3, 2,1, here come all the same guys saying M* is such a great recruiter. Time to bring in new coaches with far bigger names than M*, Telford and Dennis. And move Terry over to run the HWC. Or, we can keep getting stomped in recruiting and on the mat.
Definition of insanity
- Thread starter augiehawk
- Start date
I get what you're saying.
I wish we could do it by keeping the staff and adding some "big names" to the HWC. J Den would be a great start. I honestly think we have an excellent staff and could help ourselves a lot with quality additions to the HWC.
No one gives a single shit about your weightlifting. Please stop.
Bob - first of thanks for all that you have done for Iowa wrestling. My frustration is that we may have changed things in the past, it seems like our style has stayed the same, our staff is still the same and all Iowa ties, we are still not getting enough recruits, and if anything it seems like we have doubled down. It wasn't just that Iowa missed on Nagao, it was that they finished a distant 2nd at NCAA's, then missed on Truax, Nagao, and had PSU have a much better recruiting class.
I would love to see a staff shakeup, as as good as our staff is, I would say the results have not been there for some of our guys. We also need to re-examine training, strength, etc.. You may say we have just been unlucky with injuries, but having as many as we have compared to PSU, I would say it is not just luck at this point. Bring in the outside critics to see what they believe and truly be open to new ideas.
Finally the perception that is out there, real or not, is not helping us. PSU is the place you go to have fun, train smartly, and peak at Nationals. We need to learn to self promote, change the narrative, and I realize that is not what the Brands are probably comfortable doing.
The craziest thing about all of this… is how much everyone still hates Iowa but loves PSU. Maybe it’s just my bias but it feels like Iowa gets the biggest cheers against and PSU gets the biggest cheers for from the collective fans at Big Tens and Nationals. Like, PSU is beating the brakes off of everybody but everyone holds a hatred so deep for Iowa that they can’t see past it and just love bowing to their new master.
Good points. I experienced similar in St. Louis 2015 when tOSU won.
Why do you think this is?
Lots of older original B10 alum with long-lasting memories of suffering decades of dominance?
Ok State traveling well while hoping to preserve its historical place as the university with the most championships?
In St Louis, PSU and tOSU traveling well could explain both Iowa jeers and PSU cheers.
I think there may be an older contingent that still dislikes Iowa and their fans, with some of that being passed along through generations. I also think that a lot of the younger folk look up to National Champions, and that’s a large amount of PSU wrestlers from their formative years.
The single biggest problem Iowa has had, compared to Penn St, is RECRUITING. Iowa got a consensus elite recruit in Spencer Lee, and he produced, right out of the gate.
PSU gets boatloads of them on a fairly regular basis. Until that disparity gets corrected, Iowa will struggle to win another team title.
PSU gets boatloads of them on a fairly regular basis. Until that disparity gets corrected, Iowa will struggle to win another team title.
At this point no coach iowa could get would come close to Cael. Idk how you change the staff to make iowa more appealing to recruits and transfers… until Cael is done all other teams can only hope to get a few titles if everything goes right for them. It’s just facts at this point.
TnT are our best option for the next few years at least
TnT are our best option for the next few years at least
To expand on this. Take a look at the Treigning Lab instagram page if you're so inclined. It's filled with PSU wrestlers and MMA fighters. The connection has long been known, but I'm guessing it plays a major factor in staying healthy and all of the things mentioned above. Aaron Pico, Helen Maroulis, Cassar, Brooks, Starocci, Nickal, Yianni D, Gilman, Dake, Snyder. Basically every NLWC athlete and PSU stud wrestler plus others.
We need to have our own "treigning lab". A true specialist who is an expert on weight management, bulking/cutting, and has it down to a science. When you take the guesswork out of making weight, I'm sure that's just one less stressor on the mind of PSU athletes.
Here is an example of their sales pitch - it's a picture of Cassar at 240 lbs and a pic of Cassar making weight at 206 lbs for MMA side by side.
"A solid 240 lbs of rock hard muscle down to a lean, mean fighting machine. @ant_thechamp_cassar made weight at 206 lbs for his pro MMA debut without missing a beat. Or a meal.
-Weight management is what we do!
-Bulk or cut - we run the numbers and take the guesswork out of weight management!
-You do your part; we'll do ours!
-We call it Success through Science!
-Because numbers don't lie!"
