I have watched ISU wrestling since the mid-60's. Yeah......I'm old. My mother was from Cresco, Iowa........and grew up down the street from Nick. She also baby-sat Gary Kurdelmeier when she was young, and we were friends with his family. For those of you who may not know who he was, he was an All-American wrestler for Iowa, was Iowa's wrestling coach, and hired some guy named Gable as an assistant coach and his eventual replacement when he moved into the position of Assistant AD at Iowa. So.......even though my school did not have wrestling........my mom would always be following both Iowa and ISU wrestling, but especially ISU because she knew Nick. In 1971, I started working at Hilton when it opened, and was on staff there for the next 12 years. My parents loved coming down to ISU wrestling meets, and my mom got a chance to talk to Nick a few times.
Anyway........it is really disappointing that ISU cannot get back to the level they were in the 60's all the way really up to when Cael left. It seemed that ISU was on its way until JP could not come up with the facilities that Penn State promised Cael. I can't blame Cael for leaving, although I am disappointed that coaching at his alma mater could not sway him to stay.
I think KJ is a good guy, and he is determined, but sorry.......I'm just not convinced he is that much of a coach. Other teams (not just Iowa) just seem to have a style, a plan, aggressiveness, toughness that I have not seen in ISU wrestlers the last 10 years or so. I guess since Cael left.....it seems the program just sort of died then.
I haven't followed the sport closely enough to know who might be out there that could bring ISU back to more success, but there must be someone out there. Maybe JP is just not really committed to this sport, or lacks an appreciation for the history of it at ISU. It just seems something is missing.
It seems like with fewer and fewer colleges fielding wrestling teams, there should be higher quality recruits available, unless high school wrestling is disappearing too. That doesn't appear to be the case though, at least not in Iowa.
I just think you either do whatever has to be done to return ISU wrestling to at least close to the levels it was before. At least make your very best effort. If ISU can't do that.......then give it up and bring back baseball or something. (Just kidding)
It's just kind of sad. I can remember an Iowa/ISU match in Hilton back in the 70's. Sold out (didn't have to put up a damned curtain to make it look more full or whatever). Back then, the 10 wrestlers from each school would for a line on either side of the mat facing each other, and were introduced and would shake hands. The PA announcer would cite their current records, their current ranking, and their standing in the previous National tourney. At this particular match........17 or 18 of the wrestlers between the 2 schools were All-Americans from the previous year. The ones that weren't were freshmen if I recall correctly. Now, that was a meet to watch. Honestly, I don't ever remember who won.......it really didn't matter.
Well, I've rambled on and probably bored you all to tears if you read this. I just wish JP could figure out how to get ISU back to that status. Maybe the ISU wrestling community needs to be a little more vocal or insistent or something.