BAC

Man, every time I come back to this thread, there’s another turd in the toilet. I’m sure every schools has their share of d-bag donors. The issue is Iowa slapping his name up on their new facility. I Even if his latest gem was not intended to endorse the “skank” comment, there is still enough dishonesty, misogyny and pettiness in his other posts to make him unworthy IMO. Whether Iowa has the cajones to risk losing his donation by renaming the facility remains to be seen. I am tempted to add that I am not optimistic given the Brands’ track record of taking money from sources far worse than Nicolls. But realistically this is an admin call.

I'm not proud of the fact that I just burned a half hour reading that Iowa/Rivals forum thread. I'll never get that time back and I have only myself to blame. So that others don't make the same mistake, I'll sum up: 1. When wrestlers leave Iowa, the fans will turn on you like a pack of wild dogs. Iowa wrestlers take note: When you hear the cheers, they aren't for you, they are for the singlet. I don't think I've ever seen anyone slimed as much as Chittum and his old man after what those Hawk fans are dishing out. 2. Most Iowa fans (thankfully not all) are ALL IN on bringing in the Ferraris and they really could not care less who they raped or assaulted, or who leaves the program as a result, as long as they win. (But see #1.) 3. Iowa donor Nicolls is an enormous d-bag. Dishonest, self-serving, thin-skinned. All the Iowa fans there know it but swing from his jock anyway because they don't want to lose the $$. Surely Brands knows it too. Shades of the Brands/DuPont "blood money" debacle. 4. Wille is kind of a d-bag too, but in more of an endearing and honest way. He's *our* d-bag, not afraid to call someone out, even realizing that it is sure to harm his future access to the Iowa program. Not what a journalist should do, but I think Willie knows that and has decided that's not really his lane anyway, which I respect. I need a shower.

If I'm following the facts correctly, Iowa losing Chittum is absolutely a self-inflicted wound, by choosing the Ferraris over him. Iowa's first error was going after the Ferrari clan. Yeah, I know, desperate times call for desperate measures. But come on... really? With AJ having a serious sexual assault charge against him (and burglary), and Anthony getting booted from a couple schools and two assault convictions? Only Angelo's record is clean (though his flex on Blair's coaches at Ironman doesn't give me the warm-and-fuzzies). Even Rutgers would think twice about the two older Ferraris, yet Iowa is chasing after them? The second error was not reversing course when Chittum balked at Anthony Ferrari joining the team. We know Mineo's unreliable, but he linked to a Des Moines Register article which said of Chittum the other day: "He didn't dive into details in his brief conversation with the Register, but he allowed that he'd rather leave Iowa City than be teammates with the Ferraris." There's your reason. Chittum, to be fair, isn't exactly known for his program loyalty, but his position was entirely reasonable here. We can only assume that Iowa's coaches did NOTHING, and so by this afternoon it was a done deal. Chittum to ISU. As a final insult, a bunch of posters on Iowa's board are now saying that Anthony got dinged by Iowa admissions the other day -- right about the time Chittum was packing his bags. Whoops! Looks like Tom bet on the wrong horse. 0 for 2. AJ's still out there but I can't see Iowa's AD allowing Tom to touch him until his charges are resolved, and that outlook looks bleak. I'm no Iowa fan but if I were, I would be MAD. Yeah it sucks to see PSU and Michigan nab all the top transfers (though Voinovich is a nice get), but you HAVE to know that playing footsies with the Ferrari clan is going to backfire in the long run. And it did. It is interesting to read the Iowa Rivals forum, where there's an all-out war between the "win at all costs" crowd and the decent Iowa fans (yes they exist) who always knew that cozying up to the Ferraris wasn't the solution to their ills. Lets hope the latter group wins out and convinces Tom to build his team the right way.

