Cael never talks about himself. He talks about helping young guys reach their goals. And these kids know he has a successful track record doing that. Cael is a special person, and everyone knows it.
I don't think Coach Sanderson ever tells a recruit they are or are not going to start. If you listen to his wrestlers talk after a match they talk about gratitude for the opportunity to wrestle and becoming the best version of themselves they can. I think Coach Sanderson tells recruits that if they want to be the best wrestler possible they should come to State College. Driven, successful people already believe in themselves. They already think they will be the starter. What they want is the opportunity to dominate and pit themselves against the best every day. If you're a college wrestler that happens in the Penn State room.
Absolutely agree. It's also gotta be a blessing knowing youre training against, not only top NCAA wrestlers, but also guys who are current and former National Champs, many of whom are also World and Olympic athletes/champions. It's like you said too about Saban, Iron sharpens iron. You're gonna get alot better just by facing top guys everyday which also accelerates your skill level and puts you that much closer to being your best self on and off the mat.
Saban understands human psychology and is the best at aligning the athletes values to the teams. Cael is the same way. These two masters Cael and Saban have a lot in common. They continually raise their floor and standards and attract athletes with those high standards. They will continue to raise their floor as teams around them lower theirs (talking to you Iowa) to try to compete in the short term.
For other coaches the key is to finding the diamond in the rough. It is hard to convince a top tier wrestler to come to your program when PSU is in the mix. Iron sharpens iron as they say. For a wrestler that has high expectations and aspirations (ncaa champion and Olympic champion) they realize they will practice with the same type of wrestler at PSU. Game over in so far as recruiting is concerned.
What is often missed at PSU is all the kids that just walk on. They have local and PA kids that just go out for wrestling and stay. They are treated like a starter and given the same time to get better.
Their NL wrestling Club is such an advantage that you fail to mention. They have some of the best international talent and proven talent from other schools end up there for their post collegiate careers. This is where USA wrestling best go and that impacts the schools who could never compete in the NIL market also. The red shirt season there is like no other. That being said your right The negative impact on NCAA competition for teams/ Universities could be a long time for any chance of Team Tittles if lineups can’t compete.
The fact is that Cael and the culture he has built is why many kids go to PSU. It’s college, he’s built a great place to wrestle well and have fun. His wrestlers are enjoying the moment. Many other coaches and programs don’t have that culture.
Saban has won 7 national championships but is now 72 and in the twilight of his career. Sanderson already has 10 national championships and at 44 years old is basically just getting started!
The window is generally smaller for wrestling coaches as they usually want to be able to wrestle with their athletes. Cael sets the example in the room by whipping their asses personally, much like Gable and John Smith used to do. I give him 10 more years maximum of being able to do that, After that, someone else will be the hot commodity and everyone will want to go wrestle for that person, like David Taylor or Dake or someone similar.
These top recruits want to be National Champions. Beating a guy in their own room isn't a concern. Even as an Iowa fan, there's no better room to train in than PSU's right now if you want to be the best.
Definitely feel like cael finds the right type of kid with the right attitude and says look, you can come and learn with the best from the best. You will start on the best team in the nation if you earn it. Every one of these high level kids believes they are better than the other. They believe they will become the next guy. IF they don't, they can transfer out easy. That leaves penn state with the awesome position of taking the best of the best because they literally get to filter them out and pass scraps on to the rest.
If you listened to the latest State of the Brandsunion, his pets that are asking him questions are basically SCHOOLED to not be allowed to use the name AJ in their question, Brands tells a “question asker” that he should know better asking if HE Tom can comment on the AJ soldier salute issue. Tom then goes on to say HE THEY love every athlete that they have in the room. Multiple Times. When asked if they are adding any wrestlers the 2nd semester NO…. Not at this time. I find it contentious at best, the relationship he has with any questions….its as if the reporters feel they are going to disappoint Tom if they ask anything RELATIVE about what’s actually going on in the room. Not long ago in an interview, Tom raved about how great a human and how great a kid was for the room, and ANYONE in the room could ask that kid a question because he was sitting in the room. Nobody recognized him in the room, and the VERY NEXT DAY he was suspended due to gambling….It was Swafford. 🤦♂️
Christian forgot to emphasize that one things great coaches realize is, if his team has the great kid, yours doesn’t. You can control the other coaches roster TO AN EXTENT by hanging on to the great ones.
