Tom formerly Tofurky

"... after the university recently moved forward with plans to offer buyouts to help stave off a projected $40 million budget gap." That's no bueno. I don't see how the Athletics department makes it through this unscathed.

I don't know that he was resigned to his fate, if you will, as much as the Penn State influence of wrestling not being your identity plays a role. He talks about gee-oh-dee a lot now, which is part of the PSU/NLWC play book. My guess is that he gave it his all, but sees the bigger picture of life.

https://signalcleveland.org/we-are-at-a-point-of-reckoning-inside-cleveland-state-latest-meeting-about-its-financial-future/

Yes; make the switch, but... Add a "turn clock" for a real full 10 seconds after a takedown is scored. The clock would reset when exposure points are awarded. The time after takedown is too subjective for me right now, and a "turn clock", if you will, nearly takes the ref out of that decision. I wouldn't mind overtime coming back, but I do understand the rule as it exists and how it promotes action. Do a little more tightening up on who is initiating the action and thus who is awarded points. Address grounding as negative wrestling and have it scored as a caution and one each time OR have the offending wrestler receive a caution and be placed on the activity clock. A move to adopting Freestyle at the youth, high school and college ranks would make college tournaments more exciting with post-grads coming back to compete domestically. More international kids might take a chance on coming to the U.S. to earn a degree and wrestle for your favorite team. In reality, nothing for the sport (except the rules) would change significantly except creating more competitiveness and depth at each level.

Any news on other candidates? Would Bolyard leave the maize and blue for a shot at heading up his alma mater? What about Jason Borrelli?

I really wish there was parity in the sport, but if you're among the best in this country coming out of high school, why wouldn't a young man consider Penn State University/NLWC as his best option for career longevity?

In the last few years, a good number of IHL athletics departments have made/are making the jump from NAIA to D2. Anyone in the know care to share why this is taking place?

How's Bo's international career shaping up?

It won't happen in what's left of my life, but I hope that the U.S. can move the sport to Free and Greco. Imagine how much more depth would be created, how much more competitive and how much larger WTT/OTT brackets would be as a result. Wanna see weight classes added back to the Olympic Games? Go Free and GR in the U.S. (instead of collegiate) and watch more nations become competitive on the World stage as many of those young folks wrestle for other countries. More eyes on the sport means more viewers means more money means greater leverage power for UWW.

That was hard to watch. Regardless of your affiliation, Jordan Burroughs has brought positive light to this sport in this country. The dude competes hard, as it is how he feeds his family and pays his bills. If you can't understand that winning truly is his business, then you might not understand the level he is at even now. I know it's unlikely, but I hope JB sticks around for a bit longer. He is GREAT for wrestling's image domestically and internationally.

He's such a nice guy, that it is tough to watch his career (potentially) come to an end. Whatever his path is from here, I'll remain a fan.

Did PD3 really post that on twitter/X today? If so, that boy needs serious help. I think I am in the minority here in feeling that a top-performing PD3 makes at least the quarters in most circumstances. It's just that everything else makes him a villain within this sport. Come on, PD3, be better.

https://hurstathletics.com/sports/wrestling/roster/coaches/mike-wehler/2762

Mike wrestled for Lock Haven back in the day. He's a well respected guy in the sport and is able to coach student-athletes beyond D2.

I hope it works for them. Mike Wehler seems like a really good dude. However, with them being a Catholic University, what is the cost for a school to move from Division II to Division I? Mercyhurst has an enrollment of somewhere between 2,500 to 4,500 (the data isn't clear), and with an all-in cost of just south of $60,000 a year (this year), and an endowment of around $40 million, they may have to look at "trimming the fat."

Dillon's high school coach may have had some sway there, but I cannot confirm that. Certainly when Fitzgerald was relieved of his duties at NU, the Johnsons weren't waiting around to find out who was going to replace him, as his football career is very important to him.

My reply wasn't to you.

I forget hot to do the multiple quote box reply thing, so I'll do my best to reply to what seems appropriate. Your initial message was very narrow and mentioned "Top 25" guys only. In my mind, since we aren't talking about PSU in this case, since they are head and shoulders above everyone else at this time, I don't think Top 25 is the lone measuring stick to success, as you point out in your first numbered point. As we know, rankings are subjective. Maybe T&T&Co. are homing in on the kids who have proverbial chips on their shoulders and telling them that they are better than some goofball's pretend number assigned to them on some goofy ranking/recruiting service. Remember, these are guys who wrestled angry, so they know those kids and just how to work with them. I agree with point two. I'd say that they do it even better than PSU does. That being said, here we are discussing anyone who is not in the top 25. Speaking for myself alone, I believe that number is far too narrow as an indicator of success. Does it help? Of course it does. Is it the be all end all of recruiting? Not at all. Number three applies to every coach in the country who struggles to fill a weight class. Along with that, we don't always know why said kid went said place out of high school. Of the list of names you made above who transferred into Iowa from other universities, I do know the "inside scoop" on two of them and why they didn't go to Iowa out of the gates. It wasn't the coaching, but the financial support available to them at those times. Again, your assertion that anyone outside of the Top 25 is "second tier" rubs me the wrong way. We're talking about kids here who peak at all different ages. I'll push back on your "top three" assertion. PSU, that's a no brainer. Neither Ohio State nor Oklahoma State have finished ahead of Iowa at Nationals since before COVID. That was more than five years ago now. I'm not sure how they fall into the "top three" when Iowa is the second most consistent team in the country behind Cael & Company. To your last paragraph: Iowa State had the greatest college wrestler and 2004 olympic champion on staff. They were a top 10 team nationally, with two runner-up finishes in the previous five seasons. They were viable. To Zalesky, he is not the most boisterous outgoing guy who was going to grab you and say, "let's work on this." He probably resembled someone's dad, where T&T were the uncles who still had some pep to them. In short, Zalesky was "long in the tooth" and his personality didn't lend to the Gable/Iowa "style". There's a reason that Tom got the job after that, because he has that. Finally, similar to what you mentioned about Iowa State and their #1 recruiting class (again, look who was in the room and on a Wheaties box), Iowa was never built from in-state talent alone. Some of the greatest Hawkeyes ever have been from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, South Dakota, Michigan, etc. I don't know that the administration put a lot of weight into where kids come from, and that they fully understand that PSU is an absolute monster these days with more resources than anyone else. I appreciate the discussion and your well-thought out insights. I still feel strongly that Iowa is a firm #2 team in all of NCAA wrestling, and this is coming from an Oklahoma State and Lehigh fan. #SaveTomBrandsJob

