Who does ISU go after

[CyBobby]

I don't have an answer on that question but I do agree with what the guys on Flo said a while back in that if you do fire KJ you better get a big name to replace him other wise it's might just be a moot point.

I agree, if all pollard is going to do, is Hire someones Assistant....dont bother, nothing will change with wrestling without a major infusion of money or a big name wrestling coach who can recruit using his name, not Im the wrestling coach at Iowa State

I will leave U with this quote by Gary Thompson..."Johnny Orr has been recruiting these guys by using his name not, Im the coach at Iowa State"

 

[BCClone]

I'm mostly with you there, but keeping the current redshirts and the incoming freshman is extremely important. Keep them and you're looking at making a run over the next few seasons. Lose them and the next few seasons will be an almost total rebuild.

I definitely want to hold them. That's why I am interested in how we do recruiting and would be interested in retaining that if possible. IMO, we can't keep the current staff intact. Either KJ stays as a recruiting guy and we put new coaches in the room ora Paulson stays and we get two new coaches to lead the program and assist. I know I'm wanting the best of both worlds, but we finally have recruiting progress and I don't want that to slip. At the same time, I don't want to bring in these recruits and not have them get better.

 

[ISU22CY]

No go on Bono or Doug. Dake and Taylor won't be hanging it up at this time. Jordan has his family and can't see him making the jump to head coach at this time either. I'd be for Cody but don't think he'd leave Cael same with Varner.

 

[SouthJerseyCy]

I'm mostly with you there, but keeping the current redshirts and the incoming freshman is extremely important. Keep them and you're looking at making a run over the next few seasons. Lose them and the next few seasons will be an almost total rebuild.

I've been worried about this too, but I've had a bit of a flip/flop recently. We're all scared of this because of what happened with Cael, but it's not like KJ is going to move up the ladder and 'steal' these recruits. Unlikely for Trent and Travis for that matter. Now, of course we don't know what's in these kids heads and who they are close to, but I think if we made a solid/splashy hire, it shouldn't be that hard to keep them.

 

[BCClone]

No go on Bono or Doug. Dake and Taylor won't be hanging it up at this time. Jordan has his family and can't see him making the jump to head coach at this time either. I'd be for Cody but don't think he'd leave Cael same with Varner.

I think the Cael/JP experience would keep Cody or jake from coming here. Penn state has enough money that they can pay whatever they want at this point.

 

[Judoka]

I've been worried about this too, but I've had a bit of a flip/flop recently. We're all scared of this because of what happened with Cael, but it's not like KJ is going to move up the ladder and 'steal' these recruits. Unlikely for Trent and Travis for that matter. Now, of course we don't know what's in these kids heads and who they are close to, but I think if we made a solid/splashy hire, it shouldn't be that hard to keep them.

I think you have to get somebody who has shown they can produce NCAA champs. For all of Jackson's failings in running a college program, he's really good at taking an elite guy and making them perform at a high level on a consistent basis. And while I'm in no way privy to what we're telling recruits, I think it is safe to assume that's at least a big part of what we sold our recent classes. I imagine we'd have to be able to convince them that we're still giving them someone who can do that.

I was kind of joking earlier about Jackson and Schwab but they really are both halfway to being great coaches. Combine Jackson and his staff during recruiting and during the postseason and Schwab during the regular season and offseason and you'd have a top tier staff. The problem is that there are maybe half a dozen coaches (if that) that combine both. Koll, Ryan, John Smith, and Dresser are the only four I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe add Brian Smith at Missouri to that list but I think he's one tier down from them.

 

[ISU22CY]

I think the Cael/JP experience would keep Cody or jake from coming here. Penn state has enough money that they can pay whatever they want at this point.

Very true. And for Cody's sake why leave a good thing? Be around family, win titles, get paid.

 

[brett108]

No go on Bono or Doug. Dake and Taylor won't be hanging it up at this time. Jordan has his family and can't see him making the jump to head coach at this time either. I'd be for Cody but don't think he'd leave Cael same with Varner.

So we cant even get Bono to come back and try and resuscitate his alma mater? Pollard really did drag the program out behind the shed and Old Yeller it if that is the case.

 

[buf87]

I am not sure on the Bono thing. It was between him and KJ for head coach. Pollard hires KJ and KJ brings in Bono as assistant and they didn't get along as far as I heard. So 1 of them was leaving after the 1st year. Was is going to be Bono the assistant that you just passed on as head coach or KJ the guy that you just picked as head coach.

Seems pretty simple which one was going to go. I don't know why there would be hard feelings on that.

One question I do have, I remember a fair amount did not want Bono as a head coach back then. Why? Is it his stubbornness? If he is. Or are there other reasons.

