The issue isn't so much that any of them are huge leaps of faith. The issue is that for ALL of it to happen is a huge leap of faith. You're expecting mostly the same guys to go from 1 round of 12 and no AAs to multiple round of 12 and several AAs. That's what one would call a leap of faith.
Rumor going around in StL
- Thread starter NEICyFan
- Start date
The issue isn't so much that any of them are huge leaps of faith. The issue is that for ALL of it to happen is a huge leap of faith. You're expecting mostly the same guys to go from 1 round of 12 and no AAs to multiple round of 12 and several AAs. That's what one would call a leap of faith.
I have noticed a lot of people throwing out their opinion on ISU wrestling today. I'm wondering how many of these people are donors and/or season ticket holders. I understand that on a message board anyone can give their opinion, but it's pretty meaningless if you aren't invested.
For the record, I have gotten much more interested in ISU wrestling over the past 5 years or so, but I am certainly no expert on anything and I'm not a season ticket holder.
We'll have to trust Pollard on what needs to be done. I believe he has proven he is capable of making good decisions.
For the record, I have gotten much more interested in ISU wrestling over the past 5 years or so, but I am certainly no expert on anything and I'm not a season ticket holder.
We'll have to trust Pollard on what needs to be done. I believe he has proven he is capable of making good decisions.
Spangler can't be counted on to wrestle again. So you have 2 AA's, 3 round of 12 and some others who will score very little at the NCAA's. This would get us around 10th and no where close to a team trophy like the top teams battle for. So no this is not a top team. Also at Heavyweight Alan Gelogaev, Jared Trice, Chad Hanke of Oregon State, and Dom Bradley will all be back so Gibson's path won't get much easier
Maybe you're right about facilities, but that will change. Rumor is that the wrestling team would take over the Olsen Building after the football team leaves. I imagine that they are going to see a major facility upgrade in the next year.
You mean the guy who had TEN qualifiers this season, yet tallied just as many All-Americans as ISU?
wow, do you know what you are talking about or do you just run off at the mouth all the time
Iowa State senior Andrew Sorenson, wrestling with an injured ankle, dropped a pair of decisions Friday at 165, leaving the Cyclones without an all-American for the first time in 50 years.
I still think we give KJ another year. We all know the cupboard was bare when he got here. He had a really young team this year, and he has a good recruiting class coming in next year. Also, injuries killed us this year.
BUT, he is also going to have one hot seat next year. He will need to have a great recruiting class. We need more elite guys and less "solid" guys if we are going to compete in the tourney. I don't think I can handle getting beat in the tourney by teams like UNI, Kent St, Clarion, Harvard, Central Michigan, and Appalachian St again next year.
Also, Heskett's Army squad finish 4 points behind us this year. I know it's harder to win at Army than ISU, but I don't think he is the answer yet for us.
BUT, he is also going to have one hot seat next year. He will need to have a great recruiting class. We need more elite guys and less "solid" guys if we are going to compete in the tourney. I don't think I can handle getting beat in the tourney by teams like UNI, Kent St, Clarion, Harvard, Central Michigan, and Appalachian St again next year.
Also, Heskett's Army squad finish 4 points behind us this year. I know it's harder to win at Army than ISU, but I don't think he is the answer yet for us.
If you are unable to comprehend or understand what Brian Smith has done for Mizzouri wrestling and you don't think he's an outstanding head coach you don't know wrestling. This was more or less a down year for them and they won the Big 12 title.
That's the problem. The wrestling gurus/insiders like to jump down the throats of the fringe/bandwagon fans when we express concerns with the direction that things appear to be heading. But the reality is that the program needs those fringe/bandwagon fans, and they're not going to get our support until the program returns to respectability. The gurus can breakdown future lineups and if-and-but this thing to death, but support won't grow until ISU is competing for conference and national titles again.
My interest for wrestling grew while Sanderson wrestled here, and I pulled the trigger on season tickets and donated a bit to the Wrestling Club in Cael's final year as head coach. But I chose not to renew any of those things when Cael left. I'm a diehard football and basketball fan and will support those programs through thick and thin, but I'll openly admit to being a bandwagon wrestling fan. I'll support the team with my wallet, but not when the product is what it is today.
