Tom formerly Tofurky

As the world becomes more secular, there is less need for small schools, which tend to be religiously affiliated. They rely less on whatever organizations founded them, and their older, religious, dedicated alumni are dying off, and not leaving much, if anything to these schools in their wills. ABU was tied to the Baptist Church. The solution for a lot of them is to jack up tuition (the illusion that "you get what you pay for", even if what they really mean is that school has only a local reputation for quality education) and start sports programs to bring in numbers. Most of these schools are enrollment driven, so when the tuition is too high and/or students start leaving with mountains of debt, those schools numbers go down, which then has a negative impact on short and long-term giving. Many of these schools are also caught up in the "arms race" of the modern college landscape, where boards are approving the construction of brand new buildings or other tangible additions to their campuses (rock climbing walls, gyms, and other recreational facilities) before they shore up their shrinking endowments. One other strategy is mimicking what community colleges have done, and start embracing the dual credit model of earning college credit for gen eds while in high school. Some of these small, private schools are banking (pun intended) on forming an allegiance with many of these students so that they will enroll at said institutions after graduation. It's still fairly early in the game to indicate any real stability for most schools. Sure, these schools can offer majors that everyone else has, but then the market becomes watered down, and after the last financial crisis and COVID, private schools (more specifically their tuition rates) don't have the same gravitas they used to have. The other end of that is that trends in labor change. Jobs that are popular today, may be antiquated in five years from now with the rate of technological development. Kids are learning more and more and more, too, that many employers don't value them beyond what they did that day. "The Great Resignation" or whatever term you want to use for it, hasn't disappeared, and people don't stay at jobs very long anymore, especially when they don't feel valued or supported. So, you can go to college, incur a ton of debt (in some cases), start with an employer only to have them treat you poorly or you can just go to work and eliminate that college debt, which seems to be what a lot of folks are doing. Add to that that college debt is being reported on so much these days that it is scaring the peepers out of a lot of kids whose families have scraped by n the last decade or so, and earning money right away seems to be a better option for many who were already on the proverbial fence about going to college. Anyway, I apologize for rambling. I am on both sides of this as an employee in higher education, and as a parent of four teenagers discerning what/if higher ed is right for them, and I have no easy answer for that. The only thing I can say is that I have yet to personally meet a person in any line of work who said, "earning that college degree was a waste of time." I am sorry for everyone around the ABU decision to close. That is heartbreaking news.

https://www.armywcap.com/apply/general-standards/Wrestling https://myairforcelife.com/air-force-wcap/ https://www.navyfitness.org/all-navy-sports https://quantico.usmc-mccs.org/recreation-fitness/recreation/sports/all-marine-sports

This anecdote was from the early to mid-1990s, so consider that. I was stationed with a guy who worked in services on base (running the fitness center at night), but went to school at the local state university, and even played D2 football.

His club is in Cedar Lake.

I remember Langowski and his situation well. He ended up running an ice cream shop in Logan Square for a bit. Thanks for the info on the others. Don't forget that Alex Dolly, former UNI wrestler, repped Ireland for a bit. I'm sure it can be done. The Russians have been doing it for ages, as have many Americans, so I don't see fewer guys here passing up the opportunity in order to sit home and watch from a sofa.

I'm originally from Chicago(land), and I have known a few U.S. citizens who have had the opportunity to make their way to the World and Olympic Games for other nations through heritage. I guess it all depends on each person and what is most important to them: repping a certain nation or competing for a World/Olympic team opportunity regardless of whose singlet that person is wearing. Just this past weekend, I was reminded of Russia earning eight medals in seven weight classes, sweeping the finals. At 66 kilos, Ramadan Shahin repped Turkey, but it was well-known he was born and raised in Dagestan, repping Russia many times at World-level competitions, before transferring to Turkey. It paid off for him with consecutive World and Olympic golds. Also, wasn't there a poster back in themat.com days who was making effort to rep a Caribbean Island nation that wasn't P.R. or Cuba?

I don't doubt it, but I don't know that to be as important to some anymore wjth the RTCs here that allow world class athletes from outside the U.S. to train at them. How recent these two folks you're referencing compete?

I hadn't heard that BIG died. That's too bad. Didn't he have some sort oof drunken street brawl in Vegas or LA? Maybe I am mixing up old posters. Anyway, let's ship to Mexico good dudes who are not able to make the U.S. team. That would be a great get for rassling on the continent. Also, someone above said something about winning a medal in a U.S. singlet being a possible priority. My guess would be winning a medal is the priority, and what singlet you are wearing as it happens is far less important.

Is he experiencing Stockholm Syndrome?

I worked for NCSA within the last year, and I can tell you first hand that they aren't always on the ball. Your best bet is to always head directly to the source and take the time to root around for the answer. That said, the NJCAA site didn't list Pratt CC among their teams with wrestling, and they just finished as team national runner-ups this past season.

If you choose wrestling in the last drop down, it shows all programs with men's wrestling.

https://www.njcaa.org/member_colleges/directory/members - for your reference Kansas has eight NJCAA programs.

With the topic at hand, will no one else bring up Kerry Boumans and his bride, Terri Zemaitis? ***I went to high school with TZ. I'm 6'1", and I had to look up a bit anytime I saw her in the halls.

I wouldn't go so far as to say "all of us", but there are some, for sure.

^^^^ This The folks at Flo say things like this to legitimize their positions. It's no secret they troll the boards, because they know that there are folks here with credible information with whom they have no relationship. That said, as the primary form of "news" for the sport of wrestling in the U.S., occasionally they need to beat their own chests to remind people who they have convinced themselves that they are.

I'm all for Spencer being on the French team. That would be good for him and the sport, oui.

We went as a group to Coralville last December, and it seemed to be packed, but I don't remember. @Jason Bryant, do you remember what the Xtream Center looked like from your vantage point? I must not have been paying attention closely enough.

Yikes! I had no idea. I guess his RTC in Tulsa makes a lot more sense now.

No love for Guerrero? How about Jeremy Spates, since Koll was on the block for a short period of time? I have yet to see Teyon Ware's name in there; how about him? Sam Hazewinkel? I'm absolutely dumbfounded that OU is having this much trouble finding a head coach/staff.

Is Kendrick Maple ready to become a head coach? If so, and let's say OU hires him, how would that impact Mizzou?

Ha! That's great! I've not ever heard of that movie.

Damn! Just catching with the last season on Netflix, and saw "Coach Nathanimal" answer the security office door. Going off of his technique videos on YouTube, he seems like a natural for on screen work.

Yes, that is OPRF's main gym/field house and mat. BTS Chicago does many events there, as their CEO is an alum of OPRF, as well as having taught and coached at the school for years. He maintains close ties with the school. News report in Chicago media states that the boy who was punched suffered a deviated septum from that punch. SPAR kids are trained to wrestle hard, and my guess is the kid who threw the punch took umbrage with that.

I saw somewhere recently that RBY is having a "super match" of sorts soon in New Mexico against Real Woods. With that in mind, I'm thinking 57 kilos isn't even a discussion point.

Sooooo... RBY... what weight will he go for his international career?