Which College Wrestler Would Have the Biggest NIL Deal?

[WrestlingRecords.com]

[WrestlingRecords.com]

My top 3:

Yianni Diakomihalis: https://wrestlingrecords.com/wrestler/yianni-diakomihalis/

Cael Sanderson: https://wrestlingrecords.com/wrestler/cael-sanderson/

Jordan Oliver: https://wrestlingrecords.com/wrestler/jordan-oliver/

[ionel]

Just now, WrestlingRecords.com said:

Am assuming we are talking in real dollar terms.  

[WrestlingRecords.com]

2 minutes ago, ionel said:

Am assuming we are talking in real dollar terms.  

Real US Dollars

[MizzouFan01]

Ben Askren would be up there.

[ionel]

6 minutes ago, WrestlingRecords.com said:

Real US Dollars

Then Dan Gable.  There were several very good undefeated 3x champs before him.  However, probably no one got more hype, attention, image value than Gable.  

[ionel]

7 minutes ago, MizzouFan01 said:

Ben Askren would be up there.

Shirley you meant Pendleton.  

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

Spencer “The GOAT” Lee

[ionel]

5 minutes ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

Spencer “The GOAT” Lee

[Wrestleknownothing]

3 minutes ago, WrestlingRecords.com said:

My top 3:

Yianni Diakomihalis: https://wrestlingrecords.com/wrestler/yianni-diakomihalis/

Cael Sanderson: https://wrestlingrecords.com/wrestler/cael-sanderson/

Jordan Oliver: https://wrestlingrecords.com/wrestler/jordan-oliver/

I don't have Sanderson in my top 3 because I think he gives Iowa State the home team discount.

I think Spencer Lee is number 3. Bob Nichols would pay big to keep him in Iowa.

The other 2 are taking T. Boone Pickens' money to go to Oklahoma State back in the day. The easy one is Ben Askren. He likes money. He wins convincingly in 2006, the year after Pickens makes the largest ever contribution to a school's athletic department. The race is going to be tight in 2007. They are just two guys away from retaining the title. T. Boone cracks open the checkbook.

The second one is a little less obvious. But the man Askren beats in the 2006 final is moving up a weight. OK St has a hole at 184. Enter Jake Herbert with the second biggest check (it has to be smaller than Askren's or Askren aint coming). They pay Herbert one dollar less than Askren. Everyone is happy.

Oklahoma State wins the 2007 title over Minnesota. TBP sees the return on his investment he has been looking for. So he proceeds to hoover up every top recruit or transfer on the market. Iowa and Penn State never win another title. And John Smith never retires as his streak of winning 22 straight team titles is still alive today.

[MizzouFan01]

19 minutes ago, ionel said:

Shirley you meant Pendleton.  

He would be also, but Ben’s last two years would’ve earned him a huge bag of cash. 

[WrestlingRecords.com]

9 minutes ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I don't have Sanderson in my top 3 because I think he gives Iowa State the home team discount.

I think Spencer Lee is number 3. Bob Nichols would pay big to keep him in Iowa.

The other 2 are taking T. Boone Pickens' money to go to Oklahoma State back in the day. The easy one is Ben Askren. He likes money. He wins convincingly in 2006, the year after Pickens makes the largest ever contribution to a school's athletic department. The race is going to be tight in 2007. They are just two guys away from retaining the title. T. Boone cracks open the checkbook.

The second one is a little less obvious. But the man Askren beats in the 2006 final is moving up a weight. OK St has a hole at 184. Enter Jake Herbert with the second biggest check (it has to be smaller than Askren's or Askren aint coming). They pay Herbert one dollar less than Askren. Everyone is happy.

Oklahoma State wins the 2007 title over Minnesota. TBP sees the return on his investment he has been looking for. So he proceeds to hoover up every top recruit or transfer on the market. Iowa and Penn State never win another title. And John Smith never retires as his streak of winning 22 straight team titles is still alive today.

I could see this

[roguetrader]

chris taylor

[Ragu]

Top criteria would be monster singular years or huge NCAA tournament performance. My pick would be Zain

[Coastal]

2 hours ago, Wrestleknownothing said:

I don't have Sanderson in my top 3 because I think he gives Iowa State the home team discount.

I think Spencer Lee is number 3. Bob Nichols would pay big to keep him in Iowa.

The other 2 are taking T. Boone Pickens' money to go to Oklahoma State back in the day. The easy one is Ben Askren. He likes money. He wins convincingly in 2006, the year after Pickens makes the largest ever contribution to a school's athletic department. The race is going to be tight in 2007. They are just two guys away from retaining the title. T. Boone cracks open the checkbook.

The second one is a little less obvious. But the man Askren beats in the 2006 final is moving up a weight. OK St has a hole at 184. Enter Jake Herbert with the second biggest check (it has to be smaller than Askren's or Askren aint coming). They pay Herbert one dollar less than Askren. Everyone is happy.

Oklahoma State wins the 2007 title over Minnesota. TBP sees the return on his investment he has been looking for. So he proceeds to hoover up every top recruit or transfer on the market. Iowa and Penn State never win another title. And John Smith never retires as his streak of winning 22 straight team titles is still alive today.

