Tonight is very disappointing. Not being what we all got used to as dominant Iowa wrestling is disappointing but seriously stop making things up and pouting like a 6 year old. "Again no hardware from Nationals"? Really? I'll give you it's disappointing but Iowa failed to podium as a team for the first time since 2007. I don't think that qualifies as "again no hardware."
WE FIRED ZELESKY FOR LESS....
- Thread starter lonewolf52
- Start date
Tonight is very disappointing. Not being what we all got used to as dominant Iowa wrestling is disappointing but seriously stop making things up and pouting like a 6 year old. "Again no hardware from Nationals"? Really? I'll give you it's disappointing but Iowa failed to podium as a team for the first time since 2007. I don't think that qualifies as "again no hardware."
You are absolutely nuts if you think Cael would leave PSU to come to Iowa. Totally lost your mind. 62 NCAA qualifiers from Penn. Iowa probably had a dozen.
It's not the results that bother me, it is what we look like wrestling. No longer can we create a shot, no longer can we ride, turn and pin. Also as a long time fan, we are still better off with Brands than Z. I went to Big Tens that last year and was sick to my stomach because of the lack of everything.
I have spoken to numerous people who say the kids are beaten down and are all groomed to be heavy on the head regardless of their style out of high school. Why not take what they have and make them better rather than making them adapt to what used to work 20 years ago. The old style is gone as seen by Minny and Iowa.
I have spoken to numerous people who say the kids are beaten down and are all groomed to be heavy on the head regardless of their style out of high school. Why not take what they have and make them better rather than making them adapt to what used to work 20 years ago. The old style is gone as seen by Minny and Iowa.
Wait...so Barta is a horses ass because he knows the NCAA rules that limit the number of assistant coaches?
People are losing their minds.
Please let our Horses Ass AD know your thoughts when you send in your increased contributions for our new money for assistants. I appreciate you stepping up!
With the wrestler's we have? Absolutely. I'm sure you saw my post about he's recruiting though.
Penn State just went 2-5 on Saturday when it mattered.
You are naive if you think Cael wouldn't leave if you say, nearly doubled his salary. Do you even follow player movement in professional sports. Plus the standard of living is FR superior in Iowa City. Leaving Pennsyl-tucky for Iowa City AND a raise to come to what is the Mecca of wrestling in the United States. He is good enough to turn us into better than we are.
You're a fkn waste of space on the wrestling front if thats what you honestly believe. It's the wrestlers, not Tom or Terry and their coaching style. Get a grip, dude.
I get your point, except that it didn't matter for the team championship...they wrapped that up yesterday.
If Brands was in the PA hotbed and Cael was here every wrestling fan would be saying get Brands here and get this Sanderson guy out. How would Iowa look this year without the injuries to Stoll and the bad luck with attrition at 141... Skon, Marlin, and Gross were all supposed be to the savior at 141 and attrition got us. Unfortunately it seems like PSU hasn't had that problem too bad. The one thing I would like to see us do is take a few chances on athletic guys... especially in the upper weights. Easier said than done since we haven't had those types of guys around the area with Iowa high school wrestling down in recent years.
Hard to keep blaming the wrestlers year after year after year as they are all his recruits. There is a reason these guys come in as freshmen looking like they are going to be a&* kickers then resort to not one legitimate shot when wrestling the top tier by their senior year. Love brands. he is a great Christian guy with a great heart..just need to change philosophy to accommodate kids coming in. Could get worse like isu though if we go lookin.
The Psu Trolls come by and are irritating..
But........ My Heavens...........these Iowa Trolls are soooooooooo annoying.
Not around all season and show up to whine when we have some disappointments.
They aren't posting here when Gilman, Clark, Sorensen, etc. are moving thru the quarterfinals and semifinals much less the early rounds when our guys are cruising. Not around to post during the guys advancing thru the Tournament. They only show up to whine and act like something should be done so they feel better.
They show up to do their Crybaby act late. "Oh we need a new coach. Boo Hoo" "I want a new Assistant Coach who can bring a new attitude. Boo Hoo" "I'm not happy Boo Hoo" Poor Baby!!!
Not sure some of you crybabies are tough enough for wrestling.
