Wrestling in College

[Repoman1304]

Looking for some advice or tips to try to help a wrestler get to the next level. I would appreciate any good input. I know there are many factors at play here but lets just figure that he has enough talent what to do next.

[OW88]

Most college team's websites will have a recruiting questionnaire he can fill out.

[Repoman1304]

Great Thank You. So we need to figure out what colleges he wants to go to and contact them. Should I save videos and stats and send them in too. He is only a sophomore but I know this process isn't easy. Should he wrestle some national tournaments if so what tournaments. I don't mean to sound stupid I am not stupid but I actually had a coach tell me the other day that even if a WV kid is a great wrestler they won't make it to the D1 level and that just went through me. WV has a bunch of talented kids that I believe can wrestle at any level!

[SpudSlayer]

Yes, do the leg work and contact the colleges he is interested in that offer what he wants to major in. Once you make contact, see if they have any summer camps and attend those, so he can be seen in live situations by the coaches he will wrestle for. And he will get to see if they are who he wants to wrestle for also. Wrestling in open tournaments won't hurt, and wrestling freestyle/greco is good as well. In the end it'll come down to if he is a fit for what the coach wants/needs, and if he wants to continue at the next level.

Good luck!

[tsb1967]

I am far from an authoritative source. All I can do is repeat what I've heard others, some top level coaches, say.

There are some extremely talented wrestlers in WV, but the talent doesn't run as deep as it does in states like OH and PA. Generally, a state champion in WV or KY won't get nearly as much interest as a champion from a bigger state.

I've been told that if a kid makes the podium at Fargo or Super 32, there will be a lot of college interest.

[IndyHart]

Repo,

I am about a year ahead of you in this process (my son is a junior) so I can tell you some of the things that we did between his sophomore and junior years. The first thing I would recommend is hitting one of the post-season national tournaments. We have gone to NHSCA Nationals the last two years, where the wrestlers are broken up by class. FloNationals is another excellent tournament. It is probably more competitive because the wrestlers aren't separated by class. Flo and NHSCA are a week apart so I've never had the energy to do both, but we may try this year.

After NHSCA last season, we made the decision to focus on freestyle. I'm really glad we did for a couple of reasons. First, it was something new for the kids so they didn't really feel burned out about the competition. Second, the freestyle rules really make wrestlers open up offensively and score points. Not very many 2-1 matches. We took a team to a freestyle duals tournament in Virginia in April. Then, USA Wrestling hosts regional tournaments in different locations around the country. West Virginia is in the Central Region, and that regional is held in Indianapolis. There are also regionals in Atlanta and eastern PA that you can go to depending on where you live. The Huntington guys have been going to Indianapolis for years. I took Jacob and Noah Adams this year. They were both in pretty big brackets and hit kids that had been All-Americans at Fargo the year before in their first match. Freestyle is on Saturday, greco is on Sunday. We didn't stay for greco last year, but probably will this year. I'd recommend doing some greco if you get the chance. I think it really helps a wrestler get comfortable wrestling and scoring in ties.

After Central Regional, we went to the UWW Cadet World team trials in Akron. Greco is on Friday. Freestyle is Saturday and Sunday. If your son is a sophomore, he can still compete in Cadet in UWW. USA Wrestling, which runs Fargo, and UWW, which is the organization that runs the Cadet, Junior and Senior World Championships, have different age divisions. The Cadet trials are run simultaneously with the University World trials, which will be a qualifier for the University World Championships this year (Jared Haught and Dylan Cottrell were both there last year). Nearly all of the best 15-17 year olds in the country are at the Cadet World trials. As a wrestling fan, Akron was the best wrestling tournament I've been to. With it being a University World qualifier this year (it wasn't last year), I would guess that the college side will be even better. Jacob will be too old to compete at Akron this season, but Noah plans to and I'm sure we will have some other guys that make the trip.

After Akron, Jacob and Noah both went to Fargo and competed. It is my understanding that there is going to be a week long training camp in Morgantown this year to get ready for Fargo. Last year, the high school guys were in the WVU room with the college guys at the training camp. The Team WV coaches that go to Fargo are some of the best coaches from around the state so spending the time training under them in Fargo really helps a wrestler develop.

After the college season ends, high school wrestlers can attend training sessions at college rooms as part of the regional training center programs. This basically allows the college coaches to help the college guys and high schoolers develop in the Olympic styles (freestyle and greco). WVU opens their room up to high school guys once a week throughout the spring in addition to the camps that the coaching staff does around the state. They frequently get some good western PA kids in there as well. We are in the southern part of the state so it is easier for us to get over to Blacksburg, but our kids made the trip to Morgantown several times last year.