You are right, Sanderson would never leave Iowa State for a better option.

[Boring]

6 hours ago, WrestlingRecords.com said:

You know Yianni is disappointed he missed the NIL era, although his family is loaded. 

I'd say Carey Kolat. Maybe Dave Schultz. 

[Boring]

3 hours ago, Coastal said:

You are right, Sanderson would never leave Iowa State for a better option.

If ISU had given Cael the resources and a great paycheck he'd have probably stayed. I heard ISU was trying to run the program on a shoestring budget. What coach wants to fight that sort of garbage? Also I don't think it would matter where Cael coached and that the Pennsylvania "connection" is overhyped, the wrestlers wanting to improve would end up wrestling for him anyway. If ISU had spent money on the program and Cael had never left it would probably be ISU that would've won 12 of the last 14 NCAA tournaments. Maybe I'm wrong, but Cael definitely had ISU going in the right direction. 

Edited Monday at 03:07 AM by Boring

[pokemonster]

I think Aaron Pico. He was obviously out looking for money a la his Bellator contract and regularly completely obliterated Zain without even breaking a sweat. If NIL was around back then, I think Pico wrestles and takes Zain's Hodges and then some. 

[SRDVIKINGS]

NIL  has been around for more then 2 years so Spencer Lee was around for it and Yanni might have still been around for it also

[Wrestleknownothing]

18 minutes ago, SRDVIKINGS said:

NIL  has been around for more then 2 years so Spencer Lee was around for it and Yanni might have still been around for it also

Back then there was this foolish notion that it could not be simply boosters making pay to play arrangements.

[WrestlingRecords.com]

39 minutes ago, pokemonster said:

I think Aaron Pico. He was obviously out looking for money a la his Bellator contract and regularly completely obliterated Zain without even breaking a sweat. If NIL was around back then, I think Pico wrestles and takes Zain's Hodges and then some. 

Someone on Reddit told me he signed an NIL deal with Nike in HS, which is why he couldn't wrestle in college.

[Boring]

53 minutes ago, pokemonster said:

I think Aaron Pico. He was obviously out looking for money a la his Bellator contract and regularly completely obliterated Zain without even breaking a sweat. If NIL was around back then, I think Pico wrestles and takes Zain's Hodges and then some. 

Why are people so willing to give the benefit of the doubt of winning college national titles to a guy when that guy never even stepped on the mat and wrestled in college? Maybe Pico would've won 3 titles and 2 Hodges...but I doubt it greatly. I don't think he was willing to put in the work, unlike Zain. Pico took what he perceived as the easier route to making money. More power to him, but as far as I'm concerned speculation on what he'd have done is college is nothing but hot air.

Reminds me of people today crowning Angelo Ferrari as a 4 time champ when he's only wrestled 7 college matches and hasn't even wrestled in a single college tournament. People earn what they get in this sport, good or bad (except injuries).  Maybe Angelo will win 4 NCAA titles, but maybe he's one of those fragile guys who "breaks" over the long haul of a season, like Kharchla. Maybe he never even makes the podium. We'll see how it pans out. 

Edited Monday at 04:15 AM by Boring

[WrestlingRecords.com]

12 minutes ago, Boring said:

Why are people so willing to give the benefit of the doubt of winning college national titles to a guy when that guy never even stepped on the mat and wrestled in college? Maybe Pico would've won 3 titles and 2 Hodges...but I doubt it greatly. I don't think he was willing to put in the work, unlike Zain. Pico took what he perceived as the easier route to making money. More power to him, but as far as I'm concerned speculation on what he'd have done is college is nothing but hot air.

Reminds me of people today crowning Angelo Ferrari as a 4 time champ when he's only wrestled 7 college matches and hasn't even wrestled in a single college tournament. People earn what they get in this sport, good or bad (except injuries).  Maybe Angelo will win 4 NCAA titles, but maybe he's one of those fragile guys who "breaks" over the long haul of a season, like Kharchla. Maybe he never even makes the podium. We'll see how it pans out. 

Pico beat a senior level world champ at 18. He also beat Frank Molinaro, Jayson Ness, Jordan Oliver, and Reece Humphrey after those guys had graduated. I'm sure he would've done fine in college.

[Boring]

1 minute ago, WrestlingRecords.com said:

Pico beat a senior level world champ at 18. He also beat Frank Molinaro, Jayson Ness, Jordan Oliver, and Reece Humphrey after those guys had graduated. I'm sure he would've done fine in college.

I think he'd have done much better than fine, but he never earned any of the achievements people claim he'd have gotten in college and I find it annoying. Much better to discuss people of whom nothing was expected but who thrived, wouldn't you agree? 

[WrestlingRecords.com]

1 minute ago, Boring said:

I think he'd have done much better than fine, but he never earned any of the achievements people claim he'd have gotten in college and I find it annoying. Much better to discuss people of whom nothing was expected but who thrived, wouldn't you agree? 

This thread is all hypotheticals anyway. But that's fair.