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Midlands/Soldier Salute

Seems to me this entire situation is something coaches should have had under control before the tournament even started. Poor communication.
Absolutely correct. But unfortunately, this is just another example of what you get when you entrust a multimillion dollar operation to a couple of midwits. They are good for a few of these per year, and the trend isn't getting better.
 
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My mistake, I thought you were at Valley Forge.
My mistake, I thought you were at Valley Forge.
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The coaches should have discussed the possibility of them both making the finals and discussed with them in advance how it would be handled.
I suspect the possibly was discussed. It seems incredulous to presume otherwise, especially when one attempts to put Spencer's post match comment into some reasonable context. How would Spencer know what 'he' wanted if there was no discussion before the match?

And perhaps it was made known to each that it was their individual decisions and the coaches weren't about to dissuade either from competing the full tournament (vs a non-medical related MFF should they meet on the finals).

So if this happened, exactly what more should've been communicated to prevent the end (head/chest mush of Drake and Spencer's words directed at the coaching area to the effect of "That's what 'he' wanted." (The 'he' being somewhat ambiguious.)
 
I do not have an issue with Spencer wanting to make a statement to Ayala. By bitch slapping him like a toy doll and physically stating don't piss with me little man his statement was clear and sufficient.

The act after the beatdown was unnecessary.
 
No southern scuffle thread? I remember having to get up at 7am to watch first round. Kinda miss the big mid season tournaments. They are exhausting for a fan that follows closely. Guess I'll sleep in until Rose bowl pre game.
 
. The taunting his teammate and stuff isn't good, but it's relatively minor overall. What does what happened yesterday reveal about the relationship between the superstar athlete and his coach?
What does it reveal? It reveals that there is a ton of stress in the relationship. If you look at the expression on Lee’s face when crazy Tom engaged in the phony “throw” after the NC final the other year …. you can detect a fair amount of distain. I’d bet a fresh case of moonshine that Lee has minimal respect for TNT.
 
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What does it reveal? It reveals that there is a ton of stress in the relationship. If you look at the expression on Lee’s face when crazy Tom engaged in the phony “throw” after the NC final the other year …. you can detect a fair amount of distain. I’d bet a fresh case of moonshine that Lee has minimal respect for TNT.
You gave one possible answer to your own question. That there is stress in the relationship, possibly even disdain and minimal respect.

I don’t think I’d agree fully with your assessment, but it’s at least partially accurate.
 
There are so many unknowns.

Pure speculation: If the pre-discussed plan was for Ayala to MFF and then he didn’t (competing unattached, he couldn’t be forced to), would that change your mind about Spencer’s mannerisms?

I’m not saying that happened. But it’s one of endless possibilities. We just don’t know.
If the plan was Ayala would MFF and then he refused...then Ayala needs to transfer or has already made the decision to transfer. In this situation, ignoring the coach is not an option (if that is what happened). Huge difference between this and if a wrestler decides to take bottom instead of the coaching wanting him to take neutral.
 
If the plan was Ayala would MFF and then he refused...then Ayala needs to transfer or has already made the decision to transfer. In this situation, ignoring the coach is not an option (if that is what happened). Huge difference between this and if a wrestler decides to take bottom instead of the coaching wanting him to take neutral.

Yep, huge difference, one of those things is a legit coaching move, the other an underhanded request that a healthy wrestler quit wrestling.
 
Simple yes or no. If you are a coach and one of your athletes keeps saying he's the one calling the shots and will wrestle when he decides he wants to wrestle, would you consider that to be disrespectful towards you?

RBY made a comment like that earlier in the year and I didn't care for that either.
In RBYs case though, you have to think that he and Cael sat down and penciled in when RBY would go. That schedule probably only changes with injury/illness or if RBY decides to add matches. I believe Brooks (maybe CStar also?) is on a similar path as well. I'm sure Cael doesn't want everyone sitting out the same BIG dual, especially if one of those might be needed to win. I'm certain Cael has a well thought out plan for the season.

Contrast that with the circus like atmosphere in Iowa. Hence why we have multiple threads and pages on what is likely a non issue long term.
 
Yep, huge difference, one of those things is a legit coaching move, the other an underhanded request that a healthy wrestler quit wrestling.
Nothing underhanded about a request that Ayala MFF if he reaches the final against Lee if decided before the tournament. Ayala is part of the Iowa team. Ayala is supposed to do what is best for the Iowa team and the Iowa coaches make that determination. Part of the responsibility of the second team guys is to make the starters better or do what is best for the starter. If the decision was made that Ayala would MFF and then refused, I can see that being a legitimate problem.

Most likely from Lee's actions, Lee wanted Ayala to MFF and the Brands and Ayala never had any intention.

This could be what happens when you sell your soul to get an elite athlete in your program and allow him and his Daddy to do whatever they want. Eventually you have to exert some control and that does not go over well.
 
