Powerline

Wait, you just called other names and you post this, after the parents, lawyer, and coach admitted the ref was not at the weigh-in? Do better. https://people.com/human-interest/family-black-high-school-wrestler-cut-dreadlocks-speak/ Parents of Black Wrestler Forced to Cut Dreadlocks Blame Referee Previously Accused of Using Slur Andrew Johnson Courtesy of the Johnson Family MAURA HOHMAN December 26, 2018 05:20 PM After last week’s video of a coach cutting off a black high school student’s dreadlocks went viral, the family of the boy, Andrew Johnson, is criticizing the referee who made the call. A lawyer for Charles and Rosa Johnson, whose 16-year-old son attends Buena Regional High School in New Jersey, contended in a statement on Monday that the referee was late to the match on Dec. 19 and missed weigh-ins, which the Johnsons said is normally when the determination of any rule violations takes place. What’s more, “when he did evaluate Andrew, he [the referee] failed to raise any issues with the length of his hair,” the Johnson family’s lawyer Dominic A. Speziali said in the statement, which he released on their behalf. Andrew had wrestled the weekend before with the same hair style “without issue,” according to his family’s statement, and he had asked to “be allowed to push his hair back as he did the weekend prior, but the referee again refused because ‘it wasn’t in its natural state.’ “

Thank you for this. Sorry, he is the champ, but on this issue Burroughs is an idiot who does not appreciate all the hours non-wrestlers put in for the sport, paid or volunteer. It's bad enough for the sport trying to fill shortages of referees, but for him to go off without the facts or investigation being complete, is wrong. He has a higher responsibility to his accurate messaging and to the sport because of his following. This is all on the coaching staff who was warned, and even if they were not warned, did not prepare their teams. Every coach should have extra head guard/ with hair , and face-guard in event of injury. The kid wore a non-regulation equipment item, and the kid & coach made the choice to then cut the hair. They then admitted at the previous meet that the kid “pushed his hair back,” (trying to say he did not wear a regulation cover) - which is on the previous referee. Burroughs's lame excuse can be easily debunked by many internet videos. If I had a $1 for every-time I saw an official require hair clipping, shaving, and nail clipping being addressed I would have a new car. The best thing about wrestling is you compete with someone near your size, but style, length, strength, speed, technique can all be collectively unique and you can still win, regardless of race or ethnicity. But, this hair thing may be the one issue that may have uniqueness in a biological prevalence in ethnicity, but that does not make it a race issue. The National High School Association tried to address this in clarity of rules 4 years ago, and Burroughs is uninformed. And just like 5 O'Clock shadow is sometimes non-purposefully or disingenuously used to it's benefit, you can bet there are those that do and do not realize the effect that the abrasiveness of their hair style has on the eyes and face of an opponent, be it short and tight, or long and untamed. I don't begrudge that sly advantage if they were judicious in its application. Been around the sport long enough to have many black, latin, middle-eastern, and white teammates and opponents with tight, thick hair, who knew how to groom it for maximum effectiveness during the season, and were not shy about it; more power to you. In practice or matches, they would use the crown of their head to dig in on tie-ins like a sand pad, into the eyes, forehead, and face, and those were predominately guys who cut their hair or cornrowed it. Almost as bad is having a teammate whom doesn't follow appropriate methods to maintain and clean their dreadlocks, especially for wrestlers, who probably sweat and are in close quarters far more than any sport. Try going days with the equivalent of someone sticking an non-washed Force 10 Neoprene kneepad in your face and hour a day and tell me how lovely that is (and their were guys who liked to put on the smelly Force 10's for a match). You get an appreciation for the sweet smell of Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar on the days my teammates deep cleaned their dreads. And to to have uninformed non-followers of wrestling, aided by reactionary posts like that of Burroughs now try and make this a African-America cultural issue is also a bit disingenuous, especially when the practice also has roots in Greece, Crete, India, parts of East Asia, and even Jerusalem.

