Matt Valenti Slated to be Penn Head Coach

[BloodRound]

Valenti will be associate head coach for 2024-2025, and then become the head coach for 2025-2026.  What are our thoughts on this one?  Literally just opened up X to see this announcement.

[Quaker118]

As a former Penn wrestler and avid supporter of the program, I could not be happier to see Matt taking over the program. His wrestling credentials are impeccable, and I think he is going to elevate the Penn program to where all of us Quaker fans would like to see it again. He is smart, will be a great recruiter and his love for the program will translate well going forward. 

[Winners Circle]

Hadn't heard that but great for them.

[Elevator]

 

[wrestle87]

1 hour ago, Quaker118 said:

As a former Penn wrestler and avid supporter of the program, I could not be happier to see Matt taking over the program. His wrestling credentials are impeccable, and I think he is going to elevate the Penn program to where all of us Quaker fans would like to see it again. He is smart, will be a great recruiter and his love for the program will translate well going forward. 

Has Matt stayed involved with the program in his other role on campus?  Was that a role that the administration made up to keep him around so he COULD help with the program?

As far as I can remember, he's got the best collegiate credentials of any Penn wrestler in history, emphasis on collegiate.  

Great time to bring him in, not that Penn's doing terribly, but he will definitely be able to claw back some of the traffic heading up to Cornell. 

[bracketbuster]

Did Bryan Pearsall take another job or is he staying on staff? Noticed he and Valenti have the same title it appears.

Edited April 4 by bracketbuster

[Quaker118]

13 minutes ago, wrestle87 said:

Has Matt stayed involved with the program in his other role on campus?  Was that a role that the administration made up to keep him around so he COULD help with the program?

As far as I can remember, he's got the best collegiate credentials of any Penn wrestler in history, emphasis on collegiate.  

Great time to bring him in, not that Penn's doing terribly, but he will definitely be able to claw back some of the traffic heading up to Cornell. 

Matt was very involved in many aspects of the Penn athletics administration for several years. It was definitely not a made up position. He has continued to be a part of Penn wrestling since he returned from Columbia as a coach. It’s a great hire. I just think Matt’s heart ultimately was back in the room full time. 

[ThreePointTakedown]

Once again they look to replace the current head coach with a former coach that has taken a significant amount of time from coaching and coincidentally works in the same department on campus. 

If I was Pearsall, I'd be pretty upset. Considering the same move bookends his time there it shouldn't be that surprising. 

That they tried making a change by bringing in an outsider and did not like the result. I guess it was just a matter of time before Matt was brought back. Who else could they trust to run the program? 

Keeps the donors happy. 

[wrestle87]

39 minutes ago, Quaker118 said:

Matt was very involved in many aspects of the Penn athletics administration for several years. It was definitely not a made up position. He has continued to be a part of Penn wrestling since he returned from Columbia as a coach. It’s a great hire. I just think Matt’s heart ultimately was back in the room full time. 

That's awesome, he comes from deep and early jersey wrestling royalty roots.  I'm not sure if Kittattiny is as good as they were when he was there, but I believe that makes Matt the 3rd wrestler coming out of the Edge to be an Ivy league coach now, the other two being Tanelli and Grey.  

Matt has the background and toolset to really push the level of Penn's program.  

[Truzzcat]

I'm not familiar with Matt's game.

[1032004]

I enjoyed Shane Sparks interviewing him on his podcast a month or so ago

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/matt-valenti-wrestling-champion-to-athletic-leader-ep-15/id1711209567?i=1000647476206

[ScarletKnight]

Penn has underperformed so far and I think that has hurt them recruiting wise.  Valenti a bit of a defensive wrestler, a lot of wins by escape and riding time.  

[Quaker118]

1 hour ago, ScarletKnight said:

Penn has underperformed so far and I think that has hurt them recruiting wise.  Valenti a bit of a defensive wrestler, a lot of wins by escape and riding time.  

Valenti in the 2006 NCAA tournament: fall,fall,7-2,7-3,3-2 against super tough 2x runner up Fleeger. 
2007 NCAA tournament. 6-2,9-3,4-0,4-2,4-2 against future champ Scott. 
I would expect total ignorance from a Scarlet Night on anything related to Penn wrestling. I was at virtually every home match, NCAA tournament, and EIWA tournament that Matt participated in. Somehow he managed to score some points occasionally. But if he can develop national champs that win on riding time, I’ll be OK with that.

[ScarletKnight]

54 minutes ago, Quaker118 said:

Valenti in the 2006 NCAA tournament: fall,fall,7-2,7-3,3-2 against super tough 2x runner up Fleeger. 
2007 NCAA tournament. 6-2,9-3,4-0,4-2,4-2 against future champ Scott. 
I would expect total ignorance from a Scarlet Night on anything related to Penn wrestling. I was at virtually every home match, NCAA tournament, and EIWA tournament that Matt participated in. Somehow he managed to score some points occasionally. But if he can develop national champs that win on riding time, I’ll be OK with that.

