InterMat Staff

Bethlehem Catholic

Eagle

The Binghamton Bearcats announced a big addition to their coaching staff with the hiring of Sam Schuyler. Schuyler comes back to his home state after spending the 2023-24 season as a graduate assistant on the Iowa State staff. Before his year on the ISU staff, Schuyler was a three-time national qualifier - the last two of which came with the Cyclones. As a senior, Schuyler was a Big 12 runner-up and the eight seed at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Schuyler would advance to the bloodround where he was defeated by Trent Hillger (Wisconsin) in sudden victory. Schuyler made the national tournament in 2022 and also did the same for Buffalo before he transferred to Iowa State. In addition to his coaching responsibilities at Iowa State, Schuyler was also an athlete with the Cyclone Regional Training Center. He competed at 2023 Senior Nationals - in an attempt to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Team Trials and finished sixth with two more losses to Hillger. Before coming to Buffalo, Schuyler finished third at the New York DI State Tournament at 195 lbs. A few months later, he’d grab fourth place at NHSCA Senior Nationals.

Fresh off the news that he'll be going to Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games, 77 kg Greco-Roman star Kamal Bey sat down with Ryan Holmes to discuss how and when he found out the good news. Bey talks about the changes he's seen in US Greco and how he knows he's the face of the US Greco program - a label he'll gladly wear because he likes and can handle the pressure that goes along with it. Other topics that the two hit are his relationships with Tracy Hancock and high school teammates, match strategy and the challenges of wrestling Greco overseas, and the learning curve when he hit the Senior level. That and much more! For the full interview:

