It's pretty funny that we're going to fall for the same troll twice.
Gabble Steveson to Iowa?
- Thread starter Bucky712
- Start date
He’s kind of in a weird limbo area. I use to think he was huge until I saw him standing next to average WWE guys; now I think for a guy whose options are pro wrestling, mma, NFL he’s going to struggle. Way too small for the NFL, obviously something didn’t go right in the pro wrestling, and most of your top mma heavyweights are much bigger and just as athletic.
I don't disagree but, that said, none of them would have near the wrestling/grappling skills as GS and he could probably develop a pretty devastating ground-and-pound game. Give him some BJJ training and I could see him being really good.
It looks like Kueter could use another year or so to grow into heavy. Plus, he won’t be taking the mat until next Jan. Do you really think he’s going to be ready to dominate hwt by then? He’s more of a back up plan at this point, imo.
Fat and/or Skinny Tony would starch Gable in MMA.
I would explore all options until Keuter commits 100% to wrestling
Yeah I agree with that also. I’m sure he’d have no problem getting guys outside the top 10 to the ground and like you said if he developed a good ground and pound could be pretty dangerous. Once he got into the top 10 those guys might be able to defend his takedowns better and that’s where he might struggle getting pieced up by a guy with long reach. It amazes me when Olympic and other top caliber wrestlers can struggle at times to take some guys down. The game has evolved so much in the past 10-15 years that these guys are so well trained on “mma wrestling” they are able to defend takedowns from some of these top level wrestlers.
100%. It was always fun watching Chuck Liddell and his legendary sprawl-and-brawl. If GS got in against a top level striker who could defend the takedown like that, he'd be in big trouble.
If I was a top wrestling recruit today my two choices would be Penn State and Okie State and it’s not even close for anyone else.
Awesome contribution. Good on you!
AF is one of the more thoughtful and respectful posters on this board, imo. The fact that he can make that admission surprises me a bit.
Include Cornell. They develop champions.
What a terrible take, Kueter has a lot of potential but he is also a two sport D1 athlete. Nothing should be given and I’m sure he understands that.
If I’m BK and I get the opportunity to roll with Gable for a year but have to ride the pine, I do it every time. These guys want to be the best, having one of the best USA heavy weights of all time as a workout partner will help Ben do the same.
Anyone that doesn’t think you take Gamble in a heartbeat is flat out nuts.
The amount of negative PR on this board is disgusting. You got Morans calling the facility a “concrete bunker” and a “sex dungeon”, while complaining about “natural light”.
Regardless of the new hire, OKState has been so irrelevant for so long to just arbitrarily say a top recruit would choose them way ahead of anyone but PSU is asinine.
Hell, I am still MSU first and I am starting to think I am more of a fan of Iowa wrestling than many on here and am truly starting to wonder if some of the biggest complainers on here ever truly were Iowa fans…
Nice try. You are a fan of the status quo, imo. AF is a Hawks fan. I’m happy to see that he’s a fan of the team and not part of the cult of personality which passes for team loyalty in some circles.
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I cant wait for the chants, Gabble Gabble Gabble!
Yes regardless of a new head coach, they just picked up a billionaire financial backer for their program which that alone will go very far with top recruits and NIL.
if you’re okay with the results from the current regime and are not critical, then I’d question if you’re more TNT fans than the actual program.
Yep. You've told us where you stand.
I think it's entirely reasonable to say any recruit, blue chipper or otherwise, could choose them over anyone, including PSU.
David Taylor has that type of gravity.
I am obviously not including you. I understand your complaints and you truly frame them both as a fan and as someone who has actually been in the room.
Look, I get many of the others complaints. Even if I don’t agree with all of them, I do think plenty are valid. I just think too many are all fire and brimstone to the point they literally want Brands and therefore Iowa to fail, simply because they are too far down that road to ever come back.
The fact that many jumped on the facility so hard just confirmed that for me. Of all the arguments out there, with me even saying plenty are valid, that was by far one of the most ridiculous, brainless argument against Brands there could possibly be…
But, why? Solely off name recognition and his own personal success as a wrestler? Even if you add his club success none of that tells you a single thing about what wrestling for him at the DI level would be like.
I am not even saying that he wouldn’t be near the top of the list to wrestle for right away. But, Mr. Arnold just laid out the exact reason why a top recruit should heavily consider multiple options to see what kind of man he would become after he is done with the program.
