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conference talk??


rookie78

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It seems as if everyone is skipping a couple steps here.  Why isn't there any talk about conference predictions before we go onto regional and semi-states. Sectionals have also been overlooked.  Lets get some talk going about conferences (both team and individuals) throughout the state before the bigger stages.

 

How about thoughts on the ACAC, SAC, NHC, NECC, NLC just to name a few...add any others you'd like.

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i hope you are wrong meat .maybe with better coaching , recruiting along with some help at the middle school level (wrestling clubs, ROTC and Indiana techs help) it will be back to the great conference it was

 

That's possible. but sadly it's unlikely. There has to be a demand for better coaching and that isn't happening. There are some head coaches who coached at 3 different high schools in 4 years due to the administration not allowing them to coach again yet they got another coaching position at a FWCS school. And there were others who coached for 10 years and looked like they just got done working 16 hours on a cattle ranch and couldn't even make themself presentable in front of parents and the school system yet they were allowed to coach for 10 years. (And they didn't bring much success through athletics either)

It's hard to find schools to agree with having a wrestling club in the offseason and then having FWCS approve for Middle school age kids to attend either at their middle school or the high school (coaches have tried recently and been denied)

Indiana Tech has done a great deal to help the wrestling community and that has been very beneficial.

Also i'm not sure what will happen with Bishop Luers wrestling program but I've heard rumors ranging from "They will end their wrestling program" to one of the above mentioned coaches has applied to coach there. Either way that won't benefit the SAC as a whole.

Schools in the SAC should work together to promote offseason wrestling and should consider having an SAC club since each school normaly can't keep enough kids on their own to run a wrestling club in the offseason. The club could go to ROTC's and Indiana tech and each coach could use their respective connections to bring in clinicians and also work to make sure the kids can go and participate at meets.

There is some potential for the SAC to become good again but it would be very hard.

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Also i'm not sure what will happen with Bishop Luers wrestling program but I've heard rumors ranging from "They will end their wrestling program" to one of the above mentioned coaches has applied to coach there. Either way that won't benefit the SAC as a whole.

Schools in the SAC should work together to promote offseason wrestling and should consider having an SAC club since each school normaly can't keep enough kids on their own to run a wrestling club in the offseason. The club could go to ROTC's and Indiana tech and each coach could use their respective connections to bring in clinicians and also work to make sure the kids can go and participate at meets.

There is some potential for the SAC to become good again but it would be very hard.

Luers IS still looking for a new coach but have not been able to find anyone yet up to their standards.

 

After floundering under two, at best, substandard coaches they are hoping for someone that can take them back to their hay day under AJ Kalver in the late 90's and the following decade.

 

AJ started a youth program that brought in many younger kids for a 2 or 4 week camp followed by a tournament with Dwenger, St Vincent's, and the South Bend Catholic schools.  I believe he started the program with only a couple of kids in 1995 and 96.  My oldest was one of those boys.

 

By the time he was a freshman Luers won the regular season SAC Title (all schools in the SAC played each other in triple duals and individual meets.)  For the first time ever they beat every SAC school head to head but fell to third in the SAC Individual tournament.  By 2000 that team lost to Bellmont in the Team SS.  They sent kids to state many years in a row.

 

By the mid 2000's the youth program was not enough and AJ started the Fort Wayne Knights Wrestling Cub.  It was one of the only ones in the city that was open for all.  We had kids from Elmhurst, South, Wayne, Concordia, Homestead, and even Snider for several years.  We may not have had the best coaches but we did have coaches that focused on the fundamentals and that came in handy for many of these young men.

 

But once AJ retired Luers hired Dan Carlson who promptly shut down the club and decided to do it his way and nothing happened.  There were a few wrestlers that sought out other opportunities, and went above what the coaches could offer like Tony Lovejoy but that was really the end of the program.

 

Honestly I was excited to hear that Carlson decided to follow his wife back west (she told him they could compromise, she was going and he could come with her and that was it.)  Carlson did know some moves but was a terrible mat coach and an even poorer leader in the room.

 

But Josh Booker (was part of those late 90's teams) was given the job and honestly I longed for Dan the man to be back.

 

It will be tough for whom ever takes the Luers job.  They will have to start from scratch.  Carlson left the cupboard bear.  Booker burned down the cupboard before leaving.

 

MEAT great post and very very  true ...........and the coaching carasoul that is going on is terrible I agree. I have word Luers is not shutting down wrestling and are trying to find a good coach very close to getting him ( not the cattle  rancher lol )

That is right Mr W.

 

The rancher was there under AJ and was asked not to come back while he was there.  One of the things about Luers is that there is family and enough of the current team had brothers or uncles that wrestled for him.  Not sure if that was the ADs reason or not but it WAS a good call.

 

While we are no longer part of the Luers community it is hard not to root for them.  We started at Luers with our daughter in 1993 and went through 2013.  That is a lot of years as a Knight's Father and I have two drawers worth of Knight's t-shirts to prove it!!!

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Luers IS still looking for a new coach but have not been able to find anyone yet up to their standards.

 

After floundering under two, at best, substandard coaches they are hoping for someone that can take them back to their hay day under AJ Kalver in the late 90's and the following decade.

 

AJ started a youth program that brought in many younger kids for a 2 or 4 week camp followed by a tournament with Dwenger, St Vincent's, and the South Bend Catholic schools.  I believe he started the program with only a couple of kids in 1995 and 96.  My oldest was one of those boys.

 

By the time he was a freshman Luers won the regular season SAC Title (all schools in the SAC played each other in triple duals and individual meets.)  For the first time ever they beat every SAC school head to head but fell to third in the SAC Individual tournament.  By 2000 that team lost to Bellmont in the Team SS.  They sent kids to state many years in a row.

 

By the mid 2000's the youth program was not enough and AJ started the Fort Wayne Knights Wrestling Cub.  It was one of the only ones in the city that was open for all.  We had kids from Elmhurst, South, Wayne, Concordia, Homestead, and even Snider for several years.  We may not have had the best coaches but we did have coaches that focused on the fundamentals and that came in handy for many of these young men.

 

But once AJ retired Luers hired Dan Carlson who promptly shut down the club and decided to do it his way and nothing happened.  There were a few wrestlers that sought out other opportunities, and went above what the coaches could offer like Tony Lovejoy but that was really the end of the program.

 

Honestly I was excited to hear that Carlson decided to follow his wife back west (she told him they could compromise, she was going and he could come with her and that was it.)  Carlson did know some moves but was a terrible mat coach and an even poorer leader in the room.

 

But Josh Booker (was part of those late 90's teams) was given the job and honestly I longed for Dan the man to be back.

 

It will be tough for whom ever takes the Luers job.  They will have to start from scratch.  Carlson left the cupboard bear.  Booker burned down the cupboard before leaving.

That is right Mr W.

 

The rancher was there under AJ and was asked not to come back while he was there.  One of the things about Luers is that there is family and enough of the current team had brothers or uncles that wrestled for him.  Not sure if that was the ADs reason or not but it WAS a good call.

 

While we are no longer part of the Luers community it is hard not to root for them.  We started at Luers with our daughter in 1993 and went through 2013.  That is a lot of years as a Knight's Father and I have two drawers worth of Knight's t-shirts to prove it!!!

 

I honestly hope that Luers brings in a good coach who is willing to put in the time and develop a program. Whatever Luers decides to do will have a large impact on the success of the SAC as a whole. I hope that the Luers program can be restored to it's previous level of success.

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