Casey's season recap email

[86PSUPaul]

Received today, sharing in case people didn't receive.

Penn State Wrestling Fans!!!!!!!!!!!!!


What a wild decade it has been for our staff as we just finished year number 10 at Penn State. It was another crazy year filled with highs and some lows but ultimately culminating with a National Championship. It never gets old winning and it never gets easier winning at the same time. When you win the National Championship by 41 points, have 7 All-Americans, 5 NCAA finalist, and 3 champions and still feel like you could have done better then you know it is about more than just winning. There were many guys on our team who did not accomplish their goals and so you feel for those guys and try to figure out how to help them reach their goals in the future. It takes the help of an army of people to accomplish what these teams at Penn State have accomplished over the years so we are very thankful for those of you who have been involved in so many different ways.

As a program, we try not to compare ourselves to any other team nor try to be boastful but this is the update in which I give some of the stats for the past ten years. There are a lot of different stats that could be highlighted but ultimately kids come to Penn State to get an awesome degree, win multiple individual NCAA Titles, win NCAA Team Titles, and do it in dominating fashion so those are the stats that I will focus on. In the last ten years of Penn State Wrestling, we have had more Team Titles, more Individual Titles, more Finalist, more Hodge Trophy Winners, and more All-Americans than any other program in Division 1 wrestling. To break it down a little more we have had: 8 NCAA Team Titles (next closest program-1), 23 NCAA Champions (next closet program-11), 37 NCAA finalist (next closest program-19), 58 All-Americans, 27 Big Ten Champions, 5 of the last 8 Hodge trophies (6 overall and next closest program has 3-Cael Sanderson for Iowa State), and 23 NWCA Academic All-Americans. If my history is correct we are now the only program in NCAA history to have 3 Undefeated National Champions in the same year (2012-Molinaro, Taylor, Ruth) and have two guys win their third title on the same night (2019-Nickal and Nolf). There is no other program in any sport since 2011 in Division 1 athletics that has won more NCAA titles then Penn State Wrestling. The numbers do not lie but to paraphrase what Cael said at the after party at the NCAA tournament “be thankful and proud of our success but let’s stay hungry and humble in the process”. It is easy to get boastful with what these wrestlers have accomplished over the past ten years but the key to continued success is staying hungry and Humble, as it is very hard to win consistently at this level.

We had some outstanding seniors that are finishing up their 5th year here at Penn State and there is no way you can ever replace those type of guys. We do not expect anybody to be anything other than the best version of themselves and if the returning and incoming guys do that then are going to be very good. We are excited about our next group of guys and what they want to accomplish. We could potentially get a couple of those seniors back for a 6th year but we are still waiting to hear on that. It has been reported that both Shakur and Cassar have received their 6th years from the NCAA and that is not true. We have heard that Skakur has received his and we are working on getting him healthy but we have heard nothing yet from the NCAA on Cassar. We should know soon on both of these guys and what lies ahead for them.

It has been a whirlwind of craziness over the past ten years and we look forward to what next year has in store for us. We thank you the fans for the continued support and we thank those who give generously to the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club allowing us to be able to keep World Class wrestlers here in State College. The guys that stay and train have an opportunity to try to win World and Olympic Titles and our college guys get to train alongside them. As I mentioned above it takes an army of people to make this happen so we are very thankful for the support.

Lastly we will have several guys competing in Las Vegas at the US Open in a few weeks and others competing in different competitions throughout summer so we look forward to a summer full of Freestyle and Greco competition.


GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[86PSUPaul]

Key info regarding 6th years!

We have heard that Skakur has received his and we are working on getting him healthy but we have heard nothing yet from the NCAA on Cassar.

 

[WEAREPSU_LI]

Great letter. It looks like Shakur was officially not 100% at NCAAs, but he wants to come back. We all will have to wait to hear about Anthony.

 

[matter7172]

Great letter. It looks like Shakur was officially not 100% at NCAAs, but he wants to come back. We all will have to wait to hear about Anthony.

I can't see any possible rationale for denying Cassar the year. If Gravina, Ashnault and Shakur got theirs, Cassar should be a lock.

 

[86PSUPaul]

I can't see any possible rationale for denying Cassar the year. If Gravina, Ashnault and Shakur got theirs, Cassar should be a lock.

I agree, to me he had the more rock solid case, he lost two years due to injury then rehab, correct?

 

[tikk10]

I imagine the holdup on Cassar is whether he gets one or two years. I would think he's a lock for at least one.

 

[PANCAKE1]

Great news concerning Shakur! but im a little confused, from what I think I know leans towards Cassar was a pretty much a given on getting a 6th year, due to missing his first 2 season for 2 separate shoulder surgery's. But a lot of gray area around Shakur.

I am thinking Cassar will recieve his 6th year also--lets just hope he stays on board.

