ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Question for the board -- Financially, which would you rather have as a University President, a five-star QB recruit like Trevor Lawrence/Justin Fields or a Nobel Prize winning research Physicist? What if the choice was between a Nobel winner in Chemistry and a top football coach like Dabo Swinney or Mike Gundy? I think there would be folks here who would disagree with me on this.

Transfers have hurt NIU bad, which is a pity. Their upper weights had been pretty strong for some years now, and not just Olejnik and Feldkamp. I have a soft spot in my Orange heart for Dekalb because I lived there for a couple years as a kid, even snuck into the football stadium to play on their track. The guy to keep an eye on, though, is Daryl Thomas at Southern ILLINOIS. He did some things at Old Dominion. On another note, with the potential breakup of the PAC10, will California kids want to wrestle in some new-fangled Mountain West conference or in front of nationally-televised audiences on the Big Ten Network? I'm sure IMAR and Jesse Delgado can talk to them about it.

And the changes are coming from the ground up. The ILLINI Coaching staff had said they want to turn the state into the next Dagestan, the epicenter of wrestling in the world, and that seems to be the course they've set. For the longest time, ILLINOIS had been behind Pennsylvania and maybe even Iowa as far as technical instruction at an early age. But the place is exploding now. In fact, it was just announced last night that ILLINI Legend Jesse Delgado is moving back to Champaign to become Head Coach of Relentless Training Center South. I'm thinking that those Fargo and National Duals results are going to start turning into NCAA Championships. Cheers!

Things are changing, my friend. Last year was very unlucky for the ILLINI at the NCAA tournament. I even did some some Science to prove how unlucky they were. Edmond Ruth, Lucas Byrd and Zac Braunagel all lost close Blood Round matches. Besides that, two of them (Byrd and Brawlnagel) were in the quarters and lost one-point matches. That means there were five matches that could've gone the other way, resulting in up to three All Americans. Yes, only one of them (Thicc Zac) went to high school in ILLINOIS, but Kannon Webster and Chris Moore and others are on the way in a Top Ten class. In any event, I promised some Science, so here you go:

I-N-I I know you are running some type of Pavlovian-type test, but I still couldn't resist even knowing it was a trap.... This is an open thread to brag about your favorite teams, RTCs or wrestlers. Good Summer? Let's hear it!

Has any other school/rtc combination done better? From the US Open (age group levels up to Senior) to the World Team Trials to Final X, National Duals, Pan Ams, Budapest and Fargo, the ILLINI and the ILLINI RTC have been killing it this Summer. I have personally counted well over 200 wins. Having incredibly gifted recruits like Kannon Webster, Braeden Scoles, Chris Moore and others wrestle at National Duals and some of them at Fargo helps to bolster the total. Sure. But there's also Zane Richards, Kamal Bey, Zac Braunagel and IRTC-Emeritus Joe Rau winning beaucoup matches at the highest Senior level. Then, there are two other Braunagels, Edmond Ruth, Luke Luffman and others winning tons of age-level matches at the US Open and WTTs. I should go back and do a winning percentage because it must be crazy— not IMAR 116-3 level crazy—but still absolute legend. At the ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond, we wanted to document this by posting a video of all the winning hands raised. Soon, we realized that there were too many wins for one Twitter or Instagram video, so there is a volume one and a volume two. This is volume two: Some highlights over the Summer: Kamal Bey, US Open and Final X Champion; Pan Am Champ, Silver at Budapest Ranking Series Zane Richards, US Open and Final X Champion; Bronze at Budapest Ranking Series Joe Rau, US Open and Final X Champion, Pan Am Champ Zac Braunagel, US Open Bronze, WTT and Final X Champion Ermak Kardanov, IRTC athlete, Euro Bronze Kannon Webster, Pan Am Champion, Clean sheet at National Duals, Fargo double Champ Braeden Scoles, Clean sheet at National Duals, Fargo Freestyle Champion Anthony Ruzic, Clean sheet at National Duals, Bronze at U20 US Open, 5th at WTTs, 7th at Fargo Wyatt Medlin, Fargo Champion Joey Braunagel, Silver at U20 Freestyle and Greco WTTs Danny Braunagel, Third at U23 WTTs, 7th at US Open Freestyle Edmond Ruth, Third (tie) at U23 WTTs Luke Luffman, U23 Nationals Silver, 4th at US Open Tanner Farmer, 3rd at US Open ... and many more. So. Is there anybody to challenge this juggernaut?

