Though much of the response from Iowa was vitriolic and combative, buried deep inside the Twittersphere were some productive discussions about the behavior of many current NCAA wrestlers. These wrestlers, many Iowa fans noted, had performed equal if not worse crimes on the mat -- a punch thrown, a DQ for an off-the-mat throw and other such shenanigans.
While the fans that mentioned these acts tried -- and failed -- to discredit my article as anti-Iowa (I don't care) or draw some sort of moral equivalence (your actions stand alone), I do think there is a broader point to be made about the lack of maturity in NCAA wrestling.
For this, I thank the great state of Iowa and their tough-as-nails, never-back-down-from-fight, loyal fan base.
I made the error to compare the post-match behavior of NCAA wrestlers to that of international wrestlers, without factoring their significant differences in age, life experience and motivation.
The majority of international wrestlers are from underprivileged countries and low socio-economic statuses. When a wrestler from a village in Dagestan wins a gold medal at the World or continental championships he can change the trajectory of his entire family's life. By the time these wrestlers are in the public eye they've been wrestling with sponsorship for nearly ten years, which means they've seen what bad behavior can cost them down the line.
The average age of the world champions in 2015 was 25 while the average age of the college wrestler is closer to 20. That's an enormous five-year difference if only looking at lifestyles and maturity in America, but a 25-year-old in Dagestan is likely to be married and have a family. That's major incentive to not get fined for bad behavior on the mat.
A 20-year-old at the University of Iowa isn't wrestling for money. They aren't supporting their family and they are five years less life mature than those on the international stage.
The Americans I've seen wrestle at the international stage become more mature each tournament. Tony Ramos and Brent Metcalf are incredible examples of this maturation. Metcalf once pushed a backflipping opponent OFF A STAGE, but I've since seen him take more than a few bad calls and screw-job losses with grace. He's not perfect (nobody is) but he has matured since his NCAA days.
The same is already recognizable in Ramos, who last night battled through two incredibly difficult opponents to hammer home victories. He did those with technique, pressure and skill -- not a stare down.
The bad behavior at the NCAA level happens for a combination of reasons and while we can't do anything about the age of our NCAA athletes, or their lack of life experience, we can work to improve the culture of our sport.
I'm a true believer in the power of wrestling to change lives and I want to see a sport that inspires, not a product hoping to stir controversy. We have the ability to do that, but first we need to recognize that this behavior is a problem and then find some solutions.
To your questions …
Brent Metcalf gets his hand raised after defeating Jordan Oliver at the U.S. World Team Trials (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)-- Scott M.
Foley: Metcalf hasn't lost to a United States opponent in more than two years. While his results at the World Championships have been notably underwhelming, he has improved each year and won a large majority of his matches against top ten opponents worldwide.
There is always a push coming from the younger wrestlers, but Metcalf is a savvy wrestler with plenty of firepower, as far as I know he's not injured and nothing significant has changed in his training.
From where I sit Metcalf is the USA's top guy at 65 kilos and by a pretty significant margin.
Q: I was so happy this past weekend to see someone paying the price for what I consider more or less a stall technique. Imar got stuck after using an ankle dive/hold as a takedown defense. This is exceedingly rare, though. Ankle diving seems to me to be used predominantly as an effective stalemate tool. We all want more action. The ankle ride rule seems to be a step in the right direction to promote more action. How about a rule to stymie ankle diving/holding as a takedown defense? Perhaps a better question, how would you see such a rule working? It might be easy to get the diver confused with the takedown initiator if both have an ankle.
-- Jason
Foley: I don't know if I'm the only person who thought this, but the Penn State-Illinois dual was brilliantly called! The referees didn't allow Imar to roll around on his back with an ankle by his ear for an extended period of time. Nolf had Imar under control using his legs and was able to keep him in danger -- a simple back points position that had not been called in previous years. Between this and Imar being called for stalling after backing out of bounds a few times in a row, I feel like the referees here could make a case for not making any further changes to the rules.
I don't think a restriction of ankle diving could be crafted or enforced. Do we penalize everyone who touches an ankle? Just those that self-expose? What is offense and what is defense? The answers get very exacting and I don't think that would help the sport at a mainstream level.
