Well, I guess Iowa wrestling isn't completely dead after all.
I'm proud of you guys. There may be hope for us yet.
I'm proud of you guys. There may be hope for us yet.
AJ Ferrari says no to Iowa
- Thread starter EvilMonkeyInTheCloset
- Start date
No inside info, but I would have thought the other way 'round: Iowa says no to AJ
Count me among those who continue to question if it was his choice…
Yeah. It was AJ that told Iowa no.
Lmao. Right. 😂
Lmao. Right. 😂
AJ will go to the best program that will accept him. I suspect Iowa opted out, not the other way. Next Rutgers hopeful ...
The fact that his post reads like a job application makes it pretty apparent who told who what. So proud that this organization finally made the right decision.
No clue if Angelo reads the board but for his sake maybe we try and take the high road and be selective with comments since separation has already occurred and no need to pile on a member of his family I’m sure he cares about.
On this board? Yeah - right.
Yeah probably wishful thinking but not a great look to go after family of incoming recruits even if justified or not.
It’d be great if Angelo could have a clean slate to start his career and not have to indirectly carry fallout of his brothers’ behaviors.
That’s AJ’s spin. And the University is right to not say a word.
LOL
If this message board was a determining factor in Angelo coming to Iowa - he'd already be somewhere else. This is pretty dang tame considering what has been said about AJ prior.
The headlines are definitely misleading. AJ has never officially been part of the University of Iowa wrestling program. He is not leaving the U of I, he is leaving the state of Iowa (presumably…unless he’s going to attend ISU, UNI, or another school in Iowa).
F*** that. AJ cost our program potential recruits and acted like an a$$. Leaves fans out of it.
Last edited:
I definitely don’t disagree with the sentiment and criticism of older brothers is rightfully so. With AJ and Anthony no longer individuals intending on joining the team though, I just think it may be worth aiming to be respectful at very least to not dump on our incoming recruit and tarnish his experience as a Hawk.
You got to feel for Angelo a bit having older brothers who blazed the trail and left some carnage along the way that he now has to traverse. He’s certainly a passionate wrestler himself but by all accounts, Angelo has shown to be worthy of being judged on his own without the lens from the baggage his brothers were responsible for.
I wonder if Anthony is going to try to wrestle at the same school as AJ? I really hope the best for the two of them and that they can turn it around for their futures.
I feel for their victims. Little brother will need realize the baggage HIS FAMILY MEMBERS have saddled him with, not wrestling fans. Btw, I’ll sleep easier when Ant’ney is also officially looking for another team as well.
When did he return the keys to the Hawkeye weight room?
As much as I’ve been all for giving these brothers a chance, there is no way he is leaving us. He just posted with Ben a month ago how they were going to be a great back to back combo next year, and after that talked to Chael Sonnen on flo about wrestling Star, and said it would be a great match when Iowa wrestles PSU. He was all in on us, and I bet TnT were more than willing to at least give him a chance to fail, like Downey did. His personality and toxic masculinity is something I’m sure our young ballsy female athletic director hated him, especially after SS. If she has the balls to fire a Ferentz, telling TnT to get rid of AJ is nothing.
I hear what you are saying and definitely feel for any victims or individuals impacted by terrible acts of the older two. Just don’t think it is Angelo’s place to carry that burden more so than he already has had to, since he literally had nothing to do with his brother’s past incidents and couldn’t have prevented them from occurring. Would just be nice for the youngest to get a fair shake and chance to write his own story without the baggage of his older brothers.
If message board comments scare him off then he needs to go ASAP because if that is the case, he has a whole host of problems much bigger than wrestling.
I don't know him at all, but my hunch is that he's much, MUCH smarter and tougher than this.
Obviously if any recruit seriously takes the Cesspool into their decision on committing, they are in for a bumpy ride.
Just more of a respect thing to our incoming recruit and timing of this situation with the two concerning individuals no longer a concern of the program so seems appropriate to turn the page and allow focus to finally be on Angelo who has always been the top priority.
Criticism is totally warranted for those individuals who acted poorly, and every poster certainly has their own right to speak however they choose on the matter.
I’m just looking forward to Angelo being able to have the spotlight on him and his achievements without the distraction of other members of his family who chose to make the decisions they did with the opportunities they were granted.
AJ flipped off a largely Iowa crowd and was still here to be given another chance with some stipulations. Funny thing is this...if this were the 80s, during the Gable era, he would have been gone after that stunt. He was given every chance. I am not going to dance on AJ's wrestling grave but he dug this hole himself.
Rutgers - surprisingly, no interest. NONE. at least that was the last time this was a thing. Would be surprised if they changed their minds now. Especially with Pritzlaff gone.
ISU - yeah. no. Dresser not a fan of the entire family
N. Colorado - Same as Rutgers. No interest. They also have a natty champ - they don't need the problems/publicity AJ comes with. Also not a big fan of the fact that AJ was telling coaches that they offered him $250k last december, when that hadn't happened at all.
Meh. Maybe, but he's already shown he's willing to turn his program into Last Chance U for trouble guys who can't get offers anywhere else.
I don’t think the Ferrari haters think that deep, or realize what a close knit family they are. Many on here have been non stop trashing the whole family except Angelo. He said in an interview last year that there’s no reason they all shouldn’t have a good experience on our team together, starting this fall, so I’m sure he’s hurting about this, especially if the rumors about Anthony are also true. I hope he takes the advice Anthony gave him last year during the recruiting process, when he told him to take his visits and not just follow him to Iowa if he didn’t feel like it was the best program for him. He regretted just following AJ to oky st.
TNT did a great job truly recruiting Angelo. He's in the best place for him. And i'll give credit where due - they did as good a job as possible trying to get Anthony and AJ to right the ship and stay focused.
I'll never agree that we should have brought them in the first place, because this is where I knew we'd end up - but TNT tried.
That’s cause the season hasn’t started yet. I hope he’s as mentally tough as he is physically. He’s going to get a healthy dose of unwarranted hatred spewed at him from opposing fan bases (and likely some Iowa fans as well) for his entire collegiate career, based on the sins of his brothers. Hopefully, he lets his wrestling do his talking for him. I’m excited to see him and Gabe back to back for the next few years.
Disappointed we couldn’t land Carroll, when he ended up in the state of Iowa, and the coaches knew AJ was gone and we had Zach as our only 197.
He made a funny statement on his instagram this year where he said he needs new haters because his old ones are starting to like him😜
I don’t see Iowa fans hating on him at all. Opposing fans hate everyone, in general. Is normal.
That's pretty good. I like his attitude and thick skin already. That'll bode him well.
