COACH Tom Ryan

[SRATH]

I think Ryan is a great coach, with a great staff. He has outstanding young men in his program who appear to conduct themselves like gentlemen. They never disrespect an opponent, talk about their faith when appropriate, enjoy and encourage each other.

Ryan, while well meaning, gets in the way of how awesome his team is, how awesome is program is. Pin chain? Robes? That is fine if that is who you are going to be all the time.

Ton of respect for those kids.

 

[Locolion]

I do not understand Coach Ryan. When Tomasello's match ended with a Pin for the 3rd place match, he immediately went for an interview instead of going to back up his 133 lb wrestler Luke Pletcher. He missed at least the last minute and a half of the first period and 40 seconds of the second period talking about how he can crush the numbers needed for a Championship. Id be pissed if i was Pletcher or his parents...deserves better.

I was at all the session at the Q in CLE. I saw Ryan getting in front of the camera, moving back so he could make different coaching stances and yelling from afar to his wrestlers in the consy’s. I was thinking “what kind of guy wants a camera in his face and then to act up in front of it.” It felt so inauthentic and staged. I was embarrassed for him. I am simply not constructed to act like that. When the cameraman actually got tired of it, he went back to being “normal”. It was really creepy and weird- Ryan’s ignorance or lack of caring on how inauthentic and staged it looked made it even more creepy. Guy gives me the heebie-jeebies.

 

[jack66]

I'm wondering which AAs he will be recruiting from other teams this spring.

 

[Fatmarc]

OK.

If you guys have a valid reason for feeling the way you do, I respect that.

A lot of what you describe is just not the experience I had with the guy on the few occasions we spoke...And I can only go off of my own direct interactions.

Again, no dog in the fight....I like Tom, but in the same regard, my only exchange with the Sanderson family (Steve, Cael's father) was also very positive, so I hold a high opinion of him as well.

I just not a fan of "tan" comments or silly personal attacks. I find it better to just refrain from commenting at all. In the end, you won and that speaks for itself.

I agree with unnecessary personal attacks. I never feel like those are a good look. But I also think that's the nature of the internet in 2018. As I have said previously in this thread- I'm not a fan of Ryan's style- but I like how his kids wrestle and present themselves. The team seems to love him. Good on them, not my style.

Such is the nature of the internet. Cheers.

 

[El-Jefe]

Can I ask you guys a serious question without getting into an online pissing contest?

How many of you actually know Tom Ryan personally? You seem very quick to point out his flaws; I saw someone refer to him as a bumbling idiot on a different thread.

As someone who was at HU when he was the coach, I can tell you firsthand, he really is a genuinely nice guy. Is he confident? yes! But he is not a douche by any stretch of the word.
If you spent a hour or two with him, I think you'd see that you have pegged wrong.

PSU was the better team and it showed...The title itself is enough gratification. Cheap shots are just unnecessary.

Tom Ryan is certainly an excellent coach, and I'm sure he's privately great with the guys. They all speak well of him, and certainly all of them had other options. He deserves credit for them being good people.

That said, he says and does so many things publicly that just make you shake your head:
- The flu, long bus ride, and an average official.
- Tweeting about the refs after last year's nationals. He's on the D1 Wrestling Committee -- publicly complaining about the refs was astonishingly bad judgment.
- Tweeting about the refs from Aruba, the Monday after nationals. You'd think he would be in Columbus to celebrate with the team, or be in Columbus to help console the team.
- Not how we would have handled it.
- Etc.

There's also the very strong implication from Spencer Lee that Ryan used negative recruiting tactics.

And there's the constant attempts to resurrect national duals from the dead.

 

[5q]

Maybe odd , crazy and etc etc
The dude can recruit and just had 8 all Americans. They will be a dog fight with PSU for many many years

 

[Hotshoe]

So last night my buddy told me that during a Ryan interview on Thursday night, his 11 year old daughter asked him “is there something wrong with that guy?”

Dead serious ....

I saw that interview, it was mat side. Beyond bizarre.

 

[crockster]

Tom Ryan is a good human being. Multiple wrestlers have gushed about the positive influence he has had on their life and he has improved programs wherever he has been. What he has built at Ohio State is impressive. His style is different than Cael and crew, different strokes for different folks. He uses the lime light as a tool to build the hype around his program, in a way it’s smart, although it also rubs some the wrong way. He is a good person and good coach who we happen to enjoy beating, that is all. As a coach he would be an upgrade for nearly any program in the country with the exception of Penn State, NC State, Okie State, Edinboro, and SDSU.

