The balance of NCAA Division I teams hit that mat this weekend, leaving plenty of action for fans of the sport to watch on TV and online. Wrestling has never been more accessible to the fan, which means that the more we tune in, the more positive data can be shared with decision makers at streaming providers. So … watch, it'll help the sport grow!
March is an exciting time of year for our young wrestlers. For many their entire wrestling life will come down to this weekend and with most competing in the sport for more than 15 years, there is an incredible amount of pressure building for this weekend, and that of NCAAs.
This pressure causes the mind of a college wrestler to exist under constant stress and leaves it incredibly delicate come championship season. From my experience most college wrestlers derive an immense amount of their self-worth from what happens on the mat. Keeping that in mind we should all be respectful of their journey and stay as positive as possible of their successes and their failures. Yes, we might be disappointed in outcomes, but this is sport and these are kids. Let us be positive … to a fault.
To your questions …
Stanford's Jim Wilson won three Pac-12 titles (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com) Q: What do you make of Stanford coach Jason Borrelli's decision to not let Jim Wilson wrestle off at 174 pounds at the Pac-12 Championships? Peter Galli qualified the spot, giving the Pac-12 two spots at 174 pounds. The allocation would have been taken away had Wilson wrestled. That would have meant Wilson would have had to beat ASU's Zahid Valencia to qualify for the NCAAs, which seems unlikely, because he was not going to receive an at-large spot.
-- Mike C.
Foley: This is a tricky situation. Coach Borrelli is tasked with qualifying as many wrestlers as possible for the NCAA Championships to help Stanford earn All-American plaques and national championship trophies. Jim Wilson is a senior wrestler who has won three Pac-12 titles.
If you take away Jim Wilson's previous successes, Borrelli's thinking is rational. Wilson had suffered a somewhat major injury from which he was only just cleared and is likely not in great condition, hadn't competed in a while, and any wrestle-off is somewhat meaningless given the familiarity of the opponent.
I tend to think this was the right call, though extremely difficulty. One note is that this wouldn't have happened in the old qualification system since that one included the subjective opinions of the conference coaches looking to boost their chances at gaining future qualifiers. In that situation I could see Borrelli allowing the wrestle-off and potentially Wilson to wrestle.
Heartbreaking for Jim Wilson. Wish him the best in his MMA career.
Q: How good at wrestling are the assistants at the top programs? I know that they were amazing in their day, but based on your experience are they as good as the wrestlers they work with? Can Casey Cunningham really beat Jason Nolf consistently in live goes? Would you expect that Donny Pritzlaff can beat everyone under heavyweight at Rutgers? Hard for me to imagine that Terry Brands is still going live with teenagers at 48 years old. Wouldn't these guys still be competing if they were truly good enough to beat these guys in live wrestling? Any context you can share?
-- Bryan R.
Foley: So much to unpack here …
First, the assistant coaches and other mat coaches in their 30's and 40's are NOT going full practices. Most likely they teach technique, go live in situations and maybe go 2-minute go's. This isn't to say they wouldn't be able to hang for longer, but the body doesn't hold up well to that type of abuse.
Most of the coach wrestling comes from assistant coaches who are within 5-8 years of graduation. They are either still competing, or haven't felt gravity long enough for their backs, knees, hips or necks to start giving them constant pain. Those are the workhorses in the room.
As for Coach Cunningham vs. Nolf, it's important to remember that Coach has seen a lot more wrestling than Nolf, which allows him the privilege of eliminating most of his inefficiencies. He's also a man and man-strength is a real thing.
I know it's not wrestling, but I was just having this same conversation a few days ago regarding jiu-jitsu and my professor Marcelo Garcia. Forget what he does to me, I've seen a 35-year-old Marcelo obliterate the top .00001 of jiu-jitsu competitors. Most in the 20's, most of them training year-round and winning tournaments. How does he overcome their multitude of advantages (often including size)? He's more technical and there are no mistakes or risks in his game. One move leads to another, which leads to another and another. Every reaction changes his next decision, but can keep moving down the list. Like a great chess player, guys like Marcelo and Casey know the moves, their opponents and have seen the board way more times than any youngster.
Q: Cornell's Dylan Palacio hasn't shown much this season, but he's wildly entertaining on and off the mat. What do you expect from him in the postseason?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Off the mat? Did I miss something? Maybe I saw something on Facebook or Instagram.