Go away........you're making the rest of the good posters here sick to their stomachs.
And you make the whole board look silly when visitors come to read and think you are regular posters instead of fly by night newbies who might have actually wrestled Junior varsity in High School.
You whiners have no idea how silly you look with your lame, whiny, ignorant posts. Boy you suck!
You really suck. Cael is about winning championships. He's made this very clear. He's not a "player."
I think PSU has enough resources to match whatever we might offer Cael. Also, I disagree that he'd leave PSU anyway. The main reason he's so successful is the instate recruits he can get. Nothing like that exists at Iowa. It would be a lateral move, at best, and likely a step down in his ability to be successful.
There were 45000 of us at BIG Tournament 2 weeks ago sparky.
How many little guys can you have as coaches and still develop the bigger weights? Also didn;t someone say the NCAA specifies how many coaches you can have?
You nailed the problem. They need to get better quality athletes/wrestlers in house so they can coach them to win titles vs coach them to keep it close with other teams who do have these guys.
Something needs to get shaken up. I would be happy with a replacement of Morningstar. IDC if he can recruit, it hasn't really done much for us so far. Get him and his style of wrestling out of the room. Tom Ryan, Metcalf, Burroughs, Dake, Perry, Taylor, McDonough, Ramos, Oliver, Steiber, Herbert, Varner, Popolizio, Guerrero, Esposito, Cunningham, Robie and Billy Baldwin all would be much better options. An offensive minded person is what is needed.
If Brands were in PA and Cael were here, he'd still out recruit Brands. He is the x-factor. These kids aren't hypnotized by Nittany Lion tradition. They want to wrestle for 159-0, Olympic gold medalist Cael Sanderson. It doesn't hurt that he comes across as a very humble and likable guy. Both Brands comes across as egotistical, which isn't all that appealing to an 18 year old who aren't old enough to remember the Iowa glory days.
no his recruiting grounds are the x factor... how well did he do at isu again?
Problem is, we've tried new assistants and it has amounted to nothing. It is not the assistants' fault. It starts and ends at the top. Assistants follow the head guy's lead and so do the wrestlers. Do you know how often M* shows technique in practice or gives a talk during team meetings? I've talked to guys on the team and it's basically never. Same with Berhow. Same with Rutt. Same with Zadick and Lofthouse and Backes before them. These are not the problem. In such a program, assistants are little more than practice partners for the guys and extensions of TnT.
Besides, from what I hear, the assistant coaches are given zero space in that program to enact their own philosophy or style, Terry notwithstanding. It is the Brands' way or the highway. Buy in or you're gone (or at the very least, in the doghouse). That goes for wrestlers and assistants alike. And, as soon as you're not successful as a wrestler, it is because you didn't "buy in" to TnT's philosophy and program. If you are successful, you must have bought in. And if the team performs bad, blame is put on the wrestlers and the assistant coaches. If the team performs well, TnT got it done and receive the lion's share of the credit.
Now, idc if folks think it's right or wrong to have it set up to be that the assistants have no real say or that there is a culture of "the Brands' way or the highway." Maybe that can be successful (three titles under their belt). But I will say this - if it is going to be the Brands' way or the highway, then TnT ought to be blamed when things go wrong instead of just congratulated when they go right. Otherwise you create a blatantly hypocritical double-standard, which breeds a lack of respect from inside and outside the program and makes it all the more difficult to pinpoint the true nature of the problem.
While PA guys make up the majority of the PSU roster, that university wasn't pulling in recruits like he is prior to his arrival.His location is now an added benefit, but guys like Morgan McIntosh, Mark Hall, David Taylor, Nick Nevills, and Bo Nickal didn't choose PSU because of proximity to home. To say otherwise is just silly.
This line of though is such crap.
Iowa will win titles sooner than later.
Brands and Z are miles apart.
We wrestled better this year than the last few. Sure lower finish but our guys are coming back and we will do great.
No one in the country could come in and make any difference. In fact, we would go backwards for real.
Iowa will win titles sooner than later.
Brands and Z are miles apart.
We wrestled better this year than the last few. Sure lower finish but our guys are coming back and we will do great.
No one in the country could come in and make any difference. In fact, we would go backwards for real.