So, rather than criticizing people like myself, the gurus/insiders need to realize there are a bunch of us in wait-and-see mode. Don't tell us about the labor pains- just show us the baby. But many of them seem to take the criticism personally and would rather build a wall around their tight-nit group of die-hards and act as if they don't need fans like us anyway, which is wrong. You grow a fan base by winning over the fringe, and we're nowhere close to doing that right now.
I guess it is always easy to bash the coach when things aren't going well. But the truth of the matter is that, based on results, the program is going the wrong direction. We have some very, very good recruits coming in next year - and that gives me reason for excitement - but we are doing no better than a lot of other middle of the road teams - and not as well as the elite, in that regard. Penn State, Cornell, Okie State and Iowa are still powering through the high school ranks picking up top talent. Some of these schools have freshmen wrestlers that, as we are seeing this weekend, are doing very well on the national stage. I am totally confident that we will do better next year than this year, but I do not hear us talking about getting the team to a top 5 position - and that is what I expect of Iowa State wrestling. If we do not aspire to get there, we will not get there. That is for sure.
And I am still puzzling over conditioning. I can't decide if we are not in wrestling shape by the 2nd round, or certainly the 3rd, in too many cases, because we were injured, or are injured because we are not in condition. In my memory, I have not seen so many wrestlers struggling with condition in the third round - that used to be where we won a lot of matches, at least early in the season, because we were in better shape than the opposition, but that is not the case any more. Conditioning. Injuries. They both hurt us this season.
And I am still puzzling over conditioning. I can't decide if we are not in wrestling shape by the 2nd round, or certainly the 3rd, in too many cases, because we were injured, or are injured because we are not in condition. In my memory, I have not seen so many wrestlers struggling with condition in the third round - that used to be where we won a lot of matches, at least early in the season, because we were in better shape than the opposition, but that is not the case any more. Conditioning. Injuries. They both hurt us this season.
Not to mention Jeremy Johnson of Ohio who majored Gibson in the NCAAs is a soph (and who Telford stuck in the next round), and all-Americans Bobby Telford of Ohio, McMullan of Northwestern and Gwiadoski of Binghamton are all freshmen. Also, Wisconsin has a stud HWT redshirting this year.
What exactly makes you think Gibson will suddenly become top 6?
Let's face it--these predictions of contending for a title the next two years is a pipe dream.
Nothing wrong with expressing concern or asking questions. But for every post like yours that is an actual thought out voicing of concerns there are a hundred or more people dropping in to threads to just say how they have no idea what is going on but that everyone should be fired. Hell, more people have viewed this complaint thread than have viewed the results thread. There is more interest in ******** than in the team.
After scores of times trying to have the exact same conversation it gets tiring. Especially when people act surprised every single dual meet and tournament.
After sleeping on it last night and some long discussions on the trip back home from STL, I now firmly believe it is time for a change. KJ is entering is FOURTH year as HC at ISU, we just placed 30th behind UNI and their 2nd year coach, our best wrestler is graduating and we don't figure to even be top 10.
The rebuilding job should be much, much further down the road than this. I don't like firing coaches after just 3 years but this has gotten bad enough to do just that. It is time to move on.
The rebuilding job should be much, much further down the road than this. I don't like firing coaches after just 3 years but this has gotten bad enough to do just that. It is time to move on.
Um. Congrats on listing all the top underclassman heavies? Obviously I hadn't considered that when I said that the graduating seniors leaving would move him in to AA contention. Those guys are already in the rankings and I never said he would suddenly pass them. If I had thought he would suddenly start beating guys he lost to this year I would have said he was a finalist, I don't think that so I didn't say it.
I am not sure about getting rid of KJ, but I am concerned about the direction of the program. I wonder why other schools have freshman and sophomores winning and we don't. Do we have the wrong wrestlers or are they not being coached properly? When you expect better things next year what makes you think so. Weatherman was one of the top recruits and yet he is barely average now. What happened? I know Cael left things in a bad way, but is it bad enought not to have an AA in 50 years? Just questions that I think need to be answered.
I think the big thing that Finch and Goettl suffered from this year was a lack of upperclassmen or a lighter senior guy/coach to push them last year. The areas they were weak - chaining together attacks and getting out from the bottom - are problems a lot of wrestlers have making the transition from high school to college. We need to get someone in the room that can fix that for them.
As far as the Weathermans, Trent hurt his neck and might be done wrestling. He was not in the lineup at all this year. Tanner had a great redshirt year and we might see him in the lineup at 174 next year.