 

[dunkej01]

I imagine the holdup on Cassar is whether he gets one or two years. I would think he's a lock for at least one.

Agreed.

Cassar's might be timing of when they submitted the paperwork vs when Sugar sent his.

 

[RoarLions1]

Key info regarding 6th years!

We have heard that Skakur has received his and we are working on getting him healthy but we have heard nothing yet from the NCAA on Cassar.

Difference between reliable and unreliable sources. So much misinformation out in the interwebs.

 

[IANit]

Great news concerning Shakur! but im a little confused, from what I think I know leans towards Cassar was a pretty much a given on getting a 6th year, due to missing his first 2 season for 2 separate shoulder surgery's. But a lot of gray area around Shakur.

I am thinking Cassar will recieve his 6th year also--lets just hope he stays on board.

I'm curious how this works academically for wrestling vs. other sports. I know wrestling gets a ridiculously small number of scholarships and has to divide them up a bit. Would the 6th-years be on scholarship? Do they have to be in a major if they've already graduated or can they just take classes? It looks like Cassar, Nolf and Nickal are still listed as undergraduates. Do wrestlers have to be full-time in spring and fall or can they take fewer credits during the season?
A fair number of football players are graduating in 3 - 3.5 years. I'm guessing that football players can take classes year-round as part of their scholarship while wrestlers either can't or do not since they're probably competing in the off-season?

 

[a_mshaffer]

I imagine the holdup on Cassar is whether he gets one or two years. I would think he's a lock for at least one.

Ncaa looking at this hard due to winning championship! - cynicism implied as well as lame humor

 

[nitlion6]

I can't see any possible rationale for denying Cassar the year. If Gravina, Ashnault and Shakur got theirs, Cassar should be a lock.

Yes, you are correct. However, when considering the NCAA the words consistently, transparency, logically, and statements like "well and reasoned thought process", "athletes and their well-being" just are not the first words or thoughts that come to mind.

 

[Ja1339]

Awesome letter.


Also, just checking....when Casey recommends staying humble, I'm assuming he was referring to the team and not us fans, right? Asking for a friend

 

[psumacw]

I'm curious how this works academically for wrestling vs. other sports. I know wrestling gets a ridiculously small number of scholarships and has to divide them up a bit. Would the 6th-years be on scholarship? Do they have to be in a major if they've already graduated or can they just take classes? It looks like Cassar, Nolf and Nickal are still listed as undergraduates. Do wrestlers have to be full-time in spring and fall or can they take fewer credits during the season?
A fair number of football players are graduating in 3 - 3.5 years. I'm guessing that football players can take classes year-round as part of their scholarship while wrestlers either can't or do not since they're probably competing in the off-season?

disclaimer: i am not an expert. these are just my thoughts on how it works.

i believe the only requirement is that athletes must be full time students, which means 12 credits per semester for fall and spring (at least 12 was the threshold in '05-'09). i don't think there's a requirement to take classes towards a certain major dictated by the ncaa, i would imagine that would be dictated by the school/major itself.

whether the athlete takes summer classes is up to them. for football, the scholarships are 100%, so there's less of a cost to the athlete to complete their studies quicker. for sports like wrestling, my assumption is that the partial scholarship percentages apply to summer classes the same as fall/spring semesters. so if you're on a 25% scholarship, that applies every session.

i have heard that the scholarships for non-revenue sports are not guaranteed and can be changed at some points, but my assumption is that it's defined ahead of time when that change can take place, something like once per year between the end of spring semester and the start of summer sessions, so that it can't be exploited to get more kids free classes.

i could be completely off base with this though, so if anyone knows that i have said anything wrong, please correct me. i'm always willing to learn more.

 

[RoarLions1]

Full-time at Penn State is 12+ credits undergrad, or 6+ credits grad student, depending on assistantship (more credits required with less assistantship).

The NCAA maintains APR (Academic Progress Rates), which is a measure of retention and graduation of student-athletes, as well as a GSR (Graduation Success Rate) which measures graduation alone. Minimum accepted standards are determined, and there are penalties for non-compliance. I mention this for awareness-sake, because also noted in NCAA language under the eligibility section and financial aid section are references to working towards a degree (same place the "full-time" student references are).

Another question was asked about grad student financial aid...Yes, graduate students are eligible for financial aid.

 

[Still in State College]

disclaimer: i am not an expert. these are just my thoughts on how it works.
i have heard that the scholarships for non-revenue sports are not guaranteed and can be changed at some points, but my assumption is that it's defined ahead of time when that change can take place, something like once per year between the end of spring semester and the start of summer sessions, so that it can't be exploited to get more kids free classes.

