I'm sure as heck no insider but trying to make weight today at a weight one struggled to make 2 years prior isn't generally a recipe for success. So one could understand some pessimism based on that alone.
23 things we learned from Iowa State's wrestle-offs
- Thread starter hawkaeg80
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I'm sure as heck no insider but trying to make weight today at a weight one struggled to make 2 years prior isn't generally a recipe for success. So one could understand some pessimism based on that alone.
U Seem pretty desperate for validation For a guy claiming I’m 100% wrong Gomez can’t make 133
Gomez was going to make 133 this year. If it was a full season, with many more weigh ins, it probably wasn't going to go as well. The shorten season was going to make it easier for him to handle the weight cut. Yes he would of rather went to 141, but that wasn't possible with Parker there.
Just like most wrestlers, the grind of a full season probably would of wore on him.
Just like most wrestlers, the grind of a full season probably would of wore on him.
I meant to claim smalls was wrong, not you. It was late at night. Us lakes conference guys got to stick together. Sorry for the confusion
1. Tiger seems to think it is, and as connected as I’m sure you are, he has shown to be more dialed in to ISU wrestling.
3. Yes it is. You’re trying to act like you know more than you actually do about the situation.
Man, I've been gone for a while and I come back to read that ISU is a threat to field a "somewhat" competitive team in 20/21.
I realize the bar is set pretty low, but is this really supposed to be KD's best team since he arrived? I'm afraid I'll never live to see the day where ISU is competitive with the Hawks again.
I realize the bar is set pretty low, but is this really supposed to be KD's best team since he arrived? I'm afraid I'll never live to see the day where ISU is competitive with the Hawks again.
I so much hate being some sort of Dresser/ISU defender but there isn’t a wrestling coach alive who would have taken ISU from 2 NCAA tournament points to being competitive with Iowa in 3 seasons. Just wasn’t ever happening.
I'd buy that argument if D-1 wrestling hadn't become even more polarized in terms of schools and ADs taking wrestling as a second class sport. Just look at the schools that have dropped or deemphasized wrestling.
I'd argue there are multiple coaches that could take a school with tradition and resources, such as ISU, and elevate them. Dresser's results only highlite how bad KJ was. When you follow that disaster, and the extremely low bar he set, it's not the rebuild you think. KJ was a talented recruiter, he just couldn't coach worth a shit. Dresser inherited a roster with some talented kids.
KD has coached for a very long time, but you know what, Doug Schwab has coached more National champions than Kevin Dresser. That's perspective.
And Virginia Tech hasn't fallen off the face of the Earth since Dresser left there.
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Here’s my opinion on KJ and I may be in the minority, but I think everyone has it wrong. They say he was a good recruiter and a bad developer. Well he’s the developmental coach at the younger levels for USA wrestling and he’s doing just fine there. Imo the “great” recruits he got actually weren’t that good and were never going to make it. He got them because other coaches saw something and didn’t pursue as aggressively because of this.
Edit to add: in other words it’s backwards he’s not a great recruiter and actually is a decent developer.
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There are about 2-3 other schools and maybe 3-4 coaches who could pull that off. ISU isn’t one of the schools, Dresser isn’t one of the coaches and none of the ones who are were going to coach at ISU.
He’s a good coach. They’ve progressed well. I’d argue just about perfectly. They are finally respectable without Iowa having to think much about them.
The obvious overrated "great" recruit KJ got was Meeks, but many people saw that right away. Meeks was misused from the start. There's no way in hell he should have wrestled as a true freshman. But we all know that was a "daddy problem".
I think Parker/Gomez/Colbray were all KJ recruits. They were good high schoolers. Hopefully this doesn't come across wrong, but I think he got some kids by being a high profile Black HC. And I found respect for KJ by setting standards for that asshole, Andrew Long.
Dresser is getting paid to be a top 5 HC. I don't see them at that level.
IMO, it would be the Gophers. Based solely on the advantages of being in the B1G. The landscape of college wrestling is really narrowing in terms of where the top schools are. There are really only two schools, maybe three, that will threaten the B1G's stranglehold of top 5 finishes... OSU/Cornell/NCST.
Top high schoolers want to go where the highest quality competition is. The transfer portal will also be a factor.
ISU fans should be realistic in their expectations. They can dream about those best case scenarios, but they seldom materialize. Given who he followed, Dresser will be idolized if he can get the Clones inside the top ten and maintain a presence there. With the absence of the Ivy League teams this season, high AA finishes from 125/141/149/157 could get ISU close in 2021. This seems, to me, to be ISU's best chance before "normal" returns.
I remember the days when alot of the top talent was coming out of Iowa and Oklahoma. Produced some big time rivalries with Iowa/ISU and Oklahoma/OSU. Although they still develop good talent, they no longer got enough in state to support 2 state universities. Theres only so much top talent going to leave their state to commit to these states and with Brands and Smith, the decision is easy. As long as the coaches stay put at Iowa and OSU, I cant see ISU or Oklahoma in the conversation for championships.
The Sooners are a mess as they've failed in coaching hires for some time now. Dresser knows he's not beating Brands for the best Iowa kids other than some legacy recruits.
But the bottom line is Iowa high school wrestling kinda sucks for top end talent. And it's been like that since Cory Clark's senior season. Look at the Iowa roster. Not a single starter from the State of Iowa, unless you want to count Nelson as a starter.
There's likely a lot of factors in the decline of Iowa high school wrestling. It's been discussed here before.
