Can we all just admit that at some deep tribal level, this bugs us, even though we know that Cael was a great wrestler, whose coaching was sure to produce coaches.
But maybe we should just be more measured here. He's neither the Messiah or the devil incarnate.
1.) Taylor was a great wrestler too be sure. However, his reputation is built more on his post college freestyle record than his college record and that is in part built upon bulking up. Arguably Brooks, Starocci, Nickal, Nolf, Retherford could be said to have had better college careers based on things like number of titles, WBF etc.
2.) Taylor is great at self-marketing, with the whole "magic man" thing and has been a genius at making wrestling a career, but the keystone of that effort, active participation was coming to a close. My guess is he thought he could bear AB one more time, but that didn't happen. The next leap was forced on him.
3.) As of now, his coaching is limited to youth wrestling, and starry eyed kids who are happy to be in his presence-and whose parents pay for the privilege-and no doubt tell their kids-listen to Coach Taylor. No demanding college administrators, No exacting and capricious NCAA rules and its army of petty bureaucrats and reams of paperwork, no disappointed boosters, no criminal charges against athletes, no titanic egos, no kids struggling with college or homesickness, no roster juggling.
4.) He's dislocating his family to go to Stillwater. That entails risks of "post purchase regret", even if his wife is completely on board now.
Bluntly, Stillwater Oklahoma is only a dream destination for people with an affinity for pavement sucking tornadoes.
5.) John Smith had an illustrious career as a wrestler at Oklahoma State and is native and although:
"John Smith is a name synonymous with wrestling success."
John Smith is a name synonymous with wrestling success. The Oklahoma State head coach won six consecutive world championships as a competitor from 1987-92, i...
okstate.com
Apparently the expectations are higher than that,
Nobody is dropping the small fortune reportedly involved in this deal without the apparent expectation of displacing PSU and returning OK State to the glory of decades past.
6.) Time will tell how this all works out; if I was an elite wrestler or the parent of one; I'd be thinking go to the place where there's proven success over a decade and a half. If you can't crack the starting line-up, then you can go to the middle of nowhere. (I know this is snippy) but come wrestle for the guys that GET pins in the NCAA finals, not get pinned.