kemerer leaving Iowa for spartan combat
- Thread starter eb05
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Good luck to Kemdawg…will root for him where ever. A lot of reasons why this goes down but it still sucks. Great dude…going to miss him.
Why would anyone be furious over this? That’s an odd reaction. You think every former Hawkeye is going to compete for the HWC? That’s not a realistic expectation. Just isn’t going to happen.
This is infuriatingly repetitive? Please tell me who has left before? Ramos? He left because Dennis beat him and never made a team after. Gilman left because he was losing to Spencer. If Spencer was healthy/Covid didn’t happen Gilman may have never made another team.
Nothing specific or inside info…could be many reasons. Wants to go back to the East Coast, leverage Cornell contacts for his future, try something different etc. He’s been here for 7 years.
So yea, it sucks but I know he has bigger plans beyond wrestling.
Best of luck to Kem at Spartan. It was a pleasure to watch him compete in the Hawkeye singlet. His win over Hall will remain an all-time favorite Carver moment for me.
Was really hoping he would stick around the HWC for the next Olympic cycle. I will still be rooting for the guy.
Was really hoping he would stick around the HWC for the next Olympic cycle. I will still be rooting for the guy.
Great for him and it is terrific that guys have choices after college. That being said, I am surprised that he is even competing again, unless he is going to be more of a coach in wrestlers clothing. ( See what I did there? Wolf in sheep's clothing transposed to a coach in wrestlers clothing) - maybe it is not as cool as Thought it was. 
You know you can’t be critical here but you’re absolutely correct. We may as well not even have an RTC. It’s ridiculous. We have almost no HWC athletes competing anywhere and it’s been that way for a LONG time. Just watch the excuses that follow. Spencer should have said “excuses are for wusses…and the cesspool”
i’m happy for kemerer and should have made that more clear in my post but it sucks to see him move on.
i think we need a strong hwc roster who has contenders who actually compete. it is such a benefit to the college guys to have that. since perry left it does seem like the momentum has pretty much evaporated.
next year will be better because lee and warner will be there hopefully. eierman and desanto will be healthy but that is only 57-65kg and 92/97. hopefully some money is spent to bring in guys to fill the other spots.
i think we need a strong hwc roster who has contenders who actually compete. it is such a benefit to the college guys to have that. since perry left it does seem like the momentum has pretty much evaporated.
next year will be better because lee and warner will be there hopefully. eierman and desanto will be healthy but that is only 57-65kg and 92/97. hopefully some money is spent to bring in guys to fill the other spots.
Pretty sure his fiance or long time girlfriend or wife or whatever lives on the east coast, probably where he sees himself long term. Definitely no bad blood between the Dawg and the Hawks.
Good for Kem! Wants to continue to grow and learn and have the chance to do some coaching and learn from others. I’m happy for him. Life’s next chapter for Kem and it was sure a fun ride having him in the black and gold.
This is going to happen when you have guys on the team from different parts of the country. It's inevitable. I would have loved for him to stay in Iowa City and compete for the HWC, but his family is out east. If his shoulder heals up and he gets back to 100% he's going to be very successful on the freestyle scene.
Who’s left to leave? I thought this was why they were purging the roster, to keep this group together? The best wrestler of this graduating class is going elsewhere. Furthermore, who’s coming onboard? Maybe I missed all the announcements of new blood coming in? Gilman left and became a world gold and Olympic bronze medalist. Spencer doesn’t even wrestle FS.
We hired/paid Jeremiah Moody to be a HWC athlete. So yeah. I don't think it's too presumptive to say that keeping Kem should have been on the priority list.
I remember people saying a couple of years ago when we weren't getting any decent rtc guys it was because we were saving money for guys like kemdog, marinelli, Lee, etc. I know not everyone wants to stick around and I don't believe the hwc needs to be made up of predominantly Iowa alumni.......I also know it's a pipe dream to believe we could land a guy like Jden Cox or someone of that caliber but it sure would be nice to at least retain a few iowa guys of kemdogs caliber and bring in some outside guys with similar stature.
LOL, it was literally the reasoning they needed to clean house and fundraise like crazy to keep this senior class for the HWC. Now Marinelli is no longer competing and Kem is leaving. The club is now Pat Lugo and Victoria Francis. Neither of which will be threats to make a team going forward. Will it take Spencer Lee inevitably leaving for there to be a problem?
