Lemme Hit Ya With This…

[Fryowa]

Iowa’s is likely going to finish the season with a .500 conference record.

The last time that happened was 1968.

It’s over.

It’s not Tom, it’s not Terry. It’s a different world now and the Iowa program as a whole didn’t keep up with the new way. Take away the money spent on the new building, put it towards NIL and the Hawks are right there with Penn State. But it didn’t go that way, and when it was built NIL wasn’t a thing so there’s not a lot of blame to be had there to be honest.

All great things come to an end and this is it. We still have YouTube to go back in time and watch I guess, but if you’re a real fan it’s almost as painful to watch the dominant times because those times are dead.

 

[HawkIowa44]

Yeah, this is rough and not much chance to get it back anytime soon. Almost laughable

 

[Sighhawk]

Yeah, I dont get to watch unless on the boob tube, I am out of state.
Looks like we could be down to two A.A. this year.
Might not even place in the top 10 at the NCAAs.
I dont care I will die a Hawkeye fan.
Hoping for year 2028 to turn things around.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

I agree to a point.

NIL is by far the biggest driver right now. Little money = little success.

As much as I've respected them over the years, T&T do bear some responsibility for this decline, though.

I've posted for years about my concerns as they relate the their coaching style/philosophy. It's not a knock on them at all, but the days of maximum physical and emotional pressure resulting in wrestling machines on the mat have gradually faded away. Results are still there but it's spotty at best and unsustainable.

We've watched untold numbers of talented wrestlers get beaten down during their careers, ultimately looking like robotic shells of themselves at the end. Yes, wrestling is a grind, no doubt, but, if it's the demands of the sport, then why do the PSU wrestlers look physically and emotionally fresh pretty much every time they step on the mat? Why do they appear focused and self-motivated, and get better year after year?

Good coaches get good results. Great coaches adapt and adjust. It's not just NIL in this case.

 

[Fryowa]

I agree to a point.

NIL is by far the biggest driver right now. Little money = little success.

As much as I've respected them over the years, T&T do bear some responsibility for this decline, though.

I've posted for years about my concerns as they relate the their coaching style/philosophy. It's not a knock on them at all, but the days of maximum physical and emotional pressure resulting in wrestling machines on the mat have gradually faded away. Results are still there but it's spotty at best and unsustainable.

We've watched untold numbers of talented wrestlers get beaten down during their careers, ultimately looking like robotic shells of themselves at the end. Yes, wrestling is a grind, no doubt, but, if it's the demands of the sport, then why do the PSU wrestlers look physically and emotionally fresh pretty much every time they step on the mat? Why do they appear focused and self-motivated, and get better year after year?

Good coaches get good results. Great coaches adapt and adjust. It's not just NIL in this case.

Hard disagree.

NCAA wrestling team performance since NIL is almost 100% correlated with NIL spend. This isn’t football where you have a team that the end result is a team-only thing. It’s an individual sport that happens to have a team score at the end.

In football there are too many variables and you can’t just buy a team. Wrestling you can because team results are decided solely on how good each individual is independently of the others.

Ben Kueter’s contribution and resultant effect on the team has zero to do with Patrick Kennedy’s contribution and results. In contrast, MG’s contribution (and Iowa’s team result) has lots to do with DJ Vonnhame’s and Logan Jones’ skill and abilities, etc. You can buy the best QB (or whatever position) in the world and still fail as a team because that team’s moving parts all affect each other. One weak link brings the whole thing down, but in wrestling if you buy 7 top 3 ranked guys you’re going to win the natty and so on down the line.

Coaching is important, but at the end of the day, he who can buy the best team of individual (and independent) pieces wins, period.

 

[Fryowa]

Yes, wrestling is a grind, no doubt, but, if it's the demands of the sport, then why do the PSU wrestlers look physically and emotionally fresh pretty much every time they step on the mat? Why do they appear focused and self-motivated, and get better year after year?

Because they have the money to pay for guys who are more focused and self-motivated.

We've watched untold numbers of talented wrestlers get beaten down during their careers, ultimately looking like robotic shells of themselves at the end.

The question you need to ask is are they as talented as you think?

Or does PSU and OSU and [insert team here] have more talent?

Talent is made up of a lot of things, many of them intangible. Toughness and fortitude are both components of talent, and guys with those attributes are going to command and receive…more money.

Tom has put together plenty of national title teams, and more importantly teams where it was MILES between the next best team after Iowa and Penn State. TnT didn’t just all of a sudden become too tough and demanding coincidentally with the advent of NIL. The current top 8 teams didn’t just immediately become better than Iowa pretty much overnight and oh hey, it just accidentally happens to be when paying wrestlers became a thing. The results since NIL are too stark and immediate to suggest otherwise.

 

[Fryowa]

Yeah, I dont get to watch unless on the boob tube, I am out of state.
Looks like we could be down to two A.A. this year.
Might not even place in the top 10 at the NCAAs.
I dont care I will die a Hawkeye fan.
Hoping for year 2028 to turn things around.

I still have 3 season tickets and haven’t gone to a meet in the last 2 and a half seasons.

I’m not driving 11 hours round trip to watch 8 Iowa wrestlers stand in collar ties and stall for 7 minutes. There’s dedication, and then there’s stupidity.

Never missed a single dual the 6 years prior to then, and only missed a few before those 6 seasons. That’s how much I love Iowa wrestling and how much I hate what’s happened to it.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

Hard disagree.

NCAA wrestling team performance since NIL is almost 100% correlated with NIL spend. This isn’t football where you have a team that the end result is a team-only thing. It’s an individual sport that happens to have a team score at the end.

In football there are too many variables and you can’t just buy a team. Wrestling you can because team results are decided solely on how good each individual is independently of the others.

Ben Kueter’s contribution and resultant effect on the team has zero to do with Patrick Kennedy’s contribution and results. In contrast, MG’s contribution (and Iowa’s team result) has lots to do with DJ Vonnhame’s and Logan Jones’ skill and abilities, etc. You can buy the best QB (or whatever position) in the world and still fail as a team because that team’s moving parts all affect each other. One weak link brings the whole thing down, but in wrestling if you buy 7 top 3 ranked guys you’re going to win the natty and so on down the line.

Coaching is important, but at the end of the day, he who can buy the best team of individual (and independent) pieces wins, period.

That really wasn't my point, though.

As I stated, NIL is by far the biggest factor.

I was just pointing out that it's not the ONLY factor in Iowa's decline. I hold T&T in high regard, but to think that they don't bear any responsibility due to their coaching styles and refusal to adapt, is short-sighted IMO.