Wrestling
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Great wrestler all over W Pa. Is Pitt getting any?? Franklin Regional
has a great line up but they're going everywhere but Pitt. Any idea how recruiting is going. Is Peters a one year wonder with recruiting?
has a great line up but they're going everywhere but Pitt. Any idea how recruiting is going. Is Peters a one year wonder with recruiting?
somerset recruiting in penna is not going very well. two wrestlers who are average hs wrestlers at best. the two ohio kids are better.i truly believe the new coaching staff are not very good at recruiting. pitt will have two huge holes at 174 and 184 next year and they recruited lightweights at middle weights.
For two years, Peters' recruiting has been terrible.
This year, the WPIAL has 5 wrestlers ranked #1 nationally in their weight class, and 3 more ranked in the top 5 nationally. Two of them are underclass men. Of the 6 who are seniors, none are going to Pitt. Peters lost one to PSU and one to Iowa, which is acceptable, although he certainly needs to win some of those battles. But, he lost two to Arizona State, one to Virginia and one to NC State. The kid going to NC State is named Headlee and he is from Waynesburg. One of the Pitt assistants, Drew Headlee, is from Waynesburg. Draw your own conclusion.
Of the two underclassmen, my understanding is that Pitt has no chance at Spencer Lee from Franklin Regional, the too soph in the country, but has a chance for the junior from Latrobe.
Last year, Pitt had the worst ranked recruiting class in the ACC. This year, they haven't announced the class yet, but based on reports we are hearing, it will again be the worst.
As others have mentioned, the weight class recruiting makes zero sense. We lose our 174 and 184 pounders and his recruits are at lighter weights.
His first recruiting class, which was highly ranked on paper, really hasn't developed as expected. Racciotti, who was either a 3 or 4 time PIAA champion, has been very spotty at 149. Wiercoch, who I thought would be great, has been mediocre at 165. Bright has a lot of potential if he can stay at 141 but IMO lacks the strength to wrestle at 149. Solomon redshirted last year and now is wrestling at Hwt when he really is a 197 pounder. He has been wrestling Hwt because Rizzo, a two time PIAA champion at Hwt who transferred from Temple, has been really poor against good opponents. Zanetta is mediocre.
In short, Peters is proving he is the apple who didn't fall very far from the Stottlemyre tree of lousy recruiting and mediocre coaching. The one-sided loss to VT following a loss to UVA appears to be a window into the future for Pitt unless the new AD fires him.
This year, the WPIAL has 5 wrestlers ranked #1 nationally in their weight class, and 3 more ranked in the top 5 nationally. Two of them are underclass men. Of the 6 who are seniors, none are going to Pitt. Peters lost one to PSU and one to Iowa, which is acceptable, although he certainly needs to win some of those battles. But, he lost two to Arizona State, one to Virginia and one to NC State. The kid going to NC State is named Headlee and he is from Waynesburg. One of the Pitt assistants, Drew Headlee, is from Waynesburg. Draw your own conclusion.
Of the two underclassmen, my understanding is that Pitt has no chance at Spencer Lee from Franklin Regional, the too soph in the country, but has a chance for the junior from Latrobe.
Last year, Pitt had the worst ranked recruiting class in the ACC. This year, they haven't announced the class yet, but based on reports we are hearing, it will again be the worst.
As others have mentioned, the weight class recruiting makes zero sense. We lose our 174 and 184 pounders and his recruits are at lighter weights.
His first recruiting class, which was highly ranked on paper, really hasn't developed as expected. Racciotti, who was either a 3 or 4 time PIAA champion, has been very spotty at 149. Wiercoch, who I thought would be great, has been mediocre at 165. Bright has a lot of potential if he can stay at 141 but IMO lacks the strength to wrestle at 149. Solomon redshirted last year and now is wrestling at Hwt when he really is a 197 pounder. He has been wrestling Hwt because Rizzo, a two time PIAA champion at Hwt who transferred from Temple, has been really poor against good opponents. Zanetta is mediocre.
