Bono is a joke

[BloodRound]

16 hours ago, flyingcement said:

Rider just defeated Wisconsin 28-12

Had to do a double take when I saw that score the other night; pitiful.  Good for Rider though.

[GimJustafan]

24 minutes ago, BloodRound said:

Had to do a double take when I saw that score the other night; pitiful.  Good for Rider though.

197	Steyn De Lange (Rider) over Niccolo Colucci (Wisconsin) (Dec 4-3)	0	3
	285	Gannon Rosenfeld (Wisconsin) over Collin French (Rider) (Dec 7-0)	3	0
	125	Nicolar Rivera (Wisconsin) over Will Betancourt (Rider) (Dec 7-6)	3	0
	133	Zan Fugitt (Wisconsin) over Michael Campanaro (Rider) (Fall 4:08)	6	0
	141	McKenzie Bell (Rider) over Brock Bobzien (Wisconsin) (Dec 10-4)	0	3
	149	Sammy Alvarez (Rider) over Royce Nilo (Wisconsin) (TF 21-4 5:58)	0	5
	157	Colton Washleski (Rider) over Luke Mechler (Wisconsin) (Fall 4:52)	0	6
	165	Enrique Munguia (Rider) over Cale Anderson (Wisconsin) (MD 9-0)	0	4
	174	Michael Wilson (Rider) over Lucas Condon (Wisconsin) (Dec 10-9)	0	3
	184	Isaac Dean (Rider) over Dylan Russo (Wisconsin) (MD 20-6)	0	4
Team Score:			12	28

 

[MNRodent]

I've never been a huge Bono fan, but he also does some things well.  I think Badger fans are shooting themselves in the foot though with all the public complaining online.  You might eventually get rid of the current guy, but are high quality future coaches going to want to jump into that environment?  As I remember, the fan base wasn't all in on Barry Davis either.

[nhs67]

34 minutes ago, MNRodent said:

I've never been a huge Bono fan, but he also does some things well.  I think Badger fans are shooting themselves in the foot though with all the public complaining online.  You might eventually get rid of the current guy, but are high quality future coaches going to want to jump into that environment?  As I remember, the fan base wasn't all in on Barry Davis either.

I think the driving factor is that those who are unhappy who are fans fully believe that with AWA essentially being a feeder program to UW, it would make them relevant on the national stage and competing for a trophy every season.

Imagine UW closing out every dual with Mesenbrink - Mulvaney/Whiting/Scoles - Sinclair/Mirasola - Mirasola/Sinclair - Mirasola for next few years.

It is a pretty black and white thinking as well.  Meaning 'AWA (Max/Ben) will send all their guys' as if the individuals would automatically choose Wiscy over Penn State, Mizzou, or UNI.

Edit:  Where I was initially going with it is that AWA is relevant now because of Ben (and Max and John Mesenbrink).  That means get them now while they're hot and Bono is not.

Edited November 25 by nhs67

[BAC]

Have any of the refugees (Hamiti, Gomez, etc) made any comments about Wisconsin, or are they all keeping it close to the vest?

Hard to see how anything changes unless one of the recent departures decides to speak up and state the issues they had with the program that led them to leave.  

[Tbadg]

I feel like the kids just never show any progress with Bono. And it seems like they don’t wanna hardly listen to his coaching. Yesterday was very hard to watch in person the kids we have on this team are talented enough to have won that dual and the dual against Ohio but for whatever reason the coach can’t get the full potential out of the kids. They need a new leader.

[Hammerlock3]

 

[bnwtwg]

15 hours ago, MNRodent said:

I've never been a huge Bono fan, but he also does some things well.  I think Badger fans are shooting themselves in the foot though with all the public complaining online.  You might eventually get rid of the current guy, but are high quality future coaches going to want to jump into that environment?  As I remember, the fan base wasn't all in on Barry Davis either.

How is that Amos recruit doing? Probably about as well as Davis would have wasted him.

[AgaveMaria]

13 hours ago, Tbadg said:

I feel like the kids just never show any progress with Bono. And it seems like they don’t wanna hardly listen to his coaching. Yesterday was very hard to watch in person the kids we have on this team are talented enough to have won that dual and the dual against Ohio but for whatever reason the coach can’t get the full potential out of the kids. They need a new leader.

