No. 13 Rutgers Wrestling Hosts No. 8 Virginia Tech Friday Night
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Get rid of this mindset. Forget “rankings” as it’s all subjective BS. RU was favored on paper to win the match. I don’t care what the rankings said. Two guys that were heavily favored lost.
The fact that VaTech was “ranked higher” doesn’t mean they are better. I’m sure you realize the ranking are based on tournament points not dual format.
If you just go chalk all the way down the line, RU is favored. RU was favored in 6 weights and only won 4. If VaTech was really better, they would have been favored in 6 weights
Some thoughts on the match last night. It was great to get back into the RAC and watch our guys wrestle. The crowd was good and pretty into it (I know it could be louder). Obviously I would have liked a win and was disappointed with a few matches like many here have expressed. Overall, it was a good showing against a top ranked team with a nice handful of hammers. I like our lineup and it's more solid from 125 to Hwt. than most years that I can recall. So here goes and forgive if my memory got anything/anyone mixed up.
Peterson - Looked solid and technically sound against a good opponent. He's getting very positive hype early on in the season.
Shawver- Wrestled tough against a very solid opponent. Can someone explain how he didnt get the takedown which I thought he clearly had? And Goody didnt challenge. A little break here or there and Dylan gets a signature win.
Moore - He's a tough and physical wrestler. The match was a little closer than I was expecting but he controlled the match andgot the win.
Butler - Hung tough with a highly ranked opponent and limited team damage. He impressed me with his neutral defense, especially on deep shots.
Desantis - Wrestled tough and gave a valiant effort against a top guy. Got a takedown to give the crowd a little juice. I liked his fight.
White - Wins the quickest takedown against, probably for the year. Guy next to me was literally bending over to sit down next to me and said "what happened" in the time the whistle blew to White face down on the mat. This was a true freshman
taking White down with ease. White looked like his feet were stuck in cement early and often in the neutral position. Needs to work on that.
Turley - Wrestled tough against an elite wrestler. Lewis is a block and wrestles strong defensively. JT was over matched but gave Lewis a fight. I was glad to see Lewis huffing and puffing while JT's conditioning seemed pretty good this early on in the season (remember last year?)
Soldano - Love watching him wrestle but he cant work his high school magic against good opponents. He will continue to struggle if he thinks he can consistently
create scoring from deep shots by the opponent and sitting/spooning when on
top. He gave up too many points and dug a deep hole but almost came back. Just a little too late and he did seem under sized.
Poz - Wrestled a sound and solid match. Smith looked significantly bigger. Poz took it to him and earned the workmanlike victory.
Yara - I was hoping to see a little more out of him but maybe he was limited by Catka's
size and strength. He is agile (so was Catka for such a big dude). Yara with a slick takedown to seal the deal.
Summary: I'm disappointed with the loss but it's against a top 5 team. We had a couple of hiccups when we needed a very solid match by each and every wrestler. I thought the stall calls were disproportionately against us (even though we deserved some) but Tech didnt get their share. And WTF on the touching off the mat? Tech does it two or three times intentionally without a call. Then we do it once and it's a stall call. One last thing, and I said this pre match, if we dont win the takedown battle (traditionally we struggle on our feet vs good opponents), we will struggle as a team vs better programs...especially with 3 pts takedowns. For those who decided to read my entire ramble for the morning, thanks for taking the time. I feel better now.
Peterson - Looked solid and technically sound against a good opponent. He's getting very positive hype early on in the season.
Shawver- Wrestled tough against a very solid opponent. Can someone explain how he didnt get the takedown which I thought he clearly had? And Goody didnt challenge. A little break here or there and Dylan gets a signature win.
Moore - He's a tough and physical wrestler. The match was a little closer than I was expecting but he controlled the match andgot the win.
Butler - Hung tough with a highly ranked opponent and limited team damage. He impressed me with his neutral defense, especially on deep shots.
Desantis - Wrestled tough and gave a valiant effort against a top guy. Got a takedown to give the crowd a little juice. I liked his fight.
