So what does his first recruiting class look like? Who will be the biggest/best recruit that commits to OK State? Curious to see what you all think!
DT's First Recruiting Class/Top Recruit
- Thread starter DEWrestlingFan
- Start date
The fact that we are likely keeping Lockett is already a win. I think Bassett is supposed to decide soon…….so him lol.
Keeping big Lockett is a no brainer if he is what we think he is. The guys that have Olympic aspirations are going nowhere.
We have had great recruiting classes the last few years and this will continue and get better. His best recruit will be the next guy he signs, and will continue to get better with each super star! Cowboy wrestling is in a good place. Love Coleman for many reasons, but this was the right move.
We have had great recruiting classes the last few years and this will continue and get better. His best recruit will be the next guy he signs, and will continue to get better with each super star! Cowboy wrestling is in a good place. Love Coleman for many reasons, but this was the right move.
I think DT will try hard to pull one of the Askren kids out of Wisconsin early in the process. Ben admires Dt and they share many of the same wrestling beliefs as far as training and approach to the sport. I expect DT to flex his nationwide pull in short order. Recruiting is not going to be a problem imo.
what Askren kid?
this makes little sense to me.
this makes little sense to me.
Recruiting doesn’t open officially for Bo until June 15th and official visits don’t start until August 1st.
Good. Gives our staff some time to settle.
We don’t know. That’s what we have you for. We just want one lol
I have no idea which young man he will end up getting to Stillwater, but I am taking an eductated guess he will want to get that connection established. KOT or Parker for post college RTC? Portal from one of his existing guys at another school? One of his younger guys who may not seem like a huge recruit but could establish the relationship? I don't have your knowledge of current high school wrestling but I will be surprised if there isn't a former AWA athlete training in Stillwater within 2 years? Do you think Ben wouldn't encourage this since he naturally despises OSU? I know he thinks a great deal of DT.
We? Did this Billionaire already poach psus lead recruiter from them already?
Didn't Ben say he quit FRL to focus on building senior level training? I would suspect Ben will want his guys there. Money talks though I know. Could Ben even fundraise or finance one to compete against RTCs?
Might be time to update the fine print paragraph under the “34 and counting” banner:
“THE gathering place for all fans of John Smith's dominant wrestling program, which will shoot for five national titles in a row in 2007.”
“THE gathering place for all fans of John Smith's dominant wrestling program, which will shoot for five national titles in a row in 2007.”
I think he is considering trying to expand his club. RTC has been talked about as well as the likelihood of another training site or even two more. DT is smart enough to know AWA is pumping out studs. It seems DT has the resources at his disposal as well as the knowledge and name appeal to be a player in about any situation involving a high profile wrestler changing scenery. I'm not real sure who Ben has in the pipeline in that 10th or 11th grade current group? Is there anyone capable of catching DT's eye in your opinion Willy?
I’m not following. We as in “OSU”. I’m not sure what PSU has to do with it? And I’m BS’n anyway. I want DT to go get who DT wants.
Could you imagine things becoming so competitive that an RTC like NLWC helps fund and forms a partnership with AWA to expand west? Having multiple locations throughout the country for its athletes to train out of? NLWC/AWA has a nice ring to it.. lol
Maybe but it doesn’t make much sense IMO. The whole appeal for the college is keeping the senior level guys in such close proximity to their guys while also ingraining them into the community/recruiting base.
I like the idea in this regard, the NLWC may only have so much room/resources at its single location. Kids may think the room may be full at the RTC after they graduate so they choose another college program/RTC because of it. With multiple locations there's more room and athletes can go to train at other locations, different coaching and work with other partners . Also, with other locations you build relationships in other areas of the country which helps recruiting outside of your primary area. I'm just spitballin here. Lol. Also, with Brooks and Taylor rumors of them both training at same location not being ideal, it could solve a problem like that as well.
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^^^^^^
THIS
Also, you don't dilute quality. You want it concentrated for several reasons including financial.
Ben hates OSU. I’m not sure it matters who we have coaching. I know he really admires John Smith, but, because his arch nemesis went to OSU, he hates us. 🤷🏼♂️
Ben does not "hate" OSU.
He hated the culture. When Espo called about MM, Ben straight up told him that OSU "party too much."
