Estrada

[kabrvi]

What gives?  You guys don't want to hear it, but I will say it.  You can only treat people poorly for so long.  Before the places you have been to before and the people you have engaged with finally have a story to tell.  And truthfully the story on Bono is not a good one.  He isn't well liked among other coaches. He has been to 3 programs as a head coach and chased 75% of the athletes at each school he inherited away. Destroyed relationships with donors and friends the two previous locations.  Has already begun to lose support here in this state. He uses people as a bridge to get what he wants.  Bono lost me as a supporter his very first year.  I won't go into detail.  But that team needed a pillar someone to rally around after losing a teammate.  He became their biggest obstacle. Don't believe me? Go talk to anyone that was on that team.  (Of course, those guys are just pawns to some of you as well)

If you don't want to go into detail, you're really not adding to the information space. The rest of your post is more of the same...people complaining without being able to show and explain why. For people like me, whose only "inside" connection is someone who fully believes in and supports this staff...it doesn't move the needle.

I have been a fan of the coaching staff. The atmosphere is exciting, and I definitely enjoy improved PR with Jump around Monday, and social media posts and the excitement of seeing It's a great day to be a badger twitter posts. However, my feelings are beginning to shift. Bono's initial recruiting classes were stellar but the last two did not give me the same level of excitement. I brushed it off as waiting for that big 2024 class. Unfortunately, we have two decommits from that class, and all signs are pointing to not landing any top commits.

This is exactly how I feel. Additionally, I now have a heightened concern that our current studs on our roster are vulnerable.  Remaining positive is always the way, but man, it is hard not to be bummed with the continual losses of "who we hoped for" and now of "who we thought we had".

[DocWrestling]

If you don't think money is a big thing then you have not been following college athletics now.  Someone close to the Michigan basketball program told me that Hunter Dickinson is receiving $4 million to transfer to Kansas this year.  No way wrestling money is like that but it does matter greatly.

UW will never be able to compete with Penn St and Iowa and probably not Michigan now.  Can they figure out a way to routinely finish 4th or 5th in the conference or at least try to maintain having 2-3 AA's each year.

There was not parity before even with scholarship limits but now it is the wild west and not even close to any parity.  Three Wisconsin kids just committed to Penn St.  I still think all 3 probably have odds against them making varsity lineup.  I predict they will end up transferring somewhere else.  Not because they are not fantastic wrestlers but because that lineup will be brutal to crack.

The best coach now is going to be some billionaire that wants to retire and coach college wrestling.  LOL!  It is sad but someone right now could go to any D1 school they want and win a national championship pretty easily right away and would probably take about $20 million dollars.  Some guy could come in tomorrow and offer the top returning placewinner in every weight class each $2 Million and that school would win the national title.

[littleguy301]

Before jumping ship maybe there is a plan somewhere in this mess.

Until they sign the dotted line it is tough to really plug these recruits in. We still have some kids coming in along with the current kids. Let the staff coach these kids up for a couple of years and let's see what happens!

Being a 4 time AA, is tough to do and DJ is on the path. Amos still has 2 years left and maybe figure it out. Baronet for another and maybe the badgers have 3 AA next year.

The landscape of wrestling is incredibly tough. Look at Alex fu......penn state. World medalist and at Penn state and didn't AA last year in his second year. That isnhow tough it is. Let Bono and staff coach them up.

Yes I struggle with the current badgers staff on recruiting, what 11 AA at the open and 1 current and one future recruit and the rest are no where nearlanding with wisconsin. Bono needs to clean this up in my opinion!

[MNbadger]

Bono is not the issue anymore, nor is any coach.  A fifth place AA gets $100,000.  Multiply that times ten weights.  Your minimum yearly team salary is going to be $1,000,000 and that will be unlikely to win the NC.
It sounds like Shane Griffith is getting $300,000 for one season at Michigan.  Arguing about anything else at this point is a waste of time.  In a very short while you will have Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State, and Michigan.  You'll see less and less wrestlers like Alirez from Northern Colorado.  Those guys will be gobbled up and the borderline guys will take paychecks to be career practice guys.

[littleguy301]

Bono is not the issue anymore, nor is any coach.  A fifth place AA gets $100,000.  Multiply that times ten weights.  Your minimum yearly team salary is going to be $1,000,000 and that will be unlikely to win the NC.
It sounds like Shane Griffith is getting $300,000 for one season at Michigan.  Arguing about anything else at this point is a waste of time.  In a very short while you will have Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State, and Michigan.  You'll see less and less wrestlers like Alirez from Northern Colorado.  Those guys will be gobbled up and the borderline guys will take paychecks to be career practice guys.

I figure that with in 10 years all non profit sports will be an after thought. There is just no way they can keep tossing around this kind of money and actually  survive as a sport.

I love wrestling but man the money is just getting crazy!

[littleguy301]

How scholarships are doled out has to be a huge change also.

Days of doing the stair stepscholatship is gone. No more 20% the first year and going up from there. Has to be that big number out the gate plus NIL deal in place.

Penn state, Michigan and Ohio state are going to rule wrestling and Michigan is going to be the team to beat in all sports! Deep pockets!

Also when the RTC talks fund raising, how many of us ham and egg kind of people are going to be tossing in a couple of thousand for college kids to be making 2, 3 hundred K a year? I see that as a turn off for some going forward.

[MNbadger]

I agree LG.  The reality is that fb and bb have been doing this forever with the NCAA looking the other way while occasionally nailing a lower tier school when the opportunity came along.  This will destroy "non-revenue" sports as we know them.  Think about it, the NCAA just decreased its work load incredibly.  Getting rid of sports will do the same for them.  They were under pressure to do something about the money being thrown around.  It was easier to just make it all legal rather than enforce rules.