Good point-if 2 guys top recruits-same weight class sign up-one will NOT get to compete-develop confidence-get better- Some guys take more time to develop-but if they are just getting hammered everyday by an early bloomer-they never will Not in the recruits best interest to sign PSU-be glorified sparring partners-some other program they might have developed to NCAA champ-world champ material-
I think there are #2 or #3 wrestlers on PSU ‘s team that could start NOW on other programs. Look at the VAN NESS situation….2 wrestlers behind him in Kasak and Evans….they wrestled each other, and Kasak won by a point. Unranked Kasak won at Oregon State last week, in a good hard fought win. Imagine, Van Ness-Kasak-Evans all at 149, and now the backup KASAK may AA as the 2nd or 3rd best 149 pounder in the room.
Exactly- most of these guys would start at other good programs. And without actual matches you might not actually become a better match of course some guys do become better match wrestlers-despite not getting to actually formally compete in duals/or tournaments-but You can get better at many many programs-the improvement -all across USA-HS COLLEGE- is mostly because of video. Look at 1970 NCAA - vs 2000 NCAA-night and day-no telegraphing 2000-in the 60's 70's we all but told our opponents when we were shooting- Despite having perhaps 1/3 the top division wrestling programs now-vs 1970's-we are much better against world competition-all video- and the coaches who know how to teach with video Heck some just out of HS wrestlers-like Cockerham(I think he is not actually a true freshman-but..) can manage to beat a current NCAA champion current WORLD CHAMPION- Vito A- just one match-but no fluke- 133-geez-what a loaded class-RBY. VITO COCKERHAM the Daton Fix plus Meechell(sic)AZ?? greased lightening guy with all the slick moves-who the hell would want to be in THAT WEIGHT(of course it made Vito a World. Champ so..)
The recruits are NOT doing what is in THEIR best interests-because only ONE wrestler per year per weight class goes to the Olympics or WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS. Only one per weight per team has any chance to get to the NCAA championships. Football-NFL- perhaps 10-20 per POSITION get to the NFL with the NFL payday. NBA same story-perhaps 15 per position per year make NBA payday. These young wrestlers don't realize that they will get beaten-everyday-by a wrestler who might not actually beat them if they wrestled for some other team and only wrestled them once or twice a year. Some wrestlers will ALWAYS beat someone that they wrestle with daily-but might get beaten by "less renown" wrestlers from other schools. There are very very good wrestlers who are better practice wrestlers than meet wrestlers-they might be 3rd NCAAs-but in the practice room they beat their one weight class heavier wrestler who is a NCAA champ(just an example) The coaches play on their confidence-in essence-trick them into signing-and they end up being sparring partners for someone they will never beat IF They wrestle them daily The kids should sign somewhere else-but the lure of PSU is too much-so they never reach their potential Back 1970's there were perhaps 3x as many division one programs-and maybe that many NAIA also-now not even 100 division one programs-so not as much choice for wrestlers-many "good but not great in HS wrestlers" became much better in college-physical maturity-and catch up in technique wonder boys can burn our-peak early- Oh well lure of PSU 4 time NCAA OLYMPIC CHAMP-TOO MUCH-obviously a good coach-but everyone has video now-everyone "reads the same books" Getting beaten everyday-does not always make you better-
There's no way Cael has a plan to get all those blue chip recruits in his lineup. It's not even possible. He's certainly stockpiling recruits and letting them figure it out. Another aspect being overlooked is how the state of Pennsylvania has become the most dominant in highschool wrestling. Caels been able to handpick the best guys in the country right out of the home state a lot of the time. Even Iowas best wrestler over the last 5 years (Lee) was from Pennsylvania. If anyone wants to compete with PSU it starts at the youth level. The other states need to develop better recruits
Lee, Desanto, kemmerer, young, and murin were all Pa guys. Why did they go there? To wrestle for a national title. Sanderson and his staff are the best in every aspect of coacbing but Tom Brands went to Pa and recruited a national title
@@psu7276 i agree 100% but they were able to recruit AAs from Pa. Lee went there bc the brands have coached more 125 pound champs and desanto went there to be with Lee. Kemmerer, Young, Murin, and Marinelli(ohio) went there to be starters and try to win a team title on the mat not the bench. I think a coaching staff that has a chance to do the same thing would be NC state. They are personable, fun, and good technicians. You have to recruit as a group and make sure they develop. As long as cael and his staff stay at psu they will dominate but good recruiting can steal a title now and then.