Right. Stanford is in the pool of possibilities. In fact, I think they'll be next to join the Big Ten along with Cal, another possibility. Of course, it could be Virginia and North Carolina, and it could be next week or two or five years from now. The key to all of the Big Ten realignment is whether schools are AAU members. All the schools in the Big Ten were AAU members when admitted to the conference, and all of those that have been invited have been AAU members. And to be an AAU member, the school has minimum research expenditure standards. I'm not knowledgeable about Pac10 football, but my impression is that Stanford is usually quite good and sometimes great. Washington, on the other hand, is usually good but never great. Yet, Washington is an AAU member and a research king. There could be a thousand other reasons why Stanford hasn't joined yet. So, the fact is that only AAU members have been asked to join the Big Ten. And, in the conference's grand announcement of Washington and Oregon, the second sentence mentioned research partnerships.

I disagree. First of all, the Big Ten will only accept AAU schools. There are research funding standards that have to be met to become an AAU school (among other standards). Thus, it is a huge part of conference realignment. I believe the ACC is almost as choosy. About AAU schools: "Sixty-one percent of the total research funded [by] the U.S. government, or $25.6 billion annually, is performed by AAU faculty. Thirty-eight percent of all Nobel Prize winners are faculty members at AAU institutions." The media deals that the Big Ten signed are worth $1 billion annually. That is divided by a bunch of schools. Now, here's the game: Let's say a school gets almost a billion dollars in funding from the federal and state governments and various manufacturing companies. They put that money into research and innovation. Then, they get to option and license any lucrative new processes or patentable inventions. You want the best possible partners in this research to gain prestige and print money. Now, it is not all about research by a long shot. Administrators are going to not leave a dime on the ground when they can pick it up and pocket it. So, TV media markets, compelling sports teams and other intangibles like fan interest come into play. But don't forget that it is not Athletic Directors who are voting on conference realignment. It's Chancellors, Presidents and Deans. The stuffy business people.

Note the second sentence of the official Big Ten announcement: ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors (COP/C) voted unanimously today to admit the University of Oregon and the University of Washington to the Big Ten Conference effective August 2, 2024, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2024-25 academic year. With the schools’ admission, Oregon and Washington will also join the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), a consortium of world-class research institutions dedicated to advancing their academic missions. Washington is a powerhouse research institution. By my calculations the current and future conference members had a total of over 1,300 patents granted by the United States last year. The data is from the top fifty schools on the list of institutions with the most patents granted. By comparison, the SEC had 139 patents granted. During his lifetime, Thomas Edison (and his research park) received 1,093 US patents. The US granted 161 patents to Henry Ford. The University of ILLINOIS spent over a billion dollars on research every year since 2017. Not all of the patents are worth the digital ink used to store them, but every year since 2017, ILLINOIS has signed more than 100 options and license agreements. That's where the real money is. Now, the scientists, doctors and engineers at Big Ten schools can work with those at UCLA or Washington and share in the ah advancement of knowledge and the um betterment of the human condition. My speculation for the next schools to join the conference in order: Stanford, Cal, North Carolina, and Virgina. Clemson and Florida State make no sense, and nothing else in the PAC10 is particularly tantalizing.

I've always felt that the Big Ten weighed the amount a university can bring in via research grants and research cooperation as more important than any other factor, even eyeballs on TV/Streaming sports content. It makes sense to me because if you patent a cure for something or a new and better solar panel, you can make an insane amount of money. That's why all of the conference schools have huge "research parks." Moreover, the Big Ten has a research cooperation agreement among member institutions so that they can share in the $$$. TV/Streaming media rights are chump change compared to research dollars and patents. When you look at this chart, you can see at least 9 Big Ten schools in the top 50 pulling in federal and state research dollars. ILLINOIS is killing it, and it is also a patent-applying machine. But look at Washington, that school is number two on the list. If Washington and Oregon get into the conference, I would suspect Stanford and Cal would be next. They have the academic AAU status, and they are big research institutions. I had always hoped that the Big Ten would require each member school to have a wrestling program, and that held true through Penn State, then Rutgers and Maryland. But what to make of UCLA and USC?

