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FWIW I truly believe Tom Ryan is one of the most genuine and caring coaches in our sport. I've listened to enough interviews over the past 15 or so years to know that he has always been extremely consistent in the brand he preaches and his core values. He cares about his athletes, he cares about cultivating meaningful relationships with these athletes, and he cares as much about stewarding his wrestlers towards being good men after they are done wrestling as he does about the on the mat results. Maybe I am forgetting, but I can't think of any tOSU athletes being controversial on or off the mat (other than Tessari who then was removed from the program). I do think he can get animated and throw a fit, but I think that's just more of an embarrassing heat of the moment reaction than a depiction of who he is as a coach, mentor, and man. Obviously this is from the outside looking in, but I think if I were to pick a program purely for the environment that I think would most help my son develop as both a wrestler and a young man, Ohio State would be my first choice given their track record.

Asked and answered on Sunday:

Calling ryan a POS for one outburst is beyond uncharitable. He runs a great program and has improved the lives of hundreds of kids. Did you all forget that these are D1 coaches who ALL lose their sh*t at one point or another? These are the most competitive, prominent people in the sport. T&T tell the world and everyone in it to f*ck itself every dual meet, but ryan has one outburst and you want to hang him from a lamppost?

just more loserthink or is it lobsterthink

I think you have to judge him by his entire body of work. Everyone gets caught up in the moment at times. Overall I think he does a really good job.

I just noticed that last year's winning dark horse team would've finished 18th out of 64 at Nationals, outplacing Wisconsin, Minny, Oklahoma, Oregon State, and UNC, among other programs. Nice. Here are my picks: 125 - #19 Cooper Flynn (MINN) 133 - #21 Angelo Rini (IND) 141 - #24 Jason Miranda (STAN) 149 - #33 Teague Travis (OKST) 157 - #20 Trevor Chumbley (NU) 165 - #26 Paddy Galagher (OHST) 174 - #21 Joshua Ogunsanya (UNC) 184 - #22 Donnell Washington (IND) 197 - #25 Patrick Brophy (CIT) Hwt - #26 Peter Ming (STAN)

Also, the kid he beat in the conference finals is getting screwed because he would've had an auto-bid as conference champ, but now it's going to the alternate.

Believe Jimmy said he is on life support and Carl said drilling downstairs. Other than that we got nothing.

I think he was as good as someone could be while fans not noticing his eligibility

I am old enough to remember when Maurice Cheeks was the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers and he came to the aid of a nervous 13 year old who won a contest to sing the national anthem before an NBA playoff game between Portland and Dallas. When she got nervous and froze up, Cheeks appeared at her side to help her get through the song and to get the crowd on her side. The story came full circle last night, 22 years later, when the same woman sang the national anthem for Portland before their game against the Knicks, for whom Cheeks is an assistant coach. Maurice Cheeks is a wonderful person. From The Athletic: “That moment where I was standing there looking around, that felt like forever,” Zito remembered. “But then … he was just like there. Like, the second I turned over my shoulder, he was right there and he was like, ‘No, we’re not gonna do this … you’re gonna finish this song.’ ” It became one of the most memorable and viral moments in national anthem history — Cheeks coaching her through the lyrics, one arm around her shoulder, the other conducting the sellout crowd to join in. She finished to a rousing ovation and melted into Cheeks’ chest. “That’s a hard time in a young child’s life, where something like that happens on national television,” Zito said. “That moment really stuck with me.” On Wednesday, the moment came full circle. With Cheeks on the sideline as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks, Zito stood at half court and belted out “The Star-Spangled Banner.” There were no hiccups, no pauses, just full-throated perfection.

This entire thing is a complete mess and it will always be talked about. I don't have much of an opinion on it, but I do believe that rules are rules and something obviously happened. Be where you are suppose to be, be doing what you are suppose to be doing, be doing it when you are suppose to be doing it. I did talk to Jamison's dad and he said that his son was very lucky and thankful that he was able to wrestle. His story, and I have known Jame for a long time was that Tagen went through skin checks and went back over and was setting on the bike waiting for weigh-ins to begin. He said that he went and was talking to some guys as he was waiting, but he should not have left the weigh-in line. He also said it was a stupid move that could have easily cost Tagen his season.

^^^ This^^^^. We need to be more lenient on what happens between the lines so to speak. You can be a savage on the mat but still a nice guy. Even T&T can be maniacs when competing but it doesn't mean they are bad people. Look at Ray Lewis, he would kill a wide receiver coming across the middle, but off the field.... Okay bad example.

I am the minority that I just don't care about these new "records" like 4x and 5x champs when they are the only ones who got 5 tries? I just think there would be a whole lot more 4x champs if everyone was given 5 tries. Same for CStar being the only 5x champ. Its very cool for him to say, but if Cael was given a 5th year I am pretty sure he would of been a 5x champ as well. Its more of matter of timing of when you competed.

Someone is not happy with their estimated IQ and "dark triad" profile!

This is a tremendous job of doubling down on being wrong.

125 FARMER ARMY 25 133 PHIPPS BUCK 25 141 SAUNDERS CORN 20 149 DREXLER NDSU 22 157 ROZYNSKI LEHIGH 21 165 FILIPOWICZ ARMY 20 174 INCONTRERA PENN 22 184 ROBIN WVU 28 197 HOPKINS CAMP 21 285 RUNYON UNI 18

The answer is four years of eligibility for everyone. Done. Over. No exceptions. Sports just aren’t that important. Foster growing up and being productive members of society. If you want to stay / be in entertainment (sports), that is cool! Graduate and make that your job. Adults that live their lives vicariously through young athletes and adults who are $$$$ hungry have allowed great distortions in the mission of an academic institution. It’s crap.