In short, Peters is proving he is the apple who didn't fall very far from the Stottlemyre tree of lousy recruiting and mediocre coaching. The one-sided loss to VT following a loss to UVA appears to be a window into the future for Pitt unless the new AD fires him.
There's no excuse for him not to recruit well, holy crap Pa is one of the premier wrestling states in the country.Hell if could recruit well he wouldn't have to leave this state. Very puzzling ???
pletch5 give him time. are for real. in the last two years he cant even get the good wpial kids to visit. they should go out and bring in kolat scoot or hunter all western p guys who will grt a lot of talent. peters does not have a clue.
Having followed your opinions on football for many years Warriordan, I respect them. However, I think you need to pull back and consider wrestling at Pitt a little bit differently. I think people on this board have a misconception as to wrestling recruiting as well as the support that Pitt has gotten from its athletic department. First, Stotty was here for over 30 years and never ruffled any feathers, never demanded much from the athletic department, never made the demands necessary to keep up with the competition. The facilities are outdated, the budget is way outdated, and the support from the athletic department for 30 years was just to do enough to get by. While the facilites, budgets, and dollars poured into programs such as PSU, Iowa, Ohio State, and Oklahoma state were much better. If we down scale and just look at other programs in the ACC, the training facilites at Virginia Tech, UVA, and North Carolina are far superior then what Jason Peters has been given. These things are obvious if you can look at them, which many people don't realize. However, this is about to change. Steve Pederson considered wrestling totally unimportant and not worth the money. The new chancellor and interim AD have already made it clear there will be more support. There are discussions now about new facilities and new budgets. These are things that will take sometime, but the recruits we get now will be able to take advantage of these things during the time here. Now we can't show recruits this, but we have to convince them the imagine the improvements, they will happen during your time here. There is no way a kid will look at what PSU offers and compare the Pitt current setup and think, "Wow, I gotta go to Pitt". There is now way. But things are changing for the better. In addition, there are a group of alumni that are pushing for more support, fund raising etc, to get Coach Peters the things he needs to recruit on somewhat equal ground and get our athletes the training they need. That is currently happening and will be successful. In addition, what many don't realize is, in NCAA division I wrestling you are able to give out 9.9 scholarships. It isnt 85 like football. There are very limited #s available. So for example we took a very big class with Mikey, Edgar Bright, Cody, Soloman, Nick Zenetta, and N. Wilps two years ago. Its not possible to bring in a bunch of WPIAL studs every year due to scholarship limits. They will get offers elsewhere for more money and take them. We clearly can't get every WPIAL stud, but even if we could, we'd never have the scholarships to offer. There are years when we maybe able to offer partial scholarships to several kids, but UNC, UVA, and Edinboro can all give full scholarships based on how there classes and money breaks down. No one can give more then the 9.9 ships. We had a huge class with the one mentioned above. Some have already shown they were very good, others are young and still hoping they become great. This upcoming year we have some nice commits from in state and out of state. Next year we certainly have some nice commits and have our eye on at least one total stud from WPIAL that hopefully can see the vision of Coach Peters with some new support from the Athletic Department as well as very supportive and interested alumni. This coaching staff relates very well to kids and will recruit well with the added support they will get. To answer the Kolat comment. He is in his 1st year as a head coach at Campbell University. Lets wait and see how that goes before we run of Jason Peters and his staff, all of whom have been part of this program for a long time.
I have followed Pitt wrestling for 50 years now. Exactly what facilities does UNC and UVA have that makes them so superior to ours. I have not been in the wrestling room for a few years,but there was a major renovation to the room and weight facilities several years ago. Was this renovation not done properly and if not, why not? I am not against Jason at all and he needs more time, but this year is very disappointing. All other schools have the 9.9 limit on scholies also, but they seem to recruit studs every year right out from under our nose. I have one more question. What is wrong with Cody? In HS he was one of the top wrestlers in the country, but he certainly is not living up to that!
