CHROMEBIRD

Didn't he commit to Cal Bap his junior year of hs? He honored his commitment but was a much different wrestler then from when he decided to go to PSU

Purdue also has superior lawns and landscaping by a mile

Northwestern? Seriously though, programs like Princeton need a little slack to rebuild. They're not like Iowa or PSU who can reload year in and year out.

This. As much as I'd like to see Askren coach a college team, I don't see him enjoying working within the guardrails of a D1 college program. He'd need to have a lot of freedom to do things his way even as an assistant. Expanding AWA's offerings and developing partnerships with MMA leagues and sponsors might be more fruitful and fun for him.

ESPN has been promoting wrestling and putting out a good product, but I agree that they could be putting a little more effort into it. They've been hyping WBB with first-segment broadcast commentary and front page content on their website, and it's really moved the needle. Fans are paying up to $3100 for tickets, average going price was around $400 a pop, to see Caitlin Clark make history tonight (probably). Is that in the ballpark of what folks shelled out to see Cael during his senior season?

Was that the NUCA MMA club? It looks like the teams were Arizona ASU GCU OhioU St. Peters SUNY-Albany UCF UNF West Chester Western Illinois But it sounds like the league shutdown during the pandemic and only announced plans to reestablish itself last August. The NUCA MMA website looks pretty bare, so who knows if it's still running.

Isn't there a club level college MMA league? IIRC, ASU and tOSU both had teams. I forget who else. I wonder if Sac State will join and compete with those schools. It's interesting that the Athletics Dept is providing support and funding for the program. I'm conflicted about the idea of a possible NCAA MMA. Two sport athletes could be good for wrestling but if MMA blows up, I could see it siphoning a lot of money or NIL opportunities that might otherwise go towards mens and womens wrestling.

It's a winter sport. Sometimes people get sick. The exact same thing can be heard in basketball, with all the upsets going on these days.

Oh man, I really thought you were calling it brilliant, then I followed all of those dots and saw "NOT!!!!" - you totally got me! Then I thought the story really wasn't more than 6 months old but again... dot dot dot dot dot dot dot... bam! Turns out it was! You got me again!!

Agree, Beau seems like a good guy. Always has something interesting to say. Very high EQ. Hard to hate on him. Nick Lee and Jason Nolf, too.

Would love to see it happen, but I think there's zero appetite from the new schools and little pressure from the conference to add D1 wrestling. There's been pretty good interest among students at the nonvarsity level, but I don't know if it will change anything. UCLA athletics in particular has been in some financial trouble for a few years now so it'll be an especially tough sell. I think all the incoming Pac schools will pour the new B1G money back into revenue sports, facilities, contract buyouts and give wrestling and the nonrevenue sports a pittance as per usual.

Yeah, don't hold your breath. What a surprise that Jimmy still doesn't honor his bets

What if Spencer Lee asks him and stares at his watch waiting for an answer

Hard to know exactly what Coleman has been up to, but there's a "day in the life" video of him running the Okie State practices

Was just thinking about that recently. This would be a pretty good LMS season. I wonder who would've picked Davis?

Imo, the whole "get out of the Iowa bubble" thing is about folks escaping the grinding beatdown "everyone's got it in for us" culture. It even permeates a good portion of the Iowa fanbase... PSU gets all the breaks, Carl cheats, our guys are afraid, the refs hate us, everyone we wrestle is stalling. It gets tiresome. You can't fuel a program on hatred and blame.

At the end of his pressers, "anything else?" usually means "Y'all need to stfu right now, I'm out."

Sports writers and broadcasters still frequently use the word Astroturf instead of artificial turf

He looked so guilty being seen at a basketball game on Thursday

Nice! Also, would you like to be Jimmy's coach? He could learn a thing or two from you, but mostly one very specific thing.

Great take. Brands has been criticized for a while now for the constant physical intensity of his program taking a visible toll on his guys, esp after NCAAs a few seasons ago when the team limped into the tournament burnt out and injured. He's supposedly toned it down, but I have my doubts that his version of "fun" isn't still absolutely brutal. Anyway, I would agree that the "us against the world" and "tougher, harder, better" schtick must wear some guys down mentally as well. To be fair, it drove TnT when they wrestled (and it worked), and it's what they learned under Gable. I'm of the mind that the old bullying, relentless "Iowa Style" wrestling isn't enough today. The game has changed and best kids these days are too slick for it. I don't doubt that Tom and Terry teach technique and gameplan, but it seems like a bigger part of their coaching is along the lines of: "you gotta be stronger," "you have to wrestle better," "you have to be more ready," and other simplistic bs like that. I think either Brands or Iowa Wrestling could really use some new perspectives to refresh Iowa Style wrestling for the 21st century. Look at Okie State these last several years, people saying that John Smith is equally stubborn in his ways with weight cutting and training and team culture, and he tries to keep doing what worked for him in the past, so of course results fall short of expectations. Fast forward to this season, Coleman Scott injects new life to the program and we already see things changing for the better. It might be time for Iowa to do the same.

Nice update from Sasso and Tom Ryan yesterday. He's recovering and feels like he's at about 60%, has had surgery on his back, leg, intestines, who knows what else... patched up with screws and other hardware. Working his way back to a possible return to the lineup next year. The neural pathways from his brain to his left leg aren't what they used to be, so Sammy's figuring out how to wrestle with one leg while he works on regaining responsiveness in that limb. Bigger picture, you can see how this whole ordeal has shifted his perspective on things. Dude is full of positivity and gratitude and determination to not let it bring him down. He'll go pretty far in life with that attitude whether he returns to the mat next year or not.

They'll probably cut a separate full video for 165. Did the same last week for the Woods-Lemley match.

Cinna-bon voyage, bro

Zzz...