A safe space for those how like to hang on the nuts of mediocracy. You know who you are.....
Thread for those who say "Second is still pretty good"
- Thread starter grasshawk40
- Start date
LMFAO. As if I ever said you shouldn't want 1st? I am sorry if you can't adjust to REALITY, but PSU has created a juggernaught of incomparable proportions. If you want to judge your results as fail only because you keep finishing behind them, go for it.
I, on the other hand, will live in the real world and give PSU their due. Iowa isn't hot garbage. They have the 2nd greenest yard in the neighborhood and it hasn't even been close. You want to tear up that yard just to try to catch the ONLY one better, go ahead. But, be ready for the REAL possibility that yard looks really bad when it gets torn up, stays bad for quite some time and, quite possibly, never even gets as green again...
I, on the other hand, will live in the real world and give PSU their due. Iowa isn't hot garbage. They have the 2nd greenest yard in the neighborhood and it hasn't even been close. You want to tear up that yard just to try to catch the ONLY one better, go ahead. But, be ready for the REAL possibility that yard looks really bad when it gets torn up, stays bad for quite some time and, quite possibly, never even gets as green again...
Second is pretty good...better than 3 through 77...not as good as 1...but pretty good
Spoken like a true Buffalo Bill's fan...
Agree with a lot of that. You'll never believe it, but, as i read this, my wife told me to mow the yard. (Pictures of wife not available)
We’re in the best part of summer on the west coast.
I live in Minnesota and I've got to mow today. Sigh . . .
If you guys don’t like second, feel free to ship that over to Ames. I’d be very happy.
Me too, not far from the Canada border. Mowed a week ago, already need to mow parts again. And I have one of those sandy/crappy 3rd+ place yards MSU was referencing. My dogs and I do fertilize it alot, but jeez.
You best be mowing when it’s windy, otherwise you should be out after the golden eyes
I'll bet you don't mow in the month of May either? I live in Illinois and will be mowing for another month.
I usually mow multiple times in May. My grass hasn't currently needed mowing for maybe three weeks.
Since you asked
2nd twice
3rd twice
4th twice
5th twice
1st once (would have been twice if not for Covid)
Only 9 NCAAs in the last decade.
You will only find one team that has done better in those years. So second is a fair/accurate characterization.
I just don’t understand how those who cheer for the Iowa wrestling program can be so desensitized to being ok with sh*tty recruiting classes year after year, having to buy guys for 1 year, guys constantly getting hurt, being ok with competing for a trophy, but hey we like our guys were moving forward. Women’s freestyle is more fun to watch anyways I guess.
Tom Brands - 2006
"The challenge is the same every year. The battle is in-state. The battle is Big Ten and regional. The battle is national. The battle is planet Earth. If they find life out there, then the battle will be universal."
I kind of miss the younger unhinged version of Tom lolTom Brands - 2006
"The challenge is the same every year. The battle is in-state. The battle is Big Ten and regional. The battle is national. The battle is planet Earth. If they find life out there, then the battle will be universal."
Well if we are being honest with ourselves Brands has only really ridden 2 waves to greatness as a coach.
First wave with combining 2 recruiting classes from Zalesky and VT- which resulted in 3 team titles- prior to Cael landing in the best recruiting hotbed of PA
Second wave off the Spencer Lee signing which reinvented the program for a bit ( I think Perry coming back helped too)- resulted in 1 team title and we all know should have been 2
I thought maybe just maybe Bo Bassett committing, getting his brother could potentially create a 3rd wave
two perfect storms have passed and I dont see another wave coming in with Brands remaining time. Just seems flat.
However, I am not getting rid of Brands until you can tell me who would be better? I dont have that answer with DT out of play now.
Given that- I would shake up the assistants and the HWC- to create a ripple effect. Now what does that look like- no idea
First wave with combining 2 recruiting classes from Zalesky and VT- which resulted in 3 team titles- prior to Cael landing in the best recruiting hotbed of PA
Second wave off the Spencer Lee signing which reinvented the program for a bit ( I think Perry coming back helped too)- resulted in 1 team title and we all know should have been 2
I thought maybe just maybe Bo Bassett committing, getting his brother could potentially create a 3rd wave
two perfect storms have passed and I dont see another wave coming in with Brands remaining time. Just seems flat.
However, I am not getting rid of Brands until you can tell me who would be better? I dont have that answer with DT out of play now.
Given that- I would shake up the assistants and the HWC- to create a ripple effect. Now what does that look like- no idea
Good post Stick Kitty.
Iowa's "mediocrity" is no different from that plaguing Minnesota, tOSU, Okla St, Oklahoma, Cornell, ISU, Arizona State, Nebraska, Lehigh, NC State, Michigan, Illinois, Stanford, Rutgers, and everyone else.
