Will Koll succeed at Stanford?

[PSUSMC 312]

Coach Koll has had a lot of success recruiting California over the years - not all of the wrestlers panned out but no coach has had 100% success with any region/state.  But that's not Stanford's primary target and likely hasn't been for a very long time (Gentry and Griffith, Stanford's 2 NCs and Amuchestegui & Tanner Gardner, multi-time AAs weren't Californians). 

Stanford recruiting will be somewhat difficult and the administration probably won't grant as much leeway to prospective wrestling recruits academically as they do FB, BB, Soccer and Baseball, but Koll will still get high-performing student athletes, just as Kerry and Borelli did/have; I believe he'll get even more.

One of the hardest jobs he'll have is creating a wrestling culture in the Bay Area, because there really isn't one.  Even in the Troy Sutherland era, Penn State would draw more to one dual than Stanford would combined for an entire season.

Although wrestling is a fringe sport, this is the biggest hire at a Bay Area university since Jim Harbaugh (to Stanford - and that's probably more for what he did as a QB in the NFL than as a coach at USD). 

[portajohn 436]

21 minutes ago, PSUSMC said:

One of the hardest jobs he'll have is creating a wrestling culture in the Bay Area, because there really isn't one.  Even in the Troy Sutherland era, Penn State would draw more to one dual than Stanford would combined for an entire season.

True but it's not like it's non existent.  To build the wrestling  community it needs to do a better job at Networking and outreach. Something I've heard Koll is very good at. Down the road is AKA and Daniel Cormier is coaching at Gilroy. There are big names in that area.  Don't know where he was academically in high school but Chase Saldate grew up in that region along with many other studs. 

[lu_alum 917]

1 hour ago, Downtown Brown said:

N A S H O N...?!! Come on man, be better. 
 

 

If you are going to spell for emphasis, at least get it right.

[lu_alum 917]

I don't believe Stanford is a 9.9 school... is this correct?  

[wrestlingnerd 2,996]

Koll is awesome online, which helps offset the weak local wrestling culture. He will materially revamp Stanford’s online game. 

[IronChef 1,071]

The main thing that will be different is the admissions standards. How much leeway will he get with admissions, and will he find a way to launder non-Stanford level students through another school the way he did at Cornell? If he can solve that and get closer to 9.9 scholarships, he has a chance to do very well. Stanford is a very desirable school. He will need to build the relationships with donors and alumni, but he’s proven that to be his biggest strength.

As an aside, there is an enormous difference between teaching technique and wrestling live with the team. Koll is plenty capable of doing the first whether or not he does the second. 

[Elevator 303]

10 minutes ago, IronChef said:

The main thing that will be different is the admissions standards. How much leeway will he get with admissions, and will he find a way to launder non-Stanford level students through another school the way he did at Cornell? If he can solve that and get closer to 9.9 scholarships, he has a chance to do very well. Stanford is a very desirable school. He will need to build the relationships with donors and alumni, but he’s proven that to be his biggest strength.

As an aside, there is an enormous difference between teaching technique and wrestling live with the team. Koll is plenty capable of doing the first whether or not he does the second. 

"launder"?  You mean "develop"

[Husker_Du 836]

yes. that's what the purpose of TC3 is. development. lol.

[BLT 86]

3 hours ago, lu_alum said:

I don't believe Stanford is a 9.9 school... is this correct?  

They were not before. I hope Koll made 9.9 a part of the agreement.

[Maximus Meridius 22]

6 hours ago, Billyhoyle said:

If Stanford is fully behind wrestling now, which it appears they may be, I have zero doubt that he will turn them into a powerhouse and they might even compete for a team title. The pitch to get a recruit to go to Stanford is going to be much easier than what he had at Cornell. 

The pitch will be real simple. He can give athletic scholarships at Stanford. Couldn’t do that at Cornell.  

[Maximus Meridius 22]

3 hours ago, IronChef said:

The main thing that will be different is the admissions standards. How much leeway will he get with admissions, and will he find a way to launder non-Stanford level students through another school the way he did at Cornell? If he can solve that and get closer to 9.9 scholarships, he has a chance to do very well. Stanford is a very desirable school. He will need to build the relationships with donors and alumni, but he’s proven that to be his biggest strength.

As an aside, there is an enormous difference between teaching technique and wrestling live with the team. Koll is plenty capable of doing the first whether or not he does the second. 

Admissions standards for athletes at Stanford are not what you may think. Jameis Winston was accepted to Stanford.  Need I say more.  https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/49ers/jameis-winston-regrets-not-attending-stanford
 

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Maximus Meridius
Spelling Jameis

[Idaho 1,319]

9 hours ago, NJDan said:

I have my doubts.

It will be very hard to recruit. First, Stanford's admissions criteria are even harder than Cornell's. He has no history of recruiting Californians. (The one high profile recruit from Cali at Cornell was a huge bust.) And if I am a top guy, do I want to go to school that just cancelled my sport? 

