Head Coach Ben Askren

[CHROMEBIRD]

43 minutes ago, MNRodent said:

I didn't take his statement on FRL to mean that he necessarily wants to get into college coaching.  Maybe he just wants to spend more time with or expand his club coaching. He mentioned Freddie Roach as motivating him to coach and he is a boxing and MMA trainer.

This. As much as I'd like to see Askren coach a college team, I don't see him enjoying working within the guardrails of a D1 college program. He'd need to have a lot of freedom to do things his way even as an assistant. Expanding AWA's offerings and developing partnerships with MMA leagues and sponsors might be more fruitful and fun for him.

[MizzouFan01]

Just now, KCMO2 said:

Not sure if Maple is next in line, but he wouldn't be a bad choice.  You always roll the dice when you hire a first-time head coach, but he's got the resume:  NCAA champ, Academic All-American, US Open champ, asst. coach at OU, Purdue, and Nebraska. He also has a masters in intercollegiate athletic administration.  This is his 5th year at Mizzou and 2nd as associate head coach.  They could do a lot worse.

Seems the guys really like him. KOT especially. He’s a pretty good recruiter, landed Rath of PA and was in on Gaj until the last second. Him and Akren together would be a heck of a team. 

[Wrestleknownothing]

53 minutes ago, Interviewed_at_Weehawken said:

I just thought it was funny!

(and Gus was whom you were responding to)

But seriously, I thought going back to 2007 was humorous.

Is it me, or is it him? It's him, isn't it?

[VakAttack]

1 hour ago, MNRodent said:

I didn't take his statement on FRL to mean that he necessarily wants to get into college coaching.  Maybe he just wants to spend more time with or expand his club coaching. He mentioned Freddie Roach as motivating him to coach and he is a boxing and MMA trainer.

I thought it was pretty clear he was talking about coaching in college, since he said he's always wanted to just coach, but he's not quite there yet.  I suppose it could be interpreted as "AWA is not QUITE there in terms of sustaining his livelihood without anything else"

[1032004]

1 hour ago, MNRodent said:

I didn't take his statement on FRL to mean that he necessarily wants to get into college coaching.  Maybe he just wants to spend more time with or expand his club coaching. He mentioned Freddie Roach as motivating him to coach and he is a boxing and MMA trainer.

I wondered this as well and it may be true but it’s not like FRL is really interrupting his current coaching. IIRC he gets paid by Flo north of $100k/year and works what, 5 hours a week?

Unless maybe they are expanding AWA further

Edited February 16 by 1032004

[fishbane]

10 minutes ago, VakAttack said:

I thought it was pretty clear he was talking about coaching in college, since he said he's always wanted to just coach, but he's not quite there yet.  I suppose it could be interpreted as "AWA is not QUITE there in terms of sustaining his livelihood without anything else"

I didn't take it that way.  I thought it was to focus on AWA coaching.

I think Askren has said on FRL that he would kind of be screwing his brother over if he moved to take a college coaching gig and that he values living so close to his parents and his brother's family.  I think Wisconsin would be the most attractive college position for him.  He said he was offered a job at Missouri and turned it down for those reasons.

That said I think he'd like to see if he could knock off Cael and PSU and he's said something to that effect on FRL in the past.  Perhaps is a really big job with a bunch of resources (Iowa, OSU, something like that) came along and offered him whatever he needed he would take it.

[Wrestleknownothing]

1 hour ago, Gus said:

On a single year basis, they have had seasons where they have been as good or better than Iowa or OK State. If you look over the last 15 years Iowa and OK State have consistently been at or near the top 5. OK State has had a couple of down years in the past 15 but has had 6 top 3 finishes. Iowa has had a about a dozen top 3 finishes. Mizzou had a third place finish in 2007. 

 

[ionel]

15 minutes ago, fishbane said:

 Perhaps is a really big job with a bunch of resources (Iowa, OSU, something like that) came along and offered him whatever he needed he would take it.

Pendleton always owned B Askren, no way OSU would ever consider him.  They also aren't going to consider an untested coach hence leaning C Scott.

[Rassling]

3 hours ago, Hammerlock3 said:

how much name recognition does he have outside of people in their mid 30s and up? 

A lot especially through his success with MMA. This sport appeals to a large audience of all ages. He’s the right guy to have big impact where ever he goes. Iowa? 

[Threadkilla]

24 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

I wondered this as well and it may be true but it’s not like FRL is really interrupting his current coaching. IIRC he gets paid by Flo north of $100k/year and works what, 5 hours a week?