Well done

This is his 5th year of coaching - signed 5/23/2014 for the 2014-2015 season and his 5th recruiting class. His first recruiting class are either RS-JR's or true Seniors this year. https://purduesports.com/news/2014/5/23/Tony_Ersland_Named_Head_Wrestling_Coach.aspx?path=wrestling Year 1 = 2014-2015 Year 2 = 2015-2016 Year 3 = 2016-2017 Year 4= 2017-2018 Year 5 = 2018-2019 Guys in bold are still on roster or finished all 5 years, cross out means quit or transferred. Red are projected starters Class of 2013 - (Freshman 2013-2014) Coach = Hinkel - graduated 2018 Garth Lakitsky PA 285 Luke Welch IN 125/133 Cody Pae (graduated early) MO 133/141 Josh Farrell IN 149/157 Andrew Geers IL 285 Aaron Assad OH 125 Jacob Morrissey WI 174/184 Ersland Year 1 - Class of 2014 - (Freshman 2014-2015) (RS Seniors) Earsland Coached (Hinkel signed 5 of 6) Peter Andreotti IL 165 Austin McCloskey IN 165/174 Ben Thornton WI 125/133 Jonathan Marmolejo* IL 125/133 Mario Leveille IL 141/149 Jacob Aven IN 197 Ersland Year 2 - Class of 2015 - Freshman 2015-2016 (RS-JR’s or Seniors) Cole Wysocki IL 141/149 Angus Arthur MI 197 Austin Nash NJ 133/141 Nate Limmex MI 141 Jonathan Morales IN 184/197 Dylan Lydy IN 174/ James Ford OH 285 Gavin Murray NJ 157 Ersland Year 3 - Class of 2016 - Freshman 2016-2017 (RS-So’s or Juniors) Christian Brunner IL 197 Shawn Streck IN 285 Griffin Parriott MN 157 Kobe Woods IN 197/285 Devin Schroder MI 125 Ersland Year 4 - Class of 2017 - FRESHMAN 2017-2018 (RS Freshman or Sophomores) Tanner Webster IN 174/184 Parker Filius MT 141/149 Alec White IN 133 Anthony Falbo CT 174/184 Abdullah Assaf IL 141 Max Lyon IA 184 Ersland Year 5 - Class of 2018 - Freshman 2018-2019 (True Freshman) Terrin Machart MI 125 Kendall Coleman IL 149/157 Zach Melloh IN 149 Emil Soehnlen OH 184 Nathan Cummings IL 125 Ersland Year 6 - Class of 2019 - not enrolled yet - Freshman 2019-2020 Eli Pokorney IN 285 Travis Ford-Melton IL 133 Michael Leveille IL 125/133

Purdue has always had guys ranked and been a perennial top 20-25 team ranking due to wrestling in the Big Ten. But last AA was in 2013, with some tough losses in round-of-12 since then. "Ersland has not even had time yet to complete a 4 year cycle"? This is year 5, hired in year 2014. His stalwarts were previously recruited guys except for Lydy, who was always a Purdue lean.... Your 4* 157lb face of the recruiting class was pinned 5 times last year, and you are about to lose grip on Indiana's best with Angel at IU, etc.....It's time for results..

Thank you for saying this.

Agree it is sad. Purdue is relatively conservative and by the book, not extremely liberal. The Purdue President Mitch Daniels is former Republican Governor or Indiana and was going to be the guy running for president a few years back. He went after the cost of college education by freezing tuition costs for last 5 years with cuts to dead weight - that was not so popular with the liberal teaching/indoctrination crowd, but he has steadfastly won over alumni, parents, students in his time. Very visible on campus and supporter of wrestling. Now as to the original post of Streck, very disappointed in the incident; most importantly, let's hope he gets help needed, and he and the young woman can safely move on. No excuses, it's a tough situation to lose your wrestling & academic career over. With technology & social media today, videos, emails, Snapchat, texts, etc. far more complex issues than years before to make some really stupid mistakes and have it recorded. Reminder to teach our children relationship management, but we are all not innocent of being hurt or verbally hurting others in love & war. Would not be surprised of other outside stress issues impacting as well. On the mat, he was a round-of-12-guy this year IMO. Not a great situation for the coach either. Rumblings of restless alumni in output and program handling last few years. Recruiting rankings only go so far. Bewilderment of weight class bouncing, bumping/cutting and management has been one issue heard. Bringing in Tanelli as assistant was viewed as a big mistake. But there is a real solid assistant in Todd, and let's hope the Schopp hiring works well, on paper seems good. But at the end of the say, results will matter. Dylan Lydy's growth could be a job saver.

Great point about the influence of Blubaugh that raises some salient points. Love looking at the history of IHSAA sports and IHSAA wrestling; there are a very few sports or schools that have established 'programs', that can sustain programs regardless of who the coach is; like Warren Central or Ben Davis in football, Carmel in swimming. A combination of culture, geographical advantages, and endless talent resource pool to draw from. But then you look deeper at the unbelievable runs of other programs because of a once-in-a-generation truly great coaches that willed their programs to greatness, changing the lives of many, there are a few that stand out. Coaches like in: * Baseball - LaPorte w/ Ken Schreiber (7 Titles), * Basketball - Marion's Bill Green, 6 finals * Track & Field with Gary Roosevelt's John Campbell (10 titles), * Wrestling - Goebel at Mater Dei (12 Titles), or Delta's 5 year run under Patton * Football with Hobart's Don Howell who made 11 title appearances . You get an appreciation for what it took to make that happen, and the sacrifice. It's why we should be grateful to all our current coaches who put the time in changing lives. I can't imagine what they would do with some of today's over-involved parent / coaches. From that list above, weird to see how all of those programs have dropped off significantly. If you told me 20 years ago that the Gary Roosevelt track team would not have any state finals qualifiers for Track & Field in 2018, or that Hobart would not sniff the IHSAA finals for 20 years, or that Bloomington's wrestling scene would drop off the map, I would have ran to Las Vegas and laid $10,000 down.