To say a first year coach should automatically be at the top with PSU, who far and away recruits better than anyone EVER has, is simply nonsensical…
lol, not likely. Now that DT is at OkState there isn’t a single, remotely reasonable replacement out there. Outside of the PSU room, I do not see one single coach out there that could handle all the responsibilities the Iowa job entails.
As far as the yet to be coaches group goes, JB isn’t coaching and I just do not think Ben Askren is all there in the head. Every indication is that J’Den is NOT coaching, either.
Now, I will say one guy with no HC experience that I would at least “consider” is Max Askren. I keep hearing a ton of good things about the guy and he doesn’t scream for attention like the others. I could at least see kicking the tires in a couple of years and seeing how they respond…
You might be surprised. Plenty of World Class wrestlers have had their TDs stuffed by inferior wrestlers. MMA fighters do not have to engage, there is no passivity/stalling. MMA fighters typically aren’t shooting from a traditional wrestlers stance, otherwise they’d get knocked out. I wrestled JUCO back in the day and have competed in Jui-jitsu for years and cross trained in MMA ( for the cardio benefit mostly) and I’m amazed at how tough it can be to takedown dudes that never wrestled before when they are trying to punch, kick and choke you. See Olympian Ben Askren getting knocked out in :19 seconds.
No disrespect to Caldwell or Perry but any wrestler who would follow them out the door instead of staying for DT is crazy. I’d say good riddance.
1. Most parents/ recruits don't think like the Arnolds. That's neither good nor bad, just personal preference.
Myself would fall in line with the Arnold family, but it's not hard to see the other perspective and the draw to it.
2. How does his club not translate? Remove the academics and most high level clubs run similarly to an NCAA/ RTC program, albeit with significantly less resources. And look at the impact his club has already had on PSU's recruits. Remove his name from M2 and it's not the same.
3. I think David Taylor has played a BIG factor in Cael's success at PSU. I'm not saying he is the reason, but he's definitely apart of that and he's certainly been apart of the NLWC bringing in all those outside big guns, which is another huge reason why top recruits go there: to train with the senior level athletes.
4. Lastly, look who he's bringing on to his staff. Kennedy is well respected and has established himself on the PSU staff and a major factor in Gilman moving there was to be closer to his wife's family. Now both are uprooting and moving halfway across the county to coach with Taylor at a rival program.
That's influence you either have or you don't.
Be skeptical all you want, but I'm not stubborn enough to doubt their abilities to take OSU to the top.
I leave to go have lunch, and I come back to posters disparaging sex dungeons. When does the negativity end? This country is going to hell in a handbasket.
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Think Tony was a gold gloves boxing champion
With DT off the table I agree. Wait for Dake maybe? I dont know about his coaching but one of the greats for sure. Max is very interesting. Maybe Ben would run the HWC??? I doubt all that but I could see that as a logical "big swing" hire
We missed the boat, imo. DT is currently the only guy I have confidence in righting the ship.
I think Dake could have a similar draw, especially if he runs the table this summer.
Following his pressers at the AWL back in 2018 I've always been impressed with him and thought he'd fit in nicely in Iowa.
I remember him saying he loved the Iowa City crowd and their energy. That should've been enough for TNT to go after him 6 years ago, but I guess we like our guys more.
I see Dake as a freak of nature with a style that can’t be taught. He’s a one off and I lack confidence that he can translate his results on the mat to coaching success.
1.) You heard this from whom? When you say most, how many do you actually know?
2.) Wrestling at a club is still NOTHING like wrestling for a DI program. You can't begin by saying "remove the academics" when it comes to fringe sports, nearly the entire point is the academics. One of Gable's most famous lines(I am paraphrasing) is you can only make 2 out of the following 3 work: Wrestling, Academics and Social Life.
3.) I have no doubt that DT has been a big part of their success. But, NONE of that is as a PSU coach, especially not a Head Coach.
4.) Kennedy is the only proven commodity as a coach and he was still essentially an infant in that regard in the PSU room.
Look, I get that their names have some serious star power and that alone will turn heads. I just don't think recruits are dumb enough to simply go off that alone, when there is zero track record so far. I would hope they are at least smart enough to weight their options first.
Now, that doesn't mean that choosing OkState would be the wrong choice. In fact, I am sure that it would be the perfect choice for some. I just hate the narrative that they are automatically the 2nd best choice so far ahead of everyone else, let alone being anywhere close to PSU...
Sex dungeon??? Uhh, maybe if you're the kind of guy who read Readers Digest for sex tips, but no.