Yesterday, mainstream news outlets like Reuters and the Associated Press reported that the Russian Wrestling Federation has decided not to send any wrestlers to the 2024 Olympic Games. Just over a week ago, 16 wrestlers across the three styles were awarded Olympic quotas that were initially won by either Russian or Belarussian competitors at the 2023 World Championships or qualifying events since then. Some notable Russian men’s freestyle wrestlers like 2020 Olympic champions Zaur Uguev, Zaurbek Sidakov, and Abdulrashid Sadulaev were among those wrestlers who earned quotas for Russia but were not permitted after United World Wrestling ruled them ineligible due to their support of Russia during their war with Ukraine. We’re not here today to discuss the geopolitical angle of “should they/shouldn’t they” compete. Wrestling fans who follow the international scene and are familiar with these Russian standouts typically want them to compete so that our American representatives can surpass them and win gold medals. Kyle Snyder (Sadualev) and Jordan Burroughs (Sidakov) have had some incredible matches against their respective Russian opponents and, ideally, we’d like to see more matches of that sort. But they aren’t happening. Shortly after wrestling media picked up on the news of Russia’s decision yesterday, The Wrestling Room’s Pat Mineo suggested that “some fans” may look at our potential gold medal winners as needing “an asterisk” because they prevailed without having these Russians in the bracket. The Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Olympic Games and the United States went on to win gold medals in seven of ten weights. I’m of the opinion that you can’t control who is or isn’t in the bracket, so there shouldn’t be a “yeah, but” disclaimer with some of those 1984 gold medals. I’m here to warn you about falling into that asterisk trap. Don’t do it! If you are someone who thinks 1984 medals deserve an asterisk and this year may be applicable, remember the entire landscape of the wrestling world has changed dramatically since then. In 1984, you only had to beat one wrestler from the Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, there are so many more potential threats among the brackets. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine are some of the countries that emerged after the Soviet breakup and consistently challenge for world medals. Regardless of weight or style, there’s probably one or two wrestlers from one of those nations that’s a medal contender in every bracket. Now, I’m going to break it down even further to illustrate that the discussion of an asterisk doesn’t even make sense for 90% of the Americans competing in Paris. Greco-Roman First and foremost, the elephant in the room - Greco-Roman. The most recent American to win an Olympic gold medal in Greco was Rulon Garnder in 2000. Gardner earned bronze at the 2004 Games that followed. Over the past 10 Olympic/World Championship events America has only captured four total Greco medals. Russia is a Greco power - however, there are plenty of other countries that have an Olympic medal threat or two. In 2020(1), five different countries won Olympic gold medals (only Cuba had two) and one of those was by a Russian (Musa Evloev - 97 kg). Of the 24 medals won at those Olympic Games, 16 different countries had at least one. For full disclosure, Russia was the only country with three medals. So, with our lack of success at Greco coupled with the vast amount of countries that are typically good at Greco, I don’t care what the circumstances are - if we win a gold medal in Greco, it’s a massive success and a huge deal. If we win gold, I’ll tell you where to stick the asterisk. Women’s Freestyle Since the inception of women’s wrestling in the Olympic Games, it has been Japan - not the United States or Russia - who has been the dominant player. Women’s freestyle first appeared in the 2004 Olympic Games. Since then, Japan has won 15 of 24 Olympic gold medals awarded to women. Russia, on the other hand, has just one (Natalia Vorobieva in 2012). Russia isn’t much of an impact player in the women’s freestyle game. In 2024, they did not come away with any medals from the World Championships and they didn’t even appear in a single bronze medal match. Once the Olympic field appeared to be set, after the World OG Qualifier, Russia had representatives at five of six weight classes. Not having these Russians probably doesn’t eliminate any gold medalists; however, with the small 16-woman brackets at the Olympic Games, there’s the possibility that one or two could be in the medal hunt. Let’s be real. If any of our six women win Olympic gold in 2024, it’ll be because they had to go through a Japanese star - along with perhaps a very tough opponent from China, India, Mongolia, or Kyrgyzstan. There is no asterisk necessary for beating some combination of those foes and not having a Russian in the bracket. Men’s Freestyle We’re going into more details with men’s freestyle and weight-by-weight as asterisks, from an American standpoint, as they don’t make any sense in Greco or Women’s Freestyle. 125 kgs Let’s start with one of the easier arguments. In the 2023 World Championships, Mason Parris needed just under four and a half minutes to run through Russia’s Abdulla Kurbanov for a bronze medal in his first Senior World-level event. Later in 2023, Wyatt Hendrickson pinned Kurbanov in the Round of 16 at the U23 World Championships. Anything can happen; wrestlers can improve (or regress), but I don’t know if Kurbanov is a threat to Parris in 2024. Both are relatively young, and Parris in particular, seems to be getting better by the competition, so Kurbanov is not the main medal threat for Parris. That label falls squarely on Amir Zare (Iran), Geno Petriashvili (Georgia), and Taha Akgul (Turkey). Excluding the Olympic win by Gable Steveson, this trio has accounted for every World/Olympic gold medal since 2014. Kurbanov represents another medal contender, but is not at the level of the “big three” as of yet. 86 kg Since Sadulaev moved up from 86 kg following the 2016 Olympic Games, every World/Olympic gold medal at this weight has been won by either David Taylor or Hassan Yazdani (Iran). With Taylor out of the equation after losing to fellow Penn State superstar, Aaron Brooks at the Olympic Trials, many assume this weight class will be a two-horse race between the Iranian and the American, once again. It may not play out that way, but it looks that way on paper. The Russian who qualified for the Olympics at 86 kg was Artur Naifonov. Naifonov is a three-time World/Olympic bronze medalist. He’s never really threatened to break the stranglehold that Taylor/Yazdani has had on this class; however, he’s a very dangerous and capable contender. That being said, the target for American fans is Yazdani. Should Brooks win a bracket that includes Yazdani, I don’t think anyone bats an eye over the omission of a Russian. 