Portal April 1st
- Thread starter sdvike
- Start date
Of course they are going to use the portal. I'm not against using the portal, it's an available tool to use to make your team better when there are certain situations where unforseen circumstances or even an opportunity to put your lineup over the top. When you need to constantly go to the portal to patch holes from bad recruiting on the front end it's not a good way to build your team. The portal is best used as a want to get situation vs a need to get situation. If you constantly need to get people to make a competent lineup you are not doing something right in the first place.
Regardless you still can't ignore the portal or you're not doing your job. Penn St got Rocco was that because Cael can't recruit and develop?
I'd say the issue, and key difference, lays in the reason you're looking to the portal. PSU has done well to bring guys from the portal that were luxury additions because they've hit on highschool recruiting and development so well. The portal is always going to be risky. You're much better off hitting the portal when you see someone to good to pass up on, or when someone reaches out to you who's too good to say no to. When you HAVE to use the portal to fill 40%-50% of your starting lineup you risk misses a lot more. Portal recruiting out of "desperation" is not the way. Iowa has done more of that than they'd like, and I have to imagine TnT would be the first ones to say that as well.
If it's a 1 year rental you gotta do your homework on them. Every situation is different some you want to fill a weight for one year until a recruit is ready. Getting guys with multiple years is the way to go if everything fits . You can't just go after the talent it's gotta be the right fit as well
Yea I'd say so. Seems like the most successful transfers are multi year. Always exceptions to that rule, Buchanan a positive example for Iowa.
they were filling a specific hole. how many of their AA did not come from the portal?? PS did not need the portal to win.
They had a high level recruit and age group world medalist at the weight Ryder and still got Rocco. Not sure that was a "hole". Everyone is using the portal
you continue to ignore the point…it is not the portal they rely on.
You sure about that? It's been the go to defense for getting beat in recruiting for awhile now... but time and again when we hear from the recruits and Willies of the world it's said to not be the case.
You've missed the point the portal is also part of recruiting
6 of the 7 Iowa all Americans this year were home grown, and the one who wasn’t has been here for 3 years. Not exactly relying on the portal guys for points.
Well, it wasn’t for lack of effort. The season started with a lineup of 6 transfers (including MC).
Not regressing is a win for the Brands. LOL.Maybe, maybe not.He was 3rd the year before with both 1 & 2 graduating. You and @MSU158 can hash that question out.
TNT F suck at recruiting. I dont know how that is even debatable for those that follow this.
Sure. Not sure what that gif has to do with anything though.
Messenbrink and Rocco , say they both transferred to okie st rather then transferring to psu and your last sentence becomes sus
two schools have 10 finalists
I know. just wait until the 27-28 Iowa classes that are the norm for PSU and OSU ( now) every year. Those two classes will close the gap over the great 23, 24,25 ,26 27,28,29,30,31,& 32 classes that PSU and OSU will sign.
They suck at recruiting. But Im sure the portal scrap heap will close the gap. that has proved successful
that would be a mic slam. since PSU has 5 finalist returning and OSU has 4 freshmen finalist returning.
I know. just wait until the 27-28 Iowa classes that are the norm for PSU and OSU ( now) every year. Those two classes will close the gap over the great 23, 24,25 ,26 27,28,29,30,31,& 32 classes that PSU and OSU will sign.
They suck at recruiting. But Im sure the portal scrap heap will close the gap. that has proved successful
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I still want JB to be Iowas HC. I just don’t think Tom is some dummy or an incompetent coach.
I dont think he is a bad coach either. I think he is a bad recruiter. They were arrogant about kids wanting to come to Iowa just to be at Iowa. And when they do try they fail to connect with the right kids or their familys. They have never been what anyone ever would describe as personable outside of their own circle.
I dont understand how that is even debatable at this point.
Really? So they failed to connect with Spencer and his family??? Ayala, Kem, the Bull, Clark, Ferrari, list goes on..... you are talking about ONE family, that wanted to break the rules lol and Brands said no... have you ever met the Brands? Im not in their circle and I met them a few times when I worked at the U of I and they are nice, they are country boys that love to hunt, they helped with a couple of fundraisers ive run and they dont know me... you can complain about how bad you think they are as coaches, but id say they are between 5th and 10th all time coaches, I mean ****, what coaches were winning titles besides Gable during his run??? Cael has flipped the wrestling world into his own personal playground and Brands has still managed titles during this time.
