Posted the rankings. Not listed here is the team dual meet ranking at #11.
UNC Wrestling 2025-2026
- Thread starter 81Heel/M1
- Start date
As expected, Evan Henderson has filled 1 of the 2 vacant coaching positions. I’ve included links to the instagram post and the goheels article. He has also been added to the to the coaching staff of the Tar Heel Wrestling Club.
goheels.com
Henderson Named Wrestling Assistant Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics
Henderson, most recently an assistant coach at Lehigh, returns to Chapel Hill following his athletic career with the Tar Heels from 2011-16.
As expected, Evan Henderson has filled 1 of the 2 vacant coaching positions. I’ve included links to the instagram post and the goheels article. He has also been added to the to the coaching staff of the Tar Heel Wrestling Club.
Henderson Named Wrestling Assistant Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics
Henderson, most recently an assistant coach at Lehigh, returns to Chapel Hill following his athletic career with the Tar Heels from 2011-16.
Not a huge surprise to any of us paying attention, which I imagine includes almost everyone in this thread, but nice to have it official
I believe Bates called it first on 12/12/25, posted at the top of page 5.
Bringing in Henderson is awesome from both a folkstyle and freestyle perspective. Huge pickup going forward. Looking forward to following his coaching career and how he helps to develop our guys. Him being in Chapel Hill will bring solid name recognition and experience for guys interested in the senior/international circuit after college. Evan was a beast in his senior level career. Proud he's a Tar Heel and back in Chapel Hill.
I believe we are in fact wrestling UVa tomorrow night. Neves appears to be back in the lineup, but Stinson, Botello, and Showalter are listed as “or” in the lineup at 125, 133, and 165 respectively. Hopefully that is not an indication of injuries. Carrigan is wrestling at 174. WS predicts a tie score 15-15, but called 3 upset wins to UVa to get there. I like our chances to win if Terukina and Hepner are in the lineup and healthy. I could easily see Hepner getting bonus points, and that would be hard for Va to match if it does go 5 wins apiece. Still a lot of good matches on paper, and opportunities for good wins, as half the matches pit wrestlers ranked 13 places apart by WS.
Stanford wrestling has been in the news this week. First they announced that Hunter Garvin (165 -#6) and Lorenzo Norman (174 - #25) are out for the year. Norman was top 10 early in the year, but is only 1-1 on the season. Additionally they announced that Otoguro, Japanese Olympic gold medalist will be doing a 2 year coaching internship from August 2026 - 2028.
UVa tomorrow night at 7 on acc nx.
Stanford wrestling has been in the news this week. First they announced that Hunter Garvin (165 -#6) and Lorenzo Norman (174 - #25) are out for the year. Norman was top 10 early in the year, but is only 1-1 on the season. Additionally they announced that Otoguro, Japanese Olympic gold medalist will be doing a 2 year coaching internship from August 2026 - 2028.
UVa tomorrow night at 7 on acc nx.
Virginia is better this year. But we’re over-achievers. Let’s go! Should be a great match!
(What’s with WS predicting upsets against and not for us? Bulletin board)
(What’s with WS predicting upsets against and not for us? Bulletin board)
I couldn’t believe WS was right that we would be fighting to beat a tie with UVa. Thankfully, it was not that close. Next week state in Raleigh. They are wrestling at Stanford tonight at 10. They beat UVa by 2 last week, so it will be interesting to see how the next week goes.
I thought Hepner would dominate his match, but it was a solid decision. Oakley, Simcox, Root, and Neves also had good solid wins. Dailey and Platt were dominant in their matches. One of the matches we lost was Stinson filling in for Terukina. Two comments here. First, I would have loved seeing Terukina wrestle that match. Second, Roller has wrestled 2 acc matches against backups, after #1 ranked Robinson set out their matches last week.
Good win tonight.
I thought Hepner would dominate his match, but it was a solid decision. Oakley, Simcox, Root, and Neves also had good solid wins. Dailey and Platt were dominant in their matches. One of the matches we lost was Stinson filling in for Terukina. Two comments here. First, I would have loved seeing Terukina wrestle that match. Second, Roller has wrestled 2 acc matches against backups, after #1 ranked Robinson set out their matches last week.
Good win tonight.
Thought it was going to be a tough night earlier as the referee was aggressive in making stall calls against us that weren't given to us in similar situations.
Anyone watching NCSU-Stanford? Through 7 matches State up 16-14.
