Decision Time on Jackson

Here is what I will say about the subject. I went to 2 of the OTC practice sessions that were held between the NCAA wrestling sessions.

A lot of the top high school kids were there. Spencer Lee, Mark Hall, Mason Manville, Fredy Stoker etc.

Also Matt McD, Coleman Scott, Brett Metcalf, Ed Ruth, Jordan Oliver. Zeke Jones stopped in on Saturday for a while.

The kids were then sitting down and rolling around or joking with these senior level wrestlers. Great way to form bonds and help recruiting.

I saw Evan Brown at the OTC session, but is hurt with a knee injury. But no other CWC senior level wrestlers were there THAT I SAW. I realize Angel is active in our coaching and I feel is helping a lot.

I also saw Nathan Boston going hard with some guys. I believe Markus Simmons was also there, but did not see him wrestle.

the CWC needs more donations to get more senior level guys in Ames. I think that is the first thing to get done. Get some guys in to train with our wrestler.
 
Michael Moreno is delaying any surgery and starting to train for the US Open??? or some event shortly
 
If the AD is satisfied then I think the commitment needs to run for longer than 2 years. I can't imagine that it's easy to sell recruits on a coaching staff when the coaching staff's contract could potentially run out before the kid even hits campus.
 
I bet most recruits don't know when contract are up in wrestling. I think the reason we know at Iowa State is because we have to constantly go through this every year.

When is Schwab or Brands contract up? I don't have a clue.

I will stand behind KJ and staff until Pollard decides we are going to make a change. Not going to talk this same talk every year. I think it is bad for the program.

Many of you guys need to go to some socials and talk to KJ, Trent, Travis, Angel, Garett etc an ask questions. Talk to our wrestlers and get to know them and get a feel for what they are doing to get better and make Iowa State wrestling better.

I have met many in the last couple years. The Morenos, John Meeks, Kyven, Kyle Larson, RJ Hallman, Chris Lopez(sp), Dante, Earl, Tanner Weatherman, Lelund, Quean, etc. These guys are great ambassadors for Iowa State wrestling and we take the time to talk to you.
 
JUDOKA// you and a few others have been fightingthis fight so here is my thoughts on this subject:
(I am telling you this as fact).
At the beginning of the season KJ had a reviewmeeting with JP and the AD office. KJ was told that they have seen that he canrecruit higher quality of guys and that he has shown progress, so the followingis what they would like to see.
1. Beno less than 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] in the big 12
2. Aminimum of 7 qualifiers
3. Atop 10 finish
4. Therewas one more but I can’t remember it (might have had to do with team GPA).
Based on this information KJ and coaches have meteach area except for top 10 finish but traded that one for a national champ.
As for this site, I banned my family from being onit during the season because my son was going through a rough time and someposters are evil in the things that they say. Now the season is over. All I cansay is that KJ was hurt real bad when he had to pull John. John went through amental battle of trying to get over his injury.
I have seen what he is trying to do, he has puttogether a very good coaching staff and things are coming together for theteam. ALL IN WITH KJ AND THE CLONES

Thank you for going out on a limb and posting this information. Hopefully it will cease the trolling, however, I doubt it. I support our staff and see the trends moving in a positive direction. It will take time to regain the national prominence we once took for granted. I am in for the long haul.

I wish the Best for John and still hope to see him perform to the potential he once showed. Nerves and anxiety are tough to overcome, if that is what is limiting him. The first battle is waged before the match is even begun. I often say I never lost a match I didn't believe I was going to win, despite the talents of my opponent.

Best wishes,
 
Apologies if I am repeating anything written in the previous 10 pages....I did not take the time to read them all once this became a thread to bicker amongst each other. A program is built by attracting top level talent - - RECRUTING is #1...#2 is having a financially strong wrestling club to bring in top notch athletes with international aspirations to train with said underclassmen. You can rarely if ever sustain long term success without one another.

If we are totally honest with each other, our recruiting is and has been suspect...a lot of misses over the past several years which is translating into subpar NCAA performances. This does not inspire people to support at increased levels, and some cases withdrawing their support all together. A successful CWC depends on depth and diversity to the membership....is the CWC growing in numbers, or retracting? This may not be a fair barometer in regards to a coach's performance, but it is undeniably important to bringing in talented coaching, which helps recruiting.

