Loyalty ..... NONE!

[CycloneGrappler]

Once again KJ proves he has no direction when it comes to leading a Division 1 wrestling program. Here are just a couple reasons this week...

1. KJ pulls redshirt off John Meeks as a fresh... gets him off to a bad College wrestling career. Then gives up on him and throws him to the dogs after a bad start this season. Forget the fact that he needs time to continue to develop! Bad Start your not worthy...

2. He pulls the Red Shirt of another future All American to replace Meeks.... Really? Because this fresh is going to go to Nationals and maybe and thats a BIG MAYBE... win a match or two. Is that going to help us get where we need to go?

3. NO LOYALTY!!! Pulls Luke Goettl out of the line-up for another kid that is young and unproven. For crying out loud... other then Mike Moreno ... Luke is the only wrestler against Iowa to wrestle with any urgency. Yea he made couple critical errors and got beat. But not with out leaving it all on the mat.

4. Danny Woiwor - Once again another one of KJ's boys. He has 3 years left!!! Oh well pull the 5th year senior!


I could go on for hours about things I know that go on in and out of the room. But not the time or the place.

DO everyone a favor KJ - RESIGN!!!!

 

[Clonefan94]

I don't really post on wrestling, because I haven't intently followed it much for quite a few years. I'm of the opinion though that wrestling became and afterthought for ISU when we let our second superstar go to another program to coach. I know there were reasons beyond just letting him go, but I feel ISU feels those assets are best used elsewhere. So, I'd be surprised if KJ is really under that much pressure to feel he has to resign.

 

[SoapyCy]

doubt he is resigning.

 

[Jer]

He was the wrong guy at the time of his hiring and he's still the wrong guy. I don't follow wrestling much, especially since ISU gave up on it, but it's very disappointing to see how far we've dropped - not just in wins/losses, but also effort and respectability.

 

[isuska]

Once again KJ proves he has no direction when it comes to leading a Division 1 wrestling program. Here are just a couple reasons this week...

1. KJ pulls redshirt off John Meeks as a fresh... gets him off to a bad College wrestling career. Then gives up on him and throws him to the dogs after a bad start this season. Forget the fact that he needs time to continue to develop! Bad Start your not worthy...
RS being pulled was 2 years ago. Sounds like Meeks may have an injury that requires surgery, that's not really giving up on him.
2. He pulls the Red Shirt of another future All American to replace Meeks.... Really? Because this fresh is going to go to Nationals and maybe and thats a BIG MAYBE... win a match or two. Is that going to help us get where we need to go?
We shall come back to this in March.
3. NO LOYALTY!!! Pulls Luke Goettl out of the line-up for another kid that is young and unproven. For crying out loud... other then Mike Moreno ... Luke is the only wrestler against Iowa to wrestle with any urgency. Yea he made couple critical errors and got beat. But not with out leaving it all on the mat.
Geottl has been too inconsistent during his career. If he wants to be our 157, he needs to be more consistent.
4. Danny Woiwor - Once again another one of KJ's boys. He has 3 years left!!! Oh well pull the 5th year senior!
If KJ thinks he is the better option at 157, I fully support that decision.

I could go on for hours about things I know that go on in and out of the room. But not the time or the place.

DO everyone a favor KJ - RESIGN!!!!

 

[Clonehomer]

So if Jackson is feeling pressure to win or he's going to get let go why not pull redshirts? Redshirt in a guy for the next coach doesn't do him much good.

 

[mj4cy]

Um....the program is ranked 12th right now. Couple years ago we weren't even that high.



I'd like to hear Judoka's thoughts on this thread

 

[buf87]

If Woiwor is a better option than Goettl, then Woiwor should start. Nobody is saying that this is long term. Woiwor is a Redshirt Freshman and lost to Goettl 3-1 early in the season.

KJ knows what he is going to get with Luke, maybe not as much with Woiwor. This gives KJ (Kevin Jackson, Iowa State Head Wrestling Coach) a chance to see how Danny Woiwor is going to perform against many levels of wrestlers. After Cliff Keen Open, Luke may very well be the starter again.