He was never going to stay in Iowa City after graduation. Not everyone wants to be in the same college town for 10 years. He came to Iowa for COLLEGE. This has nothing to do with the HWC some guys just move on.
I just figured he would be done with wrestling, as banged up and tore up as his body was
Who told you that? First I’ve heard of this. Keeping all these guys was an unrealistic expectation.
Tell me that you don’t understand senior level wrestling clubs without telling me you don’t understand senior level wrestling clubs. My goodness.
The classic board clowns will continue to ignore this post.
Guys, he is a Finance major. This move is clearly his first step towards his future after college.
The networking through that area and NYC will pay huge dividends.
He will be less then 5hrs from where he grew up and closer to where his girlfriend is from ,from what I read.
I am interested to see how much he will compete, his style will thrive training in Ithaca.
The networking through that area and NYC will pay huge dividends.
He will be less then 5hrs from where he grew up and closer to where his girlfriend is from ,from what I read.
I am interested to see how much he will compete, his style will thrive training in Ithaca.
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I am not frustrated with him leaving. I am frustrated with the fact we have no one currently in the hwc at a world team level and no apparent interest from outsiders to come here.
I'm happy for Kemerer and wish him all the best. However I'm also concerned about the direction HWC is going and the depth and strength of the team at the moment. HWC should be right up there with PSU, Cornell, and other prominent RTCs not only in keeping Hawkeye talent but bringing in outside talent as well. Frankly, I'm surprised that the addition of Coach Chun hasn't attracted more attention on the women's side of things (even if she isn't working with the HWC officially).
I do think that the group of outstanding young women coming into the program is a great sign and will seed the HWC for success on the women's wrestling front going forward, but I'd like to see more, especially on the Men's side.
I do think that the group of outstanding young women coming into the program is a great sign and will seed the HWC for success on the women's wrestling front going forward, but I'd like to see more, especially on the Men's side.
Depth? In the HWC? Gotta have more than 2 dudes competing before we talk about depth.
This is a huge sad for me. Not only are we losing a great Hawkeye but I'm trying to figure out what all those donations to the HWC were for if we can't keep Kem around with ZERO other guys in the fold.
As someone who was born in Iowa and moved away, there’s really no reason for me to go back except to see friends and family.
While there is a strong wrestling community/presence in the state, many need more than that to have desired quality of life. And for some reason, it seems to be difficult for locals to understand how the system may be perceived by those on the outside looking in.
So true . He visited a few places and Cornell ended up being the perfect fit. All his visits were back near home.
Well Mr. Spooner, obviously not EVERY former Hawkeye is going to compete for HWC, but somehow the evil empire has David Taylor, Nevills, Berge, Mark Hall, Nick Lee, Nolf, Joseph and Retherford. Oh and former HWC member Thomas Gilman. Somehow, NLWC has found a way to get just about EVERY former Nittany Lion to compete for the NLWC. We’ve got Pat Lugo. Something is rotten in Denmark, if we can’t convince Grandpa Mike to stick around.
Good Lord, will you guys please stop with the "why were we fundraising" and "HWC couldn't afford to keep Kem around". This is far from the case. The funds are there, but he has chosen to live somewhere besides Iowa City and wants to keep competing. There will always be an open door for him if he decides to return to Iowa and his relationship with the coaches is great. It's all good, he's starting the next phase of his life closer to his girlfriend and family. Quit making a big deal out of nothing.
Hall and Cenzo do not compete for the NLWC.
To the point that we hardly have guys competing, I agree. It would have not mattered for this year though because of injuries. That goes for Kem too.
Easy for you to say, sipping pina coladas on a So Cal beach with movie star friends watching the sun set on the ocean and not corn fields and hog confinements.
Mark Hall does not train with or compete for the NLWC
Happy for Kem, and I hope he finds lots of success there individually.
We get it…you were the one that got out of Iowa and now have a flyover attitude of your home state. I used to be like that; have lived in big cities and remote locations. Never saw myself living back here until I did. This is a great area and am glad I came back. Also love Az as well.
The big deal isn’t Kem choosing what’s best for him. Good for him. I hope he makes multiple world teams if he chooses to pursue that. The big deal is the fact that we have virtually no RTC at the moment. It’s great that you say we have the funding and all but it would be kinda neat if at some point that funding could provide for wrestlers to actually wrestle and compete for world teams. Crazy talk, I know.
First of all, this post contains several factual errors. Additionally, the NLWC has way more money than every other college-based wrestling club. Have you not been on this board for the past 10 years?
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