Hats off to Nolf. I really had no idea he was so talented and tough. Incredible performance and one that makes me anxious for a rematch.
Q: Many people thought Imar could be the first wrestler since Cael Sanderson to go undefeated in college. Two absolutely amazing records that can only be tied and never broken: Sanderson's undefeated mark and Kyle Dake's four NCAA championships at four different weights without a redshirt year. Which record do you think is the more difficult to break? I do not think many wrestlers even ever wrestled at four different weight classes in college, let alone were champions!
-- Buzz B.
Foley: There is no right answer here, but given that four wrestlers have won four titles but only Cael has gone undefeated, I'd gander that the four at four weight classes is more likely to occur.
Winning an NCAA championship is not as difficult as going undefeated. For example, there is a good chance that Imar comes back and beats Nolf for an NCAA title. Maybe Nolf is better, but the chances are about even that he could make the improvements and beat his rival. However, he cannot go back and un-lose to Nolf. That's gone, done and dusted. In that way, it'll always be easier for a wrestler to win four titles (four tournaments) than it would be to have a perfect slate, even if they happen to be at four weight classes.
Still, on average, I think I agree with most other prognosticators in thinking neither will happen again for many, many years.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Wrestling is everywhere
Posted by Da Nihal on Thursday, January 14, 2016
Wrestler Neil deGrasse Tyson drops knowledge regarding harm of ill-informed people with Influence
Link: Wrestler Nate Parker wows Hollywood
Q: Imagine that the National Duals matchup pairs Oklahoma State and Penn State. Now, there are plenty of valid reasons why Coach Smith would not want to wrestle a dual against Penn State, But what if he and Coach Cael agreed to make it more like an all-star matchup: bump Heil up to 149 to face Zain, and bump Nolf up to 165 to face Dieringer. Heck, they could agree to double-forfeit 141 and 157, if that makes it more palatable. This would definitely make the dual more of an "event" and likely eliminates a lot of the concerns about impacting seeding, facing the same opponent too many times, etc.
-- Ronald M.
Foley: This is one of the reasons that seeding can be such a monster. While I agree that it's good to build intrigue by separating the top wrestlers, the idea that teams would shuffle a dual meet lineup for the NCAA championships seeding is bothersome, especially if the teams aren't in the same conference.
Wrestling can sell dual meets much easier than tournaments. With this jockeying the dual meet experience would be watered down, but with more emphasis put on the matches, I think the exact opposite would happen. I think we'd see a massive boom in interest by fans and media.
Q: When is the much-needed uniform change finally going to happen? I'm reading articles back from 2005 saying "the change is coming soon." Also reading articles from 2013, 2014 saying that the 2015 Vegas Championships were supposed to be the uniform's first appearance. When will it actually happen?
-- John C.
Foley: International sport is a crazy business. No matter how well you have any angle pegged, something is bound to change.
The singlet issue is bound up not in a battle of aesthetics, but of wants. You have the wants of the athletes commission, which unsurprisingly doesn't want change; and you have the wants of the referees, who believe they'd be unable to properly call the action on the mat without bold colors.
Then there are the wants of the political actors around the world and how to fund something like a change of uniforms. You might imagine it would be tough to force change on an entire world of wrestling without some plan for subsidizing developing nations, or partnering with a third party for the development of the technology.
Right now there is agreement among certain circles that change is beneficial, but implementation needs to be tactful and well-timed. My suspicion is that the introduction of change is not far away. The Olympics are a big deal and a time suck for all the national federations as well as United World Wrestling. Beyond that tournament, however, I suspect that there will be more time, energy and space to make improvements to the uniforms and other aspects of the sport.
Q: Wondering if Anthony Robles was still pursuing the Olympics? I'll be going to Rio and would love to cheer 4 him
-- @joelax
Foley: I don't think Anthony Robles is still on the track to pursue the Olympics. He was certainly a great wrestler at the NCAA level and is becoming a solid broadcast analyst!
Q: I have watched more than 15 duals in person and online this year. I have also watched a few tournaments as well. At this point in the season I see a lot of inconsistent officiating with stalling. Is this going to change? I watched the Penn State vs. Illinois dual and the officials were fantastic about the stalling calls (new method). Then I watched another dual and nothing has changed; same old officiating. It almost seems as though only the top officials in the big matches are calling stalling the way it should be. The minor Division I duals? Not so much. Come tournament time, which kind of stalling techniques will we see?
