NM1965

I think Cael has discovered the sweet spot. The best number of matches to wrestle in a year is 20-25. More than that and you have more opportunities to get injured or to burn out. I know people are complaining that PSU's guys often don't have many matches, and I think that's by design, and I think it's pretty smart to keep guys matches at about that number. Yeah, guys can (and do) often wrestle a lot more matches than that, but they are risking their health every time they step on the mat. I think it's good to limit the number of matches and it also gives opportunities for the backups to get a little mat time. PSU has a ludicrously deep bench partially as a result, which is another plus.

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.

Graduation photo from OSU?

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.

Barraclough is going to be an AA if he can crack the starting squad somewhere.

That's very encouraging news. OSU's boys have been stultifying for years. They need somebody to drill them until stuff comes naturally. Maybe they've been doing too much live wrestling in practice and not enough instruction. The coach's job is to mold his wrestlers, and I'd LOVE if Taylor could mold his new team into his spitting image.

OU's libraries are filled with dusty copies of STAG and Gallery magazines.

Jesus H Christ. Of course OU has a library, you nincompoop. They need somewhere to put their magazines.

Yeah, him!

Stephen Neal was a 4 time AA with 2 NCAA titles and never finished higher than 4th in California HS. There was a guy who finished 5th in California that won an NCAA title for , I think, Cal Davis but I can't remember his name off the top of my head. That was nearly 20 years ago.

Try inquiring with one of the wrestling halls of fame. I think there is one in Stillwater and one up in Iowa somewhere.

I'm not overly optimistic. OU was pretty rancid last year despite all the guys who transferred over with Kish. I hope your optimism is correct.

OU needs all the help they can get.

I like our chances to medal at all weights in men's FS. Now watch the US go out and fall on it's face.

Don't worry, it won't be around much longer

It's a joke, but where did I say it wasn't true?

Updated for modern audiences.

ND and UCLA never had good wrestling teams in the first place. I think to be called a "sleeping giant" that the program has to have been a great program at one time, not just a wealthy school that used to have program.

I read somewhere a few years back that there were over 3,000 Texas schools with wrestling. That sounds preposterous to me. Oklahoma is historically a top 10 wrestling state and only has 4 classes at 32 teams (max) per class. On the other hand I don't think the article specified high schools, so maybe a lot of those are elementary schools with beginner wrestling. Heck, maybe they counted schools that have wrestling during PE classes. The only places in Texas that I know of with wrestling are in the panhandle area or in the northern parts of Texas (closest to Oklahoma). OSU has gotten some wrestlers from the Texas panhandle. I can't remember his name off the top of my head but one was a legendary college HWT. The only other Texas wrestler I can think of is Bo Nickal, but I don't think he's actually a Texan, just a guy who transplanted there in HS.

More importantly look at how much money UT and TAMU have. Either could easily afford to start a wrestling program, but neither ever will.

Chill out Francis, can't you take a joke?

Sorry, the Venn Diagram above isn't accurate for Cowboy fans. Here's the updated diagram for OSU.

Southern Oklahoma is the same way. So is Northern Oklahoma. So is Eastern Oklahoma and Western Oklahoma, now that I think about it.

Not really. There are a lot of dumb rednecks in rural states who are racist as hell, not to mention alumni who don't want to hire "outsiders".

I don't think either of those places qualifies as "big". I don't have the same optimism that FanofPurdue has though.