Thom, Go take a look at UNC or UVA's wrestling room. They look fantastic as oppossed to what we have with our old room at Fitzgerald. Same with Tech, much nicer, much more modern, looks better, great workout rooms. Of course teams our going to recruit studs out from under our nose. It's WPIAL wrestling. There are studs all over the place and we can't take em all with a 9.9 Schoolly limit. There are a bunch of guys going to D-1 schools this year from WPIAL and we got beat for some and honestly just didnt have room for others with those limits. If we bring in 3 guys at 50% Schooly to fill the appropriate holes and that puts us up against our 9.9 limit, thats what we got. If PSU, UNC and UVA (all of whom took WPIAL studs this year) offer 100% ships, we aren't going to get those kids. Just like two years ago when we had more room to work with than PSU and clearly out recruited them with the class we got. We did that not because of facilities etc, its because the $ and open spots were in our favor that year and Jason and his guys were able to capitalize on it. As for Cody, he obviously hasn't transitioned well to college wrestling yet. We will see if he ever does. I don't know. But you can go the opposite direction and say that Tyler Wilps, Max Thomusseitt, and even a young Edgar Bright all seem to be over achieving as oppossed to there high school wrestling recruiting status. Obviously this year is disappointing, the combination of injuries and under achieving have left us with poor results. The case I am making is people on this board have already given up on Coach, which I think is a mistake. Lets give it a few year to see how we make out. Randy got 30 + years, some good, some bad. Maybe a little bit of time will clear up the questions.
I haven't been to all of them, but I'd be willing to bet we're in the bottom 25% of the major conference programs in terms of facilities. The field house needs a lot of work if you're going to compete against OSU, Michigan, and Lehigh for recruits consistently. Those schools, and the ACC ones all have really nice set ups. The renovation (which was over 10 years ago btw) was a step, but we need to go a lot further.
Max was a two time state champion, which is great. However, he is ranked # 2 in the country at Pitt, was # 1 before getting caught at the Southern Scuffle, and has a chance to be a National Champion. Regardless of what you do in high school, that is setting the bar very high and achieving a lot. Edgar was a very good high school wrestler, but never won an Ohio State championship. He had a nice freshman season, and slow recovery from surgery forced a medical redshirt this year. He is our best wrestler for the future, and I'd be shocked if he wasn't a multi-time All American. But of course that story is yet to be completed. If we get dinged for Cody's underachieving, then we also need to look at the overachievers is my point. There is no doubt in my mind the people taking the time to post on this board want nothing but the best for Pitt wrestling. I make these posts to make the point that it would be very premature to move away from Coach Peters. When you read some of the above posts, that's exactly what is being requested. Lets give him time and support as Pletch5 above states, and lets see what Pitt wrestling can achieve.
I totally agree with you regarding coach Peters. I also understand Pitt wrestling fans getting upset with this years team and the poor recruiting in western PA. For the past few years, west PA has had the best HS wrestlers in the country and Pitt has gotten only one of these great recruits. The only one we have gotten is Cody and he has failed to live up to his recruiting status, at least so far. No one would expect Pitt to get all of these top local recruits or even half of them , but we certainly should be getting more than one! Hopefully that will change.
vabeach panther.excellent post. I did not realize how poor our facilities are.i agree that coach peters needs more time.
As a follow up on our recruiting, I am expecting us to get one more WPIAL recruit this year. He maybe considered a late bloomer, but loads of potential. Next year we have a few WPIAL recruits committed, but there is one more very big fish that we have a legit shot at and are fighting the "very big" boys for. Time will tell, but I'm still optomistic about our future despite this years lack of success on the mat.
I love your attitude Pletch. I will be keeping a close eye on Hershey and rooting hard for several kids I'd love to see in a panther singlet.
to be honest, i thought he has done very well. You build a program brick by brick. I really like this lineup 125 - Roberts/Forys/ Seipel/ Bentley/ Gromacki 133 - Zanetta / loser of 125 wrestle off 141- Bright (If he can get here) 149 - Racciato 157 - Garbinsky 165 - Morelli/Weircoch 174 - Wilps 184 - ???? 197 - Bonoccorsi HWT - Solomon.
