Looking to next year

[NEICyFan]

We wrestled a good tourney but 12th is still 12th. I believe KJ will be in the last year of his contract and we should have an experienced team. Is there a minimum finish at the NCAAs that KJ needs to keep his job? And is that finish realistic? Thoughts?

My take is we need to finish top 5, recognizing that our best wrestlers will be seniors next year and we may drop back a bit the year following. Unfortunately, I don't think that it is realistic at this point. Just off the top of my head Iowa, OK State, PSU, Ohio State, Cornell, Nebraska, and Northwestern will bring back more points and be favored over us on paper. Gotta let it play out, though.

 

[SammyWild]

Hey a hawk fan with "cy" in his name. It's like people don't know there's a history feature.

I'd probably worry more about your hawks descent and UNI's performance than Iowa State. You have shown that you don't like Iowa State wrestling, or Iowa State in general for that matter.

So please, run along back to hn, or hr, and commiserate with that group of fans that you're level of "class" is more in line with.

Bye bye now

 

[howellc33]

Off the top of your head Iowa had to be the first team to mind? OF COURSE!

 

[howellc33]

"My take is we need to finish top 5, recognizing that our best wrestlers will be seniors next year and we may drop back a bit the year following."Yes-I would also agree. You guys lose Tony Ramos, Ethen Lofthouse and Derek St. John...Next year's impact seniors will be Mike Evans, Josh Dziewa, Nick Moore and Bobby Telford. There will for sure be a drop off!

 

[Mowilly]

We wrestled a good tourney but 12th is still 12th. I believe KJ will be in the last year of his contract and we should have an experienced team. Is there a minimum finish at the NCAAs that KJ needs to keep his job? And is that finish realistic? Thoughts?

My take is we need to finish top 5, recognizing that our best wrestlers will be seniors next year and we may drop back a bit the year following. Unfortunately, I don't think that it is realistic at this point. Just off the top of my head Iowa, OK State, PSU, Ohio State, Cornell, Nebraska, and Northwestern will bring back more points and be favored over us on paper. Gotta let it play out, though.

Dude- you sure keep trolling for something that is not there. No idea what next year brings. Personally, I don't see top 5 at ISU anytime soon but I hope like h*** I am wrong and we are!

I do hope for less wrestling trolls telling ISU fans what they should expect. Go back w/ the rest of your fanbase and start threads calling out Brands or St. John. Leave us alone.

 

[ISU22CY]

Top 8 is where I see us. Hope we progress to an attacking mindset which I think we will in the offseason. Guys got a taste and hope they stay hungry! Wanna see more offense attacking next season and good work on bottom positions.

 

[NEICyFan]

Top 8 is where I see us. Hope we progress to an attacking mindset which I think we will in the offseason. Guys got a taste and hope they stay hungry! Wanna see more offense attacking next season and good work on bottom positions.

Thank you for actually answering the question and not stooping to the level of the other annoying posters.

So say we finish 8th...is your thought that it earns KJ an extension?

 

[NEICyFan]

"My take is we need to finish top 5, recognizing that our best wrestlers will be seniors next year and we may drop back a bit the year following."Yes-I would also agree. You guys lose Tony Ramos, Ethen Lofthouse and Derek St. John...Next year's impact seniors will be Mike Evans, Josh Dziewa, Nick Moore and Bobby Telford. There will for sure be a drop off!

Ridiculous.

But since we are playing...they return 4 AAs, 3 other qualifiers and 3 studs waiting in the wings to take over. One of whom owns a win over the NCAA champion at his weight. If only we had such problems. Of course they came to mind first. Their program is still a major way in which we measure ours and I'm surrounded by Iowa fans. Luckily for me most are pretty level headed.

Now, can you answer the question so we can get back on topic please?

 

[kingcy]

Somehow someway this program needs to get back on top competing for titles. KJ has been here 5 years and only finished in the top 5 once. I like the guy wanted him as coach, but he just isn't getting it done.

 

[NEICyFan]

Somehow someway this program needs to get back on top competing for titles. KJ has been here 5 years and only finished in the top 5 once. I like the guy wanted him as coach, but he just isn't getting it done.

How dare you post facts. You're about to be branded an Iowa fan.

 

[Doc]

Excited for next year. Meeks coming off a redshirt, Quean developing into a solid heavyweight, and Weatherspoon being a real 184 are things to look
forward to.

 

[LutherBlue]

I'm for keeping KJ unless we can get someone better, as I always have been. But there is no obvious heir apparent, so I'm not inclined to ***** and moan about it.