I don't know how to edit this, so... "Not one of those teams you mentioned consistenly has finished in the top five of the team race since 2013, but Iowa has every single year. By the numbers, Cornell is closest, then Michigan since Bormet was elevated to Head Coach."

When did this thread become about recruiting high school kids as THE measure of success? To ignore the following finishes at Nationals for Iowa from 2013 to 2024 is absolutely ludicrous. Iowa: 4, 4, 2, 5, 4, 3, 4, COVID, 1, 3, 2, 5 Since you mentioned them, here are how those other teams have finished at Nationals in that same time frame: Ohio State: 6, 6, 1, 3, 2, 2, 2, COVID, 9, 13, 4, 8 Oklahoma State: 2, 3, 7, 2, 3, 13, 3, COVID, 3, 14, 18, 10 Minnesota: 3, 2, 8, 17, 7, 17, 8, COVID, 7, 11, 15, 22 Cornell: 5, 7, 5, 7, 8, 7, 7, COVID, DNC, 7, 3, 2 Michigan: 33, 17, 11, 9, 10, 4, 5, COVID, 5, 2, 6, 3 Nebraska: 13, 11, 9, 8, 9, 9, 10, COVID, 12, 5, 8, 9 Virginia Tech: 10, 8, 10, 4, 6, 8, 11, COVID, 14, 8, 9, 7 NC State: 22, 19, 16, 11, 17, 4, 17, COVID, 6, 10, 10, 11 Not one of those teams you mentioned has finished in the top five of the team race since 2013, but Iowa has every single year. This thread is not about how well Tom Brands recruits blue chip high school kids, but whether or not he should be replaced as head coach based on the actual results of the wrestlers he has on the University of Iowa roster. I argue that, based on those real results as seen above, Tom Brands is the second to best coach in NCAA Division I in the Cael/PSU-era. For my money is there is Cael, then there is Brands (MAYBE Grey and Bormet), and then there is everyone else.

I would stop at saying that it doesn't appeal to recruits. In his 18 years as head coach (not including the COVID year where no one competed), Tom Brands routinely recruits among the best guys in the country and his teams have finished in the top five 16 times. Hell, he recruited one of the best high school wrestlers of all times and him and his staff developed him into a three-time National Champion. The Hawkeyes never suffer for numbers and their second tier guys would be starters at 75-80% of other Division I programs. To address the "authoritarians not innovators" comment, I wonder if it's more appropriate to say "brawlers versus dancers." One is very brutal and harsh, where the other is more elegant and graceful. I don't know... That said, the old Iowa style I grew up with is not my style, but I also love what Iowa brings to the wrestling world.

Casey Cunningham

I would guess that with Howe and Kennedy long gone by now, all their best talent having left the university, and an absolutely dismal 2023-24, Storniolo at Northwestern might be feeling some heat.

I have to wonder if there are two things at play here: 1. Tom Brands' expectations.. 2. Beth Goetz's (Iowa Director of Athletics) expectations On the one hand, this has to feel like another miserable failure to Tom Brands. Only one guy in the finals, only four All-Americans, finishing "a lowly" fifth in the team standings, one spot/1.5 points behind Iowa State, and 105.5 points out of first... One the other hand, Beth Goetz may see it as a top five team finish (one finals win away from being tied for third), nine National Qualifiers, a National finalist (on ESPN) and four All-Americans. She may also see/understand that Brands' teams have never finished in less than eighth place (2007, his first season as head coach was when they finished there), and in 18 seasons the Hawkeyes have brought the University 14 team trophies, including winning four team titles. Other than Sanderson, there isn't a single other coach in NCAA Division I wrestling with that consistency in the last two decades. All the while, Brands' teams keep generating a TON of press (eyes on the U), continue to sell out dual meets and the donations to the program keep rolling in the door. Men's Wrestling is easily the gold standard of athletics programs on their campus, and rightfully so. If I had to guess (and this is just a guess), Tom Brands' job is probably pretty secure at this point.