Ahh … no. Chesbro was probably the best technical coach of his time, great dual record but could not beat Iowa in the tourney, kept coming in 2nd. Everyone was tired of 2nd so hired Seay. Seay figured to beat Iowa you had to do what Iowa was doing, he did, he beat them, he got caught and OSU put on probation. Smith & Monday were coming off Olympics and co-coached first year in the wake of the sanctions. Fast forward to the Brands Iowa era, there were (still are) plenty of coaches who knew what’s was going on and with a couple other programs. No one wants to turn another program in to the NCAA because wrestling is already in decline. Cael comes along and he is/was good enough as a coach to win (say 1 in every 4 years) without “bending the rules”/cheating we had a lot of parity then, but he raises it to whole new level. Now if you are Brands or one of the others do you complain that another coach is cheating more than you are or do you figure we just need to up our game? And yes I know some folks think “bending the rules” isn’t cheating and some folks think it’s only cheating if you get caught.
I am certain that the current President (although he is retiring next year) is not going to allow said “bending” approach at OSU. Don’t know as well but would expect the same from the current AD Holder. Do you think Holder ever has to look at his golf banners in GIA and think, well we got that one by cheating, I think not. Do you think he would allow such from any of his coaches? Same with Smith when he looks at his golds and banners that he knows they were won because he (& team) were the best and worked harder than anyone else. Pretty sure he has no desire after a great career to go out like Seay or put OSU thru that again. Now sure if the NCAA came out with clarity on the issue or with the movement toward paying athletes said it’s perfectly fine to pay undergrad wrestlers thru an endowed or otherwise funded RTC, then it’d be game on.