So get Mr. Flexibility Maestro, and Mr. Treigning Lab or someone like him both on the payroll. Please and thank you @bnicolls 😇
AJ FERRARI on Instagram: "🚨9️⃣9️⃣% of the way📈 to a Full Front Split🚨 Next level Mobility, Flexibilty, and full range of motion Strength💪 and Stability😤 work @flexibility.maestro @mrfasttwitch 🏎🏎🏎💨💨💨⛽️ 🏆😎🤑 ▪️ #ajferrari #mrfasttwitch #reigning #defe
mrfasttwitch on March 8, 2023: "🚨9️⃣9️⃣% of the way📈 to a Full Front Split🚨 Next level Mobility, Flexibilty, and full range of motion Strength💪 and Stability😤 work @flexibility.maestro @mrfasttwitch 🏎🏎🏎💨💨💨⛽️ 🏆😎🤑 ▪️ #ajferrari #mrfasttwitch #reigning #defending #undisputed #wrestling...
www.instagram.com
Philip May on Instagram: "Here’s a few of the key flexibility exercises we’ve been training over the past few months. The primary focus is getting stronger in lengthened positions, to make those ranges easier to access, and lay down new tissue ther
46K likes, 251 comments - flexibility.maestro on March 29, 2023: "Here’s a few of the key flexibility exercises we’ve been training over the past few months. The primary focus is getting stronger in lengthened positions, to make those ranges easier to access, and lay down new tissue there to...
www.instagram.com
Philip May on Instagram: "🚨Here’s a look at some of the shoulder💪work we’ve been doing to unleash AJ’s full wrestling🤼♂️, striking👊 and grappling potential!🚨 These shoulder mobility exercises are designed to enhance your range of motion, and build
4,465 likes, 43 comments - flexibility.maestro on April 26, 2023: "🚨Here’s a look at some of the shoulder💪work we’ve been doing to unleash AJ’s full wrestling🤼♂️, striking👊 and grappling potential!🚨 These shoulder mobility exercises are designed to enhance your range of motion, and build more...
www.instagram.com
Philip May on Instagram: "Let me make this CLEAR… When I say we want to create “tissue damage”, I DON’T mean working through pain or intentionally injuring yourself! Exercise-induced tissue damage is a very common strength training principle. You c
40K likes, 367 comments - flexibility.maestro on February 11, 2023: "Let me make this CLEAR… When I say we want to create “tissue damage”, I DON’T mean working through pain or intentionally injuring yourself! Exercise-induced tissue damage is a very common strength training principle. You...
www.instagram.com
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I just finished off a dinner plate full of Morel Mushrooms. My whole outlook and confidence in the Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Program is sky high.
I did some morels once and saw the trunk of a tree on fire. I think psu practices a more holistic approach. Either way one of the coaches has a dead eye for talent. For sure.
It is 83% this. We get kem, psu gets nolf. We get marinelli, psu gets mark hall and Joseph. No knock on kem or the bull as they were top tier studs themselves but…hall pinned marinelli in their last high school match and Joseph beat kem, as I recall. And nolf was Nolf. Outside of Spencer, kem and bull were our highest recruits in how long? Psu has had recruits of that caliber riding the pine or transferring. It has only gotten worse as far as I can tell and will continue trending in that direction. Unfortunately.
It seems like success for in-state recruits is very high-look at where the top rated Iowa kids in the class of 2023 are all going. But the success for top rated out-of-state recruits is much lower. Not sure why that’s the case.
I just started reading this thread so don't know what all has been discussed, but thought I'd give my two cents worth. Whether it be an individual person or a large organization/corporation, when they decide to make a major change, the starting point HAS to be to draw up a PLAN! Not just in your head, in your thoughts, but actually write the plan down, with very specific details of how to accomplish your goals, how to arrive where you want to go.
My suggestion to Tom would be to gather together the HWC board, valued confidants, major donors, and certain current and former wrestlers (ones from outside the program would be especially valuable). Have a two day retreat, and make it clear that you don't want the participants to simply tell Tom what they think he wants to hear - the conversation needs to be very direct, even confrontational if needed.
Someone needs to document the discussions and decisions, and then put together a cohesive plan that can be implemented. Follow-up and periodic status meetings would be crucial, to review the progress made and to make adjustments.
My suggestion to Tom would be to gather together the HWC board, valued confidants, major donors, and certain current and former wrestlers (ones from outside the program would be especially valuable). Have a two day retreat, and make it clear that you don't want the participants to simply tell Tom what they think he wants to hear - the conversation needs to be very direct, even confrontational if needed.
Someone needs to document the discussions and decisions, and then put together a cohesive plan that can be implemented. Follow-up and periodic status meetings would be crucial, to review the progress made and to make adjustments.