57/65 kg I’m going to list these two weights together, because I think they are very similar in their composition. Both are absolutely loaded with gold medal threats. Russians or not. They are the types of weights where you could wrestle them five different times and possibly get five different champions. Maybe that’s not the case with Spencer Lee in the mix at 57 kg, as we haven’t seen him compete at the Senior World level yet. The Russian stalwart at 57 kg has been Uguev. He won gold at the last Olympics, along with the 2018 and 2019 World Championships. However, Uguev did not medal at the 2023 World Championships. In Serbia, he fell to Stevan Micic (Serbia) in the quarterfinals and Zelimkhan Abakarov (Albania) in the bronze medal match. He did shut out an opponent from Kazakhstan to seemingly lock up an Olympic berth. Uguev is right there with some of the best in the world, but he isn’t a big favorite like he was a few years ago. Wrestling at 57 kg in men’s freestyle can have a short life span like that of an NFL running back. Having a grown man approaching 30 years old, (Uguev is 29) make 57 kg a couple times a year is rough. Heavyweights like Agkul and Petriashvili can wrestle at a high level into their 30’s because they’re not necessarily relying on their speed and athleticism like a 57 kg wrestler would do. Looking at Uguev’s 2020(1) Olympic medal picture - none of the medalists will return in 2024 (Ravi Kumar - India, Thomas Gilman, Nurislam Sanayev - Kazakhstan). Even if Uguev was available, could Father Time be catching up to him quickly? It’s hard to say because he didn’t compete in the lead-up to the 2023 World Championships. In a perfect world, you’d love to see Lee defeat Uguev to represent the changing of the guard. However, this isn’t the 2018 version of Uguev. In reality, winning a weight class and beating some combination of Micic, Abakarov, Arsen Harutyunyan (Armenia), Roman Bravo-Young (Mexico), Aman Sehrawat (India), Japan’s representative and/or Wanhao Zou (China) is impressive in and of itself. In 2024, no asterisk is needed. 65 could feature Zain Retherford against a bracket that includes eight other past world medalists. More than half the bracket has been on a World or Olympic medal stand. Three (not counting Retherford) have won world titles. Like 57, would you like to have Shamil Mamedov in the bracket? Absolutely, he’s a returning world bronze medalist and lost by a point to the eventual champion (Iszmail Musukaev - Hungary) by a point in the quarterfinals. Does it lack substance or starpower without him? No! The last time we saw Mamedov, he lost in the opening round of the Yasr Dogu 14-3 to Abdulmazhid Kudiev of Tajikistan in under four minutes. In his next match, Kudiev was pushed the full six minutes by Arizona State freshman Kaleb Larkin. Make no mistake, Kudiev is no slouch. He was one of the opponents that Retherford defeated (5-2) at the World OG Qualifier in repechage. Aside from Mamedov, Kudiev has some good recent wins (Alejandro Valdes Tobier - Cuba). Comparing wins, win margins, and common opponents can be a fool’s errand, especially at this 65 kg weight class; however, the point of it is to illustrate that Mamedov is very good - he could perhaps win this Olympic bracket. At the same time, he could go 0-1. The same can be said for maybe 10 wrestlers in the field. Mamedov not being in the bracket doesn’t warrant an asterisk discussion. 97 kg Now we’re getting into the two weights where most that advocate for hypothetical asterisks may point to first. Snyder/Sadulaev has been one of the best recent rivalries from an American fan’s standpoint. Snyder’s 2017 world finals win over Sadulaev will be played and replayed for decades as it clinched a team title for the men’s freestyle team and saw Snyder prevail over a dominant Russian foe. The initial ruling by UWW - the one that prevented Sadulaev from competing at the 2024 Olympics was a downer for wrestling fans in general. I’m not sure anyone, particularly American fans, would be opposed to another match or two between the two greats. Sentimentality and personal enjoyment aside, should Snyder come back from Paris with another gold medal, it will have been well-earned and not asterisk-worthy. Neither Snyder nor Sadulaev would be considered the favorite in 2024. That distinction belongs to Sadulaev’s former understudy, Akhmed Tazhudinov, who now wrestles for Bahrain. Tazhudinov seemingly came out of nowhere to tech Snyder in the 2023 World quarterfinals. A match later, he was up on Sadulaev by seven points when the Russian injury defaulted out of the tournament. To win gold, Tazhudinov got up by seven on Magomedkhan Magomedov of Azerbaijan before securing a fall. Earlier this year, Snyder was defeated in the finals of the Zagreb Open by Iran’s Amirali Azarpira (6-3). Azapira qualified the weight for Iran at the Asian Olympic Qualifier and is presumably their rep. Were Snyder to win, he might have to beat two opponents that have defeated him within the calendar year, neither of which is named Sadulaev. At this point in their careers, a win over Tazhudinov might be more difficult than a win over Sadulaev. For now, it doesn’t necessarily have the same luster as beating Sadulaev, but in my opinion, it isn’t worthy of an asterisk. 74 kg This one is the other anticipated matchup we were hoping to see. Kyle Dake versus Sidakov. A rematch of the 2023 world final, won by Sidakov, 10-7. Sidakov has won this weight class at every World/Olympic event he’s entered since 2018. He did not compete in the 2021 World Championships that followed the Olympic Games that year and was not allowed to wrestle in 2022. Since 2018, Dake has only lost twice - once being in last year’s world finals to Sidakov. In addition to Sidakov, Mahamedkhabib Kadzimahamedau of Belarus was also denied the opportunity to compete in Paris by UWW. Kadzimahamedau is also responsible for the other recent loss on Dake’s resume (2020 Olympics). He went on to take the silver medal at the last Olympic Games. It’s unfortunate that Dake won’t have the opportunity to avenge either of his two semi-recent losses on the way to an Olympic gold medal. You can make what you want of whatever Dake’s performance in Paris. I have a hard time knocking someone with a resume like his (5 world medals - 4 gold/1 silver and an Olympic bronze) and claiming a potential gold medal is hollow. The people who throw shade at the 1984 gold medalists, typically point at wrestlers who earned their only world-level medal at the tournament. Dake does not fall into that category. Conclusion: As you can tell, I'm not fond of the asterisk term at all, especially in the case of the Americans wrestling in 2024 and their respective situations and challenges. I also think you could only make an argument about it at one or two weights, in reality. Before we go, I’ll pull back the curtain, a bit. I’ve served as an editor for three different wrestling websites, two of which covered international wrestling. General international wrestling doesn’t move the needle that much for the wrestling public. The Olympics does and content promoting the Olympics does. A preview of NC State/Virginia Tech probably gains more traction than a weight class preview of 65 kg in men’s freestyle at the 2023 World Championships. There are a very, very select few wrestling fans who know all ten Russian entries at the world championships. Even fewer know the second and third Russians on the domestic ladder. Or the real contenders at each weight. Maybe based on history, fans know beating a Russian or Iranian probably means you’re in the hunt for a gold medal. All of this to say, I’m not sure my old high school teammates, the ones that only tune in for the NCAA finals, the Olympics, and maybe a random college dual, necessarily care if Kyle Snyder meets Sadualev. If Kyle Snyder wins Olympic gold…great we’re happy and he probably beat some really good opponents along the way. Interest in international wrestling has grown thanks to organizations like InterMat, FloWrestling, USA Wrestling, and UWW. There is more information and content related to wrestlers like Sadulaev or Sidakov than in past generations, so more people care - but at the same time, not enough to make an asterisk discussion any sort of a real talking point. Maybe to the select few hardcore international fans. Part of me hates writing this article a month out from the Olympic Games as a lot has to be contested on the mat before we even have to consider putting American Olympic gold medals into a historical perspective. The competitor in me thinks if we’re focusing on opponents that aren’t at the Games or how the public perceives a win, then we’re overlooking the Japanese or Iranian foes that will be in Paris. As if my or your opinions on the subject have a real impact on the way that Dake, Amit Elor, or Kamal Bey prepares for Paris, but I am superstitious like that.