Agree and well put. I have no reason why people on this board like to trash him. He has an extremely successful program and it’s good for the sport.

 

[nitlion6]

Maybe odd , crazy and etc etc
The dude can recruit and just had 8 all Americans. They will be a dog fight with PSU for many many years

Ohio State being a very good program is absolutely a great thing for wrestling. The Bucknuts to date are the only program trying to step up to Penn State instead of fruitlessly waiting for the Lions to come back to the pack.

Besides that, every Globetrotter team needs a Washington General foe.

 

[Cali_Nittany]

Can I ask you guys a serious question without getting into an online pissing contest?

How many of you actually know Tom Ryan personally? You seem very quick to point out his flaws; I saw someone refer to him as a bumbling idiot on a different thread.

As someone who was at HU when he was the coach, I can tell you firsthand, he really is a genuinely nice guy. Is he confident? yes! But he is not a douche by any stretch of the word.
If you spent a hour or two with him, I think you'd see that you have pegged wrong.

PSU was the better team and it showed...The title itself is enough gratification. Cheap shots are just unnecessary.

I've been guilty of calling Ryan a dbag. I should've said "Ryan is acting like a dbag (just like all of us from time to time)". We all get carried away sometimes. tOSU-Penn State is a great rivalry and with that comes a lot of trash talk. Don't take it personally.

 

[bwifan]

People think Ryan gets bashed here go see how bad Cael is getting slammed on HR. Good Lord talk about salty. Guess its a number of things for hawkeye fans. They were on top for so long now at least 2 prorgrams have passed them by for awhile. Cael wrestled at the time their biggest foe then coached there. And now at PSU is making a run at a record most thought would take a long time to break. Gables 15 championships. Cael is basically half way there in a short amount of time. All things the Hawkeye fans held sacred have crumbled and the holy grail of championships are not far off. No wonder they are kicking their puppies this morning.

 

[NitneLiun]

Maybe odd , crazy and etc etc
The dude can recruit and just had 8 all Americans. They will be a dog fight with PSU for many many years

I think Iowa will be a legitimate long-term challenge to PSU before tOSU will be.

 

[Hotshoe]

Tom Ryan, like Cael and the Brands are good for wrestling. The B1G owns wrestling and is only getting better. It's a great time for wrestling, and it's finally getting the attention it deserves. Wrestling has been main stage on ESPN for 3 days. Who would have ever thought that would happen? Enjoy our ride and wrestling's ride. No need to degrade coaches very few have ever met. It serves zero good. Let coaches be coaches. You're not changing them anyway. Bottom line in all of this. The vast majority of wrestlers like each other, have respect for each other, and don't participate in the bs fans do.

 

[nitlion6]

I think Iowa will be a legitimate long-term challenge to PSU before tOSU will be.

Really. Which program is challenging the Nits right now and has been the constant for the past 4 years.
It will be interesting to see what the Buck's do without Snyder, BoJo and Tomasello, but the Buck's most likely will be the regular challenger for the next 10 years with the Hawks and CowPokes making runs at the Buckeyes.

 

[Hotshoe]

I think Iowa will be a legitimate long-term challenge to PSU before tOSU will be.

Huh? OSU is already a massive challenge.

 

[Wolfman2610]

Tom Ryan is certainly an excellent coach, and I'm sure he's privately great with the guys. They all speak well of him, and certainly all of them had other options. He deserves credit for them being good people.

That said, he says and does so many things publicly that just make you shake your head:
- The flu, long bus ride, and an average official.
- Tweeting about the refs after last year's nationals. He's on the D1 Wrestling Committee -- publicly complaining about the refs was astonishingly bad judgment.
- Tweeting about the refs from Aruba, the Monday after nationals. You'd think he would be in Columbus to celebrate with the team, or be in Columbus to help console the team.
- Not how we would have handled it.
- Etc.

There's also the very strong implication from Spencer Lee that Ryan used negative recruiting tactics.

And there's the constant attempts to resurrect national duals from the dead.

I do recall Lee making mention of a program doing that....Was it ever confirmed that he was referring to Ohio State?

The reason I ask is that Tom was a roommate of the Brands brothers, both were supportive following the passing of his son, and aside from the rivalry, it was my understanding there was a friendship there between the two sides.