I agree that the ref was aggressive with some of the stall calls against us, fortunately we managed to wrestle well enough that the stall calls didn't really matter in the end. And the NSCU-Stanford ended up a 21-20 win for State, Stanford's 125 upset #1 Robinson for State being the most interesting individual result.
Also thought the stall warnings were more aggressive against us than for us. Thought the announcer was pretty good overall, and mostly tried to be fair.
I watched some of the state vs Stanford match last night, and more this morning. Provo beating Robinson was big. There were 2 pins. Kid from Stanford put himself on his back at 141, and at 197 the state kid just didn’t react as quick as Stanford when he was pulled backwards to the mat.
Next week state will be expected to win 4 matches (125, 149, 174, and 285). We should win 2 (157 and 184) if state uses the same lineup. We will need to probably win all of the toss up matches for the team to win the match, absent an upset in one of the matches where they are favored. Note that state has a possible better option at 157 (Zepeda), but I am not sure why he didn’t wrestle last night. Arrington is out for the season also at 157.
I watched some of the state vs Stanford match last night, and more this morning. Provo beating Robinson was big. There were 2 pins. Kid from Stanford put himself on his back at 141, and at 197 the state kid just didn’t react as quick as Stanford when he was pulled backwards to the mat.
Next week state will be expected to win 4 matches (125, 149, 174, and 285). We should win 2 (157 and 184) if state uses the same lineup. We will need to probably win all of the toss up matches for the team to win the match, absent an upset in one of the matches where they are favored. Note that state has a possible better option at 157 (Zepeda), but I am not sure why he didn’t wrestle last night. Arrington is out for the season also at 157.
That was pretty much an a$$-kickin. I love how aggressive we are this year. Root, Dailey, and Platt come to mind in last night’s match as very aggressive from the first whistle.
Root had a ranked win. Simcox had an excellent win against Porter, who beat Ryan Jack last week. Got a big 7 point move early (of course off a scramble) and then held on. Platt tech’d Burrell who beat State’s new 197 Brophy (ranked 27) last week. He just demoralized him with a couple big mat returns and then kept active until he got the tech. Great to see Neves back in the lineup and looking healthy. Finally, Oakley picked up a really solid win against Yarborough, who will probably end up ranked.
One question: does anyone understand why Simcox would choose bottom with a 7 point lead, given his problems escaping? He got ridden out in the second, losing his riding time advantage and draining energy. It didn’t end up costing him but things got a little dicey in 3rd period. I guess maybe just for him to keep getting experience in bottom?
Root had a ranked win. Simcox had an excellent win against Porter, who beat Ryan Jack last week. Got a big 7 point move early (of course off a scramble) and then held on. Platt tech’d Burrell who beat State’s new 197 Brophy (ranked 27) last week. He just demoralized him with a couple big mat returns and then kept active until he got the tech. Great to see Neves back in the lineup and looking healthy. Finally, Oakley picked up a really solid win against Yarborough, who will probably end up ranked.
One question: does anyone understand why Simcox would choose bottom with a 7 point lead, given his problems escaping? He got ridden out in the second, losing his riding time advantage and draining energy. It didn’t end up costing him but things got a little dicey in 3rd period. I guess maybe just for him to keep getting experience in bottom?
Last edited:
At some point you have to be able to escape on bottom, not sure if they thought he would be able to get out and he just didn't or if they were trying to force him to work on it, but either way he is going to need to fix his struggles on bottom if he wants to win matches against higher level competition
Not saying this was part of the thinking, but with a big lead and a chunk of riding time you don’t give up much if you go an entire period with no one scoring. Simcox is good on top, but against good wrestlers you are going to give up an escape point. The most dangerous position is neutral, because you can give up 3 points quickly. That said, I think heelwrestler has the most likely explanation. I really thought he had chances to escape, and either lacked the urgency or wanted a reversal where he could better control the match.
Thanks guys. That all makes sense.
Simcox vs Jack on Friday will be a critical match. Quite possibly whichever team takes that will win the match. Hepner vs Denny at 165 also a huge one.
We’ve got a decent chance against State this year. State is heavy favorite at 125, 149, 174, and 285. We need to keep those matches as close as possible.
Oakley and Dailey should win (Oakley match is close by ranking but it seems like Hohman is weaker this year). Then we need at least 3 of the 4 toss-ups: Simcox, Root (assuming Zepeda goes), Hepner, and Platt.
Simcox vs Jack on Friday will be a critical match. Quite possibly whichever team takes that will win the match. Hepner vs Denny at 165 also a huge one.