Dean Hamiti has lost more than Tyler Brennan. Hamiti competed as a true freshman after graduating from high school in 2021. This year he lost to Keegan O'Toole in the Big 12 final. O'Toole was participating in his 5th Big 12 Championship. Last year Hamiti lost to David Carr and Izzak Olejnik at NCAAs, both were competing in their 5th NCAA postseason. The high school class of 2021 got a much different competitive landscape than any before it.

One of them trying to sneak in an extra year would have attracted attention earlier in the season.

For any senior that didn't qualify for NCAAs in 2020 they missed absolutely nothing. Do you only award an extra year for the NCAA qualifiers? Back to the topic of the thread Tyler Brennan didn't qualify for NCAAs in 2020. He missed absolutely nothing that year. Why should he get another year? I mean he had the opportunity to get a free year in 2021 and couldn't use it. I think it sends the wrong message to let him wrestle because it incentivizes trying to break the rules. If no one notices before the conference tournament then you're good to go.

I don't think they knew how long the thing was going to last. That affected decision making.

It makes less sense looking at it retrospectively. The thinking at the time was that very few athletes would choose to compete in 2020-2021 if they were risking a year of eligibility to do so. The season could have been cancelled midseason or an untimely positive covid test result could prevent a wrestler from taking part in the post season. It was done to incentivize competition that year. Starocci was able to take advantage that year. Unfortunately Brennan was not.

I am FAR from Starocci's biggest fan, but even I can see a clear difference. I'm also not an NCAA compliance officer, but I know that a lot of someones made a huge mistake. Should Cael get a 5th year?

He already did that. @Show_Me was referring Peterson's B1G performance.

Brooks lost to Myles Amine.

If you are in the minority then I am too. I view them as interesting anomalies, trivia question answers, nut not necessarily meaningful.

Here's a complete list of all the 4 time Big Ten Champions....

Isaiah Martinez (IMAR) won 4 Big Ten's

Steveson became the first heavyweight in Big Ten history to win four titles, and he became just the 19th wrestler to accomplish the feat overall.

I think they meant 1st 4 timer at heavyweight.

RV - I deleted your other topic as it was a predicate of this one. please try to keep them compartmentalized.

Sure the 30-40 of you who frequent this forum, but not the majority of wrestling fans. Even to this day, PA wrestling fans statewide - especially the older folks, have yet to accept the acquisition of the PIAA state tourney rights by FLO when it was historically for free. I respect your opinion but I feel otherwise. $$$$$ has poisoned virtually everything including this sport.

LOL, loved how he slammed John Smith in that one interview. Hilarious! There are no holy cows in wrestling.

Someone ask Dylan Ragusin what he thinks. He tells it straight

A note about cheesesteaks. They are not health food, but they taste great. Almost any place has at least a decent cheesesteak simply because no one in Philly will buy a bad cheesesteak a second time.

They still do. I believe it was Dresser who shamed the NCAA to back down. They got their trophy in the mail.

Joseph vs Imar for me in a finals match

Martin beating Bo at the Garden.

Lehigh's Rob Rohn was trailing 14-2 late in the third period and mixered OK's Josh Lambrecht for the fall in 2002. 4 pins in a row in the NCAA championships.

A resurrected University of Washington.

Im hoping Mendez wins but thinking he isn't 100%. He hasn't looked right in quite awhile. I wouldnt mind if Hardy won. Guy is super fun to watch and seems like he's been in the hunt for awhile.

Hard to ignore that champion pedigree

19 votes and none are for Hardy is crazy, but so is this weight's depth

I think its from bridging.

i hope not figs. he stalled pretty bad last year.

Zach Glazier is going to have 21,000 people rooting for him to do the funniest thing Thursday night

A possible matchup second round between the Stout brothers at 197. #6 vs. #11. Sibling rivalry action:

AJ/Glazier likely R2 match

Alirez hit the jackpot with that 8 seed. Bartlett Mendez Vombour all on the other side.

Marcus Blaze "Blaze did not give up an offensive point in his entire high school career (in season). This has never been done in Ohio history. This includes 4 trips to the Ironman, 4 trips to Brecksville, 4 trips to the D1 state tournament, and multiple other tournaments like Maumee Bay Classic, where he beat state placers and a champ or two. Even in his 2 losses at Ironman, he never gave up an offensive point. Both losses were avenged. He Just(last weekend) bumped up 2 weight classes and teched his way through state." "He has also beaten other all time high school greats in Lilledahl, Forrest, and Knox, multiple times. All while beating multiple NCAA Champions and finalist, as well as senior level world finalists, and his only losses in freestyle this past year, was 2x NCAA Champion Nick Suriano, 2x NCAA Champion and World Champion Vito Arujua, and Japan's superstar, and possibly worlds current lb for lb best, Ono. He beat NCAA Champs Megaludis, Gross, and Garrett. 4x NCAA finalist and World Silver, Fix. Beat both Forrest and NCAA Finalist Matt Ramos in folkstyle." "His resume, when only considering results while in high school, is completely unprecedented. There is no argument for a better resume, not only in Ohio, but in the history of high school wrestling. You can name guys that have accomplished something exceptional, like Carr making the Olympic team in high school, or Kolat placing 3rd at Midlands in high school, or Kemp or whatever else. But NOBODY has done what Blaze has done repeatedly over and over, in multiple events, over a 2 year period. Even his high school competition, with Lilledahl, Knox, Forrest, Devino, Deluca and Mendoza is really unprecedented. All of those guys have been ranked #1 in the country at some point, and he has beaten them all." "He is simply Ohio's greatest wrestler, and I would find it extremely difficult to argue against greatest in US History." *Copied