I Know Cael Gets the Praise

[portajohn 439]

24 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Was Casey at ISU too?

For a year 08'-09' season

[Joe1288 8]

2 hours ago, portajohn said:

But, Casey Cunningham is the man behind the scenes producing studs.  He's the John Danaher of college wrestling.  No signs he wants to leave but if a top program like Okie State brought him on, watch out.

Casey is the secret weapon 

[alliseeisgold 98]

1 hour ago, Mphillips said:

Absolutely no way to know that. ZERO. Unless we travel back in time and get them to all switch commits. 

No way Cael does a better job with the younger Amine. Few years ago he was battling guys like Keyshawn Hayes now he's beating Marinelli. 

Does Cael develop Spencer Lee better ? Does Cael develop Yanni better ? No - because development is by large overrated. And most guys who develop will do so in any college system. Talent is underrated. Cael is just the best at evaluation. The top high school talents who aren't as good in college - he doesn't recruit. 

[ScarletKnight 80]

3 hours ago, portajohn said:

Huh? Cunningham doesn't train the light weights.  Know what you're talking about before you post

who does, cael's brother?

---------------------

the surprise to me is that bartlett hasn't been better

what's the projected light lineup next year

125 - Steen

133 - howard

141 - bartlett (will he drop - small for 149??)

149 - van ness

??????

[1032004 1,454]

45 minutes ago, alliseeisgold said:

No way Cael does a better job with the younger Amine. Few years ago he was battling guys like Keyshawn Hayes now he's beating Marinelli. 

Does Cael develop Spencer Lee better ? Does Cael develop Yanni better ? No - because development is by large overrated. And most guys who develop will do so in any college system. Talent is underrated. Cael is just the best at evaluation. The top high school talents who aren't as good in college - he doesn't recruit. 

I think some would argue he would have developed Lee to make the Olympic team last year.  We’ll never know…

[hammerlockthree 2,635]

4 hours ago, portajohn said:

But, Casey Cunningham is the man behind the scenes producing studs.  He's the John Danaher of college wrestling.  No signs he wants to leave but if a top program like Okie State brought him on, watch out.

or iowa

[ppitts71 39]

No disrespect to Cunningham because he is obviously phenomenal and a key component of PSU. However, a lot of this talk reminds me of Rosselli. Talk was he was the real brains of OSU and he would turn around whichever program picked him up. 
 

Sometimes it isn’t one guy but a great group that feed off of each other. 

[pa in taiwan 159]

4 hours ago, Billyhoyle said:

Count me in the group who thinks it’s all Cael. They’d have thx same success without Casey.  It’s not that he does nothing, it’s that Cael would hire an equally good replacement. I also think Okie State is better off with somebody like Pop.

Count Cael out of the group who thinks it's all him. In a recent interview he was asked how much he is actually hands on working with the wrestlers and he basically says that he tries to stay out of the way of Casey, Cody and Varner. I guess it depends how you look at the role of head coach. Cael Sanderson has worked hard to set up a system, a complicated mechanism involving many different contributing factors, that leads to great individual and team success. The actual coaching of wrestlers is an essential part of this system, but it also includes a wide variety of responsibilities that Cael handles on his own, without help from his coaching team. I imagine many of these responsibilities are administrative and formal, not his favorite part of the head coaching job, but one that he understands that he must fulfill. Regarding the coaching of the wrestlers, he gives abundant credit to his coaching staff and admits freely that it wouldn't be the same without them. Anyone who has seen Casey Cunningham in the corner or interacting with the PSU wrestlers can see the seriousness and professionalism with which he approaches his job. Casey throws the challenge brick when he wants to. He doesn't need Cael's okay for that, even if Cael is in the corner with him. In addition, anyone who notices the intense concentration of the PSU wrestlers on what Casey is saying, the respect on their faces while they listen, can see his importance as a coach. Yes, he would be an invaluable head coach for any program needing one. The question is, would he want to leave the position he has now, one that brings him so much satisfaction? He obviously feels part of a family at PSU. Does he want to leave that for greater ambition? I guess you'd have to look into his heart to find the answer to that question. I think he'll stay at PSU for now. 

[Le duke 415]

Casey is the coach who has been hugged first by more PSU wrestlers since 2011 than any other coach.

 

He’s also the guy who was in DT’s corner at every international match I’ve seen.

 

Just putting that out there.