Penn St has been getting cream of the crop recruiting classes for over a decade. Just look at the last 3 years:
top 10 p4p recruits (2024-6):
PSU - Lilledahl, Sealey, Ryder, Gibson, Mirasola, Blaze, Duke,
James, Henckel
Iowa - Ferrari, Deluca
Duke, yet to start college, already made the U.S. FS team. Lilledahl and Blaze are top one or two p4p out of HS. Bluest of blue chips.
Iowa rarely gets a consensus #1 or 2 p4p recruit. Spencer Lee was one, and obviously, he's been a superstar. Give us one or two of his caliber every year, and Iowa would start winning some team titles.
Looking forward, the answer has to be better recruiting of HS elites.
Interesting to note, Okla State's recruits in the past 2 years is as good as Penn St's. Gotta believe getting David Taylor as head coach was a big factor.
Iowa's "mediocrity" is no different from that plaguing Minnesota, tOSU, Okla St, Oklahoma, Cornell, ISU, Arizona State, Nebraska, Lehigh, NC State, Michigan, Illinois, Stanford, Rutgers, and everyone else.
Penn St has been getting cream of the crop recruiting classes for over a decade. Just look at the last 3 years:
top 10 p4p recruits (2024-6):
PSU - Lilledahl, Sealey, Ryder, Gibson, Mirasola, Blaze, Duke,
James, Henckel
Iowa - Ferrari, Deluca
Duke, yet to start college, already made the U.S. FS team. Lilledahl and Blaze are top one or two p4p out of HS. Bluest of blue chips.
Iowa rarely gets a consensus #1 or 2 p4p recruit. Spencer Lee was one, and obviously, he's been a superstar. Give us one or two of his caliber every year, and Iowa would start winning some team titles.
Looking forward, the answer has to be better recruiting of HS elites.
Interesting to note, Okla State's recruits in the past 2 years is as good as Penn St's. Gotta believe getting David Taylor as head coach was a big factor.
Poor us. If we'd gone to every home wrestling dual in the past 5 years, we'd have gone home happy with a win 28 times....2 times we lost and could cry a little....28-2 home dual record...93% success rate...better than every team in the country but one... not quite perfect but pretty good and fun to watch
It was funny when Ricky Bobby said "If you not first, you're last". But the reality is that it spoils a lot of good enjoyment of a sport . The Hawks have been pretty impressive over the past decade by any metric except the of some rabid fans.
Very fun to watch them beat on sh*tty big ten teams sure. Then even more fun to watch them get 3rd-5th at nationals all the time.
Several of those teams have recruited as good or better than us for many years but haven’t passed us, with the exception of Nebraska and Oklahoma State for one year, but we still beat both of them in the duel. This shows Brands are good coaches getting the most out of their teams in general. Recruiting high end top 10 kids in bunches is the difference between us and PSU and now Oklahoma State. 2026 was supposed to be the class to bring that last big revival of the Brands era, but was dismantled by Taylor. He literally landed every big name we were after, including the best kid to come out of Iowa since Drake. Bassett was the only top p4p Kid we landed that he recruited, and now he and sadly his more talented brother are still in play for Taylor. All these kids chose Taylor even though he has proven nothing as a coach, and Brands have shown for years that they can get most guys to outperform their high school ranking. It’s all about having a big name and being the hot new commodity as a coach. That’s how Carl built the dynasty, along with innovative ways to get guys money. That’s exactly what Taylor is doing with his billionaire. Brands were the big name young coaches at one time, but the newer generation doesn’t know them as competitors, just old guys with gray hair. I honestly don’t know how Manning is doing it at Nebraska, especially after years of mediocrity. Something doesn’t add up there.
Come on man.
Not having champs is and has killed us. Not having multiple guys on/attempting to make World Teams (Junior, U23, Senior) is killing us.
Taylor may be new and shiny, but he has a real RTC and one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport. 2 champs in his first year. And manning at least has the cognizance to keep upgrading his assistants. Getting Dlagnev and Green on staff was huge. He ain't cheating if that's what you're weirdly implying.
Carl keeps guys healthy at NCAAs, keeps guys motivated all year so they want to make teams in FS season. And like bobbynic said - the playing field is level when it comes to money. We're just choosing to use it in a manner that isn't consistent with winning natty and world titles.
And yeah. Bassett and fam screwed us.
I wasn’t implying Nebraska cheats, I really don’t know how they did this after years of being mediocre and a coach older than Brands. I don’t like the guy, but I’ll give him credit for having the most successful team of his career near the end of the his career.
Really not interested in your bathroom schedule.
I don’t get it. Would like to buy a bowel…..