Cael has said recently that hard sell in his recruiting is nonexistent. The brand is established, "If I have to sit in someone's living room with the parents then it's probably not a good fit."
Even if they go to PSU initially because they think they can start and don't, they will have a couple years of great training against the most elite athletes. If you then transfer you are probably at a higher level then if you didn't go to PSU. I would expect more transfers from PSU at some point.
michael beard is a good example. he was the guy till max dean came in. transferred out and did alright for himself. suriano is another good example, though his is a bit nuanced, as i don't think he was a good fit for PSU, but still a case of another good guy transferring from PSU and finding success
I don’t know rules governing wrestling scheduled matches. Maybe they can double their number of matches. They could have three or four home matches on a Saturday. Second and third string wrestlers would get in lineup. Coach could juggle his lineups to have competitive team matches against different quality teams. And if they need some extra points the last two bouts-they can use their first string national champions to seal the win. That way first, second, and third string wrestlers could have a full slate of matches during regular season. Then if first string wrestler gets an injury and can’t compete or drops out of school, flunks out or gets kicked out-then next guy in line would have a record and experience to enter end of season tournaments-without missing a beat. I don’t know. Many wrestlers at top wrestling schools also compete in Freestyle and possibly Greco tournaments during off season. Maybe top wrestlers want to compete in practice with National Champions and World Champions to upgrade their, wrestling-even at the cost of being second or third string for freshman and sophomore year. If they go to other schools with weaker teams-they might not even have top quality workout partners close to their weight class for practice. And they want to wrestle for a coach, they think will improve their wrestling the most.
This video seems half-baked - yes, it's a good question but all you have atm is the obvious possible answers we all have. Basically, most top recruits just want to fight for a spot at the top and use transferring as a failsafe. I think now it's up to schools ranked just below Penn State to come up with a better pitch/argument as to why guys should think twice about using transfer option as a fallback. Obviously I can't say if anything would actually succeed in changing recruits' minds, I'm just saying that's the aspect of it the other schools need to target better. (After all, you DO lose in a number of ways when you transfer out instead of finding an awesome team/coaching fit right away year one & building on those relationships as you progress.)
This is a great comparison and excellent explanation. But wrestling isn’t football. In football you have another level that you can make millions, so you wait your turn and raise your draft status. 90%+ of wrestlers are done after college. No big payday at the end. I think you gotta make the most of your 4 years. Just my opinion.
College Wrestling and CFB is not comparable because of the limited scholarships associated with a non-revenue sport like wrestling, and the opportunities associated with the mass media exposure, NIL opportunities, and the abundance of million dollar contracts associated with the NFL draft that is lacking for post college wrestlers.
I think the NIL deal is fine, but I don’t agree with being paid by the University’s to attend the school. I don’t see how that is good for any NCAA sport. JMO.
Many wrestlers will NEVER beat the guy who beats them everyday in practice-he is too good-AND HE KNOWS THEM TOO WELL. They will NOT improve getting beaten same guy same way year after year-he has the book on them If they went somewhere else-not wrestling that guy every day-they might beat him It is a mistake for these wrestlers to all crowd in to one school- everyone watches tape-all "read the same books" a good coach somewhere else might have gotten them past that guy. Vito has no trouble with PSU- guessing the guy who beat VITO-Cockerham?? will have no problem handling his cross state rivals at PSU- Lotta good coaches good schools-foolish to crowd into PSU-but they are kids..so...