We’ve got a decent chance against State this year. State is heavy favorite at 125, 149, 174, and 285. We need to keep those matches as close as possible.
Oakley and Dailey should win (Oakley match is close by ranking but it seems like Hohman is weaker this year). Then we need at least 3 of the 4 toss-ups: Simcox, Root (assuming Zepeda goes), Hepner, and Platt.
Last edited:
Jacks got a pin last night. The kid from Stanford got the first takedown. Jacks was going for an escape/reversal when the Stanford kid dove for his leg and put his own back exposed. Jacks stopped his momentum there and stuck him.
In other news Penn State beat Iowa 32-3 last night. Nasir Bailey was Iowa’s only win.
In other news Penn State beat Iowa 32-3 last night. Nasir Bailey was Iowa’s only win.
Fresh Intermat rankings. Good positive movement, Hepner now up to 10 where he should be, and Platt back in the rankings.
Terukina - 15 (+1)
Oakley - 18 (+1)
Simcox - 17 (+3)
Root - 28 (+3)
Hepner - 10 (+3)
Dailey - 13 (+1)
Platt - 33 (NR)
Neves - 28 (no change)
Terukina - 15 (+1)
Oakley - 18 (+1)
Simcox - 17 (+3)
Root - 28 (+3)
Hepner - 10 (+3)
Dailey - 13 (+1)
Platt - 33 (NR)
Neves - 28 (no change)
Brief press availability tomorrow w Coach Koll and a handful of guys. Drop any questions yall want to get answers to. I’ll post video asap after we are done.
TA
TA
Thanks for the heads up. I’m sure everyone is surprised that I have a couple questions. First, if he believes Makita, or possibly Dewalt, is the most overrated drill, what is the most underrated drill (see his Instagram account Carolina.Koll). Hope the questions below make more sense, but you always seem to get the key questions so use what ever helps your process. Thanks for stopping by and asking, as I am sure others may also have questions.
- Last year it seemed that after a really good dual season (T1 in the ACC) either our hopes and expectations may have been a little high, or a few wrestlers didn't perform as well in the year-end tournaments (acct and ncaat). Obviously McNeal was consistent in his finish all 3 years he was here, but others seemed to be ready to take a step forward and it just didn't seem to happen. Does he have thoughts as to why that happened (or was I just overly optimistic last year), and what he might do to prevent any let down this year?
- Without McNeal this year it is going to be difficult to have a high tournament finish. What should our expectations be, and who does he see stepping up? Hepner, Dailey, Terukina, Simcox, and Oakley are all ranked within striking distance of an AA finish, but what does he want to see from them to feel like they might finish high in the tournament?
- This year's team doesn't seem to have the weak weights that previous year teams have experienced, even with 2 or more significant losses to injury. Different sports get evaluated different ways. Football final rankings are based on the regular season for all but the playoff teams. Basketball's regular season only counts to get you into the tournament, which largely defines the rankings for the top 68 teams. In wrestling, we are top 12 in dual meets, but are likely to finish much lower than that in the tournament without a high AA finish or multiple wrestlers finishing at a lower AA level. How does he think UNC will value his performance with a top 12 dual meet team, but a lower finish in the tournament (noting that his first recruiting class is a core part of this young lineup)?
Good questions. I’m also interested in this question of how do you keep the intensity up all year long. We’’ve had some great wins so far this season, are there coaching tactics that he uses to avoid peaking too early?
Another along the same vein. If you had to choose one or the other, would you prefer a great dual team or a great tournament team (where 3-4 individuals can really carry the team)?
Injury updates: 1) Neves is back in the lineup. How did he look to Coach Koll in his first match? 2) Noticed Terukina didn’t wrestle against UVa. Was that because the team match was already won or are there any injury concerns?
Another along the same vein. If you had to choose one or the other, would you prefer a great dual team or a great tournament team (where 3-4 individuals can really carry the team)?
Injury updates: 1) Neves is back in the lineup. How did he look to Coach Koll in his first match? 2) Noticed Terukina didn’t wrestle against UVa. Was that because the team match was already won or are there any injury concerns?
FWIW Neves looks significantly more quick and lean to me this season. That does not always make you a better wrestler at the top weight but I think he looks improved. Not the question you asked (coming back from injury) but your question reminded me I wanted to comment on the impression he gave me in the UVA match.
Not sure if he has an update he can give, but I would at least like it if he was asked about the remaining assistant coach vacancy status. And thanks again for letting us know about the press availability and taking our questions into consideration