It has been 6 years though... and maybe someone would do better. Can't know just by speculating. I think people just like Brands' personality and entertainment factor more than Zalesky. They love to believe what Brands says but I am of the opinion that results matter more than rhetoric and entertainment. Look, finishing 2-5 is great for almost any other program. But, this is Iowa and six years is an awful long time to go without winning a team title (or really even being close). I love Iowa wrestling and it isn't like I've ever really been outspoken against TnT. But it's getting to that point where the standards of the program are consistently not being met. When it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Who were Iowa's assistant coaches the last time we won a team title? Was Gable and assistant that year? Gable looked pretty depressed during the broadcast tonight. At one point during the broadcast someone pointed out that Gable should be coach and Gable stated that he just might do that. Seems to me at least some of our teams issues are between the ears and Gable was one of the best in the mental aspect of the sport. Would like to see him with a more active role with the team again. Possibly the teams Shrink.
Almost all organizations/corporations do an annual (sometimes continual) self-evaluation, and consider how to make changes and adjustments in order to meet goals and to resolve problems. I certainly hope that Gary Barta does this every year with Brands. A great leader welcomes making changes in the culture and/or methods of operation, in order to improve the organization. Most of us would agree that there are problems with the performance of Iowa wrestlers, so the question is: Is Tom Brands flexible and open enough to make changes that will adequately address these problems?
FIFY...PSU made a commitment to the sport of wrestling by hiring Cael who was a certified big name in the sport versus. Given Tom Brands like recruits, we have seen what Cael could do at ISU...which was very good, but no where near what he as accomplished at PSU. At PSU he has a great house with a good foundation...all he has to do is add a ferrari or a mercedes now and then.
I live and die with this sport every winter and spring. I think morningStar has to go. God bless him for what he has done for our program. I was in St. Louis the year he won a couple of matches on Saturday morning to win that title a few years ago. However, I have seen guys come in aggressive at first and eventually try to win matches in the exact same manner that he did. Try to take one shot and win 3-2. It worked for him, but not for most of these guys on a consistent basis. Mike Evans was a guy who was aggressive as hell and a hammer on top when he first started out and by the time he finished he was taking very few shots. Just my opinion.
I agree, AZ. My original post was a response to the claim that Brands would be hauling in the same recruits if he were at PSU and Cael here. I think that by Cael moving out east, he was able to construct a complete package to offer in an area that's highly concentrated with talent. For the local studs they have a deal that's too sweet to refuse. But without Cael there, Penn State isn't near the team they are. My original point was Cael is the draw, not state college.
On another note (not to sound stupid), what does FIFY mean? I don't always understand the online lingo? Thanks!
On another note (not to sound stupid), what does FIFY mean? I don't always understand the online lingo? Thanks!
Keeker16, I disagree about putting that blame squarely on M* (or any assistant coach). It's not like M* is likely telling our guys, "Now, when you go out there, I want you to stand around and just take one shot. Live and die by that one shot. That ONE shot is your baby - nurse it, hold onto it, feel it, don't ever let it go. Here, watch videos of me doing it. This is how you need to wrestle." We have made the assistant coaches the scapegoats for too long.
interesting....and it kinda falls in line with what I heard Brands say earlier this year in regards to Rutt joining the program...Brands said that he came in with ideas and programs and (paraphrasing) said that they had to sit Rutt down and tell him how things will be ran and how they want everything done from a strength and endurance perspective....it was at that time, the first time ever....that I began to question whether Brands could actually manage this team to success......I think both Brands brothers have grown stagnant and maybe set in their ways...because that's what has worked for them in the past....and now programs are passing them by and we get phrases like "yeah, it could be considered a train wreck".....I actually appreciate his candor...and he's right it was a trainwreck....starting last night after Burak lost....the hawks won only more one match from then on and it was Burak this morning...otherwise everything was a loss....guys getting turned, running outta gas and just plain out matched.
this is our new reality.
I agree that he is not the only problem. But it is a trend that floats through my mind every year I n my opinion.
Yeah, today sucked, but come on. We fired .... oh, you were in on that decision? I know I wasn't consulted on it. I find it funny how you think new blood is going to miracle us into a championship.
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