Couple of Summer Notes

[okcpokefan12]

Hard to say who will wrestle 157 this year. Wyatt is a class act but he is not our future. Travis Mastrogiavanni has been mostly injured for over a year. Anthony Ferrari hasn't wrestled in competition for over a year. Jordan Williams needs to redshirt and get stronger. He is not ready to wrestle college 157's. As Wrassler said Mechler is a good wrestler but unless he has jumped a full level he is not close to All American material. Anthony is our best option as I see it for the future. At 149 I am concerned also because Voinovich does not seem close to being an All American. No one is going to like this but I am not sure Victor has improved much since his freshman year in high school where he won State in Ohio at 145. I hope I am wrong and he demonstrates he is outstanding. Anthony or Jordan may be better suited to 149. Lastly 184 is our biggest concern with really just 1 option Haas. Forum members are pointing out how strong he looks but in the last year I have not seen where he looks like a standout. After a year in our room he got thrown around like he is nothing by the Ohio State recruit Shumate who is rated 16th at high school 195's. We need all these young wrestlers to be jumping levels to have a chance in 2 years to win 35. It appears we have no chance this upcoming year. Penn. St appears like they will dominate and of the listed challengers we are not considered 1 of them by hardly anyone. Discouraging and much of the negativity is due to so many injuries and therefore I don't see improvement and the ones who aren't injured and are wrestling there doesn't seem to be a lot of improvement. I like our 2023 class Thompson, Hughes and Robb and hopefully Mullen. Our 2020 class looks good but injuries have really hurt. Our 2021 class looked good when they committed but don't look near as good now. Our 2022 class has great potential Williams, Ferrari and Blankenship. 2024 class has a potential great start with Angelo Ferrari especially if he is a 184. To win 35 we don't need good wrestlers we need outstanding wrestlers. You score very few points at Nationals if you do not place in the top4.

Watch out.....certain posters will call you a troll for writing anything critical of OSU wrestling. I think you have sine very real concerns

 

[leecothran]

Watch out.....certain posters will call you a troll for writing anything critical of OSU wrestling. I think you have sine very real concerns

There's a big difference between what Harley has to say, which is all very valid and well reasoned... and what people like you have to say, which is "we aren't good and it can't happen."

 

[okcpokefan12]

There's a big difference between what Harley has to say, which is all very valid and well reasoned... and what people like you have to say, which is "we aren't good and it can't happen."

There's a big difference between what Harley has to say, which is all very valid and well reasoned... and what people like you have to say, which is "we aren't good and it can't happen."

Do you want to be more specific?

Here’s my questions for you: When was our last championship???? Can we win another title, yes, but John will need to make changes to beat Penn State. Agree or disagree with this statement?

What is good when it comes to OSU wrestling? In my opinion, we haven’t met the standard that John and previous wrestlers have set as a program lately. I bet quite a few of our fans would agree.

Lee, if OSU doesn’t win another title in the next 5 years, 10 years, is that acceptable? If that happens, should Coach Smith still be head coach? I’m asking you since you are one of the biggest fans.

PS - I listened to all your podcasts but your calling the Mizzou wrestler “white trash” was really unprofessional. Were you mad because he won.

Also, you changed your voice/accent to call out stupid Cowboy fans that weren’t smart enough to know how to properly criticize the wrestlers when losing. This was the final straw....you showing your true colors. For some reason, you think you are better/smarter than certain people.

Hopefully, you cleaned up some our comments in your newest podcasts

 

[leecothran]

It was an Iowa wrestler who is a known turd, but I subsequently apologized for calling him white trash. I also own that you think I'm arrogant and have tried to correct that but you don't really seem all that interested in allowing me to fix it for you so there's not much point in me trying to please you either. I'll worry about the 500 other listeners that seem to enjoy what I'm doing.

And no, the last fifteen years haven't been acceptable. But speculating doom just to speculate it and just because the last fifteen years haven't been great isn't productive.

There's proof that things are getting better. There's more money. The RTC is coming together well. New locker room facilities are state of the art and the room is rumored to be getting a facelift very soon.

You can choose to not believe me. That's fine. But I believe that this program will be back on top soon. Maybe not this year. Maybe not the next. But it will happen. There's investment and desire for it to at all levels.