 

[NitneLiun]

Huh? OSU is already a massive challenge.

Are they really? This was best team in tOSU history and they still came in 2nd in their home state and lost to us in the dual. They've hit their high water mark and couldn't get it done.

They are losing a lot of points from this year's team. Iowa returns a lot of people next year and has good recruits coming in. The same for Okie State, who redshirted much of their team this year.

 

[Lyons212]

Are they really? This was best team in tOSU history and they still came in 2nd in their home state and lost to us in the dual. They've hit their high water mark and couldn't get it done.

They are losing a lot of points from this year's team. Iowa returns a lot of people next year and has good recruits coming in. The same for Okie State, who redshirted much of their team this year.

Lost to us in the dual without Nolf.

 

[El-Jefe]

Are they really? This was best team in tOSU history and they still came in 2nd in their home state and lost to us in the dual. They've hit their high water mark and couldn't get it done.

They are losing a lot of points from this year's team. Iowa returns a lot of people next year and has good recruits coming in. The same for Okie State, who redshirted much of their team this year.

Yes. This is not close. Ohio State has many more top recruits on their roster and coming in than Iowa does.

Iowa might finish ahead of Ohio State next year, maybe, but it won't last.

If Ryan shirts McKenna and Martin next year, they may well be favored over us in 2020.

 

[NYWRESTLER94]

I do recall Lee making mention of a program doing that....Was it ever confirmed that he was referring to Ohio State?

The reason I ask is that Tom was a roommate of the Brands brothers, both were supportive following the passing of his son, and aside from the rivalry, it was my understanding there was a friendship there between the two sides.

They still are great friends to date you can see it publicly when they’re around each other. 2013 when Stieber wrestled Ramos him and Tom Brands were sitting together and then 2016 on the coaches panel they had a funny exchange. When Tom first started at Hofstra he was the one who got the Iowa camps to Long Island with the brands brothers and Gable if i remember right.

 

[T J]

People think Ryan gets bashed here go see how bad Cael is getting slammed on HR. Good Lord talk about salty. Guess its a number of things for hawkeye fans. They were on top for so long now at least 2 prorgrams have passed them by for awhile. Cael wrestled at the time their biggest foe then coached there. And now at PSU is making a run at a record most thought would take a long time to break. Gables 15 championships. Cael is basically half way there in a short amount of time. All things the Hawkeye fans held sacred have crumbled and the holy grail of championships are not far off. No wonder they are kicking their puppies this morning.

Good points bwifan.

Gable was HC at Iowa for 21 years, producing a very impressive 15 NCAA team titles. He won 2 individual NCAA titles.

Cael has been HC at PSU 9 years, producing 7 NCAA team titles.

Wiki notes re Cael’s NCAA Titles

NCAA championships

11 (4 competing, 7 coaching)
​

 

[caelschin]

People often complain (and rightfully so) about how little attention wrestling gets and Tom Ryan is doing exactly what needs to be done to remedy that. No one who isn't already deep down the rabbit hole wants to tune in to watch 10 guys and a coach who are very private and, forgive me, vaguely uninteresting... but also are untouchable. I love them as much as all of you but to outsiders that isn't a great story. Sports in a commercial sense are about rivalry, ups and downs, and yes personality. For me this year has been my favorite Penn State season of all time (nearly perfect if Mark had won) because of the closeness of it all and that was in part due to Tom Ryan building up the hype. I also watched a post tournament interview of him a few minutes ago in which it was very obvious he was choking back tears because of Myles' match. He would walk through fire for his guys and vise versa. Some of the things he does are very funny and I have no issue with people poking light fun but the personal stuff is over the top. It bothers you all to no end when Cael is on the receiving end of the same thing. It's about perspective.

 

[El-Jefe]

I do recall Lee making mention of a program doing that....Was it ever confirmed that he was referring to Ohio State?

The reason I ask is that Tom was a roommate of the Brands brothers, both were supportive following the passing of his son, and aside from the rivalry, it was my understanding there was a friendship there between the two sides.

I doubt we'll ever get that officially confirmed by Spencer.

That said, the implication was very clear. Lee's 3 finalists were Iowa, PSU, and Ohio State. He spoke glowingly about Iowa and PSU, and said next to nothing about OSU. And he did state quite clearly about how one school used negative recruiting and how distasteful he found that.

Ryan and Brands may be friends. That doesn't disprove negative recruiting, merely potentially removes one of the two targets.

