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Iowa Women's Wrestling

Super excited that Iowa added women’s wrestling. But out of curiosity- did they ever offer any rationale for cutting existing sports and then adding this one?
 
Kind of anticlimactic. The big announcement: We're not wrestling in college.
Right? You'd think the opportunity to wrestle in front of and gain fans would have been a huge sell, especially with NIL. Would love to hear the explanation for why they chose ASU.
 
Right? You'd think the opportunity to wrestle in front of and gain fans would have been a huge sell, especially with NIL. Would love to hear the explanation for why they chose ASU.
They stated their main reasons for choosing Sunkist was trusting in their coach and training partners; in particular Helen Maroulis being a gold medal Olympian as those are their aspirations as well.
 
I'm not going to worry about it. Traditional college experience isn't for everyone. A lot of talented young ladies will be coming through the pipeline.
I'm certainly not worried about it, just a little surprised. Can't blame anyone for wanting to train with Maroulis. I'm sure Chun will bring in a ton of talent, the ball is already rolling.
 
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I'm certainly not worried about it, just a little surprised. Can't blame anyone for wanting to train with Maroulis. I'm sure Chun will bring in a ton of talent, the ball is already rolling.
Exactly! So who do you think is the next to pull the trigger and commit to the Hawks? Any guesses?
 
They’re going to school.... they still have eligibility.... maybe ASU will eventually start a program...... Iowa could use some good p5 rivals ..... keeping options open I think it’s a good decision for them
If you receive regular payments from an RTC, are you still NCAA eligible?
 
I'm not going to worry about it. Traditional college experience isn't for everyone. A lot of talented young ladies will be coming through the pipeline.

Traditional college experience, or traditional college athlete experience? I would say that training with Sunkist while attending Arizona State will be pretty much the same experience as the traditional college athlete experience.
 
Traditional college experience, or traditional college athlete experience? I would say that training with Sunkist while attending Arizona State will be pretty much the same experience as the traditional college athlete experience.
A traditional college experience? That could happen. A lot of people work a job while they are in college, and if your are paid to wrestle, that's your job. A traditional college athlete experience? I'd say probably not. College teams aren't the same as RTC club teams.

If an athlete came to Iowa City right out of high school, attended U of I, wrestled for the HWC, but didn't wrestle for the Hawks, that would be the same? That might work for them as students okay, but as a Hawk fan, I'd be disappointed not to see them in college duals and tournies.

Can't you work at Starbucks and get tuition at ASU? I also doubt that you can get 15,000 wrestling fans watching your match live at a club in Tempe.
 
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Sunkist Kids has been a longtime supporter of women's wrestling and Art Martori invested a lot of money in the sport - akin to Roy Carver.
All true. When they poach our coaches, poach our HWC wrestlers, and poach our recruits, it's harder for me to be as appreciative as you are GG.
 
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If you receive regular payments from an RTC, are you still NCAA eligible?
ohhh I don’t know.... I guess with NIL I assumed it was an open market.... That’s an interesting question and fwiw I have no idea if that would be something they’re remotely interested in anyway
 
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Can't you work at Starbucks and get tuition at ASU? I also doubt that you can get 15,000 wrestling fans watching your match live at a club in Tempe.

Unless all of the matches are paired with a men's dual, I doubt that the Hawkeye women's team will be getting 15,000 fans on a regular basis.

Given all of the unknowns of NCAA women's wrestling and looking at the current roster of women at Starkist, it wasn't a surprising decision. Disappointing perhaps, but not surprising.
 
All true. When they poach our coaches, poach our HWC wrestlers, and poach our recruits, it's harder for me to be as appreciative as you are GG.
I can respect your opinions.
I was disappointed as well. Mark Perry and those ladies made a business decision. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to better themselves and their families.
Mark Perry is a Hawkeye and always will be, I’ll think less so, if he publicly starts talking smack about the Hawkeye program, however, I don’t see this happening. GG has a pretty holistic view on wrestling. Because of this, he’ll leave this world in a better place.
I am not saying you think poorly of him. I am just stating my opinions, as you have stated yours.
 
I can respect your opinions.
I was disappointed as well. Mark Perry and those ladies made a business decision. I can’t blame anyone for wanting to better themselves and their families.
Mark Perry is a Hawkeye and always will be, I’ll think less so, if he publicly starts talking smack about the Hawkeye program, however, I don’t see this happening. GG has a pretty holistic view on wrestling. Because of this, he’ll leave this world in a better place.
I am not saying you think poorly of him. I am just stating my opinions, as you have stated yours.
I have the greatest respect for GG. That's never an issue. I also don't blame anyone for wanting to better themselves or their families. That's never an issue either. Mark Perry is a great coach, and he has every right to work wherever he wants to. The fact is that a reason these ladies moved to AZ was probably Mark Perry.

However, there's more for recruits to consider than business decisions and financial gain. There's also development and education. I believe that Iowa can develop and educate amateur wrestlers as well or better than anywhere else on the planet. Why others don't see coming to Iowa (or any of the great wrestling colleges with women's teams) as their best decision is what I wonder about. I would feel more comfortable about losing recruits if ASU would start a D1 women's wrestling team.
 
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Traditional college experience, or traditional college athlete experience? I would say that training with Sunkist while attending Arizona State will be pretty much the same experience as the traditional college athlete experience.
Someone on scholarship at a college has a lot more regimented routine. At the RTC they could take anywhere from a full schedule to no classes depending on their preference.
 
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Someone on scholarship at a college has a lot more regimented routine. At the RTC they could take anywhere from a full schedule to no classes depending on their preference.
I don’t know how important a college degree is for these young ladies, but I equate their path to dating as compared to marriage. They could be successful in achieving their goals either way, but participating in a collegiate program (marriage) has more chance of obtaining a degree than RTC (dating).
 
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They had to do what they felt was best for them. I would be more upset if they went somewhere that would be competing against our team. It is very likely that one of them would not have made our line-up without changing weights anyway, but you never know...
 
Someone on scholarship at a college has a lot more regimented routine. At the RTC they could take anywhere from a full schedule to no classes depending on their preference.

I don’t know how important a college degree is for these young ladies, but I equate their path to dating as compared to marriage. They could be successful in achieving their goals either way, but participating in a collegiate program (marriage) has more chance of obtaining a degree than RTC (dating).

If Sunkist is using an ASU education as part of their sales pitch, it would be in their best interest to help their athletes actually get their ASU degree. If they don’t it will be quickly used against them. Are the Greco-Roman guys at Northern Michigan not able to get their degrees? Serious question, as I don’t follow Greco-Roman.
 
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Admittedly knowing very little about the world of women's wrestling, does anyone think there's a chance Iowa rounds out their roster with junior college national champions? I see Indian Hills here in Iowa won the first ever Women's Junior College National Championship. Their individual titlists were Heaven-Leigh Jackson at 109, Chloe Clemons at 123, and Sofia Rubio at 191. I'm guessing our starters will mostly come from the elite high school ranks, but I'm thinking we'll need some room depth and maybe the JUCOs are were we find that? It just seems bit like the wild west in terms of identifying talent in this sport and there MIGHT be opportunity to build there.
 
Iowa will be an elite program from day one.

My approach would be to recruit high schoolers 100%.

My only question is how long before we have 8 -10 other schools to compete with.
 
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