ADVERTISEMENT

What programs would you like to see do well?

Decent thread.

I would like to see any programs outside of the Big10, and outside of the Midwest/Pennsylvania area do well in order to expand the geographic reach of the sport.

I'd mainly like to see more programs at the HS and college level add women's wrestling. That would be the biggest move to save the sport.

Art. I get what you are saying and I agree that it would be fun for fans to have women's wrestling.

With that said, if we need to add women's wrestling as a way to save our sport, then I think we are in long term trouble. I HOPE that adding womens wrestling would help grow the sport, not save it

GO HAWKS!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: GG121AND2
Not including Iowa? For me, Pitt,Iowa State,and Wisconsin come to mind. Heck,even West Virginia. I like what NC State and Virginia Tech have done lately. Whatcha think?
I think that I would like every other program in the nation to suck and that is being honest. I would be totally fine watching 10 champions with black Iowa singlets on and would be 100% OK if they all won by fall through the entire tournament and I want that every year. I want Iowa to be so good that we are looking to replace national champions because they only won by a tech fall, if they win by a major they get expelled and a regular decision........lets just say that wouldn't be good (unless you are pro death penalty)
 
i used to think this dude was really 'something'. i.e. - 'out there'.

his posts of late have been giving away that he's actually a troll. you don't start this thread and include iowa state if you ain't trolling.
 
i used to think this dude was really 'something'. i.e. - 'out there'.

his posts of late have been giving away that he's actually a troll. you don't start this thread and include iowa state if you ain't trolling.
I like Dresser and Iowa State. I wrestled Jim Gibbons my first college match. And Randy Conrad was the best leg rider I ever saw! Pete Galea is a great guy and my coach at NU! Yes,I am a troll! Thanks
 
Is he a bigger fan of Northwestern or is MSU158 a bigger Spartan fan? I say it’s a push.
I wouldn't give Northwestern a friggin plugged nickle. They rejected my daughter five years ago and vowed never to give them a penny as long as I live! She graduated from Kelly Business at Indiana with a 3.9 and grabbed an offer from a top consulting firm. She can get into Harvard for business. Screw em! I'm a fan of the NU wrestling team and am obsessed with great college wrestling, including guys like Spencer Lee and The Bull! . What does that make me.
 
Is he a bigger fan of Northwestern or is MSU158 a bigger Spartan fan? I say it’s a push.

That depends on how you define a "fan". I spent enough money, blood, sweat and tears to earn the right to be "aloof" with the product they have been putting on the mat for the last 10-12 years. It's not like I just decided to be a MSU fan. Your pride takes a serious beating watching what has happened.

None of you guys have had to go through anything remotely close for 1 year, let alone a dozen straight. many of you could come and go as you please, with not nearly the same level of connection or even commitment to your respective University. Go through what I have for this long and I doubt ANY of you would speak favorably, or even speak at all when it came to Iowa.....
 
That depends on how you define a "fan". I spent enough money, blood, sweat and tears to earn the right to be "aloof" with the product they have been putting on the mat for the last 10-12 years. It's not like I just decided to be a MSU fan. Your pride takes a serious beating watching what has happened.

None of you guys have had to go through anything remotely close for 1 year, let alone a dozen straight. many of you could come and go as you please, with not nearly the same level of connection or even commitment to your respective University. Go through what I have for this long and I doubt ANY of you would speak favorably, or even speak at all when it came to Iowa.....
Well said
 
Art. I get what you are saying and I agree that it would be fun for fans to have women's wrestling.

With that said, if we need to add women's wrestling as a way to save our sport, then I think we are in long term trouble. I HOPE that adding womens wrestling would help grow the sport, not save it

GO HAWKS!!

As long as football exists, any sport that is only for males is going to be in a tenuous position. The number of D1 programs is already tiny, and continues to shrink. At the HS level it's still popular, but something has to change at the college level or it is doomed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: grapplefann
As long as football exists, any sport that is only for males is going to be in a tenuous position. The number of D1 programs is already tiny, and continues to shrink. At the HS level it's still popular, but something has to change at the college level or it is doomed.

Boys' high school participation has been on the decline for several years.
 
Ive always pulled for Binghamton at Nationals
Love me some of that Baldwin....
Also the catch 22 of D1 wrestling
 
I don't think it is necessarily a good thing to have B10 so dominant. I think more balance and a competitive NCAAs is good for the long term success of the sport, but at the same time I don't know if we will ever get to a point where teams ranked outside of the top 5 really matter to the fans. I hope that changes. Here are some teams I think it would be good to have be relevant all though it is unrealistic that all of them will be.

Fresno- We need strong teams in the west

Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Penn- I think it would be cool to see a tougher Eiwa and higher representation of the Ivy league schools alongside Cornell at the NCAAs.

West Virginia, Iowa State- Its important for the big 12 to be tougher. Iowa state has the tradition and WV is in the recruiting promise land.

Duke- Acc gets better and better, but Duke alway has 1 or 2 good guys and no one else. Like to see them fill out their line-up.

Campbell and few other small schools.
 
Boys' high school participation has been on the decline for several years.

Flo shows in 2007 there were 257k high school wrestlers, in 2017 there were 251k. That's holding pretty steady. Even DII and DIII are doing okay, but DI is dying.
 
I don't think it is necessarily a good thing to have B10 so dominant. I think more balance and a competitive NCAAs is good for the long term success of the sport, but at the same time I don't know if we will ever get to a point where teams ranked outside of the top 5 really matter to the fans. I hope that changes. Here are some teams I think it would be good to have be relevant all though it is unrealistic that all of them will be.