A lot of talk was about Sammie Hensen also. No mention of him anymore

 

[ca4cy]

I am not sure on the Bono thing. It was between him and KJ for head coach. Pollard hires KJ and KJ brings in Bono as assistant and they didn't get along as far as I heard. So 1 of them was leaving after the 1st year. Was is going to be Bono the assistant that you just passed on as head coach or KJ the guy that you just picked as head coach.

Seems pretty simple which one was going to go. I don't know why there would be hard feelings on that.

One question I do have, I remember a fair amount did not want Bono as a head coach back then. Why? Is it his stubbornness? If he is. Or are there other reasons.

A lot of talk was about Sammie Hensen also. No mention of him anymore

I don't have ANY inside info so I can only speak to what I heard from other fans over a couple beers now and then. A lot of Bono's problems weren't what he was, but what he wasn't. He wasn't a flashy wrestler. He was obviously very sound and it served him well, but he wasn't a high flyer and when people had Heskett and Sanderson on the brain he didn't carry the entertainment value. Whatever his role on Douglas' staff, he wasn't Cael. Cael was always the golden boy and Bono was in his shadow, so when it came time to replace Cael, the guy that was in his shadow didn't make enough of a splash. Finally, he wasn't head coach at a big time program and the whole co-coach with Terry Brands at UTC was confusing. I remember people discussing that they didn't think he had enough recruiting ties or a big enough name to recruit to the level we needed.

There was also the rumor/story that when Bono was talking to the Paulsons at some tournament about their official visit during their recruitment, Ben Askren (who some said really wanted to come to ISU) came up and asked when he could make a visit and Bono basically told him he wasn't good enough to warrant one. Again, that was a story that went around and I don't know if there is a lick of truth to it or not, but it was still held against Bono by plenty of people.

Again, consider the source and take it fwiw, but fair or not, these are all things that I've seen/heard brought up with regard to Bono. At the end of the day, he was a solid candidate to replace Cael, but Pollard and most of the fan base wanted something more than solid.

 

[csteve]

Here would be my top 8 list:

Kevin Dresser – HC at VTech
Cody Sanderson – AC at PSU, former HC at Utah Valley
Donny Pritzlaff – AC at Rutgers
Pat Popolizio – HC at NC St
Pat Santoro – HC at Lehigh
Eric Guerrero – AC at Okie St
Tony Robie – AC at VTech, former HC at Binghamton
Sean Bormet – AC at Michigan

 

[HGoat]

There was also the rumor/story that when Bono was talking to the Paulsons at some tournament about their official visit during their recruitment, Ben Askren (who some said really wanted to come to ISU) came up and asked when he could make a visit and Bono basically told him he wasn't good enough to warrant one. Again, that was a story that went around and I don't know if there is a lick of truth to it or not, but it was still held against Bono by plenty of people.

I've heard this story as well.

 

[ca4cy]

This is coming out of left field and I'm not even saying it's a good idea, but for the sake of stupid message board talk, what about Ben Askren? He's another guy whose credentials would be based almost completely on competition so that's a concern, but those credentials are pretty damn solid.

The cons are obvious and tough to overlook...no head coaching or administrative experience... no guaranteed recruiting ties and no potential to bring in existing recruits from his previous program...no assembled staff to hit the ground running. I'm also not sure if he's ready to be done competing in MMA/grappling.

The pros...4x finalist, 2x champ, 2x Hodge winner, Olympian..had a fun style of wrestling (much like Cael) that would be appealing to this generation of recruits plus the MMA thing could also be a draw for recruits..wrestled for Brian Smith, one of the best program builders of the last 50 years so hopefully picked up a few things...has the type of personality that would appeal to fans and wrestlers.

Hard facts probably say no, so you'd be basing the decision on intangibles and I know we can't afford to whiff if this coaching search comes to fruition. Again, I'm not endorsing it but I think it's intriguing enough for message board talk. Fire away.

 

[ISU22CY]

So we cant even get Bono to come back and try and resuscitate his alma mater? Pollard really did drag the program out behind the shed and Old Yeller it if that is the case.

I was speaking of my personal preference and Bono is a no go with that opinion

 

[HGoat]

This is coming out of left field and I'm not even saying it's a good idea, but for the sake of stupid message board talk, what about Ben Askren? He's another guy whose credentials would be based almost completely on competition so that's a concern, but those credentials are pretty damn solid.

The cons are obvious and tough to overlook...no head coaching or administrative experience... no guaranteed recruiting ties and no potential to bring in existing recruits from his previous program...no assembled staff to hit the ground running. I'm also not sure if he's ready to be done competing in MMA/grappling.

