I don't think okie st would be down with that. He announced he was done when he took the job (assuming that was a condition). Then changed to after worlds he's done. I think it's difficult to train at the level he needs to year round and also manage/coach a top d1 program.
I think he’s done. Not looking too much into him not taking the shoes off, but I certainly expected it. Definitely a change in the guard coming to USA wrestling. We’re gonna need some young studs to step up or it’s gonna be a rough 4 years.
My prediction that Gabe Arnold would win a national championship at 174 this year has hit a roadblock. He's listed at 184 for their opener, Nelson Brands is at 174. Also suspected that Patrick Kennedy will be at 174 when he gets back from U23s. I think it's a mistake but that's just me. The logjam gets even worse next year with Angelo Ferrari coming off redshirt at 184 next year. Brands graduates but Kennedy and Arnold will both be back. Don't think Ferrari is big enough for 197.
Predictions for NCAA tournament: 125: 1. Richie Figs 2. Luke Lilledahl 3. Jakob Camacho 133: 1. Ryan Crookham 2. Drake Ayala 3. Ben Davino 141: 1. Andrew Alirez 2. Jesse Mendez 3. Beau Bartlett 149: 1. SVN 2. Ridge Lovett 3. Caleb Henson 157: 1. Meyer Shapiro 2. Daniel Cardenas 3. Jacori Teemer 165: 1. Mitchell Mesenbrink 2. Michael Caliendo 3. Cam Amine 174: 1. Keegan O'Toole 2. Levi Haines 3. Dean Hamiti 184: 1. Parker Keckeisen 2. Carter Starocci 3. Gabe Arnold 197: 1. AJ Ferrari 2. Stephen Buchanon 3. Trey Munoz HWT: 1. Daniel Greg Kerkvliet 2. Wyatt Hendrickson 3. Isaac Trumble The two biggest favorites in the field imo are Mesenbrink and Kerkvliet. The top P4P guys (Starocci/Keckeisen, Haines/O'Toole, Alirez/Mendez) all have other studs at their weight.
WVU is preseason 19 and have 2 ranked in the top 4. Watters is 3rd at 149 and Hall 4th at 165. Flynn has done a great job. He's like 60, and I do wonder if we should try and bring Coleman Scott home
Sidenote: I really want to see Diego Pavia as a Heisman finalist. As a wrestling coach that hears football players constantly make excuses about wrestling hurting their football prowess (mostly due to weight stuff), it would help. One of our freshman is considering quitting bc he might start at QB next year, and it kills me inside.
Really curious to see how Ben Davino does today. Unfortunately it looks like Ragusin isn't wrestling, but he still has some good competition in the bracket. He gets an NCAA qualifier in Max Leete right off the bat (wrestled close matches with both Vito and Crookham last year). Next two should be fairly easy matches, then he could see Colton Camacho in the semis (who is up from 125). Another good test. Then it would likely be Bouzakis in the finals, hopefully if they both get there they actually wrestle.
Where do you coach again? I'm at McNair. I think it was you who was asking me if I knew Cotton. He's actually with us on staff this year.
Rocco Welsh wrestling unattached at 184 for Ohio State. Noteworthy. ben Davino is better than I thought and I just predicted him to finish 3rd at ncaas. Will be very interested to see if Tom Ryan lets him wrestle bouzakis in the finals.
Yeah. He was my buddy back in HS. He was on Team Georgia with me for the NHSCA National duals. I spent a lot of time with him and Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (of UFC fame, and also RIP ) on that trip. Funny story actually, on the way home (I think), I wanted to get some shopping center Chinese place versus what everyone else wanted. AJ and Cotton wanted to go with me, and kept going like "EFF THAT NOISE, I'm getting some CAT-DOG with Gin Buckets." Still makes me chuckle to this day. I think he also gave me one of his burned mix CDs, that I probably still have in one of my old CD holders that I can't bring myself to throw away.
I had a kid tell the one of our coaches that he quit today to "focus on the explosive mechanics of football" which is the most preposterous excuse I've ever heard. Coincidentally, this happened directly after he puked at practice last week.
Really happy to have him back. I just feel bad for how the last three years went. He could have done whatever he wanted after Tokyo. Not saying he made the wrong move by going the WWE route, but when it was apparent that he didn't have a future in the sport, he should have made a move. Dominating trials in 2023 and then not wrestling at worlds was a head scratcher. Not showing up for olympic trials and then getting cut from the WWE a few days after was a gut punch. The football thing was ill advised. He had all the options in the world 3 years ago. Now it seems like the opposite. Again, glad he's back for the sport, but this doesn't feel right. Just wrestle internationally.
That will put the finishing touch on Dabo Ryan’s chance to get a 2nd nati, I’m very down on the sport and don’t care that much but this seemed like his last chance to ever contend again Maybe he’ll rant about nil next
Wouldn't Title IX apply? So if they increased scholarships, women's sports would need increased? I know for baseball, it's been reported of the 35 roster spots, most teams would have 20-25 scholarships I'd imagine it'd be something similar with wrestling. Power conferences may increase the scholarships by a couple, lower conferences not likely. Guess now since you could get a full ride anywhere, you may choose a different school as financially it would be even.
I’d think a lot of wrestling programs are sitting in a much more precarious position than before. Any male sport that is a revenue loser has a good chance of being shuttered. Because of title IX, female sports are less at risk but I wouldn’t be surprised to see plenty of both genders to be eliminated.
I suppose the proposed roster limits could change things a little bit. Otherwise the choice is still there on how much you want to fund it. So there are chances more programs get cut or funding gets cut. College athletics are in a very precarious spot and nobody has any idea how it’s all going to shake out.
If one sport opts in your whole school had to. So any school that’s in for football has to be in for wrestling which means 30 total on the roster
Yes rostered. So a lot of teams will have less bodies than they do now. Everyone can then be on scholarship, but that doesn’t mean they have to fund scholarships for every roster spot.
Mizzou @ VT tonight. Should be a good one. Jordan Oliver vs Bryce Andonian on UFC fight pass tonight at the Campbell Nebraska outdoor dual.
This show is a lot of fun if you haven't seen it. 3 years old now, but I just recently found it and have been slowly going through all of the episodes. Kids are funny.
Trying to understand how Colton Schultz is seeded ahead of Nick Feldman at CKLV. They wrestled for 5th at NCAAs last year; Feldman won 11-4. Since then, Feldman is 5-0 with a win over Nathan Taylor. Since then, Schultz is 4-2 with a win over Isaac Trumble and losses to Luke Luffman and Hendrickson. Is the win over Isaac Trumble so big that it trumps a loss to Luffman, the H2H loss, and the win over Nathan Taylor, a likely AA this year (If healthy)? Should have been: 1. Hendrickson 2. Feldman 3. Schultz 4. Trumble Feldman being seeded at the 4 is just insanely bad. I agree Trumble is great and I believe I picked him to finish in the top 3 pre-gable announcement, but he has less matches at 285 than Feldman has significant wins.
Haha Gin Buckets my buddy who has been out of the sport for like 15 years was thrust into the head coach role at Newton after they had to fire their coach in like September. He just texted me “hey is Mill Creek any good? We have them tonight”. I should have said no, they suck, then waited for him to call me but I didn’t think that quickly
Unstoppable finally dropped on Prime if you haven't seen it. Opening scene is a little cringey in terms of the wrestling, but it's not like Vision Quest or anything, either. Still watching, and I'll let y'all know how it goes.
Going to the Nebraska/Penn St dual tonight. Don't expect Nebraska to win or even come close, but should be a pretty electric atmosphere for a while anyway