CHROMEBIRD

Just a guess, but the IWWC/HWC designation might just be the sponsoring organization that is funding the wrestler's travel, entry fees, etc.? Similar to the way some wrestlers are affiliated with a school/RTC but show up as TMWC at tournaments?

Good eye!

Something to keep an eye on: the NCAA and power conferences have actively lobbied Congress to codify a federal NIL framework, which brings us to the SCORE Act (HR 4312). The proposed legislation would: Prohibit schools from charging mandatory student fees to subsidize athletics programs and NIL (e.g., Cleveland State's $90/yr "save wrestling" tuition fee, Clemson's $150 athletics fee, portions of Fresno State's $495 instructional activities fee; but not "talent fees" and similar add-ons that are tacked onto season ticket sales) Require agents to register and carry a license, and caps their compensation at 5% of the athlete's NIL contract Require schools to cover all medical expenses for athletic injuries for at least 3 years after they graduate or leave school, and provide academic, career counseling, and financial assistance if they decide to return to college Keep the FBS 16 sport minimum (with at least 8 women's sports), applicable to any program with a coach that earns more than $250k/yr Block athletes from being classified as employees of the university based on their participation in sports Go back to the one-time transfer rule; multiple transfers still be allowed but the athlete would have to sit the season out Grant the NCAA, conferences, and programs an antitrust exemption, as long as they comply with the SCORE framework, mitigating further lawsuits based on anticompetitive practices So, a mix of good and questionable rules. The bill is still making its way through committee (current draft is here, for the legislative masochists) so who knows how it might be amended or modified, but I think expectations for now are that it'll pass the House and be a cointoss in the Senate.

How do you do, fellow wrestlers? There is no Carter Starocci here. It is I... Starter... Carocci... doing wrestling camps around the country. Please don't forget to stay off the internet until you've paid your registration fee!

Does ban_basketball have a new roommate? What happened?

PA LE reciprocating the Snyder bust in OH

Anyway, all the recent talk (not just in wrestling) of "affording" superstar athletes had me wondering, why not drop some serious cash on an elite coach and build from the ground up?

Thanks for those takes, @fishbane - that's interesting stuff. My instinct tells me that, if given a choice, spending the money on a GOAT coach is a better investment than a GOAT wrestler because a coach can instill a long-term culture, build a deep recruiting pipeline, and develop talent. They may also have more leverage with the AD to keep the sport well-funded for the long haul. But you make good points for the value of superstar athletes. Look at how Caitlin Clark changed wbb at Iowa. In pro sports, star players definitely fill seats and move merch, but I also think that there's less risk to splurging on "big pro sport" talent these days since we are in the moneyball era and unknowns about performance, fit within a system, etc. are mitigated to an extent; whereas in college wrestling we don't have similar quantifiable reassurances to fall back on. Imo though, a big reason for the salary disparity between the best players and coaches in the NBA comes down to basic supply & demand. Sports like basketball cast such a huge net that there are tons of great coaching candidates who could step in anytime and be very successful with whatever roster they are given. Maybe not so much with college wrestling, where the shortlist of elite coaches like Gable, Cael, maybe Taylor/JB/Dake/Nolf, etc. to choose from is a pretty small pool, esp relative to the # of teams. The market also prices coaches based on different metrics than players. Even under the CBA, athletes leverage their own stats and free agency to command premium salaries; opportunities for coaches, otoh, are tied more to overall team success (or the movement or firing of coaches elsewhere). I can see how guys like Spencer and Taylor have created or reinforced a winning culture and opened new doors for recruiting and other stuff, but at the end of the day I think top wrestlers are still drawn to a program and a coach, not just a big bag. The converse might also be true, but in theory a top coach could take raw talent and develop a kid into something good, whereas star athletes don't really develop coaches.

