Winners Circle Posted March 27 Posted March 27 Pretty obvious that Northwestern has been gutted by the transfer portal/NIL situation, but they were brutally bad this year. They went 4-6 overall as a team at NCAA's, and 13-28 overall as a team (including 9th place bracket) at B1G's. And this is only two years after finishing 6th at NCAAs in 2022. Illinois started some guys I've never heard of, which is rare for a state school in a power state. They went 4-6 overall as a team at NCAAs (all 4 wins coming from Ruth), and 11-24 overall as a team (including 9th place bracket) at B1G's. So that pegs the question...what is going on in Evanston/Champaign??
Antitroll2828 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 4 minutes ago, Winners Circle said: Pretty obvious that Northwestern has been gutted by the transfer portal/NIL situation, but they were brutally bad this year. They went 4-6 overall as a team at NCAA's, and 13-28 overall as a team (including 9th place bracket) at B1G's. And this is only two years after finishing 6th at NCAAs in 2022. Illinois started some guys I've never heard of, which is rare for a state school in a power state. They went 4-6 overall as a team at NCAAs (all 4 wins coming from Ruth), and 11-24 overall as a team (including 9th place bracket) at B1G's. So that pegs the question...what is going on in Evanston/Champaign?? Everyone blames the Northwestern drop off on transfer portal stuff but I’ve been yelling from the rooftops for years now it has more to do with the coaching staff getting gutted over Covid vax situation. They lost 2 top level coaches and no disrespect to futrell and Justin Oliver but they haven’t come close to replacing them, Kennedy is one of the main coaches for penn state now and Cael gives him props and compliments in interviews all the time on the work he does . Illinois had a ton of injuries and redshirts to the top returning guys , Byrd who is multiple time AA, Luffman who could have had some success in a thinned out heavyweight group, he has wins over the Campbell AA and quite a few other AAs probably a R12 guy at worst and the Brunagal brothers so a lot of points sitting on the bench last season 5
Hillbilly Jim Posted March 27 Posted March 27 8 minutes ago, Winners Circle said: Pretty obvious that Northwestern has been gutted by the transfer portal/NIL situation, but they were brutally bad this year. They went 4-6 overall as a team at NCAA's, and 13-28 overall as a team (including 9th place bracket) at B1G's. And this is only two years after finishing 6th at NCAAs in 2022. Illinois started some guys I've never heard of, which is rare for a state school in a power state. They went 4-6 overall as a team at NCAAs (all 4 wins coming from Ruth), and 11-24 overall as a team (including 9th place bracket) at B1G's. So that pegs the question...what is going on in Evanston/Champaign?? Seems Illinois has maneuvered their lineup for one big year in 2024-25. They will be very solid but after that it is the Kannon Webster show and looks pretty thin to me as Poeta tries to get things established. Northwestern will have a few lineup additions that will help, but seems like basically a rebuild. Great coach and great school. It’s gonna take some big time recruiting….I defer to any of the NU experts for more insight. 1
Winners Circle Posted March 27 Author Posted March 27 4 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said: Everyone blames the Northwestern drop off on transfer portal stuff but I’ve been yelling from the rooftops for years now it has more to do with the coaching staff getting gutted over Covid vax situation. They lost 2 top level coaches and no disrespect to futrell and Justin Oliver but they haven’t come close to replacing them, Kennedy is one of the main coaches for penn state now and Cael gives him props and compliments in interviews all the time on the work he does . Illinois had a ton of injuries and redshirts to the top returning guys , Byrd who is multiple time AA, Luffman who could have had some success in a thinned out heavyweight group, he has wins over the Campbell AA and quite a few other AAs probably a R12 guy at worst and the Brunagal brothers so a lot of points sitting on the bench last season 2 minutes ago, Hillbilly Jim said: Seems Illinois has maneuvered their lineup for one big year in 2024-25. They will be very solid but after that it is the Kannon Webster show and looks pretty thin to me as Poeta tries to get things established. Northwestern will have a few lineup additions that will help, but seems like basically a rebuild. Great coach and great school. It’s gonna take some big time recruiting….I defer to any of the NU experts for more insight. Yes, I knew of Webster and Byrd taking redshirts. But I forgot about Luffman and thought the Braunagel's were done. So yes, they punted this year to put best team on the mat next year. Appreciate the feedback there.