Somehow this sure sounds like the Brands brothers in Iowa. The University extended his contract. Are they aware of something we aren't? Was he 'that bad' as an assistant at Iowa State - or did he start rotting in the Wisconsin snow?

[1032004]

Wait did this really happen?

 

[Spencerlee]

10 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

Somehow this sure sounds like the Brands brothers in Iowa. The University extended his contract. Are they aware of something we aren't? Was he 'that bad' as an assistant at Iowa State - or did he start rotting in the Wisconsin snow?

Let me know when Iowa loses to a team like Rider 28-12.

[scourge165]

10 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

Somehow this sure sounds like the Brands brothers in Iowa. The University extended his contract. Are they aware of something we aren't? Was he 'that bad' as an assistant at Iowa State - or did he start rotting in the Wisconsin snow?

People really need to stop with the "the University extended his contract."

They do this every year, it's a procedural and nothing more. They extend every coach other than the FB and MBB coaches as routine. 

They extended Barry and then fired him. It's just not a factor at this point. 

 

The program is in shambles, they should move on...I'm not arguing any of that, but the extension wasn't a sign of anything. 

[AgaveMaria]

The Brands don't improve their wrestlers - especially after the first & second years.

On Bono, thanks for the information. How can he change from ISU this much? He isn't paranoid like Bobby Douglas so what is the problem?

[Interviewed_at_Weehawken]

10 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

The Brands don't improve their wrestlers - especially after the first & second years.

On Bono, thanks for the information. How can he change from ISU this much? He isn't paranoid like Bobby Douglas so what is the problem?

No improvement?

Just last the last two years teams: Drake, Siebricht, Brands, Glazier, Hill.  All showed considerable improvement.

Who does improve under your ridiculously high standard?  PSU? That's it?

I mean, I'm an NC State fan 1st, and usually I like how they develop their guys but I have some reservations on the recent developments in Camacho, Orine, and others.  Mizzou seems to have dropped off a bit in "development."  Who else is there?

Edited November 27 by Interviewed_at_Weehawken

[JBluegill133]

Never like to see a program hurting like this, but it happens.  Looking at results from rider dual, wasn't Nicolar Rivera the WI kid who beat Nate Jesuroga back in HS when he was #1?  If I am not mistaken, he hasnt even qualified for NCAA's yet right (0-2 at big tens last year?)  Obviously, this was just one win so maybe it was a flash in the pan, but it might point to a lack of development in WI room?

[Winners Circle]

Can someone who's a Univ. of Wisconsin fan chime in and let me know what the incoming recruiting class(es) look like? 

[Tbadg]

This next years class is very weak. Only one ranked kid in the top 100 everyone else almost feels like just roster fill ins.

[red viking]

Who cares?

The athletic director at Wisconsin certainly doesn't, so why should we? 

[Winners Circle]

36 minutes ago, Tbadg said:

This next years class is very weak. Only one ranked kid in the top 100 everyone else almost feels like just roster fill ins.

Not good. In all seriousness, if Bono were to get canned, who would they get to replace him? Realistically speaking, because we all know the Cunningham/Cody Sanderson/Bryan Snyder types would not be interested (based on their history of not being interested in other jobs). So what names would be in the candidate pool?

[AgaveMaria]

4 hours ago, Winners Circle said:

Not good. In all seriousness, if Bono were to get canned, who would they get to replace him? Realistically speaking, because we all know the Cunningham/Cody Sanderson/Bryan Snyder types would not be interested (based on their history of not being interested in other jobs). So what names would be in the candidate pool?

Mark Schultz?

 

[wrestlingfanforlife]

8 hours ago, Winners Circle said:

Can someone who's a Univ. of Wisconsin fan chime in and let me know what the incoming recruiting class(es) look like? 

Note: I am a life-long Hawkeye fan but live just south of Madison. We are Badger wrestling season ticket holders. 

Bucky has commitments from a handful of in-state guys. While they are great wrestlers, they are not the best of the in-state talent. 
 

Heiser, who should win his fourth wrestling for my local high school, is off to Missouri.

Herm, another great talent, is off to South Dakota St with Neitzel, a northwestern WI kid.

There is very little fanfare concerning the class of 2025. Honestly, until they are on campus and in the program, I am not sure the fan base trusts their commitment.

They got a couple pretty solid in-state guys out of the class of 24, but they weren’t “THOSE GUYS” who went to Penn State and Missouri, respectively.