This is a hilariously bad take...They have already proven that their strategy works. Where have you been? Your sole example for your argument was Vito beating RBY and crookham beating nagao? You are grasping at straws buddy. .. they don't lose the same way to the same guy every day. Have you never wrestled? Did you just have a horrible coach? 😂😂
Sorry I was unclear. Of course it is a great strategy for PSU- My point is it is NOT so good for the 2nd-3rd-4th string guy at that weight. Whoever is behind RBY will rarely see the mat in competition-injuries or Midlands-but rare. My point is your REAL competition-every day-are your team mates- You always have to balance perfecting new moves new setups-against the risk of giving your really good competition confidence.You wrestled so you must remember it is your TEAM MATES that you have to beat first-EVERY FREAKIN DAY .Yes coaches are pushing you to develop new moves-setups-but they are also coaching up your MAIN competition! College wrestling is NOT fun sport-it is a competition-not fun-not one freakin' bit. 1968-1973- I was at LSUBR- it was new program 2nd tier maybe 3rd tier wrestling program-good coach-Dale Ketelsen-we were troublesome kids- Memorable but not fun-never fun-and by comparison to current wrestlers-we were extremely unsophisticated-crude setups etc-telegraphing every move-video changed wrestling-you can see what you are doing wrong. ZERO CHANCE.@@JM-wf2to
My point is you don't have to go to PSU to be great. You mention Vito and Crookham both make my point-they clearly demonstrate that-same story DAKE he beat Taylor despite going to a "lesser" school wrestling program wise(Of course DAKE is a prodigy-so I am cheating mentioning him) With modern technology-meaning video-and good coaching-there are many many programs that can make you NCAA and world champion "good" Vito and DAKE- WORLD CHAMPIONS from Cornell- PSU has Taylor recently-not sure how many others. Of course those 3 are all phenoms-but Vito only became a WORLD BEATER in 2023-after being "just really really good"-DAKE TAYLOR were always phenoms Stacking his team exactly what Sanderson should do-but it is not in the best interests of these wrestlers.Many will never start for PSU-never get a chance to develop(no I am not claiming DAKE AND VITO are/were just average recruits-but the idea is the same. Great for PSU-not so great for the other 3 in wt class-they might never develop the confidence to develop beyond sparring partners for the starter- In any case all current college wrestlers are worlds more sophisticated than pre-video "tape" wrestlers-perhaps 1980-1985 is when wrestling coaches fully embraced modern tech Go back look at 1970 NCAAs(the Gable defeat)- then look at 2000 or so-night and day much of the reason USA has become dominant in world freestyle DESPITE our wrestling a completely different style 95% of the time- modern recording technology- allow great wrestlers to develop at many programs-not just PSU The recruits don't know that-they see PSU results-and think it is something particular to PSU(it is -they are getting best recruits-just like Gable did at Iowa) Bet PSU has plenty of burnouts-guys that just hang it up.50 wrestlers on team-just 10 can compete much-the rest?? RBY@@JM-wf2to
![UCF Professor Richard Quinn accuses class of cheating [Original]](/img/1.gif)
Cael never talks about himself. He talks about helping young guys reach their goals. And these kids know he has a successful track record doing that. Cael is a special person, and everyone knows it.
YOU NAILED IT.
The decision to commit is a lot easier when you know the portal is an option if you don't make the cut.
also true.
Great content on all your videos by the way
appreciate that! @@billgadient8567
I don't think Coach Sanderson ever tells a recruit they are or are not going to start. If you listen to his wrestlers talk after a match they talk about gratitude for the opportunity to wrestle and becoming the best version of themselves they can. I think Coach Sanderson tells recruits that if they want to be the best wrestler possible they should come to State College. Driven, successful people already believe in themselves. They already think they will be the starter. What they want is the opportunity to dominate and pit themselves against the best every day. If you're a college wrestler that happens in the Penn State room.