I'm waiting for an interviewer to start an interview with Aaron Brooks with "Apart from God, how'd you manage to [insert key match move]?" There's got to be SOME way to get him out of that spiel. But at least he didn't diss Islam again. But yeah, Gilman is the clear overall winner here, while single-interview honors go to Sammy Brooks and his sublime mullet.

I'll go with Bassett. I know he took a couple Ls at U17s but to my eyes, he is markedly better at folkstyle, where he can push the pace and work his top game. But props to the Cortez brothers -- I think each of them took a win over him.

I don’t remember the move you are talking about. What comes immediately to mind is his hip toss on Cenzo last year — a move he never forces but rarely misses when he senses it’s there. Hit his arm spin a couple times too at the Open too. It’s nice technique. Clean.

I dunno about that. I'm partial to guys who aren't afraid to go upper body, and he has a nice hip toss and arm spin.

Just wanted to give a shout out to this guy. One of the best redemption stories around. Those of us who've been around the forums for a while will know the guy's history. I remember him as a young phenom, wrestling in Cadets at Salulaev's weight, getting injured in the semis. Comes back, parlays that into undefeated high school career, goes to OSU. Gets regularly whupped by Dieringer, which necessitates a huge cut to 157.... things go haywire, off the team as he turns to drugs/alcohol, transfers, gets arrested after a bender... rock bottom. Then surrounds himself with good people, picks himself up, gets sober, comes back to take 4th and 3rd at NCAAs at Lock Haven. Becomes very, very open about his sobriety network as he gets his feet firmly planted, raises his kids, trains hard, starts a club, many of them in Vegas. Made Final X last year and does it again this year, finally overcoming the Dieringer hurdle. Very open in his interview: Chance Marsteller Gets Final X Rematch With Jordan Burroughs (flowrestling.org) Love JB but you won't catch me rooting against Marsteller either.

I dunno. Compare PSU and Iowa's handling of Suriano and Lee, respectively. Suriano wanted to wrestle in the postseason. PSU would have loved him to, but thought he was too injured. Suriano disagreed, strongly. PSU held its ground, and in the resulting dust-up, Suriano transferred. PSU showed it'd rather lose one of their top guys than let him wrestle with too much of an injury. Lee? Just the opposite. Lee gets injured right before NCAAs, and Iowa throws him out there anyway. In fact, time after time, Iowa let Lee wrestle while badly injured. How much did Lee exacerbate his injuries by wrestling in these situations? I have no doubt that Lee, like Suriano, wanted to go. That's what thoroughbreds do. But Iowa didn't say no. Its the job of coaches to put the wrestler before the program, and hold them back if that's what the trainers/doctors recommend -- to the team's detriment if necessary. I thought it was sort of poetic that the most recent withdrawal happened just before a match between Suriano and Lee. Not that we'll ever know for sure if Surano would've exacerbated his injuries if PSU threw him out there when they shouldn't have, or if Lee would be healthier today if Iowa prioritized Lee's long-term health over their short-term lusting for a title. I have my suspicions. But the bottom line is that on the eve of Worlds, and just a year before the Olympics, Surano can go, and Lee can't. But hey, at least Iowa got its team title. That's all that matters right?

If the scoreboard says 10-10, and the losing guy's hand gets raised, then viewers DO NOT know who won. Pretty simple.

Yeah, its kind of weird -- I would have thought that after a year of WWE under his belt, Gable would be all about the trash talk. Instead he's Mr. Nice Guy. Super positive, wanting to grow the sport, put on a show, mad props to Mason, and so on. Maybe he's trying to position himself to be a "good guy" in the next WWE draft and wants to show he's a fan favorite? Whatever it is, I hope the WWE lets him stick around. What a force.

Not many rule changes I'd make in freestyle, but one I'd definitely make is to add OT. If you can have a situation where the people who are closest to the sport -- the scorekeepers, coaches, refs and competitors -- don't know who won a given match, that's a problem with the rules. At MINIMUM, if there's no OT, change it to simply "last score wins" in the case of a tie, without all this weighting/ranking BS. UWW needs to fix this. We're nearing an Olympic cycle, we've already been dropped once, and the IOC has made it clear that whatchability is a central factor. If viewers can't tell who is winning or who won, they tune out.