In the fall, we go to the Journeymen Classic in New York and Super 32. Frank Popilizio runs Journeymen. He limits who he takes and tries to limit it to guys who are state champs, All-Americans, etc. It's a tournament where wrestlers are grouped into small pools and wrestle round robin. You only get three or four matches, but they are all against pretty good kids. Frank has plans to do a Journeymen Freestyle event this spring. Super 32 is an incredibly tough high school tournament.

There are dozens of good national tournaments to go to that you can get to from about anywhere in West Virginia in four or five hours. I think college coaches just want to see how you compete against the really good guys from other states. If you go where the best guys in the country are wrestling and do well, college coaches will notice.

I would also tell you to think about where he would like to go to school and contact the coaches there. Jacob and I sat down and made a list of schools where he might like to wrestle. Then I emailed the coaches and told them a little about him. Most of them responded. Some wanted film. Some wanted to know about grades. Some ignored the email. They can't contact your son directly until September 1 of his junior year, but that doesn't mean you can't contact them. The last thing I would say is to tell him to get good grades and be ready to get good scores on the entrance exam. Our juniors took it at the beginning of their junior year. Every college coach I've talked to wanted to know about grades and test scores.

[Bucktail]

make sure you go to eligibilitycenter.org and assume the academic standing needed as far as the correct number of credits in the correct types of classes. NCAA is always changing these up.

[Panther_coach]

One last tip - when deciding to look at schools be aware that very, very few wrestlers get a full ride and go free. Example, An accomplished wrestler on the national level and multi time state champ that I know got one of the best deals available last year - it still costs his parents 7K per year but would have been like 55K without wrestling. At a smaller school (not D1) he may get less in scholy money but it still ends up costing the family less. Wrestling scholy money is often split. The main thing is look for the school that best addresses his academics and desired major - he may wrestle four years of college but the degree sets his earnings for life. A school with better than average academics and less than dominant wrestling program may pay off down the road.

[dunbar76]

Listen to Panther_coach. He is right on.

[Bearhugger]

One thing I will add is being realistic about where your son goes to school in relation to where you live now. If you live in Charleston and he wrestles for Idaho Tech, visits home could be rare. Also, seeing him wrestle could be rare. Will everybody be happy?

[Bearhugger]

Although I do not know IndyPats personally, I can add to his informative post.

I watched the Lake Norman Duals last year and this year. Whereas Parkersburg didn't attend, all of my attention was on Independence.

At the end of last season, if somebody would have asked me about Jacob Hart, I would have said "two time state champ and he hates to lose". After watching the Lake Norman Duals December 5th, I would have said he will be wrestling in college.

His aggressiveness to score points and to end the match as quickly as possible was significant. He wrestles with urgency.

Independence is better this year than last year. A lot of positive improvements on a bunch of kids who were already dang good.

[Panther_coach]

Good point Bearhugger. One other thing to be realistic about is the less than 2% of high school athletes will recieve college scholarship money. Not saying your son can't do it but unless he is a real prodigy, starting for Iowa or Penn State may not be in his future. Many smaller schools offer a great education, great wrestling and a good college experience. In other words, look far and wide at all your options. Best of luck to your son!

[WJUWrestling]

Repoman-

It's great that you're reaching out to seek advice/input from others. A number of individuals on this forum have coached, have been fans, are family members and/or have different perspectives that are all helpful.

At Wheeling Jesuit, our program is in year 3, and we've transitioned through some different maturity levels within our own recruiting. From starting a program, to building a roster and now working our way onto the national scene, recruiting is at the heart. We are constantly looking for individuals that are a great fit for our program, but more importantly that we are a great fit for the student athlete. At no point in our recruiting do we ever put pressure on that individual to "sign" or "commit" unless they are fully prepared and believe Wheeling Jesuit is the place they should be.

I would encourage any wrestler and his or her family to first identify programs that can meet their academic interests and that fall within whatever geographical region is comfortable for them. At that point, I would reach out to the coaches via email, phone call or the recruiting questionnaire and start to establish a relationship with the various programs. In a perfect world, you have time and you'll be able to start to identify which programs fit well for you. Once this is established, you can start to set up visits and really begin to know if certain programs fit what you're looking for. The main issues is that it gets tough to visit every school that you have interest in. For this reason, I would suggest identifying 3-5 programs that you have built strong relationships and feel comfortable with.

