100+ point loss at Nationals? More injuries and Senior year nose dives? Inconsistent recruiting?
When Spencer is done wrestling.
- Thread starter mpfeiler
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The competition either continues to widen the gap, or makes seismic changes to get better. Meanwhile Tommy still playing the same broken record he has for nearly two decades.Tailpipe, when did you stop trying to be a dick about Tom Brands?
Instead of playing that broken record yet again in 2024, let's move on until after the next sucking season, when everything you say becomes more apparent to everyone.
You guys choose to look with blinders on and thats ok with me because you are both Hawkeye fans. I will say it once more, I 100% agree improvement is needed.
Blinders? They refuse to make excuses for poor performances and that equals wearing blinders?
That’s because excuses are for Wussies
So, for those of us with "blinders", help us out. What are we missing? What is going on that is changing the course of the program? Because what you're describing is nothing more than lip service--SSDY.
He is maybe the only former hawk that most would welcome as a coach. If he does well in Olympics, them makes world teams and does well before next Olympics, his resume as a competitor will be nuts. It’s about being young and famous in wrestling circles to recruit the best kids. He also has a likable personality, which helps also.
Not to many years ago we won a title we would have won two, some seem to forget this.
Now as you pointed out we were more then 100 points out of first this year, but you and many others have blinders when excluding the fact that we had 3 potential AA’s removed unlawfully from our team, two of which would have been top 5. These guys would have put us in a clear 2nd place ahead of everyone except psu.
We lost a top tier recruit do to a sudden life change, completely unexpected and can not be blamed on anyone.
We need improvements and better recruiting to catch psu, but even getting throttled on the recruiting front compared to psu we have been a consistent second best team throughout the seasons.
We have also done well with the transfer portal which you guys do not seem to acknowledge.
The NIL and transfer needs to continue to be utilized and get even better then we have been, so improvement is needed there also.
Here is my final thoughts,
I believe there is nobody out there right now that would be a better head coach then Tom. I believe he has handled a very difficult few years extremely well and made improvements but more is needed. Im full in with Tom for a few more years, if we do not see adjustments and improvements then its time!
But I thought excuses were for Wussies...
I would not particularly category these as excuses, but if you are calling me a wussy I have no problem meeting you on any bridge at any time.
Dude, you just made that 'excuses are for wusses' statement and then followed it up by listing out excuses for why Iowa wrestling has fallen short in recent years. Covis, gambling, etc - you do realize these are all excuses, right?
It's time to stop making excuses and start making changes.
I am coming around on this. still lots of positives happening in the Iowa program.
Okay, so lets throw those 3 in the lineup now we lose by what, 75? Sweet! You bring up the title in 2021...one title in 14 years is what you're hanging your hat on? Especially with how we under performed that tournament, too?
You can bring up Nate J, but we still can't seem to pull in consistent top 10 p4p guys. What if Nate wasn't from Iowa? Would we even had a shot with him in the first place? History says no.
Consistently being the 1st loser isn't' good enough. I'm not asking for a title every year, but certainly more than one every 14 years. I also don't think being completely out of contention by Friday is acceptable either.
How many more years does Tom need, honestly? He doesn't seem to have it figured out after 14 years, what makes you think he will at year 17? 20?
Does anyone have it figured out? The only two consistent teams the last 14 years have been Penn St. winning the tournament and Iowa getting a trophy. I’m not okay with just a trophy but we’re talking about Cael Sanderson here, one of the greatest if not the greatest coach ever. Nobody won consistently during Gables time just like nobody will win consistently in Caels time.
Grip, you have been saying Tom is your man but you end the long explanation with this gem? I assume you have seen this video which was done in early January 2024 (this year). I started the video where Tom is explaining how to prepare. You only have to watch for about 8 seconds. After, please tell me if you still think Tom is going to change anything.
He was talking about determining the long term lineup for end of season after what had been a tumultuous year beginning in May, due to the whole gambling fiasco.
Context matters. Just because you teed up a video to a point where Tom says something mundane doesn’t mean anything.
I get what you're saying, but this is also a different day and age. On top of that we have the same team on the mat year after year--we do nothing to try and fix things.
Yes, Two more years then Im with you. Okay good lets go HAWKS
He says it multiple times throughout the video and emphasizes the point, which is that there is only one method that is tried and true and no deviating from that.
You obviously see it differently, and that's just fine with me, just keep doing what you have been doing and hope for adjustments and improvements.