Fountain Valley

Granite Bay

Morro Bay

Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol

Last week, we learned that Kamal Bey and 15 other athletes have been awarded Olympic quotas after those earned by some Russian and Belarusian athletes were redistributed once they were disallowed to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games. Today, ESPN and Reuters are reporting that the Russian Wrestling Federation has unanimously voted not to have its wrestlers compete at all in the upcoming Olympic Games. This vote reportedly consisted of the Russian executive committee, the coaching staff, and invited athletes. As it stood last week, only ten Russians across all three wrestling disciplines were allowed to compete. The ten Russians that were expected to participate - along with wrestlers from Belarus were only allowed to compete as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN). Their country's flags were not allowed to be on singlets or warm-up gear, they would not have been able to participate in the opening ceremonies and their national anthem would not have been played in the event they won an Olympic gold medal. This has been how wrestlers from these two countries have been handled in recent international wrestling competitions during the war with Ukraine. During the initial ruling by United World Wrestling, three of Russia’s returning Olympic champions, Zaur Uguev (57 kg), Zaurbek Sidakov (74 kg), and Abdulrashid Sadulaev (97 kg) were not allowed to compete due to their involvement with the Russian military. We will see if these ten Olympic quotas are redistributed in lieu of the RWF’s statement. Wrestling at the 2024 Olympic Games starts on August 5th.

It never seems to fail. Every time we’ve posted an update to the coaching carousel it seems like the floodgates open and a handful of new hirings have been posted. So, with an update on Friday afternoon the day after July 4th, there can’t be any more news…right? Either way, there has been plenty of news on the coaching front since our last update. Two of the head coaching positions were filled by Donny Pritzlaff (Columbia) and Jaime Franco (Hofstra). We also wrote about the hiring of Ty Eustice at Navy, North Dakota State announced two new coaches, McGwire Midkiff is in at NIU, Taylor LaMont was added to the Army staff, and Ben Barton was named the Director of Operations at the Naval Academy. One hire we didn’t mention involves a former member of the Navy staff, Dan Neff, who went back to his home state and took a position on the Bucknell staff. Neff has previously coached on Dan Wirnsberger’s Bucknell staff from 2016-18. During Neff’s final year at Navy, the Midshipmen crowned their first All-American since 2016 as David Key got on the NCAA podium with an eighth-place finish at 184 lbs. Additionally, one of Neff’s lightweights, Josh Koderhandt, captured an EIWA title, was named to the NWCA All-Star Classic, and came up a match shy of earning All-American honors. Neff initially started at the Naval Academy as a Director of Operations but moved onto the coaching staff as a full-time assistant coach. In the next week, be on the lookout for information regarding Donny Pritzlaff’s replacement at Rutgers and potentially more. Offseason Coaching Movement Binghamton: Louie DePrez - Assistant Coach (Binghamton athlete) Brown: Micky Phillippi - Assistant Coach (Brown Director of Ops) Bucknell: Dan Neff - Assistant Coach (Navy Assistant Coach) Buffalo: Donnie Vinson - Head Coach (Cornell Associate Head Coach) Buffalo: Andrew Dunn - Assistant Coach (North Carolina Director of Operations) Buffalo: Hunter Richard - Assistant Coach (Appalachian State Assistant Coach) Campbell: TJ Dudley - Assistant Coach (Brown Assistant Coach) Central Michigan: Ben Bennett (Central Michigan Associate Head Coach) Columbia: Donny Pritzlaff (Rutgers Associate Head Coach) Cornell: Scottie Boykin (Air Force Assistant Coach) Cornell: David McFadden (Drexel Assistant Coach) Edinboro: AJ Schopp - Head Assistant Coach (Purdue Assistant Coach) George Mason: Dean Heil - Head Assistant Coach Hofstra: Jamie Franco - Head Coach (Columbia Assistant Coach) Lock Haven: Gavin Hoffman - Volunteer Assistant (Ohio State athlete) Navy: Barry Davis - Assistant Coach Navy: Ty Eustice - Assistant Coach (Davidson Assistant Coach) NC State: Zack Esposito - Associate Head Coach (USOPTC) North Dakota State: Matt Malcom - Assistant Coach (Bellevue East HS) North Dakota State: Scott Mattingly - Head Assistant Coach (Gardner-Webb Associate Head Coach) Northern Illinois: McGwire Midkiff Oklahoma State: David Taylor - Head Coach (NLWC Athlete) Oklahoma State: Thomas Gilman - Assistant Coach (NLWC Athlete) Oklahoma State: Jimmy Kennedy - Associate Head Coach (Penn State Assistant Coach) Penn: Matt Valenti - Associate Head Coach (Penn athletic administration) Penn: Doug Zapf - Assistant Coach (PRTC athlete) Penn State: Nick Lee - Assistant Coach (NLWC athlete) Pittsburgh: Lou Rosselli - Assistant Coach Princeton: Anthony Ashnault - Assistant Coach (NYC RTC athlete) Princeton: Cody Brewer - Head Assistant Coach (Virginia Tech Assistant Coach) Princeton: Nate Jackson (NJ RTC athlete) SIU Edwardsville: Austin Murphy - Graduate Assistant (Campbell athlete) Stanford: Hayden Hidlay (North Dakota State Assistant Coach) Utah Valley: Adam Hall - Head Coach (NC State Associate Head Coach) Utah Valley: Andrew Hochstrasser - Unannounced Role (Utah Club Coach) Utah Valley: Timmy McCall - Assistant Coach Virginia Tech: Zach Tanelli - Associate Head Coach (Columbia Head Coach) Wisconsin: Tony Cassioppi - Assistant Coach (HWC athlete) Non-Coaching Roles Navy: Ben Barton - Director of Operations Oklahoma: Mark Hall - Director of Operations (Penn Assistant Coach) Oklahoma State: Bryan Pearsall - Recruiting Coordinator (Penn Associate Head Coach) RTC’s and Wrestling Clubs Navy WC: Peyton Walsh Tar Heel WC: Vincenzo Joseph (SKWC Athlete) Current Openings Air Force: Assistant Coach Appalachian State: Assistant Coach (x2) Binghamton: Assistant Coach Bloomsburg: Head Coach Campbell: Assistant Coach Central Michigan: Assistant Coach Columbia: Assistant Coach Davidson: Assistant Coach (x2) Drexel: Assistant Coach (x2) Gardner-Webb: Assistant Coach George Mason: Assistant Coach Oregon State: Director of Operations Penn: Assistant Coach Purdue: Assistant Coach Rutgers: Assistant Coach Utah Valley: Assistant Coach

