I don't know if i would say exactly the opposite. They had some pretty good teams. Maybe they didn't attack at the level his current team does, but they had no where near the talent either. Few teams score in bunches like they do. He was coach there for 3 years and the won the conference title each year and were in finished 2nd, 5th, 3rd in the nation. he has proven to be able to recruit and coach with anyone in the nation.
As we all know, good does not necessarily equal aggressive(CR, I know you arent saying that by the way). Good example over the past 10 years has been Okey State. They have been very successful and more often than not it has been on one or two two quality shots and then hanging on or at least wrestling defensively. I dont like it and at times cant blame them, as the officiating has allowed them to do so. In my opinion, and apparently Jon's, that is similar to how Cael's ISU teams wrestled. They had a lot of talented wrestlers and for this reason they did fairly well(in a down Big 12 mind you), but they were never overly agressive on their feet nor on top.
I even remember an interview with Cael(it may actually have been with Jon), after we had won the national title in the past 6 or so years, where he was asked something to the effect of, "Iowa wrestles a very aggressive style, how or do you think you can get your guys to wrestle that way?"(remember, I am paraphrasing)....His response to the interviewer was, "First of all, these arent my guys"...He was referring to the fact that they were still Bobby Douglas's recruits, and not his. The interviewer seemed to be shocked when he said that(I know I was), but he made it pretty clear he wasnt happy with what he had, nor the style they were wrestling. I dont recall what year it was, but it may have been later that spring when he accepted the PSU job.
Jon, if you read this, was this you? Do you remember this interview?
Now with that all said, either the quality of kids that he is recruiting to PSU is that much better, or he is coaching differently than he did at ISU, or both. I(we) know for a fact that the quality of recruits he is getting now -vs- what he had at ISU is night and day. I also think that he is a better coach than he was before. Keep in mind, it takes a young coach(no matter how good of a wrestler that he was) a while to develop their style and to learn what works or doesnt work him and his wreslters. As much as I wish I were wrong in saying it, I think Cael has gotten to that level of his coaching. And as long as he continues to get world class talent, and more often or not without even having to get on a plane, he and PSU are here to stay.
Although I hate losing to them, I have to admit that I enjoy watching the bulk of his kids compete, as they wrestle the kind of aggressive wreslting that most people want to watch. I am talking about the kind of wrestling that the olympics are trying to attain(and changing rules to do so) in hopes of making it a fan friendly sport.
I for one cant wait to watch this meet Friday, and as much as I want the Hawks to win, either way it will be a showcase of collegiate wrestling, not only because of the respective rankings, but also due to the style that both teams wrestle.
Go Hawks!
PS, sorry for any bad grammar, this was a handful to type on my phone.
