PSU has been in contact with Brooks for a while. This changed only if it recently intensified. The variable we know has changed is Smith's dissatisfaction with his 184s.
Wittlake flips to Pokes
- Thread starter El-Jefe
- Start date
I thought Wittlake would be a good training partner for Manville in Greco, as well as folk and free.
it certainly is disappointing.
I'm somewhat of a night owl, but turned in early last night. Before I did so I checked the boards and Travis' twitter account. There was nothing about this switch in either locations, so I was pretty surprised to read this thread this morning.
Travis is a great talent, and it's unfortunate for PSU fans that he's elected to switch from PSU to Ok. St. It's my opinion that each recruit is a unique individual, and has the right to make a college decision that is best for them. In that context, I never hold it against a prospect for selecting another college, even if they were a PSU commit. I will be interested to see how Travis does in college -- I thought he'd have a great career at PSU.
If I recall correctly, the board community had seen his name linked with PSU a few times, but it was Ames that let us know that there was strong interest on both sides. SInce then, we've enjoyed following/watching Travis compete in his state competition, as well as in FS competitions.
I'm somewhat of a night owl, but turned in early last night. Before I did so I checked the boards and Travis' twitter account. There was nothing about this switch in either locations, so I was pretty surprised to read this thread this morning.
Travis is a great talent, and it's unfortunate for PSU fans that he's elected to switch from PSU to Ok. St. It's my opinion that each recruit is a unique individual, and has the right to make a college decision that is best for them. In that context, I never hold it against a prospect for selecting another college, even if they were a PSU commit. I will be interested to see how Travis does in college -- I thought he'd have a great career at PSU.
If I recall correctly, the board community had seen his name linked with PSU a few times, but it was Ames that let us know that there was strong interest on both sides. SInce then, we've enjoyed following/watching Travis compete in his state competition, as well as in FS competitions.
switch him back, switch him back, switch him back (just trying to add to the fodder that will be reported about 'psu fans'....)
I think Iowa should focus more on who Michigan, Mizzou, Minn, VT, and ISU are recruiting because that's their competition for 4th place.
from Iowas recent media day.....
Q. The facilities and addressing the recruiting, did the program wait too long or what caused the realization?
COACH BRANDS: I don't think the program waited too long on the financial piece. I think the program had to address some things that come before that. Like, you know what, we need to figure out why we're getting whipped in the recruiting.
I tell you what, when we got a commitment from Spencer Lee and his dad, Larry Lee, who was close to that process, they gave us a portfolio of gold intel of how we were being recruited against by You Know Who and You Know Who and You Know Who, and there's a reason why we were getting our pants beat off. We've addressed that.
Q. What were they saying?
COACH BRANDS: You know what they were saying. You know what they were saying. And we know what they were saying. And doggone, now we know. I'm too, maybe, focused internally on: Hey, we're just going to focus on what we need to focus on, because we're going to get the right guy; we're going to go after him hard, and then if we don't get him, we'll find the next guy.
I think those days are over. I think these young guys are so super talented with scholarships, I think those days are over. You have to make sure that when you're spending money on a guy, it is the right guy and you're not selling for that guy that might be good enough because he does this, this and that; right.
You've got to get that Spencer Lee and that Jacob Warner, and then you've got to have that supporting cast with that Max Murin that's got that work ethic and that blue-collar that fits in.
But we need that Spencer Lee guy. When we got him, I'm talking, that folder, that thick, and I'm not exaggerating, and it might have been that thick, because Larry Lee might have discarded a lot of the you-know-what. He might have got it down just to the essentials. We got a partner there and we've got a partner with some parents, and Kemerer and Larry Lee and those guys, and they have got the right approach to what we are doing; and maybe that's why I'm optimistic because we filled some of it with good stuff and partnerships.
Q. Does it surprise you that you were being recruited against like that?
COACH BRANDS: It surprises me because I'm so looking inside. I'm not worried about what's going on out there. I'm not worried about it. It's like, you don't really care; "One thing about Brands, he doesn't care what people think about him."
Well, you know what, I do care when people think about me now because they are using it against us. We don't have any funds; we're robots. Hey, we're having a blast, man. We're having a blast.
A lot of that seemed pretty incoherent and all-over-the-place, but it sounds like the problem has been solved -- Larry Lee has taught them how to recruit, and the Kemerers are vouching for it.
As soon as PD2 joins the partnership, a dynasty will be reborn.