Verbals continue to fly in and during the last week or so we saw three top-100 recruits come off the board, plus another interesting prospect. While some attention has been turned to the rising juniors in the Class of 2026, we haven’t seen a big verbal from one of them yet. The actual commitments are coming from the Class of 2025 - for now. Here’s some information about the recent Big Boarders from the Class of 2025 that verballed. #59 Micah Hach: Watertown, South Dakota to South Dakota State The precious few top-100 recruits from the Class of 2025 continue to dwindle as another posted a recent commitment. #59 Micah Hach, who was the fourth-highest uncommitted recruit on the Big Board, announced he will stay close to home and attend South Dakota State. Hach is expected to pull double duty and also compete for the Jackrabbits football program which won the FCS national championship in 2023 and has made the playoffs for the last 11 seasons. Last year, around this time, Hach made the short trip to Fargo and earned Junior All-American honors in both styles at 285 lbs. He was sixth in Greco and fourth in freestyle. This spring, Hach captured an NHSCA Junior National Championship in folkstyle. Despite his national credentials, Hach will be seeking his first South Dakota state title in 2024-25. He was a state runner-up in each of the last two years and third as a freshman. The Jackrabbits finished in the top 15 at the NCAA Championships for a second consecutive year and did not have a heavyweight qualify in either of those seasons. They don’t have a pressing need for a 285 lber with two sophomores on the depth chart and a potential freshman on the way in; however, they will need heavyweight depth if Hach continues to attempt to play both sports. Hach is now the fifth member of the 2025 Big Board to verbal to Damion Hahn’s team. He’s the second top-100 recruit, joining #85 Bas Diaz (IA). For South Dakota State’s current Class of 2025 #121 Brady Collins: Clearfield, Pennsylvania to Brown Don’t look now, but Brown is in the process of putting together a really strong Class of 2025. The Bears 2024 Class was solid as well and a huge upgrade over previous recruiting recruits. The Class of 2025 added a fifth Big Boarder with the commitment of Brady Collins this week. Collins is a two-time Pennsylvania AA state placewinner taking third at 152 lbs this season and fourth at 139 lbs last year. After the state tournament, Collins made the NHSCA Junior finals at 160 lbs. Not only is Collins the fifth Big Boarder for Brown, he’s also the third that hails from Pennsylvania - and fourth total in the class. For a second straight year, Brown is cleaning up in assistant coaches Michael Kemerer and Micky Phillipi’s home state. Collins appears to be a 165 lber at the next level. Currently, that seems to be a weight class in high need for Brown during the 2025-26 campaign. For Brown’s current Class of 2025 #154 Noah Weaver: Rossville, Indiana to Purdue Purdue got their second commitment from a Class of 2025 Big Boarder within the last week-plus. Last week, they received a verbal from Ohio’s #101 Brody Saccoccia - this week it’s Noah Weaver. Weaver is no stranger to the Boilermaker program as he goes to high school less than 30 minutes away from Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. During the 2023-24 season, Weaver went undefeated to capture his first Indiana state championship at 190 lbs. As a sophomore, Weaver made the one-class state tournament but was not able to make the podium. Outside of Indiana, Weaver was third at Junior Folkstyle Nationals earlier this year. Weaver projects as a 197/285 lb prospect for the Boilermakers. Although his Junior folkstyle placement was at 190 lbs, he’s signed up for Fargo at 215 lbs. 285 lbs appears to be a weight that Purdue needs to fill desperately as three of their four big men have junior eligibility. After top-20 recruiting classes in 2021 and 2023, Purdue missed the cut in 2024. With Saccoccia and Weaver already in the mix, Purdue could be back on the way to another ranking in 2025. For Purdue’s current Class of 2025 Seth Digby: Lake Forest, Illinois (Northfield Mt. Herman) to Maryland Maryland received their third verbal from the Class of 2025 as Illinois’ Seth Digby committed to the Terps. Digby is a three-time Illinois 2A state qualifier who broke through and placed for the first time in 2024 when he made the state finals. He went 41-3 on the year. Digby was a senior during the 2023-24 school year but will head to New England power, Northfield Mt. Herman, for a post-grad year. With that experience, Digby might be ready to jump into the Maryland lineup immediately in 2025-26. Maryland has some youth in the 165/174 range, but that mainly consists of recruits from the Class of 2024 - so we’re not sure if they could be considered long-term solutions just yet. The Maryland staff has been all over the recruiting trail - casting a wide net. In the Class of 2025 alone, they have verbal from Digby (Massachusetts via Illinois), and others from California and Colorado. For Maryland’s current Class of 2025

