33Rocks, I'm with you on The Wrestling Room as the site name and glad that Chris is in agreement to add it. He is, right? Anyway, this thread is about my visit to Pitt this past Wednesday. Let me preface my comments by saying that I was never this involved with past administrations so I can't comment on what's happened before. Fact of the matter is who cares. It's irrelevant. What matters to long-time wrestling supporters (and hopefully new ones) is whether this administration truly understands what needs to be done to get us back among the top tier programs and, more importantly, is committed and coordinated in its efforts. Net-net, my answer is a resounding YES.
During my 5 hour visit, I was with the coaching staff, the athletic department staff, including the fund raisers like Maureen Anderson and Pat Bostick, supporters of the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club/Regional Training Center (who are among the posters on this site) and Heather Lyke. I know everyone is interested in our new AD. I am very very impressed. She truly gets it and knows her stuff. She brings experience from being a part of a large athletic department with 36 sports (OSU) and a really big budget and balances that with her experience at a small school with limited funds (EMU). Give her a little time and I truly believe all of our sports teams, not just wrestling, will be elevated to a level of excellence we've been waiting for so long.
All the attendees in the meeting understand that to achieve excellence in wrestling we need top coaches, facilities, athletes, training partners/RTC and committed donors. Pitt, led by Lyke, understands that a thriving RTC is a must. Yes, Pitt can't provide funding for an RTC, but they can educate their donors on its importance which, as I understand, was never allowed in the past.
We did a walk-through of the wrestling room and got a detailed explanation of the initial work to be done. Speed is of the essence here and I expect the work will start sometime in June with a projected completion date in the fall. Long-term plans are also being worked on and we'll hear about those soon.
I met all the coaches. You would be impressed by each of them. Coach Gavin is the real deal. They are all young and talented wrestlers in their own right and can get on the mats with our athletes, Gavin at the upper weights and Leen and Headlee at the lower weights. They will be joined by our two new RTC staff - Conor Youtsey, as reported, and Samat Nadyrbek Uulu, from Kyrgyztan. Samat is the #1 wrestler in Kyrgyztan and #5 in the 2015 world rankings at his weight class. He decided to move to the US to get better training and picked Pittsburgh as his new home. Coach Gavin's international appearance helped get Samat on board. Both Samat and Youtsey are lower weight guys so we now can rival any program with our training partners there. Expect the next RTC hire to be a heavyweight. It's more important to get the right guy than rush to just fill a spot so we may not hear anything right away.
If you are interested in donating, and you should, you need to contact Pat Bostick (412-648-8235/pbostick@athletics.pitt.edu. The staff is working on an ongoing communications program and you want to be on that mailing list. The Pittsburgh Wrestling Club/RTC is preparing to send out a mailer as well. Go to www.pittsburghwrestlingclub.com to learn more.
I know we have some nay sayers on this site. I don't know if there's anything I can say to convince you that this time it'll be different. But it will. I'm convinced of that.
Hail to Pitt!
"The Golden Singlet"
During my 5 hour visit, I was with the coaching staff, the athletic department staff, including the fund raisers like Maureen Anderson and Pat Bostick, supporters of the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club/Regional Training Center (who are among the posters on this site) and Heather Lyke. I know everyone is interested in our new AD. I am very very impressed. She truly gets it and knows her stuff. She brings experience from being a part of a large athletic department with 36 sports (OSU) and a really big budget and balances that with her experience at a small school with limited funds (EMU). Give her a little time and I truly believe all of our sports teams, not just wrestling, will be elevated to a level of excellence we've been waiting for so long.
All the attendees in the meeting understand that to achieve excellence in wrestling we need top coaches, facilities, athletes, training partners/RTC and committed donors. Pitt, led by Lyke, understands that a thriving RTC is a must. Yes, Pitt can't provide funding for an RTC, but they can educate their donors on its importance which, as I understand, was never allowed in the past.
We did a walk-through of the wrestling room and got a detailed explanation of the initial work to be done. Speed is of the essence here and I expect the work will start sometime in June with a projected completion date in the fall. Long-term plans are also being worked on and we'll hear about those soon.
I met all the coaches. You would be impressed by each of them. Coach Gavin is the real deal. They are all young and talented wrestlers in their own right and can get on the mats with our athletes, Gavin at the upper weights and Leen and Headlee at the lower weights. They will be joined by our two new RTC staff - Conor Youtsey, as reported, and Samat Nadyrbek Uulu, from Kyrgyztan. Samat is the #1 wrestler in Kyrgyztan and #5 in the 2015 world rankings at his weight class. He decided to move to the US to get better training and picked Pittsburgh as his new home. Coach Gavin's international appearance helped get Samat on board. Both Samat and Youtsey are lower weight guys so we now can rival any program with our training partners there. Expect the next RTC hire to be a heavyweight. It's more important to get the right guy than rush to just fill a spot so we may not hear anything right away.
If you are interested in donating, and you should, you need to contact Pat Bostick (412-648-8235/pbostick@athletics.pitt.edu. The staff is working on an ongoing communications program and you want to be on that mailing list. The Pittsburgh Wrestling Club/RTC is preparing to send out a mailer as well. Go to www.pittsburghwrestlingclub.com to learn more.
I know we have some nay sayers on this site. I don't know if there's anything I can say to convince you that this time it'll be different. But it will. I'm convinced of that.
Hail to Pitt!
"The Golden Singlet"