The pros...4x finalist, 2x champ, 2x Hodge winner, Olympian..had a fun style of wrestling (much like Cael) that would be appealing to this generation of recruits plus the MMA thing could also be a draw for recruits..wrestled for Brian Smith, one of the best program builders of the last 50 years so hopefully picked up a few things...has the type of personality that would appeal to fans and wrestlers.

Hard facts probably say no, so you'd be basing the decision on intangibles and I know we can't afford to whiff if this coaching search comes to fruition. Again, I'm not endorsing it but I think it's intriguing enough for message board talk. Fire away.

I wouldn't hate it. I'm a huge Ben Askren fan. It would be risky, but I think you're gambling a bit anytime you make a change. I could see him being a great recruiter. He does have some coaching experience, I believe he was an assistant at Arizona State for awhile and runs the Askren Wrestling Academy.

I have no idea whether he would be interested or not, although I do know that he is planning to retire from MMA soon.

 

[buf87]

Head Coaches
Kevin Dresser of VT because of his family ties to Humboldt
-I rate this as very unlikely since her family is from Virginia & the success he has there
Pop of NC State - I doubt it, because East coast seems to be a good place to be and he have a good recruits coming there
Bono of SDSU because of ties to Iowa State & probably doesn't have budget of Iowa State.

Assistants
- Guerrero or Esposito of Ok State - no real knowledge of why or why not. Think Guerrero has been there 10+ years
- Damian Hahn of Cornell
- Churella or Bormet of Michigan - Recuiting ties to Michigan. Would they be able to keep Storr, Parker etc around
- Prittlaff of Rutgers - I think it is highly unlikely. Is from New Jersey and think he went back there to be closer to home. Just my guess
- Cody or Casey of Penn State - ties to Iowa State, maybe bring Varner back as an assistant. All are still liked by fan base
- J Jaeggers of Ohio State - Not sure he leaves Ohio State since Oklahoma just got Rosselli from there
- Perry of Illinois - Been talked about for years, can't believe he isn't a head coach if he wanted to be
- Bryan Snyder of Nebraska - Don't know much, but been at Nebraska a long time

 

[HitItHard58]

Here would be my top 8 list:

Kevin Dresser – HC at VTech
Cody Sanderson – AC at PSU, former HC at Utah Valley
Donny Pritzlaff – AC at Rutgers
Pat Popolizio – HC at NC St
Pat Santoro – HC at Lehigh
Eric Guerrero – AC at Okie St
Tony Robie – AC at VTech, former HC at Binghamton
Sean Bormet – AC at Michigan

A lot to like on that list. Any idea how much we would reasonably need to offer these guys? Tried looking up salaries and found that Popolizio was making 102,200 in 2014 but didn't find anything else in my limited search. Obviously need to pay well for assistants as well or the HC will be screwed no matter who it is. That is if we are going to be in the market for a new coach of course

 

[buf87]

The big unknown with most of these guys is camp money or RTC money

 

[csteve]

Head Coaches
Kevin Dresser of VT because of his family ties to Humboldt
-I rate this as very unlikely since her family is from Virginia & the success he has there
Pop of NC State - I doubt it, because East coast seems to be a good place to be and he have a good recruits coming there
Bono of SDSU because of ties to Iowa State & probably doesn't have budget of Iowa State.

Assistants
- Guerrero or Esposito of Ok State - no real knowledge of why or why not. Think Guerrero has been there 10+ years
- Damian Hahn of Cornell
- Churella or Bormet of Michigan - Recuiting ties to Michigan. Would they be able to keep Storr, Parker etc around
- Prittlaff of Rutgers - I think it is highly unlikely. Is from New Jersey and think he went back there to be closer to home. Just my guess
- Cody or Casey of Penn State - ties to Iowa State, maybe bring Varner back as an assistant. All are still liked by fan base
- J Jaeggers of Ohio State - Not sure he leaves Ohio State since Oklahoma just got Rosselli from there
- Perry of Illinois - Been talked about for years, can't believe he isn't a head coach if he wanted to be
- Bryan Snyder of Nebraska - Don't know much, but been at Nebraska a long time

I thought of Hahn as well. Not sure why everyone is so infatuated with Perry. I think he would bring a hard nosed attitude, but not sure he has any better resume than a lot of other assistants.

 

[ISU22CY]

I thought of Hahn as well. Not sure why everyone is so infatuated with Perry. I think he would bring a hard nosed attitude, but not sure he has any better resume than a lot of other assistants.

It's funny you say that. I was looking over his name just for fun and came across this http://board.themat.com/index.php?/topic/9380-mark-perry-finally-has-a-team-improve/ Now keep in mind Illinois did finish tied for 9th last year. I don't know what resources he has at Illinois compared to what he would have here.