Freedom

Hartford Union

Northfield Mt. Herman

Yesterday, we wrote about the vacant Bloomsburg head coaching position and tried to provide some clarity regarding the future of the program and the intentions of its administrators. Now, we’re moving on to potential candidates for the vacancy. As always, with these exercises, we’ve tried to stick with candidates who make some sense for the opening. Before getting to the candidates, we’ll look at the team itself. Bloomsburg is coming off back-to-back 13th-place finishes in the MAC and has gone a combined 8-28 in dual competition over the last two years. Four of the wrestlers who competed at the 2024 MAC Championships will return in 2024-25 and a couple of others are in the transfer portal. Bloomsburg’s most recent NCAA representative was Josh Mason who made the tournament in 2022 and 2023. We’ve broken down the categories of candidates to veterans, new coaching blood, and will close with a special one-of-a-kind category. Veterans John Hughes This name would make sense to those who follow the Bloomsburg program as John Hughes’ twin brother, Russ, has been on the Bloomsburg staff since 2016. Could the brother join forces to lead the Huskies going forward? Since this would be John’s first college head coaching gig, having his twin brother so familiar with the landscape of the school and athletic department would be a huge bonus. Hughes spent 11+ years coaching at Lehigh under Pat Santoro. Before coming to Lehigh, Hughes was an assistant at his alma mater, Penn State. Hughes was also heavily involved in notable recruiting classes for both schools. As an athlete, Hughes was a three-time All-American for the Nittany Lions - winning a Big Ten and NCAA title in 1995. Bloomsburg is only a short drive from the Hughes’ hometown of Stillwater. With that type of home-field advantage and John’s long-time knowledge of the Pennsylvania wrestling landscape, he should be able to do well recruiting. At least initially, a school like Bloomsburg will need to unearth some diamonds in the rough, so someone with a deep knowledge of the high school/club scene is very important. Hughes has been out of collegiate coaching since November of 2019 when he left the Lehigh staff for personal reasons. That’s something that would have to be addressed and the Bloomsburg athletic department would be comfortable with it before moving forward. With that being said, Hughes is extremely respected within the coaching ranks. Kerry Regner Make no mistake, despite the renewed excitement surrounding the Bloomsburg program, a rebuild will not be easy. Getting the Huskies back to a competitive level in DI will not happen overnight. With that in mind, why not someone who has experience building programs from the ground up. That’s exactly what Kerry Regner did at NAIA Williams Baptist. He took a brand-new program and won a pair of conference titles in his three years on the job and produced six All-Americans and a national champion. That success at Williams Baptist led to his current position which is head coach at Millersville. As we mentioned in part one, Millersville is a PSAC school that previously competed at the DI level, but dropped down to DII. In year one at Millersville, Regner produced the school’s first All-American in over 25 years. A year later, 165 lber Shane Ruhnke claimed the school’s first national title in 39 years. Regner’s success at Millersville helped him land a job with the NWCA as their Director of Coaching Development. Regner’s current job also probably helped him become a more well-rounded coach, himself. Regner graduated from Northern Michigan and has a strong background in Greco-Roman. He is a past national team member and has trained out of the Olympic Training Center. The experience at Millersville, a school with a similar profile to Bloomsburg, and his knowledge of Pennsylvania wrestling could be attractive for the Huskie athletic department. Steve Mytych Last month, we spoke to Rutgers assistant coach Steve Mytych right before recruiting class rankings were released. While he characterized Rutgers recruiting as a team effort, Mytych is very in touch with the recruiting scene and has largely been responsible for the Scarlet Knights breaking into Pennsylvania with some regularity. Rutgers’ fourth-ranked recruiting class features three top-100 recruits from Pennsylvania and another one is aboard for 2025. Some work will have to be done for Bloomsburg to sign multiple top-100 recruits, regardless of state; however, the fact remains that Mytych is very connected to the Pennsylvania scene. He’d likely improve the Bloomsburg recruiting profile immediately. Mytych’s roots go back to Pennsylvania’s fabled District XI as he graduated from Northampton High School before starring at Drexel. Mytych qualified for NCAA’s four times and finished with a CAA title, as a senior, and advanced to the NCAA Round of 12. While Kemerer and Hidlay may have more name-brand recognition amongst wrestling fans, Mytych may be the type of hire that ends up being just as productive for Bloomsburg. New Coaching Blood Michael Kemerer With a rebuilding job like the one in front of Bloomsburg, you may best be served by turning to a candidate who is younger and more energetic. After all, even with the potential for more help, a coach at Bloomsburg will have to be more resourceful and more involved with every minor detail of a wrestling program - rather than being able to delegate certain tasks at a Big Ten school. So, as we’re talking about younger candidates, how about the guy they called “grandpa” in Iowa, Michael Kemerer. Kemerer earned the name at the end of a decorated seven-year career