OK St tied for 18th. That is apparently the worst finish in program history First time in Smith's tenure they've finished outside the top ten in consecutive years
Some guy slightly connected to UNC was telling me the rumor is that he’s going to retire in next couple of years and Coleman Scott would take over.
I saw an article with some quotes where Smith seems to realize he needs to shake things up to stay elite I gotta analyze everything by the season and recognize my student-athletes,” Smith said. “They wrestled hard, they worked hard this year. It wasn’t a lack of effort. It wasn’t a lack of wanting. It was more a lack of skill, a little bit. Gotta appreciate guys that gave you a good year. As a season, you go 14-3. I know everything’s judged on the national tournament, and that’s fine. I know that we’ve had two poor tournaments in a row. That’s not fine.” “I’m not gonna spend a lot of time thinking about it other than what the program can do to improve itself,” Smith said. “Nobody’s gonna sit around and accept it. … Gotta make some changes. “With transfers and the portal and those type of things, we probably fell behind. Maybe, right? You gotta get in that game if you’re gonna stay in this game. "When you get hit like we’ve been hit the last couple years… I don’t accept the results, but what I do need is I need to make sure we don’t beat our program up to the point where people become very uncomfortable wrestling for us. We need to gather up our troops and kick ass as we’re going forward. That’s what needs to take place.”
Think it's a combination of recruiting and the blue chips they did land not living up to expectations. Who have they recruited recently that outperformed expectations? Anyone? Meanwhile they got: Daton Fix--Hard to say he didn't live up to expectations, but he was a blue chip of blue chips and never won a title, even though he might be the best to never win one. AJ Ferrari--Won a title as a freshman, but then allegedly did some rape and got expelled Other Ferrari--see said rape above Dustin Plott--2x all american after his JR year but has never come close to challenging for a title and he was the #2 overall recruit behind Ferrari his SR year. Travis Wittlake--Another blue chip, top 3 recruit in the country, has fought some injuries, but looked this a title contender a few years ago at 165, now can't remember the last big match he won. Mastrogiavanni brothers--Both top 10 recruits, haven't shown a lot yet. Trevor showed promise as a FR but seems to have maybe regressed since then. Kyle Haas--Top 10-15 recruit, didn't start this year as a RS FR and went 6-4. Vic Voinovich--Top 10-15 recruit, still his RS FR season and showed some promise at the end of the season with win over Jaden Abas, but maybe you'd hope for a little more than what you got. They have a big time recruiting class coming in next year with Christian Carrol, Brayden Thompson, Cael Hughes, AJ Heeg, Jersey Robb, and John Smith's kid. Carrol and Thompson are blue chips. Hughes, Heeg, and Robb are potential all-americans. They need these guys to hit. Definitely looking dicey in stillwater.
And yes I know you can say the same thing about Ohio State's #1 ranked class with Kerkvliet, Kharchla, and Decatur.
I've never paid attention to wrestling recruiting other than the handful or so on average from Nebraska high schools that go D1 on scholarship. Are any of the reputable recruiting sites rankings not behind a paywall? How do Manning's classes typically rank? We got any "blue chip" guys committed or enrolled?
This is pretty big news in the MMA and wrestling worlds. Path to olympic gold just got much easier for Kyle Dake.
Did y’all know that the wrestling at Olympics is going to take place under the Eiffel Tower? Someone at nationals was tell me about it. Pretty cool.
Bryce Meredith's making his Bellator debut March 31st. Will probably be the first MMA event I've ever watched Go Pokes
is that true? The official site says its going to be hosted in an arena https://www.paris2024.org/en/venue/champ-de-mars-arena/
Outdoor wrestling is difficult. Look at any of the outdoor beat the street events. Humidity wrecks havoc on the mats and can make it jden cox slippery. If they built some type of arena around it, I guess, but running multiple mats in the elements sounds impossible.
It's near the Eiffel tower but not under. They are building a temporary structure adjacent to the existing arena, but it's not what that guy described
Isn't this what Alex Smith had that nearly killed him? Very, very scary. Sounds like Peyton is going to survive, but hopefully he is able to keep his leg.
Not yet, but it's sounding like it could be a possibility. Apparently the WWE marriage is not going as smoothly as anticipated.
Ben Davino #4 overall on Flo '24 big board to Ohio State. OSU could very well have the best 125-133-141 combo in the country in Davino, Bouzakis, and Mendes in a few years. What happens to Vinny Kilkeary though...
Why does college wrestling suck so bad now? Aaron Nagao into the portal. Wonder where he could possibly be going.
We’re just doing what we can to keep up with the bucs elite recruiting! Also it’s crazy that top wrestlers want to be in the best training room in the country. Can’t figure out the connection there
I'm not hating on PSU for it, i'm just saying it's taking the fun out of college wrestling. There was barely any intrigue when Cael had to pick before they got to college wrestling rooms. Now he's just able to wait until they all-american at a top 10 school and steal them away. It's Kevin Durant to the warriors all over again. I'll have very limited interested in the '23-'24 season if PSU gets Nagao and Truax.
I feel like PSU took the fun outta college wrestling like 7 years ago. Think NAU men's cross country is about the only program as dominant in college sports these days
You should check out our Women's Synchronized Swimming and Pistol teams. https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ohio-state-wins-second-consecutive-national-title/ "The Ohio State synchronized (artistic) swimming team earned its second consecutive national title, and 34th in program history, Saturday at the 2023 U.S. Collegiate Championships in Westmont, Ill. The Buckeyes have now won 18 solo titles and 28 duet titles in program history. The program has taken home five of the last six contested national championships."
A lot more questions than answers after that spencer lee interview last night. Says he's not injured and people should be giving more credit to matt ramos for beating him, but then he says he needs to take time and recover. Says he's wrestling in the Open next but then he says he needs to see how it goes. I like him and I'm rooting for him to be the rep this year, but come on.