I feel like he was going out of bounds a lot against Fleeger and Scott, but it's been a long time since Ive seen those matches.  

Did he have any kind of freestyle career after?  Usually people who wrestle the way I said, don't.  

Anyways good luck to him and the program.  I'm not sure why he wasn't involved more so far despite being employed by the school.  They've had a lot of big name coaches and national team members in that room  

 

[Quaker118]

12 minutes ago, ScarletKnight said:

I feel like he was going out of bounds a lot against Fleeger and Scott, but it's been a long time since Ive seen those matches.  

Did he have any kind of freestyle career after?  Usually people who wrestle the way I said, don't.  

Anyways good luck to him and the program.  I'm not sure why he wasn't involved more so far despite being employed by the school.  They've had a lot of big name coaches and national team members in that room  

 

You should google his sophomore year 2004. 3rd seeded lost first round on few seconds riding time differential. Rattled off 5 wins including a pin and 10-7 ot win. Beat Luke Eustice in the blood round who was returning runner up and big 10 champ. Came in 5th going 6-2. One of the toughest guys I’ve ever seen. 

[ScarletKnight]

4 minutes ago, Quaker118 said:

You should google his sophomore year 2004. 3rd seeded lost first round on few seconds riding time differential. Rattled off 5 wins including a pin and 10-7 ot win. Beat Luke Eustice in the blood round who was returning runner up and big 10 champ. Came in 5th going 6-2. One of the toughest guys I’ve ever seen. 

I'm going off memory and it was a long time ago.  I don't remember him getting shots off takedowns.  

or even taking real shots, just sort of non-committal shots to avoid stall calls.  Won matches on the mat and with neutral defense,

I really do hope he does well at Penn

 

[Gus]

5 hours ago, ThreePointTakedown said:

Once again they look to replace the current head coach with a former coach that has taken a significant amount of time from coaching and coincidentally works in the same department on campus. 

If I was Pearsall, I'd be pretty upset. Considering the same move bookends his time there it shouldn't be that surprising. 

That they tried making a change by bringing in an outsider and did not like the result. I guess it was just a matter of time before Matt was brought back. Who else could they trust to run the program? 

Keeps the donors happy. 

Does Pearsall have the credentials to take over this type of program? I know they are not a top tier program, but they are very solid. I think Valenti is a significantly higher profile hire than Pearsall would have been. 

[BIGTENFANBOY]

8 minutes ago, ScarletKnight said:

I'm going off memory and it was a long time ago.  I don't remember him getting shots off takedowns.  

or even taking real shots, just sort of non-committal shots to avoid stall calls.  Won matches on the mat and with neutral defense,

I really do hope he does well at Penn

 

Not the finals but....

 

 Definitely the more dominant wrestler in this match

[Antitroll2828]

4 hours ago, wrestle87 said:

That's awesome, he comes from deep and early jersey wrestling royalty roots.  I'm not sure if Kittattiny is as good as they were when he was there, but I believe that makes Matt the 3rd wrestler coming out of the Edge to be an Ivy league coach now, the other two being Tanelli and Grey.  

Matt has the background and toolset to really push the level of Penn's program.  

Actually 4th IVY coach Dubuque was an edge guy as well 

[wrestle87]

8 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

Actually 4th IVY coach Dubuque was an edge guy as well 

Thank you, and my bad, I completely forgot about Dubuque. 

[Not the Real Scribe]

Very well communicated!

[Elevator]

53 minutes ago, BIGTENFANBOY said:

Not the finals but....

 

 Definitely the more dominant wrestler in this match

thahnks for posting!

Fun to watch that match! Reminds me of a few things.  One, Chertow is one of the best announcers ever. Two, Valenti had one of the best mat returns, a long arm short arm that he often used to get a turk and get back points.  It was usually more effective but Scott did well to use his height and that judo move to defend better than most.

Might be fair to say that Matt's skills were more tuned to folkstyle than freestyle - luckily the PRTC is in that eccosystem and they have some solid freestyle coaches and wrestlers!   

[Elevator]

1 hour ago, Gus said:

Does Pearsall have the credentials to take over this type of program? I know they are not a top tier program, but they are very solid. I think Valenti is a significantly higher profile hire than Pearsall would have been. 

I've never heard a bad word about him and think he has been much appreciated - do not think this is any knock on him.

[lisa morales]

Penn is located in a Democrat war zone city.  Very difficult to recruit anyone willing to put up with the criminal element surrounding their campus.

[wrestle87]

11 minutes ago, lisa morales said:

Penn is located in a Democrat war zone city.  Very difficult to recruit anyone willing to put up with the criminal element surrounding their campus.

Penn is home to the premier Business School in the world....and has been surrounded by crappy neighborhoods for at least the past 50 years...

Have you checked where Columbia is located?