Absolutely agree. It's also gotta be a blessing knowing youre training against, not only top NCAA wrestlers, but also guys who are current and former National Champs, many of whom are also World and Olympic athletes/champions. It's like you said too about Saban, Iron sharpens iron. You're gonna get alot better just by facing top guys everyday which also accelerates your skill level and puts you that much closer to being your best self on and off the mat.
Saban understands human psychology and is the best at aligning the athletes values to the teams. Cael is the same way. These two masters Cael and Saban have a lot in common. They continually raise their floor and standards and attract athletes with those high standards. They will continue to raise their floor as teams around them lower theirs (talking to you Iowa) to try to compete in the short term.
For other coaches the key is to finding the diamond in the rough. It is hard to convince a top tier wrestler to come to your program when PSU is in the mix. Iron sharpens iron as they say. For a wrestler that has high expectations and aspirations (ncaa champion and Olympic champion) they realize they will practice with the same type of wrestler at PSU. Game over in so far as recruiting is concerned.
What is often missed at PSU is all the kids that just walk on. They have local and PA kids that just go out for wrestling and stay. They are treated like a starter and given the same time to get better.
Their NL wrestling Club is such an advantage that you fail to mention. They have some of the best international talent and proven talent from other schools end up there for their post collegiate careers. This is where USA wrestling best go and that impacts the schools who could never compete in the NIL market also. The red shirt season there is like no other. That being said your right The negative impact on NCAA competition for teams/ Universities could be a long time for any chance of Team Tittles if lineups can’t compete.
The fact is that Cael and the culture he has built is why many kids go to PSU. It’s college, he’s built a great place to wrestle well and have fun. His wrestlers are enjoying the moment. Many other coaches and programs don’t have that culture.
I don't think so, Christian.
Look at the Mizzou program.
I'd like to see a dual between these two.
Saban has won 7 national championships but is now 72 and in the twilight of his career. Sanderson already has 10 national championships and at 44 years old is basically just getting started!
The window is generally smaller for wrestling coaches as they usually want to be able to wrestle with their athletes. Cael sets the example in the room by whipping their asses personally, much like Gable and John Smith used to do. I give him 10 more years maximum of being able to do that,
After that, someone else will be the hot commodity and everyone will want to go wrestle for that person, like David Taylor or Dake or someone similar.
@@dtc8249You can see it with the Brands brothers too. They’re getting older and it seems they’re slowly slipping further back each year.
These top recruits want to be National Champions. Beating a guy in their own room isn't a concern. Even as an Iowa fan, there's no better room to train in than PSU's right now if you want to be the best.
Definitely feel like cael finds the right type of kid with the right attitude and says look, you can come and learn with the best from the best. You will start on the best team in the nation if you earn it. Every one of these high level kids believes they are better than the other. They believe they will become the next guy. IF they don't, they can transfer out easy. That leaves penn state with the awesome position of taking the best of the best because they literally get to filter them out and pass scraps on to the rest.
If you listened to the latest State of the Brandsunion, his pets that are asking him questions are basically SCHOOLED to not be allowed to use the name AJ in their question, Brands tells a “question asker” that he should know better asking if HE Tom can comment on the AJ soldier salute issue. Tom then goes on to say HE THEY love every athlete that they have in the room. Multiple Times. When asked if they are adding any wrestlers the 2nd semester NO…. Not at this time.
I find it contentious at best, the relationship he has with any questions….its as if the reporters feel they are going to disappoint Tom if they ask anything RELATIVE about what’s actually going on in the room.
Not long ago in an interview, Tom raved about how great a human and how great a kid was for the room, and ANYONE in the room could ask that kid a question because he was sitting in the room. Nobody recognized him in the room, and the VERY NEXT DAY he was suspended due to gambling….It was Swafford. 🤦♂️
Christian forgot to emphasize that one things great coaches realize is, if his team has the great kid, yours doesn’t. You can control the other coaches roster TO AN EXTENT by hanging on to the great ones.
