Packard

I’ve enjoyed the format. Great opportunity to see our athletes that I don’t normally watch. Greco is… well Greco. Those athletes deserve as much recognition as any others. However, I am perplexed why 57 and 65 just wrestled this morning. Can’t make sense of that.

Elore/Molinari. Do we not teach a head in the hole cradle in the international styles?

Is it possible to score a TD in Greco Heavyweight?

It was hard for Nolf to even make contact with Dake for the majority of the match. What’d he supposed to do just dive from across the mat?

Passivity is more confusing than stalling. Dake backs up and circles the entire second period while Nolf chases, or stands in the middle, but Nolf gets put on the clock?

Did Snyder leave NLWC?

I don’t watch freestyle enough to criticize officials, but I see wrestlers compare how US officials call matches vs international officials. Wouldn’t it make sense to bring in some international refs for these tournaments so we get a sense of how matches will be called?

So Burroughs has to take out the entire NLWC to make the Olympics? Feels like a video game.

That’s a good point I’ve wondered about myself. It seems the portal guys that come to PSU are not the same style as the HS recruits. They all seem to be stingy defensive guys that win close matches, but never open up offensively. It seems really odd the contrast.

PSU is obviously at a standard not seen for a long time. I doubt anybody can come in to Iowa and overtake the Cael machine right now, but Iowa fans should expect to be the clear second best team. Sure, over the last five years they’ve have the second best overall finishes, but they are still not the dominate team. Instead of putting 4 or 5 guys in the semis with 3 making it to the finals, they are crossing their fingers, hoping on a wing and a prayer, to get 1 guy to the finals. The expectation isn’t dominated 2nd and competing for 1st, it’s hoping to continue traditions. Although other coaches haven’t elevated programs to Iowa levels, what could Dresser, Schwab, Pop, Grey, or any number of guys do with the resources that Iowa has?

In many cases the gambling case and Ferrari would be job killers. Iowa has always been “no excuses get better”, but the gambling probe was nothing but excuses. Brands never really took responsibility. It was just the blame game. Compound that with having a new AD who served this past fall as the interim. While she was trying to get the job as AD she had to deal with a legal investigation and then had to tell Brands he couldn’t bring in a wrestler because of bad PR. That can’t leave a good taste in her mouth. Have to wonder how her experience with the Ferentz OC situation influenced her as well. A lot to unpack. Hard to imagine their aren’t some changes coming down the Hawkeye way.

Haha good point.

It’s not really an irrelevant response to point out those factors. Theirs no evidence that Taylor would be interested in leaving PA to go be the HC at Iowa. Especially not anytime soon. In fact the evidence shows the opposite based on actions which show setting down roots. Sure, Cael going to PSU was a surprise, but at least there was evidence he wanted a coaching challenge. Take for example he was actually a college coach. It’s not really a leap to say DT replacing the Brands is unlikely.

The DT rumors seem ridiculous. Kinda like JB being mentioned a few years ago. But it sparks the question of who would be a better replacement for Iowa? Change for the sake of change rarely works out. When Zalesky was fired you had the Brands waiting in the wings who were over achieving in their coaching careers. Who is doing that now and would they be a fit at Iowa? I have a hard time seeing Gable giving the go ahead to fire the Brands and that definitely plays a role. So do you make changes at the assistant level?

Did anybody see the interview with Brands last night? Sounded like he was on the verge of tears the entire time. Does he know something? Iowa finished fifth behind Iowa State. Two Iowa schools had a national champion (Iowa State and UNI). Iowa had four AAs, the same amount as Arizona State and VA Tech. None of the Hawkeyes finished the season with a win as they lost in their placement match. Out of 43 matches they scored bonus points in 11 of them. Probably the worst part for the Hawkeyes were the season storylines. They started the season with a gambling investigation/suspension, halfway through the season AJ Ferrari dominated the headlines, the Big10 storyline had nothing to do with Iowa competing for a championship, but whether they could keep the streak alive of halting a finalists - which luckily Glazier limped into the finals. Then the NCAA championships had no discussion of Iowa competing, but could they keep the final streak alive - the same story as last year. Going back to 2015 the Hawkeyes have only had multiple finalists TWICE. Just doesn’t seem like the Hawkeyes are moving in the right direction.