Fresno- We need strong teams in the west

Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Penn- I think it would be cool to see a tougher Eiwa and higher representation of the Ivy league schools alongside Cornell at the NCAAs.

West Virginia, Iowa State- Its important for the big 12 to be tougher. Iowa state has the tradition and WV is in the recruiting promise land.

Duke- Acc gets better and better, but Duke alway has 1 or 2 good guys and no one else. Like to see them fill out their line-up.

Campbell and few other small schools.

I believe the changing nature of the sport at the youth and HS level bodes well for the Ivy League, and all high-academic schools. My observation over the last ten years has been that the best wrestlers are starting to come from wealthy families - who can afford the clubs, private lessons, nutritionists, strength coaches, travel, etc. that starts when the kids are 8 or 9 years old. I look at NJ, where the top kids are not only spending that kind of money, but are spending even more money going to schools like Delbarton, Bergen Catholic, and Blair for coaching and exposure. Most those kids' parents spent more money on their wrestling than it would have cost to send them to four years at a state college. For some of them it is the somewhat psychotic "daddy ball" driving them to make champions out of their kids, but a growing number of them are doing it specifically to set their kids up to get into an Ivy. They have the money for any college; they're looking for an edge for admittance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: russelscout
That depends on how you define a "fan". I spent enough money, blood, sweat and tears to earn the right to be "aloof" with the product they have been putting on the mat for the last 10-12 years. It's not like I just decided to be a MSU fan. Your pride takes a serious beating watching what has happened.

None of you guys have had to go through anything remotely close for 1 year, let alone a dozen straight. many of you could come and go as you please, with not nearly the same level of connection or even commitment to your respective University. Go through what I have for this long and I doubt ANY of you would speak favorably, or even speak at all when it came to Iowa.....
To be fair, I was still an Iowa bball fan during the Licklighter years......that is comparable I think. I am also a bears fan, so I can relate.
 
How does everyone here feel about Illinois? Iowa usually gets a few Illinois guys on a yearly basis. How much would it hurt if Illinois top guys decided to go to Illinois instead of Iowa?
 
Boys' high school participation has been on the decline for several years.
The attrition of wrestling participants is closely related to the decline in the number of farm boys who used to wrestle. The smaller family farms are gone and so are the studs who used to compete. They were also responsible for squads having full teams.
 
Flo shows in 2007 there were 257k high school wrestlers, in 2017 there were 251k. That's holding pretty steady. Even DII and DIII are doing okay, but DI is dying.

I'm not sure where Flo got its data, but here are the boys participation numbers for the last 5 years from the National Federation of State High School Associations:

2012/13 270,163 IA 6,709
2013/14 269,514 IA 6,773
2014/15 258,138 IA 6,424
2015/16 250,653 IA 6,512
2016/17 244,804 IA 6,586

You can double check my math, if you wish.

http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/ParticipationStatics.aspx/
 
I'm kind of surprised that no one has given best wishes to Minnesota to become relevant again.

It used to be a pretty good rivalry for the Hawks when the Gophers were favored in more than two matches.

Hard these days to remember the Gophs even favored to win two!
 
  • Like
Reactions: MitchL
I'm not sure where Flo got its data, but here are the boys participation numbers for the last 5 years from the National Federation of State High School Associations:

2012/13 270,163 IA 6,709
2013/14 269,514 IA 6,773
2014/15 258,138 IA 6,424
2015/16 250,653 IA 6,512
2016/17 244,804 IA 6,586

You can double check my math, if you wish.

http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/ParticipationStatics.aspx/

If you add the number of Iowa participants in 2017 to the total of wrestlers nationally that year you come up with 251,000 and change.

Coincidence?
 
Anyone that wants a good laugh should visit the Goof's forum "recruits".

To summarize... Minny fans were kind of ripping Kerk after his struggles overseas. Lot's of bitterness that he went to OSU. Secretly, I think they know he's going to handle GS once he's on full feed. In a nutshell, Kerk's old man ripped into the negativity towards Minny high schoolers that leave the State. Several posters were trampled in the back peddling and apologized.

Gopher fans are losers and such pussies.
 
I think Cat and MSU are two of the better none Iowa guys that post here although I disagree often they are just fans like us. I would like to see college wrestling grow and keep on track. I want Iowa’s guys to stay Healthy so we can get to the top of the podium again. I personally think D1 college wreatling is on a great track and like it to stay that way. Its good to see some Teams like NC st, rutgers and ASU making strides I would like some others to follow. Im glad to see womens wrestling growing I have a 5 year old daughter that wrestles.
 
i used to think this dude was really 'something'. i.e. - 'out there'.

his posts of late have been giving away that he's actually a troll. you don't start this thread and include iowa state if you ain't trolling.

I'm going with 'out there' still. The Iowa ISU rivalry doesn't exist in the currently. They need to improve a lot. I had free tickets to the dual last winter, and couldn't find a reason to drive an hour and a half to use them. As of right now I wouldn't care if we dropped them and got an annual psu dual and had in east lancing so msu158 could go to one good dual a year.
 
How does everyone here feel about Illinois? Iowa usually gets a few Illinois guys on a yearly basis. How much would it hurt if Illinois top guys decided to go to Illinois instead of Iowa?
As Mike Evans once said, "Bury them." Let's have ALL the top Illinois guys come to Iowa.
 
ADVERTISEMENT