Only 1 of 3 AA were from CA....Only 2 starters were from CA...there were just as many staters from.....get this....NJ 

Seems like Borelli was doing fine recruiting outside of CA. 

[klehner 730]

1 hour ago, Maximus Meridius said:

The pitch will be real simple. He can give athletic scholarships at Stanford. Couldn’t do that at Cornell.  

If you need the scholarship at Cornell, you qualify for the equivalent in need-based aid, and there’s no limit to the number who can get said aid.

[klehner 730]

59 minutes ago, Maximus Meridius said:

Admissions standards for athletes at Stanford are not what you may think. Jameis Winston was accepted to Stanford.  Need I say more.  https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/49ers/jameis-winston-regrets-not-attending-stanford
 

 

Yes, you do need to say more.  What were Winston’s academic credentials?

[NJDan 1,058]

7 hours ago, Downtown Brown said:

N A S H O N...?!! Come on man, be better. 
 

 

Forgot about NG being a Californian. My bad.

[wrestlingnerd 2,996]

52 minutes ago, klehner said:

Yes, you do need to say more.  What were Winston’s academic credentials?

Come on. The right question is, will wrestling get remotely close to the same treatment as football?

[Maximus Meridius 22]

1 hour ago, klehner said:

Yes, you do need to say more.  What were Winston’s academic credentials?

Make up your own mind.

 

Strike you as Stanford material.

[wrestlingnerd 2,996]

12 minutes ago, Maximus Meridius said:

Make up your own mind.

 

Strike you as Stanford material.

That was brutal but the real tell is that he didn’t know Stanford was prestigious per the article you first linked. It would’ve been a fantastic troll job if it weren’t the damn truth!

[ugarte 515]

2 hours ago, klehner said:

If you need the scholarship at Cornell, you qualify for the equivalent in need-based aid, and there’s no limit to the number who can get said aid.

this just isn't true. we lost our all-american goalie to notre dame because he couldn't justify paying Cornell tuition even though he had the covid exemption to exhaust his eligibility in grad school. 

[Dutch 1]

I am skeptical as well. I think his age is a limiting factor in a rebuilding scenario. I think the talent level currently at Stanford is much lower than at Cornell. And as you stated, I think recruits would be wise to avoid the dumster fire that the Stanford athletics department has become in the short term. I do think Koll has a track record of attracting talent to his program, but he will still be forced to recruit back east to succeed. Not sure that happens. I do think the postive for Koll is that expectations for a Koll coached Stanford team is much lower than that of a Koll coached Cornell team. Maybe that was part of his thought process, don't really know. My guess is this doesn't go so well for him.

[southend 239]

13 hours ago, NJDan said:

I have my doubts.

It will be very hard to recruit. First, Stanford's admissions criteria are even harder than Cornell's. He has no history of recruiting Californians. (The one high profile recruit from Cali at Cornell was a huge bust.) And if I am a top guy, do I want to go to school that just cancelled my sport? 

You doubt, So what is succes there? If they stay the same as the last few years, is that success? I think that is successful for Stanford program. Nobody is replacing penn state or Iowa. Top 20 or 25 will be successful. As usual. 

[gowrestle 689]

Yes 

[Plasmodium 2,217]

2 hours ago, ugarte said:

this just isn't true. we lost our all-american goalie to notre dame because he couldn't justify paying Cornell tuition even though he had the covid exemption to exhaust his eligibility in grad school. 

Do grad students qualify for the same need based aid? 

[Drew87 349]

2 hours ago, ugarte said:

this just isn't true. we lost our all-american goalie to notre dame because he couldn't justify paying Cornell tuition even though he had the covid exemption to exhaust his eligibility in grad school. 

Every school slices and dices differently.  Did your goalie get athletic money or merit money?

Edited May 31, 2021 by Drew87

[Drew87 349]

2 hours ago, Dutch said:

I am skeptical as well. I think his age is a limiting factor in a rebuilding scenario. I think the talent level currently at Stanford is much lower than at Cornell. And as you stated, I think recruits would be wise to avoid the dumster fire that the Stanford athletics department has become in the short term. I do think Koll has a track record of attracting talent to his program, but he will still be forced to recruit back east to succeed. Not sure that happens. I do think the postive for Koll is that expectations for a Koll coached Stanford team is much lower than that of a Koll coached Cornell team. Maybe that was part of his thought process, don't really know. My guess is this doesn't go so well for him.

Potentially, I’d say Koll was brought in as a fixer, like a mercenary CEO. He speaks the lingo and has the longest tenure of anyone at the other tough academic schools.  He’s the only one with a national caliber record of achievement. I’d guess his job is to shepherd the current stock of high level recruits through along with getting a training framework in place.  The man knows how to hire assistants, and that is his model.  Not to mention he was actually a decent wrestler back in the day, as in was actually a national champ.

I would be fascinated to know the percentage of national champs that were coached by national champs.  Off the top of my head, it seems heavily skewed.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Drew87