Unless maybe they are expanding AWA further

FRL is a drop in the bucket for him.  Askren does about a half dozen podcasts and makes bank at AWA.  

 

[jchapman]

25 minutes ago, ionel said:

Pendleton always owned B Askren, no way OSU would ever consider him.  They also aren't going to consider an untested coach hence leaning C Scott.

Not always, Askren beat him in the Big 12 Finals his freshman year.

[ionel]

5 minutes ago, jchapman said:

Not always, Askren beat him in the Big 12 Finals his freshman year.

and did you see that match?

[Hammerlock3]

25 minutes ago, Rassling said:

A lot especially through his success with MMA. This sport appeals to a large audience of all ages. He’s the right guy to have big impact where ever he goes. Iowa? 

Again he's mostly a meme in MMA. I guess there's no such thing as bad press....unless your first name is AJ....

[Hammerlock3]

11 minutes ago, jchapman said:

Not always, Askren beat him in the Big 12 Finals his freshman year.

I thought he beat him in the dual meet, first meeting, don't think he beat him after.

[ionel]

Just now, Hammerlock3 said:

I thought he beat him in the dual meet, first meeting, don't think he beat him after.

B12 finals.  Pendleton put Askren in a cradle, taking him to his back Askren reversed Pendelton out of the cradle to his back with his own.  Pendleton controlled the rest of the match going takedowns, had winning td at the end on the edge but time ran out.

Now you'd think because of that move Pendelton would've been cautious at NCAA finals maybe just go takedowns but he wasn't, he attacked Askren like always and controlled the match. 

Except for that one move one time he owned Askren.

[jchapman]

18 minutes ago, ionel said:

and did you see that match?

Yes

[Rassling]

19 minutes ago, Hammerlock3 said:

Again he's mostly a meme in MMA. I guess there's no such thing as bad press....unless your first name is AJ....

He deserves the bad press he gets!

[Idaho]

4 hours ago, PortaJohn said:

Assuming Ben's recent announcement means he's pursuing a career to coach in college:

-What University makes the most sense?  

-How realistic is it that he can jump into a head coaching role or is it smarter to get a few years as an assistant

-On name recognition would it be the biggest hire since Cael to ISU then PSU?  

-How long until his team would be fighting for a title?  

-Does he have the personality to run a program long term?  

4th Assistant under Pendleton? 

[KCMO2]

1 hour ago, ionel said:

Pendleton always owned B Askren, no way OSU would ever consider him.  

He did, when Ben was a freshman and sophomore.  Might have been different if he wrestled him his last 2 seasons, when he went 87-0 with 54 pins and won 2 Hodge's.

[PortaJohn]

8 minutes ago, Idaho said:

4th Assistant under Pendleton? 

Shots Fired!

[1032004]

1 hour ago, Threadkilla said:

FRL is a drop in the bucket for him.  Askren does about a half dozen podcasts and makes bank at AWA.  

 

Agreed, I’m more saying FRL seems like it’s easy money for him, he just goes down to his basement to talk about wrestling a few times a week.  I don’t see why he’d stop unless there’s going to be a significant change with his other job(s).

[Dogbone]

29 minutes ago, KCMO2 said:

He did, when Ben was a freshman and sophomore.  Might have been different if he wrestled him his last 2 seasons, when he went 87-0 with 54 pins and won 2 Hodge's.

Ben went 87-0, partly because he didn't have to wrestle Pendleton anymore.  He was 65-1 in Fresh & Soph years when he wasn't wrestling CP so wasn't like he turned a large corner his Jr and Sr years.  His kryptonite just graduated. 

[Idaho]

1 hour ago, jchapman said:

Not always, Askren beat him in the Big 12 Finals his freshman year.

True 1-8 ....

All that aside, I think Asken would be a pretty good coach and recruiter.

Edited February 16 by Idaho

[alex1fly]

5 hours ago, jchapman said:

Does anyone really see him going somewhere to be an assistant coach?

Askren has an ego the size of Missouri. No way he coaches under somebody. He'll even struggle with university administration, I guarantee it. Camps and stuff work for him because he's the boss.

Was going to suggest Oregon State but y'all beat me to it lol

[FanOfPurdueWrestling]

5 hours ago, Gus said:

If he took a head coaching job somewhere he would have access to the hammers that his brother, coach Mesenbrink and the other AWA coaches are putting out. That pipeline would certainly help out. I think he would be a successful college coach as long as he could play nice with the administration on things. As a wrestling mind, he is one of the best. 

That’s my first thought. Any school that could snag him would have preferential treatment from 10 nationally ranked HS students off the bat.