Antitroll2828 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 9 minutes ago, Winners Circle said: Yes, I knew of Webster and Byrd taking redshirts. But I forgot about Luffman and thought the Braunagel's were done. So yes, they punted this year to put best team on the mat next year. Appreciate the feedback there. Yea the older Braunagels are on Olympic redshirt and come back for year 7 , the younger braunagel was on a regular redshirt and they have a couple solid recruits coming in and should be much improved next season
Barracuda141 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 There's been no uptick in recruiting under Poeta. It looks like a continuation of the Heffernan regime. Lost out on Ben Devino to Ohio State and Seth Mendoza to Missouri. Can't keep talent instate which has been a constant issue since Mark Johnson left. If Poeta can't figure it out in the next two years, he needs to go. Find somebody that can turn a top 5 hs wrestling state into a perennial trophy contending team. 1 2
Greenwave Posted March 27 Posted March 27 Ramos should be considered as their next HC, Illinois ties will help. 2
CHROMEBIRD Posted March 27 Posted March 27 2 hours ago, Antitroll2828 said: Everyone blames the Northwestern drop off on transfer portal stuff but I’ve been yelling from the rooftops for years now it has more to do with the coaching staff getting gutted over Covid vax situation. They lost 2 top level coaches and no disrespect to futrell and Justin Oliver but they haven’t come close to replacing them, Kennedy is one of the main coaches for penn state now and Cael gives him props and compliments in interviews all the time on the work he does . Thing were rough for Northwestern after Pariano left and didnt' get better when Howe and the assistants took off during Covid. The other thing NU has going against it are its academics, compounded by being on a quarter system. The season can span all three quarters. That's two sets of finals, with Big Tens usually around the same time as Winter quarter finals week, and also missing out on spring break. All on top of training, competing, and cutting weight. Similar for Stanford. Mentally, that can be pretty tough compared to equally competitive schools that are on the semester system. 1
Winners Circle Posted March 27 Author Posted March 27 3 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said: Thing were rough for Northwestern after Pariano left and didnt' get better when Howe and the assistants took off during Covid. The other thing NU has going against it are its academics, compounded by being on a quarter system. The season can span all three quarters. That's two sets of finals, with Big Tens usually around the same time as Winter quarter finals week, and also missing out on spring break. All on top of training, competing, and cutting weight. Similar for Stanford. Mentally, that can be pretty tough compared to equally competitive schools that are on the semester system. Yea I get all that. But they were 6th at NCAAs in 2022. They had all these same factors 2 years ago.
wrestle87 Posted March 27 Posted March 27 4 minutes ago, Winners Circle said: Yea I get all that. But they were 6th at NCAAs in 2022. They had all these same factors 2 years ago. Northwestern is always going to be the most threatened by the Michigan mercenaries next door. They are the most proximate school in terms of academic requirements, and it was just too easy for Bormet to poach davison, cannon and DeAug. That said, even though this was a down year, the program is coming off the strongest 3-4 year run potentially in program history. But...they need stronger assistant coaches. All three coaches in their room are the same size...and the assistants have 3 all-american honors between them. Is there a wildcat RTC? Having Yahya Thomas walk out the door and wind up at the NJ RTC is a loss. 1 1
MinnesotaMustang Posted March 27 Posted March 27 From what I understand, everyone has sort of soured on Storniolo. Over the span of a few years they lost Cody Brewer, Kennedy, and Howe. The athletes loved those guys and it crushed the morale. 1
ionel Posted March 27 Posted March 27 4 hours ago, Barracuda141 said: Lost out on Ben Devino to Ohio State and Seth Mendoza to Missouri. Can't keep talent instate which has been a constant issue since Mark Johnson left. This is more of a bag of cash issue. At some point you just have to say no. Not every program has unlimited access to cash. Johnson was a great coach but I bet he is glad didn't coach in the NIL era. He had to manage scholarship, financial aid etc to put together the best offers and lineups. He did also havd to compete against some programs doing under the table shenanigans, actually got one kid back who didn't like the other coach changing offer after commitment. Mark was good at raising money but operating in the wild west with no rules enforced I bet he'd take a pass. 1 2BPE 11/17/24 SMC
Hillbilly Jim Posted March 28 Posted March 28 (edited) Looking at recruiting lists, seems like Storniolo brought in several 2023 recruits and several more coming in 2024. not blue chip top 25 P4P types, but they rarely get those…. similar situation with Poeta’s recruits except Webster of course! Edited March 28 by Hillbilly Jim Addition
Southend Posted March 28 Posted March 28 Pariano was the man. With 7.5 scolies every year he produced. Imagine if he had Pennsylvania states job? he would have done way better than Cale.