Bono is not the issue anymore, nor is any coach.  A fifth place AA gets $100,000.  Multiply that times ten weights.  Your minimum yearly team salary is going to be $1,000,000 and that will be unlikely to win the NC.
It sounds like Shane Griffith is getting $300,000 for one season at Michigan.  Arguing about anything else at this point is a waste of time.  In a very short while you will have Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State, and Michigan.  You'll see less and less wrestlers like Alirez from Northern Colorado.  Those guys will be gobbled up and the borderline guys will take paychecks to be career practice guys.

I figure that with in 10 years all non profit sports will be an after thought. There is just no way they can keep tossing around this kind of money and actually  survive as a sport.

I love wrestling but man the money is just getting crazy!

[mkm13]

It was my understanding that even though NIL is now a thing, you were not supposed to pay a kid contingent on going to a school.  In general, I am curious how teams are getting around that (other than relying on the NCAA not enforce).  It seems like with a little regulation, things could get under control, and deserving athletes could still get some money.

[npope]

Those posts zeroing in on NIL are on the mark - non-profit sports are now operating in a totally changed environment with NIL. Money is governing the system and has reshaped the recruiting aspect...but fans are slow to catch on. My solution isn't to similarly throw money at the problem but rather, lessen my interest in being a collegiate sports fan; see it for what it is (a money machine for college athletes) and get on with my daily life.  Sports, including collegiate endeavors, are what they are (part of the entertainment industry) and we are driving the fandom of those sports to viewing these athletes more like we view entertainers; disposable, operating in a different world, indifferent to their personal drama, etc. After all, we already have our professional sports - do we really need more? The Olympics are another good example as to what happens when money is involved in amateur sports - the casual viewer becomes disinterested. That's the model collegiate sports have set up for itself. Disappointing, but it is what it is.

[MNbadger]

I agree.  I think you summed it up better than I could have.  I find this all has made DI wrestling disinteresting to me, something I could never have imagined.  There is still tons of great wrestling to watch at the DIII level which is where I will likely direct my attention that I used to direct toward DI. 

Those posts zeroing in on NIL are on the mark - non-profit sports are now operating in a totally changed environment with NIL. Money is governing the system and has reshaped the recruiting aspect...but fans are slow to catch on. My solution isn't to similarly throw money at the problem but rather, lessen my interest in being a collegiate sports fan; see it for what it is (a money machine for college athletes) and get on with my daily life.  Sports, including collegiate endeavors, are what they are (part of the entertainment industry) and we are driving the fandom of those sports to viewing these athletes more like we view entertainers; disposable, operating in a different world, indifferent to their personal drama, etc. After all, we already have our professional sports - do we really need more? The Olympics are another good example as to what happens when money is involved in amateur sports - the casual viewer becomes disinterested. That's the model collegiate sports have set up for itself. Disappointing, but it is what it is.

[DocWrestling]

The present system is not sustainable for as many college teams as there are.  Some great athletes are going to benefit with cash but in the long run more athletes are going to lose out on even getting a scholarship.

This system is going to accelerate the loss of wrestling programs in general leading to fewer scholarship opportunities.  Not like there is a huge fan base but this system will decrease it rather than increase it with development of the same super teams every year.

The only hope I have is that all these rich people feeding their egos by paying players and trying to buy championships will also lose interest and realize they are just wasting money.

Athletes also are going to need to be careful because it is not going to be long before some athletes are in serious tax trouble.

[dman]

Question for everyone....who were the top schools before NIL??  Who are the top schools now??  So what has changed?

[DocWrestling]

Ohio St and Michigan are going to elevate to Penn St and Iowa level on a more consistent level. 

I have doubts about the Big 12 schools being able to compete in future with those 4 Big Ten Schools and the new set-up.

Can Cornell use enough east coast money to keep it going?

The rest are just going to be left behind.  Similar things are happening in other sports but in general sports like basketball and football can still exist with TV money even if they cannot compete at same level.

Heck I worry some Big Ten schools that cannot compete may consider dropping wrestling

[mkm13]

Those 4 schools can only have a total of 4 starters at each weight.  The drop off can't be that big because of that.  There might be an influx of money now, but even at those 4 schools, you won't be seeing big money going to back ups.

I mentioned this previously, but NIL is going to really hurt athletes wanting to compete after college.  This will hurt our freestyle and greco teams.  The money will be going to college kids instead.  I would be curious how the badger RTC is allocating the money they receive.

[vsmf2010]

For the first time ever I am feeling pretty discouraged about UW wrestling and D1 college wrestling overall. I never really rooted against any team other than Iowa and I enjoyed watching Penn St wrestle and seeing Michigan win the Big Ten tournament but that ship has sailed. It was never a level playing field but with good recruiting, good coaching and a little good fortune the lower profile schools could compete.

I will hang in there for a while because I really like the UW team and the young men they have but I am not sure how long that will last. I would like to spend some of the winter months in a warmer climate but I would really miss the Badger Wrestling at the Fieldhouse but that now is starting to feel like it might not be a big deal.

Also, I have a couple of businesses and just the other day I was looking to see when the golf outing was and thought maybe I could be a hole sponsor. As it turns out I have a conflict on that day and it will not work out. However it is probably irrelevant. My business can afford the $1K to be a hole sponsor and maybe I could have met some contacts that could generate some business at some point but I am never going to make or have enough money where I can make a dent with what is going on now.

It is a bummer because I really love college wrestling!