Wrestle offs at Wisconsin?

[J Feiner]

Can someone tell me how wrestle offs work at WI?   I know they have the one right away at the start of the year for the starting spot, but is that good for the whole year, or can the 2nd string wrestler challenge the 1st string man at anytime throughout the year?  Just curious.....

[npope]

While I have not been privy to Davis' policies regarding wrestle-offs (I am sure one of his former wrestlers will be able to provide first-hand information in the short-term), my experience with collegiate programs suggests that they don't generally run on this notion of "the best man wrestles" based on wrestle-offs. There are a lot of reasons for this but one big one is that the coach has to be far more strategic on the collegiate scene. For example, when I was with the Badgers (Kleven was the coach), Horswill was the guy at 134 for virtually the entire season; he was serviceable in that capacity, but wasn't going to really beat any good guys. Right before the Big Tens Kleven allowed Buzz Hill to wrestle-off for the spot and he beat Horswill. So Hill rolls into the Big Tens without a record (and thus, no seed) and gets bounced immediately. Had Horswill been entered at that weight he would have picked up a low seed and at least had a chance at placing.

I've seen any number of wrestle-off requests be denied by coaches for a variety of (valid) reasons. So it doesn't quite work the way I have seen it go in the typical HS wrestling room.