I'm not sure what qualifies as a normal expectation, but I assume he'll be in the finals of the EIWA Championships and that he'll place in St. Louis. Tough to see him falling outside of the top eight, though now I'm nervous about this off-the-mat entertainment.
Q: Some of the recurring topics of complaint across men's and women's wrestling:
1. 125-pound weight class seems to be too low for men and there seems to be more men between the 140-plus weight ranges in college.
2. Women's/men's wrestling needs more coverage. Would coed wrestling teams be beneficial for wrestling in the long run? We can have anywhere from 16-20 weight classes with the "low" weight classes being more of "unofficial" women's weight classes. Put more weight classes in the middle to upper weights.
Some glaring things are the possibility of women "losing" weight classes. Plus the fact that there are probably not enough women competing in high school wrestling to sustain participants at all NCAA divisions, let alone JC/NAIA. I am not advocating that that women's wrestling is failing, but there are opportunities. Much like men's and women's track, where everyone competes on the same date. That is the model I am coming from with the opportunity to trail blaze a truly coed sport.
-- Dan C.
Foley: Love this idea! The best part is that the first-ever coed dual went down last year in NYC and was such a hit they instituted for 2017, too.
There are certain hiccups with starting this program now, but with more focus turning to women's wrestling and the growth of the sport helping push administrators to offer it in more private and public schools, there is certainly hope for coed teams throughout the nation.
The Olympics and world championships have days with women and men mixed together and the results have always been encouraging. You tend to hear fans explain that they had no idea women's wrestling was so different in terms of technique. More than a few also flatly admit it's more entertaining than most freestyle and Greco-Roman matches.
Kevin Dresser speaks at a press conference after being introduced as ISU's coach (Photo/Iowa State Sports Information) Q: Have any current Virginia Tech wrestlers announced they are following Coach Dresser to Iowa State? Or any of the coaching staff?
-- Spencer S.
Foley: No Virginia Tech athletes have announced plans to transfer and it's doubtful any will since Tony Robie is a big part of the program's success. Also, the geography of the VT team and recruits would lend to them staying on the East Coast.
Q: Where do you think Kevin Dresser will be this weekend? Big 12 Championships? Or ACC Championships? Where should he be?
-- Mike C.
Foley: He should be at the ACC Championships. He has little domain over the Iowa State program and I'm sure that he'll want to see his guys for Virginia Tech start their postseason performance.
Q: What will be the biggest surprise at this weekend's conference tournaments?
-- Mike C.
Foley: My guy Jack "The Mauler" Mueller will take out top-seeded Joey Dance of Virginia Tech to win the ACC title!
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
By Jacob J.
Disappointed in your assumption here regarding Texas wrestling, especially this statement:
" … would have shown the world our sport's most redeemable and admirable qualities, rather than our culture's most vile and basest instinct."
Texas has done a phenomenal job of promoting girls wrestling and being ahead of the curve. We have two divisions: 5A and 6A for boys and girls. Because we offer these opportunities the transgender issue became what it did. Most other states don't even offer what Texas does.
UIL states that an athlete must participate with the gender given at birth. That is not an unreasonable rule. If a 215-pound boy was transitioning to a female (this will eventually happen) and wanted to compete against females…would you promote Texas to let him wrestle with 215-pound girls so they wouldn't be so VILE?
I thought the UIL was actually very progressive in making an exception for the individual because the testosterone was prescribed for medical purposes. They did not ignore her medical situation and say "tough crap, that's not a medical condition. You can't be on testosterone." They made an exception and let her compete deeming the testosterone a medical necessity.
They also factored in the amount of testosterone and what its medical impact would be. They deemed it minimal.
I feel for the individual and my heart goes out to her situation. I don't know what it is like to be in her shoes and wish her the best of luck. When a few boos started after she won a good bunch of the crowd cheered to drown them out. And they were drowned out. A 17-year-old kid should never be booed whether I agree or not.
Overall, I think your opinion is obviously your own and something you are entitled to. But it ignores all the nuances of the situation and is easy to 'arm chair quarterback.' "They should have done this or that….." It was extremely complex and I think the powers that be did their best to navigate a very complicated issue. You gave no mention to Texas girls wrestling being the force that it is, and did not acknowledge the fact that at the end of the day, they did let her compete. There was nothing vile or basest about the way Texas handled the situation.
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