Brown U. Coach Stepping Down

[1032004 1,454]

https://brownbears.com/news/2022/5/5/todd-beckerman-to-step-down-as-wrestling-head-coach.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1nXWB_12N3HdE31jZPuNQO7hgUCKlnd2cOdm0AmzQyQtQyn2K9vemb04k

[NJDan 1,081]

Does Brown care at all about winning at wrestling. I know they have no tradition and Rhode Island is not wrestling country. But would they fire the coach for having just one AA in nine years?

[Fletcher 1,100]

54 minutes ago, NJDan said:

Does Brown care at all about winning at wrestling. I know they have no tradition and Rhode Island is not wrestling country. But would they fire the coach for having just one AA in nine years?

I doubt Brown cares about wrestling, but we've lost too many Ivy wrestling programs and I hope this isn't a sign we may lose another.

RIP Yale & Dartmouth

[TripNSweep 763]

Brown I thought was putting more resources into the program. Could be an opportunity for somebody. 

[1032004 1,454]

11 hours ago, NJDan said:

Does Brown care at all about winning at wrestling. I know they have no tradition and Rhode Island is not wrestling country. But would they fire the coach for having just one AA in nine years?

Does Brown care about any sports? 

According to Wikipedia, they have 7 NCAA titles, all in women’s rowing (I guess that’s one sport they care about).

Football: 4 Ivy League titles in history, last in 2008

Basketball: made NCAA tourney twice in their history with the last being in 1986

Hockey: no NCAA tourney appearances since 1993

 

[Lurker 2,039]

11 hours ago, NJDan said:

Does Brown care at all about winning at wrestling. I know they have no tradition and Rhode Island is not wrestling country. But would they fire the coach for having just one AA in nine years?

(..........Goes back to 'law school' and learns the difference between resigning and being fired)

[1032004 1,454]

9 minutes ago, Lurker said:

(..........Goes back to 'law school' and learns the difference between resigning and being fired)

I think his point was that he should have been fired instead of stepping down? 

[Lurker 2,039]

1 minute ago, 1032004 said:

I think his point was that he should have been fired instead of stepping down? 

If that was the point of the question, the obvious answer is.........no

[Voice_of_the_Quakers 133]

As a fellow Ivy Leaguer, Brown is an...interesting place.

That being said, Grace Calhoun was a strong supporter of the wrestling team when she was AD at Penn, so I am optimistic that better days lie ahead for the wrestling team at Brown.  We shall see.

[Elevator 307]

1 hour ago, 1032004 said:

Does Brown care about any sports? 

According to Wikipedia, they have 7 NCAA titles, all in women’s rowing (I guess that’s one sport they care about).

Football: 4 Ivy League titles in history, last in 2008

Basketball: made NCAA tourney twice in their history with the last being in 1986

Hockey: no NCAA tourney appearances since 1993

 

My unstudied impression is that Brown cares most about academics.  I had thought that as to sports, Brown might care particularly about hockey and womens' sports. But they have had many years in the nost too distant past where the wrestling team challenged for the Ivy crown and was competitive in the EIWA.  A lot of the Ivy wrestling programs (Cornell has been off the charts) have upped their game in recent years and Brown has not yet caught up.  Probably true that they are not located in a hotbed of wrestling, but it is by no means a regional school.  

But Brown has a lot of resources to lure recruits and strengthen the program.  Acceptance rate is only about 5% and Brown reportely offers a very flexible curriculum where students can design their own course of study.  Its a very nice campus in a nice part of a nice city and not far from big city attractions in Boston or NY.  I have known athletes who competed at Brown in wrestling and other sports and almost everyone I know loved the place.  But, if for students who want to study a business or agriculture curriculum as an undergraduate, it may not be the best academic choice.

[1032004 1,454]

So anyway, who could be some potential hires here?

It doesn't look like they have an Associate Head Coach listed, next in line would probably be Darrius Little, a former AA at NC State who was also a lightweights coach at Lehigh when Darian Cruz won his title.

 

On the other hand, Princeton lists 2 Associate Head Coaches in Joe Dubuque and Sean Gray.  Would one of them consider this job?   Apparently Gray had coached at Boston U so does have some of the New England connection.

[NJDan 1,081]

2 hours ago, 1032004 said:

I think his point was that he should have been fired instead of stepping down? 

I was actually suggesting that he was fired, but they allowed him to step down. Of course, I don't know.

[TheHeel 69]

13 hours ago, Fletcher said:

I doubt Brown cares about wrestling, but we've lost too many Ivy wrestling programs and I hope this isn't a sign we may lose another.

RIP Yale & Dartmouth

you should have read the article before posting. the program is fully endowed and the coach is taking a job in the athletic department. 

[IronChef 1,099]

Beckerman has kids and may want to take a position where he can spend more time with his family and not travel on so many weekends. Sounds like he was able to stay at Brown in another capacity.