Scholarships for head count sports are annual as well. You can always not renew a scholarship. If you get that reputation it would make recruiting hard. The big 10 as a conference made the move to guarantee scholarships for 4 years "neither reduced nor cancelled" as long as the athletes remain in good standing. I don't know how the non-head count sports like wrestling do their scholarships and how the Big 10 policy would effect it.

 

[PANCAKE1]

I'm curious how this works academically for wrestling vs. other sports. I know wrestling gets a ridiculously small number of scholarships and has to divide them up a bit. Would the 6th-years be on scholarship? Do they have to be in a major if they've already graduated or can they just take classes? It looks like Cassar, Nolf and Nickal are still listed as undergraduates. Do wrestlers have to be full-time in spring and fall or can they take fewer credits during the season?
A fair number of football players are graduating in 3 - 3.5 years. I'm guessing that football players can take classes year-round as part of their scholarship while wrestlers either can't or do not since they're probably competing in the off-season?

I truly do not know the ins and outs of all of this, every time I atempt to gain knowledge on how the NCAA operates, i usually ended more confused that I was when I started to research.

I do know that most wrestlers take summer classes in order to lower the work load during the season.

I believe that with the new popularity of wrestling, that more scholarships will be on the table soon.

 

[Media Fan]

Awesome letter.


Also, just checking....when Casey recommends staying humble, I'm assuming he was referring to the team and not us fans, right? Asking for a friend.


I assume this is in jest, but in this age of immense false bravado, I would suggest gratitude and humility are good for all of us.
Having to say this, has me wondering how did we get this way.

By the way, NYT article today talking about how this impersonalized, digital world has led to less sex.

I was in Jiffy Lube several days ago. All 5 people in the waiting room had their heads down praying to their new God, their iPhone. Heaven forbid talking to a stranger.

 

[diggerpup]

I’ll place this here even though I started another thread:

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestli...med-USA-Wrestling-Freestyle-Coach-of-the-Year

 

[psumacw]

@Media Fan the good old days

 

[IANit]

disclaimer: i am not an expert. these are just my thoughts on how it works.

i believe the only requirement is that athletes must be full time students, which means 12 credits per semester for fall and spring (at least 12 was the threshold in '05-'09). i don't think there's a requirement to take classes towards a certain major dictated by the ncaa, i would imagine that would be dictated by the school/major itself.

whether the athlete takes summer classes is up to them. for football, the scholarships are 100%, so there's less of a cost to the athlete to complete their studies quicker. for sports like wrestling, my assumption is that the partial scholarship percentages apply to summer classes the same as fall/spring semesters. so if you're on a 25% scholarship, that applies every session.

i have heard that the scholarships for non-revenue sports are not guaranteed and can be changed at some points, but my assumption is that it's defined ahead of time when that change can take place, something like once per year between the end of spring semester and the start of summer sessions, so that it can't be exploited to get more kids free classes.

i could be completely off base with this though, so if anyone knows that i have said anything wrong, please correct me. i'm always willing to learn more.

In part when I posted this I was thinking back to Matt Leinart, who took only a ballroom dancing class his last semester at USC as he only needed 2 credits to graduate, and wondering if a guy like Cassar or Shak can do that or if they have to to be full-time students.

Kind of interesting how football is enrolling students early and then they end up in many cases graduating early and moving on if they aren't happy with their football lot. Wrestling generally seems to be a 5-year deal. I would guess in part since many at PSU are looking at winning titles and then International competition and need time to mature physically, but I'd guess the level of financial support available plays into it.

 

[liex26]

Difference between reliable and unreliable sources. So much misinformation out in the interwebs.

Nothing you said was false, but I heard that both guys received the approval at B1Gs, in person from a gentleman two rows in front of us..... sitting among the wrestlers families. Rumors are everywhere.

 

[Ja1339]

Also, just checking....when Casey recommends staying humble, I'm assuming he was referring to the team and not us fans, right? Asking for a friend.

I assume this is in jest, but in this age of immense false bravado, I would suggest gratitude and humility are good for all of us.
Having to say this, has me wondering how did we get this way.

By the way, NYT article today talking about how this impersonalized, digital world has led to less sex.

I was in Jiffy Lube several days ago. All 5 people in the waiting room had their heads down praying to their new God, their iPhone. Heaven forbid talking to a stranger.

Yes MediaFan, it was in jest, I thought the smiley face in my original post indicated that.

I'll be sure to tell my friend I was asking for, that his false bravado and his digital and impersonal world is resulting in him getting less sex, yikes.

Then, I'll recommend he learns some humility, ditches his iPhone, talks to more strangers, and prepares for more sex! My friend will be very grateful!

 

[IANit]

Awesome letter.


Also, just checking....when Casey recommends staying humble, I'm assuming he was referring to the team and not us fans, right? Asking for a friend

I'm guessing he's mainly talking about the wrestlers, but maybe he's also warning us not to turn into our friends on HR who think winning championships is their God-given right.