with the Hawkeyes that saw him get on the NCAA podium four times (3,4,2,4), winning a Big Ten title, and become a leader of a national championship-winning team in 2021. Kemerer has since made the transition into coaching. After his career at Iowa was done, he moved to Cornell to train and coach with Spartan Combat RTC for a year before joining the staff at Brown University. Brown is in a rebuilding phase of their own so the good work of the current staff hasn’t been able to translate onto the mat - just yet; however, they have crushed it on the recruiting trail. Brown inked three wrestlers who appeared on the 2024 Big Board and have commitments from five currently on the 2025 Big Board. That’s a huge improvement from years past. Looking closely at those commitments, Brown has six during the 2024 and 2025 recruiting cycle from Pennsylvania. It’s hard to say exactly who’s responsible for those, but I’d imagine Kemerer has “something” to do with them. Kemerer’s name recognition from his time at Iowa and his great high school career in Pennsylvania, his youth, and the respect from his peers should be enticing for the Bloomsburg brass. Hayden Hidlay Just about two weeks ago, Stanford announced that they had hired Hayden Hidlay as an assistant coach. The Cardinal won the sweepstakes for one of the hottest young coaching candidates in the country. A handful of notable programs had either reached out to express interest or interviewed Hidlay for vacancies. Ultimately, an impressive young core in Palo Alto and some of the best weather in the country won out and Hidlay is headed west. Hidlay is two years removed from college, and coincidentally, wrestled Kemerer in their final NCAA bout. After the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Hidlay quickly transitioned into NC State’s “Student-Athlete Development Coordinator.” Before the 2023-24 campaign, Hidlay rejoined his former assistant coach, Obe Blanc, at North Dakota State for a spot on Blanc’s first staff. Because of the coaching turnover at NDSU, the Bison were in a rebuilding phase of their own in 2023-24. However, 174 lber Gaven Sax - someone who likely worked closely with Hidlay made the Big 12 finals and advanced to the NCAA Round of 12. In the grand scheme of things, Hidlay’s hometown (Lewistown) is pretty close to the Bloomsburg campus - less than 75 miles away. Hidlay and younger brother, Trent, are well-known nationally, but even moreso, in Pennsylvania. Like Kemerer, Hidlay seems to have done well at recruiting in Pennsylvania with a very small sample size. He likely played a role in a pair of Pennsylvania upperweights that signed with NDSU in 2024. We’ve seen earlier this year with Oklahoma State hiring David Taylor; if you think a candidate is “the one” you go get them, regardless of whether or not they have a long track record of coaching experience. If you like a Hidlay or Kemerer - both of which could be considered future stars in the coaching game - and have the opportunity to get them, you do it. Chance Marsteller The timing may not necessarily be right for this one, but let’s work through it. Chance Marsteller made the 2023 World Team at 79 kg, unseating the legendary Jordan Burroughs. He moved up to 86 kg for the 2024 Olympic Team Trials and was unsuccessful in his bid to make the Olympic team. Does Marsteller want to move back down to 79 kg for the non-Olympic weight trials in September? Does he want to continue competing? Marsteller is approaching 30 years old, so he may be thinking of hanging up the shoes - or at least for competitive purposes. For the last few years, Marsteller has run his own club in Pennsylvania “Stellar Trained.” It’s become one of the best in the state and is among some of the best in the country. Like the aforementioned David Taylor, Marsteller has competed at a high level and done well on the club circuit, but doesn’t have any official collegiate coaching experience. Marsteller has an incredible story of redemption and is now a revered figure in the wrestling community. Even so, you have to wonder how an administration would view his troubled years in college and shortly thereafter. If they can get past that, Marsteller could be an excellent candidate. He’s one of the best to ever do it amongst Pennsylvania high schoolers, has multiple All-American honors at Lock Haven, and the Senior-level success, combined with a rapidly growing club. Should he get the job (or any collegiate opportunity), Marsteller would be able to tap into his former club pupils or others he’s encountered on the club scene. Run-it-Back John Stutzman John Stutzman is back on the market after spending a decade at his alma mater Buffalo. The very reason Stutzman was an attractive prospect for Buffalo was because of his success at Bloomsburg. Stutzman spent eight years leading the Bloomsburg program and amassed 95 wins which is good for third on the school’s all-time list. During his time with Bloomsburg, Stutzman was named EWL Coach of the Year on three occasions and produced 33 national qualifiers, who went on to earn All-American honors three times. His wrestlers captured eight EWL individual titles. In his final year at Bloomsburg, six Huskie wrestlers qualified for nationals and the team notched 17 dual wins (most in the school history) and finished with a #15 national ranking by the NWCA. Stutzman’s Bloomsburg teams typically featured wrestlers who were underrecruited, but developed into hard-nosed, tough DI competitors. Though Stutzman never approached similar levels of success at Buffalo, he is extremely well-respected by Bloomsburg alums. Do they run it back and try something that worked well in the past?