Then again, there was the anti-Iowa video (allegedly) described in Larry Lee's 3-inch binder. So maybe there are limits to the Ryan-Brands friendship.

 

[James P. Whitters III]

I have great respect for Tom Ryan the person and Tom Ryan the coach. He buried a child, has been a devoted father and husband, and supports his program and all of his guys individually to the best of his ability. Ryan is very passionate and uses many more words to show this passion while Cael is a much more private person who tends to build his closeness with his guys behind the scenes. 2 ways to skin a cat I guess. tOSU is the biggest threat moving forward with or without the 3" binder. I will never be a fan of the barrage of excuses he uses, but they are always in defense of the young men he coaches.

 

[Chickenman Testa]

I'm wondering which AAs he will be recruiting from other teams this spring.

Sounds like he’s already got a 125 lined up

 

[crockster]

People think Ryan gets bashed here go see how bad Cael is getting slammed on HR. Good Lord talk about salty. Guess its a number of things for hawkeye fans. They were on top for so long now at least 2 prorgrams have passed them by for awhile. Cael wrestled at the time their biggest foe then coached there. And now at PSU is making a run at a record most thought would take a long time to break. Gables 15 championships. Cael is basically half way there in a short amount of time. All things the Hawkeye fans held sacred have crumbled and the holy grail of championships are not far off. No wonder they are kicking their puppies this morning.

Who cares what they say on HR. We should take the high road and let our talking be on the mat.

 

[nitlion6]

They still are great friends to date you can see it publicly when they’re around each other. 2013 when Stieber wrestled Ramos him and Tom Brands were sitting together and then 2016 on the coaches panel they had a funny exchange. When Tom first started at Hofstra he was the one who got the Iowa camps to Long Island with the brands brothers and Gable if i remember right.

Oh my God. I hope someone informed the Vodka drinking compliance ooooficer from HR land.

 

[Fatmarc]

Who cares what they say on HR. We should take the high road and let our talking be on the mat.

this 100%. I enjoy the HR but at times is unimaginably bad. They have some amazing posters too, which is why I keep coming back. Vak is my favorite poster on any site... High road is where it is at...

 

[KidTwist]

Tom Ryan is a good human being. Multiple wrestlers have gushed about the positive influence he has had on their life and he has improved programs wherever he has been. What he has built at Ohio State is impressive. His style is different than Cael and crew, different strokes for different folks. He uses the lime light as a tool to build the hype around his program, in a way it’s smart, although it also rubs some the wrong way. He is a good person and good coach who we happen to enjoy beating, that is all. As a coach he would be an upgrade for nearly any program in the country with the exception of Penn State, NC State, Okie State, Edinboro, and SDSU.

Ryan is a very good coach and has done very well at Hofstra and OSU BUT Cael is a GREAT/LEGENDARY coach! This was Ryan's chance to prove his greatness. He had the seating stacked in his favor, the meet in Ohio and after day 1 had 9 wrestlers moving on a 20+ lead over us. He should have walked away with the title this year. Instead after day 2, he qualified only 2 of 9 his wrestler to the finals! We qualify 5 out of 7!!! That is all you need to know about how good a coach Ryan is. Qualifies 9 guys after day 1 and can only get ONE Champion! The guy is not even in the same league as Cael!

From a class perspective, I don't need to say anymore! It makes it alot easier when the two closest coaches to your skill level are Ryan and those poison dwarfs from Iowa, but Cael is such decent guy that is always looking to shine all the glory on his wrestlers. I know it is his Mormon faith that promotes that demeanor but even with that, he is just a decent caring man and he deserves everything he has earned. He could have another 20 NC's by the time he retires.

 

[midniteride]

I think Ryan is a great coach, with a great staff. He has outstanding young men in his program who appear to conduct themselves like gentlemen. They never disrespect an opponent, talk about their faith when appropriate, enjoy and encourage each other.

Ryan, while well meaning, gets in the way of how awesome his team is, how awesome is program is. Pin chain? Robes? That is fine if that is who you are going to be all the time.

Ton of respect for those kids.

Ryan is good at recruiting but I have seen very few of the great recruits he lands improve over the course of their career under him. If anything most of those 4 time state champs end up with disappointing placements.

 

[NYWRESTLER94]

Ryan is good at recruiting but I have seen very few of the great recruits he lands improve over the course of their career under him. If anything most of those 4 time state champs end up with disappointing placements.

