Rob Koll is hard not to like

AustinMNHawk

Well-Known Member
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fugBpcA4uE0&feature=PlayList&p=4E9C1AD1CB1554E1&index=10]YouTube - ‪Cornell Head Coach Rob Koll on discussions at the NWCA Convention‬‎[/ame]
 


That's great. Rob Koll is 1000% right and good for him for saying. I hope Brands watches this because it's just wrong if Iowa doesn't go. I don't want to hear any excuses about why they might not go. They need to be there no if and or buts about it.
Austin you're right, it is hard not to like him.
 








I am curious to who the coaches are that he was refering to that were not there. If you read between the lines you can tell he's pretty ****** about Iowa possibly not going. I understand what he is saying about how important it is to be there. Honestly I understand both sides of the deal. Iowa is dealing with a very young lineup who they might have a little trouble molding confidence & if/when they get on a roll and win 7 or 8 duals in a row then go to National Duals and lose it will be VERY hard to build them back up! Iowa is not ducking competion after all they will be wrestling oky state down there in a hostile envirement and VERY important dual that could propel them to a new level with a victory.

As for what Koll is saying he is right also. Iowa NEEDS to be there for the good of the sport. He is dead on about the importance of National Duals. It is a Great event for all levels of wrestling and if the BEST program in the country is not attending the event it hurt National Duals in so many ways.

Now all us want Iowa to go but "crying over spilled milk"(so to speak) is not doing any good either. I will support the Hawks and the coaching staff nomatter what they decide but hope they decide to go. If we go injury free I still see no reason why we won't be wrestling for atleast 3rd.

PLEASE don't take this post the wrong way I respect all of your opinions and understand where all are coming from about being upset about Iowa not going!!!!
 


If a coach is afraid of his wrestlers not building confidence and decides to pull them from the National Duals, then in essence they are ducking competition. For crying out loud, these are Division I wrestlers. Other then military personnel, who as a group is more strong minded?
 




Jason Bryant mentioned other coaches weren't there. I can't remember them all but I want to say OSU, Wisconsin, Minnesota (although J was available via conference call and sent Eggum and another assistant if I remember right). I'll try and find where he posted it but it may have been twitter and I'm not sure when.
 


I sit corrected it was the fine poster Seton Hall Pirate who posted this on who wasn't there:

The other notables that didn't attend were Barry Davis, Kevin Jackson, Cael Sanderson, John Smith...J Robinson didn't attend in person, but participated via conference call, and sent Luke Becker and Brandon Eggum down here. Otherwise, pretty much all of the high-profile coaches are here.

Worth noting, BTW, is that Coach Koll has just been named the NWCA President-Elect, which means he will be the NWCA President during the 2012-2014 term.
 


pump, I don't know if scared is the word to use. To me its more important (with the current format) to win in March than it is to win the National Duals. To take the time off at Duals and spend more time getting ready for Big Ten's and NCAA's could be the reasoning behind it. This is a young and very inexperienced team that will take everybit of the staff's ability to get the job done. If they were ducking competition why go to the Midlands & why schedule the dual with oky state, who on paper should beat us handily.
Once again I respect all of your opionions on this and understand why some are so upset, I am not happy about it but life goes on....
 


pump, I don't know if scared is the word to use. To me its more important (with the current format) to win in March than it is to win the National Duals. To take the time off at Duals and spend more time getting ready for Big Ten's and NCAA's could be the reasoning behind it. This is a young and very inexperienced team that will take everybit of the staff's ability to get the job done. If they were ducking competition why go to the Midlands & why schedule the dual with oky state, who on paper should beat us handily.
Once again I respect all of your opionions on this and understand why some are so upset, I am not happy about it but life goes on....

The Midlands offer mat time for way too many guys to back out of, and it is an individual tournament. To back out of a Dual against Oky State would burn a bridge, Smith didn't back down from us. The Duals are going to take us back whenever we want, that bridge won't burn.

We all worship the Gable brand, and this goes against it.
 


