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I asked a similar question earlier about post-college success of “PSU room guys.” I was honestly curious. I can’t think of any guys that weren’t consistent starters at PSU, did not transfer out and then had post-college international success. So I’m more just arguing that claiming “these guys care more about Olympic medals than NCAA ones” hasn’t really worked out for guys that couldn’t start at PSU but didn’t leave. I could certainly see the Barraclaugh route however become more frequent. Spend 2-3 years at PSU to get as good as you can be, then go elsewhere for your last year or two so you can get on the podium and as @Dogbone said, potentially parlay that into a coaching job if that’s what they’re interested in.

Yeah I’m not a fan of people ignoring sportsmanship. If you want people to ignore it then take if off the list of criteria. Funny that Pyle even made a tweet saying something about how he voted for Carter “considering all the criteria.” Well, except sportsmanship apparently. But to his credit he did shut down the ridiculous argument about “techs being more dominant than pins”

Interesting that you first say “multi-national champ OR 3-4x All-American,” but then narrow your question about world and Olympic medals to only those that “did not win multiple national championships.” Because I’m pretty sure if you change the question to those that “were not 3-4x All-Americans,” the list is pretty short. I’m no freestyle expert, but in the last decade or so I can’t think of any besides Joe Colon, and Tervel if you go back another year. Which goes to my point, if you want to win a world medal, you probably need to be able to start for Penn State.

Ok you got me, I was wrong, they were more active than I thought. Again I called them out for poaching other guys, I just didn’t initially think this particular one was.

If you can’t start at Penn State, you probably aren’t winning Olympic gold

Before the Welsh news, Willie mentioned a rumor of Feldman talking to Penn State, he said it wasn’t true, maybe that was really Welsh, or maybe it was true. One Mirasola was already likely being squeezed out of the lineup, so that could make sense if they both leave

Maybe not as much as they have now, but they have had guys like Mason Manville and Joe Lee come in with age level freestyle success, not be able to crack the starting lineup for an extended period yet stay in the PSU room but then not really do anything post-collegiately either.

Clearly Welsh’s destination was confirmed prior to him officially entering, but the portal window had been open for a week so the discussions/negotiations still could have occurred during the actual portal window. Maybe they didn’t, we don’t really know, but we do know for sure that Buchanan and Teemer’s plans became official outside of the portal window. This is also after the season had just ended, giving his former team more time to find a plan B.

I had not heard this claim about Nagao until just now. My understanding was he entered the portal and a bidding war ensued. I was under the impression Iowa offered more, albeit not by much (IIRC, Nagao specifically said he did not take the highest offer). Your first part was true about Iowa IMO prior to this year. The Buchanan and Teemer situation of them not being in the portal then just showing up at Iowa did probably earn them some criticism.

I am by no means trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. I mean in this very thread I suggested they’re exaggerating injuries to get medical redshirts. They poached James obviously. But continuing to recruit verbally committed guys seems pretty common. They poached Kerkvliet. They probably pay the second most money after Iowa. I just don’t think I’d call Welsh “poaching”

@MPhillips or tOSU homers, is Kharchla for sure done? Seems like he could probably get a medical for 2024 if he wanted to. Obviously not a good NCAA’s (tough draw though), but he did actually have a pretty good regular season

What is the point of poaching someone that’s not even an upgrade? I wouldn’t say Iowa has even done that (at least not on paper)

I thought there was some criticism of them about Ono, and talk about that potentially sending Davis and/or Nagao to the portal

Because if both Haines and Ryder stay and Haines doesn’t redshirt, Welsh might not even start

I included the line “that did not transfer out.” Suriano would have started had he stayed at PSU

I doubt he was “poached.” If this was McEnelly then you’d be into something

Yes I know. I think we agree, it feels more like he just wanted to go to Penn State than he was actually unhappy at tOSU

Serious question, has there been any PSU alumnus that did not transfer out and had notable international freestyle success that wasn’t at least a 3 (maybe even 4) year starter for the college team? Seems like if they can’t consistently crack the PSU lineup, they probably aren’t going to accomplish their international dreams either.

Yeah, if this is a “Max Dean situation,” then I kinda doubt Welsh redshirting had anything to do with him leaving tOSU (except for of course if he knew all along he wanted to go to PSU but wanted to wait until Starocci graduated).

Interesting to me that people seem concerned about the portal hurting the small schools, yet most of the big names in the portal are from top 10-20 teams

I guess Haines only has one more year. Maybe Ryder gets “injured” in the wrestleoff and gets a medical like Nagao

Well are they paying him?

You’re like 3 weeks late and it wasn’t a salute, he was waving as he was finishing his speech

TBH I feel like Welsh is kinda overrated. I know he was a freshman finalist but he didn’t really have many big wins. I feel like he’s more of a 4th/5th type guy. Which would make him the weak link at PSU.

Stand by my statement. I don’t see how this happens without Ryder or Haines leaving