Don't wait for them to fall in your lap. Go get them. It's the only short-term solution. Next year will be more of the same otherwise. Other coaches will be doing it.
Hit the Portal Hard and Relentlessly
- Thread starter Gusaford
- Start date
Why would someone in the portal want to come to Iowa? I guess wrestling front of big crowds is cool. But if your goal is to be a National Champion…
college wrestling takes a toll on all guys, not just ours. we need some good high school recruits to really sustain success
We need high school kids and transfers. There are quite a few great young guys at need weights out there that our NIL people should be contacting...
I assume they must have a portal coordinator at this point.
Simple. Competitive salary, and opportunity (not everyone can go to Michigan or PSU).
So, is your argument then, why would someone want to wrestle ANYWHERE but PSU? Because, make no mistake, Iowa is still ahead of everyone but PSU on a very consistent basis….
you can only have 10 guys starting and some of those high level recruits are going to be riding the pine. I would expect some will/would possibly want to start elsewhere
They have some good high schoolers coming in and a couple studs redshirting. At 125 they have Horwath who beat Davis from PSU a couple times last year and Mantanona who is going to be good. If they land some studs from the portal they will be right up there again.
Mantanona is fun to watch. He’ll stick out like a sore thumb in that program.
Michigan class of 2023 (#2 rank by Intermat)
Name - Projected weight / Flo ranking / MatScout ranking
Dylan Gilcher - 149 / 23 / 16
Amaan Gulacha - 157 or 165 / 3X Canadian freestyle champ
Caden Horwath - 125 or 133 / 30 / 38
Sergio Lemley - 141 / 16 / 11
Beau Mantanona - 157, 165, or 174 / 14 / 7
Connor Owens - 165 or 174 / not ranked
Zack Ramsey - 149 or 157 / not ranked
Hayden Walters - 197 / 31 / 51
Michigan class of 2024 (#9 rank by Flo)
Cameron Catrabone - 149 or 157 / 55 / 30
Christopher Kiser - 125 / 31 / 31
Brock Mantanona - 165, 174, or 184 / 9 / 10
Zar Walker - 149 or 157 / not ranked
Justin Gates - 141 / ???
Teddy Flores - 125 or 133 / ???
Michigan class of 2025 (so far)
Gauge Botero - 133 /
Jude Correa - 285 /
Cooper Hilton - 149 /
De'Alcpon Veazy - 197 /
Don't have much in the way of details about the 2025 class, but all four guys are pretty highly regarded. Looks to be a good class.
This is what is wrong with college athletics today. Just go buy the best guys.
not a single ncaa champion was a transfer. let that sink in.
edit to add maybe kerkvliet is considered a transfer but i don’t know if he ever enrolled at ohio state
edit to add maybe kerkvliet is considered a transfer but i don’t know if he ever enrolled at ohio state
This post makes zero sense. Iowa has been working the portal as hard as anyone in recent years. We had lineups for duals that were over half transfers. 4 of our 9 qualifiers and 3 of our 4 AAs were transfers. You seem to not be aware of this?
True but if they are riding the pine, then they are already second best in that room. Case in point is Michael Beard. Heralded coming in. 7th as a freshman. Lost starter position to Dean as sophomore. Transfers. Average year as a junior. No placement. Placed 8th as a senior.
Point is that Cael probably didn't think he would progress to the top tier or he wouldn't have recruited over him. That's a similar outcome to most guys riding the pine. Why would another school want a "project" using up valuable resources? Maybe that guy is better than what you have but 7th-R12 isn't driving the program to success.
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But in reality are teams going to beat PSU with cast offs from PSU?
I don't even care about beating PSU at this point. I would just like to see better recruiting and more individual champions. can't walk before you crawl.
This ^^^^^^
What we are doing sure as hell isn’t working. Maybe develop some cast offs. Hope to get some wins before they are wrecked as seniors?
DEVELOPMENT
Transfers or high school kids.
Winning or losing > half your matches with a late td at the end of third period or OT is asking for trouble.
Been said on this forum hundreds of times ...the Brands style is outdated.
There are so many holes in this current roster and Bob Nichols throwing $$$ at guys isn't going to fix everything.
JMO
Transfers or high school kids.