Re: Rob Koll is Rob Koll

I'm not as impressed with Koll as many others of you are. I find Koll a little smug and self-serving. Given his team's preseason ranking this year (#1 or #2) and given that he'll be the president of the NWCA next year, of course he wants to polish his apples this year while he has the chance. Who wouldn't? He's staking out turf.
I don't think he's much of a fan of the state of Iowa, either. I remember him saying that he didn't like visiting his grandparents in Ft. Dodge during summer vacations when he was a kid. Wanted to go to Disneyland instead. (Really can't blame him...) However, now he gets to visit Cedar Falls in January. Less snow than Ithaca, but probably colder. Bring a sweater, Rob. :)

The Brands Brothers know what they're doing, and if Tom Brands wants to skip National Duals THIS YEAR, so be it. Given Iowa's tough dual schedule, and the National Tourney in Philadelphia, no one is ducking anything here. You've got to pick your battles, and use your time and resources effectively, particularly during a rebuilding year. The NCAA wrestling season is a marathon, not a sprint. Even Koll has been somewhat dismissive of dual meets in the past when his team had injuries.

And as far as skipping Delray Beach in August, well, I really can't blame anyone for that, either. We also don't know the whole story. I still think Iowa will compete in Cedar Falls on January 8-9, but maybe not. Stay tuned for more from the Hawks.
 


Re: Rob Koll is Rob Koll

I'm not as impressed with Koll as many others of you are. I find Koll a little smug and self-serving. Given his team's preseason ranking this year (#1 or #2) and given that he'll be the president of the NWCA next year, of course he wants to polish his apples this year while he has the chance. Who wouldn't? He's staking out turf.
I don't think he's much of a fan of the state of Iowa, either. I remember him saying that he didn't like visiting his grandparents in Ft. Dodge during summer vacations when he was a kid. Wanted to go to Disneyland instead. (Really can't blame him...) However, now he gets to visit Cedar Falls in January. Less snow than Ithaca, but probably colder. Bring a sweater, Rob. :)

The Brands Brothers know what they're doing, and if Tom Brands wants to skip National Duals THIS YEAR, so be it. Given Iowa's tough dual schedule, and the National Tourney in Philadelphia, no one is ducking anything here. You've got to pick your battles, and use your time and resources effectively, particularly during a rebuilding year. The NCAA wrestling season is a marathon, not a sprint. Even Koll has been somewhat dismissive of dual meets in the past when his team had injuries.

And as far as skipping Delray Beach in August, well, I really can't blame anyone for that, either. We also don't know the whole story. I still think Iowa will compete in Cedar Falls on January 8-9, but maybe not. Stay tuned for more from the Hawks.


If Coach Brands keeps the Hawks out of the National Duals because he feels it the right thing to do; then I'm all for it. To say he's not ducking is a joke. Not sure what a tough dual schedule has to do with not going to NDs; don't they always have a tough dual schedule since they wrestle in the Big Ten and also wrestle ISU and OK St? You can't keep your team from top competition/tournaments to protect the minds of your wrestlers and then claim not to be ducking anything.
 


Re: Rob Koll is Rob Koll

If Coach Brands keeps the Hawks out of the National Duals because he feels it the right thing to do; then I'm all for it. To say he's not ducking is a joke. Not sure what a tough dual schedule has to do with not going to NDs; don't they always have a tough dual schedule since they wrestle in the Big Ten and also wrestle ISU and OK St? You can't keep your team from top competition/tournaments to protect the minds of your wrestlers and then claim not to be ducking anything.

It's not a joke, it's a season. Yes, they have a tough dual schedule every year, and that means they will wrestle everyone who's worth wrestling before the season is over. It's along season. It's Brand's call. Cut him some slack. Tom Brands is the best expert at motivating and developing college wrestlers in the country. I defer to his judgment on this.
 