Once visits are made, your son/daughter and your family will really begin to know where you want to be. The culture that is created within the program will be felt within the campus, the wrestlers and the coaches. Even more so, I always encourage families/wrestlers to follow the programs on their social media because consistency is everything. You won't get a sales pitch that isn't consistent with what the program really holds true if you do your own homework as well.

Finally, comes the most dynamic aspect of recruiting and making your college decision, the financial aid package. As panther coach mentioned above, it is really important to realize that wrestling is much different than main stream sports like basketball and football. Full rides are not readily given and to build a competitive program with sustainability, wrestling programs have to be creative with their money. Wrestling is not usually granted a lot of scholarship money so just be aware of that. Most importantly, openly communicate with the coaches and financial aid and in return you'll get to your desired answers much quicker. Also, be careful to not be promised money without actually signing a letter of intent. On a number of occasions, coaches promise money with hopes of getting a commitment, only to back out of that money closer to commitment time. At the end of the day, just be sure that you son/daughter finds a program that FITS. Don't make a really important decision, that will impact the rest of your child's lives, over money (unless it's just way to far off). My biggest fear is always that an individual makes the wrong initial decision, for the wrong reason and comes back home, to never go back to school again.

Hope this helps. Have a great Christmas and New Year all! Let's continue to help build wrestling in West Virginia!

(Feel free to contact me at any time)
Sean Doyle
Wheeling Jesuit Wrestling
sdoyle@wju.edu
304-281-7508

[SuperCracker]

Repoman
I'm giving you my side of this from a baseball side of it instead of wrestling even though my kid came back after missing 3 years of wrestling for his senior year for love of the sport.He was 2nd team all state fresh/soph and as a junior 1st team all state. 3 years ALL MSAC 1st team and as a junior he was MSAC player of the year. He committed to Marshall as a sophomore at 25% athletic money with the guarantee if he didn't get the promise the % would be raised and they didn't live up to the promise they made so he backed out. Then as a Junior he was courted by 20+ D1 schools offering 25% the most was 40% by Univ of Cincy but it's 32,000 a year for out of state kids. So after he weighed all his offers he built a relationship with the coach legally from WV State a D2 school and was offered a full ride to come and play and this Nov 12th in early signing period he signed that letter of intent to play near home at State. I guess the point I'm trying to make is what the Wheeling Jesuit coach said there is absolutely on point there is a huge amount of smaller schools and JUCO schools that offer money to kids for less cost to him and the parents and get an education that the diploma would carry the same weight as a lot of these huge D1 schools. My son found out and figured out on his own where he felt he was wanted the most by the coach and where he felt most comfortable. All kids in wrestling want Iowa,Penn St,Oklahoma St as baseball kids want LSU,Miami,Arizona St but the smaller schools especially for kids from our state in baseball and wrestling is a ton of those smaller schools out there waiting on kids. And again this is just my opinion but the biggest measuring stick for my son was where he felt he was important enough by the coach and where he felt wanted and could he survive in that academic atmosphere to receive his degree where he didn't feel overwhelmed by 150 kids in a class.

[SuperCracker]

and one more point of advice my kid was given by Cal Bailey hall of fame baseball coach from WV State was this
find 1 school that you dream about but probably never get to
find 3-5 schools in the middle that you can reach out to and be able to participate in their program
and then at last find one you use a pillow to fall back on that you know you can sign there without hesitation.

[Panther_coach]

Thak you Coach Doyle and supercracker, you both explained quite eloquently the points I was trying to get across and did it much better. I guess it could all be summed up by saying find a school you can afford that offers the academics you need and the wrestling you want to do. Also be aware that it takes a true student- athlete to do this in college. It is a task and a half to keep up with both. My son wanted to wrestle at a small college and had some offers but as a pre-med major, I am not sure he could have done so. He ended up in nursing school for his BS-RN then went to anesthetist school. He is now a successful CRNA and is pretty much set financially. He is giving back to the sport where he lives now. I really, really wanted him to wrestle college but am happy with the way things turned out. The other side of the coin is a wrestler I helped coach that went to a D1 school and majored in engineering - he was able to do both. I am not trying to be discouraging just realistic. We, as fathers and coaches all want our kids to find the best fit for them academically and hopefully athletically. Best of luck to you and thanks for starting a discussion that was relevant to many of our young WV wrestlers.

[Bearhugger]

I had a friend from Marshall University that had a co-worker who went to University of Virginia. Evidently UVA's business school is or was one of the top ones 20+ years ago.

