base

There has never been a better time for recruiting in-state talent as the technical skills in Indiana continues to increase. Now that the new staff is in place, I hope we can see Purdue begin to climb the ranks of the Big10. Also happy (but surprised) to see that Purdue kept on Coach Hinkel in an administrative role at the University.

Schools are starting to go back in session, this can mean only one thing -- WRESTLING IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!! Some very talented returning people -- there are going to be some very fun weight classes to keep an eye on this season. I know Joe's Preseason mag will be the bible of scouting for the season, but let's get some names going and guesses on what weights people may fall. 106 - I'm guessing that Reitz, Egli and a few others move up. Wow, this weight class could still be loaded, and this is not even mentioning the incoming freshmen Paul Konrath Alec White Drew Hildebrandt Breyden Bailey Colton Cummings Jack Franklin Blake Glogouski Nicholas Weaver Alex Grino 113 - Can Pepple stay down at this weight? If so, I would say he's the man to beat Jeremiah Reitz Will Egli Garrett Pepple Jason Crary Hunter Langeloh Boone Welliever Eddie Loraine John Becker Kyle Luigs 120 - This is where things really start to get crazy. Who will stay at the weight class? Will some fight to stay away from Red at 26? Tyler Ferguson Cornelius Elliott Skylour Turner Austin Holmes Connor Knapp Brendan Black Brad Laughlin Austin Slates Trezdon O'Neal Eugene Starks Gaige Torres Ben Cauffman Tyler Flood Alston Jenkinson Caleb Bocock 126 - Chad Red is the prohibitive favorite here, but so many questions. Will LaHue move here for a rematch? What about Brock Hudkins, can he spoil Chad's dreams of being a 4-timer. This is a LOADED weight class Chad Red Bailey LaHue Brock Hudkins Matt McKinney Alex Johnson Riley Akers Sawyer Miller Griffin Schermer Tony Vaughn Hunter Baehl Morgan Pruitt Quinton Harris Austin Bethel Dakota Cole Taylor Wright 132 - Another LOADED weight class. Will this be Nick Lee's year to win the title? Will Brandon James finally win a well-deserved state title? Nick Lee Brandon James Jack Chastain Elliott Molloy Josh Davis Evan Eldred Devin Childers Austin Ward Tanner Shipley Kyle Todrank Joel McGhee Nick Ellis Johnny Loos Alston Bane 138 - Maybe James will move up to 138. Where is Cash going to go this year? I'm just guessing that Tommy moves up to 45. Covaciu was really impressive at state last year, can he maintain 38 and make a run at the title? Drew Hughes is another contender here and beat Covaciu at semistate last year. This may end up being one of the most wide-open weight classes Drew Hughes Blake Jourdan Sam Lovejoy Jake Ruberg Cael McCormick Jacob Covaciu Steven Lawrence Mitch Anderson Jordan Vaughn Stephen Kitko Adam Oyler Jared Timberman 145 - Cash only beat Pruitt by one point at semi state last year.... Tommy Cash Trent Pruitt Kellen Van Camp Ethan Briggeman Brett Johnson 152 - Forte looks to be a heavy favorite at whatever weight he decides to go Tommy Forte Ben Harvey Josh German Elijah Dunn CJ Damler 160 - Another potentially wide open weight class, depending who falls where. This could be an exciting mix of young and old talent to watch Darden Schurg Bryce Baumgartner Conner James Isaiah Kemper Jacob Gray Derek Noon Breighton Mullinix Garrett Wilson Nick Brickens 170 - Yet another wide open weight class. Could be some in-season jockeying between 160 and 170 Gabe Koontz Joey Mammolenti Tristan Tonte Hunter Mote Dylan Lydy Scottie Sopko Ben Stewart Nick Ritchie Kaine Luginbill 182 - Stevenson enters as the favorite, which could cause others to move down to 170 if they can maintain Jacob Stevenson Dillon Jackson Chase Osborn Colton Gonzalez Jonathan Morales Scottie Evans Spencer McCool Cameron Nuckols 195 - Rypel is on fire this off season. I consider him the heavy favorite here Blake Rypel Myron Howard-Anderson Evan Elmore Corey Hinkle Randy Scott Bo Davis Robert Manns David Eli Noah Schrader 220 - Off season wrestling seems to be going great for Kobe Woods. I am picking him here but don't know alot of the other contenders or what they can do Kobe Woods Ben Schoolcraft Gunnar Larson Elisio Guerra Kasha Wilder Ryan Guhl Seth Meyer Morgan Kral Cory Klem Bryant White Courvoiser Morrow 285 - The big guys return some great talent. Oglesby impressed at state last year with his aggressiveness and athleticism. Streck seems destined to win a title, maybe this will be the year Norman Oglesby Shawn Streck Nate Trawick Owen Perkins Kolby Mount Chris Ridle Mitchell Kessler

I saw that Paul Konrath won in the quarterfinals by DQ. What happened in that match?

Valencia brothers from California become the first big name recruits for the Sun Devils under Zeke Jones. The were reportedly also looking at Purdue

This process seems crazy to me. This is a Big10 University head coaching job, for crying out loud! Seems like they should have numerous excellent candidates clamoring for the position. Whether or not it's among the lowest in the Big 10, I don't know...but isn't it still getting paid around $100 grand a year to coach a sport that you LOVE, in the best conference in the US collegiate ranks?!?

Thanks Joe, that is some interesting stats! I would be interested in seeing what the outliers are at each class. For example, does Perry/Penn place enough to make those 2 teams roughly the equivalent of class 1A? I see that it shows 71% of state placers are from 3A schools. I am just wondering if a majority of those are from a small handful of large schools with exceptional wrestling programs.