It's imperative that Spencer Lee sticks around once his competitive days are over. He will be a magnet for the Hawks.
But the bottom line is Iowa high school wrestling kinda sucks for top end talent. And it's been like that since Cory Clark's senior season. Look at the Iowa roster. Not a single starter from the State of Iowa, unless you want to count Nelson as a starter.
There's likely a lot of factors in the decline of Iowa high school wrestling. It's been discussed here before.
It's imperative that Spencer Lee sticks around once his competitive days are over. He will be a magnet for the Hawks.
This goes back a ways, but Zelesky once said something about if the Hawks were going to be good they had to look beyond Iowa for that top-end talent so they could compete. There were other factors that led him to leave, but when he said that the Hawkeye faithful started putting the nails in his coaching coffin.
Which was funny because Iowa talent was still pretty good. IIRC from “Four days to Glory,” Z didn’t seem to aggressively recruit the Iowa guys of that gen. I think the descriptor was cold or aloof on visits. The only one to go was M*.
I used to have that book but I once knew a guy who was in the military and was a college wrestling fan, so I gave him the book and when he was done with it he would pass it on to another military member and etc. I never saw the book again, so who knows where it went. Refresh my memory if you will my kind sir. Borshel was in it. The kid from Kennedy, and two others, one maybe being Matt McDonough. The memory is just not what it used to be. The 2020 year erased much of it. 😜
I don’t think those commentshad much to do with his coaching coffin. It was more the whole not being very good thing.
He asked me which team I thought would be top 5 first? Those two choices are like choosing to die by drowning or burning up in a fire.
If only he would have asked me to choose between Nebraska/ISU/Minnesota, aka, the three stooges.
I have a question. Yes this will get people fired up. Why is it everyone use the old line Iowa high school talent isn’t as deep as it use to be. I have not seen any info showing the state of Iowa dropping off. You can use recruiting rankings to make an argument but who can predict how a kids going to act growth or injuries in college. Or the classic line there aren’t any Iowa kids starting for the hawks. Doesn’t that mean the coaching staff does better job developing talent that doesn’t already wrestle iowa style. I do think the state of Iowa High school levels still wrestles old school style of hand fighting and try breaking a guy. I would like to see a little more creativity in high school level. I still believe you are born D1. You can learn all the moves in the world but if your not freaky fast or strong it doesn’t matter.
Don't sleep on Redding at 133...
As a New Yorker, I have been able to watch him since he was in junior high.
The kid is a worker and has a knack for stepping up in the big moment.
I am not saying he is an AA this year, but I do like his potential and think that in the end, he will exceed many expectations during his career.
Plus rivalry aside, just a really good kid from a quality family! The kind of individual that any wrestling fan could get behind and support!
As a New Yorker, I have been able to watch him since he was in junior high.
The kid is a worker and has a knack for stepping up in the big moment.
I am not saying he is an AA this year, but I do like his potential and think that in the end, he will exceed many expectations during his career.
Plus rivalry aside, just a really good kid from a quality family! The kind of individual that any wrestling fan could get behind and support!
I don't know if you're specifically referring to me, but when I make comments about how weak Iowa High school wrestling is... it's about Iowa kids ranked nationally and what they've done at the collegiate level in the last decade.
I can use Brody Teske as one example. Was considered the best high schooler in his senior season, yet was just outside, or barely top 50 nationally. We've followed his path to where he is now. I can certainly understand the population argument or the fact that so many Iowa high schoolers play multiple sports.
Hawk fans certainly hope Drake Ayala is the next Cory Clark. Ayala seems to be the highest rated kid since then. Brands realized years ago that recruiting PA/Ohio was paramount to compete with PSU and tOSU.
He’s tough and the kid from Hawaii are going to make a nice 1-2 for a few years.
Maybe Redding is really good and you’d rather lose to Parker than lose your spot to a true freshman. Just me spitballing
I think he could relate better to a lot of black kids and got some high end black recruits. I also think had the character to set standards for Long or let him go, so his character and morals seem admirable. Whatever it was, he was missing some ingredient to get and/or keep a team in the top 5. However, he must do something right to be working with USA wrestling at the level he is. As for Dresser, the verdict is still out him. Lets see what he can do in a few more years. If you guys think the 3 inch binder of negative recruiting against the Hawks was effective, what do you think the binder for negative recruiting against ISU looks like?
Dresser’s almost 15 years of coaching D1 include completely turning around 2 programs that were practically dead, winning multiple conference titles, getting NCAA team trophy, and winning NWCA coach of the year. The verdict is clear, and it’s that Dresser is a damn good head coach.
So one kid decides if your a good coach ? I think not! Is it a glaring failure for coach Brands that Kemerer and Marinelli have 0 championships? Just a really silly thing to say.
That explains it. My bad. Scanned through the link, and went back to 133# again to check again because I didn't see his name-now I know why I didn't see him at 133#. Thanks for the info.
This is a silly thing to say. I know if Brands never had an individual champ but won every team title for the last decade he would definitely not have been shown the door.
A title with no champs has only been done once in recent memory...they had 10 AAs. So which is more logical...WasDT stating that you need champs to win titles or your scenario of a decade of titles with no champs? You give a near impossible scenario to justify your defense of Dresser not putting guys on top of the podium.
Yes...Brands would lose his job if he consistently finished top ten but had no individual titles. I am old enough to remember when we finished second with no champs and folks were calling for his head.
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