 

 

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[Billyhoyle 2,479]

32 minutes ago, pa in taiwan said:

Count Cael out of the group who thinks it's all him. In a recent interview he was asked how much he is actually hands on working with the wrestlers and he basically says that he tries to stay out of the way of Casey, Cody and Varner. I guess it depends how you look at the role of head coach. Cael Sanderson has worked hard to set up a system, a complicated mechanism involving many different contributing factors, that leads to great individual and team success. The actual coaching of wrestlers is an essential part of this system, but it also includes a wide variety of responsibilities that Cael handles on his own, without help from his coaching team. I imagine many of these responsibilities are administrative and formal, not his favorite part of the head coaching job, but one that he understands that he must fulfill. Regarding the coaching of the wrestlers, he gives abundant credit to his coaching staff and admits freely that it wouldn't be the same without them. Anyone who has seen Casey Cunningham in the corner or interacting with the PSU wrestlers can see the seriousness and professionalism with which he approaches his job. Casey throws the challenge brick when he wants to. He doesn't need Cael's okay for that, even if Cael is in the corner with him. In addition, anyone who notices the intense concentration of the PSU wrestlers on what Casey is saying, the respect on their faces while they listen, can see his importance as a coach. Yes, he would be an invaluable head coach for any program needing one. The question is, would he want to leave the position he has now, one that brings him so much satisfaction? He obviously feels part of a family at PSU. Does he want to leave that for greater ambition? I guess you'd have to look into his heart to find the answer to that question. I think he'll stay at PSU for now. 

Of course Cael is going to say that-that's called not being a jackass.  If Cael retired tomorrow and Cunningham took over, the program would not have nearly the success it does now.  If Cunningham leaves for another program, PSU will be just as good as it has been.  That's not to say Cunningham doesn't do anything or isn't good at his job or respected by his athletes, but the program is Cael and to act like any individual other than him isn't replaceable is a nice thought (yay we're all important and great!), but ignores the reality of the situation.  

2 hours ago, ppitts71 said:

No disrespect to Cunningham because he is obviously phenomenal and a key component of PSU. However, a lot of this talk reminds me of Rosselli. Talk was he was the real brains of OSU and he would turn around whichever program picked him up. 
 

Sometimes it isn’t one guy but a great group that feed off of each other. 

This is exactly it. Coaches like Tom Ryan, Koll, Cael, Brands (X2), and Popolizio succeed regardless of any particular assistant. Yes, the assistants are good coaches, but they join the program because of the head coach.  Assistant coaches are always the closest with the athletes because they spend the most time in the room working directly with them, but they are replaceable.  The head coach is not.   Would PSU be any worse of Cunningham leaves and they replace him with Varner or Taylor? Would Ohio State be any worse if Jaggers gets a HC job somewhere and Stieber takes over as head assistant?  Or Iowa if Morning* leaves and they replace him with his clone Marinelli?

 

Edited March 21 by Billyhoyle

[HurricaneWrestling2 875]

34 minutes ago, pa in taiwan said:

Count Cael out of the group who thinks it's all him. In a recent interview he was asked how much he is actually hands on working with the wrestlers and he basically says that he tries to stay out of the way of Casey, Cody and Varner. I guess it depends how you look at the role of head coach. Cael Sanderson has worked hard to set up a system, a complicated mechanism involving many different contributing factors, that leads to great individual and team success. The actual coaching of wrestlers is an essential part of this system, but it also includes a wide variety of responsibilities that Cael handles on his own, without help from his coaching team. I imagine many of these responsibilities are administrative and formal, not his favorite part of the head coaching job, but one that he understands that he must fulfill. Regarding the coaching of the wrestlers, he gives abundant credit to his coaching staff and admits freely that it wouldn't be the same without them. Anyone who has seen Casey Cunningham in the corner or interacting with the PSU wrestlers can see the seriousness and professionalism with which he approaches his job. Casey throws the challenge brick when he wants to. He doesn't need Cael's okay for that, even if Cael is in the corner with him. In addition, anyone who notices the intense concentration of the PSU wrestlers on what Casey is saying, the respect on their faces while they listen, can see his importance as a coach. Yes, he would be an invaluable head coach for any program needing one. The question is, would he want to leave the position he has now, one that brings him so much satisfaction? He obviously feels part of a family at PSU. Does he want to leave that for greater ambition? I guess you'd have to look into his heart to find the answer to that question. I think he'll stay at PSU for now. 

Great post - IIRC, I recently read that, as part of his latest contract renewal, Cael wanted to make sure that Cunningham was compensated at a head coach's level - or something along those lines.  Maybe someone can chime in with the specifics/reference.

[4awrestler 72]

I don’t believe that if Cael quit and Casey took over that the program would drastically decline. From the outside looking in I would say Cunningham has just as much to do with developing talent and getting the most out of his guys as Cael does.

Unless one truly believes that everyone that goes to Penn state only does because of Cael.

I don’t believe Cunningham will ever go anywhere else, why would he?


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[Joe1288 8]

2 hours ago, ScarletKnight said:

who does, cael's brother?