As far as John Meeks, he and Dante would both be after the same spot for the next couple years. I for one was really surprised to see Dante wrestle at Carver (lots of pressure for 1st official match). It is done, again if Dante performs well at Vegas, he will probably get the start and do what is necessary to get John healthy, if not, John might be the starter again at the Scuffle.

 

[buf87]

This is a very good team.

Also PSU had a lot of money to throw at Cael. I have heard that Cael approached PSU, but look at the recruiting area and money available. He also never beat Iowa, but it was closer. Supposedly him and Pollard never saw eye to eye.

Cael had us as a top 5 team, but he left for greener pastures. Not sure who you were going to get to replace him and keep us there.
Cody at Oklahoma???, Oklahoma is not good this year and their good recruit Oliver Pierce left for ASU.

Sammie Hensen???- Time will tell, but many programs have passed on him. We will see how he does at West Virginia

Mark Perry or Pritzlaff - who knows?

We have a great staff, but Ohio State, Minnesota, ASU (now with Zeke Jones), Ok State, PSU are grabbing most top recruits.

Then there are 15 other teams dividing up most those left and Iowa State is one of them

 

[buf87]

I would bet that Luke and Danny both go the Scuffle and help sort this out.

As much as I would like Luke to have the spot, because he is a 5th year senior, that does not guarantee him the spot.

 

[RossIAwrestle]

I would bet that Luke and Danny both go the Scuffle and help sort this out.

As much as I would like Luke to have the spot, because he is a 5th year senior, that does not guarantee him the spot.

Exactly, when did Jackson morph in to Kirk Ferentz (probably get banned from using that name on this site) and only have this weird attachment on seniors?

Woiwor is a good talent, and I have always been a believer that he could be a good one. I had him picked to take this spot after NCAAs last year.

 

[ArgentCy]

I was going to say can't all of these wrestlers go to the Scuffle and sort things out. Seems like you could have potentially kept the redshirts on by letting them wrestle unattached.

 

[Judoka]

Once again KJ proves he has no direction when it comes to leading a Division 1 wrestling program. Here are just a couple reasons this week...

1. KJ pulls redshirt off John Meeks as a fresh... gets him off to a bad College wrestling career. Then gives up on him and throws him to the dogs after a bad start this season. Forget the fact that he needs time to continue to develop! Bad Start your not worthy...

2. He pulls the Red Shirt of another future All American to replace Meeks.... Really? Because this fresh is going to go to Nationals and maybe and thats a BIG MAYBE... win a match or two. Is that going to help us get where we need to go?

3. NO LOYALTY!!! Pulls Luke Goettl out of the line-up for another kid that is young and unproven. For crying out loud... other then Mike Moreno ... Luke is the only wrestler against Iowa to wrestle with any urgency. Yea he made couple critical errors and got beat. But not with out leaving it all on the mat.

4. Danny Woiwor - Once again another one of KJ's boys. He has 3 years left!!! Oh well pull the 5th year senior!


I could go on for hours about things I know that go on in and out of the room. But not the time or the place.

DO everyone a favor KJ - RESIGN!!!!

Pulling Meeks out of redshirt didn't work out, but it hardly was a dumpster fire. And at the time his redshirt was pulled it looked like a good idea. I wouldn't put it down as a great coaching decision in retrospect, but it wasn't the fireable offense you are making it out to be. As far as pulling Dante's redshirt, time will tell. If we see Meeks again this season then I'll be upset about it. But redshirts in wrestling aren't as big of a deal as they were a generation ago. Top wrestlers come to college ready to hit the mat and the chance that they'll burn out or get hurt by the time they are fifth year seniors is just as good as the chance you'll get an extra year out of them. My biggest concern is that Dante's performance prior to getting his shirt pulled was similar to the performance Meeks was having as a true freshman before they pulled his.

Heck - look at Gadson, he'd be a shoe in for a 6th year of eligibility and would have a good shot at being a national champion if he did. But he's ready to move on with his life after this year. And there's nothing wrong with that.

As far as Goettl. Who knows what is gong on there? Goettl has been very inconsistent and whose to say they aren't just trying out Woiwer to see what he can do? It isn't like Jackson came out and announced that Goettl has been permanently banned from the lineup. You got mad last season about Beard losing his spot to Weatherspoon but from outside the program it sure looked like Beard got every shot to keep his spot and let it slip away.