Lots of great stuff in the whole PC. I think he realized that nowhere sells itself. Even if you hate selling, you either have to get better at it or hire people who can. Don’t cede the discussion about your product to others.
Larry Lee's recruiting advice....
#1, Get a prized recruit's father a cushy job just close enough to your campus to watch his son wrestle, but just far enough away as to not seem too obvious.
#2, Since you can't repeat #1 over and over, claim everyone else cheats. Cry foul.
#1, Get a prized recruit's father a cushy job just close enough to your campus to watch his son wrestle, but just far enough away as to not seem too obvious.
#2, Since you can't repeat #1 over and over, claim everyone else cheats. Cry foul.
Did you hear me? I said we are having an effing blast in the Hawkeye room!!! And, if our kids aren't having a blast, we will continue to tell them that they are having a blast. I know Clark never smiled all season long, but he was having a great time. And, yes, when Gilman gets in front of a camera, you can't really tell, because he's always saying rude stuff, but he had more f** not winning a championship than any kid ever had.
Oh, and did you see that throw that Clark did on me at the championships? I didn't have to convince him to do that. People thought I was saying, "Throw me," but, actually, I was saying "That was some great wrestling." Yeah, I know lip readers will say those two things don't look the same, but that's what I was saying. Anyway, that was just good, spontaneous f**. We have to use those asterisks when we talk, so it will be different than the f** that you know who is having, plus there's a message board that melts down when you say that word.
I'm telling you, based on some of that stuff that Larry gave me, I've even changed my recruiting. I try to smile when I'm talking to a kid, and keep saying, "F**, f**, f**." Gable might not have known wrestling was supposed to be f**, but, boy, I sure do. Aren't you glad you asked? Wasn't my answer f**? Well, wasn't it? Wasn't it?
I am not worried about Iowa as long as the brands boys are running the show
Pretty embarrassing comments
I've heard this stuff about Lee's dad over and over. I'm sincerely hoping it's an attempt to get under the skin of the HR crowd, and nobody actually believes this nonsense.
Coe is located here in my hometown, and is a legit college in it's own right. My niece attends there now, and my son used to practice there with the wrestling team. Now if Spencer ended up at Coe, then you have to question.... but why would Coe care if Spencer Lee is at Iowa?
Coe is located here in my hometown, and is a legit college in it's own right. My niece attends there now, and my son used to practice there with the wrestling team. Now if Spencer ended up at Coe, then you have to question.... but why would Coe care if Spencer Lee is at Iowa?
While I agree he believes he received the wake-up call, he's still just repeating the same old mantra he always does. We've gotta keep moving forward. We've got work to do. We've got to get the right guy, and if we miss, we get the next guy.
He talks about the new recruits in the room as though he is in awe. How they bring such great energy. Maybe that's new for him as a coach (sure sounded like it). Also sounded like they don't need to be coached.
So I was performing open-heart surgery the other day when the father of my patient leans into the OR and pipes in: "Hey, I know this is maybe out of line, but maybe move that second clamp up a few inches on the main blocked artery." My immediate reaction was like, whoa, you gonna do my job for me wiseguy? But he says that he saw another surgeon do it so it's totally cool. Anyway, my patient's father was right and I guess it's a good thing that I can finally do my job properly.
While I agree he believes he received the wake-up call, he's still just repeating the same old mantra he always does. We've gotta keep moving forward. We've got work to do. We've got to get the right guy, and if we miss, we get the next guy.
He talks about the new recruits in the room as though he is in awe. How they bring such great energy. Maybe that's new for him as a coach (sure sounded like it). Also sounded like they don't need to be coached.
Presser is the New and improved model of T2.
This is the old version.
I've said it before and will again. No offense to you, but Coe is a middling liberal arts college (whatever legit means) at best and Carnegie-Mellon is one of the top universities in the country. If Iowa lured Larry Lee to Coe as inducement to get Spencer to attend Iowa, there are more imbeciles in the world than I even want to think about.
This got me to wondering. Since Coach Brands has learned from a few Pennsylvania parents how to recruit properly, but Iowa did not do very well with the kids they identified as high targets. Does that mean Coach Brands needs to practice the routine for a few more recruiting cycles before he gets the hang of it?
Suriano leaves us high and dry at a hard to fill weight 4 months before the season starts with only a possibility of a Hail Mary transfer to backfill the spot. Contrary to popular opinion, Penn State does not have the money to have NCAA qualifier talent as backups at every weight.