Could Eric Morrill be a candidate? Bucknell assistant, New Hampshire native, 10ish years as an assistant at various places
 

[Hey Now 17]

Even without a history of winning in wrestling, yes, I believe Brown CAN succeed and do well in wrestling.  Will take the same kind of effort Koll put together at Cornell and Ayres at Princeton.   Will take a great recruiter, the perfectly timed recruit or two, a charismatic and tireless coach, and they'll be off and running.  What about coaches that have experience "building" at high academic institutions?  Or former Ivy Leaguer Nickerson?   I wonder if Ray Blake would consider after getting treated like crap at Stanford?  Another top assistant who is ready for their own program but could also navigate the frustrations of a challenging admissions department?

[Jim L 328]

I think Brown's best case scenario is to get where Harvard has been recently.  Every once in a great while they get a top wrestler has can get a high AA even challenge for a title, with most years their best guys can threaten to win an EIWA title and have an outside chance at AA. Brown has a way to go to even achieve that.

With Cornell, Princeton and UPenn all having much better situations and competing for the same potential recruits, I don't see how Brown competes

[1032004 1,454]

1 hour ago, NJDan said:

I was actually suggesting that he was fired, but they allowed him to step down. Of course, I don't know.

 

1 hour ago, TheHeel said:

you should have read the article before posting. the program is fully endowed and the coach is taking a job in the athletic department. 

 

1 hour ago, IronChef said:

Beckerman has kids and may want to take a position where he can spend more time with his family and not travel on so many weekends. Sounds like he was able to stay at Brown in another capacity.

Could Eric Morrill be a candidate? Bucknell assistant, New Hampshire native, 10ish years as an assistant at various places
 

I didn’t think the article was totally clear that he was taking another position at Brown, but seems possible if not likely.  However it was pretty clear IMO that he wasn’t fired.

But yeah, he specifically talked about being able to spend more time with his family.

[1032004 1,454]

1 hour ago, Hey Now said:

Even without a history of winning in wrestling, yes, I believe Brown CAN succeed and do well in wrestling.  Will take the same kind of effort Koll put together at Cornell and Ayres at Princeton.   Will take a great recruiter, the perfectly timed recruit or two, a charismatic and tireless coach, and they'll be off and running.  What about coaches that have experience "building" at high academic institutions?  Or former Ivy Leaguer Nickerson?   I wonder if Ray Blake would consider after getting treated like crap at Stanford?  Another top assistant who is ready for their own program but could also navigate the frustrations of a challenging admissions department?

I highly doubt Nickerson would leave Northern Colorado for Brown.

Blake is an interesting suggestion though…

[moodybooty 96]

Beckerman's a great guy and a great coach. Hope he does well -- Penn had a big uptick after Valenti transitioned to admin work from coaching, and I'm hoping for a similar result here.

Awhile ago, Brown had Ophir Bernstein, a 4-time qualifer and 1-time AA. Brown's mascot is the Bears.. so.. he was the Bernstein bear. Close enough to The Berenstain Bears. I was very entertained by that when he was wrestling.

[TheHeel 69]

5 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

 

 

I didn’t think the article was totally clear that he was taking another position at Brown, but seems possible if not likely.  However it was pretty clear IMO that he wasn’t fired.

But yeah, he specifically talked about being able to spend more time with his family.

It was a very poorly written article. Buried in the mediocre writing was this:  
 "We appreciate his dedication to Brown Wrestling and look forward to seeing him in a new role."
 
"I want to thank Grace Calhoun for this wonderful opportunity to pursue this next chapter in my career," 

 

Grace is the AD at Brown, so he is thanking her for an athletic department gig, is my take. Again, terrible writing. 

[TheHeel 69]

I haven't heard a single minority candidate name so far. Pay attention, team TheMatForum. 

[Fletcher 1,100]

2 hours ago, TheHeel said:

you should have read the article before posting. the program is fully endowed and the coach is taking a job in the athletic department. 

So was ND

[Fletcher 1,100]

56 minutes ago, Jim L said:

I think Brown's best case scenario is to get where Harvard has been recently.  Every once in a great while they get a top wrestler has can get a high AA even challenge for a title, with most years their best guys can threaten to win an EIWA title and have an outside chance at AA. Brown has a way to go to even achieve that.

With Cornell, Princeton and UPenn all having much better situations and competing for the same potential recruits, I don't see how Brown competes

 

They should start an Ag school.

[gimpeltf 2,073]

25 minutes ago, TheHeel said:

 "We appreciate his dedication to Brown Wrestling and look forward to seeing him in a new role."

This is what made me think it was a "mutually agreed upon decision"

[NJDan 1,081]

27 minutes ago, moodybooty said:

Beckerman's a great guy and a great coach. Hope he does well -- Penn had a big uptick after Valenti transitioned to admin work from coaching, and I'm hoping for a similar result here.

Awhile ago, Brown had Ophir Bernstein, a 4-time qualifer and 1-time AA. Brown's mascot is the Bears.. so.. he was the Bernstein bear. Close enough to The Berenstain Bears. I was very entertained by that when he was wrestling.

Bernstein also wrestled internationally for Israel and was an assistant at Brown. If Brown wants a minority, they have two on staff (Dudley and Delgado).