Re: Rob Koll is Rob Koll

I'm not as impressed with Koll as many others of you are. I find Koll a little smug and self-serving. Given his team's preseason ranking this year (#1 or #2) and given that he'll be the president of the NWCA next year, of course he wants to polish his apples this year while he has the chance. Who wouldn't? He's staking out turf.
I don't think he's much of a fan of the state of Iowa, either. I remember him saying that he didn't like visiting his grandparents in Ft. Dodge during summer vacations when he was a kid. Wanted to go to Disneyland instead. (Really can't blame him...) However, now he gets to visit Cedar Falls in January. Less snow than Ithaca, but probably colder. Bring a sweater, Rob. :)

The Brands Brothers know what they're doing, and if Tom Brands wants to skip National Duals THIS YEAR, so be it. Given Iowa's tough dual schedule, and the National Tourney in Philadelphia, no one is ducking anything here. You've got to pick your battles, and use your time and resources effectively, particularly during a rebuilding year. The NCAA wrestling season is a marathon, not a sprint. Even Koll has been somewhat dismissive of dual meets in the past when his team had injuries.

And as far as skipping Delray Beach in August, well, I really can't blame anyone for that, either. We also don't know the whole story. I still think Iowa will compete in Cedar Falls on January 8-9, but maybe not. Stay tuned for more from the Hawks.

Grapplefan, I live in iowa and I don't want to visit Ft. Dodge. That place is a dump. I'd think less of Koll if he said he wanted to go there!

And yes, I defer to Brands' judgement as well. He's forgotten more wrestling than I'll ever know. But after going to the duals w/ 3 loaded teams and then still winning the national title, but then pulling out the following year w/ a young group, I won't be as enthusiastic about his speeches about "steel sharpening steel" or "manning up" etc. Pulling out of the duals is not only terrible for the sport, but it flies in the face of everything they preach. I brought this up to a few former wrestlers that wrestled w/ Tom in college and they felt the exact same way. In the end, i hope you're right and they do decide to compete.
 


Re: Rob Koll is Rob Koll

Grapplefan, I live in iowa and I don't want to visit Ft. Dodge. That place is a dump. I'd think less of Koll if he said he wanted to go there!

And yes, I defer to Brands' judgement as well. He's forgotten more wrestling than I'll ever know. But after going to the duals w/ 3 loaded teams and then still winning the national title, but then pulling out the following year w/ a young group, I won't be as enthusiastic about his speeches about "steel sharpening steel" or "manning up" etc. Pulling out of the duals is not only terrible for the sport, but it flies in the face of everything they preach. I brought this up to a few former wrestlers that wrestled w/ Tom in college and they felt the exact same way. In the end, i hope you're right and they do decide to compete.

I'm not too good to visit Ft.Dodge, but there are other places in Iowa I'd rather visit, too, which is why I said that I couldn't blame Koll. Then again, I don't have family there. (There are other dumps I have to visit...) Let's not be quite so judgmental of Brands until we see how this plays out.
I do think that it's interesting how much all the other teams still depend on Iowa for attendance and prestige. They gloat over THEIR perceived weakness of Iowa's team this year, and then b*tch when we don't legitimize their wannabe teams with our attendance. One thing is for sure: at the end of the year, the National Champions will be the team with the most wrestlers standing high on the podiums in Philly. I think the majority will be wearing Black & Gold.
 


Re: Rob Koll is Rob Koll

I'm not too good to visit Ft.Dodge, but there are other places in Iowa I'd rather visit, too, which is why I said that I couldn't blame Koll. Then again, I don't have family there. (There are other dumps I have to visit...) Let's not be quite so judgmental of Brands until we see how this plays out.
I do think that it's interesting how much all the other teams still depend on Iowa for attendance and prestige. They gloat over THEIR perceived weakness of Iowa's team this year, and then b*tch when we don't legitimize their wannabe teams with our attendance. One thing is for sure: at the end of the year, the National Champions will be the team with the most wrestlers standing high on the podiums in Philly. I think the majority will be wearing Black & Gold.

Exactly. It's just like the Yankees being in the world series for baseball. If they are in everyone watches, when they aren't ratings drop and no one watches. The difference is that the World Series and MLB are going to be around for good. It's popularity may fluctuate but it's never just going pull stakes and die. College wrestling programs are pulling stakes and dying, and it needs big attendance at it's big draws.
 




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