Was Nolf robbed? Seemed like he was robbed. His opponent was kind of a dick and I wanted to see him get wrecked

Alternate and in-between answers are also fine, like Spending the money to hire a mid coach and pay a pretty good, but not great lineup of wrestlers, with a chance of finishing the season with 10 mid/low-AAs (idk...) Dumping the money into the construction of the world's best wrestling facilities (zzz...) Putting the money into a long-term interest-bearing investment account specifically for wrestling (smart long game, but zzz...) Buying a bot farm to hype your janky team and spread disinformation about the competition (I like the potential...) Hiring a fleet of bulldozers to raze PSU and OSU's wrestling rooms (possibly the correct answer)

With all the NIL talk going around these days, here's a little bit of a chicken-or-egg (but maybe not) hypothetical for you all: Imagine that you're AD of a D1 program that is NOT one of the wrestling blue-bloods or traditional AA factories. A deep-pocketed donor wants the school to be the next PSU/Iowa/OSU/etc. and has earmarked a large sum of money that could be used to pay for a world-class coaching staff for 4 years, or fund the NIL/salary of a generational athlete for 4 years. Assume we're talking best-of-the-best here, like bringing on a coaching legend like Gable or a superstar wrestler with the high potential to be a 4xer and break Cael's NCAA record. Transformational talent along those lines. Also assume that the pay is high enough to lock-in the coach or the phenom wrestler and prevent them from being poached. Which do you choose, and why?

Until your senior year, you could've asked freshmen wrestlers to buy you booze. Missed lifehack.

Welp,

Ride like the wind, sir.

Didn't want to start a whole new thread just for this, so posting here: so yesterday, I'm out running in this ridiculous heat, decide to hit up a corner store for something cold. I spot this drink that says ENERGY, ZERO SUGAR, and BLUEBERRY, and am immediately like, "yeah, that sounds good" without really paying attention to the rest of the can. Only after buying it do I notice the bigass, extremely obvious Nittany Lion and Happy Valley United on the front. HVU sounded vaguely familiar, like maybe a PSU soccer club or somethign, and I didn't think too much of it at first. But when I got home I looked up the product and found out that it's a PSU NIL drink! HVU is PSU's NIL Collective and proceeds go towards the school's NIL slush fund. Ptoo! Ptoo! Next time, I'm either reading the can like a book or just sticking to water. Lesson painfully learned!!

The best part about these updates is that Askren still seems like Askren. Sharp, thoughtful, smart. Sounds more or less like the Ben we know, which is great to hear.

If we're just talking hs folkstyle/state credentials there's also Amar Dhesi, Ganbayar Sanjaa, and Alan Gelogaev, all with asterisks ofc

I think Ronnie Perry only wrestled at States twice in high school, finishing DNP and 7th(?), and then lost to Zain in the NCAA Finals his senior year. Some other guys that come to mind are Stephen Neal, Ben Kjar, and Bernie Truax? Not 100% sure. There's also the story about how Bobby Telford was a total fish for a couple of years in hs until he stopped cutting so hard and adjusted to a healthier weight, like six weight classes up.

From a dual perspective, Zain-Nolf was a particularly brutal 1-2 combo because it was really a gauntlet of Zain - Nolf - Cenzo - Hall - Nickal. Just a solid brick wall in the lineup

2016 might have been when back points were changed to 2NF/4NF, though idk if it had much effect on turns or matches not going into OT. Another explanation was that Nationals was held at Madison Square Garden that year and everyone was wrestling on New York time.

I hope the radio silence is because a staffer from the athletics dept asked ChatGPT to create a response in the voice of Starocci, and the AI just started threatening everyone

Jimmy rn: "Hayyyy, any of y'all got some of that sweet sweet Iowa wrestling content for me?"

Huge yikes for sure. I hope it isn't true.

Yeah, I'm 100% for due process. I'm saying, even if nothing happened, it's strange that Starocci, Cael, or PSU Athletics haven't said, "hey nothing happened" or at least, "we take the safety of our atheletes seriously and are looking into it"

Dunno if this camp is still happening next week: https://www.newberrywrestlingcamps.com/the-carter-starocci-camps.cfm