 

[NEICyFan]

I'm for keeping KJ unless we can get someone better, as I always have been. But there is no obvious heir apparent, so I'm not inclined to ***** and moan about it.

ISU is one of a handfull of programs in the country with the resources and tradition to compete for titles on a semi regular basis. We have been out of the top 10 for 3 straight seasons. You're OK with that because we might do worse? I hope that the people who make such decisions feel differently.

I'd like to see this group get us into the top 5. I'm not optimistic it will happen but I REALLY want it to. I don't care much who the coaches are, I just hope they do well.

 

[LutherBlue]

ISU is one of a handfull of programs in the country with the resources and tradition to compete for titles on a semi regular basis. We have been out of the top 10 for 3 straight seasons. You're OK with that because we might do worse? I hope that the people who make such decisions feel differently.

I'd like to see this group get us into the top 5. I'm not optimistic it will happen but I REALLY want it to. I don't care much who the coaches are, I just hope they do well.

Yes, I would certainly rather not do worse. You act like it's a given that the next person will be better. It is not.

If the administration has identified a coach who they think will do a significantly better job and that coach will take the job, then I'm all for making a change. I just don't see who that person is right now. There is no obvious Cael Sanderson duplicate sitting around waiting for our call.

 

[NEICyFan]

Yes, I would certainly rather not do worse. You act like it's a given that the next person will be better. It is not.

If the administration has identified a coach who they think will do a significantly better job and that coach will take the job, then I'm all for making a change. I just don't see who that person is right now. There is no obvious Cael Sanderson duplicate sitting around waiting for our call.

I'm trying to get my hat around your opinion but I'm struggling. If there were guarantees in this world there would be no such thing as athletics. Coaching changes are made because the admin has identified coaches are not and will not get the job done and they are comfortable they can hire a coach who can. Also, is your point that we should only change if we can hire the next Cael Sanderson? There's a lot of room to improve between our current results and Cael Sanderson.

I think with a really good run next year KJ will get a nice, deserved extension. I think that would be great. I just want to be relevant again.

 

[cloneswillwin]

First - Congrats to Coach Jackson and the team on another tournament of exceeding expectations.

Even though I also think NEIcyFan is a Panther / Hawk fan, I'll through my 2 cents in. (long post so prob a nickels worth)

Have seen 30 years of ISU wrestling, more than some less than others. I do think it's time to actually start grading Jackson, in my opinion he's got the next 3 years to prove he can do it.

As discussed for the last 5 years I'll recap:
- Pollard hired Jackson knowing we wouldn't get the benefit of a Sanderson (ISU to PSU) / Brands (VT to Iowa) 2 recruiting classes (imagine ISU this year with Moreno, Weatherman, Gadson, Hall, Taylor, Ruth, Brown)
- Cael left the program in a deep, deep hole with all the scholarship money tied up in the junior class, and pretty bare talent cupboard below them. Cael had a great class coming in hence PSU winning 4 straight titles.
- Not only was the talent cupboard bare so was the wrestling room, we had no legit backups either pushing our starters.
- Jackson's first recruiting class is a gimme - didn't have any chance to recruit
- Jackson's second class is turning out to be decent - sucks that the #19 (Ryak) and #29 (Cozart) recruits in the nation turn out not to be D1 talent
-Our current upper classmen have had to build the room themselves - no upperclassmen besides Reader to make the younger kids tougher
-Youth - how many seniors have we averaged over our 10 starting spots the last 4 years? Wouldn't it be nice to have a rounded out team, ya know with 3/4 seniors, 3/4 juniors, 2/3 sophomores and maybe 1/2 freshman?
-Remember when ISU was always competing for national titles? Neither do I, yes we were a consistent top 10 team (6 of last 30 not in top 10 jackson owns 4 not in top 10), frequent top 5 (15 of last 30 in top 5 jackson owns 1), rarely top 2 (4 of last 30 Douglass 3, Cael 1)

Now with all that being said, excuse time is over!
- We now have multiple returning AA and qualifiers
- We have upper classmen in the room
- We have a room full of wrestlers, both talent and role players
- Next year should have a nice spread of wrestlers from Seniors to Freshman
- We should be able to focus on recruiting 2-3 "top" wrestlers per year

What I like about Jackson is he coaches being aggressive - I used to joke about the "Bobby Douglass" school of stalling. The difference maker for me is can Jackson recruit top talent, the next couple years we'll know. Wonder what ISU could do if we had recruiting classes that Bobby and Cael brought in with Jackson coaching them. I am expecting top 8 next year and possibly a title run in 2016 depending on Gadson, if we aren't back to ISU of old (Consistent top 10, frequent top 5, rare title contender) the next 3 years I would agree that Jackson can't get it done and time for a change (not sure who we'd get that would be better but we'd have to try)

Long post - GO CYCLONES!

