Wrestler or Coaches Decision?

[Barou]

My inaugural season as a head coach many years ago, I had a kid who was a state placer.  He was wrestling another kid who was a state placer.  We went into the third down 3-2.  We got the initial take down in the third.  We got reversed and rode out in the second.  Our choice in the third.  He looked at me and pointed down.  I shook him off and went neutral.  Got in on a bunch of shots but couldn't finish.  His dad went nuts on me that I had no idea what I was doing.  His son always gets out from the bottom, etc etc...  He proceeded to tell all the parents that I had no idea what I was doing, unbeknownst to him that my then wife was sitting right there.  The next day I got an email from him saying "I watched the tape, you made the right call, sorry about last night"

Not good on the knee jerk reaction but I have to give credit to Dad for recognizing his error and apologizing.  I hope that led to a good and trusting relationship throughout his kid's career with you.

[Omaplata]

Thanks for all the responses to my question.  I don't think there's a right or wrong answer, but it really depends on the relationship between the wrestler and the coach IMO.  They both need to have trust in each other.  Let's get this season started ALREADY!!!

[bkraus]

My inaugural season as a head coach many years ago, I had a kid who was a state placer.  He was wrestling another kid who was a state placer.  We went into the third down 3-2.  We got the initial take down in the third.  We got reversed and rode out in the second.  Our choice in the third.  He looked at me and pointed down.  I shook him off and went neutral.  Got in on a bunch of shots but couldn't finish.  His dad went nuts on me that I had no idea what I was doing.  His son always gets out from the bottom, etc etc...  He proceeded to tell all the parents that I had no idea what I was doing, unbeknownst to him that my then wife was sitting right there.  The next day I got an email from him saying "I watched the tape, you made the right call, sorry about last night"

Not good on the knee jerk reaction but I have to give credit to Dad for recognizing his error and apologizing.  I hope that led to a good and trusting relationship throughout his kid's career with you.

It absolutely did.  He became one of my best parents after that, and we still continue to talk to this day.

[DocWrestling]

Am I correct that by rule it is the wrestler's decision?  Referee has to take the choice of the wrestler?  Has it ever happened where a wrestler disobeyed his coach's recommendation and did his own thing?  What would you coaches think of that and would you punish the wrestler?

Reminds me of times coaching football when you tell your captains what you want and then they screw it up mostly with what direction you wanted to be going if you were kicking off.

[bman]

I think the coach should act confident and make a decision (Not a fan of a coach looking to the wrestler and asking, "Where do you want to go?").  The wrestler needs to feel the coach knows what is going on and has it together.  However, I view it as a valued suggested or opinion where the wrestler gets the view of the coach, but the wrestler makes the final decision after looking to the corner.  As EIUwrestler1 stated, the wrestler's heart must be in it. 

[bulldog]

agree with bman...wrestler has to "buy into" the choice. If he thinks he should go down...he should go down. Coach offers his advice and the wrestler should trust the coach is making an educated decision based on what he is seeing on the sidelines. But the wrestler is out there and may be feeling something that he just "knows" he can get the takedown or the escape. Or heck...even start on top because he knows he can turn the kid

[Ghetto]

Am I correct that by rule it is the wrestler's decision?  Referee has to take the choice of the wrestler?  Has it ever happened where a wrestler disobeyed his coach's recommendation and did his own thing?  What would you coaches think of that and would you punish the wrestler?

Reminds me of times coaching football when you tell your captains what you want and then they screw it up mostly with what direction you wanted to be going if you were kicking off.

I'm not sure what the actual ruling is, but many years ago one of my kids looked at me and asked me if I thought we should defer by using the hand signal. I told him no, we had to go down. The official then took that signal and ran with it, even though we told the official we wanted to go down. He would not let us change it.

There's no penalty for us, but I let them know that they better have a strong idea if they go against what we want them to do.