White - Wins the quickest takedown against, probably for the year. Guy next to me was literally bending over to sit down next to me and said "what happened" in the time the whistle blew to White face down on the mat. This was a true freshman
taking White down with ease. White looked like his feet were stuck in cement early and often in the neutral position. Needs to work on that.
Turley - Wrestled tough against an elite wrestler. Lewis is a block and wrestles strong defensively. JT was over matched but gave Lewis a fight. I was glad to see Lewis huffing and puffing while JT's conditioning seemed pretty good this early on in the season (remember last year?)
Soldano - Love watching him wrestle but he cant work his high school magic against good opponents. He will continue to struggle if he thinks he can consistently
create scoring from deep shots by the opponent and sitting/spooning when on
top. He gave up too many points and dug a deep hole but almost came back. Just a little too late and he did seem under sized.
Poz - Wrestled a sound and solid match. Smith looked significantly bigger. Poz took it to him and earned the workmanlike victory.
Yara - I was hoping to see a little more out of him but maybe he was limited by Catka's
size and strength. He is agile (so was Catka for such a big dude). Yara with a slick takedown to seal the deal.
Summary: I'm disappointed with the loss but it's against a top 5 team. We had a couple of hiccups when we needed a very solid match by each and every wrestler. I thought the stall calls were disproportionately against us (even though we deserved some) but Tech didnt get their share. And WTF on the touching off the mat? Tech does it two or three times intentionally without a call. Then we do it once and it's a stall call. One last thing, and I said this pre match, if we dont win the takedown battle (traditionally we struggle on our feet vs good opponents), we will struggle as a team vs better programs...especially with 3 pts takedowns. For those who decided to read my entire ramble for the morning, thanks for taking the time. I feel better now.
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You can’t say “rankings are subject” and then make an argument for one team being better than the other on paper. It’s the same logic.
Fact if the matter is Soldano wrestled sloppy and White probably shouldn’t have been ranked coming in. I don’t know how to fix the 165 cycle of weakness. We haven’t had even a decent one there since Glasgow and his situation was a mess.
What I’m saying is the “Team Rankings” is potential Tournament Points. It’s not a dual team ranking.
In a dual..RU was favored 6-4. So it’s disengenous to say “well we lost to a top 5-10” team, when in reality, tournament (which favors higher ranked individual points) and duals are different. RU was favored in this dual no if’s ands or buts.
It sucked. Soldano and White blew it. But let’s not lighten the blow by claiming Va Tech was a top 5 tournament team when RU was the favorite in dual format especially with VaTech starter out at 165
This one stung..it’s one thing to lose a few toss ups but it stings when your favorites lose to guys that shouldn’t be sniffing their jocks
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Rutgers is only favored on paper because those same ranking have white as the #21 165lb in the country… which he is not and Soldano as the #7 184lb in the country… which he is not. So I guess to your original point, we can throw the rankings out the window.
In hindsight, the 184 was probably closer than we thought going in. Both wrestlers were R16 guys last year
165 I have nothing more to say without piling on the kid
Agree. Kid took a bad loss and must feel horrible enough. Wasn’t my intention to pile on either of the kids that lost.
I think the frustration with Goodale comes from the fact that NJ is a top 3 wrestling state and the fans are used to seeing success at the high school level so the expectation is the same for RU. I agree that it is frustrating to watch a team with such tremendous hometown wrestling not be able to beat teams like VT that don’t have the same level of wrestling at the HS level. Then seeing these high school kids go out of state to a VT for example boils down to recruiting and that boils down to coaching so, yes, in my opinion the coaching needs to step up. I can appreciate what Goodale has done for the program but at some point the athletic department has to decide if a 20th ranking is good enough because that’s what it’s going to be under Goodale and he hasn’t shown otherwise. Not saying that’s not good but for RU we should be better (perpetually top 10). It’ll never happen but Damion Hahn is the pipe dream for me.
Not toss up bouts. Just stating the obvious that some of our ranked guys are not as good as those rankings. I am a little surprised that a large contingency of fans thought a wrestler who wasn’t great last year was going to jump up 3 weight classes in a season and be drastically improved.
The head coach deserves a great amount of credit for his enthusiasm and the environment at the RAC. He is a showman during the matches who is fun to watch. He has taken the program from the dumps to a respectable level. Can't complain about over 5,000 fans at a match.