 

[SammyWild]

Yes, I would certainly rather not do worse. You act like it's a given that the next person will be better. It is not.

If the administration has identified a coach who they think will do a significantly better job and that coach will take the job, then I'm all for making a change. I just don't see who that person is right now. There is no obvious Cael Sanderson duplicate sitting around waiting for our call.

What this person is asking you to type is that Kevin Jackson is terrible, and needs to be replaced as head coach of Iowa State wrestling.

He has been consistent in his position. I'm trying to figure out which one he is in hr/hn/panther nation.

But he ain't supporting Iowa State wrestling, it's a personal situation, and I don't knew what precipitated it.

Cloneswillwin had a pretty basic summation of what most of actual Iowa State wrestling fans believe. However, this person is must definitely not an Iowa State wrestling fan. I have no idea what Kevin Jackson did to him, but he's never here to be positive at all.

 

[cloneswillwin]

My thoughts on expectations next year:
0 FR starters (only way we have any is if they are that good, which would be OK to not have 5 SO starting), 5 SO, 2 Jr, 3 SR
125: Larson RSO - Think if he was our starter this year would of been an NCAA qualifier - Solid wrestler, will give Boston a chance to redshirt. Hoping for a couple of wins in the NCAA hopefully 2 team points.
133: Hall JR - Move up a weight, return to AA - Doubt high AA but scoring 10 team points
141: Meeks RSO - Not sure what to expect after he's had a chance to redshirt and work with Troy for a year. Hoping low AA scoring 10 team points (could be more could be none)
149: G. Moreno RSO Lets just put him at a couple more wins in the NCAA and he scores us 4 team points
157: Goettl RSR / Molina RJR Plan on no points, hope I'm wrong
165: M. Moreno RSR Finalist scoring 20 team points
174: Weatherman RJR Low AA scoring 12 team points
184: Weatherspoon RSO Same as Gabe - scores us 4 team points
197: Gadson RSR Finalist scoring 20 team points
HWT: Smith RSO qualifies hope for 1 team point

High side next year is 80-90 team points - would put us in contention for a title (with the parody we have now)
Realistic is probably 55 - 65 team points - 5th to 7th this year
Low side would be 45 - 55 team points - 8th to 10th this year

 

[ISU22CY]

Thank you for actually answering the question and not stooping to the level of the other annoying posters.

So say we finish 8th...is your thought that it earns KJ an extension?

Top 8 yes for the fact we wont get a replacement that will do any better. Not top 10 think it will be time to really consider looking elsewhere. With Meeks coming off a redshirt, Q showing what coaches have talked about, nice group of upperclassman, returning AA's and some hungry fellas I think top 8 (would love top 4) is a fair and reasonable expectation not only from the fan's standpoint but from a program standpoint as well.

 

[ISU22CY]

My thoughts on expectations next year:
0 FR starters (only way we have any is if they are that good, which would be OK to not have 5 SO starting), 5 SO, 2 Jr, 3 SR
125: Larson RSO - Think if he was our starter this year would of been an NCAA qualifier - Solid wrestler, will give Boston a chance to redshirt. Hoping for a couple of wins in the NCAA hopefully 2 team points.
133: Hall JR - Move up a weight, return to AA - Doubt high AA but scoring 10 team points
141: Meeks RSO - Not sure what to expect after he's had a chance to redshirt and work with Troy for a year. Hoping low AA scoring 10 team points (could be more could be none)
149: G. Moreno RSO Lets just put him at a couple more wins in the NCAA and he scores us 4 team points
157: Goettl RSR / Molina RJR Plan on no points, hope I'm wrong
165: M. Moreno RSR Finalist scoring 20 team points
174: Weatherman RJR Low AA scoring 12 team points
184: Weatherspoon RSO Same as Gabe - scores us 4 team points
197: Gadson RSR Finalist scoring 20 team points
HWT: Smith RSO qualifies hope for 1 team point

High side next year is 80-90 team points - would put us in contention for a title (with the parody we have now)
Realistic is probably 55 - 65 team points - 5th to 7th this year
Low side would be 45 - 55 team points - 8th to 10th this year

Wow great post /thread plus we have to remember that PSU will be without their bonus scorers next year which is going to make a fun race for a team title for a lot of schools.