 

[okcpokefan12]

It was an Iowa wrestler who is a known turd, but I subsequently apologized for calling him white trash. I also own that you think I'm arrogant and have tried to correct that but you don't really seem all that interested in allowing me to fix it for you so there's not much point in me trying to please you either. I'll worry about the 500 other listeners that seem to enjoy what I'm doing.

And no, the last fifteen years haven't been acceptable. But speculating doom just to speculate it and just because the last fifteen years haven't been great isn't productive.

There's proof that things are getting better. There's more money. The RTC is coming together well. New locker room facilities are state of the art and the room is rumored to be getting a facelift very soon.

You can choose to not believe me. That's fine. But I believe that this program will be back on top soon. Maybe not this year. Maybe not the next. But it will happen. There's investment and desire for it to at all levels.

I hope you’re right. Why are my concerns speculating doom and gloom, when it could be considered a realistic view of the situation by some of our fans. Some people would say all your posts are just sunshine pumping....it goes both ways.

Last thing, you keep taking about progress yet it won’t happen this year or even the next one (your own words) so when will OSU be champs again? Why can’t we win it in 2024?

 

[okcpokefan12]

It was an Iowa wrestler who is a known turd, but I subsequently apologized for calling him white trash. I also own that you think I'm arrogant and have tried to correct that but you don't really seem all that interested in allowing me to fix it for you so there's not much point in me trying to please you either. I'll worry about the 500 other listeners that seem to enjoy what I'm doing.

And no, the last fifteen years haven't been acceptable. But speculating doom just to speculate it and just because the last fifteen years haven't been great isn't productive.

There's proof that things are getting better. There's more money. The RTC is coming together well. New locker room facilities are state of the art and the room is rumored to be getting a facelift very soon.

You can choose to not believe me. That's fine. But I believe that this program will be back on top soon. Maybe not this year. Maybe not the next. But it will happen. There's investment and desire for it to at all levels.

Your 2nd paragraph is ridiculous except for the part that the last 15 years haven’t been acceptable.
You know why the past 15 years is pertinent to this conversation.....the head coach. If we’re going to include all of Coach’s national championships then you have to also include the entire time period when he hasn’t won a championship. I didn’t speculate any doom or gloom on the program during the last 15 years...I noted that we haven’t performed as well.
I have stated numerous times that changes need to be made to win again. Coach Smith is the only one that can make these changes that could lead to another natty.
PS - you won’t read it but Coach needs to adjust how he coaches/trains to fit today’s athletes. I graduated 2 years before the championship run started, and those guys and today’s high school/college athletes are nothing alike.

 

[osudog]

It was an Iowa wrestler who is a known turd, but I subsequently apologized for calling him white trash. I also own that you think I'm arrogant and have tried to correct that but you don't really seem all that interested in allowing me to fix it for you so there's not much point in me trying to please you either. I'll worry about the 500 other listeners that seem to enjoy what I'm doing.

And no, the last fifteen years haven't been acceptable. But speculating doom just to speculate it and just because the last fifteen years haven't been great isn't productive.

There's proof that things are getting better. There's more money. The RTC is coming together well. New locker room facilities are state of the art and the room is rumored to be getting a facelift very soon.

You can choose to not believe me. That's fine. But I believe that this program will be back on top soon. Maybe not this year. Maybe not the next. But it will happen. There's investment and desire for it to at all levels.

Our Rtc is shit show so saying it is improving is like dumping a glass of water in the ocean. It has a long damn ways to go to even be in the same zip code as the top RTC’s

 

[turfpoke]

Your 2nd paragraph is ridiculous except for the part that the last 15 years haven’t been acceptable.
You know why the past 15 years is pertinent to this conversation.....the head coach. If we’re going to include all of Coach’s national championships then you have to also include the entire time period when he hasn’t won a championship. I didn’t speculate any doom or gloom on the program during the last 15 years...I noted that we haven’t performed as well.
I have stated numerous times that changes need to be made to win again. Coach Smith is the only one that can make these changes that could lead to another natty.
PS - you won’t read it but Coach needs to adjust how he coaches/trains to fit today’s athletes. I graduated 2 years before the championship run started, and those guys and today’s high school/college athletes are nothing alike.