Can you explain your data further? In the top table I see headings of All / 3A / 2A / 1A / 2A / 1A - but what do these represent?? Not sure exactly what I am looking at

I was looking through a list of head coaches today and wondered about Mark Branch, current head coach at Wyoming His alma mater is Oklahoma State, but if Guerrero is likely successor to John Smith, then could Branch be interested in a prime spot such as Purdue? Some others... Jason Borrelli is head coach at Stanford. He is a Michigan native (dad is Central Michigan head coach, correct?) Steve Fraser, also a Michigan native, is head coach for USA Greco Roman wrestling Greg Randall, head coach at Boise State

Thank you Maligned, this is amazing for people stuck at work

AWood, I think your numbers would be more meaningful if rather than using the total population of the state, you used the population of high school students, or possibly even male high school students (there are some female outliers but for the most part HS wrestlers are taken from the HS Male population). Florida shows 6% of the population, for instance, but half of those are blue-hairs driving to the MCL. I would think their ratio would be much higher compared against HS Male population numbers.

What HS?

WHAT ARE SOME PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF INDIANA WRESTLING?!? Please, let's stop the pi$$ing match and make some Nostradamus-like predictions of what we'll be watching in a couple years. Will Brownsburg's youth program translate into a state contender team in 2 yrs? 4? Will Purdue or IU make some change that will get them on the track to the upper echelon of the B1G conference? Will Rutgers or Maryland shake things up in the B1G?

No need to get into this debate, let's keep it fun and make predictions. Maybe in 2016 or 2018 there will only be one team title to win, who knows.

I really enjoy going back to the message board from 2009, 2010 (yes, I have a lot of spare time ) One of the things I really like is seeing what people thought back then, and how schools/coaches/kids have turned out compared to the expectations I'd like to start an annual thread at the end of each year where people can give some predictions for 2 years down the road, and 4 years down the road (and even longer than that if you want) Anything is fair game -- college programs, individual wrestlers, coaches, HS programs, IHSAA decisions, heck even board posters! I think it will be fun to look back in 2016 and 2018 at these predictions and see how off base many of them are. I'll throw out a few to get the ball rolling: 2016 - Chad Red wins his 4th state title, becoming the latest of a very select group of Indiana HS wrestlers - Mater Dei wins the team title (both the real team title at the IHSWCA tournament and the (air quotes) "TEAM" title at the state tournament) led by the 2 Lee brothers who both win state titles - Caliboy is spotted getting a huge powder blue falcon tattoo on his back - Scrambling becomes even more a part of the sport. Stalemates are called at a record pace 2018 - IHSAA rules are further relaxed and "recruiting" is rampant. The big successful programs continue to grow as successful club wrestlers are much more likely to wrestle where they choose - The class debate continues. Same players on both sides with the same arguments - IHSAA decides to eliminate one or two more weight classes - Evansville semistate becomes the dominant SS, pushed by Contenders, Mater Dei, and Maurer clubs

I have been looking but unable to find 2 books that I would love to have: - Echoes of the Elder - Ready, Wrestle If you have one or both of these books and would be willing to part with them, please Private Message me by clicking on the little speech bubble below my profile on the left. Or, if anyone has any idea how to get in contact with either of the authors please let me know that too as I would like to support their efforts.

MEGA WAHOO FOR YOU!! 8)

On the flip side, HWTs don't usually have to deal with weight cutting Empty stands or a huge stack of hotcakes and bacon for breakfast -- you make the call! ;D

I am still trying to understand the various angles of this debate. Previously someone made a pretty convincing argument that having multiclass state champions would allow more people to get on the radar of college coaches. Had me leaning that way. But now I am confused again -- if only 1% of class 1A and 5% of class 2A are even making it to state (not winning, just making it there) then what level of wrestling will we really be exposing to college coaches by classing and how will this spark their interest??

Excellent analysis as always DB, thank you

Middle School State is this Sunday, 2/16 at New Castle. The wrestler list is beginning to fill up. Who are you predicting will be some of the wrestlers to watch for? (Wrestler list available on TrackWrestling under Pre-Register)

God bless

Demo, each cluster of 4 wrestlers represents a 1v4 / 2v3 seed. There are 4 regionals that feed into Semistate, so each cluster has a wrestler from each of the regionals. Gelen is a 1 seed, facing a 4th place finisher from another regional. The other part of his cluster is the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from the other regionals. To advance to state, you must win your cluster of 4, making the second match of the day the "ticket round". After that round, its all about placement because state brackets are setup in the same way

I understand your point here, but I think it would come across as.. "Hey, we can't agree between ourselves what is best for our sport. Can we have you come in, let us argue in front of you, and then you tell us what is best for our sport??"

This is the best, concise argument that I have seen for class wrestling yet. You've got me on the fence now.

Can hardly compare basketball attendance with wrestling. For one, basketball has many mid-week games. Wrestling has mostly weekend super duals that last 6 hours or more -- not the expected place for casual fans (I think we should go back to more mid-week duals against local teams) With the advent of off-season clubs, the majority of elite wrestlers who have a chance of winning state (regardless of school size) are already competing against each other. And Joe, we already see those matchups in a single class system. Those are not the matches that would be added. The ones that would be added are first round matches at semistate between kids that are likely knocked out at the sectional or regional rounds. Debatable whether or not those hold a lot of interest. The matches that drop off are the finals that would pair the winners of the matches you outlined. My vote is to keep it as is (single class individual, classed team), but I am still open to change my mind if the right argument is presented