Winning or losing > half your matches with a late td at the end of third period or OT is asking for trouble.
Been said on this forum hundreds of times ...the Brands style is outdated.
There are so many holes in this current roster and Bob Nichols throwing $$$ at guys isn't going to fix everything.
JMO
You're talking the past. I'm talking the future. Get the difference? I'm looking at 133, 141, 149, and 157, and I'm seeing no one likely to AA. You seem to not be aware of this?
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Iowa hasn't produced a champion not named Spencer Lee since 2017. We are not consistently better than everyone but PSU. Some fans are still in delusion on the state of the program.
Not delusional at all there, but. Since 2007 only one other team has won a National Title besides PSU and Iowa. In that stretch they have put someone in the Finals every single year. Please feel free to not count Lee when you compare Iowa to everyone else. Just make sure you take their best wrestler out of the equation as well….
They will teach him the ways of Lewan!
How many schools have had >1 champ since 2017? I'd imagine there's a number of schools.
Feel free to do the comparison. Make sure you remove their best guy, since you are removing Lee. After that, make sure to point out the years they had NO ONE in the Finals at all…
Wrong - the transfer portal's been kind to PSU - Kerk, Mesenbrink, Truax, and Nagao scored 58.5 points.
By stating >1, I’ve removed their best wrestler. Iowa has only had 1 - Spencer Lee. Slow down and read.
There is a little cherry picking going on there. When I think of transfers, I'm thinking guys that come in for a year, maybe two years max. That's Dean, Truax, Nagao. Hired guns. Guys like Kerk and Mesenbrink transferred in as redshirt freshmen and did/will get four full years in a PSU singlet. A little difference between the two wouldn't you agree?
I read it very well. I simply said feel free to do the comparison and held you to the argument you started off using. If you want to add Lee back in, go ahead. Like I said, just make sure to go year by year totals and avoid cherry picking years were teams have no one in the Finals at all. Because I am pretty sure a recruit wouldn’t ignore the years no one made it and only care about when your team actually gets one there…
Great let’s compare ourself with all the other schools who aren’t winning and let’s be ok with being just like them.
I don't think you're following my point. My point is that I have little doubt that there are multiple schools who've produced more NCAA champions than Iowa in the past 7 years and that Iowa's results are unacceptable. Iowa has one champion in the last 7 years - Spencer Lee. We've put someone in the finals every year, but everyone not named Spencer lost their finals match. Cory Clark was the last champion before him.
Again, you don't seem to be following. I am excluding Lee (Iowa's best wrestler) and by using the parameter, > 1 champ, that would also exclude other schools' best wrestler. The point I'm making is that Iowa hasn't produced>1 champ in the last 7 years. I feel pretty confident that multiple other schools besides PSU have produced at least 2 champs since 2017.
I'm pretty sure a recruit would watch the finals like last night and take notice that Iowa has no champs, and that Iowa hasn't produced a champion besides generational talent Spencer Lee (3x world champ before stepping in the Iowa room) since 2017, when these kids were still in elementary school.
Can't decide which is worse, this kind of thinking or the NIL. Both have a complete disregard for two things: 1. these are kids, and 2. education. Solution - pick a pro sports team and go all in.
I was responding to a post an innacurate post with some facts. Feel free to create different categories of transfers if you wish.
Are you though? Last 10 years the argument could be made that Ohio State and Michigan are neck and neck with Iowa for 2nd place.
Reasons to transfer to Iowa,
National team titles… ehh not really
Individual titles… ehh only if named Spencer Lee
World an Olympic titles… ok not much there
Guarantee senior year regression… yup
Wrestle few times a year in front of 15k… bingo
New facilities… is that really gonna do it, hell I’m guessing guys would wrestle in Carls backyard to train with him.
National team titles… ehh not really
Individual titles… ehh only if named Spencer Lee
World an Olympic titles… ok not much there
Guarantee senior year regression… yup
Wrestle few times a year in front of 15k… bingo
New facilities… is that really gonna do it, hell I’m guessing guys would wrestle in Carls backyard to train with him.
JB mentioned that Cael in your living room is just impossible to turn down the PSU offer. The only way other teams are going to compete in recruiting is to hire a superstar (Burroughs, Taylor, Dake) as coach.
