Wrestling 2026 Rutgers NCAA Tournament Thread

koleszar

Heisman
Jan 1, 2010
37,269
58,534
113
Yes we will be behind Princeton, Rider, Indiana and Minnesota who all lost to us decidedly in dual meets.
That doesn't make me feel any better about our current situation. The lower and middle weights (1-10) simply did not come out prepared to wrestle in a National Tournament. It's wash, rinse and repeat. Goodale needs to figure it out and he hasn't been able to.
 

rpiseman

All-Conference
Dec 30, 2004
2,434
4,238
98
We have a bunch of guys ranked 18-30….an ok dual team…no where near good enough to make noise at the ncaa tournament
 
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Kiddagger311

Junior
Sep 17, 2025
618
372
63
Yes we will be behind Princeton, Rider, Indiana and Minnesota who all lost to us decidedly in dual meets.
Speaking of dual meets, looks like RU’s #11th dual meet ranking won’t be enough to qualify RU for Paycom’s Dual Meet Tournament again…
 

njsportsphan

All-Conference
Jan 26, 2021
1,058
1,060
113
This has been an abysmal performance. six (arguably 7) of the 9 wrestlers were completely outclassed and perhaps outcoached. There was zero killer instinct in any of their matches. Just hard to watch, since they have the skillset to wrestle tougher.

It really pains me to see how good Columbia (of all schools) is doing. What a great job our former staff is doing there. Being behind Princeton and Rider is the cherry on top.

I'm very happy that we'll be moving on from a lot of our older guys. No doubt, they gave it their all over the years, but the game has changed and it's a younger mans sport now. Time for the new wave to get their matches in. Recruiting has been better, but hopefully they can develop.
 
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koleszar

Heisman
Jan 1, 2010
37,269
58,534
113
I'm very happy that we'll be moving on from a lot of our older guys. No doubt, they gave it their all over the years, but the game has changed and it's a younger mans sport now. Time for the new wave to get their matches in. Recruiting has been better, but hopefully they can develop.
If Knox is going 125 hopefully we can spend money on a seasoned transfer 133 lber (this weight is bare talent wise), we also need a Hwt.. Hopefully hit more like a Cotton/Catka instead of the wasted money on Pinto.
 
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AreYouNUTS

Heisman
Aug 1, 2001
123,089
56,997
113
This is an epic underachievement. I can understand not getting an AA, but the first round was brutal.
This isn’t an NIL thing. Obviously lack of NIL funds prevents us from getting the upper echelon type wrestlers that would be a shoe in for AA, but what happened yesterday is unacceptable after the season we had.
On the bright side, it looks like our ability to land a top rated guy or two may have changed with the addition of Knox next year so we’ll see what next year brings, but this hasn’t been fun
9 guys into the tournament. 7 points going into Friday night. Absolutely PATHETIC….. I don’t wanna hear anyone tell me I’m wrong.

How many qualifiers did the 10 teams in front of us show up with in Cleveland?
 
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SirScarlet

Heisman
Jun 27, 2001
27,221
44,261
113
9 guys into the tournament. 7 points going into Friday night. Absolutely PATHETIC….. I don’t wanna hear anyone tell me I’m wrong.

How many qualifiers did the 10 teams in front of us show up with in Cleveland?
You're definitely not wrong :(
 
Feb 2, 2019
2,488
1,160
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If Knox is going 125 hopefully we can spend money on a seasoned transfer 133 lber (this weight is bare talent wise), we also need a Hwt.. Hopefully hit more like a Cotton/Catka instead of the wasted money on Pinto.
You would have to know a recruit like Pinto was "a waste of money". I didn't. I thought he was a good get. We haven't seen yet what Gibson can do at 133.
 

koleszar

Heisman
Jan 1, 2010
37,269
58,534
113
You would have to know a recruit like Pinto was "a waste of money". I didn't. I thought he was a good get. We haven't seen yet what Gibson can do at 133.
No one did and if you read again not my point. "Hopefully hit more like a Cotton/Cafka instead..." We're not going to be able to afford a surefire AA but need to identify a proven guy with qualifier experience.

I would not pin my hopes and Gibson suddenly making a miraculous jump. Goodale needs to find a proven guy. If he was that good he wouldn't have been losing to guys with losing records even at 141.
 

Crackersisback

Sophomore
Jul 2, 2025
397
199
43
You would have to know a recruit like Pinto was "a waste of money". I didn't. I thought he was a good get. We haven't seen yet what Gibson can do at 133.
I thought he was a great get too. I was expecting a top 4 finish. And here we are holding the bag again with another waste of money transfer. The problem is, is that there's too many distractions at rutgers. There is no culture with our program. When you talk to kids from pennsylvania , ohio and iowa , their dreams as kids are to wrestle for penn state , ohio state and iowa. As others have mentioned , goody is a great facilitator but not a good coach. He knows all the ins and outs of running a program from a financial and logistical standpoint. He's a businessman first, coach second. To his credit , he has taken a broken program and brought it to marginal success, but it's over twenty years later , and we are not progressing. If we were Rhode Island Massachusetts, Vermont, New hampshire, We would be consider a success by a long shot. But being arguably the second best wrestling state in the country we are considered a failure. It's not his fault.He's not a big name. Kids want to be mentored and trained by big name, accomplished wrestlers. It gives them a sense of confidence and desired attainment.
 