Good point-if 2 guys top recruits-same weight class sign up-one will NOT get to compete-develop confidence-get better-
Some guys take more time to develop-but if they are just getting hammered everyday by an early bloomer-they never will
Not in the recruits best interest to sign PSU-be glorified sparring partners-some other program they might have developed to NCAA champ-world champ
material-
I think there are #2 or #3 wrestlers on PSU ‘s team that could start NOW on other programs. Look at the VAN NESS situation….2 wrestlers behind him in Kasak and Evans….they wrestled each other, and Kasak won by a point. Unranked Kasak won at Oregon State last week, in a good hard fought win. Imagine, Van Ness-Kasak-Evans all at 149, and now the backup KASAK may AA as the 2nd or 3rd best 149 pounder in the room.
Exactly- most of these guys would start at other good programs. And without actual matches you might not actually become a better match
of course some guys do become better match wrestlers-despite not getting to actually formally compete in duals/or tournaments-but
You can get better at many many programs-the improvement -all across USA-HS COLLEGE- is mostly because of video.
Look at 1970 NCAA - vs 2000 NCAA-night and day-no telegraphing 2000-in the 60's 70's we all but told our opponents when we were shooting-
Despite having perhaps 1/3 the top division wrestling programs now-vs 1970's-we are much better against world competition-all video-
and the coaches who know how to teach with video
Heck some just out of HS wrestlers-like Cockerham(I think he is not actually a true freshman-but..) can manage to beat a
current NCAA champion current WORLD CHAMPION- Vito A- just one match-but no fluke-
133-geez-what a loaded class-RBY. VITO COCKERHAM the Daton Fix plus Meechell(sic)AZ?? greased lightening guy with all the slick
moves-who the hell would want to be in THAT WEIGHT(of course it made Vito a World. Champ so..)
It is always better to go to Penn State than state pen.
The recruits are NOT doing what is in THEIR best interests-because only ONE wrestler per year per weight class goes to the Olympics or WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Only one per weight per team has any chance to get to the NCAA championships.
Football-NFL- perhaps 10-20 per POSITION get to the NFL with the NFL payday.
NBA same story-perhaps 15 per position per year make NBA payday.
These young wrestlers don't realize that they will get beaten-everyday-by a wrestler who might not actually beat them if they wrestled for some other team
and only wrestled them once or twice a year.
Some wrestlers will ALWAYS beat someone that they wrestle with daily-but might get beaten by "less renown" wrestlers from other schools.
There are very very good wrestlers who are better practice wrestlers than meet wrestlers-they might be 3rd NCAAs-but in the practice room they beat their
one weight class heavier wrestler who is a NCAA champ(just an example)
The coaches play on their confidence-in essence-trick them into signing-and they end up being sparring partners for someone they will never beat IF
They wrestle them daily
The kids should sign somewhere else-but the lure of PSU is too much-so they never reach their potential
Back 1970's there were perhaps 3x as many division one programs-and maybe that many NAIA also-now not even 100 division one programs-so
not as much choice for wrestlers-many "good but not great in HS wrestlers" became much better in college-physical maturity-and catch up in technique
wonder boys can burn our-peak early-
Oh well lure of PSU 4 time NCAA OLYMPIC CHAMP-TOO MUCH-obviously a good coach-but everyone has video now-everyone "reads the same books"
Getting beaten everyday-does not always make you better-
This is great! Thanks Flo!
There's no way Cael has a plan to get all those blue chip recruits in his lineup. It's not even possible. He's certainly stockpiling recruits and letting them figure it out. Another aspect being overlooked is how the state of Pennsylvania has become the most dominant in highschool wrestling. Caels been able to handpick the best guys in the country right out of the home state a lot of the time. Even Iowas best wrestler over the last 5 years (Lee) was from Pennsylvania. If anyone wants to compete with PSU it starts at the youth level. The other states need to develop better recruits
I think there is only 3 starters on the PSU team NOW from Pa. but there’s no doubt Pa dominates
Lee, Desanto, kemmerer, young, and murin were all Pa guys. Why did they go there? To wrestle for a national title. Sanderson and his staff are the best in every aspect of coacbing but Tom Brands went to Pa and recruited a national title
@@antisocialmedia2507 "a" is the key. That would be one, not near the dominance that PSU exhibits.