Good grief, Helickson never said "sexual assault". Disabato is dumb as a box or rocks - look at his business history and scams. He worked for a company where he took licensing deals that were supposed to be in the name of his employer, and put them in the name of his own side company. He is a crook. Yetts is even a bigger crook - a felon who scammed is own friends and partners out of millions and went to PMItA Prison. Prior to going to Ohio State he was in trouble for locker room thefts while he was on the football team there. This statement is not obstructing; he knows Yetts is a scumbag, and reminds him he has the honor & ability to tell the truth. “If you think the story got told wrong about Jim, you could probably write a statement for release that tells your story and corrects what you feel bad about. I can put you in contact with someone who would release it.”

Will try and find the articles & video I saw, but Disabato was on video record saying to the point, "Dr. did medical exam for extend length of time, but there was no 'sexual activities' and (he homophobically stressed that); Also said many times he had never told Jordan of 'specific sexual abuse allegations'. Again, said he contends that Jordan should have known through locker room talk. Legally that won't fly and he know it. Now they are stretching extended exam duration as abuse; Helickson did say he talked about the shower hogging & creepiness. Ironically now it is revealed that the so called video Disabato made was "The Video was produced in June by former OSU wrester Mike DiSabato's company Combat Athlete Coalition, he told CNN. The company represents the collective interests of former college athletes in matters of compensation and safety issues." $$$ With Disabato's lawsuits against OSU, business issues, and now this, it is clear he wants money at all costs. https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/05/us/ohio-state-sexual-abuse-allegations-video/index.html As to shower stalking, not to hard to imagine that was the case, as in the 70's and 80's the facilities arms race and privacy are nothing like today. Except for Iowa and maybe Michigan, most Big Ten wrestling teams would have been lucky to have a room that was not crammed under some basketball arena seats or located/shared with a physical education co-rec facility, and were stuck in open multiple use locker rooms with the general student population, other olympic sport teams, and/or training staff, while football and basketball had their own secure locker rooms. So it would not be surprising to have members of the training staff using the same public showers. I am not excusing it, just providing context to how easy it was facility wise.

Again, this is about Jordan. Let's get to what we all agree on. All the video and quotes from Disabato (future felon) and Yetts (former felon) had taught us: #1 - "We were never molested, or had oral, etc....", but the the doctor was a "serial groper". #2 - They both publicly NEVER told Jordan of any allegations of sexual abuse, etc. (because they were none), but now they indicate that Jordan should have known from all the 'shop talk', or 'locker room banter'...yet they all said they did not report any abuse. Now Disabato story is on the move yet again and he is claiming that "...he told Jim Jones, the athletic director from 1987 to 1994, when he presented his master's thesis on issues of substance and sexual abuse among athletes at the school." But never said he was molested. We are finding out, DiSabato was frantically emailing Jordan AFTER he had gone to OSU to try and get a settlement when seeing the potential payout that was going on at Michigan State. So to put more pressure on, he also tried to rope in Jordan's brother who did not attend OSU. Yes, it is highly possible something happened to other students. No it ain't these two scammers http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180718/man-who-first-spoke-up-about-ohio-state-docs-sex-abuse-complicated-figure Sorry, but my college assistants knew little about my day-to-day life other than my major, and how well I was finishing my low single, could I put more hip and head pressure on defense, what time I had to arrive for two-a-days and 1 private work out a week. We didn't share the same locker room, the same shower, or go to the same bars, and he had no idea of what girl I was dating that week. The assumption that they should have know seems noble, but not the case. Of course, why would Jeff Jordan send his kids to Ohio State if he was aware of such a cesspool as Disabato claims? This is about wanting tarnish a great ambassador of the sport and man with integrity for $money$. By trying to smear Jordan, who is legally innocent. by their own words, they hope to make people think he is the one who did the abuse, and they are ok with that for the money. My predictions, Yetts will be back in prison AGAIN one day, because that is who he is, and Disabato will be sticking a gun in his mouth, before or after he is bankrupt. It will be interesting to see the long term impact on the Ohio / Jordan relationship going forward....

The recent article states a wrestler that came forward was from before Jordan was at OSU.

Exactly, how many coaches are trained & familiar with many of these medical procedures. As coach, you try and set a good example and teach the values you wish to uphold as men and as a program. The coach that is too chummy with his wrestlers is guaranteed to screw himself later. Think back to the things wrestlers, or any college student might do on the weekend; as long as it is legal and ethical, you stay out of trouble, went to class, did your school work, and progressed to graduation, that was the top priority. Beyond that most assistant coaches are cognizant enough to NOT stay around and listen too, or swap war stories with your kids from the previous weekend's festivities, and for good reasons. #1, they should have their own life, #2, it does not set a good example, and #3 plausible deniability.

Story on the kid he wrestled - 'Strong Like Bull' - https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/16469