The fans and administration have reacted to his enthusiasm by showing up, donating, and building one of the best wrestling practice facilities in the country. We have great university support for wrestlers at our top ranked research university. There is not much a recruit could want that we don't have. This will help us continue to get top ranked recruits. Hobbs gets credit for providing what is needed to be a top 10 program. I don't see the type of program that Jersey fans and donors deserve happening under Goodale's leadership
Coach Goodale is a prime example of the Peter Principle. This is not bad. He has reached his highest potential as a coach. He should do the right thing - step down and assume a promotional position in the Athletic Department. He would be a great ambassador and spokesperson for Rutgers Athletics. There is no one better than Goodale in selling Rutgers wrestling. Let him do what he does best, Then, hire a coaching staff that will get us to be a consistent top 10 program. The Rutgers faithful and Rutgers wrestlers deserve it.
The fans and administration have reacted to his enthusiasm by showing up, donating, and building one of the best wrestling practice facilities in the country. We have great university support for wrestlers at our top ranked research university. There is not much a recruit could want that we don't have. This will help us continue to get top ranked recruits. Hobbs gets credit for providing what is needed to be a top 10 program. I don't see the type of program that Jersey fans and donors deserve happening under Goodale's leadership
Coach Goodale is a prime example of the Peter Principle. This is not bad. He has reached his highest potential as a coach. He should do the right thing - step down and assume a promotional position in the Athletic Department. He would be a great ambassador and spokesperson for Rutgers Athletics. There is no one better than Goodale in selling Rutgers wrestling. Let him do what he does best, Then, hire a coaching staff that will get us to be a consistent top 10 program. The Rutgers faithful and Rutgers wrestlers deserve it.
So Coach Goodale should "give up" a $287 K job for a position that does not exist in the Athletic Department? I suggest you look at what some of the promotional salaries are in the Athletic Department. NONE pay anywhere near his current salary.
I believe that Coach Goodale is a man of integrity and will do the right thing. I don't think he wants to stay beyond his time, hurt his legacy and rip the university off. We all have experienced a Rutgers coach staying too long. I think we had a recent head basketball coach do that. Goodale is loyal to the fans and doesn't want to disappoint us.
Was Marco Battaglia's position filled when he moved from Assistant Athletic Director to Special Advisor to Kimberly Hopely. Whatever the case, Hobbs is smart and creative. He sees the direction we are moving and doesn't want us to go backward. He knows how to honor Goodale and seek a coach to take us to the next level.
Who are you going to get to replace Goodale?
If you don't hire Donny P., you can count on him leaving.
Donny P. is regarded as a Top Assistant.
I understand frustration, but I am not sure we can realistically get someone better (Unless we hire Donny P and add a former National CHamp as an assistant).
IMO, 125, 197 and 285 give us the best chance at AA. I love Soldano, but he has to harness his style and lives and dies with his Funk.
Who are you going to get to replace Goodale?
Donny Pritzlaff Head Coach - two time national champ and 3rd in the world - Highly Respected in the Wrestling Community-
Sebastian Rivera - A 2024 Olympian, 2nd in the world in 2023, Beat Spencer Lee multiple times - Kids love him -Will be a terror on the recruiting trail. - A Jersey man through and through
Zach Rey - Former Heavyweight national champ and 3 time All American at Lehigh - Has great relationship with Buxton and Pritzaff. Would love opportunity to be in the Big Ten and win a Team Trophy. Knows that Lehigh is not providing its traditional support for wrestling.
Jeff Buxton - The best technician around - Rivera and Pritzlaff work great with him. Coached multiple national champions - Internationally respected - No one lives wrestling more than Buxton. He will attract top high school kids
Donny Pritzlaff Head Coach - two time national champ and 3rd in the world - Highly Respected in the Wrestling Community-
Sebastian Rivera - A 2024 Olympian, 2nd in the world in 2023, Beat Spencer Lee multiple times - Kids love him -Will be a terror on the recruiting trail. - A Jersey man through and through
Zach Rey - Former Heavyweight national champ and 3 time All American at Lehigh - Has great relationship with Buxton and Pritzaff. Would love opportunity to be in the Big Ten and win a Team Trophy. Knows that Lehigh is not providing its traditional support for wrestling.