I would characterize that PSU year as a rebuild year totally.
Lastly, I think Fix and Vito are ducking Crookham by going down to 125
@@psu7276 i agree 100% but they were able to recruit AAs from Pa. Lee went there bc the brands have coached more 125 pound champs and desanto went there to be with Lee. Kemmerer, Young, Murin, and Marinelli(ohio) went there to be starters and try to win a team title on the mat not the bench. I think a coaching staff that has a chance to do the same thing would be NC state. They are personable, fun, and good technicians. You have to recruit as a group and make sure they develop. As long as cael and his staff stay at psu they will dominate but good recruiting can steal a title now and then.
Cael has said recently that hard sell in his recruiting is nonexistent.
The brand is established, "If I have to sit in someone's living room with the parents then it's probably not a good fit."
Even if they go to PSU initially because they think they can start and don't, they will have a couple years of great training against the most elite athletes. If you then transfer you are probably at a higher level then if you didn't go to PSU. I would expect more transfers from PSU at some point.
michael beard is a good example. he was the guy till max dean came in. transferred out and did alright for himself. suriano is another good example, though his is a bit nuanced, as i don't think he was a good fit for PSU, but still a case of another good guy transferring from PSU and finding success
Cael and saban are the godfathers of their sports….they make you a offer you can’t refuse
I don’t know rules governing wrestling scheduled matches. Maybe they can double their number of matches. They could have three or four home matches on a Saturday. Second and third string wrestlers would get in lineup. Coach could juggle his lineups to have competitive team matches against different quality teams. And if they need some extra points the last two bouts-they can use their first string national champions to seal the win.
That way first, second, and third string wrestlers could have a full slate of matches during regular season.
Then if first string wrestler gets an injury and can’t compete or drops out of school, flunks out or gets kicked out-then next guy in line would have a record and experience to enter end of season tournaments-without missing a beat.
I don’t know.
Many wrestlers at top wrestling schools also compete in Freestyle and possibly Greco tournaments during off season.
Maybe top wrestlers want to compete in practice with National Champions and World Champions to upgrade their, wrestling-even at the cost of being second or third string for freshman and sophomore year.
If they go to other schools with weaker teams-they might not even have top quality workout partners close to their weight class for practice.
And they want to wrestle for a coach, they think will improve their wrestling the most.
The best attracts the best
This video seems half-baked - yes, it's a good question but all you have atm is the obvious possible answers we all have. Basically, most top recruits just want to fight for a spot at the top and use transferring as a failsafe. I think now it's up to schools ranked just below Penn State to come up with a better pitch/argument as to why guys should think twice about using transfer option as a fallback. Obviously I can't say if anything would actually succeed in changing recruits' minds, I'm just saying that's the aspect of it the other schools need to target better. (After all, you DO lose in a number of ways when you transfer out instead of finding an awesome team/coaching fit right away year one & building on those relationships as you progress.)
Penn State's Wrestling HC Cael Sanderson knows how to develop talent, depth, and great kids who want to become the best.
This is a great comparison and excellent explanation. But wrestling isn’t football. In football you have another level that you can make millions, so you wait your turn and raise your draft status. 90%+ of wrestlers are done after college. No big payday at the end. I think you gotta make the most of your 4 years. Just my opinion.
College Wrestling and CFB is not comparable because of the limited scholarships associated with a non-revenue sport like wrestling, and the opportunities associated with the mass media exposure, NIL opportunities, and the abundance of million dollar contracts associated with the NFL draft that is lacking for post college wrestlers.
I think the NIL deal is fine, but I don’t agree with being paid by the University’s to attend the school. I don’t see how that is good for any NCAA sport. JMO.
Fart at 3:12
Wild
It's not good for wrestling and fair comp3tition I'll tell ya that. And I'm a Penn state guy
PJ Duke better wrestle next year
NIL money surely has a role in this too.
If you’ve listened to the recruits at PSU since NIL, that isn’t the case.
Wrestlers might get some NIL cash, but it’s not as much as you think.