With DT, that part is going to change - and he loves DT. So yeah. You guys will be getting AWA kids.
Yeah that short vid posted somewhere in these threads where he gave his thoughts on the hire made it clear that he thinks OSU wrestling had more of a party culture than PSU. I also thought that his comments indicated that he thought the culture here at OSU will change a lot under DT, and for the better from his perspective
I don’t know. On the FRL, every time OSU was brought up, he would either down us or change the subject right away. He had a beef with us, and I understand. Pendleton used to beat him like a drum. I would hold a grudge too.
He didn't like the way things were run under John.
Ben never had a positive thing to say about anything associated with OSU on FRL. The OSU talk on FRL took a nose dive after Willie left. Ben has some resentment towards us and if you don't think it stretches back to us dominating him in college I don't know what to tell you.
Oh dear god. Full stop.
This is you having some damn rabbit ears. I can remember MANY times where Ben talked positively about OSU. What you say/think is Ben having resentment towards OSU is nothing more than him keeping his mouth shut when it comes to the negative things he COULD have said on air, and didn't.
He respects John enough to not air out your dirty laundry. And there was a ton. He didn't do the same with Iowa. Any chance he got to jump on them - he did. He didn't do that with OSU. He has a ton of respect for Pendleton as well. They wrestled 7 times and not a single time did Pendleton back down, miss a dual, forfeit.
Despite what blair has said on here, OSU has always had a culture problem under John. Sometimes those things could be covered up with talented rosters and the Gator Wrestling club. and sometimes, John is just that damn good a coach - which Ben said many times on air. He makes guys so tough.
There just wasn't much positive to say about OSU lately. But when it did happen - Ben contributed positively as well. He just held his tongue on some things.
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You are somehow arguing Ben doesn't have anything against us while also saying he actually had a ton against us.
It was pretty clear, he had an axe to grind, but he is a professional and he does give his honest assessment and will even admit when he is biased. He said so about OSU, on a number of occasions. So what. There are other wrestlers and other teams. If DT can create a relationship with Ben, awesome. If not, move on.
100%. If DT and Ben has a great relationship and it gets us athletes awesome.
Let's break this down shall we?
"Ben never had a positive thing to say about anything associated with OSU on FRL. The OSU talk on FRL took a nose dive after Willie left. Ben has some resentment towards us and if you don't think it stretches back to us dominating him in college I don't know what to tell you."
1. Ben had many positive things to say about OSU on FRL. Many times, any time they did something well, he spoke about it.
2. Not sure what you mean by this, but OSU hasn't been doing that well since Willie left. Had an amazing athlete in AJ who turned out to be a douche, and Ben said as much. It's not his fault AJ doubled down on his behavior (including grabbing Yonger's stick and stem)
3. He doesn't have "resentment" against OSU. He definitely has some with Pendleton. But I'd say it's a pretty mature way of handling it. He's always been completely truthful about not beating Pendleton and he appreciates that Pendleton always stepped on the line.
MY POINT? That, even when you guys were down, he never took the chance to just shoot strays. he never outed the reason why he specifically didn't want MM at OSU. He had MANY chances to say things over the years, and his choice not to speak disparaging things about OSU says a lot more about his respect FOR OSU and john in particular.
We've been down by Oklahoma State standards but we've still been a top 5-10 program and Ben treated us like we were Fresno State or something.
But again, you keep saying Ben doesn't have resentment towards OSU while telling us how much crap he did have against us he was just too mature to say it on air. Well, I can tell you a lot of OSU fans don't think he hid it as well as you seem to think he did.
And I'm telling you you're wrong. Him not wanting to speak negatively about OSU is the exact opposite. I guess it might seem weird, or dismissive or that he has some grudge against an entire program - but he doesn't. If he did?
You'd know about it - he's been pretty dang clear about where Iowa stands in his mind. So i'm telling you... AGAIN, ben not speaking negatively shows you how much respect he has for the program and John in particular. He does not hold the Brands in the same regard. And said it as often as possible and as loud as possible.
Gotcha, so OSU fans aren't wrong that Ben had some pretty big issues with the OSU program. You just think he hid it well and a lot of us thought he actually didn't hide it all that well.
