Jackson
- Thread starter edquinn06
- Start date
Interesting Hire. He was basically fired by the same people who are running USA wrestling now a number of years ago. Now you hire him back after he did zero at Iowa State. Thank goodness for RTC's
Yeah, I think this is the position Metcalf left to coach the Cyclone RTC. That's gotta feel a little weird for Jackson, right?
Umm... because they fired him for doing a poor job. that's why it's shocking.
Strange Hire? It makes no sense, except they have went through all other options I think. It's very confusing that people are excited on twitter. Some are the same people that said we need a change when he was there. People's memory is scary sometimes. I guess we only want to remember what fits our agenda
He hasn't been very good anywhere he's been, so it is strange in that regard. I do however look at this as a significant demotion from his previous positions, so maybe he'll be better at coaching when that is his sole focus.
He did a nice job training Kyven and Dom for WTT.
Question: Did we have all the RTC's back when KJ was Freestyle coach? Because I really don't give Zeke much of the credit for Burroughs, Varner, Snyder and others success recently. I think more of that comes from Ryan, Cael and Manning
Question: Did we have all the RTC's back when KJ was Freestyle coach? Because I really don't give Zeke much of the credit for Burroughs, Varner, Snyder and others success recently. I think more of that comes from Ryan, Cael and Manning
KJ has been assisting with the Cadet World Team the last few years, so maybe Zadick liked what he saw there. Hope this works out, so the USA continues to progress internationally.
Hey the guy could recruit, which mean she can get people to believe in him. He only deals with the kids for a short time at camps and on trips. It may be a good role for him. Other people are basically doing the training. Look at Lee or warner. How much did the freestyle developmental coach do of their careers? He helped some, but not greatly.
Ok, lets look at this logically for a second. Yes, he can recruit. You aren't recruiting kids to the OTC. He is development coach. Which means he is in charge of developing guys. He got great recruits to Iowa State, where did they finish? This speaks to his DEVELOPMENT of Athletes. That's really all you need to know about this hire. Be optimistic all you want, it's not going to change much. He also held this position before, then was told to find other means of employment. I think this speaks more to the state of USA Wrestling and the people in charge than to the abilities of KJ. We already know KJ was not the first choice and it's possible the last and only choice USA Wrestling had. Good Luck to him, as I said earlier. I'm glad we have RTC's and great College coaches that can develop guys. It would not be advantageous to USA in the sport of wrestling to have to depend on anything from Colorado Springs to be successful
Development of the National Freestyle team isn't remotely comparable to his development of college athletes. When he has fully committed "adults" to deal with he is much better. For this type of job he is a solid hire. Definitely not earth shattering. But, solid.
KJ did recruit well, but a lot of that had to do with his taking a TON of fliers(questionable character/dedication) in the higher rankings(which I believe is inevitably why his recruit rankings were a bit elevated). I think that also had a lot to do with why many didn't develop.
Still, I am amazed and happy for ISU that they were able to steal Dresser away from VTech. I really didn't see a difference maker willing to go there, which is why I supported KJ more than most. He wasn't getting them to perform to the level expected, but he was dealing with a ton of issues that he wasn't capable of overcoming. Dresser is so organized, he will get them back on track. Still, 6-10 is about the ceiling for that program. They are still going to be #2 on the Iowa depth chart and winning the National Recruiting battles with Iowa, tOSU, PSU and OkState is rarely going to happen and that doesn't even count the Cornells and Michigans.
Because you do something well does not always translate to coaching well. Hard to say without knowing who the other options would be, were. ...
I don't particularly like Jackson so I hesitate to "defend" him but this role is not what he held previously. He previously had Bill Zadick's job as national freestyle coach. This is a lesser role--he now works for Zadick. He's an assistant.
I think KJ is the type who's a better indian than chief. In this role, that's what he is. So, though I'm not exactly thrilled with the hire I don't think it is as bad or as big of a deal as some think.
I would have been looking at a young guy with some level of freestyle success similar to Metcalf. Herbert comes to mind as a guy I think would have been great.
I think this would be spot on. Coaching mostly grown men treating this as a job has to be a lot different than kids living on their own for the first time. Not saying it will translate to success, but saying that it is different enough that success is out of the question
Edit: probably ignore everything i said above
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I think MSU is a bit off about the nature of this position. This is the development coach which is highly focused on the youth level (Junior and under), not focused on the grown adults.
However, recruiting the top youth athletes is a big part, and I think Jackson is a fairly good recruiter.
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