 157 and 174.  So yes, with that nucleus the tide is rising in Annapolis.  

not to mention, one of those freshman (Wask) is probably among their best wrestlers 

[FearTheTurtle]

UMD

Hard to go anywhere but up from where they were 3 years ago

win against Pitt last year was big

won their first big ten dual in a decade last year

Very young team. Several qualified for nationals last year. Likely all American this year (Jaxon) and two or three more who have a shot

recruited a California state champ. That can’t be easy. 
 

Arrows pointing up!

FEAR THE TURTLE 

 

 

 

[Laxhawk174]

4 hours ago, Gus said:

Stanford looked like a team on the rise at CKLV. 

 

They have a pretty good 2024 recruiting class as well. 

13

Jack Consiglio

Malvern Prep

15

Aden Valencia

Ann Sobrato

38

Cole Han-Lindemyer

Farmington

41

Grigor Cholakyan

St. John Bosco

54	Collin Guffey	Granite Hills
55	Ethan Parco	Los Gatos

125 - Provo
133 - Knox
141 - Valencia
149 - Consiglio
157 - Cardenas
165 - Garvin
174 - Norman

Is a pretty solid 125-174. Plus their 197 Stemmet currently #16. 

Han-Linemyer could maybe fill in 184, unless there is someone better on roster. 

And not sure who at hwt. 
 

 

[ionel]

59 minutes ago, FearTheTurtle said:

UMD

Hard to go anywhere but up from where they were 3 years ago

win against Pitt last year was big

won their first big ten dual in a decade last year

Very young team. Several qualified for nationals last year. Likely all American this year (Jaxon) and two or three more who have a shot

recruited a California state champ. That can’t be easy. 
 

Arrows pointing up!

FEAR THE TURTLE 

 

 

 

Turtle Up!

[FearTheTurtle]

Looks like Godzilla in that shell. If you ain’t scared you should be