Those guys are all pretty much underclassmen. it'll be interesting to see how 125 shakes out with Forys having a good year and Roberts having been a starter in the Big 10, and the real wildcard I believe is Seipel. I think a lot of programs are missing the boat on this kid. I've seen him wrestle for a long time. He just simply doesn't lose very often and come from a premiere HS.
Those guys are all pretty much underclassmen. it'll be interesting to see how 125 shakes out with Forys having a good year and Roberts having been a starter in the Big 10, and the real wildcard I believe is Seipel. I think a lot of programs are missing the boat on this kid. I've seen him wrestle for a long time. He just simply doesn't lose very often and come from a premiere HS.
Morelli transfered to PSU. Family crisis and he needed to get closer to home. He may or may not walk on there. Roberts may or may not ever wrestle again, but if he does, he will try it at UPJ. You may recall Bono competed at 174 2 years ago, but bummed up to 197 because Max was at 184. He could head back to 184 next year with Solomon being a natural 197 pounder. Forys has grown since he got to Pitt and will be bumping up to 133 next and with Zaneta likley bumping up also. The 125 pound class is always tough cause these guys grow and its tough to make the weight. Eli Seiple is likley to win Ohio states this weekend and will have a chance at 125. LJ Bentley from St. Eds is not as highly touted but is a real talent. He beat Seiple this year in a dog fight at there duel meet. He probably cant beat him out on a regular basis, but it will make for some real competition. Gramaki coming off a redshirt will be in the mix and I think he can still make 125. It will be interesting.
You just can't go 0-7 on WPIAL seniors who are ranked in the top ten nationally in their weight classes and blame it on the facilities.
Thom67 is right. In three years, the only top WPIAL recruit Peters has gotten is Wiercoch and he has not developed him at all. I see very little improvement in any of our wrestlers the last two years. I also see the same lack of conditioning that plagued us under Rande, especially in tournaments. Gavin basically trained far more than the rest of the team because he was driven, and he became a national champion although he was lightly recruited out of HS.
I understand Pitt expects to land the junior from Latrobe who is ranked in the top ten nationally in his weight class. But he recently lost twice to Headlee from Waynesburg who is going to NC State. And we apparently have zero chance with either of the sophomore bluechippers at Franklin Regional, including Spencer Lee, already a two time PIAA champion and ranked #1 nationally.
I was very skeptical when they hired Peters. No national search, just hire Rande's longtime assistant. I feared he would be Rande Redux. I think he is turning out to be exactly that. I think he gets one more year and absent a major turnaround he should be gone. Personally, I would can him now but one more year would be the max. He loses the two consistent winners from this year's team and I don't see any good replacements for either. He has a 197 pounder wrestling Hwt, and Solomon did well but gets devoured by top wrestlers. Zanetta has been terrible at 133. Forts was pretty decent at 125. Roberts? Who knows if he still is on the team. Bright? What weight does he wrestle at next year if he returns. (I have heard he might be transferring.) if he can't stay at 141, where does the leave Mikey? At 157, Garbinsky has been a disappointment as has Wiercoch at 165. Nada at 174 and 184. Bono, who always manages to disappoint, at 197 unless Rizzo suddenly becomes competent at Hwt and Solomon can beat him out at 197. That is a team that looks like it won't just lose against good teams, but will be slaughtered. Not a certain win at any weight and a lot of weak weight classes.
Thom67 is right. In three years, the only top WPIAL recruit Peters has gotten is Wiercoch and he has not developed him at all. I see very little improvement in any of our wrestlers the last two years. I also see the same lack of conditioning that plagued us under Rande, especially in tournaments. Gavin basically trained far more than the rest of the team because he was driven, and he became a national champion although he was lightly recruited out of HS.
