Barry Davis back to coaching

[11986]

USA Wrestling | Navy Wrestling welcomes Olympic medalist Barry Davis to its coaching staff (themat.com)

[meZYNbrink]

Not surprised to see he still has the itch, but am surprised to see him in an assistant role. And responsible for recruiting nonetheless. But very exciting for Navy!

[steamboat_charlie]

I actually love this hire.  

[Husker_Du]

recruiting at Wisconsin was atrocious under Davis.

that being said, a large part of that was his philosophy on offering full/partial scholarships.

which isn't a decision that has to be made at Navy. 

[CraigOR]

Congrats to Navy & Davis; one of the good guys in the sport.

[meZYNbrink]

1 hour ago, Husker_Du said:

recruiting at Wisconsin was atrocious under Davis.

that being said, a large part of that was his philosophy on offering full/partial scholarships.

which isn't a decision that has to be made at Navy. 

What was the philosophy? 

[jchapman]

14 minutes ago, meZYNbrink said:

What was the philosophy? 

Don't offer full scholarships to in-state guys (eg Askren).

[hoosierdj]

Great to see this. Any time an academy can get someone of this quality on their staff it’s a big gain for them.  Spent two years wrestling at USNA as a wrestling room dummy in the mid 70s, but had HOF’er Ed Peery as HC and Captain Lloyd Keaser as AC as he prepped for the 76 Olympics.  Only way for academies to compete is initial recruiting and coaching.  Obviously no transfers coming in, and can’t imagine how they can utilize NIL to recruit - all we have to recruit is Top Gun 1 and 2.  

[11986]

Wonder if Cary and Barry ever wrestled? Think Barry may have hung around and tried to make ‘92 Olympic team and equal level of confidence that a young Cary wrestled in trials and/or US Open that year. 

[BuckyBadger]

Cary was actually in Madison training for a very brief period when Barry was coach. I think he may have left mid-season, and unsure of the details. Funny how things come full circle.

[11986]

29 minutes ago, BuckyBadger said:

Cary was actually in Madison training for a very brief period when Barry was coach. I think he may have left mid-season, and unsure of the details. Funny how things come full circle.

Wrestling is a small world

[Lunaticfringe]

Not sure if I can see Davis doing well in this position. After being a head coach for 25 years, it’s gotta be tough taking the back seat. Plus I can’t see him getting on the mat anymore like most assistants do.

[11986]

48 minutes ago, Lunaticfringe said:

Not sure if I can see Davis doing well in this position. After being a head coach for 25 years, it’s gotta be tough taking the back seat. Plus I can’t see him getting on the mat anymore like most assistants do.

lol I don’t think there are any expectations for him to be getting on the mat, maybe a little drill instruction but Barry ain’t going hard live at this point. 

[CHROMEBIRD]

1 hour ago, Lunaticfringe said:

Not sure if I can see Davis doing well in this position. After being a head coach for 25 years, it’s gotta be tough taking the back seat. Plus I can’t see him getting on the mat anymore like most assistants do.

Maybe it'll give him the opportunity to focus on actually teaching wrestling and not get caught up in a lot of administration, recruiting, NIL, and fundraising.

I can't imagine Davis is even close to being the oldest D1 active coach, but he is older than John Smith who just retired.

Edited May 23, 2024 by CHROMEBIRD

[fishbane]

Davis and Kolat sat together at the Olympic trials last month.  They seemed like old friends.  Davis seemed to be having a good time.  There were a lot of Navy wrestlers there with Kolat too.  Having seen that this makes a lot of sense 

[Southend]

My friend Barry! Nice move. And good for anyone who hires him. Positives all the way around. 

[Lunaticfringe]

3 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

Maybe it'll give him the opportunity to focus on actually teaching wrestling and not get caught up in a lot of administration, recruiting, NIL, and fundraising.

I can't imagine Davis is even close to being the oldest D1 active coach, but he is older than John Smith who just retired.

Actually he has to be right up there. This list is 5 years old and we have lost some old timers recently in Tom Borelli, John Smith, Greg Williams, Jim Heffernan, Jim and Lennie Zalesky. Steve Martin. I’m not sure any current head coach is as old as Barry Davis.

 

https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?postId=1728706132

Edited May 23, 2024 by Lunaticfringe

[fishbane]

14 minutes ago, Lunaticfringe said:

Actually he has to be right up there. This list is 5 years old and we have lost some old timers recently in Tom Borelli, John Smith, Greg Williams, Jim Heffernan, Jim and Lennie Zalesky. Steve Martin. I’m not sure any current head coach is as old as Barry Davis.

 

https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?postId=1728706132

Roger Reina, Mark Manning, and Kenny Monday are close.  Reina graduated from Penn in 1984 and Monday also graduated in 1984. Manning was a 1985 graduate.  Davis wrestled at NCAAs in 1985.  I think Davis is two months older than Monday.  Not sure about Reina and Manning.   Reina is planning to retire for the second time in the next couple years.  Mark Cody is around the same age as these guys too.

Nate Carr is definitely older than Davis. So as long as he's still coaching Davis won't be the oldest D1 head coach.

Edited May 23, 2024 by fishbane

[NM1965]

14 hours ago, Lunaticfringe said:

Not sure if I can see Davis doing well in this position. After being a head coach for 25 years, it’s gotta be tough taking the back seat. Plus I can’t see him getting on the mat anymore like most assistants do.

He's not the same guy he was when he started coaching back in the 80's. I guarantee he's less intense than he was when he retired. Expectations will be lower at Navy, and he'll be working at one of the most beautiful campuses in the USA under a great technical coach in Kolat. I reckon you couldn't find a more experienced assistant head coach in the country, except for maybe Terry Brands. 

[CalWrestler]

22 hours ago, Husker_Du said:

recruiting at Wisconsin was atrocious under Davis.

that being said, a large part of that was his philosophy on offering full/partial scholarships.

which isn't a decision that has to be made at Navy. 

Recruiting is still bad at Wisconsin given the plethora of home grown top tier talent in its backyard and its inability to recruit them.   

Edited May 23, 2024 by CalWrestler

[NM1965]

1 minute ago, CalWrestler said:

Recruiting is still bad at Wisconsin given the plethora of home grown top tier talent in its backyard and its inability to recruit them.   I'm not sure what Davis's philosophy on offering full/partial scholarships was, so if you can enlighten us that would be appreciated.

One of the guys in the thread above stated that Davis didn't believe in offering full scholarships to wrestlers from Wisconsin, I guess he figured he'd save the full schollies for top out of state wrestlers and try to get the local guys on the cheap. 

[jchapman]

16 hours ago, BuckyBadger said:

Cary was actually in Madison training for a very brief period when Barry was coach. I think he may have left mid-season, and unsure of the details. Funny how things come full circle.

Cary was on the Badger coaching staff and left mid-season.  The rumors were that it was because it was an awkward situation with the Steiners there too (these guys were all still competing internationally in the same/similar weight class).

[Iwrite]

The Cary and Barry show is about to take off. I have known BD since he was a senior in high school  and his passion for the sport is as high as it gets. I think this is a great coaching staff full of wisdom and enthusiam. As an old sailor (not at the Academy but in the regualar navy) myself, I am happy for the program.