swoopdown

thank you! It looks like someone(s) contributed $5,524,538 in 2014. So a one year pop. Not as much as I thought given the yearly expenses of an international wrestling operation. Salaries around $450k alone are close to the typical income for a year - may not be a sustainable model without periodic one time gifts. There must be other funds outside the club - do individual wrestlers fund their own travel and training expenses and have their own income streams? Of course this is for the freestyle operation and doesn't really shed much light on the collegiate side. Interesting for sure though. I'll have to put on my financial analyst hat and explore some of these links sometime. I suspect there is a lot more money moving on the collegiate side. OSU with a new facility. Iowa building something new. And NIL changes everything. We still haven't seen who wins and losses from that change.

It seems a tenet of the faith the PSU is awash in money - more than any others. Does anyone have a reliable source supporting this premise? Any details regarding who contributes money? Where is the spend going? I've never actually seen anything credible and am curious. I mean the University enrollment is declining, there is a budget crisis, state funding is less than most. The population of PA stagnated as the industrial base declines. Football makes money for the athletic programs but less than Ohio State and Michigan. So it must be mega-rich alums, right? Anybody have any references? Or is it "it must be true 'cause I saw it on the Internet" phenomenon?

Transparency would be epic - imagine the forum animosity and angst that would be generated! I'm sure Cael gets Manning's vote every year! Secret ballots are no fun! Which coaches vote for themselves?

Who actually makes the selection? Is there a list of voters? Nominees? Who voted for whom and results?

If they go the push out route they should at least make it entertaining: 1 pt - out of bounds 2 pts - off the mat 3 pts - into the scorers table of over a chair tech fall - into the lap of a cute wrestling mom

Interesting. In theory better action. However are there side effects - like would potential to injure increase?

I'm certain that this blunder will result in Cael never getting a high level recruit again and having all his wrestlers enter the portal. If Cael was Japanese seppuku would be the only option. Well, on the bright side Messenbrink's situational awareness will improve reducing his dependency on coaches and making him a better wrestler after his transfer.

I'll swim upstream on this one. Not a big fan of push out points. Puts too much emphasis on low skill technique. I prefer wrestler emphasis and points for real changes in control. But I'll admit, if it would have been turned on conditionally (no TD in 1st period or automatically in OT), it might have improved a few matches.

Past laurels help soften the impact when you team falls from grace. PSU fans don't need the record right now but eventually the wheel turns and this year will come in handy.

Vito just proved that there is a God

Has there ever been a stalling riot

I think that a healthy Figs may destroy the 125 parity next year

reviewing the review is the new thing

i could see Fix borrowing a Mekhi-Lewis-like Inspector Gaget leg that extends and touches chairs and the gym floor everytime Vito shoots.

JB and Yanni PI Part II

Wright weighs in on head lock

Already out there but has to be the lead off https://x.com/carterstarocci/status/1771624648624521646?s=20

Robb had the most difficult "wrestle back" of all.

And sadly denied a spot on the all quad symetric team. After BAC brought this to my attention it became more important to me than increasing the PSU team score. However I just googled 4445 and discovered it is the Angel number. This may be a sign regarding tonights finals. I only mention this as a convenience to the no tolerance for proselytizing contingent.

Interesting analysis of Iowa 1997 and PSU https://pennstatewrestlingclub.org/chasing-170/ I'm not convinced that Gable's 1997 team was the best Iowa team ever, (the team earlier lost a dual to OSU), but Gable has to be credited with perhaps the best coaching ever with his 1997 effort. The point production of that team was somewhat of a surprise. per the post - "Three wrestlers seeded 1st , all won. Four wrestlers seeded top-12, all exceeded their seed and all became All-American’s. One unseeded wrestler finished 6th , also earning All-American honors." Some history at https://www.bloodround.com/blog/2019/7/19/1997-in-wrestling-it-was-a-magical-year PSU has an ouside shot at the point total, but will have to over-perform to do so. Iowa's 1986 team had a larger margin of victory than its 1997 team - does PSU have a better shot at that? Also, the five champion threshold is not likely to be surpassed this year. I think Iowa's records are pretty safe thank's to PSU's lack of point production at the bottom two weights, Carter's injury and the Saturday match-ups that exist this year. https://www.ncaa.com/history/wrestling/d1 Gable's achievements are remarkable.

Your posts regarding this are thoghtful. looking forward to additional breakdown - it's hard to cut though the what-about-ism, biases and the chronic brain-worm damaged to examine the actual event in the middle of a tournament. It's a difficult balance for the rules and refs to negotiate.

Traux joins the all-tournament one-legged team

Cael's durablity over his college career was, I believe, atypical. And Cael recognizing that or perhaps even believing that his load was too much for most others could be a factor driving his position today. Good line of questioning for a sports jounalist to put to him.

Shockingly, Carter and his 15 matches did manage to keep my interest. Go over to the freestyle forum and you hear complaints that wrestlers' bodies are being worn down and wrecked because of the grind of college wrestling seasons. What is the right number of matches during a season (dual + tourney)? How long should a college season be? As a greedly wrestling fan I'd love to see a ton more matches with only the best, but I'm beginning to think that Cael may know more about his athlete's welfare, wrestling in general and getting his team to peak performance than me. Cael seems to have landed on a number that is more focused on the athlete than the fan. Not sure that sacrificing the bodies of athletes on the alter of "growing the sport" is the right direction.

Nagao adopted the PSU mentality of never letting off the gas and go for bonus points .... Unfortuntely for him his TD skills have not developed fast enough and his neutral defense has lapses when he adopts that mind set. Not a good development for him in the 3 point era. I look for him to go to a three point stance often and be more conservative at NCAAs, so he may top my list again, but for now Fix and his better neutral defense and counter skills wins the 133 spot.