I bet it’s more than we think, but I’ve never been recruited or paid for my athletic abilities either.
Mesenbrink basically said it doesn’t exist at PSU, and Nagao said he was offered a lot of money to go elsewhere.
Yeah, I don’t believe for a moment it doesn’t exist.
These kids just want to see the $$-the antithesis of amateur sports.
Many wrestlers will NEVER beat the guy who beats them everyday in practice-he is too good-AND HE KNOWS THEM TOO WELL.
They will NOT improve getting beaten same guy same way year after year-he has the book on them
If they went somewhere else-not wrestling that guy every day-they might beat him
It is a mistake for these wrestlers to all crowd in to one school-
everyone watches tape-all "read the same books" a good coach somewhere else might have gotten them past that guy.
Vito has no trouble with PSU- guessing the guy who beat VITO-Cockerham?? will have no problem handling his cross state rivals at PSU-
Lotta good coaches good schools-foolish to crowd into PSU-but they are kids..so...
This is a hilariously bad take...They have already proven that their strategy works. Where have you been? Your sole example for your argument was Vito beating RBY and crookham beating nagao? You are grasping at straws buddy. .. they don't lose the same way to the same guy every day. Have you never wrestled? Did you just have a horrible coach? 😂😂
Sorry I was unclear. Of course it is a great strategy for PSU-
My point is it is NOT so good for the 2nd-3rd-4th string guy at that weight.
Whoever is behind RBY will rarely see the mat in competition-injuries or Midlands-but rare.
My point is your REAL competition-every day-are your team mates-
You always have to balance perfecting new moves new setups-against the risk of giving your really good competition
confidence.You wrestled so you must remember it is your TEAM MATES that you have to beat first-EVERY FREAKIN DAY
.Yes coaches are pushing you to develop new moves-setups-but they are also coaching up
your MAIN competition!
College wrestling is NOT fun sport-it is a competition-not fun-not one freakin' bit.
1968-1973- I was at LSUBR- it was new program 2nd tier maybe 3rd tier wrestling program-good coach-Dale Ketelsen-we were troublesome kids-
Memorable but not fun-never fun-and by comparison to current wrestlers-we were extremely unsophisticated-crude setups etc-telegraphing every
move-video changed wrestling-you can see what you are doing wrong.
ZERO CHANCE.@@JM-wf2to
My point is you don't have to go to PSU to be great.
You mention Vito and Crookham both make my point-they clearly demonstrate that-same story DAKE he beat Taylor despite going to
a "lesser" school wrestling program wise(Of course DAKE is a prodigy-so I am cheating mentioning him)
With modern technology-meaning video-and good coaching-there are many many programs that can make you NCAA and world champion
"good"
Vito and DAKE- WORLD CHAMPIONS from Cornell- PSU has Taylor recently-not sure how many others.
Of course those 3 are all phenoms-but Vito only became a WORLD BEATER in 2023-after being "just really really good"-DAKE TAYLOR were always
phenoms
Stacking his team exactly what Sanderson should do-but it is not in the best interests of these wrestlers.Many will never start for PSU-never get a
chance to develop(no I am not claiming DAKE AND VITO are/were just average recruits-but the idea is the same.
Great for PSU-not so great for the other 3 in wt class-they might never develop the confidence to develop beyond sparring partners for the starter-
In any case all current college wrestlers are worlds more sophisticated than pre-video "tape" wrestlers-perhaps 1980-1985 is when wrestling
coaches fully embraced modern tech
Go back look at 1970 NCAAs(the Gable defeat)- then look at 2000 or so-night and day
much of the reason USA has become dominant in
world freestyle DESPITE our wrestling a completely different style 95% of the time- modern recording technology- allow great wrestlers to develop
at many programs-not just PSU
The recruits don't know that-they see PSU results-and think it is something particular to PSU(it is -they are getting best recruits-just like Gable did
at Iowa)
Bet PSU has plenty of burnouts-guys that just hang it up.50 wrestlers on team-just 10 can compete much-the rest??
RBY@@JM-wf2to