Kind of crazy that Gable the heavy favorite loses his final college match, just like the guy he was named after
Wrestling 2025 NCAA Tourney thread
- Thread starter Leonard23
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Incredible how you can see DT’s influence on these OKST kids after just one season.
I take everything back, whoever set up the draw knew what they were doing. LOL
Biggest loser tonight was Cael, long term. That Hendrickson win is going to fast track the OK State rebuild. They’re going to be challenging Penn State for the team title real soon.
I’d signup for Top 25 every year in BB, WB, football, both soccer, both lacrosse …
Yeah but is there only 66 total competing teams in those other sports?
He just won team title for fourth year in a row, set scoring record and had 10 AAs for 2nd time in history. I dont think he was too concerned with Hendrickson beating Gable. 😂
And in 2 or 3 years when OK State is the best program in the country, you’re going to look back at last night as the turning point.
At some point the psu reign will end. It’s hard to see the beginning of the end until the end happens.
While psu obviously won the team title in dominating fashion, it was nowhere near the tournament they wanted or expected. “Only” 3 in the finals and “only” 2 champions. Definitely less elite than they expected.
It would be fantastic for the sport if another team (or multiple) could challenge them regularly.
While psu obviously won the team title in dominating fashion, it was nowhere near the tournament they wanted or expected. “Only” 3 in the finals and “only” 2 champions. Definitely less elite than they expected.
It would be fantastic for the sport if another team (or multiple) could challenge them regularly.
Listen I get it, people hate dynasties. To say a tournament went less than expected when a scoring record was broken is foolish.
Nothing is given in this sport and it’s hard. Kasak, Lilledahl and Bartlett and Haines were all seconds away from being finalists. They win, you have 7 finalists and your narrative changes. At the end of the day, all of these guys came back and got next best thing.
8 guys finishing top 3 (would have been 9 if Kerk not hurt). To say it wasn’t a great performance is odd to me
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No doubt Magic Man going to turn things around and Will be PSU biggest competitor, but until Cael decides to hang it up, going to be tough for anyone to take them out.
They have a loaded team coming back and the top 2 PFP recruits coming in this year.
No ones is stopping the PSU train for at least 4 yrs
💯. Plus if the Ono rumor is true (apparently he is enrolled as a student at PSU). That’s even more fire power. They also have as much portal potential as any team. Wouldn’t expect anyone to dethrone PSU for some time
Watching the matches in person, the way the Okie State wrestlers across the board have raised their offensive approach and overall stamina since last year stood out to me. My son had the opportunity to participate in 2 DT youth practices a few years ago and the guy has complete control of the room. I’m not surprised by last night at all.
I love John Smith, but if he’s still coach neither Hamiti nor Hendricksen win those titles. They have both elevated their game and their overall approach to a match is all David Taylor.
They have the 2 and 3 ranked kids coming in next year and Jax Forrest has the style to win multiple titles out of the gate.
Any high level youth or HS wrestler who was paying attention this weekend, especially last night, is going to give Oklahoma State a serious serious look.
Let’s also give kudos to Nebraska. They had one hell of a weekend.
Edit: Also consider the effect of having Gilman in the room with the lighter weights. I’m surprised Basset isn’t there tbh.
I love John Smith, but if he’s still coach neither Hamiti nor Hendricksen win those titles. They have both elevated their game and their overall approach to a match is all David Taylor.
They have the 2 and 3 ranked kids coming in next year and Jax Forrest has the style to win multiple titles out of the gate.
Any high level youth or HS wrestler who was paying attention this weekend, especially last night, is going to give Oklahoma State a serious serious look.
Let’s also give kudos to Nebraska. They had one hell of a weekend.
Edit: Also consider the effect of having Gilman in the room with the lighter weights. I’m surprised Basset isn’t there tbh.
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That’s what elite coaching and mindset does.
And I think Bassett made a mistake going to Iowa but we will see.
Last time I looked, we got no all Americans…..
That's an interesting take. Bassett will roll with one of the best young guns in Spencer Lee. Lee isn't too shabby of a consolation prize, training partner. But we do see the immediate dividends Taylor has on his wrestlers.
It depends on who puts what weight on how success is defined. Bill is being half glass full (which he typically is, but I think someone hacked his account on the national tourney thread 😉 ) on this season, and the dual meets satisfy one of his points of view for a successful season.
Last time I checked, when it comes to the president’s cup, you don’t get diddly for where you finished ranked during the regular season. Regular season standings are nothing more than a “pat on the back.” Case closed IMHO.
Regular season duals are considered a warmup for the national tournament.
100%…on the mat and grinding day in and day out with wrestlers DT is better than Cael. Not to mention DT has unbelievable backing by OKST donors and they will spend whatever it takes. So between top recruiting, transfers, and development, I’ll put my money on DT to end the PSU reign. And at some point Carl retires and DT either gets the pay raise or a lifetime to stay at OKST or PSU decides to pay a wrestling coach more than Franklin to bring DT home.
