My house is the best I’ve ever had in Centre County (not to toot my own horn or anything). This is easily PA’s biggest deficit, IMHO.
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- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
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Damn good response. I love it when you throw some spice into a response.
Lots of bronze in Columbus, but let's be fair. The Bucks have been collecting some silver and it is the Hawks who have been collecting bronze trophies for most of the past decade and they seem to have learned to appreciate their bronze worthy achievements.
If they handed out medals in the beginning of February, the Bucks and Pokes would both be crushing it.
If they handed out medals in the beginning of February, the Bucks and Pokes would both be crushing it.
If they handed them out in August the hawks would be "really" insufferable
Can you imagine if April? What was the Hawk self assessment. It is a rare April the Hawks aren't loaded with 10AAs, 4 or 5 individual champions and 180 team points.
I spend a lot of time at HR and in all fairness this time it was 8 AAs, 3 NCs and 200 team points.
They'll be down to 4-5 national champs in April after all the guys taking a 2020 Olympic shirt.
Interesting insight on the Goodale situation, Banjo. I have fun poking fun at him and RU, but this provides some helpful perspective. Sincere thanks for sharing that.
Now that that's out of the way ...
Q: What's the difference between a Rutgers fan and a new puppy?
A: Eventually the puppy will quit whining.
Let me explain what is dreadfully wrong with your thinking.
One, Goodale didn't take over yesterday. He took over in 2007. In his 11th season at Rutgers, the team finished 11th in the B1G tournament. To say that he needs more time is ludicrous. For a comparison, Kevin Dresser took over a decimated (and I mean totally decimated) VT program one year before Goodale took over Rutgers. In his eleventh season, his team went 18-1 in duals and finished 6th at NCAAs - the team's 5th consecutive top 10 finish. In Goodale's 12th season, he's already lost to an unranked team and has never finished higher than Dresser's sixth VT team (11th) at NCAAs. And this despite having a #1 recruiting class early on in his career - which, btw, garnered NOTHING.
Two, peaked might not be far off. Next year he loses the guy who was arguably the best wrestler in NJ HS history, and is, at a minimum, second best. He is also the most successful, or second most successful if Suriano exceeds him, wrestler in Rutgers history. They add Aragona, who will probably redshirt. AA>>Aragona. By the time Aragona hits the lineup, Suriano will be gone. NS>>Aragona. So Rutgers is replacing two guys with great credentials (and top 10 overall recruits out of high school) with Aragona and some lesser recruits. So peaked is a distinct possibility.
Three, Michigan? That is so far off in the distance for Rutgers you need a car and binoculars to be able to see it.
Four, it's not like schools above Rutgers now are going away. In fact, they are generally out-recruiting and out-performing Rutgers. Is NC State ahead of Rutgers today? Yes. Are they out-recruiting Rutgers? Yes. Are they doing more with their recruits than Rutgers? Yes. How does Rutgers pass them? Oklahoma State? Missouri? Cornell? VT? ASU? Lehigh? Minnesota? Nebraska? These are well-established programs that will be very tough to pass. I'm not talking about one year anomalies - I mean year in, year out success.
Five, Pritzlaff saying Rutgers is going to bring home a trophy from Pittsburgh ("Team trophy coming home from Pittsburgh next March") is just the latest in a long series of Rex Ryan-ish statements from the coaching staff. Five years ago, Goodale said Rutgers felt they had multiple national champs in the room. I guess if you counted Pritzlaff, they *did* have one multiple national champ in the room. But the wrestlers in the room got exactly ZERO individual titles. And now they aren't settling for saying Rutgers "feels" like they can bring home a trophy from Pittsburgh. I'd venture to say Rutgers bringing home a top 4 trophy from Pittsburgh is extremely unlikely.
Sixth, Aragona is ranked #5 at his weight class by Intermat. So "first time we've had a #1 at his weight class" is a tad misleading, especially when you have two top ten overall recruits on your team currently and Aragona is the top 30. Is he going to be a NC?
And there is the rub. Rutgers gets a top 30 recruit and spins into some groundbreaking event that is out of touch with reality. They have two guys who were top 10 recruits and had a #1 recruiting class in the past. Aragona's recruitment is not earth-shattering.
Goodale took over 11 years ago. Yes. But as I mentioned, look what he took over. VT has always had an athletics budget. RU really didn’t.
As for the rest of it, I think we agree on 95% of it. Michigan is WAY far off from RU. And everyone practices, so we have to get better.
As I said elsewhere, the man got the new facility built. You give him a chance to succeed with it.
If RU brings home a team trophy this year, whoever wants to go to Vegas on this board can go, I’ll buy lap dances with happy endings for all of you. It ain’t gonna happen. The top 3 spots in Pitt are spoken for. Spot 4 is probably okie state or nc state. We aren’t either of those programs. As far as BIG schools? I don’t see why we can’t compete with Michigan et al. But I agree we haven’t.
Aragona is #1 on flo for seniors in his weight, isn’t he??
I don’t know if the program has peaked under Goodale. He deserves a chance to see what he can do with a whole room practice and basic modern facilities. I am not saying that’s a panacea. Far from it.
I won’t call for his head (and FWIW, I’ve had issues with the tough guy antics and told coach to his face at a fundraiser that the boxing matches that broke out last season were an embarrassment). But I will credit the man for unleashing some of the potential of NJ wrestling. If he can’t get it done when we’re on level ground with most of the big..... we’ll its a results business. Isn’t it?
Potential gets coaches fired. I’d like to see him truly have a chance to unleash the potential is what I’m saying.
And again, NJ is a powerhouse wrestling state. It’s not wrong to have expectations for the team. It is wrong to spin them as already achieved.