I grow weary of people who settle for the status quo because they belong to the "who else are we going to get" crowd. We are ISU, and we should be able to land whomever we set out to acquire. I am in favor of a change. KJ and the TP's are very likeable....I do not begrudge KJ or T&T at all...I believe they have truly tried hard and have some successes to their credit however they have underperformed at many of the "on the mat" and recruiting metrics by which program successes are measured. To think otherwise is simply ignoring the facts. The weekend's performance was not good as a team. No other way to sugar coat that performance......(Kyven was the exception and wrestled like it was his "last chance").

For those that want names, all I ask is to aim high...I am a Mark Perry fan, wholeheartedly. That is a guy that can walk into flo nat's or Fargo and flat out recruit hands down...Met a few of his Ill recruits this weekend as well....he is the sole reason they are going to UofIl. Lots of other candidates as well mentioned above. ASU has hit a home run with Zeke - - so it can be done...Don't settle...lot's of potential home runs out there.

I know this probably in not on the high priority list for JP, but it should be. In every performance review I have ever given or received, their is a set of expectation/goals laid out. One has to ask the question..."Are our current results meeting these goals and objectives...." if the above posted objectives are truly the ones he was asked to meet, then he was close. We as fans have to decide if those goals and objectives are good enough for us as a consumer of a product.....all a fan can ultimately do is vote with their checkbook.

One thing is certain, if we continue to do the same things we will continue to get the same results and I believe the base that is the strength of the CWC will eventually erode. Sorry for the novel...but I love ISU wrestling and want nothing but the best.
 
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JUDOKA// you and a few others have been fightingthis fight so here is my thoughts on this subject:
(I am telling you this as fact).
At the beginning of the season KJ had a reviewmeeting with JP and the AD office. KJ was told that they have seen that he canrecruit higher quality of guys and that he has shown progress, so the followingis what they would like to see.
1. Beno less than 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] in the big 12
2. Aminimum of 7 qualifiers
3. Atop 10 finish
4. Therewas one more but I can’t remember it (might have had to do with team GPA).
Based on this information KJ and coaches have meteach area except for top 10 finish but traded that one for a national champ.
As for this site, I banned my family from being onit during the season because my son was going through a rough time and someposters are evil in the things that they say. Now the season is over. All I cansay is that KJ was hurt real bad when he had to pull John. John went through amental battle of trying to get over his injury.
I have seen what he is trying to do, he has puttogether a very good coaching staff and things are coming together for theteam. ALL IN WITH KJ AND THE CLONES


Thanks for posting. It is good occasionally to get actual inside perspectives. However, please don't feel obligated to disclose info here that is private. The cynics don't deserve it. You said enought when you said "All in with KJ and the Clones."
 
For those that want names, all I ask is to aim high...I am a Mark Perry fan, wholeheartedly. That is a guy that can walk into flo nat's or Fargo and flat out recruit hands down...Met a few of his Ill recruits this weekend as well....he is the sole reason they are going to UofIl. Lots of other candidates as well mentioned above. ASU has hit a home run with Zeke - - so it can be done...Don't settle...lot's of potential home runs out there.
.

I see a lot of conflict in the opinions of "we shouldn't settle for KJ's results," and "we need to hire a young assistant". Mark Perry might be a great coach by the end of it, but going from energetic helper to CEO of the team is quite the transition. If he struggles, ISU will need to be patient while he improves and builds the program.

KJ is building, even though it has been a little slow. I get the desire to change. But if you look at the teams ahead of us, I don't believe any of them did it by giving an assistant his first job in the last five years. Sometimes it makes sense (Cael (kinda)), but even then it's usually a hire made from within. I don't intend this to be a strong endorsement of KJ, but if you can't see his upside and wait it out, you'd better make a choose a different alternate.
 
Apologies if I am repeating anything written in the previous 10 pages....I did not take the time to read them all once this became a thread to bicker amongst each other. A program is built by attracting top level talent - - RECRUTING is #1...#2 is having a financially strong wrestling club to bring in top notch athletes with international aspirations to train with said underclassmen. You can rarely if ever sustain long term success without one another.

