Worst Coaching Decisions of 2018/19

[Perry 1,428]

Brian Smith wrestling Zach Elam when he is too small for heavy

Tom Ryan wrestling Malik Heinselmann when he is too small for lightweight

Tom/Terry Brands on pretty much every mat decision that's been made

Others?

[moveurfeet32 99]

Dennis Papadokis and his Hofstra Staff trying to run a D1 Program! Pathetic. Hire a decent staff and watch them get immediately better!

[tigerfan 221]

8 minutes ago, Perry said:

Brian Smith wrestling Zach Elam when he is too small for heavy

Tom Ryan wrestling Malik Heinselmann when he is too small for lightweight

Tom/Terry Brands on pretty much every mat decision that's been made

Others?

You should know by now that Brian Smith knows there's more to life than wrestling.  Elam may have personal, professional goals that preclude him from spending 5 years on campus if he can finish his degree in 4.  Smith told me personally some years ago that the most common reason he redshirts freshman is so they can get on their feet academically.  Wrestling comes second.  Plus, the season isn't over yet.  Even if Elam fails to AA, it's not like he hasn't been a solid performer overall.  It's damn tough to AA in D1.  Matt Pell, Raymond Jordan, Max Askren, Michael Chandler, Joey Lavallee, Kyle Bradley, Nick Marable, etc. all failed to do it as upperclassmen.  

[Dr. Novak 147]

Rob Koll mismanaged Jon Jay Chavez causing him to quit wrestling.

[KCMO2 676]

Elam just finished 22-9 in the regular season and qualified for nationals as a true freshman hwt.  He started out on fire, which may have led to unrealistic expectations for the season, myself included.  And while I think he has under-performed during the second half of the season, and his cardio sucks, overall he's had a good season.  And don't forget, with Myers being injured(?) most of the season, Mizzou did not have another hwt. that could compete at this level.  

Edited March 10, 2019 by KCMO2

[Mojo44 4]

How about John Smiths dietitian?  Cowboy fat job.  Son Jojo is a fat 157 that wasted his off season eating not working on his cardio then gets a last minute offer to wrestle off ending  Chandlers career.  Nephew Coach Chris looks like we would wrestle heavyweight nowadays.  Put the Double Cheeseburgers down!

[Marcus Cisero 342]

Worst coaching decision for me was Tom "it was all in the plans" Brands keeping Spencer from wrestling Rivera during the duel.

[LJB 2,093]

i think we can all agree the worst coaching decision by a country mile was eggum recruiting that horrible person gable and ruining wrestling for all the kids...

 

OH, THE HUMANITY!!!!

[MagnetBack 65]

I agree. Will put the Gophers in a bind at heavyweight in the coming years after Gable moves on from college wrestling. 

[gowrestle 689]

Decisions by administrators that have seen the once proud programs nosedive:

Bloomsburg

Oklahoma

Springfield

Boise

Ashland

Montclair

And others.....

 

[TobusRex 2,108]

43 minutes ago, gowrestle said:

Decisions by administrators that have seen the once proud programs nosedive:

Bloomsburg

Oklahoma

Springfield

Boise

Ashland

Montclair

And others.....

 

 

I wouldn't put OU on that list. When OU "retired" Jack Spates they picked the "hot coach" on the market at the time: Mark Cody. Cody had some pretty decent finishes with lowly American. Castiglione (OU's AD) had every expectation that OU would be reinvigorated and experience a resurgence. However, the less said about the Cody era at OU, the better. When Cody finally bombed and was canned  he was replaced by Lou Roselli, a guy with an excellent reputation who had experience coaching at the highest college level. Lou inherited an almost completely empty cupboard, but OU is showing some signs of life, finally.

OU may be a shell of what they used to be, but I don't think you can really blame the AD's intent. He thought the Cody hire was a home run, when it was really a strike out. Once the situation was revealed for what it was Castiglione reacted appropriately.

[scramble 155]

In regards to Elam, it may be hindsight also.  Mizzou's season had some churnings, and Smith still managed to put together a pretty dang good season.  This is especially true considering them not being one of the power 5, and being the only team in their true conference with wrestling, and having to jump into a less than stellar conference. 

