(03-07-2018 10:29 AM)Doggone Wrote:  

(03-07-2018 09:54 AM)Splooie99 Wrote:  Did you guys know that a good portion of this years wrestling team are under class men. I think there is only 1 SN & 4 JRs on the team this season. Not to mention that the MAC Conference is one of the toughest in wrestling. He has been the head coach for 7 years now and basically had the team at .500 during his leadership. With the likes of Missu, Old D, CM and the rest of the MAC, this is a tough conference. I try to keep an eye on them, but there is not a lot of news either. Last years team had 5 guys qualify for the NCAA's. This year, only 2 and one of them was a huge upset.

I am not sure I agree, and I don't know a lot of the history of this team either. They performed poorly, but I would expect next year to be better due to the age of the team. They are young. Time will tell.

Should we be able to draw in a younger hungry coach to change things up. It would make sense as well. But, this is a non-revenue making sport for NIU. I am not sure how financially we could get a better coach?

Their best wrestler from last year also transferred to Minnesota.

Steve Bleise went to Minnesota because he thought he wasn’t challenged enough here. That’s an indictment on the coach, roster, or both.

As far as qualifiers, they should have north of four yearly. No all Americans in 14 or so years is a joke in wrestling, especially when you have great wrestling both West and east in under one hour.

As far as non revenue, wrestling is non revenue generating for all but a handful of programs. Look at South Dakota state, Wyoming, Fresno, and some others and compare their coaching staff to NIU’s. I think the coaching staff at Montini High School is probably better.

As far as the conference, you’re right, it’s a good conference, that’s why NIU should recruit well. In 2017-2018, NIU got one Illinois kid, and this hurts me to say because I wrestled 1A in high school, but it was a two time 1A title holder, he collected under five victories this year. NIU should be recruiting OPRF, Montini, Glenbard North, etc.

7 years is a pretty long time to be a coach, with nobody making it past the round of 12 and to be regressing.

Just my opinion, but they are either not taking advantage of the resources around them or they just can’t recruit or develop. Also, both NIU guys who got second are not Illinois kids. They lost to wrestlers who went to high school within NIUs immediate area of Plainfield East and Libertyville. The two NIU wrestlers were from out of state...