They are old school old guys. It isn't wrong but it doesn't connect with this generation of young wrestlers very well. I would say identifying which top level recruits to chase is very important too. The guys that are less athletic grinder/plodder types tend to choose Iowa. Kennedy would be a great example. Really good wrestler but just missing that speed and length. It isn't a debate about being good coaches as clearly they are good coaches. It is a debate about whether being a good coach is enough to keep the job at the biggest name wrestling school in the land. Is fourth the new first? Is that good enough? Maybe you believe Iowa can win another national team title with Brands as the head coach? Does anyone really believe this?
What does Josh Barr have to do with anything? He was a mid-level recruit who in one redshirt year in the PSU room developed into what looks like a 4-time finalist, 3-time champ. That's typical of Cael's results at PSU and something that the Brands have never gotten.
Barr was #4 on the big board and top 10 on Flo. Thats really stretching the definition of mid-level recruit.
Correct me if I'm wrong but Barr was number 9 on the big board when he committed to PSU. He elevated after. Some fans have joked about the PSU bump that recruits get in the rankings. Cael is very good at identifying which guys will likely keep improving. Body type alone would give hope, but many fans were comparing Barr to Facundo at the time because he shot long distance double legs and was always stuck underneath the other top guys. He was a surprise to most wrestling people with how good he became in this time frame. I agree he was not some mid-level recruit but he was not viewed as a can't miss guy either. I don't think anybody out of his inner circle dreamed he would be this good.
That’s probably all true, just pointing out that top 10 guys aren’t and shouldn’t be labeled mid-level.
Penn State has done a great job of identifying the right guys and developing them.
Josh Barr was #7 on the Flo Big Board. He was a blue chipper.
You keep saying this. Will you please cite the actual data? If their recruiting is so bad, what is good? This upcoming lineup will have top 10 lb4lb recruits at:
125: DeLuca
174: Arnold
184: Ferrari
285: Kuete/Mocco is 13
149: Block and 197: Ludington were just outside the top 10. 141: Bailey is former AA.
Bassett would have helped them fill out 157 or 165 and they would then be looking to the portal at 133 and 157/165 until their giant 2027 haul comes in.
It simply isn’t true that they don’t recruit well. You are just comparing them to PSU when they are doing things NO ONE else has. Until Sanderson, teams NEVER were stacked 15 deep with top 10’s. Hell, the top teams MAYBE had half that.
DT is doing it now, but can it be sustained? Hell, Iowa just did it in the 2027 class.
Simply put, their recruiting does not REMOTELY suck. PSU is just simply THAT far ahead of everyone else…
Josh Barr being labeled a mid level recruit by PSU fans is really an example of Penn State derangement syndrome.
Average PSU fan IQ
The ONLY issue with Barr was what weight he was going to fit into the lineup. There is actually a pretty cool interview with Starocci talking about Barr right when he first hit the wrestling room. From the ONSET Carter knew he was going to be special…
The 2027 class doesn't sign until fall. They don't start classes for ~18 months. In short: Don't count chickens.
I get what you are saying, but commitments are still that. Otherwise you just can’t really talk about recruiting at all. Hell, even the guys that end up in your wrestling room can transfer out midseason now.
At the very least they have a big group of guys that said they want to wrestle for Iowa. Maybe somebody offers them more money, but PSU and OkState don’t seem to have any room to steal those guys away. If Brands is staying, I would expect them to as well..
Correct. And I like your overall sentiment. But you can't talk about it like it's a done deal until it's done. Never could, but especially not these days. (Perhaps you didn't word it quite as well as you wanted to, and I'm overreacting.)
They are still their recruits until they aren’t. I actually detest the NLI no longer being a thing. It’s an over correction to athletes getting paid. A commitment needs to go both ways. But, hey the Wild Wesr is here to stay…
Correct. That's literally the point I'm making. Your post spoke of 2027 in the past tense, which misses the mark. Again, perhaps it didn't come out the way you wanted it to.
They still deserve credit for getting them to verbal. This is especially true when the topic is talking about their being TERRIBLE recruiters. Terrible recruiters DO NOT get that verbal in the first place...