How do we need to train today’s athletes? What weight were you at OSU?

 

[okcpokefan12]

How do we need to train today’s athletes? What weight were you at OSU?

Whatever. I didn’t wrestle at OSU. Question, does anyone who posts about OSU wrestling have to wrestle at OSU previously?????

What was your weight and record at OSU? I also ask about Lee’s record at OSU???

You’re not smart and that gotcha comment was completely stupid.....🤡🤡

Do you think athletes from the early 2000 are the same as today? People have really changed over the last 15-20 years....which is obvious. Our entire world had changed but you’ll continue to be push your point although you are completely wrong

 

[okcpokefan12]

How do we need to train today’s athletes? What weight were you at OSU?

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

 

[turfpoke]

I assumed you were in the room with your knowledge of how they are training today as compared to the early 2000s. My bad.

 

[okcpokefan12]

I assumed you were in the room with your knowledge of how they are training today as compared to the early 2000s. My bad.

Hahahaha. What a gotcha! I notice that you didn’t post all your stats as an OSU wrestler....weak.

So looks like you don’t think the wrestling program needs to changes....keep doing the same thing that hasn’t produced a championship in over a decade.

I understand that we don’t agree on much, but most fans believe that changes can possibly lead to another natty. Based on the last ten years, the previous ways of training/coaching are not producing the same results.

 

[okcpokefan12]

@turfpoke @leecothran - what was your record at OSU? How many national championships did either of you win????

Based on your boy’s comments, you can’t discuss OSU wrestling if you didn’t wrestle there or part of the wrestling room currently.

@turfpoke - why are you trying to decide who can talk about certain subjects. So, @turfpoke why are you discussing OSU wrestling???? Do you fall under either of the categories?

 

[turfpoke]

I didn’t wrestle at OSU. Wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t setting any rules. I just asked you a question. It seemed like you wrestled for OSU with all of your knowledge of the program. I was mistaken.

 

[okcpokefan12]

I didn’t wrestle at OSU. Wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t setting any rules. I just asked you a question. It seemed like you wrestled for OSU with all of your knowledge of the program. I was mistaken.

Thanks for answering....I presumed correctly that you didn’t wrestle at OSU. I was correct. Glad for not deflecting like your previous comment.

Your previous questions were not serious...you were trying to be a smart ass but I called you out. No need to try and change this with your “I was mistaken,” which is yet another snarky remark.

Just man up and be honest about your comments towards me....that’s fine as we all don’t have to agree. Defecting is weak...maybe you can do better

 

[turfpoke]

Thanks for answering....I presumed correctly that you didn’t wrestle at OSU. I was correct. Glad for not deflecting like your previous comment.

Your previous questions were not serious...you were trying to be a smart ass but I called you out. No need to try and change this with your “I was mistaken,” which is yet another snarky remark.

Just man up and be honest about your comments towards me....that’s fine as we all don’t have to agree. Defecting is weak...maybe you can do better

I apologize for hurting your feelings.

 

[Dugan2035]

Reports that Beric Jordan is moving to Stillwater .Another top recruit lining up for the good guys.

 

[leecothran]

Our Rtc is shit show so saying it is improving is like dumping a glass of water in the ocean. It has a long damn ways to go to even be in the same zip code as the top RTC’s

So we should just not do anything because we aren't going to catch up? This doesn't make sense. It's improving, that's all it can do.

I have stated numerous times that changes need to be made to win again. Coach Smith is the only one that can make these changes that could lead to another natty.

I believe that Coach Smith is making significant changes after last season. He said it himself! He's relinquished control of several things and is letting other people do the necessary work to make the program better. I also absolutely agree with you that the way athletes are treated and trained needs to catch up to the current times. If you listen to the Dakota Geer and Dustin Plott podcasts, we touch on that.

Question, does anyone who posts about OSU wrestling have to wrestle at OSU previously?????

I've never said anything like this. I never wrestled at a high level. It doesn't matter. You can still be a fan and have knowledge of the sport without being accomplished competing in it. I agree with you that it's a bad question meant to discredit.

Last thing, you keep taking about progress yet it won’t happen this year or even the next one (your own words) so when will OSU be champs again? Why can’t we win it in 2024?