-- Steven H.
Foley: I'm certain that you will see the type of calls we all appreciated during the Penn State-Illinois match. The referees will meet before and during the tournament to receive instructions and guidelines on how to call the tournament. Assuming that they have gotten the same feedback as fans are generating, then they will continue to shade towards strict enforcement of the stalling rules.
It'll take some time for these rules to be called uniformly. As we saw at the international level there are some referees who are not as aware of the changes as others, especially when it's the enforcement of an interpretation rather than a detailed rule change like four back points.
Should nothing else change in the rules during the offseason I'd suspect you'd see more uniformity during the 2017-2018 season than you did this season.
Q: I ABSOLUTELY agree with your remarks regarding Gilman's use of face mushing at the end of his match. I have noticed more and more of this type of treatment, even following an out of bounds call during a match. I think it is definitely unnecessary, unsportsmanlike, and inspires a fan reaction more towards, "What a bully!" and less towards, "What dominance!" Wish I could say it only happens during Iowa matches, but it is seemingly pretty widespread. The ideal should be to practice and prepare, wrestle hard, wrestle fair, and win or lose with sportsmanship and good grace.
-- NFW
Foley: Agreed. This is not an Iowa-only problem and it's one that has been growing for years. It's simple: If you want to be a bully, then go to a sport that doesn't strictly prohibit that behavior. If you're such a tough guy then head over to an MMA practice, strap on some 4 oz. gloves and start swinging. You can even head to a jiu-jitsu room where bully behavior is severely frowned up given the trust practice partners must have in each other to let go of dangerous holds and chokes.
I've seen cocky wrestlers enter these rooms and get humbled in a hurry. Some use it as a learning experience and come back again and again to improve and learn, while others just fall back into their shell of wrestling toughness they learned in college.
Yes, college wrestlers are the toughest minded athletes on the planet and they endure the most grueling season. However, that doesn't mean they should feel entitled to slap, mush, shove and slam their on-the-mat opponents. More mutual respect and appreciation could go a long way on the wrestling mat of today.
Q: What did you think of the article in which Ohio State granted a release to Thomas Haines? It had a nice interview with Haines and Coach Ryan where it seemed as though the coach really cares about the athlete and helped him in the process to find the best fit for him. Lock Haven, as noted by the article, is only three hours from his hometown, was chosen as the best option for Haines and his career. Do you know if he was granted a full release based on the school that he chose to transfer to? With athletics or academics in mind, there seems to be better options that are within three hours of his hometown (Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers, Lehigh, Penn, Princeton, etc.). Schools such as Cornell and Edinboro are also closer to home for him than Ohio State is.
Lock Haven has some history, and he will likely wrestle with old high school friends, but don't you think that if given the choice he would want to wrestle for a national power, a place that has been turning out All-Americans consistently or has had sustained or recent success in the upper weights?
-- Mike W.
Foley: Haines was granted a release for several reasons. He's likely on a full ride and with Kyle Snyder moving to heavyweight Coach Ryan could use the money elsewhere, which he did by landing Isaiah White around the same time. Also, coaches understand it's frowned upon to restrict the movements of their athletes, especially when there was no real precipitating event.
In addition to having high school friends on the team, Haines' father owns a campground in the area of Lock Haven and is familiar with the school and surrounding area. Head coach Scott Moore has built a nice program on limited funds and I'm sure it excited Haines to get in the room and scrap around people he knows and trusts, and where he can be part of something that is still maturing.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
By Ismael M.
Watching wrestling for a while was or has been like watching two slow heavyweights plowing along waiting to get to the down position hoping to get the only escape to win. This was almost becoming the norm even in the usual exciting lighter weights. I watched the Midlands and Scuffle and was disappointed on how some guys won and never took a shot until the last seconds in the match or overtime. Refs never called stalling when they should have made the call. Anyway I enjoyed the PSU-Illinois match on Saturday. It was the way Penn State wrestlers Zain Retherford, Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal didn't sit back waiting for something to happen. They were making it happen. We already have non-stop Nico Megaludis out there, so it's great to watch. It's what I would like wrestling to be.
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