We have the season tickets, in part, because we get to see them wrestle some great teams every other year. 
 

The fan base seems pretty much done with Bono. The Badger program simply does not have what it takes to be competitive in the BIG. Many are worried the program will not survive long-term, given NIL and the new scholarship “limits.”

 

 

 

 

 

[scourge165]

21 hours ago, AgaveMaria said:

The Brands don't improve their wrestlers - especially after the first & second years.

On Bono, thanks for the information. How can he change from ISU this much? He isn't paranoid like Bobby Douglas so what is the problem?

I don't know as I'm not in any real position to provide insight from within the program, but...I DO know what has been made pretty public.

-Askren was not pursued by UW the way you'd expect(especially given the benefit of hindsight). I don't think this was all that rare as Askren was a unique Wrestler. He didn't APPEAR to be the type who'd be an all-time great. 

-Then you move forward to Bono, Askren leaves the RTC. That probably hurt. The deal with what happened when they had a falling out over sharing facilities during Covid, that made the divide worsen. 

Add to all that they have poor facilities, Askren wrestling at Mizzou, so AWA sending guys to Wisconsin was always probably a long shot.

Then you have Pinnacle, that's closer to Minnesota. There's a history of Wisconsin HWTs Wrestling there. Lowney, Konrad was from the same town as Lowney. Tim Hartung is another guy who was a Minnesota great(he had to practically beg Robinson for a chance). And the you're left with Crass Wrestling and they certainly produce some talent, but when you think about ALL the elite Wrestlers, if they're not even considering Wisconsin... I'd imagine it's tougher.

 

Then he was getting some really good recruits. Miguel Estrada is a kid I thought looked like a stud. He was a UW commit and he left along with several others. 

Hamiti and Gomez, they just did what was best for them, but you lose two NC contenders...so then if you're Sinclair, Mesenbrink, Mirasola, Millard(he's going to be a stud)...why are you going to go and join that sinking ship?

 

 

*** I do NOT know that Askren is actively telling kids not to go there, but why would they? Gross and Reader are gone. All the momentum they appeared to have a couple years ago is dead. I don't know that there's any real financial support, but the athletes they had who were competing at the RTC, Gross, Amos and Gomez, they all left.

 

I don't know why or how Bono has changed, but... I don't know that it matters. You had a stretch where Wisconsin was probably in the top 5 in terms of producing College talent and only Nicola Rivera went there(with respect to the other UW kids, I'm talking about top recruits, Fargo Champs, etc...). 

 

I do know you can't just keep blaming it on Askren or how the Pinnacle kids are Minnesota kids anyway or you're just going to continue to suck. 

 

None of that answers "what happened to Bono," and I don't know. It may just be part his personality not meshing(though I've heard a lot of coaches say he's made the rounds and ingratiated himself well) plus the sub-par support for the program. It's too bad. 

[scourge165]

6 hours ago, Winners Circle said:

Not good. In all seriousness, if Bono were to get canned, who would they get to replace him? Realistically speaking, because we all know the Cunningham/Cody Sanderson/Bryan Snyder types would not be interested (based on their history of not being interested in other jobs). So what names would be in the candidate pool?

Becker from Parkside. 

It won't be Ben Askren, he doesn't want the job, the athletic dept doesn't want him but Becker is an outstanding coach, was a very good Wrestler(3X undefeated D2 Champ...spent a year at Cent Mich and I guess he wasn't fully invested and wanted to Wrestle closer to home). 

Not an opinion, just what pretty much everyone has said. I believe someone just said on the Forum Askren wouldn't want the job as he'd have to give up this entire program HE has built, the infrastructure and he seems to love doing it(and he's doing a pretty damn good job at it). 

 

And my understanding(strictly from reading and listening to what has been said publicly) Askren thinks Becker is a very good coach. I know Becker took a 3rd at the WTT. Lost to Mark Hall when Hall was going into his Sr year 6-4. So he was competitive. Not a David Taylor, but, hell, gotta start somewhere. 

[H82Lose]

Fugitt absolutely fell in his lap, and he is really, really, REALLY, lucky that Zan is a loyal kid. I personally want him to leave, and with Gross no longer there, I might be able to stay on him  

[Gantry]

1 hour ago, scourge165 said:

Gross and Reader are gone

When did Reader leave?  I totally missed that...