Well I DO think we can win it all in 2023 or 2024 as I believe that we have the talent necessary to compete. It's always going to be difficult, as the competition from the Big 10 schools has just gotten a lot better over the last 10-15 years. Michigan, and Ohio State are better than they have ever been... and Iowa is really dang good still... and none of them can catch Penn State either. We've been close more often in the last 10 years than we haven't been, with 2022 and 2018 being the outlier bad years.

Harley mentioned that he doesn't think Victor Voinovich has improved since his freshman year of high school... and while I respect Harley's opinion, I fully disagree with him on that. VV had the best redshirt season according to both Flo and Intermat. He's entered the "way too early" ranking for next year around #18. His coaches from those that interacted with him in high school like Johnny DiJulius all the way to Jordan Oliver say that he's going to be a great wrestler for us, and there's a reason he held offers from all of the top schools as well.

I can't say everything that I know here... but I do know that a lot of changes are coming and that there is plenty of reason for optimism. The funny thing about change is that it takes time, and that it doesn't happen overnight. So we can either rabble about our lack of success and the lack of meaningful improvement over the last decade... or we can move forward. I'm going to choose moving forward, as there's nothing that can be done about the past. The beautiful thing about this country is that you can do the opposite and we can disagree.

 

[alex1fly]

I don't get the "championship or bust" mentality. Prefer to leave that to the coaches and athletes. That's what they want, it's not what I want. Would it be great, yes. Am I still jazzed about our 2005 title run and stoked that AJ won a title 1.5 years ago and irked that Daton has been close 3x, yes. Is it the most important thing to me as a fan of a particular team, not at all!

Was the white trash comment about Eirman? Because if so, Lee just said what many folks in the wrestling community were too timid to say in public 😆

 

[leecothran]

Was the white trash comment about Eirman?

Yes. I should have chosen my words more carefully... but I am not a fan of Eierman.

 

[Harleycowboy]

Hard to say who will wrestle 157 this year. Wyatt is a class act but he is not our future. Travis Mastrogiavanni has been mostly injured for over a year. Anthony Ferrari hasn't wrestled in competition for over a year. Jordan Williams needs to redshirt and get stronger. He is not ready to wrestle college 157's. As Wrassler said Mechler is a good wrestler but unless he has jumped a full level he is not close to All American material. Anthony is our best option as I see it for the future. At 149 I am concerned also because Voinovich does not seem close to being an All American. No one is going to like this but I am not sure Victor has improved much since his freshman year in high school where he won State in Ohio at 145. I hope I am wrong and he demonstrates he is outstanding. Anthony or Jordan may be better suited to 149. Lastly 184 is our biggest concern with really just 1 option Haas. Forum members are pointing out how strong he looks but in the last year I have not seen where he looks like a standout. After a year in our room he got thrown around like he is nothing by the Ohio State recruit Shumate who is rated 16th at high school 195's. We need all these young wrestlers to be jumping levels to have a chance in 2 years to win 35. It appears we have no chance this upcoming year. Penn. St appears like they will dominate and of the listed challengers we are not considered 1 of them by hardly anyone. Discouraging and much of the negativity is due to so many injuries and therefore I don't see improvement and the ones who aren't injured and are wrestling there doesn't seem to be a lot of improvement. I like our 2023 class Thompson, Hughes and Robb and hopefully Mullen. Our 2020 class looks good but injuries have really hurt. Our 2021 class looked good when they committed but don't look near as good now. Our 2022 class has great potential Williams, Ferrari and Blankenship. 2024 class has a potential great start with Angelo Ferrari especially if he is a 184. To win 35 we don't need good wrestlers we need outstanding wrestlers. You score very few points at Nationals if you do not place in the top4.

Those were our weight classes of uncertainty. The rest seem set with Mastrogiavanni at 125, 133 Fix, 141 Young, 165 Wittlake, 174 Plott, 197 Ferrari and HWT Surber. Our top 4 placing best bets are Fix, Plott and AJ. Best chances to low All American 125 Mastro, 141 Carter, Wittlake 165. Small chance to low All American Voinovich or whoever 149, Sheets or whoever 157, 184 Haas and HWT Surber. Penn. St has 4 National Champs back along with a HWT ranked 2nd. Those 5 could outscore our whole team by a lot. We really need wrestler development this year and please no injuries.