If I was marginally more evil: STEP ONE: Buy a fake beard and farmer overalls so you can blend in. On December 23, drive to Iowa City. Wear the disguise when you pay cash to buy 6 burner phones from WalMart. I presume Iowa City has a WalMart. If not, go to Farm & Fleet or Casey's or Delbert's Five & Dime. STEP TWO: Set up fake gmail accounts for each of the 5 best Iowa wrestling starters with a recognizable variation of their Twitter or Instagram or TikTok usernames. STEP THREE: Set up 5 Draft Kings accounts using 5 different phones and 5 different usernames for the 5 wrestlers. Do this while parked outside the Iowa wrestling room, or standing next to the Gable statue at Carver. When done, put a dress on the Gable statue. I think that a dress like the one Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz would be cute. STEP FOUR: On December 26, place bets on the Iowa Hawkeye football team in the Poulan Weedeater Bowl game (or whatever trash bowl takes a 5-7 team). Again, this is accomplished outside the Iowa wrestling room facility or next to the Gable statue. When done, put lipstick on the Gable statue. Something sexy, but still innocent. STEP FIVE: Three days before the ILLINI/Iowa dual, use that 6th burner phone to alert the media, the Iowa compliance department and the Feds about these "illegal" bets. Do this next to an Iowa dorm, saying you're a "fellow student." Then, race over to the Gable statue and put a classy set of undergarments and a bra on it. Nothing too showy. It should say, "I like to have fun, but I do draw lines." STEP SIX: Profit!

That is very cool, @gimpeltf! Thank you. And, yes, I feel like a **** criticizing volunteers.

Well, that's a pretty smart system you built. I'm going to suggest to Flo and Track that they put in their user interface manual in all-caps and underlined: "THE MATCH ENDS WHEN A HAND IS RAISED, DAGNABIT." And/Or put in their standard contract with tournament organizers, "the party of the second part agrees to have table operators available for training on the scoring consoles ____ minutes before the event begins." Too many times I hear the training is still underway as the matches begin. I'm assuming that Flo has their people show up early to set up their cameras and grease the lenses. Do they also train the scorekeepers?

To celebrate a great Summer for the programs in Champaign, I just finished a video of ILLINI, ILLINI recruits and ILLINI RTC wrestlers getting their hands raised. That video had 85+ ILLINI hands raised. Now I'm working on volume two. The issue I've found doing this project is that Flo videos occasionally stop before a hand gets raised. Sucks for me, right? Here is a video on Flo showing Kannon Webster beating his Louisiana opponent in the Junior Freestyle National Duals. But did he win? I mean, officially? The video stops before any hands are raised. It is tons of little things like this that grind my gears. Sloppy craftsmanship. If you have a Flo sub, you can see that other ILLINI commits Logan Swaw and Will Baysingar also have their videos cut short in the same dual before hands are raised. Whether you are a fan of McDonald's or not, there is no doubt that the company strives to make everything uniform. The type of pickles used, the size of the "meat" patty, the obnoxiousness of the service. They understand details. On another note, some of these videos look like the operators carefully coated the lenses with pig fat. We know that the technology exists today to provide a sharp resolution. They were able to do that in Chile for the Pan Ams. And I know that 30 cameras for Fargo is a lot, but I'm also paying a lot.

One last thing: Throw the Brick. At least once—when my wrestler has an insurmountable lead—I want to throw the brick and challenge the wisdom of awarding points for the outcome of a wrestling move. Shouldn’t the wrestlers and the audience be satisfied with the fact that the outcome happened, and that it was good? Should we award wrestlers with something as useless and vulgar as points? Why not cash or fabulous prizes? Why not beer? REF: "Blue threw a brick. Coach, your wrestler just scored?" HEAD TABLE: "What's the challenge?" COACH PINFALL: "I am challenging the entire system of point scoring in wrestling matches."