jmoney Posted March 28 Posted March 28 11 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said: Thing were rough for Northwestern after Pariano left and didnt' get better when Howe and the assistants took off during Covid. The other thing NU has going against it are its academics, compounded by being on a quarter system. The season can span all three quarters. That's two sets of finals, with Big Tens usually around the same time as Winter quarter finals week, and also missing out on spring break. All on top of training, competing, and cutting weight. Similar for Stanford. Mentally, that can be pretty tough compared to equally competitive schools that are on the semester system. Quarters at NU were brutal. I didn't think it would matter much but my GPA at a semester school was 3.8 and at a quarter school was 3.5 after 2 years at each. The falloff was dramatic and that sleep deprivation with the short breaks felt bad. The kids felt more intelligent at NU also. I know a couple kids with 3.0-3.1 GPA who scored in the top 1% of the country on the MCAT and got into medical schools.
jmoney Posted March 28 Posted March 28 12 hours ago, Greenwave said: Ramos should be considered as their next HC, Illinois ties will help. He'd rather destroy Iowa in the tourney than have to run duals against 'em I'm guessing!
JBluegill133 Posted March 28 Posted March 28 18 hours ago, Hillbilly Jim said: Seems Illinois has maneuvered their lineup for one big year in 2024-25. They will be very solid but after that it is the Kannon Webster show and looks pretty thin to me as Poeta tries to get things established. Northwestern will have a few lineup additions that will help, but seems like basically a rebuild. Great coach and great school. It’s gonna take some big time recruiting….I defer to any of the NU experts for more insight. Im excited to see what braedon scoles can do as well. 1 "Look good, feel good, wrestle good." - J Jaggers
ILLINIWrestlingBlog Posted March 28 Posted March 28 13 hours ago, Hillbilly Jim said: Looking at recruiting lists, seems like Storniolo brought in several 2023 recruits and several more coming in 2024. not blue chip top 25 P4P types, but they rarely get those…. similar situation with Poeta’s recruits except Webster of course! Not true. Braeden Scoles is a Wisconsin 4xer and Fargo Champion who will do big things in college and was high up in the P4P rankings, and like Webster, was a Who's #1 wrestler. He had an injury this year that slowed him down, but not before he beat an NCAA qualifier in a "free" dual appearance early in the season. Chris Moore was another Fargo Champion, and he was forced into the lineup this year at the toughest weight, 165, and still became an NCAA qualifier with wins over Caleb Fish and Stoney Buell. Add Will Baysingar to the P4P list coming out of high school. The class coming in this year includes two ILLINOIS three-time state champs (Ruzic & Colon), along with a two-time Ohio state champ (Bennett), and they are all vicious pinners. I'm very excited about them in an impartial journalistic way! With a new state-of-the-art facility coming on line in 2025 next to the giant spaceship (State Farm Center), and with everybody coming back from Olympic redshirts (Zac & Danny Braunagel), Medical redshirts (Lucas Byrd) and injuries (Luuuke Luffman) along with returning AA Edmond Ruth and a couple other NCAA qualifiers, and with the Freshmen entering the lineup (Webster, Scoles, etc.), they will have a powerful team and a very solid basis for recruiting in the years to come. As a final note, somebody upthread indicated that Danny Brawlnagel was on a regular redshirt. That is also not true. He earned an Olympic redshirt with his placement in the qualifying tournament over the Summer. Look for him at OTT at 77kg in Greco. 2
ThreePointTakedown Posted March 28 Posted March 28 Did the medical redshirt time line change? Thought it was granted after eligibility was used up.