If we are totally honest with each other, our recruiting is and has been suspect...a lot of misses over the past several years which is translating into subpar NCAA performances. This does not inspire people to support at increased levels, and some cases withdrawing their support all together. A successful CWC depends on depth and diversity to the membership....is the CWC growing in numbers, or retracting? This may not be a fair barometer in regards to a coach's performance, but it is undeniably important to bringing in talented coaching, which helps recruiting.

I grow weary of people who settle for the status quo because they belong to the "who else are we going to get" crowd. We are ISU, and we should be able to land whomever we set out to acquire. I am in favor of a change. KJ and the TP's are very likeable....I do not begrudge KJ or T&T at all...I believe they have truly tried hard and have some successes to their credit however they have underperformed at many of the "on the mat" and recruiting metrics by which program successes are measured. To think otherwise is simply ignoring the facts. The weekend's performance was not good as a team. No other way to sugar coat that performance......(Kyven was the exception and wrestled like it was his "last chance").

For those that want names, all I ask is to aim high...I am a Mark Perry fan, wholeheartedly. That is a guy that can walk into flo nat's or Fargo and flat out recruit hands down...Met a few of his Ill recruits this weekend as well....he is the sole reason they are going to UofIl. Lots of other candidates as well mentioned above. ASU has hit a home run with Zeke - - so it can be done...Don't settle...lot's of potential home runs out there.

I know this probably in not on the high priority list for JP, but it should be. In every performance review I have ever given or received, their is a set of expectation/goals laid out. One has to ask the question..."Are our current results meeting these goals and objectives...." if the above posted objectives are truly the ones he was asked to meet, then he was close. We as fans have to decide if those goals and objectives are good enough for us as a consumer of a product.....all a fan can ultimately do is vote with their checkbook.

One thing is certain, if we continue to do the same things we will continue to get the same results and I believe the base that is the strength of the CWC will eventually erode. Sorry for the novel...but I love ISU wrestling and want nothing but the best.


I think this post pretty much nailed the ISU Wrestling program.... Thanks for posting the same views I certainly have with a more political approach. I think others feel the same way but are afraid to speak their true feelings.
 
I have mixed feelings about Jackson and our situation as a program as a whole, but I'm not going to discuss them on here because the majority of the people in this discussion are not actually ISU wrestling fans.
 
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I see a lot of conflict in the opinions of "we shouldn't settle for KJ's results," and "we need to hire a young assistant". Mark Perry might be a great coach by the end of it, but going from energetic helper to CEO of the team is quite the transition. If he struggles, ISU will need to be patient while he improves and builds the program.

You are shorting Perry. He was the associate head coach at Cal-Poly and now the associate head coach at a top 20 Big Ten program. He is credited with bringing in Delgado and Isiah Martinez – pretty much everything you want as a recruiter. He wrestled for Blair Academy, and coached at PSU so has east coast ties, the obvious CA ties (see Delgado and Martinez), has now coached in IL. To say he is just the energetic helper is to downplay his massive importance to his current program.
If being an associate head coach at a PAC-12 and Big Ten school doesn’t show you aren’t ready to take on a Big 12 coaching job you are over valuing this head coaching position.
 
I can’t edit so I will just add another post.

I am not knocking this job, and I understand ISU’s place in wrestling, but considering that Mark Perry has coached more NCAA champions in the last three seasons than Jackson (hell he has more than Brands too), I can’t see how anyone could say Perry wouldn’t be an ideal replacement (if a change were to be made of course - I am not advoating one way or the other).
 
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Agree there. Out of all the assistants out there, Perry is the most ready to run his own show imo. He has established recruiting ties coast to coast, especially in California, and has groomed his career toward attaining an elite head coaching position. He will ultimately determine what elite means in his eyes, but one of two things is going to happen. Either Heffernan will give a set retirement date with Perry named as the successor (my guess) or a big boy is going to come calling and he'll jump.