In case anyone needed a reminder why Gable is the GOAT of Heavyweights, they just got it. As an aside, if anyone thought there was trash-talking between Gable and Parris after their match, this interview indicates it was exactly the opposite: https://www.flowrestling.org/events/10272040-brady-koontz-a-step-away-from-making-2023-world-team/videos?playing=10921589 I think the 2020 tweet is ancient history between these two.

DeAugustino is a sleeper in the portal. Majored Ramos at B1Gs, and 4th at NCAAs two years ago. Put him in the right program and he's as much of a contender at 125 next year as anyone.

Iowa fans don't want to hear it, but I think quality of coaching is one of the biggest reasons PSU is getting all these guys that Iowa isn't. Coaching in all its forms: how they develop guys, teaching them to win, and the attitude they foster. PSU is legendary for getting its guys on the top of the podium. Iowa, not so much. They've had 8 #1 seeds in the last decade or so, and only one has won. Same on the team front: one title vs. a stack of them. PSU recruits know they'll almost certianly know the joy of hoisting a team trophy. There's also head-to-head evidence, as lots of PSU guys who started out losing to their Iowa counterpart, ended up surpassing them. Think RBY (started 0-2 vs DeSanto) and Kerkvliet (started 0-2 vs Cass). Even SVN, who lost a couple times to Murin but outplaced him. Many older examples too. A lot of these top recruits are eyeing freestyle success too, and Iowa's HWC has basically collapsed in the last decade, while PSU's is now the top destination. The resulting difference in practice partners is also dramatic, and the developmental benefits of that is incalculable. I don't think its lost on recruits that PSU takes care of their guys physically too. Time after time, Iowa threw an injured Lee out on the mat. Lee is a warrior who will always go, but Iowa never said no. Contrast that to PSU's biggest "scandal," if you can call it that, with Nick Suriano, where he was mad because he *wanted* to wrestle in the post-season while the coaches/trainers thought he wasn't healed enough and said no. Recruits see that, as do parents, who know their kid will be well cared for. Much more creativity in PSU's wrestling too. PSU's coaching seems able to cultivate many different styles, with new variations on moves, whereas Iowa clings to its '80s philosophy of shove-em-out-of-bounds-and-demand-a-stall-call. There's exceptions on both sides, but overall the difference in the dynamism and originality of PSU and Iowa wrestlers is hard to miss. And attitude. Make fun of PSU's "have fun" philosophy if you want, but recruits see these guys actually having fun, and it makes an impression. Contrast that to Iowa's sneering every-hates-us-and-we-love-it philosophy, and that'll attract certain guys, but most guys prefer to have fun than bathe in hate. I'm not going full-on Jimmy here and saying Iowa needs to clean house. Iowa pulls in enough good recruits to do fine most years. But as against PSU, face it, the difference is dramatic. Its easy to see how top recruits who do their homework would turn their nose up at big money from Iowa given what PSU has.

While it is true that PSU is putting together a monster team for next year, one of the biggest myths going around is that PSU has this massive depth. In another thread, some are claiming that their JV team could place top 5. Its just not true. If anything, it is one of PSU's biggest weaknesses: they LACK depth, badly. At most weights, if their guy gets hurt, its a really big drop to the next guy. Last year, their best backup was Nevills, but he's transferring. They had some serviceable backups in Barraclaugh, Lee and Ball, who could probably start for a lot of teams, but none of those guys were apt to put up any points at NCAAs. So what's changed this year? Nagao and Truax are great additions but they don't add depth as they swap in for departing RBY and Dean. The only real depth addition (besides incoming freshmen) is Mesenbrink, since he fits in with Haines/Facundo. With Nevills leaving that's a wash, or close to it. Factor in possible Olympic redshirts, and it gets even thinner. A team of PSU backups would be lucky to score 5 points at NCAAs.