Not hard to figure out.
Think Suriano came off as a self centered crybaby in the end. Wittlake takes the high road.
When he announced he was leaving after classes started at PSU, well less than a Hail Mary to get a transfer. Throw in he practiced at Rutgers starting in May...well not hard to conclude the timing of his leaving was done to maximize the chances of hurting PSU.
I have no issue with Wittlake, he was never actually at PSU. Throw in the fact that PSU was recruiting another elite recruit in Brooks at the same weight and class...if I am Wittlake i might start to wonder what is going on too.
no idea who you're talking about. I do know of the wittlake kid and he is a class act.
Re. the Suriano/Wittlake discussion. Doesn't matter in the end. Both are kids and we are adults. Not everyone here acts like an adult, unfortunately. I would follow Coach's lead on stuff like this...and be long over it.
FIRST DUAL IS TONIGHT...LET'S HAVE SOME FUN.
FIRST DUAL IS TONIGHT...LET'S HAVE SOME FUN.
Exactly. #104 of 211 in their class (liberal arts colleges). That's pretty much the definition of "middling". Compare where C-M is in their class.
Didn't Wittlake keep Brooks off the world team initially by beating him? Then brooks got in because of a Wittlake injury?
Trust me, I would take either one if I was a coach, but don't think Wittlake was scared by the possibility of Brooks coming in a year later. If these guys thought like that, parity would be much more noticeable.
Precisely--it's not exactly a message board zinger, but we want kids on our team that want to be on our team. I want all* US Wrestlers to succeed, provided PSU guys do it the most.
*OK, maybe not PD3....
I also don't think there was a U of Iowa conspiracy to get the dad his Coe College job.
However, Matter, your argument is flawed. Just comparing Coe to CMU is not on point. The reason it is not on point is as follows. We know (1) that if Spencer goes to U of Iowa, then the dad would want to work at Coe (29-minute drive away), but do we know (2) that if Spencer goes to Penn State, then the dad would want to work at CMU (2-hour-23-minute drive away) ?
To be on point, you would have had to compare Coe+Iowa to CMU+PSU (or to CMU+Pitt or to some other job+school pairing).
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I agree with this 100%. I've stated before, most all of these very top guys are not worried about getting spots, they just want a great room and hope that the other 9 guys in the starting lineup are great as well. Finding a spot in the lineup is their problem.
OK State is a great place to go. Maybe the offered more of a scholarship than PSU. One possibility. And I've referenced the decision about forgoing scholarship money being a difficult one. For some kids, they just need to realize they can realize their dreams and another place and also be happy and then when it actually comes time to make a decision, their parents finances (and some nudging by them) can be a deciding factor. I know first hand that this can take place. Whatever happened, I'm sure it was a difficult decision between great options and wish him luck.
"It's never just one thing." That is a statement about life. Decisions in life are about weighing all factors and choosing the path to take. I believe that OSU likely offered a better financial package. I also believe the statement that he didn't feel being in the same OTC as Bo and DT would be beneficial in him earning an Olympic spot in 2020. (News flash ... he ain't getting that no matter where he goes for 2020. Real long shot.) But boiled down ... finances, opportunity, environment, comfort level with so much.
It has to hurt when you lose a highly rated recruit that flips on signing day. It is not like top ten ranked recruits are sitting around waiting for a phone call to be your backup date to the prom. Wittlake didn't do anything outside the rules. Good luck to him. But it hurts the "plan" when this happens for sure.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Mr. Lee's position at CMU & Coe has exactly squat to do with academic rankings. Apples to lugnuts.
I'd beg to differ. It's like you have a production job at Channel 7 in NYC and get a "better" job in a backwater market. But the idea that Iowa got him the job at Coe to induce Spencer to come wrestle at Iowa is absurd. If that's how they are "cheating", they are doing it wrong.
His positions have/had nothing to do with academics. They were mainly in facilities. You want to know why Mr. Lee pursued a job at Coe? For the same reason Mr,Taylor would drive his son to Heber City to train with the Heber City kids and later move the family to Ohio so David could wrestle for St. Paris.
I just thought he took the job so the family could still be close to where their son was going to go to school.
It is fun to make fun though.
Can you imagine the HR meltdown if Mr. Teske moved to central PA for a job as director of facilities at Lock Haven University?
It is fun to make fun though.
Can you imagine the HR meltdown if Mr. Teske moved to central PA for a job as director of facilities at Lock Haven University?
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