Antitroll2828 Posted March 28 Posted March 28 21 minutes ago, ILLINIWrestlingBlog said: Not true. Braeden Scoles is a Wisconsin 4xer and Fargo Champion who will do big things in college and was high up in the P4P rankings, and like Webster, was a Who's #1 wrestler. He had an injury this year that slowed him down, but not before he beat an NCAA qualifier in a "free" dual appearance early in the season. Chris Moore was another Fargo Champion, and he was forced into the lineup this year at the toughest weight, 165, and still became an NCAA qualifier with wins over Caleb Fish and Stoney Buell. Add Will Baysingar to the P4P list coming out of high school. The class coming in this year includes two ILLINOIS three-time state champs (Ruzic & Colon), along with a two-time Ohio state champ (Bennett), and they are all vicious pinners. I'm very excited about them in an impartial journalistic way! With a new state-of-the-art facility coming on line in 2025 next to the giant spaceship (State Farm Center), and with everybody coming back from Olympic redshirts (Zac & Danny Braunagel), Medical redshirts (Lucas Byrd) and injuries (Luuuke Luffman) along with returning AA Edmond Ruth and a couple other NCAA qualifiers, and with the Freshmen entering the lineup (Webster, Scoles, etc.), they will have a powerful team and a very solid basis for recruiting in the years to come. As a final note, somebody upthread indicated that Danny Brawlnagel was on a regular redshirt. That is also not true. He earned an Olympic redshirt with his placement in the qualifying tournament over the Summer. Look for him at OTT at 77kg in Greco. I was talking about the youngest one on the roster Joey being on regular redshirt , and Danny and zac being on Olympic and yea i was reading the other day about this recruiting class, it has the staff pumped and 2 of the recruits mentioned that Imar was a huge reason they chose Illinois so he seems to be having a big impact 1
MinnesotaMustang Posted March 28 Posted March 28 9 hours ago, jmoney said: He'd rather destroy Iowa in the tourney than have to run duals against 'em I'm guessing! Calling it now - Ramos to Michigan.
Barracuda141 Posted March 28 Posted March 28 17 hours ago, ionel said: This is more of a bag of cash issue. At some point you just have to say no. Not every program has unlimited access to cash. Johnson was a great coach but I bet he is glad didn't coach in the NIL era. He had to manage scholarship, financial aid etc to put together the best offers and lineups. He did also havd to compete against some programs doing under the table shenanigans, actually got one kid back who didn't like the other coach changing offer after commitment. Mark was good at raising money but operating in the wild west with no rules enforced I bet he'd take a pass. I mean..that's the reality of today's D1 world. Figure it out Poeta or just resign yourself to being a mid to bottom tier Big 10 team. The choice is yours.
ionel Posted March 28 Posted March 28 4 minutes ago, Barracuda141 said: I mean..that's the reality of today's D1 world. Figure it out Poeta or just resign yourself to being a mid to bottom tier Big 10 team. The choice is yours. Ok if you are the coach and can spend $5M on a new wrestling facility of $1M on a hs recruit, which do you go with? 1 2BPE 11/17/24 SMC
ILLINIWrestlingBlog Posted March 28 Posted March 28 50 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said: I was talking about the youngest one on the roster Joey being on regular redshirt , and Danny and zac being on Olympic and yea i was reading the other day about this recruiting class, it has the staff pumped and 2 of the recruits mentioned that Imar was a huge reason they chose Illinois so he seems to be having a big impact Yes, you did. My apologies.
Barracuda141 Posted March 28 Posted March 28 18 minutes ago, ionel said: Ok if you are the coach and can spend $5M on a new wrestling facility of $1M on a hs recruit, which do you go with? Welcome to the Big 10. Figure it out Poeta. Somehow Iowa can figure out how to fundraise $30+ million for a new wrestling facility. Somehow Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State can all figure out how to raise a boatload of money for improved facilities in addition to competing for recruits in the NIL era. It's part of being a head coach today. If he can't mange to work the phone and bring in enough money to be competitive, then Illinois needs to bring in someone who can. Illinois as a state qualified 32 for the NCAA tournament last year #2 behind PA and this year qualified 22 for the NCAA tournament, 4th most this year. U of I qualified a pathetic 3 this year, two of which were done Day 1.
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