There's talk of mutual suicide pacts over on the Iowa Rivals forum. They're taking it pretty hard. Any hesitation they had about going after the other Ferraris seems to be in the rear-view mirror. Maybe they can repackage their NIL offer to Nagao as a Legal Defense Fund for AJ & co?

I'll add this, and it is obviously just my opinion -- which, along with $7, will get you a gallon of gas in California. But I think Tom and Terry, who've always thrived on being ornery, have convinced themselves that their guys wrestle better when they have a chip on their shoulder. So they've baked it into their coaching. They preach this "everyone hates us" and "its the world vs. the Hawkeyes" stuff, thinking it is motivational. For many it is. But I don't think it is for everyone, all the time. For some -- especially those already prone to negative thinking -- I think it can eat at them, like a cancer. It motivates in the right dosage, but taken too far, it festers, distracts, and manifests in their wrestling, like a personal demon they need to overcome (along with their actual opponent) whenever they take the mat. That's my perception of how it has affected Spencer. He was always heavily self-critical and motivated himself with it, and it made him great. But to hear him talk now, he feels so put-upon -- for the thinnest of reasons -- that he sounds overcome with resentment. And it seems that no one in Iowa City is disabusing him of these thoughts. It isn't sustainable. He is very clearly NOT having fun. I'll be rooting for him at the US Open and I hope he is healthy, but I fear his personal challenges aren't solely physical.

Only took you three weeks to find an example, eh Vak? And come on, this is pretty weak sauce. Saying someone is "not the greatest of all time" (faux GOAT) isn't exactly the most cutting insult I've heard in my life. And the gripes about Spencer not training with young teammates originated within Hawk Nation; I take that comment as a joking reference to mama Ayala. I'll grant you these qualify as insults, albeit mild ones. But the fact that these are the worst that you or anyone could come up with, after three weeks, reinforces my point that Spencer is, overall, one of the most well-liked wrestlers of all time. In the time it took you to find two modest examples, I'm sure I could find thousands of social media posts of fans fawning all over him. And the bigger point is that, even if there's a hater or two out there, Spencer massively overreacted, to a very alarming extent. It can't possibly be healthy to have such a misplaced, poisonous perception of how others see you. Who's on Team Spencer who is talking him off this ledge? Is anyone? I thought Askren was on the money in his take on Spencer's interview: https://www.flowrestling.org/events/5011126-flowrestling-radio-live/videos?playing=10869394&limit=60

I miss the days where guys transferred to ASU because the girls were hotter.

Meant to say Pyles, not pulse. Said it on his Flo show a few episodes ago like it was a known fact. Was news to me. Agree that Gilman is a tall order for Lee now.

Pulse claims the impetus of Gilman leaving Iowa was Lee beating Gilman real bad in a live go. Any truth to that?

Based on that video I don't think it was intended that way.

Public service announcement: 1. Periods exist. 2. Capital letters exist. 3. Paragraphs exist. Kindly, BAC

I am not a fan of this trend either, but if you are in a coaching position, you and others would be wise to take 98lber’s admonition to heart. Just last month, a Texas Tech year BB coach was suspended for a “master and servant” biblical reference to an athlete, given its slavery connotations: https://www.deseret.com/2023/3/9/23632016/texas-tech-coach-mark-adams-resigns-bible If one of the ESPN announcers had used that term in reference to Arujau’s win over RBY, it would have taken about 5 minutes for him to suspended and forced to apologize. Do I agree with it? No, I think it is hypersensitive at best, and the assumption of racist motives is often more offensive than the comment itself. But it is foolish to close your eyes to the reality. No one really cares what anyone says on this forum, but you might want to pick your battles more wisely in a coaching or employment context.