I'm totally kidding about all of this except that I would think about coaching a high school team. That's because I had a great high school wrestling coach. One of the best humans I've ever met. As a junior, when I was thinking that I'd graduate and get a job in a factory, he loaded me up in his car and took me to meet college coaches after the season had ended. He told me to take the ACT. He made me run in the snow. Good man.

This is a legitimate issue. What makes it exasperating is that the ad always has an "X" that mocks you. I think you can poke that "X" infinity times. Also, as Flo subscribers, can we not watch Track videos? It's probably operator error on my part, or is it? Finally, I realize that tournament organizers are responsible for manning the scoreboard and clock interfaces with Track and Flo, but perhaps they can either (1) implement a better interface, or (2) write the instructions in French and English.

Cult of Personality. There can be no democracy in the room! It must be a totalitarian state. I want the younglings to say after strenuous exercise, “Thank you for this bounty of push-ups, Leader, may we now have the gift of burpees?” I will give speeches before and after practice, like Mussolini, my head tilted up and my jaw jutting out. Sometimes I will pause a minute or two or even three to let my shouting and arm-waving sink in.

This is a capital idea! If they're good enough for man's best friend.... Also, I can sneak it into the budget under "Wrestler Incentives." Bribes/Blackmail. Refs can always use a little beer money, poor fellows, and really, I'm just being thoughtful, right? The ones we can't bribe, we blackmail.

Great story, WKN! It reminds me of the greatest quote in human history. By 1979, Jimmy Connors was a legend in human Tennis, having appeared in 11 Grand Slam finals. He won 5 of them. Connors was at the peak of his sport—ranked #1 for 5 years in a row—when he faced Vitas Gerulaitis in that year's Master's Cup. Connors had beaten Gerulaitis 16 times in a row, but on that day, that beautiful day, Gerulaitis won. At the press conference the garrulous Gerulaitis said, "And let that be a lesson to you all. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row."

Celebrations. My general practice schedule would emphasize celebrations of course because you never see a loser celebrate. I would encourage pre-match and inter-match celebrations. If you've got enough energy for a back flip at the end of the match, you've got enough energy for one between the second and third periods. Drones. I'm not exactly sure how to fully incorporate drones into wrestling practice, but I will use them to terrorize the folks hiding in the back row at practice who are slacking on their pushups.

I was thinking you meant a six-pack of beer. Then I re-read and saw the "Dr. Pepper." Pretty smart marketing!

"Pinfall Wizard" is good, very good. Will the younglings understand the reference?

This is not set in stone yet. It’s still kind of a vague ambition like being an astronaut. Hey, if an astronaut breaks an arm or something, I’m just saying that I could probably do it. Why not me? Anyway, if I took over a high school wrestling program these are the changes that I would institute: Men’s and Women’s Wrestling. From the instant I was hired, all print, broadcast and social media would refer to the high school teams as Men’s or Women’s wrestling. I want my guys to know that I think more highly of them than anybody else does. When you walk into the wrestling room, you are no longer a boy or a girl, you are a man or a woman. Also, if they take a swing at me, they will be charged as an adult. Beer. There’s way too little beer involved in high school wrestling. I say, if you win a match, you get a beer. If you win a tournament, you get a six-pack. Just don’t walk off the mat and say “Beer Me” out loud because the Principal is sitting right over there. Detention. I would volunteer to be Detention Hall Monitor. New kid shows up, and I’m like, “So, you like to scrap.” Then, tell the tough guy or gal, “You know the saying, ‘Pick on somebody your own size’?, well, in wrestling, not only are they your own size, but they are your own weight down to the freaking ounce, so whaddaya say. Hmm. Hmm? Get your finger outta your nose.” The Local Dairy Queen. I would stake these joints out to look for my 98-pounder adding weight to impress potential mates, or look for my next heavyweight, who can’t resist the smooth creamy deliciousness of a S’mores Blizzard treat. Pool Halls. The kids that hang out here are the ones I want. I would start picketing out front with a sign that read, “Pool is NOT a sport! It Is, at Best, a Pursuit or a Hobby.” I would underline and capitalize the word “not” for emphasis. This is what I’ve come up with so far. What else can I do to get started off on the right foot?

If that's not it, it's similar. Clean. Basic. Easy to read brackets. Cheers!