Drooke Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Statement from ISU athletic director Jamie Pollard on departure of Cael Sanderson Iowa State University 04/17/2009 AMES, Iowa - The following is a statement from Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard: STATEMENT FROM IOWA STATE A.D. JAMIE POLLARD (Regarding Cael Sanderson?s departure to Penn State) ?Cael (Sanderson) shared with me today that he has accepted the head coaching position at Penn State. I am extremely saddened for our institution?s student-athletes, staff, alums and fans. It is a difficult day for all Cyclones as we cope with the departure of a truly outstanding and accomplished student and coach. Cael?s unblemished collegiate record, Olympic glory and promising start as a coach all came while he was representing Iowa State University and he will forever be recognized as a Cyclone.? ?During the last week, Cael and I talked numerous times and we had several in-depth and personal discussions about this decision. Those talks included me asking what, if anything, could we do to keep him at Iowa State. I also asked President (Gregory) Geoffroy, Bill Fennelly and Greg McDermott to reach out to Cael and they all did so. In the end, Cael said that he appreciated everything Iowa State and our fans had done for him but he believes winning a national championship will be easier at Penn State. He said the high school talent in Pennsylvania and surrounding states is the best in the country and the kids in that area grow up wanting to wrestle for the Nittany Lions. He also said their overall athletics department resources are the best in the country.? ?I know this has been a very challenging and emotional decision for Cael and his family. I encourage all of our fans to put aside their disappointment and, instead, respect Cael for making a decision that he believes is in the best interest of his family. We are sad to see him leave, but we certainly wish him the best.? ?We will begin a national search for his replacement immediately and focus our full attention on identifying and recruiting a new coach who can add to the Iowa State championship legacies of former coaches Hugo Otopalik, Dr. Harold Nichols and Jim Gibbons.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fire77 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Nice to see a class statement after a disappointment for ISU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allyourbase Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Do you really think Cael told them, "It would be easier to win a National Championship at Penn State?" I dunno, why would he care about things being easy ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I'm not sure he meant it would be easier as in he wouldn't have to work as hard. By easier he meant, to land the top talent in Ohio, PA, New York and New Jersey. Its a lot harder to land a top recruit from those states when you are in Iowa as opposed to being smack dab in the middle of that area in PA. Its one of those things that isn't necessarily easier, but he wanted to increase his odds of landing the kids that will help make a championship team. If you are one of those top kids from one of those states, you would rather be closer to home and in PA than be in the boonies in Iowa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Here is an article with a couple statements from Cael's dad. http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2009/04/22/sanderson_leans_on_family.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I'm not sure he meant it would be easier as in he wouldn't have to work as hard. By easier he meant, to land the top talent in Ohio, PA, New York and New Jersey. Its a lot harder to land a top recruit from those states when you are in Iowa as opposed to being smack dab in the middle of that area in PA. Its one of those things that isn't necessarily easier, but he wanted to increase his odds of landing the kids that will help make a championship team. If you are one of those top kids from one of those states, you would rather be closer to home and in PA than be in the boonies in Iowa. Dan Gable did it for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlHungus Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Not at Iowa State. Ames is the boonies, Iowa City is a metropolis by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Joe's statements said Iowa. All of Iowa is the same. Back in the day if you were great and wanted to win a national championship and you were prepared to eat, sleep, breathe and poop wrestling....you went to Iowa (Iowa City). If Gable would have stayed at Iowa State, it's my belief that they would have been the powerhouse. Wrestlers went there to wrestle and win national championships. They didn't go there for the landscape. Young people want to go to a college that will get them as far as they can go in their respective sports. That usually translates into the coaching staff and caliber of wrestlers in the room. I wish Cael well and I'm glad he's in the Big Ten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Iowa and even Iowa State in the past have had very few wrestlers from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio on their rosters. Those four states are probably four of the best six or seven states for wrestling in the nation. As I said earlier, it will be a ton easier to pick those kids up when you aren' t in the boondocks of Iowa. Gable built his teams with Iowa kids and kids from the surrounding states and very rarely had an east coach wrestler as a starter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecomets Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Coach Gable always had eastern states wresters. Jimmy did and Tom has stayed with Iowa and surrounding states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 thecomets, It's no use. We know we are correct. The sad fact is, if your opinion is different from Y2 or KHungus - you're wrong!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Well Mr. Dave I went through the list of All-Americans during Gable's tenure and I found these ones from Ohio and beyond. Ed Banach- 4X Lou Banach- 3X Ray Brinzer- 2X Chris Campbell- 2X(under Gable) Rico Chiapparelli- 3X Mike DeAnna- 4X Jim Heffernan- 4X John Heffernan- 2X Steve Martin- 1X Joe Melchiore- 2X Brad Penrith- 3X Tom Ryan- 2X I only counted 32, which is very small considering he coached 152 All-Americans. Most of the All-Americans during Gable's tenure were from Iowa and the surrounding state. Add to that only one wrestler was from Pennsylvania, that being Ray Brinzer. Gable coached for 21 years and had these 12 wrestlers as starters at some point, which even with twice as many being starters that never AA'd, they would barely be averaging one eastern wrestler per year. Please do not let the facts skew your thoughts though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecomets Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I agree with Y2 current and teams coached by Jimmy don't and didn't have eastern wrestlers. Coach Gable always had a couple of kids from eastern states on every team most of them were NCAA champions. I see Y2 has posted the list, I would think 32 out of 152 (21%)should say Coach Gable recruited in the east. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Gable recruited out east I agree, but his teams mainly consisted of wrestlers from Iowa or other surrounding states. Pennsylvania and Ohio have both been top tier states for a long time, but very, very few of Gable's wrestlers were from there. The same goes for New Jersey and New York. When he did get an eastern wrestler, they were studs. Just looking at that list tells me he didn't go after just anyone from the east. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Actually he didn't have to recruit too hard. Great wrestlers from all over WANTED to go there. He only took the best!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecomets Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 THE STUDS came to Iowa, most were here on 1/2 or less scholarships. Coach Gable didn't have to go after the second tier wrestlers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecomets Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Y2 Can you list Big 10 Champions from east of Ohio duriing Gable tenure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2CJ41 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I really can't other than the Heffernans. Those are the only wrestlers that were AA's from Ohio during Gable's tenure(1976-1997). I doubt many more if any Big 10 champs were from Ohio. I got my information from http://wrestlingstats.com/index.html . Its a really cool website that has past NCAA brackets, along with Big 10, EIWA and Big 12 results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazardFranklin Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Im a huge Penn State fan so to me this is probably the best thing that could ever happen. I would like to see Penn State return to the top ranks of the NCAA and Cael is the man to take them there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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