Coaching update, and might need some advice. My team, (second year program) didn't do great this season (2nd to last in individual state with 0 points and 2 state qualifiers). However; there was a lot of positive momentum. There's one kid who has a very similar style to me, who I think can and will be very good. He's going to be a Junior next season. My biggest issue with the team, is the amount of kids we have total. We can't field a full lineup, and don't really have any JV wrestlers. Since I'm not a teacher or sub, I don't have a voice in the school to get kids to come out. Also, the head coach just left for my alma mater (he was actually my head coach in HS), which leads me to the decision I have to make. Spoiler: "Decisions, decisions" Now, I can either: 1) Stay with current school, whose program will be in ruins if I leave. If I stay, the program will rest on my shoulders. I do not have time to make schedules, lobby the school for money, plan logistics, reserve buses, shuttle kids from school to practice (since we don't have a dedicated room), etc. For me to stay, they will need a head coach who will do all of those things. Only one of the current teachers there actually wrestled, so I'm sure they would probably want me running the practices. The is one teacher who wrestled, coached them in their first season. These guys literally had 7 matches ALL season -- I'm not going to stay around with a schedule like that, we need 50+ matches at a bare minimum (I had 62 matches as a senior in HS). He also can't drive, so he can't be shuttling these kids back and forth for practice. He wants to help, but he's close to retirement and isn't too interested in handling all of the logistics, either. Lastly, we never put more than 10 wrestlers (out of 14) to compete, and usually we were working with 6-8. It's impossible to win a dual meet with those numbers. We had no 8th graders last year, so there's a chance the team only gets smaller (losing 2 seniors last year) next year as well. or 2) Go to my alma mater and continue acting as an assistant coach. They already have a head coach who never wrestled, but is great at handling all of the logistics. I'd love that. I also want to see my alma mater return to our former glory. We were top 10 in the state every year for like 15 years at the highest division. Now the HS is in a middle division (school size) and literally got last place in individual state last year as a team (-1 points). If I joined my alma mater, we'd have at least 4 coaches (2 of whom wrestled in college, and my old HC who is in the state wrestling HoF for being the head coach of like 4 state championship teams), and a full team + JV. There's a lot of potential here. (For what it's worth, the HS I was at, was better pound for pound... I think we may have beaten them in a dual meet while forfeiting 4 weight classes, or if not, it came down to the last match.) Also, it's worth noting that both schools have made it clear that they want me there. Anyway, I don't know what to do. If I can get my current school to meet my stipulations, and find a coach to take on the logistics, I'll stay there. I really like the kids, and don't want to abandon them. However; if I'm saddled with all of the logistics of a head coach, the decision gets much harder.
Blast-from-the-past name, kurt mchenry, allegedly transferring to psu. I don’t know what to expect here, but can’t be worse than what we’ve been trotting out at 125
Good for him. Rich Perry gets a $12 million settlement from the US Government. This does not include settlements he received from USA Wrestling or the manufacturer of the weapon that caused his injury. Hopefully this pays for his care as well as provides for his wife and kids moving forward. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2023-05-28/wrestler-camp-pendleton-settlement
I’d hate to be the teammate that did that and while I don’t fully understand the drill in question, no fucking clue why anything close to that would help you wrestle better
Shit head Tyler Berger flew head first into Zain while trailing 11-2 and busted Zains face open. It was one of the dirtiest things I’ve seen in wrestling in a while.
Who the heck is Zane Richard's. He a late bloomer or something? Didn't have an impressive NCAA career
JB is warshed I don't like Aaron Brooks at all but him having a 1 point match vs Taylor is hella impressive(loved the wrestler before his Muhammad bullshit)
Chance is just a great story of a super talented kid with issues that hit rock bottom and turned his life around.
Got a chance to know him the last 2 years working at the same college before I took a new job in April. Dude is an inspiration. So damn happy for him.
I was sad to miss the event… but pretty happy not to have to deal with Flo anymore after canceling. It’s mind numbing a site whose entire existence is based of off live streaming can’t do that with anything resembling reliability
Arujau lost 2-0 to the world champ and then beat a world bronze 10 in repechage in Budapest. Kid's a threat
Tom Ryan is getting inducted into the OSU Hall of Fame for mastering the art of not being able to get out from the bottom.
They are trying to make it more like Freestyle. This helps in the international sense, but that's where my approval kind of stops. Personal preference, but I just really like Folkstyle much better than Freestyle, because I think mat wrestling should be a bigger part of the sport than it is in Freestyle. Also, in unrelated news, I'm staying at the HS I was at last season. We have a couple of guys putting in serious offseason work, and I couldn't leave them. The team still won't be able to field 14 weight classes, but the guys we do have are starting to look like actual wrestlers.
Is Gable serious with this crap? I don't get the point of going back to college wresting for Gable. Seems like putting life on pause for no good reason. Want to go to the Olympics....fine training freestyle in preparation. Wrestling dancing bear college kids isn't going to help with that. I just don't see going back to wrestle college as pushing himself.
With that logic, why do Brooks or Starocci need college at this point They’re above the sport. RBY was kinda too but then came Vito College wrestling is fucking stupid with all the redshirts
And I would question their thought process too if they left (retired from) college wresting to start their careers (whether it would be MMA, pro wrestling, etc.) and then pulled the plug on said career after a single year and came running back to college wrestling. It may be good for college wrestling but I don't think its good for Gable the young man.
Life as a college wrestler sucks to be sure, but life as a college student is still fun. I'd do the same damned thing probably. Almost all the best wrestlers who don't want to leave wrestling will still be around they year after the graduate -- at least that's how it was in my time. After my senior year, our best wrestler, Sean Gray stuck around and coached Blacksburg HS. The year after, Doug Schwab was our GA (he came in with Brands), before going onto olympic trials and ultimately making the olympic team.
Just now seeing Coleman Scott left UNC to become Associate Head Coach at OK St. Guessing OK St is paying him way more?
First reports made it seem like it wasnt that bad. But this update seems like he'll be lucky to walk again https://www.gofundme.com/f/9x3sm-sa...nk_all&utm_source=customer&utm_term=undefined
Someone explain wrestling seeding to me. Some make perfect sense and then David Taylor at 7 has me very confused
yeah they have a weighted scoring system based on tournaments you've competed in over the cycle. taylor and yazdani (the greatest) compete infrequently so that's why they're the 5 and 7th seed. feels like recent world and olympic titles should hold more weight but alas.
Updated: Everyone is in. Russia sending the A Team. Russia's Independent Neutral Athlete’s (AIN) team: 57kg - Zavur UGUEV 61kg - Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV 65kg - Shamil MAMEDOV 70kg - Evgenii ZHERBAEV 74kg - Zaurbek SIDAKOV 79kg - Akhmed USMANOV 86kg - Arslan BAGAEV 92kg - Magomed KURBANOV / Vladislav VALIEV 97kg - Abdulrashid SADULAEV 125kg - Abdulla KURBANOV
It's surprising to me that Russia can't find anyone to compete with Yazdani (the greatest) and Taylor. They keep throwing conscripts into the meat grinder.
I think that’s a testament to how good yazdani and Taylor are. Russia has had plenty of good guys at 86 but YtG and magic man are just that much better. yazdani teched bagev 10-0 earlier this year,