BruceyB

Classic. Make a prediction about a team whose roster you are completely unaware of. They have several quality recruits that will serve as a good foundation to build on. They've been down for the past 15 years, but it can change in hurry once the culture and foundation is built under a new coaching staff. It's actually fun to be optimistic about a regime rather than call them a failure before getting an actual start. I'd recommend trying it.

I'll bet they do. Can you even name 5 likely starters on the roster next year?

If Brian Owen's career wasn't derailed with a spinal fusion his sophomore year of high school.. he was something. I'm interested in how the years worked out that you wrestle both Brian Owen and Tyler Caldwell though. What ages?

I assume this will definitely go as an underrated comment.

I am saddened that his birth year is still 6 years before I graduated from high school.. it's all relative I suppose.

I think they weight classes that guys graduated wrestling is very different than where they can be effective coaches. Likely, most guys who graduate as 141 pounders spent almost their entire life as very lightweight guys until their bodies fully developed and filled out. Someone of Kennedy's caliber undoubtedly was a very successful wrestler when he weighed less than 130 pounds. You don't have to be a lifer 57kg guy to coach guys wrestling that weight.

So guys don't leave Iowa.. unless they're not going to be the starter.. but they don't count.

He's not my pick right now, but I wouldn't be that surprised to see him pull out a win against either. Especially in the era where a wrestler can score a takedown in the first, and then give up 3 stall calls throughout the rest of the match and win 4-3.

Everyone can have their thoughts on Flo and CP but one thing is certain.. CP is very careful not to share information that he has before the party(s) involved want that information shared, or the information is confirmed. The anti-Minnow approach. His reaction was interesting though where it sounded to me like there is more to the situation than his wife wanted to move back home. Having listened to CP as much as I have, his reaction to the question sounded like there is some drama behind this move and Flo doesn't want to get involved or be a catalyst by fanning the flame. On a side note, this off-season drama has been wild and we're only a few weeks removed from NCAAs. Who'd have thought we'd have so much to talk about?

I just went back to Swiderski's wrestlestat for the 2023-2024 season.. I did not realize how consistent he was. I thought he had a few more random losses in there. He really had a great season and I'd view him as an immediate title threat this season if he's fully healthy.

I think others have well spelled out my point by now. Also, to suggest I don't know much about wrestling to then go on and suggest that the backup to Witcraft (who didn't qualify for NCAAs) would absolutely smoke Figs at 133 is pretty ironic.. it's commonly understood that Hughes wasn't truly a 133 pound this year, and won't attempt to compete there again next season.

I hope I was supposed to read this in a 90s Adam Sandler voice. I'm really curious to see what Hughes looks like both healthy and at a more natural weight. However, the results this year didn't support that he's a lateral move, let alone upgrade from Jamison.

Respectfully.. not on this thread please.

Interesting. I didn't know about the AD situation. I know UNC is one of the top public universities in the country. I'll be curious if he can reroute some of that NJ pipeline he had at Cornell down south to UNC. Admittedly, I don't know much about the separation of academic advantages between the two.. but Koll's rolodex alone has to be a massive recruiting tool for those seeking a profession outside of wrestling after their collegiate career.

It is a terrible coaching move. I would never bring in someone a stud who fell short of AA'ing. I mean, look at what happened with Hamiti. The warning signs where there went he imploded in the B1G finals and failed to reach the podium last year. Stupid Oklahoma State, stupid!

Thank you. I admit I had completely forgotten about the covid sit-out year in 2021 for a very talented Cornell team. That make a lot of sense.

I don't know that I would lock him into the starter roll at this point. Unless he's struggle with lifestyle and weight management, then we're talking about a guy who lost to Trevor Anderson twice, Tristan Daugherty, and got stuck by Dean Peterson. The talent is obviously there but, even the year he won it, he had a pretty bad season up until the end of February. I think 1 thing is clear.. DT is enacting the PSU approach of amassing as much talent as possible where guys will have to continue to improve if they don't want to be in danger of losing their spot to the guy behind them. No school has had comparable depth to PSU in recent years.. the fact that we don't know what OSU's line-up is going to look like next year is a positive because it means they have multiple options at several weights and guys will have to shuffle to put themselves in the best position possible to be a started.

Man, I just was curious why a great program builder left Cornell. How many times do you guys want to argue about politics online? It could have just been left that he was upset about the Ivies stance on not participating in 2021 and left largely due to that decision without making this thread toxic. @MPhillips send em' to the back.

It's been a while since I listened to his interviews after the announcement was made that he was heading to Stanford. I'm curious if anyone has beyond the surface insight to what prompted the change of scenery? Was it trading New York winters for the more moderate NorCal climate? Did he feel that he had essentially completed the job of bringing Cornell to prominence and wanted to go to another program and enjoy the process of building a donor base, and raising a non-traditional wrestling school to a national force? Was it a financial decision? I was just looking at the potential roster for UNC next year, and was wondering to myself how long it would be until they have anything close to the brand name of Cornell in college wrestling.

I hope to see Zain embark on his own coaching path once he decides to hang 'em up. Hopefully as the former PSU athletes age out of competition we the nits embark on their coaching paths and can inject some excitement into some other programs.

I can't believe how massive these brackets are. U20s is going to be such a show. I can't wait.

I don't know. Welsh is obviously getting paid for his services, and if you're Iowa, or Missouri, why pay a guy to come fill a weight where you have a high caliber wrestler? It would make more sense to bring in a guy at a weight of need. PSU is the only team with such an embarrassment of riches that they would bring in a Rocco when they have a Ryder at home.

My point is that, to the best of my knowledge, no one on this message board knows what happened between Rocco and the PSU staff. I also don't actually care what happened between the two parties. I don't actually care if coaches are actively poaching athletes in the current landscape of college wrestling. Whether a wrestler is in the portal or not, we are living in an era of no contracts and everyone is a free agent. I understand that "technically" a student has to be in the portal to be talked to, but at this point, there might as well just be an open recruiting process every year.. athletes in the portal or not. My issue is people white-knighting for PSU when they don't know any more than the rest of us, but want to act as if lack of evidence is the same as lack of misconduct. I don't know if there was anything below board with the whole ordeal, and I'm not going to argue that there was anything below board.. because I don't know what happened. I'm also not going to argue that they did nothing wrong, because just like you, I don't know if they did anything wrong or not. Just because they haven't been caught doesn't mean they aren't doing anything wrong. How many basketball/football programs were caught years after their misconduct for paying athletes illegally in the last 30 years? Again, I don't care if they did contact Welsh "illegally." It's just obnoxious when people white-knight for PSU when they have no idea what actually went on behind the scenes. I do hope that @VakAttack enjoys watching PSU homers squirm to defend their program now that they are the evil empire of wrestling after having to fight the battle for Iowa all these years.

Got me.

My opinion has been made clear on this topic under different threads. In one sentence, there are no enforced rules in todays transfer/NIL era.. the only dummies are those that pretend that their team is engaging in the activity in a more "morally upright" way than the rest of the programs. Exhibit.. you. None of us know the finer details going on behind the scenes. It's dumb to attack PSU over their transfers, but it's even dumber to blindly protect them based on the "lack of evidence" for them doing anything wrong. Justify it however you'd like, but PSU has been much more cutthroat than any other program when it comes to bringing in outsiders over their own current athletes. Only the most woefully naive can convince themselves to believe the sentiment "These wrestler's are begging to come to PSU, what is Cael supposed to do? Say no?"