Yes, but where did they PLACE? My counterpoint would be that with the coaching concentration at those weights (KJ, Travis on staff, Trent at CWC--all paid), we should have seen a couple guys climbing higher on the podium. Especially since the concentration came at the expense of the lighter guys. Nickerson was turning this around, but a still competing Escobedo will have split attention at best.
I also like your point about needing to bring new styles into the room.
Of course, it could be that I'm just longing for the days when ISU regularly put kids atop the podium. Winning makes all this criticism go away. So I'll settle with these choices and look for proof in the pudding.
I would have rather seen Angel as the assistant coach rather than going all in on the Paulsens, I agree with you on that. But I'm not sure what you are getting at with saying we should be performing better at those weights. For the top half of the lineup in the past two years...
165: AA/AA
174: R12/R12
184: DNQ/Qualifier
197: AA/AA
HWT: AA/DNQ
And for this upcoming season I think we're all expecting at least 3 AAs and a good shot at 2 finalists. Again, I don't disagree that our coaches should be more spread out and I think that would have a net benefit to the team. But our upperweights have performed extremely well lately. There's only maybe 2-3 teams with a better run at those weight classes in the past few years, especially compared to where guys were ranked as recruits.