Jeff Buxton - The best technician around - Rivera and Pritzlaff work great with him. Coached multiple national champions - Internationally respected - No one lives wrestling more than Buxton. He will attract top high school kids
So 3 of your 4 solutions are guys that are already in the room so how does that change anything
If we are replacing Goodale, I say you try to bring Damion Hahn home.
That's a pretty accurate assessment. We should recognize that the end result is pretty much what should have been expected. The irrational exuberance was just the usual phase before the reality match each year. Overall, it was a good performance, aside from Soldano's unexpected loss. He will do well and do even better if he becomes more of an all-around wrestler.
Shawver was impressive. He has shown the ability to wrestle up in weight. I think he will do well this year. Moore really does need to do more than the decapitation routine. I suggested he should develop a good tilt, still think so. Butler will likely have a similar year to White.
Whenever Clark comes back, the layoff will have had a toll on him. White still has a lot to prove up two weight classes. Turley fought hard. Compare that to every other year at this point. He will improve his performance steadily and maybe surprise some people at the end. I'm rooting for him.
Already discussed Soldano. He'll be exciting. He'd better learn to supplement, which he has the talent to do. I hope his first year isn't going to be his best. That's been a concern of mine over the years with several wrestlers. So far, Poz's best year was his first. I'm hoping Poz improves steadily. Yara-Slav had the struggle I was expecting from Catca. Some here underestimated Catca. We'll be solid at heavy unless Yara-Slav has an injury, then not so good.
I’ve wondered if it’d be possible to lure Steve Mocco back to coaching the college ranks. Not sure RU would take a flier on an unproven over Goodale and I wouldn’t blame them. Doesn’t get much bigger than that for NJ legends. Just a thought and don’t think it’s something I’d want for the program really but could be fun to kick around the idea.
Buxton and Mocco are tight. But Mocco’s club and his kids, not to mention the FL weather, would probably make it a challenge unless RU made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
The kid that beat White is one of their top recruits from Brazil and is now 6-0 on the year. VT is a top 8 team and was #4 early on. Did I want to win? Sure. Disappointed? Yes. But Shawver totally outwresteld an AA and had 4 or 5 TDS on him that Latona fought off. Brian was a tough loss. If he gets that TD at the end against a top kid we still lose in a 5-5 match. Ok wail away folks.
I did not expect Rutgers to win this match, so I think I’m a little less excited than some of the other folks in the forum. I did however expect them to look better offensively. With such an emphasis being put on the neutral position by the NCAA this off-season one would think that would be an area of focus. But it sure didn’t seem that way from yesterdays match. It’s nice that shawver was in on 4-5 deep shots, but last I checked, points don’t get awarded for being in. Have to finish. This team as a whole has to be more aggressive from neutral, take and finish more shots. You don’t have ti look far to see other teams with much better offensive prowess from neutral. More varied attacks, reattacks, etc. I see very few elite wrestlers pulling their opponents into their legs falling to their butt and then trying to bridge and hip and scramble into an advantageous position.
wngarbarini has a stellar reputation and I don't think he would intentionally mislead us. The board respects him. It is possible that someone fed him misleading information or he didn't have the complete details.
Rafael Hipolito, the kid that beat White, is a true freshman 157 pounder. Yes, he is now 6-0. Prior to last night, all his victories were at 157 pounds in the freshman/sophomore division at the Southeast open held on November 4th. Last December, when he was a high school senior he lost to Alessio Perentin, a high school sophomore at the Beast of the East Tournament. Perentin is a very good high school wrestler from Delbarton who is currently ranked 9th in his high school weight class. I believe Perentin gave a verbal to attend Cornell.. Hipolito's style was not a surprise to Goodale. In his post match interview, he said he "watched Hipolito a ton" including at Fargo.
Sam Fisher the kid that beat Soldano was pinned by Ryder Rogotzke, a redshirt freshman from Ohio State a week ago. Prior to last night's match Soldano was ranked 7th by Flo and Fisher was ranked 20th. Soldano was well scouted and will need to modify his style to beat top wrestlers whose coaches have scouted him.
