Brands Out Askrens in .... the most obvious move in wrestling.
- Thread starter StMichaelsHerald
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So you never watched him wrestle except for when he competed against psu is what I'm gathering. Alex was a great wrestler and highly touted but not all recruiting rankings are created equal. The gap between him and Hall was significant. Those of us that watched every match know he got everything out of his ability he possibly could, but fell short in the big tourney largely bc of his style. He wasn't going to go anywhere and change his style. He was going to beat the shit out of you for 7 mins and likely beat you... however if you could take the beating and out athlete him he was in trouble.
I watched whatever matches were on BTN, so not every match, but a lot of them. Stylistically, you're obviously correct about how he wrestled, but that's just making excuses if you're saying that's why he was never expected to win nationals. He wouldn't be the #3 pfp recruit if he was expected to top out at 5th nationally.
What exactly are you smoking? Cael has been a MONSTER RECRUITER since day 1! His classes at ISU were incredible right from the very beginning. Once he landed at a monster like PSU, right in the heart of PA, it almost created an unfair recruiting field putting the best recruiter EVER in the sport right in the richest area for talent....
So, what exactly is "recruiting well" to you? Brands has consistently been landing top 10 p4p recruits since Kemerer. I mean, who exactly do you think has outrecruited him other than Sanderson during his tenure? Ryan is probably the only one you can realistically consider and he has been so up and down that I am not sure you can really give him the nod other than the stretch where he had the Stiebers, Snyder, Jordan and Tomasello.
Again, the issue isn't so much with what Iowa is doing, it is truly with what PSU is doing. Simply put, Iowa recruiting isn't nearly as much of a Brands thing, as it is a PSU thing. They have cornered the market and are damn near a monopoly right now. New assistants aren't all of a sudden going to be stealing PSU leans for the foreseeable future.
I keep repeating it, but it is only because I believe it to be 100% true. Iowa has to get to know the top kids as well as they possibly can and snag the kids that like to upset the apple cart. They need to find guys that don't necessarily like to go to ready made teams. Kids with chips on their shoulders. Kids that like to knock off #1.
Iowa needs to stop putting all the time and resources into finishing the 2nd choice for many of these kids and go after the ones that they have the mindset to be #1 from the beginning. I know that is hard to do with limited ways to interact with the recruits, but they have to find a way...
Agreed. Did he not watch when Hall and Marinelli wrestled? Granted, I do believe size was a factor, but Hall had Marinelli in a splade for God's sake. As much as I am a fan of Marinelli, he got to where he was because he worked harder than everyone else. But, his skill set was considerably more 2 dimensional than a lot of the PSU guys(3 and even 4 dimensional) winning titles these days...
I'm in that area man. I didn't say he's a garbage recruiter, I said he doesn't even have to!! Just like Brands didn't have to go hardcore because of the young guns kids. There were years Iowa had more PA kids in their lineup then Penn State. That's a cop out to say it's a monopoly. I personally know of a recruit that was very interested in Iowa. He took a visit, and nothing after. Hardly any communication. This board said" oh we weren't going to get him anyway". That didn't just have an impact on that recruit, but a helluva lot more after that. Literally would have probably only taken a phone call or 2 to land him.
I think Alex had the talent and athletic ability to win titles. He was every bit of as good athlete as Cenzo. I think we match planned poorly for some of his NCAA tournament matches, and then mentally he would just lapse at critical times in the NCAA tournament . He got some bad draws also. As with most everyone, the margin of error is slim, and he was so close.
I think maybe you're still drunk. Alex was injured terribly during two NCAA's and another was canceled.
I think if Alex beats Lewis or Griffith in what were razor close matches he probably wins the title one or both of those years. I realize he was injured at end of Griffith match, but he was championship caliber for sure. Even 2022, he seemed to be in control of Amine match, but let Amine stick around and then sort of had a mental lapse in OT. If he wins that, he had reasonable chance of beating O’Toole to get to finals. Even his first NCAA tourney, he needed to wrestle IMart strategically like Cenzo did. Cenzo had a plan to combat IMarts strengths and take advantage of his weaknesses. Marinelli just wrestled his match. Marinelli was as good as Cenzo IMO. If Cenzo gets put on IMart’s side of bracket and Marinelli on opposite side, Marinelli could have won title that year too. My whole point was that Marinelli was that good. Definitely Champion level. Had some mental lapses/injuries in consolation matches, and that’s why never better than 5th, but the guy was a total stud.
A 4-time Big Ten champ is a stud.
Regarding Ben Askren, he announced on the 1000th FRL episode that he is leaving the show. Apparently he had been planning to for a bit, but he didn't want to leave mid season, so he is staying through at least Oly trials. Mentioned that ever since he saw Freddie Roach coach all he ever wanted to do was coach and be in the wrestling room.
No idea what to make of that, could be focusing more on the club or eyeing something else. Or maybe just tired of podcasting. But it makes me wonder what he thinks about the stated coaching role. I for one would love to see him heading a D1 program.
No idea what to make of that, could be focusing more on the club or eyeing something else. Or maybe just tired of podcasting. But it makes me wonder what he thinks about the stated coaching role. I for one would love to see him heading a D1 program.
Ben wants to be a full time club coach. The only schools he'd even think about coaching would be Wisconsin or Iowa. But he's not focusing on getting a D1 job. He's pretty content with making kids good at wrestling.
A bigger problem for Ben is his twitter. Will an AD hire him considering his mouth/social media is a risk.
some context
Kemerer was an elite-ish recruit. #9 on SR big board with an impeccable hs career.
Kaleb Young was not 'mid tier'. he was #21 and won S32. he had wins over Labriola (twice) and Trent Hidlay who AA'd in college 8 times.
that being said, i did think he was a little bit limited, which is why i had him at 21 and not, say, 12-15.
others in that era and topical now
Marinelli - 3
Murin - 44
Turk - 61
Spencer - 1
Warner - 7
Cass - 14
Cashman - 80
Nelson - 93
Abe - 29
Glazier - 83
Carter Happel - 34
Kennedy - 4
Bretli Reyna - 53
Schriever - 57
Drake - 4
Wyatt Henson - 16 (transfer)
Rathjen - 49
Nate Jesuroga - would have been Top 5 / 10
Ybarra - 37
Riggins - 36
Franklin - 49
Bradley Hill - 112
Kueter - 6 (football uncertainty baked in to that ranking)
Gabe - 19
Block - 26
Kemerer was an elite-ish recruit. #9 on SR big board with an impeccable hs career.
Kaleb Young was not 'mid tier'. he was #21 and won S32. he had wins over Labriola (twice) and Trent Hidlay who AA'd in college 8 times.
that being said, i did think he was a little bit limited, which is why i had him at 21 and not, say, 12-15.
others in that era and topical now
Marinelli - 3
Murin - 44
Turk - 61
Spencer - 1
Warner - 7
Cass - 14
Cashman - 80
Nelson - 93
Abe - 29
Glazier - 83
Carter Happel - 34
Kennedy - 4
Bretli Reyna - 53
Schriever - 57
Drake - 4
Wyatt Henson - 16 (transfer)
Rathjen - 49
Nate Jesuroga - would have been Top 5 / 10
Ybarra - 37
Riggins - 36
Franklin - 49
Bradley Hill - 112
Kueter - 6 (football uncertainty baked in to that ranking)
Gabe - 19
Block - 26
This does prove the larger point, we aren't landing the elite of the elite blue chippers the way a program like Iowa should be. 4 top 5 recruits over this time frame is frankly pathetic. We should be getting 1-2 of those guys every recruiting cycle, period.
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