We have to do 2 things. Period.
1. Recruit better. It's fairly obvious what kind of guys TNT recruit. and it's just sad. This whole "if they want to come to Iowa, they'll come to Iowa" HAS TO END. And it can't just be in the portal. Take a look at what TNT can do with "athletes" - Henry, Spencer, Kem. But this prideful BS that the staff can't be bothered to actually go after someone is unreal.
edit - It's going to take recruits who have a ton of motivation to take down PSU. That should be an easy enough sell.
2. The training has to change. I do know that the training has changed a good bit from Tom's early days and the Metcalf era. But it's not enough. Clearly. It's still too consistently hard for no other reason than just to be hard. It IS ok to come in and get better at wrestling without having to worry about whether your intense enough. And for good lord's sake - reduce the practice time as the season wears on.
1. Recruit better. It's fairly obvious what kind of guys TNT recruit. and it's just sad. This whole "if they want to come to Iowa, they'll come to Iowa" HAS TO END. And it can't just be in the portal. Take a look at what TNT can do with "athletes" - Henry, Spencer, Kem. But this prideful BS that the staff can't be bothered to actually go after someone is unreal.
edit - It's going to take recruits who have a ton of motivation to take down PSU. That should be an easy enough sell.
2. The training has to change. I do know that the training has changed a good bit from Tom's early days and the Metcalf era. But it's not enough. Clearly. It's still too consistently hard for no other reason than just to be hard. It IS ok to come in and get better at wrestling without having to worry about whether your intense enough. And for good lord's sake - reduce the practice time as the season wears on.
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It goes back to the days PSU marketed themselves as ***State complete with dodge ball games, imo. Iowa fans laughed until PSU was consistently laughing on the podium.
Then it appears we ratcheted up the intensity to keep up. But that doesn’t appear to be the solution. (Never did to me.)
Rest is as important as training hard, using methods to recover are also needed. There's been a huge shift from back in the days of say the 60s and 70s.
What was your training regimen? Sounds useful.
IA gets more bonus points on the back side of the bracket because of more matches in the wrestlebacks.
I'm 59 now so I've dialed it way back. When I lifted heavy it was 3-4 days a week with every 4th week a deload, app 60% weight and volume. Weirdly you noticed the weights were light but you felt it. Regular stretching static wise, because I don't have any professional near by to do that. I also go to get soft tissue work done regularly, see a chiropractor, and try to walk 10,000 or more steps a day.
I also do some soft tissue work on my own using these stainless steel tools that look like butter knives.
Lol. I get the joke. I was actually going to post something similar.
FFS, can you not take a hint?!
Leave him alone, I want to hear about the butter knives.
I want to hear more about those morels, how far north are you finding them?
Do you pick morels with a butter knife? If so, how far up north do you need to shove said butter knife? Asking for a friend...
now is not a time to be shy...don't underestimate yourself !!
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This is an example, you can't get everything on yourself, but you can reach some stuff, lacrosse balls and bands can assist you too. Hands on from a provider works better though but this will help you at home.
This is an example, you can't get everything on yourself, but you can reach some stuff, lacrosse balls and bands can assist you too. Hands on from a provider works better though but this will help you at home.
I'm a trained meeting facilitator and would be glad to fly down, expenses only, to support.
it's been an issue for a long time. Too long. Forget about PSU if you can, I don't think they are even recruiting up to the Iowa level.
I really only follow Iowa recruiting. Over and over I hear posters talking about these blue chip hammers in HS that Iowa are in on. They never end up committing. over and over and over.
IMO, there is no reason why a program like Iowa can't recruit more than one blue chip recruit every few years.
Is one a year too much to ask at Iowa? I don't know. It's frustrating as he'll. It's frustrating, for me, without even considering PSU.
Agreed. And pointing fingers at team on top of podium isn't helping, imo. We might need a bit of a culture change in the room to attract top talent, imo.
Let's not forget the boys walking into campus next fall (but some really there now): BK #1 PFP, CC #1 pfp, Arnold very high, and likely should be higher, RB mid level, but rising star. That's a solid group of HS guys.
And too, the portal is not done. Could be a fair amount enter after this weekend.
Forgot: Anthony F committed and not sure how he'd be categorized, but with 4 yrs of eligibility and a RS year to boot.
The above is a good group, and it ain't soup yet. I'm not a patient guy, but let's take Yogi's advice.
We are not even #2 when it comes to recruiting. fosu is better. Cornell does well. Even Dresser is better at identifying and pursuing talent. Nebraska does well. NC State does well.