I agree that Shawver looked really good.
SCNJ - There is a big difference between being in the room and being an NCAA coach. The NCAA permits only 4 coaches per team. Both Buxton and Rivera work for the SKWC. They are not under contract to Rutgers or paid by Rutgers. They can not recruit. There are only certain types of practices they can run.. There are strict rules that limit what they are allowed to do.
Your original question was:"Who are you going to get to replace Goodale?"
SCNJ: You seem to be an objective person. Which coaching group do you believe would best for Rutgers. The current group of Goodale, Pritzlaff, Pollard and Mytch or the possible group of Pritzlaff, Rivera, Rey, and Buxton?
Shawver didn't get take down because of rule change. Last year it would have been a take down. This year rule change is wrestler must have full control through entire takedown. The VT kid only hit mat for a moment and Shawver didn't control after he hit mat. I thought same thing as you and thought and it was a takedown. I was sitting next to a D! wrestler from Rider who explained new rule to me.
The current group. Mytych and Pollard have been instrumental in recruiting since coming aboard. I don’t know why you think things would be drastically different by shuffling chairs around.
Thanks for the explanation. So what happens now on the edge of the circle when two legs are secured, the defensive wrestler is stretching out of bounds, and offense is barely holding on both legs by the ankles?. In the past, that was a TD, but I wouldnt call that full control under how you explained it for this year's rules.
They got rid of the hand touch rule but I thought the hip touching the mat was enough control, even if only for a second?
Attached from NCAA website.
https://www.ncaa.org/news/2023/6/8/media-center-3-point-takedown-approved-in-wrestling.aspx
"Eliminating the hand-touch takedown also was approved by the panel. Rules committee members think demonstrating control is an important component of college wrestling, so it made sense to eliminate the hand-touch takedown in favor of a single requirement for all takedowns. "
https://www.ncaa.org/news/2023/6/8/media-center-3-point-takedown-approved-in-wrestling.aspx
Attached from NCAA Wrestling website:
"Eliminating the hand-touch takedown also was approved by the panel. Rules committee members think demonstrating control is an important component of college wrestling, so it made sense to eliminate the hand-touch takedown in favor of a single requirement for all takedowns."
I think this new rule makes for more coach-wrestler / ref confrontation and confusion. The refs will have to define "demonstrating control" which is up to interpretation, There was no interpretation with hand touch rule.
Hip touching the mat is far different than hand touch. I agree this looks to be setting up some interesting confrontations.
And it was a November 17th Dual meet...It's going to be a Great season On The Banks of Raritan ...Lets Go RU!
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Didn't see this mentioned - parking at the RAC/JMC was $30 for the VT match.
I do realize that a season pass was offered at a significant discount. Whether you’re a season ticket holder that can only make it to a few big matches or a day-of walk-up, though, $30 is unreasonable.
It’s a free country – RU can charge what they’d like. They won’t be getting my $30 again – nor will they be getting my season ticket money moving forward.
I do realize that a season pass was offered at a significant discount. Whether you’re a season ticket holder that can only make it to a few big matches or a day-of walk-up, though, $30 is unreasonable.
It’s a free country – RU can charge what they’d like. They won’t be getting my $30 again – nor will they be getting my season ticket money moving forward.
Ouch!! Might want to forward that message to the athletic department. They need to see what the fans are thinking.. I suspect the cost wont come down thoghh unless they are using some kind of dynimic pricing model.
Valet? Leave it to Rutgers to shoot themselves in the foot. That has to be more than it costs to attend, no? Let's build interest in wrestling, then discourage people from coming. Is there anyone there that can put 2+2 together? Or am I out of touch with NJ cost of living?
The 30 dollar parking is outrageous.. it’s gonna turn off a lot of people.
$30 parking is nuts. Used to be $10 for wrestling, I don’t think they even charge 30 for football at the RAC
The casual walkup fan will get hosed once and simply not return. No wonder you can buy tickets for MBB tonight in the resale market for $4. This is not a good business model to build a fan base on. And this is before we renovate the building and probably take on additional debt. $$$$
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