There are a lot of good thoughts in this thread. Some not so good. An interesting thread would be a discussion of the whole complexity of building an elite program. The first thing you need to do is build a very good program and then take it to elite. I know there are people in this chat who wrestled, had kids who wrestled, or are just super fans of the sport. All have good perspectives. If you have never wrestled or at least fall into the parent or super fan category it would be very hard for you to understand what goes into this sport. Not a knock on you or saying you can't have a legitimate opinion, but until you go into the sauna in a rubber suit and ride a stationary bike for hours trying to make weight especially if you are injured or sick, its hard to really put yourself in these kids shoes. John Poznanski is questioned and called a quitter, but he was not. You have to know the inner workings of that decision by that kids at that time and be able to put yourself in his place. There are alot of these scenarios every year. The gas tank just runs dry and your done. The hardest part of coaching college wrestling is recruiting. Wrestling is far and away the hardest sport to recruit successfully in college sports. I wrestled Division 1 and later coached Division 1 as a grad assistant where my primary responsibility was recruiting at a time when there was no internet so you had to go to the matches to really see a kids potential or rely on crappy VHS tapes that were mailed to you.
I am not saying Scott should be fired. That is a very difficult decision unless you know you have an outstanding candidate ready to take the program to the next level. That decision could be disaster if you hire the wrong guy and can set you back years.
I am not saying Scott should be fired. That is a very difficult decision unless you know you have an outstanding candidate ready to take the program to the next level. That decision could be disaster if you hire the wrong guy and can set you back years.
I thought Bassett would choose OKST along with JAX. Aside from the money, which amount we really don't know, I don't think Bassett would have chosen Iowa without Lee being there. Regardless, I think Bassett would be better off at OKST.
I don't understand your first sentence. Bill is emotionally attached. The team did have success this year. The regular season has some exciting wins and the usual "close, but no cigar". There were also great disappointments from upsets, inconsistent performances, and POZ quitting. The 11th finish is a coach's ranking. After years of hearing, "It's all about March", we can't discount the tournament results.
Peterson's win over the reigning NC is a favorite moment, along with all PSU losses, and only exceeded by Steveson's loss.
To any of you who are employed and have objectives to meet each year and are appraised on your performance, how would you rate Goodale's performance this year based on his objectives?
https://rutgers.forums.rivals.com/threads/video-scott-goodale-talks-2024-wrestling-media-day.283171/
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For a second, I thought the posts about DT's influence on OK State were about Donald Trump after his celebration with Wyatt last night 🙂
I've tried.
This is very true. Rutgers doesn't have a good record of hiring top coaches. There are 50 years of football coaches who have demonstrated that. Replacing Goodale with anyone other than a big name will likely do little to advance the program. Donny was loved, but he wouldn't be the change agent that's needed.
We will see who develops senior level wrestlers better… Brands or DT. Don’t forget Gilman is with Taylor. Can’t do much better than that in the room.
Iowa just felt like old news this weekend. Hard to describe.
If I’m Bassett I’m having some deep reflection. But having Lee is certainly a draw and the Deluca kid coming in is no slouch himself.
Definitely a monster coup by Cael to bring that guy in. However, I would be cautious of the hype until we see his mat game. Folk style is a different breed.
Agreed entirely, and I think David Taylor’s likability doesn’t make them the villain that John Smith turned them into. I’ll be pulling for OK St for sure.
You’re right, but this doesn’t stop people from throwing a tirade when duals are lost or closer than they should be.
The NCAA should absolutely scrap the team scoring at the tournament and push duals as the deciding factor for team titles. A great dual takes 2 hours compared to the individual tournament that takes 3 days. Significantly more fan friendly and is 100% necessary to stop this sport from fading.
“Coach Scott Goodale is tired of being just a top 20 team with a bunch of NCAA qualifiers. Both Goodale and his team want more this year and with 12 wrestlers who have experience wrestling at the national tournament – two of which are returning All-Americans – the Scarlett Knights are poised to do exactly that. With this year’s #4-ranked recruiting class, it won’t just be experience rocking the block “R”, it’s also youthful depth that will be carrying the squad as well.“
EXACTLY. It all comes down to AAs and national champions. You ask a wrestler during the season what is the team's dual meet record and you are likely to get a blank look, but ask him about his individual record and his weight class, well that is another story.
It won't happen but it'd be very classy if Goodale steps down to give way to new era in RU wrestling. Goodale is fine, but if ordinary fans can all see that his own wrestling credential really is a glorified high school coach (he is not even an all american), you know RU is not beating out good programs for the elite recruits without any baggage. Our wrestlers - minus Goodale but insert Brands, Taylor, or Cael, they are all performing better in practice, performing better in tournaments. Those coaches just have instant credibility and respect of wrestlers, parents, and community. When those coaches tell their wrestlers what they need to do to become all american, they do. Do ours? Also, you cannot teach what you don't know. How does Goodale coach his wrestlers the mindset of a champ when he was never an all american himself? Reading a book? Talking to his own all americans? It is different than hearing from the man himself who have experienced it, b/c to be one, the life style from young age is different, and only then you become a true elite coach.
I actually think Goodale would be a tremendous athletic director as he is very candid, he’s a program builder, and he’s pretty knowledgeable and connected to numerous sports. That said, I’d hesitate to want him to step down. We’ve seen in other sports, particularly football, that the grass is not always greener. The day Schiano left, the football team got run into the ground.
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