When you consider Elam was coming off of a Junior World gold it made sense at the time with the team he had.  A legit chance at a Top 4 finish with Elam's potential.  Then Colby Smith was looking good, but then couldn't do 125 anymore (weight from what I understand). Then he filled the void by pulling true freshman Punke's redshirt.  Next Leeth goes down so they had to pull true freshman Maulers redshirt. On top of it, all of that followed Smith doing the standup thing and releasing Milkus to Iowa State after getting him a 6th year.  When you think about it, and all of the things that took place, they did a pretty good job.  They have 4 true freshmen in their lineup.  That is almost half of the team.  They may have the most true-freshman in the lineup in the country.  All of which qualified for the NCAA.  In hindsight maybe a few of those redshirts shouldn't have been pulled, but when a few dominos fall over the course of the season you make the best decisions you can.  Especially when it is halfway through a pretty good season, you don't really want to throw that away.  They will need to step it up in two weeks though. 

[lost 146]

6 hours ago, Dr. Novak said:

Rob Koll mismanaged Jon Jay Chavez causing him to quit wrestling.

Can you explain this?  I'd been wondering what happened to Chavez

[KCMO2 676]

I think Mizzou still has a good chance to finish top 8, and this is a down year for them.

They only have 3 true freshmen in their lineup though.  Punke is a RS freshman.

[bnwtwg 1,065]

On 3/9/2019 at 5:30 PM, Mojo44 said:

How about John Smiths dietitian?  Cowboy fat job.  Son Jojo is a fat 157 that wasted his off season eating not working on his cardio then gets a last minute offer to wrestle off ending  Chandlers career.  Nephew Coach Chris looks like we would wrestle heavyweight nowadays.  Put the Double Cheeseburgers down!

Don't look at Johny Hendricks...

Edited March 11, 2019 by bnwtwg

[silvermedal 210]

The Purdue staff putting Lydy on bottom in the second OT vs Labriola.  It was obvious Labs would have the riding time advantage and that Lydy would need a TD.  

[boconnell 1,624]

On 3/9/2019 at 5:30 PM, Mojo44 said:

How about John Smiths dietitian?  Cowboy fat job.  Son Jojo is a fat 157 that wasted his off season eating not working on his cardio then gets a last minute offer to wrestle off ending  Chandlers career.  Nephew Coach Chris looks like we would wrestle heavyweight nowadays.  Put the Double Cheeseburgers down!

I love it.  Every month there's a thread about how John Smith makes guys cut too much weight, and now come the posts about how John Smith's guys are too fat and don't cut enough weight.  

The only thing I don't love is that OSU hasn't won nearly enough in recent years to inspire this kind of jealousy.

Edited March 11, 2019 by boconnell

[klehner 734]

On 3/10/2019 at 12:26 AM, lost said:

Can you explain this?  I'd been wondering what happened to Chavez

Please ignore the troll.

[Dr. Novak 147]

Interesting insult.  You might want to do a little research before commenting again.

[silvermedal 210]

On 3/9/2019 at 6:10 PM, KCMO2 said:

Elam just finished 22-9 in the regular season and qualified for nationals as a true freshman hwt.  He started out on fire, which may have led to unrealistic expectations for the season, myself included.  And while I think he has under-performed during the second half of the season, and his cardio sucks, overall he's had a good season.  And don't forget, with Myers being injured(?) most of the season, Mizzou did not have another hwt. that could compete at this level.  

Elam was beating the h-ll out of Singletary in Vegas before Chase injury defaulted.  He was very impressive in that match.

[MadMardigain 1,603]

On 3/9/2019 at 6:06 PM, Dr. Novak said:

Rob Koll mismanaged Jon Jay Chavez causing him to quit wrestling.

Had a potential in Greco and thought he may try to go that way anyway before Cornell.   

Edited March 11, 2019 by MadMardigain

[Sublime607 141]

37 minutes ago, Dr. Novak said:

Interesting insult.  You might want to do a little research before commenting again.

As a Cornell fan the lines have been kinda gray as to what the deal is. I’m of the opinion that his injury forced him to miss worlds played a part early on but not really sure what kept him out of the lineup after.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Sublime607