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Barrellroll

Freshman
Dec 9, 2025
72
68
18
Yes we will be behind Princeton, Rider, Indiana and Minnesota who all lost to us decidedly in dual meets.
The standard is the standard. It is where you finish at the national
Tournament. At the end of the day, dual meets are entertaining and build fan support. But, don’t try to move the goalposts . We all know what the standard is in wrestling,
 

NJwrestling26

Senior
Oct 16, 2025
548
790
93
It’s nice that we recruit Pa and Cali finally but to be a big time program you need to dominate recruiting in your own back yard. 3 semi finalists from NJ and 10 in the R12 and 0 of them wrestle for us for (2 did and transferred). That’s not good enough, hopefully Knox Is the start of getting that on track
 
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tru2ru1

All-Conference
Feb 5, 2003
5,667
3,326
66
If Knox is going 125 hopefully we can spend money on a seasoned transfer 133 lber (this weight is bare talent wise), we also need a Hwt.. Hopefully hit more like a Cotton/Catka instead of the wasted money on Pinto.
So you want Goody to recruit someone who will not need knee surgery in the middle of the season
 
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Feb 2, 2019
2,488
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The standard is the standard. It is where you finish at the national
Tournament. At the end of the day, dual meets are entertaining and build fan support. But, don’t try to move the goalposts . We all know what the standard is in wrestling,
If everyone says it's all about March, and the coach buys into it, then it's all important, but I believe the dual-meet season is important, too. They can and should both be important. Just think of the disappointment in this forum when we don't wrestle well during the season. Rutgers has thousands of fans who come to see dual meets, and they don't want to be disappointed. It's too easy to excuse season performance because of March, or vice versa. Both are important.
 

NJwrestling26

Senior
Oct 16, 2025
548
790
93
If everyone says it's all about March, and the coach buys into it, then it's all important, but I believe the dual-meet season is important, too. They can and should both be important. Just think of the disappointment in this forum when we don't wrestle well during the season. Rutgers has thousands of fans who come to see dual meets, and they don't want to be disappointed. It's too easy to excuse season performance because of March, or vice versa. Both are important.
Both are important but finishing behind rider , Princeton and columbia is unacceptable. It’s not like those schools are ahead of us because of 1 big star McGowan is going to outscore our entire team and he was a 10 seed who DNP last year. Klinsky from Rider has. 6.5 points 9 Rutgers wrestlers have 7. Columbia has a semi finalist and 2 or 3 guýs in the blood round even hardcore fans never heard of.
 
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koleszar

Heisman
Jan 1, 2010
37,269
58,534
113
One thing I think not being discussed is Grey's Cornell team having one of the worst season since I can't even remember. Currently sit in 18th place with none left in the Championship bracket and only 4 left in the blood round. This is like decades bad.
 
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NJwrestling26

Senior
Oct 16, 2025
548
790
93
One thing I think not being discussed is Grey's Cornell team having one of the worst season since I can't even remember. Currently sit in 18th place with none left in the Championship bracket and only 4 left in the blood round.
3 of those guys might come back and take 3rd and all 4 are favored in the R12 and they greyshirted both Dellagattas and Periten. Cerchio couldn’t hold 165 late in the season and had to bump up to 184. They ll be much better every point scorer is back next year most of them are freshman/sophomores
 

Kiddagger311

Junior
Sep 17, 2025
618
372
63
One thing I think not being discussed is Grey's Cornell team having one of the worst season since I can't even remember. Currently sit in 18th place with none left in the Championship bracket and only 4 left in the blood round. This is like decades bad.
Looks like Knox left at the right time ;)
 

NJwrestling26

Senior
Oct 16, 2025
548
790
93
The whole wrestling community is rooting for Arnold and I can’t stand this kid, he just stalls and stalls and stalls and never even gets a warning. I hope Cotton smashes him early bc close matches the refs will let him run away
 

Leonard23

Heisman
Feb 2, 2006
30,019
12,253
113
It’s nice that we recruit Pa and Cali finally but to be a big time program you need to dominate recruiting in your own back yard. 3 semi finalists from NJ and 10 in the R12 and 0 of them wrestle for us for (2 did and transferred). That’s not good enough, hopefully Knox Is the start of getting that on track
Unless you get JB, we aren't dominating NJ recruiting, and even then it's not going to be easy. NJ kids love to go elsewhere, especially from the top parochials.
Both are important but finishing behind rider , Princeton and columbia is unacceptable. It’s not like those schools are ahead of us because of 1 big star McGowan is going to outscore our entire team and he was a 10 seed who DNP last year. Klinsky from Rider has. 6.5 points 9 Rutgers wrestlers have 7. Columbia has a semi finalist and 2 or 3 guýs in the blood round even hardcore fans never heard of.
Columbia has Alvan in semis & Owen in blood round.
 

koleszar

Heisman
Jan 1, 2010
37,269
58,534
113
3 of those guys might come back and take 3rd and all 4 are favored in the R12 and they greyshirted both Dellagattas and Periten. Cerchio couldn’t hold 165 late in the season and had to bump up to 184. They ll be much better every point scorer is back next year most of them are freshman/sophomores
Nice but not many make excuses here for our performance, if we were all Cornell fans and on the Cornell Wrestling Forum, we'd all be ripping Grey a new a$$hole.
 
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