Anyway, this UVA dude was in the office bragging about their business school being top notch, etc. My MU friend said "well, I got my degree from Marshall University and look.......here we both are in the same office, working for the same company".

[Repoman1304]

Great Stuff thanks everyone this has really been enlightening.

[B_Starkey]

Recently, I attended a practice for my youngest son in which a heated discussion broke out about the lack of knowledge on wrestling at the next level.

It reminded me of o post I had seen on here. So here we are...I felt responsible to reply.

My oldest son wrestled for Ripley in high school and is now wrestling for Wheeling Jesuit University on scholarship.

He was recruited by a number of D2 and D3 schools. I know that I was very confused about the process and would have loved to have had someone to ask questions to about the process. It was much different than we expected.

My eyes have been opened to a lot of factors evolved and I encourage anyone whose son is dreaming of wrestling on the next level to reach out to someone who has been through the process.

I will try to answer any questions you may have based on our family's experience.

I will not publicly discuss any school on this forum but will attempt to answer general questions to the best of my knowledge. Feel free to email me at ebstarkey@potesta.com or call my cell (304) 541-0693 for straight talk (I know this is somewhat unusual, but I would have loved to had someone put their knowledge on the line when my son and family were in the process of deciding on a school).

I know this is a little out of the ordinary but I hope I can possibly help someone whose son is looking to move forward to the next level and is searching for some insight.

I am in NO way attempting to be an expert on this subject but rather an experienced father who has been through the process.

[usna]

I will also throw my hat in the ring to offer assistance to any wrestler/parent interested in learning more about service academies and their wrestling programs. Just send me a PM here and I'll help you in any way I can....

Most do not know that if you get an appointment to any of the 5 service academies, it is the same as receiving a "Full ride D1 to D3 scholarship". Academies do recruit wrestlers and it does improve the chances of receiving an appointment by being a recruited athlete.

The uniqueness of an Academy is they only accept (appoint) student athletes based on a holistic approach (Academically, Athletically, Leadership and Community involvement). They are also seeking those interested in becoming an officer in the military and have found that wrestlers tend to do very well in that environment.
But just being a great wrestler isn't going to get them in. They need to be a great student athlete, leader and active in their community.
Basically there are 5 service academies -
Army (West Point), Navy (Naval Academy), Coast Guard Academy, Air Force Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy.
They all have outstanding wrestling programs and do recruit ranging from D1-D3 in size.
More importantly:
The Academy education level is usually in the top 20 of all colleges in the nation. Rankings change year by year but usually the Naval Academy and Army (West Point) are in the top 10 D1 schools nationwide every year. 2012 Naval Academy was ranked #1 in the nation now I think it is #9...
Keep in mind, they are service academies which basically means you are required to "serve" usually 5 years after graduation as an officer in the military.
All require 5 years of active duty service after graduation with the exception of the Merchant Marine Academy, they require 8 years service in the reserves. The Merchant Marine Academy does offer active duty service as an option into any of the US services - So it is unique in that respect.

All the Academies seek individuals with a strong "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education).

Because of these outside hurdles over and above just being a "great athlete" you can imagine that not everyone applies to the academy. But for those that do apply (it is a lengthy process) and the few that get an appointment, it is a great opportunity to wrestle at the next level and continue to grow as an athlete as well as a person....

For full disclosure our son recently was offered an appointment at the US Naval Academy as well as an appointment to the US Coast Guard Academy as a recruited wrestler. We are far from experts on these but have spent many years going through the process so we have learned some things.

Naval Academy Home Page http://www.usna.edu/homepage.php
Naval Academy Wrestling http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-wrestl/navy-m-wrestl-body.html
Army (West Point) http://www.westpoint.edu/SitePages/Home.aspx
Army Wrestling http://goarmywestpoint.com/index.aspx?path=wrestling
US Coast Guard Academy http://www.uscga.edu/
US Coast Guard Wrestling http://www.uscgasports.com/sports/wrest/index
US Merchant Marine https://www.usmma.edu/
US Merchant Marine Wrestling http://www.usmmasports.com/sports/wrest/index
Air Force Academy http://www.academyadmissions.com/
Air Force Wrestling http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-wrestl/afa-m-wrestl-body.html

[masonbailey]

Not quite sure who USNA is above (he's correct), but I would be glad to talk with you Repo. I'm pretty sure you're from Fairmont, so it's pretty easy to find me!

I know first hand about the service academies and can help any way I can. Get ahold of me if you'd like! I'll also post more about this topic a little later on!