Somebody said it well in another thread, Jackson isn't looking like a super elite coach, but as he's developed his team he's shown to be pretty competent and working on improving where there are issues. The team has gotten better every year after bottoming out due to Sanderson leaving the cupboard totally bare after that big senior class and Jackson not coming in with pre-made recruiting connections. We're now seeing a return to where we've been the past few decades. Unless the AD started pouring a whole lot of extra support and money into wrestling we're not going to be challenging for titles regardless of who the coach is. But regularly being in the top ten and occasionally peaking for a trophy is something we can do and Jackson's at least earned the chance for a few more years to show he can do that.

If you ranked all our coaches from best to worst Jackson wouldn't be above Hoiberg but he'd be a hell of a lot higher than Rhoads.

Its kind of funny that Iowa fans, of all people, have done a better job accepting that it isn't the 1980s anymore than Iowa State fans have.

 

[Judoka]

I was going to say can't all of these wrestlers go to the Scuffle and sort things out. Seems like you could have potentially kept the redshirts on by letting them wrestle unattached.

Woiwer already redshirted. We aren't pulling his shirt by sending him to Vegas.

 

[Judoka]

Brody Grothus is an upperclassman who just lost his spot to Brandon Sorenson at 149 for Iowa despite owning a head to head win over him in an open. Should Brands be fired too?

 

[InCyder]

I didn't wrestle in HS nor do I have much knowledge about the sport. However, I do enjoy watching it on Cyclonestv and respect the discipline of the sport and the passion of those who are active in the sport. With that said, I took some time to ask someone who has a strong wrestling background and coaches at the collegiate level about Iowa State's recent struggles. I knew Cael leaving would set the program back, but was surprised at the answer this individual gave to really how crippling it was. He also explained the massive shift in where wrestling recruiting is now focused. I was surprised to find out that the Midwest is no more the wrestling hotbed it once was. I guess with those factors, I seem to think KJ has the program moving in the right direction and willing to give him at least 2-3 more years to see if we can consistently be in the top 1-10 programs in the country. Just my take

 

[buf87]

There is more to the story with John Meeks than any of us know.

John does have an injury. How much this is affecting his wrestling physically or mentally, I do not know.

John also was injured last year (early) in his redshirt year. Might be looking at the medical redshirt options, I assume it is getting close to the point of losing that option if John wrestles much more.

Did wrestling John as a true freshman affect him mentally after a great high school career? I don't know.

Maybe Dante wrestles Cliff Keen and it will provide knowledge to KJ and staff about which direct to go with John.
If Dante struggles, they keep wrestling John off and on or if Dante has a good Vegas tourney, John does what is necessary to get healthy and Dante redshirts next year and have the ability to get a medical redshirt.

How does not having the Big 12 as a qualifier affect these decisions? and what options are in place for guys that aren't basically locked into Nationals. Again I don't know.

 

[Judoka]

I would like a statement from the Big XII coaches as a whole about how they will deal with the Big XII not being a qualifier. I'd hate for the Big XII tournament to be a farce with empty brackets but I'd also hate for any of the schools to not get as many people to St. Louis as possible.

 

[Judoka]

Maybe Dante wrestles Cliff Keen and it will provide knowledge to KJ and staff about which direct to go with John.
If Dante struggles, they keep wrestling John off and on or if Dante has a good Vegas tourney, John does what is necessary to get healthy and Dante redshirts next year and have the ability to get a medical redshirt.

I'd disagree with you there - I assume that's what they're doing with Woiwer/Goettl, but that didn't involve pulling a redshirt. I hope when they pulled Dante's redshirt they did it with a commitment that he'll be our guy for the whole season barring injury or a total meltdown. If we weren't sure about Dante we could have sent one of our non redshirting 141 pounders out against Iowa. It isn't like he was ever going to be the difference in that meet.

 

[mj4cy]

I'll admit you guys that really follow ISU wrestling have gotten me back into it. I am excited to watch the next meet that I can find on TV.