---------------------

the surprise to me is that bartlett hasn't been better

what's the projected light lineup next year

125 - Steen

133 - howard

141 - bartlett (will he drop - small for 149??)

149 - van ness

??????

125 Howard

133 RBY

141 Bartlett

149 Van Ness

157 Haines

165 Carr

174 Starocci

184 Brooks

197 Dean

285 Kerkvliet

[JeanGuy 147]

5 minutes ago, Joe1288 said:

 

197 Dean

 

I wonder if Dean is interested in coming back for one more. Some guys like to move on and not stay in college forever. Couple that with no talk of Beard hitting the portal and it makes me wonder if it was understood that Dean was a one year guy.

[Billyhoyle 2,479]

16 minutes ago, JeanGuy said:

I wonder if Dean is interested in coming back for one more. Some guys like to move on and not stay in college forever. Couple that with no talk of Beard hitting the portal and it makes me wonder if it was understood that Dean was a one year guy.

Because he was at Cornell, Dean has had to withdraw every year he didn't compete and hasn't actually been in college for very long.  

[HurricaneWrestling2 875]

Can't remember which one, but in the after finals interviews, one Nitanny Lion champ thanked Cael, Cody, Casey, Jimmy Kennedy and Varner all by name. 

Thought that was a little unusual - I've heard specific coaches mentioned - or the "coaching staff" - but don't recall anyone mentioning every member of the staff by name.

[ScarletKnight 80]

46 minutes ago, Joe1288 said:

125 Howard

133 RBY

141 Bartlett

149 Van Ness

157 Haines

165 Carr

174 Starocci

184 Brooks

197 Dean

285 Kerkvliet

Wasn't Howard having a hard time making 125?

 

[wrestlingnerd 3,003]

1 hour ago, HurricaneWrestling2 said:

Can't remember which one, but in the after finals interviews, one Nitanny Lion champ thanked Cael, Cody, Casey, Jimmy Kennedy and Varner all by name. 

Dean. 

[Joe1288 8]

20 hours ago, ScarletKnight said:

Wasn't Howard having a hard time making 125?

 

Not really. The only way he moves up is if RBY leaves and RBY is staying.

[jmez 6]

As long as Cael is HC, Penn State will be dominant. It is that simple

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[Scourge197 21]

14 minutes ago, jmez said:

As long as Cael is HC, Penn State will be dominant. It is that simple

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk
 

I don't know...I mean...the whole Drew Hildebrandt argument is strong. It DOES kinda prove that Cael can't develop kids because one guy who wrestled 2 months at Penn State didn't do better than he did the year before at the NCAA's....when Glory and Vito weren't there and there were no crowds.

Did he have 5 champs and win his 9th title in 11 Tournaments? Sure...if you're gonna use nonsense like that, fine I guess he's a "good coach," and can "develop talent."

I choose to go by guys who wrestle a handful of matches, got a bad draw and then wrestled for 2 months instead!

[jmez 6]

The guy is transcendent, plain and simple. Like Gable before him. People that can't or refuse to see that are simply jealous fan boys grasping for excuses.

I'm not a Penn State fan. I'm a Nebraska fan. I recognize greatness when I see it. Casey Cunningham could leave tomorrow and the results would be the same.

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[ShakaAloha 426]

22 hours ago, Joe1288 said:

165 Carr

Are you referring to David Carr?!

[1032004 1,454]

2 minutes ago, ShakaAloha said:

Are you referring to David Carr?!

Looks like Jimmy has a new alternate account 

[Joe1288 8]

2 hours ago, Scourge197 said:

I don't know...I mean...the whole Drew Hildebrandt argument is strong. It DOES kinda prove that Cael can't develop kids because one guy who wrestled 2 months at Penn State didn't do better than he did the year before at the NCAA's....when Glory and Vito weren't there and there were no crowds.

Did he have 5 champs and win his 9th title in 11 Tournaments? Sure...if you're gonna use nonsense like that, fine I guess he's a "good coach," and can "develop talent."

I choose to go by guys who wrestle a handful of matches, got a bad draw and then wrestled for 2 months instead!

Except RBY was beaten twice by DeSanto, the first time badly, and went from 8th to 2 time champion with 6 straight wins over DeSanto and 2 wins over world silver medalist Fix.

Except Lee finished 5th and was pinned at Bigs, then lost to Pletcher during Covid, and had to beat Eirman after losing to him, then went on to win 2 straight national championships.

Except Starocci was beaten twice his freshman year and had to beat Kem, who pounded him at Bigs, to go on and then win 2 straight championships.

Except Brooks had to beat Amine, who beat him at B1Gs.

Except Dean had never finished higher than 2nd and he then won a championship.

I got about 40 or 50 more of these that prove Sanderson is the greatest coach in the sport...feel free to ask for more.