IF it is determined that ISU is going in a different direction (and I'm not diving any further into that discussion), including not extending Jackson and not promoting from within, Perry would be the first call I would make. If he doesn't like Brands as someone has mentioned, this job would be one of the primary candidates for him to face off with him on a regular basis both on the mat and in the living rooms. I didn't care for the guy as a wrestler and really still don't, but I can look past a lot if he were to lead us back to national prominence.
 
Not that I would think. I do wish that MSU would hire Cunningham or something, but that won't happen.

Has a successor been predetermined there? I wouldn't go as far as calling MSU a sleeping giant but they sure as hell should be able to do a lot better than scoring negative points at nationals.
 
Has a successor been predetermined there? I wouldn't go as far as calling MSU a sleeping giant but they sure as hell should be able to do a lot better than scoring negative points at nationals.

I sure don't understand why they keep Minkel. Esp when they are in the Big 10. Recruiting to Mich State should be somewhat easy with the right coach
 
I sure don't understand why they keep Minkel. Esp when they are in the Big 10. Recruiting to Mich State should be somewhat easy with the right coach

The BTN has been a boon for B1G wrestling. Between that coverage and the recruiting footprint most of those schools have access too, they have seen and will continue to their profile improve. The ol' saying "a rising tide raises all ships" is very true for B1G wrestling and I think MSU will get a LOT better with the right hire.
 
1) Cody Sanderson - Are you sure he wants his own program? Not sure why ISU would have hard feelings regarding Cody leaving. He left to start his own program in Utah and was never offered a HC position at ISU. I think he would be the best coach out there, but assume he doesn't have interest to leave family. Everything I hear is that Cody does most the coaching in the room. He was a great wrestler and role model. I'd take him in a heartbeat.

2) Roger Kish - Been doing very well at NDSU.

3) Mark Perry - He can attract some top recruits. His teams have never been stellar, but always seem to have some good individual results. Gotta think he's ready. Still not sure I could stand his arrogance!


His recruiting is no where near elite level. Some good kids but not nearly enough of them. I don't understand people who say "we aren't getting anyone better." How could you possibly know this and what are you clinging to?

I would support any of the following realistic candidates to replace KJ. And probably others.

Damian Hahn - Cornell assistant. A huge reason for their success.
Cody Sanderson - Wants his own program at some point and will do it at a place where a title CAN be won. This would be a huge hire for ISU and my #1 candidate. I think the fans can forgive him for leaving with Cael. Not sure about JP.
Drew Pariano - Northwestern head coach. My number #2 candidate. Fantastic recruiter but will never be able to build enough depth at NU, with their limitations, to be a serious title contender. He won't have that problem in Ames.
Brandon Eggum - Minnesota assistant. Has to be wondering how much longer J is going to hang around. Is there a succession program in place?
Travis Paulson. From what I gather he's doing the majority of the coaching in the ISU room. Has his own ideas. Not one of my favorites but I would support the move and think we would be better off.
Eric Guerrero - See Eggum, though Smith has more years left than J.
Tim Flynn - Edinboro. Might be getting a little long in the tooth but maybe he hands over the reigns in a few years to a younger understudy like Paulson?
Mark Perry - Illinois. Yes, I said it.

These are the ones that I've been thinking of. Certainly there are more candidates. We have seen what we will get with KJ. None of these guys would make us worse off. I truly believe that.
 
You are shorting Perry. He was the associate head coach at Cal-Poly and now the associate head coach at a top 20 Big Ten program. He is credited with bringing in Delgado and Isiah Martinez – pretty much everything you want as a recruiter. He wrestled for Blair Academy, and coached at PSU so has east coast ties, the obvious CA ties (see Delgado and Martinez), has now coached in IL. To say he is just the energetic helper is to downplay his massive importance to his current program.
If being an associate head coach at a PAC-12 and Big Ten school doesn’t show you aren’t ready to take on a Big 12 coaching job you are over valuing this head coaching position.

You're distorting my opinion. I'm not putting down Perry as a candidate to a vacant position. I'm just saying, why fire the HC of the 14th place team to hire the no 2 for the 12th place team? Perry might have great potential, but if you look at the top teams in the country, there is nobody doing better than KJ that has less HC experience that I can think of. Perry could be an exception, but more likely, he'll need to build. If we can't hire a guy who has gotten it done as HC, why start that process over?