racciota is no longer on the roster.another blot on peters as a head coach. the sad thing is nobody cares. theres never any articles in the paper about the wrestling team. in simple terms peters will be back.barnes doesn't pruobably know anything about the program.peters does nothing to prmote the program
another blowto pitt wrestling
- Thread starter Warriordan
- Start date
I hope you are wrong on the AD. He seems to be a pretty smart guy. Maybe if there is a total collapse that will force the admin to do something.
There is no way we cannot find a better wrestling coach who can coach better, recruit in a hotbed of wrestling of Pittsburgh, wpial, & central pa, we have wrestlers who are going to nc st, Virginia,virg tech, ariz st, Lehigh,bucknell edinboro, etc and to big 10 teams. we can't even get some of the local standouts to even give us a sniff. even 2nd tier wrestlers. granted the 2 from the wpial are very good. there is a shi$$ load of more wrestlers out there. pa has everything we need and cannot recruit here. Exactly where does the problem lie for those in the know?
So now half of the scholarship wrestlers in Peters' first class -- the only highly rated class he has recruited -- are gone.
And that class has performed far below expectations, which IMO demonstrates that Peters can't coach either.
I looked at Intermat's rankings of high school seniors yesterday. I believe three of this year's LOIs are rated. It might be 4 but I can only remember 3. Dietrich was rated #12 in his class. I assume he is being recruited to replace Bono at 197. It's not bad that he is rated; it is bad that 3 other PA wrestlers are rated higher than him and one is going to Legigh, one to Bucknell and one to Drexel. Losing a recruit to Lehigh is one thing; losing out to Drexel and Bucknell is another. And, there are 3 other ACC schools who signed higher-rated wrestlers in his weight class.
Bell was rated higher, in the top 8 in his weight class. But 2 ACC signees were rated higher.
Wetzel was rated #4, our highest wrestler. But, PSU got the #1 in that class (as well as two other weights) and NC State got #3. So he might turn out to be better than the NC State kid but with Peters as his coach he probably will be much worse.
By the way, besides its three top-rated signees, PSU signed a kid from California who is rated #12, the same as Dietrich. Anyone think Dietrich will be better than him in college?
And that class has performed far below expectations, which IMO demonstrates that Peters can't coach either.
I looked at Intermat's rankings of high school seniors yesterday. I believe three of this year's LOIs are rated. It might be 4 but I can only remember 3. Dietrich was rated #12 in his class. I assume he is being recruited to replace Bono at 197. It's not bad that he is rated; it is bad that 3 other PA wrestlers are rated higher than him and one is going to Legigh, one to Bucknell and one to Drexel. Losing a recruit to Lehigh is one thing; losing out to Drexel and Bucknell is another. And, there are 3 other ACC schools who signed higher-rated wrestlers in his weight class.
Bell was rated higher, in the top 8 in his weight class. But 2 ACC signees were rated higher.
Wetzel was rated #4, our highest wrestler. But, PSU got the #1 in that class (as well as two other weights) and NC State got #3. So he might turn out to be better than the NC State kid but with Peters as his coach he probably will be much worse.
By the way, besides its three top-rated signees, PSU signed a kid from California who is rated #12, the same as Dietrich. Anyone think Dietrich will be better than him in college?
We are wrestling fans as evidenced by our discussions. But seriously, no one cares about wrestling. Especially college wrestling. There's a handful of schools in the WPIAL capable of winning a title each year. Most of the other schools don't have a team or can't field an entire team.
Penna is the best wrestling state, it's the Florida of the sport. Pitt gets a good coach he could get a half decent team just accidentally . This Peter guy kinda sucks, yep hire a good coach that knows how to recruit and Pitt could get good the talent is in this state.
For those of us who care about Pitt wrestling, it is very painful to see the current state of the program. And, you may well be right about the athletic department's view of wrestling. However, my suggestion is that we not assume the worst, but rather asssume the best, that is, if the Athletic Director takes a look at the situation, he will make changes/devote resources that will help the program improve. May be naive, of course, and obviously, it would very helpful, if people that have clout/credibility were part of this effort, and that certainly excludes me. But, really, what do we have to lose, other than seeming naive, and what do we gain by assuming disinterest, other than the paltry satisfaction of knowing we are right about the lack of interest on the part of the Athletic Director? To that end, I have emailed the athletic director's executive assistant (no response yet, and the Athletic Director's direct email is not listed anywhere I can find it) trying to be as constructive/positive as possible, not unduly critical, making the following points, which I offer for others use or rejection,as they see fit.
1. Applaud Pitt's "Commitment to Excellence"" in all aspects of University life, including sports.
2. Wrestling is particularly well-suited to be a leading exemplar of such a commitment, because of its status as an Olympic sport, Pitt's wrestling tradition, and the number of elite high school wrestlers in the WPIAL and surrounding areas. Indeed, in no other sport does Pitt have such a hotbed from which to recruit, in its own backyard as with wrestling. Wrestling in fact is the single sport in which Pitt is best positioned to fulfill its goal of excellence.
3. A very close look at the wrestling program is warranted, in light of the performance of the program and the trend, where Pitt is now at the bottom of the ACC and appears a long way from the top for the next few years.
4. The good news is that wrestling is a sport where a program can turn around relatively quickly (see NC State), the incremental cost of doing so is little, if anything, and of course the recruiting advantages that Pitt enjoys over all of the other ACC teams.
I would encourage others to consider communicating to the Athletic Director, staying positive and constructive, and to work the local network to build up the pressure to fix this sad state of affairs. As others have pointed out, his selection of the new Men's Soccer Coach surely gives some hope that he cares about "minor" sports.
And this post comes from the uncle of the top-rated HS senior wrestler in the state, part of a family which bleeds blue and gold. His nephew is going to tOSU because he wants to improve and be a multiple NCAA champion.
tOSU is an illustration of how quickly a coaching change can improve a wrestling program. Long a B10 also-ran, they hired the Cornell coach a few years back and the result was an NCAA title last year -- thanks largely to contributions made by three freshmen (they also had two seniors, one of whom was a multiple NCAA champion, who were in the first class recruited by that coach; his brother might have been just as good but his career was marked by injuries.) tOSU IS 2nd, close behind PSU after day one this year.
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