 

[okcpokefan12]

So we should just not do anything because we aren't going to catch up? This doesn't make sense. It's improving, that's all it can do.



I believe that Coach Smith is making significant changes after last season. He said it himself! He's relinquished control of several things and is letting other people do the necessary work to make the program better. I also absolutely agree with you that the way athletes are treated and trained needs to catch up to the current times. If you listen to the Dakota Geer and Dustin Plott podcasts, we touch on that.



I've never said anything like this. I never wrestled at a high level. It doesn't matter. You can still be a fan and have knowledge of the sport without being accomplished competing in it. I agree with you that it's a bad question meant to discredit.



Well I DO think we can win it all in 2023 or 2024 as I believe that we have the talent necessary to compete. It's always going to be difficult, as the competition from the Big 10 schools has just gotten a lot better over the last 10-15 years. Michigan, and Ohio State are better than they have ever been... and Iowa is really dang good still... and none of them can catch Penn State either. We've been close more often in the last 10 years than we haven't been, with 2022 and 2018 being the outlier bad years.

Harley mentioned that he doesn't think Victor Voinovich has improved since his freshman year of high school... and while I respect Harley's opinion, I fully disagree with him on that. VV had the best redshirt season according to both Flo and Intermat. He's entered the "way too early" ranking for next year around #18. His coaches from those that interacted with him in high school like Johnny DiJulius all the way to Jordan Oliver say that he's going to be a great wrestler for us, and there's a reason he held offers from all of the top schools as well.

I can't say everything that I know here... but I do know that a lot of changes are coming and that there is plenty of reason for optimism. The funny thing about change is that it takes time, and that it doesn't happen overnight. So we can either rabble about our lack of success and the lack of meaningful improvement over the last decade... or we can move forward. I'm going to choose moving forward, as there's nothing that can be done about the past. The beautiful thing about this country is that you can do the opposite and we can disagree.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏. Bravo. Well said.

I’ll listen to your last podcast to get the updates.

The wrestling experience question was 100% because @turfpoke was being snarky and trying to decide whom can discuss OSU wrestling. Thanks for recognizing this...if not, there wouldn’t be a ton of discussion with only OSU alumni are allowed to talk sports.

 

[turfpoke]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏. Bravo. Well said.

I’ll listen to your last podcast to get the updates.

The wrestling experience question was 100% because @turfpoke was being snarky and trying to decide whom can discuss OSU wrestling. Thanks for recognizing this...if not, there wouldn’t be a ton of discussion with only OSU alumni are allowed to talk sports.

Once again, I apologize for hurting your feelings. For someone that criticizes the program so much and is so antagonistic toward other posters, you sure are sensitive.

 

[Okie_Pat]

Just catching up on these boards and after reading the posts I will say that as a fan you only have a few options on how to react after the terrible season we just had. You can be doom and gloom or you can be optimistic and hopeful for the future. Lots of things went wrong for the cowboys this past season, mostly due to injuries but some guys did not wrestling up to expectations imo. There is no hiding the fact that it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the program needs make the necessary changes to get caught up to speed with RTC and fast. I feel like that has given other programs a edge over us in recruiting. Coach Smith has said and acknowledge that he needs to make some changes and do things differently. Do I believe he has the ability to make those changes, yes 100%. Am I hopeful that changes will be made but it won’t happen over night. My major concern is Coach Smith ability to get the best out of his wrestlers these past few years. The backups we’ve had move into the lineup have done nothing on the mat. None of them appeared to be ready. I also worry about his old school approach and overtraining and how it doesn’t connect with the kids these days. End of the day we can do all these things changes but still get the same results. Reason being is because you need to recruit top talent and besides some hits every few years our recruiting has been a little better than average. You can build new facilities, RTC, NIL, etc but the best recruiting tool is WINNING.

 

[IAChief32]

It was an Iowa wrestler who is a known turd, but I subsequently apologized for calling him white trash.

Which Iowa wrestler was that? Curious.

 

[vhsalum]

Which Iowa wrestler was that? Curious.

Come on.. its not even 7 comments above.