BTW, hope is not a plan.
He stated facts, not excuses.
Are you suggesting that Iowa's wrestlers would be performing better, finishing their shots, and wrestling out of tough positions more consistently if COVID or the gambling incident hadn't occurred? These issues have been evident long before 2020, so bringing up COVID and the gambling stuff for Iowa's shortcomings is simply making excuses.
Moreover, if you believe that one additional team title would have significantly changed Iowa's recruiting success, that's unrealistic. Successful recruiting requires consistent effort—it doesn't happen just because you win 1-2x every 15 years or build a new facility.
OK, I'm somewhere in-between Tailgate and Grip. Tailgate-you act like Iowa wrestling has been garbage the last 5 years. We went 1,1,2,3,5 the last 5 years and that 5th place should be 2nd. So in the last 5 years we had the 1st best team 2/5 the time the 2nd best team 2/5 the time and a 3rd best team 1/5 the time. That's a better 5 year run than every other team but PSU.
Grip-I understand you get sick of hearing everyone bitch and complain and rag on this team, I do as well. A lot of the points are valid. I have been saying this for years we need to shake up the HWC and Staff. The HWC is an extension to our coaching staff. Build the HWC and the team follows. I agree we are losing the majority of scrambling. I feel like if a match goes to OT we are going to lose. I never use to fill that way, in fact just the opposite.
IMO TNT should have 2 years to get a title and if they do not it's time to move on.
I didn't ask for anything, but looking back it appears he was asked, "What are we missing? What is going on that is changing the course of the program?"
I still don't believe this was ever answered. Again, we just got excuses. I'd love to hear an honest answer about what changes are being made. I would love nothing more than for TNT to get things turned around and figure out some of these glaring issues but after 10+ years of seeing no changes, I am in "show me" mode and am doubtful that anything is going to change.
Well, how we have finished is only a small fraction of my frustrations and concerns (if you have read what I've written you'd understand that) but now that you bring it up no one gives a flying F about moral victories.
A second National Team Championship sure couldn't have hurt recruiting.
Covid did interfere with that.
Gambling stuff did hurt our placing at the National Tournament this year.
There are lots of factors when it comes to recruiting and every recruit is different.
No, the top guys in the country are not going to commit to you just because of a new training facility but it will sway some and is a positive recruiting tool for all.
First off dont call me dude or I will slap you like the bitch your are.
Now, anyone with simple brain function would not really recognize covid as an excuse and f**k those asshats with their BS gambling shit, they should all rot in jail.
What’s stopping facts from being used as excuses? Nothing. Excuses don’t mean lies.
This is sort of where I stand too. I'm particularly disappointed with the ongoing poor development from freshman through senior year, and recruiting. I also just can't believe that M* and Telford are the best mat skills developers out there, even though they're good guys. I get that sometimes we all have to leave our comfort zones, but sometimes I''m not sure that TnT understand that. I think that we need a continual parade of younger assistants that college wrestlers can relate to.
What I don't want are cheap, slimy used-car salesmen for coaches. I like decent, authentic guys for coaches. Tailpipe may not give sh*t about morals, but I still do. I guess that I'm still idealistic enough to think that we can have a great team, and still have good guys for coaches.
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I agree with this, and I do believe that Iowa wrestling was hit harder by COVID than any other program.
My only gripe with that is that COVID was four years ago, and we haven't adjusted the game plan. We still haven't seen a shift in how we approach recruiting. We haven't seen any improvement in areas like finishing shots and scrambling. At what point do we just accept that these issues aren't being addressed appropriately by the current staff?
Im with you, but I would also accept few individual titles for the team title and a second place
There are valid excuses (truths) and invalid excuses (lies). It's not that you are so wrong that bothers me. You aren't, and we all know that at one level or another. It's that I worry that many of us are so desperate that some crazy coaching change will f*ck things up more than improve things. There's more at stake here than wins and losses over the next few years.
Lol such a tough guy.
So is my invite revoked this fall or did you invite me just to beat me up for not being a TNT fanboy?
I agree but I also don't think there were any other 'crazy' coaching changes being seriously thrown around other than DT, which no doubt would have been a match made in heaven for Iowa wrestling.
Since that ship has sailed, I agree that there currently aren't any other better options available than what we have. With that said, there are about 50 better assistant coaching options out there that we could choose from, so that would be a great start.