The top prospect in the high school Class of 2026, Bo Bassett, has vowed to keep fans abreast of his recruiting with daily Wednesday updates. Well, today is Wednesday and true to his word, Bassett has posted an updated graphic which has eliminated a handful of schools from consideration. Earlier this year, Bassett posted a graphic that contained the logos of approximately 80 schools, most of the DI variety, but some DII’s as well, to signify that he’s totally open in the recruiting process. The following schools were removed from this week’s graphic: Appalachian State, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Drexel, Kent State, Ohio, and St. Cloud State The following schools remain on Bassett’s graphic and therefore in contention for his services: Air Force, American, Arizona State, Army West Point, Brown, Bucknell, California Baptist, Cal Poly, Campbell, Clarion, Columbia, Cornell, CSU Bakersfield, Edinboro, George Mason, Harvard, Hofstra, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Lehigh, Little Rock, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Millersville, Minnesota, Missouri, Navy, NC State, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Penn, Penn State, Pitt-Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Purdue, Rider, Rutgers, South Dakota State, Stanford, The Citadel, Virginia, Virginia Tech, UW Parkside, West Virginia, West Liberty, Wisconsin, Wyoming. The following schools were removed from last week’s graphic: Binghamton, Bloomsburg, Duke, Gardner-Webb, Northern Illinois, Sacred Heart, SIU Edwardsville As you would expect, most traditional DI power programs are still in the hunt for the two-time Super 32 and Ironman champion. Bassett is currently training for the U20 Pan-American Championships and the U20 World Championships. The U20 Pan-American tournament takes place July 11th-13th in Lima, Peru and the U20 World Championships are September 2nd-8th in Pontevedra, Spain. In 2021, Bassett captured gold medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman at the U17 Pan-American Championships. That same year, at the U17 World Championships, Bassett claimed a gold medal in freestyle and was 12th in Greco. He’ll compete this year just in freestyle.

The guys are back with another addition of the InterMat Wrestling podcast. In today's edition, they talk about the possibility of AJ Ferrari returning to college wrestling, the Christian Carroll transfer, Bo Bassett's recruitment and the new era of recruiting. Finally, they wrap-up by talking about some of the recent coaching hires. For the full show:

Somerset

Watertown

Rossville

Northview

Malvern Prep

Cleveland

One of the more overlooked stories of this collegiate offseason is the coaching situation at Bloomsburg University. On or around May 8th, head coach Marcus Gordon resigned from his post leading the Huskie wrestling program. That move may have slipped under the radar as the school never made an official announcement regarding the change. Those closest to the program were aware of the change and without any acknowledgment of the situation from the school, began to fear the worse. In today’s climate for big-time collegiate athletics, the Power Five (now four) DI conferences appear to be running away from the rest of the country in hopes of building the biggest collegiate football league possible. There will be hundreds of millions of dollars, even billions, in this venture for the lucky few - however, the have-nots are left to fight for scraps and a place at the table. With that in mind, colleges around the country are tightening their financial belts in the event that they’ll receive less money from TV and football revenue. Many schools have been in this mode since Covid. Those financial concerns have been front and center in Pennsylvania, primarily the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), a DII conference in the state. Bloomsburg, along with Clarion, Edinboro, and Lock Haven are members of the PSAC and are DII schools that compete at the DI level in wrestling. Mercyhurst left the conference in 2024 to join the Northeast Conference as they transition to full-time DI status for their athletic department. Dwindling enrollment numbers have even forced some of these schools to band together. Clarion and Edinboro are technically known as Penn West University Clarion or Edinboro, along with Penn West University California. So, with the combination of a lack of funds - for entire institutions (not just wrestling programs), a team that went 8-28 over the past two years, the cost to compete in DI wrestling nowadays (with NIL and more), plus a coach stepping down and not being publicly acknowledged by the school, fans of Bloomsburg wrestling and the sport, in general, feared the worst. The worst being the program would be cut and a “not terrible” alternative would be the Bloomsburg wrestling program dropping to DII status. East Stroudsburg and Millersville are two PSAC programs that previously wrestled at the DI level, but have moved down to DII within the last 15 years. I assume most wrestling fans would prefer to have as many DI programs as possible; however, you’d rather see a program drop to DII rather than being cut altogether. Those rumors of a change in direction regarding the Bloomsburg wrestling program and athletic department were not ignored by InterMat, as we’ve been doing some digging on the topic. What we’ve found is some rare good news on the subject. There were concerns from the athletic department on the status of the program, which led to an internal evaluation. The athletic department has made a decision to renew its commitment to wrestling by increasing coaching salaries in hopes of landing the best possible candidate. Just as important, the uncertainty surrounding the program has led alums and friends of the program to be reinvigorated, reenergized, and committed to more involvement going forward. Along the same lines, there have been some new and significant donors who have stepped up to help the program. The head coaching position has been advertised and the school will accept applications until July 11th. So, with increased support and an athletic department that is set on increasing the profile of its program, who will Bloomsburg hire? In part two, we’ll look at some candidates that have expressed interest or make sense for an opening like this.