I understand Pitt expects to land the junior from Latrobe who is ranked in the top ten nationally in his weight class. But he recently lost twice to Headlee from Waynesburg who is going to NC State. And we apparently have zero chance with either of the sophomore bluechippers at Franklin Regional, including Spencer Lee, already a two time PIAA champion and ranked #1 nationally.
I was very skeptical when they hired Peters. No national search, just hire Rande's longtime assistant. I feared he would be Rande Redux. I think he is turning out to be exactly that. I think he gets one more year and absent a major turnaround he should be gone. Personally, I would can him now but one more year would be the max. He loses the two consistent winners from this year's team and I don't see any good replacements for either. He has a 197 pounder wrestling Hwt, and Solomon did well but gets devoured by top wrestlers. Zanetta has been terrible at 133. Forts was pretty decent at 125. Roberts? Who knows if he still is on the team. Bright? What weight does he wrestle at next year if he returns. (I have heard he might be transferring.) if he can't stay at 141, where does the leave Mikey? At 157, Garbinsky has been a disappointment as has Wiercoch at 165. Nada at 174 and 184. Bono, who always manages to disappoint, at 197 unless Rizzo suddenly becomes competent at Hwt and Solomon can beat him out at 197. That is a team that looks like it won't just lose against good teams, but will be slaughtered. Not a certain win at any weight and a lot of weak weight classes.
I thought the football site had the most negative people on the board. Reading this forum is worse. Thinking we got a good one from Penn hills. And a junior out of Latrobe top 10 ? As much as I'm a pitt fan in football and hoops the fan base in wrestling needs to help not tear it down.
Campbell
Yes. Undeated senior year and PIAA AAA state champion. He had a great senior season after some health issues slowed down his Jr. year. A very nice pickup.
Yes. Undeated senior year and PIAA AAA state champion. He had a great senior season after some health issues slowed down his Jr. year. A very nice pickup.
Pletch, don't let a few negative posters get under your skin. There aren't that many people that care enough about wrestling to post on this board, so when one is negative to the extent that its sounds rediculous, it really stands out. There are plenty of people who believe in Pitt Wrestling, support Jason, and will be around when the program grows. As we've previously noted, we did pretty well with PIAA states (Wentzel and Campbell) and now with Ohio states (Seipel).
if recruiting and wrestler development doesn't improve, I think a Cary Kolat hire in 2016 would be the best thing for the program. the ball was dropped this year for sure. i understand there can be scholarship constraints, but Penn State seems to have no problem calling their guys into a room and telling them a certain amount of money is being taken from them to get another wrestler. obviously that needs to be done with some of our blue chippers from a couple years ago and go after some more top kids. i am very happy to hear about the 170 champ we just got (sorely needed), but we are lacking big time at the lowest weights, and we had a hotbed of talent rioght under our nose and wiffed on all of them. does franklin regional have something against pitt? i mean you can drive from the high school and be on campus in 25 minutes--how in the world are we not getting ****any*** of their guys?
guys as pitt wrestling fans how can you blame us for beingunhappy. we lost our last four matches and getting spanked by westvirginia was horrible. two straight average recruiting classes for peters. Roberts Shaffer and morelli leving the team. rumors of bright transferring. its been a bad year. the top wpial wrestlers snubbing their noses at pitt. you honestly expect us to be happy.we should be a powerhouse with our location.
Where did this Bright rumor start. I see Mike412 posted it? Bright took a much needed medical redshirt after post surgcial issues. He wanted to wrestle this year badly, but could never heal enough to get back at it consistantly. He was one of the hardest workers on the team despite a medical redshirt. That would be more than a suprise to folks in Fitgerald field house.
What's the deal with TeShan Campbell? did he sign with us? Before this past weekend I had never heard of him. Now he is a PA state champ and wrestling in the Dapper Dan against a 5X state champ. I saw his scores from the state and they all look like takedown clinics???
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