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Nothing underhanded about a request that Ayala MFF if he reaches the final against Lee if decided before the tournament. Ayala is part of the Iowa team. Ayala is supposed to do what is best for the Iowa team and the Iowa coaches make that determination. Part of the responsibility of the second team guys is to make the starters better or do what is best for the starter. If the decision was made that Ayala would MFF and then refused, I can see that being a legitimate problem.

Most likely from Lee's actions, Lee wanted Ayala to MFF and the Brands and Ayala never had any intention.

This could be what happens when you sell your soul to get an elite athlete in your program and allow him and his Daddy to do whatever they want. Eventually you have to exert some control and that does not go over well.

Nothing underhanded about a pre decision to MFF?!? What's that stand for again?

Edit based on NCHawk's response: I have no idea what actually happened here and not saying it was anything underhanded. I *am* saying that pre-determining a MFF from a healthy wrestler to hand the title to someone else is underhanded. Hell, predetermining a MFF from a healthy wrestler at all is underhanded.
 
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Nothing underhanded about a request that Ayala MFF if he reaches the final against Lee if decided before the tournament. Ayala is part of the Iowa team. Ayala is supposed to do what is best for the Iowa team and the Iowa coaches make that determination. Part of the responsibility of the second team guys is to make the starters better or do what is best for the starter. If the decision was made that Ayala would MFF and then refused, I can see that being a legitimate problem.

Most likely from Lee's actions, Lee wanted Ayala to MFF and the Brands and Ayala never had any intention.

This could be what happens when you sell your soul to get an elite athlete in your program and allow him and his Daddy to do whatever they want. Eventually you have to exert some control and that does not go over well.
lol way too much speculation going on here and no way in hell it affects things moving forward. Spencer is frustrated and guaranteed Tom/Terry can sympathize with him… As for the mff who was supposed to mff you get that much testosterone going back and forth over something this stupid then reality sets in and you beat the piss out of him anyway.
 
On the one hand it's really not that big a deal if there's friction in the room; on every team I've been a member of, it was never the case that everyone got along. The Iowa program will be fine, I'm sure.

On the other hand, we've a large enough data set now to comfortably assert that the Brands are unable or unwilling to prevent that friction from spilling out publicly, and it never reflects positively on the program. Maybe they don't care, maybe it doesn't really matter. Maybe they think that friction is good. But it's not as if it's particularly difficult to prevent it from spilling out if you're communicating with everyone involved and managing expectations.
 
On the one hand it's really not that big a deal if there's friction in the room; on every team I've been a member of, it was never the case that everyone got along. The Iowa program will be fine, I'm sure.

On the other hand, we've a large enough data set now to comfortably assert that the Brands are unable or unwilling to prevent that friction from spilling out publicly, and it never reflects positively on the program. Maybe they don't care, maybe it doesn't really matter. Maybe they think that friction is good. But it's not as if it's particularly difficult to prevent it from spilling out if you're communicating with everyone involved and managing expectations.
Maybe so. You can blame Brands for it but I see it as a win-win depending on the “theories” offered by message board experts.

1. Ayala realizes he’s got work to do.
2. Spencer gains a bit of confidence in himself to power through a tournament scenario. March isn’t that far away…..
Or maybe Tom and Terry are just psychos who knows 🤷‍♂️ it’s probably 50/50
 
Just wanted to bump this thread to ask the Nittany faithful who claimed Spencer doesn’t have the factor of getting a pin seemingly out of nowhere if they happened to watch on friday???

Pretty rare for someone to actually wrestle the kid as most of the time it’s just dancing and avoiding action - and when you do, you get destroyed so hard to fault everyone else.
 
Just wanted to bump this thread to ask the Nittany faithful who claimed Spencer doesn’t have the factor of getting a pin seemingly out of nowhere if they happened to watch on friday???

Pretty rare for someone to actually wrestle the kid as most of the time it’s just dancing and avoiding action - and when you do, you get destroyed so hard to fault everyone else.
Spencer was lucky he didn’t get pinned himself against Purdue. If the ref had been a little quicker, he might have called it.
 
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In fact, if I had been the ref, I would have called Lee pinned. It would have been funny watching the Hawk fans go ballistic while TnT started ranting and raving like Donald Duck hopped up on Dexedrine. 😈
 
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Both start today for 2023 and are on Big10+. I can't find the brackets or the mat assignments on Floarena, is anyone monitoring and can pass on a link?
 
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Richie Figs hurts ankle vs Ashton Jackson of Purdue. Jackson took Figs down early. During action Figs hurt his lower leg/ankle. Figs used all of his injury time. Jackson choose neutral and took Figs down again. Figs was in to much pain and MFF out.
 
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Richie Figs hurts ankle vs Ashton Jackson of Purdue. Jackson took Figs down early. During action Figs hurt his lower leg/ankle. Figs used all of his injury time. Jackson choose neutral and took Figs down again. Figs was in to much pain and MFF out.
Damn, that sucks. I hope it's not serious. 125 is nuts this year.
 
Midlands is watered down again. OSU and Michigan brought their backups; from what I can tell, there are fewer than a dozen top-10 kids.
 
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