Season ticket holder. Just looked at schedule to plan. Disappointing. Think they need to give up on soldier salute and mix in 1-2 of the big 3. Vegas-scuffle-or preferably back to midlands. Drop the grudge and ego and go compete against the elite like nearly everyone else does. Why not? SS=lame and always will! Lets go!
Competition
- Thread starter MAGAman
- Start date
To start off the Soldier Salute is not lame but agree currently on the men's side it is not an elite tournament at least not yet. It was essentially a reaction to the midlands declining before covid and then being canceled during and after COVID. In it's current state it allows some good development for our younger wrestlers, an easy way for our starters to get a few extra easy wins under their belts for seeding purposes. It would be nice as a fan to see the guys compete at Cliff Keen or the Scuffle however I'm not convinced that it would really be that beneficial to our team. If you notice Penn State also is not in one of the top 3 in season tournaments. I think our coaches probably prefer to use December to allow guys to get some rest and to really work on conditioning. The college season is a bit of a meat grinder and I don't think most coaches want it any longer than it has to be. The Salute currently a decent women's tournament and likely will be an elite women's tournament as the women's sport develops at the power five level over the next decade or so. I really like that Iowa will be the cradle of the women's sport and I think it will pay dividends. It's also really cool to watch the guys from the Service Academies wrestle and for the Armed Forces to get some recognition from wrestling fans.
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Last year was the first inaugural year for the Soldier Salute and it is hosted by the Hawkeyes... It is going to take time to build it up. Give them a break, Jesus Man, it's only the second year. Each year the staff is working hard to get more schools to come.... Patience, they will come.. Most schools already have committments for other tournaments a few years in advance... They left the Midlands because during the pandemic the Midlands shut down. The Soldier Salute is awesome because it has men's and women's competition at the same time and it is good for the men's and women's teams to develop and get a taste of a tournament setting competition ahead of the Big10 and NCAA tournaments. I don't think there are many others out there doing men's and women's together... So far it looks like the Men's teams that are coming are Bellarmine, Columbia, Minnesota(#13), Navy(#17), North Carolina(#27), Northern Iowa(#20), South Dakota State(#14), Virginia Military Academy and Wyoming. There are 5 ranked teams in that list. The Women's team looks to have 11 other teams competing in it... It's gonna be a lot of fun... There are some good matchups with some of those teams..... Wait a few more years before judging too harshly. I'd be willing to bet there will be many more teams in a few years..
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The problem is that last year in general the better teams used it as experience for the younger guys and backups, like it was a small college open tournament. I like the idea of it but if it doesn't get significantly better the next few years they should put it on the shelf or not make it part of the regular schedule. I think you make good points, by the way.
Are you in any way surprised?
My point is its unnessasary. Already a great established torney with tons of iowa histry 3 hrs away. And yes it is lame for a team at iowas caliber. Its more of a preseason or early season event if anything. Replace luther(another waste of a day) with SS that weekend. Dont dodge whats already established at midlands scuffle vegas. Gable would of never.
Didn’t mean anything by it, just feel like I agree with the original post for the program’s sake.
