CHROMEBIRD

I'd take the B1G field over AJ. He wouldn't have won 197 this year.

That's too bad. I could see Zeke enjoying coaching without all the wild west NIL stuff if he focused fully on Atreus. It would be a fun project for him too, building something more or less from the ground up. I'm still skeptical that ASU would bring in a prestige head coach to replace him on the college side, though. It would be such a great opportunity out west for any talented prospect, but I don't believe the program has the appetite for it.

Seems like 74 had been a rough cut for Dake for some time now. He did all right when he dipped his toes in at 86 for a little while and at this stage of his career, why not give it a go? I can't imagine being in your mid-30s and sucking down 1-2 international weight classes being very pleasant.

Is he buddies with RBY? idk

That sentence just made my head explode

119, 130/135, 145/152, 145; 158, 167

Forgot to include a link earlier, re: advantages of schools without football opting-in: https://usatoday.com/story/sports/college/columnist/dan-wolken/2025/03/19/ncaa-tournament-revenue-sharing-basketball-only-compete-football/82539403007/

The conversation will have legs among wrestling fans, but does anyone who matters to ASU athletics care either way? Volleyball gets more attention in Tempe than wrestling, and swimming/diving has gotten traction since their men's and women's teams both won the Big 12. Robles could probably draw more attention and funding to ASU wrestling, with the momentum he has from his book and movie, but it looks like he's more focused on his self-motivation stuff and maybe wrestling in general rather than his alma mater. Not saying that's a bad thign.

Does that mean a booster or group of boosters could pick up the tab on buying Zeke & his staff out and hiring a new coach? I agree that Zeke has it pretty good at ASU. When Figs won Nationals last year, and Zahid not too long before that, those were NCAA titles that the department could hang their hat on. I'm not sure how or why anyone at ASU would have high expectations for ASU wrestling. They should keep Zeke around, I think just a change in assistant coaches could turn things around.

Yeah, not having football is a huge savings for a program, even without the inflow of football revenue. It's also a great pull for basketball (and other sports) coaches to not have to play second, third, or xth fiddle to football. Bill Self is basically a king at KU with a lifetime contract, but has mentioned that he's tired of Kansas' crummy football team being the AD's top priority. It's estimated that the non-football schools that opt-in will spend between 90-95% of their revenue sharing budget on basketball though, so that still leaves wrestling with a pittance. I also don't know how the numbers will work out for mid-major programs like Davidson, Marquette, or even Gonzaga who have small athletic departments without the staff or knowledge to administer athlete's NIL deals, payroll, and all the tasks of a professional sports enterprise, which is what they'd essentially become. They also compete in conferences that get few postseason opportunities, are frequently poached by bigger programs, and haven't had much luck against the power conferences lately. This year's March Madness had zero Cinderella teams after the first weekend of the tournament, and the Final Four were all 1-seeds (Elite Eight was 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 2, 1 vs.3).

The way Pyles glitched

Details? IIRC, Zeke just has a year or two left on his contract and Rossini likes him. It wouldn't be the biggest buyout, but ASU's athletic department is already a little strapped for cash because of their new WBB coach and arena renovations. The AD was also under a lot of donor/fan pressure to give Bobby Hurley the boot this season, but they just couldn't afford to. I don't think ASU can afford, nor are they interested in bringing in a better wrestling coach. My guess is that Rossini will restructure Zeke's contract with more performance-based incentives when it's time to discuss an extension, like he's doing with Hurley. A possible complicating factor is that Rossini's contract is up for renewal soon, and ASU is proposing a salary bump for him from $650K to $950K with $100K/year annual increases (up from $50K currently), not including performance bonuses. I think the new WBB coach's contract still needs approval by the Board of Regents, a little less than $1M/year, somewhere around that ballpark.

P4 also proposed a carve-out so that a third-party entity (an LLC that they create and control) will administer the rules, limits, reporting, and investigations around payments to athletes, including NIL collectives. Probably their way of getting in front of Baker's Project D1 and proposing their own governance model if/when a new NCAA subdivision is created.

Minnow is that one dopey guy you'd see around in college who would literally ask every single girl if they wanted to hook up, get slapped a few hundred times, but loudly declare victory the one or two times it actually worked

Flip it around. King of the portal will be the wrestler who ends up with the best deal, degree, and NCAA hardware.

Brings back memories. I'd scarf down tons of sugar-free Jello when cutting weight. It was a godsend.

It's going to get worse. Conferences and programs are already entertaining pitches from venture capital and private equity firms. Up front cash in exchange for an off the books loan and/or equity interest, which is a little bit of a red flag. Big 12 is particularly aggressive about this because Yormark wants his conference to keep up with the big boys. B1G is working with Evercore and taking preliminary bids from institutional funds/PE in advance of the House settlement. https://forbes.com/sites/joemoglia/2025/04/02/private-equitys-next-big-shopping-spree-college-football/

Is Rin not adjusting to folkstyle?

Remember, non-P5 teams have until June 15 to confirm whether they're opting-in or backing out. Some of the non-power conference teams on the OP's list are a little surprising, though. Unless there's some deep pocketed booster pushing the athletic department around, I can't imagine that revenue sharing will be worth the tiem or effort for FCS programs like Morgan State, Sacred Heart, Davidson, and Mercyhurst (currently transitioning from D2?). They'll all end up being feeder schools on the wrong end of the transfer portal, and I can't imagine they'd have the staffing or resources to deal with whatever overhead comes with revenue sharing. At least the math makes a little more sense for schools like Drexel, Hofstra, and George Mason who don't have football. But still.

I figured it was just due to normal rotation and attrition. On the women's side, Icho and Yoshida held their spots for a long time but now returning medalists move on because they're stacked with younger talent.

Amazing. Also, Koll & the UNC staff at dinner last night:

Maybe the UNC staff tried to sell him on the THWC but he heard THC and signed right away

Wondering more along the lines of whether it could've been an old football injury or a wrestling injury. Recovery in time for next season?

Correction to my previous post, NIL deals coming from boosters and similar collectives could be prohibited. It depends on what happens on Monday's House settlement hearing. It looks like the P4 conferences are creating its own LLC and proposing that it be the entity that enforces NIL, salary cap, and investigations within its own subdivision of the NCAA. Under their proposal, collectives would have strict limits for NIL deals. Everything is still up in the air though, and many seem to doubt that the judge will approve terms of the settlement on Monday. So who knows.

What exactly was the medical issue with his hip?