steamboat_charlie

Given how insanely short he is, I have it on good authority that he uses a doggy door to get in and out of his house. Thus saving significant time throughout the course of the season by virtue of not having to open or close his door. This allows him the extra training time that's required in order for him to bridge the gap between himself and the "normal" wrestlers that are 6' and taller.

Sure, he can qualify for NCAA's, I just meant that he wouldn't be a meaningful contributor to their point total. Re: certification meaning no redshirt--can someone confirm that is the case? I think that might be specific to Ivy league, but also not remembering the particulars of those rules clearly.

Interesting re: Haines/Mesenbrink. Certainly makes a ton of sense to redshirt Haines. Couldn't Facundo also take an Olympic shirt if he wanted? McHenry I just don't think is a point scorer at NCAA's.

Brain fart on my part. Was just thinking about Truax, forgot about Nagao. Mesenbrink I wasn't figuring into the lineup. Kerk old news and pre-NIL so slightly different. McHenry I just don't think is good.

Some other things to look out for: Penn State is chasing history. With nobody well positioned to challenge them, they have a chance to put together the most dominant season in NCAA history. They have a real chance at 10 AA's and 4+ champs. Doubt they will lose more than 2 matches in any dual. 170+ points isn't at all out of the question if they're healthy. John Smith on the way out? His apparent successor has been selected and brought back to Stillwater. How long is he going to stick around? Will Oklahoma State be competitive? They have the recruiting class in house... does he stay through their tenure or hand the keys over sooner rather than later... Daton Fix chasing the elusive title. Fix has gone 2,2,2,4. Vito looks unstoppable at the moment. If Fix takes another 2nd, I think he has to go into the book as the best to never win one. He's already in the conversation. The NIL era truly begins. Massive transfer movement taking place across the sport. Iowa and Michigan heavy with transfers. PSU dropping a bag to fill their 1 hole. Expect we will see even more movement going forward.

Kids coming in to college that have had success on the international stage (especially at Juniors) are basically bust-proof. The MAJORITY of junior world champs win at least one NCAA title. We don't have a single better indicator of future NCAA success.

How is that possible? Seems to me he should be a RS Sophomore.

I haven't been following everything that closely this summer and don't have a great grasp on who the newcomers to keep an eye on are at each weight class. So, I will take a stab at this and let you guys correct me where I'm missing things. Counting redshirt freshmen as well as true frosh here: 125) Marc-Anthony McGowan - Princeton - True Freshman. It feels like his high school career didn't exactly end with a bang, but it wasn't exactly a tragedy either. Still a high tier recruit, and even though his coach left he'll have to be thinking, I've just gotta live my life. 133) Nic Bouzakis - Ohio State - RS Freshman. I think he can beat anyone in this weight class outside of the top 2. I also think he'll take some head scratching losses--in part because he's a freshman, and in part because that's just who he is. 141) Mac Church - Virginia Tech - True Freshman. How good is this kid? I don't know much about him. He's got a great name though. Sounds more like a quarterback than a wrestler, but still cool none the less. 149) Michael Gioffre - Virginia - RS Freshman. The Lannister boy. This kid is pretty tough. Solid in all three positions. Not a ton of offensive firepower but that could come later, he looks the part. Could see him moving up into the R12 range this year. 157) Meyer Shapiro - Cornell - True Freshman. One of, if not the best, recruits of the past five years. His potential is scary, and he's already scary good. Predicting a true freshmen to compete for a title is a little silly but I think I have to do just that. AA at minimum. 165) Nick Hamilton - Virginia - RS Freshman. Had a nice redshirt season. Don't know much about him. The other possibility at this weight is Mesenbrink forcing his way into the PSU lineup. I'd guess Facundo will go, but not sure anyone knows at this point. 174) MJ Gaitan - Iowa State - RS Freshman. I gotta be honest, I've never seen him wrestle. He was a highly ranked recruit, that's about all I know. 184) Bennett Berge - SDSU - RS Freshman. Can he translate his freestyle results into folkstyle success--remains to be seen. Took a few lumps in open comp last year. I think this kid is a stud. South Dakota has quite a salty lineup this year. 197) Luke Geog - Ohio State - RS Freshman. Not sure he'll be in the lineup to start the season, but I think he'll pass up Hoffman before the year is over. Breaking into the top 8 at 197 this year looks very difficult, though. Mac Stout is another freshman to watch at this weight--I went with Geog due to their respective matches vs. Davison. 285) Dayton Pitzer - Pitt - RS Freshman. I know people would expect Feldman here, but I'm going to go Pitzer. For one, Feldman hasn't wrestled a match in over a year. And second, Pitzer made the finals at Midland as an undersized true freshman and has wins over guys like Schultz and Hillger. Who'd I miss?