The improvements from individuals under him was more seen at Hofstra than Ohio State. But he’s definitely had guys improve at Ohio State as well

 

[ga.lion]

I was at all the session at the Q in CLE. I saw Ryan getting in front of the camera, moving back so he could make different coaching stances and yelling from afar to his wrestlers in the consy’s. I was thinking “what kind of guy wants a camera in his face and then to act up in front of it.” It felt so inauthentic and staged. I was embarrassed for him. I am simply not constructed to act like that. When the cameraman actually got tired of it, he went back to being “normal”. It was really creepy and weird- Ryan’s ignorance or lack of caring on how inauthentic and staged it looked made it even more creepy. Guy gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Me too. As a youngster I’d skip his house on Halloween night....lol

 

[PSUbluTX]

 

[nitlion6]

The improvements from individuals under him was more seen at Hofstra than Ohio State. But he’s definitely had guys improve at Ohio State as well

Moving forward it will be interesting to see how he does without the bookends, Snyder Tomasello.

 

[PSUaggie]

Sounds like he’s already got a 125 lined up

Is this their current HS recruit or is someone transferring in?

 

[El-Jefe]

Ryan is good at recruiting but I have seen very few of the great recruits he lands improve over the course of their career under him. If anything most of those 4 time state champs end up with disappointing placements.

Kollin Moore?

 

[PSUbluTX]

People think Ryan gets bashed here go see how bad Cael is getting slammed on HR. Good Lord talk about salty.

It seems pretty well settled that many posters on HR routinely goes off the rails. To me the better data point would be what people are saying on tOSU’s board. I haven’t checked in on them recently but last time I did the posters there seemed remarkably similar to, well, us. The majority were rational, articulate, well mannered, and devoted to their team, with only a handful being crass, belligerent and deranged. You know, like here.

 

[nitlion6]

People often complain (and rightfully so) about how little attention wrestling gets and Tom Ryan is doing exactly what needs to be done to remedy that. No one who isn't already deep down the rabbit hole wants to tune in to watch 10 guys and a coach who are very private and, forgive me, vaguely uninteresting... but also are untouchable. I love them as much as all of you but to outsiders that isn't a great story. Sports in a commercial sense are about rivalry, ups and downs, and yes personality. For me this year has been my favorite Penn State season of all time (nearly perfect if Mark had won) because of the closeness of it all and that was in part due to Tom Ryan building up the hype. I also watched a post tournament interview of him a few minutes ago in which it was very obvious he was choking back tears because of Myles' match. He would walk through fire for his guys and vise versa. Some of the things he does are very funny and I have no issue with people poking light fun but the personal stuff is over the top. It bothers you all to no end when Cael is on the receiving end of the same thing. It's about perspective.

You think everybody gravitated to Tiger, MJ or LeBron because of their engaging personalities? I always thought it was probably because of their greatness. The fact they did what they did and no one else could even come close to their skill set and they win like no one else is what got everybody excited.
More and more people are watching wrestling. I have many friends who never thought about college wrestling or Penn State wrestling who now plan their weekend around watching the SFs and championships.
Part of the reason is Penn State and Ohio State have brought more people to the party which is great. Another reason is to watch Penn State's greatness. Some people may root against the great favorite. Many people will climb aboard to cheer that greatness. However, most importantly a huge number of peripheral observers will give their full attention to first see what all the fuss is about and then understanding all great runs come to an end they will watch intently not wanting to miss any of those moments of greatness.

Ryan trying to build interest is something I am OK with. It builds the Ohio base. But the main reason for the Ohio base growing is they want to see if OSU can man up to the greatness of PSU.

 

[NitneLiun]

It seems pretty well settled that many posters on HR routinely goes off the rails. To me the better data point would be what people are saying on tOSU’s board. I haven’t checked in on them recently but last time I did the posters there seemed remarkably similar to, well, us. The majority were rational, articulate, well mannered, and devoted to their team, with only a handful being crass, belligerent and deranged. You know, like here.

Probably because tOSU was never a dynasty. They don't feel as much resentment toward PSU as Iowa does.

 

[NYWRESTLER94]

Moving forward it will be interesting to see how he does without the bookends, Snyder Tomasello.

We’ll see how Singletary fares, i figured it would be Hunter Lucas next year with Malik Heinselman taking over after but sounds like a transfer is in the works.