Carl:

[Nak21]

2 hours ago, Rassling2 said:

Unrelated but RBY is back training with NLWC at Happy Valley. It’s also been reported he’s opening up a training camp in his hometown of Tuscan AZ in a few weeks. That’s great news for RBY and great news to those he continues to inspire. 

Yeah seems he’s back with the NLWC? I don’t know, it’s just been posts, no official announcement. He was in State College, then Stillwater, now he’s apparently back in State College, BUT opening a wrestling academy in Arizona. All the while his fiancé plays pro soccer in Kansas City and I think her contract goes thru 2028. Sooooo, I don’t know where this kid is gonna stay. A lot of towns that aren’t exactly 15min car rides from each other.  

[1032004]

Cael tried to end this media session at like 3 different times lol

 

 

[Rassling]

25 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Cael tried to end this media session at like 3 different times lol

 

 

lol, it’s clear he doesn’t care for these interviews. 

[1032004]

4 minutes ago, Rassling said:

lol, it’s clear he doesn’t care for these interviews. 

Which is kinda weird IMO since these guys really only ask softball questions 

[Nak21]

He’s always been uncomfortable talking to the media. He doesn’t like it. Like probably a lot of coaches, I’m sure he just wants to be in the room working with the team, focused on wrestling. Dealing with the media is likely the least favorite part of the job for a lot of these coaches, regardless of sport.

[Pinnacle]

8 minutes ago, Nak21 said:

He’s always been uncomfortable talking to the media. He doesn’t like it. Like probably a lot of coaches, I’m sure he just wants to be in the room working with the team, focused on wrestling. Dealing with the media is likely the least favorite part of the job for a lot of these coaches, regardless of sport.

 

The coach can give "coachspeak" platitudes, but everything else is going out on a limb with no reward. Being able to dodge controversy in these pressers is a win unto itself. 

[1032004]

Just now, Pinnacle said:

 

The coach can give "coachspeak" platitudes, but everything else is going out on a limb with no reward. Being able to dodge controversy in these pressers is a win unto itself. 

I’m wondering if in this particular one he was afraid of someone asking about Aaron Brooks.  

[Pinnacle]

2 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

I’m wondering if in this particular one he was afraid of someone asking about Aaron Brooks.  

 

He would have answered that question the way he answers all of them.

"Aaron made a mistake"

"He has to learn from his mistakes"

Not sure what else he should or would say about it.

[Gene Mills Fan]

1 hour ago, 1032004 said:

Cael tried to end this media session at like 3 different times lol

 

 

dodgeball started at 10:07. He wanted in!.

[Rassling]

There was a time when journalism was a respectable profession. Not anymore. I don’t blame him for not wanting to be part of these interviews. 

[1032004]

1 hour ago, Pinnacle said:

 

He would have answered that question the way he answers all of them.

"Aaron made a mistake"

"He has to learn from his mistakes"

Not sure what else he should or would say about it.

I think during the Starocci controversy didn’t he just say “he’s not on the college team anymore” or something?

[JimmyCinnabon]

3 hours ago, Nak21 said:

He’s always been uncomfortable talking to the media. He doesn’t like it. Like probably a lot of coaches, I’m sure he just wants to be in the room working with the team, focused on wrestling. Dealing with the media is likely the least favorite part of the job for a lot of these coaches, regardless of sport.

And Cael is in a position that he can have this Laissez-faire attitude about basically everything going on within his program when it comes to the media. It works for him, but it's incredibly boring for the rest of us. It's why I don't watch his interviews but I do watch Tom Brands, who is a far better interview than Cael will ever be.

Edited February 19 by JimmyCinnabon

[1032004]

22 minutes ago, JimmyCinnabon said:

And Cael is in a position that he can have this Laissez-faire attitude about basically everything going on within his program when it comes to the media. It works for him, but it's incredibly boring for the rest of us. It's why I don't watch his interviews but I do watch Tom Brands, who is a far better interview than Cael will ever be.

I do enjoy his sense of humor, particularly in the questions that aren’t related to wrestling.

[Caveira]

On 11/14/2025 at 8:29 PM, Nak21 said:

I love Cael. He doesn’t want to be out there talking to the media. Very dry sense of humor. Master of filling his mandated media time with absolutely nothing if he can help it.

Brands are much more fun interviews. If you didn’t follow wrestling you’d likely ask “who’s that mental patient?”

Ryan is always good for some whining and complaining. 
 

Glad the season is finally here!!!

I do remember in the last presser for psu where two of his wrestlers acted inappropriately.   I remember him whining endlessly about stalling and hands to the head / face for several minutes while he didn’t address his athletes had response to said stimuli 

[1032004]

I also saw there was a little discussion on FRL about Cael making a comment about not advertising camps in WIN magazine potentially impacting Hodge votes.  I assume it was a joke but it was kind of a weird thing to say.

[CHROMEBIRD]

3 hours ago, JimmyCinnabon said:

And Cael is in a position that he can have this Laissez-faire attitude about basically everything going on within his program when it comes to the media. It works for him, but it's incredibly boring for the rest of us. It's why I don't watch his interviews but I do watch Tom Brands, who is a far better interview than Cael will ever be.

That's true, but the thing about Carl acting like a chill bro and saying a lot of words about nothing is that when he does raise a slight concern or hint at something, people will read way into it. Like he's cracked jokes a couple of times about pumping music into Rec Hall during matches because the crowd is so quiet and suddenly it's like "omg, Cael thinks our fans suck!"

Brands is also really guarded during his interviews but in a totally different way lol. He doesn't give very thoughtful responses and he's almost aggressive with it, maybe not like Mick Cronin level aggressive, but he frequently cuts off reporters before they can finish their question and is dismissive of them, even though they too usually throw him softballs. I think the journalists tiptoe around tough questions because they're actually a little afraid of him.

[1032004]

4 minutes ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

That's true, but the thing about Carl acting like a chill bro and saying a lot of words about nothing is that when he does raise a slight concern or hint at something, people will read way into it. Like he's cracked jokes a couple of times about pumping music into Rec Hall during matches because the crowd is so quiet and suddenly it's like "omg, Cael thinks our fans suck!"

Brands is also really guarded during his interviews but in a totally different way lol. He doesn't give very thoughtful responses and he's almost aggressive with it, maybe not like Mick Cronin level aggressive, but he frequently cuts off reporters before they can finish their question and is dismissive of them, even though they too usually throw him softballs. I think the journalists tiptoe around tough questions because they're actually a little afraid of him.

Gotta give credit to BEG, a year or two ago they got Cael to probably talk the most I’ve ever see him talk, and ironically the question was basically asking him if he liked the media, but he ended up going on a tangent and in particular raised a very interesting suggestion about possibly getting rid of stalling.