The dominance of the program is unquestionable. The usefulness of a poster that regurgitates "Cael has a plan," is highly questionable.

Wow, how insightful. That's a nice tool all Nittany Lion fans can use throughout different areas of their lives. Rather than coming up with any thoughts of your own, just say "I'm quite confident that Cael and company will have a plan."

I always wanted to hate Retherford but couldn't bring myself to do it. He was just a complete hammer and did everything with class.

Aye, the "Mad Scientist" himself.

Are we allowed to talk about who actually showed him the "weight room" on this site? It was practically a bannable offense over on themat.

They don't have a set in stone criteria in the same way we do. Your summation is basically correct--nationals are used to determine some weights, other weights are more or less reserved for their stars.

In terms of USA vs. Russia? Not even close. But how about Russia vs. Russia... Russian expats would have beaten their actual team if scored collectively: Russia Expat Weight Result Points Weight Result Points 57kg 5th 10 57kg Bronze 15 61kg Silver 20 61kg -- -- 65kg 5th 10 65kg Gold 25 70kg -- -- 70kg 5th 10 74kg Gold 25 74kg Bronze 15 79kg Gold 25 79kg -- -- 86kg -- -- 86kg 5th 10 92kg -- -- 92kg Silver 20 97kg 5th 10 97kg Gold 25 125kg 5th 10 125kg -- -- Total 110 Total 120 57kg - Abakarov (Bronze) 65kg - Musukaev (1/2) 70kg - Ramazanov (Bronze) 70kg - Akmataliev (5th) 74kg - Tsabalov (Bronze) 86kg - Shapiev (5th) 86kg - Sharipov (5th) 92kg - Nurmagomedov (Silver) 97kg - Tazhudinov (1/2) 97kg - Magomedov (1/2)

He could get bigger again and go back to winning positionally with push outs and forward pressure instead of more committed leg attacks, but clearly the focus for him at NLWC has been to be a little lighter, a little faster, and a little more offensive. Obviously it's easy to critique now, but this style suits him less than the formula he used to win his first 3 titles.

If he wins next year I think he is on it. Smith, Bruce, Burroughs, Taylor.

Can we put this strawman to bed please? Nobody has ever once said Cael can't coach.

You've been around too long to not know the differences between Tom and Terry. Seriously?

Since when have the rules ever been applied equitably to the Russian Federation? In this case I don't really care. I want the best guys there at every weight. But the amount of people online thinking they had the "inside scoop" because they looked at a list of entrants was laughable.

Terry Brands can absolutely coach wrestling. That wasn't my point at all. I think just about every staff in the country would love to have him on it. There are countless guys that he has developed and made better. The question is whether he's a guy you want leading your program from the top. Answering directly to a boss that isn't his brother. Dealing with boosters. Administration. Fundraising. Recruiting. Media. Marketing. Navigating the NIL landscape. He could do well at a smaller program. I just don't think the money will make sense.

Any school? I don't think so. He wasn't at the top of UNC's list, nor Stanford's, nor will he be for Princeton. Are we going to pretend he isn't who he is? He's an attack dog. He's notoriously hot tempered. He's confrontational with officials, fans, and opposing wrestlers. He hasn't been a head coach in 20 years. The last time he was, he bailed after 3 seasons. Some of his conduct you'd be surprised to see from a young coach in their 20's, let alone a guy in his mid 50's. Are you imagining he's interviewing well--or do you think some AD's might be put off by the thousand yard stare? I don't dislike the guy or anything. He's entertaining as hell as a spectator. He's just not head coach material.

Too injury prone. The best ability is availability, and you usually want your coaches to show up.

This actually does surprise me, but the point about Nelson graduating makes sense. I don't see any major program giving him a shot. I think I'm stating the obvious here in saying this--he's a strong individual coach, but he's lacking in some key areas that are required for long-term success as the head of a program. In order for him to be successful as a head coach, I think he'd need to rely heavily on an associate head coach that can fill those gaps, and I'm not sure who that guy is. I could see him going to a smaller program and having some success, at least on an individual basis with a handful of guys. I just don't see him signing up for a pay cut, which is what that would be.