WVU 2024

[Bearhugger]

With eligibilities running out, extra years, injuries needing fixed, etc, etc.......................what is WVU's line up looking like for next season?

[Jon Perkins]

The next few weeks will be full of guys entering the transfer portal and possibly picking up some last-minute recruits. It will be really hard to predict a lineup until probably June. Other than Cardinale at 125 and Joll at 174, look for the lineup to stay close the same.

I predict that Flynn & Company will be looking for transfers up and down the lineup.

[armyscot0873]

I would love to see a national champion 133 right down the road transfer over.

[Doyablameme?]

I would love to see a national champion 133 right down the road transfer over.

Stop it bro

[armyscot0873]

I would love to see a national champion 133 right down the road transfer over.

Stop it bro

Not sure what this comment means?

https://intermatwrestle.com/articles/26610 No matter what WVUs lineup is, the returning talent across the country is tough!!! About 80% of this year's All Americans are eligible to return next year!

[WVU]

149 Jeff Boyd entered the transfer portal on 3/8, joining soph 133 Ryan Sullivan who did so back on 11/24

[aacoach61]

As an alumnus, there is nothing I love more than to discuss WVU sports. But with a 13th place finish in the Big 12 tournament and only one All-American (8th place finisher), I have no reason to believe that year 6 of this coaching staff will yield any better results than years 1-5.

I hope the new AD takes a hard look at the state of WVU wrestling, because disappointing is an apt description. Results in March matter in D-1,D-2 and D-3 wrestling.

[Jon Perkins]

As an alumnus, there is nothing I love more than to discuss WVU sports. But with a 13th place finish in the Big 12 tournament and only one All-American (8th place finisher), I have no reason to believe that year 6 of this coaching staff will yield any better results than years 1-5.

I hope the new AD takes a hard look at the state of WVU wrestling, because disappointing is an apt description. Results in March matter in D-1,D-2 and D-3 wrestling.

Without sounding like an apologist, or a super fan, for WVU wrestling, I want to start by saying that I am not. I am purely a wresting fan. I am no bigger fan of WVU than I am of Pitt, Va Tech, Iowa, or even Lock Haven. I am a really big fan of all aspects of college wrestling from recruiting to the NCAA finals and I thoroughly enjoy high school wrestling on a national level. With that being said, the one thing I see that makes the biggest difference in any team being successful, or not, is the amount of fan support. Each college or university has support from within, or else the team would not exist, the difference maker is the outside support. I just read an article that Iowa raised $153,000 on just one fundraiser alone. I am willing to bet that this team cannot raise that much money in two full years with all of their fundraisers combined. If this team could raise $150,000 each year, they could make it more enticing for blue-chip recruits to commit and they could afford to pay the Volunteer Assistant coach a salary they could raise a family on, making it more enticing to get the big name coach everyone seems to want.

So, if I would be permitted to do so, I would like to ask what are some fundraisers everyone would like to see the team put on. Fan involvement is also dictated by what types of activities are being held. If you not interested in the event that is being held, it is likely you will not participate. Personally, I have not seen a raffle ticket I would not buy or a golf tournament I would not attend.

[armyscot0873]

Below is a listing of the final team scores. I actually think WVU did decent. We finished above Oklahoma, Michigan State, Indiana, Wyoming, and tied with Rutgers. I would have loved to have a top 25 finish but that is tough without multiple All Americans or a national champion. WVU has had 3 National Champs and 3 Runners up in it's history. WVU has only had 25 All-Americans in its history (not counting multiple All Americans). WVU has only had multiple All Americans in 6 years of its history. Since 2000 our average NCAA finish has been 34. Your expectations just aren't real. All but 141 and 157 return 7 or more All Americans next year, with 165 returning 9. Its just not easy to have multiple All Americans when that just hasnt been the history of WVU wrestling.

1 Penn State 137.5
2 Iowa 82.5
3 Cornell 76.5
4 Ohio State 70.5
5 Missouri 64.5
6 Michigan 58.5
7 Arizona State 55.0
8 Nebraska 54.0
9 Virginia Tech 49.0
10 NC State 48.0
11 Iowa State 47.0
12 North Carolina 42.0
13 Princeton 37.5
14 South Dakota State 37.0
15 Minnesota 30.5
16 Northern Iowa 29.0
16 Wisconsin 29.0
18 Air Force 28.5
18 Oklahoma State 28.5
20 Lehigh 28.0
20 Purdue 28.0
22 Pittsburgh 27.0
23 Northern Colorado 26.0
24 North Dakota State 25.5
25 Northwestern 24.5
26 Stanford 18.0
27 Cal Poly 17.5
28 Clarion 15.5
29 Oregon State 15.0
30 Lock Haven 12.5
31 Illinois 11.0
32 Pennsylvania 9.5
33 Rider 9.0
34 Rutgers 8.0
34 West Virginia 8.0
36 Columbia 7.5
36 Maryland 7.5
38 Indiana 7.0
39 Northern Illinois 6.5
40 Michigan State 6.0
40 Oklahoma 6.0
40 Utah Valley 6.0
43 Drexel 4.5
44 Campbell 4.0
44 Chattanooga 4.0
44 Harvard 4.0
47 SIU Edwardsville 3.0
48 American 2.5
48 Virginia 2.5
50 Binghamton 2.0
50 Navy 2.0
50 Wyoming 2.0
53 Appalachian State 1.0
53 Central Michigan 1.0
53 CSU Bakersfield 1.0
56 Army West Point 0.5
56 Buffalo 0.5
56 Duke 0.5
56 Gardner-Webb 0.5
56 George Mason 0.5
61 Bloomsburg 0.0
61 Bucknell 0.0
61 Cleveland State 0.0
61 Edinboro 0.0
61 Hofstra 0.0
61 Kent State 0.0
61 Ohio 0.0

[JR080502]

Jon,
Flynn and his coaching staff doesn't put much effort in fund raising for the wrestling team. They have a hard time reaching out to donors and don't care much for talking with a lot of fans or people. That is one thing I liked about Henson. I would hire Henson today as a PR guy because he could promote with the best of them. Their golf tournament is held in a cow pasture and as far as I know, that's the only event they hold during the off-season. It is hard work fund raising and if you don't do it then programs like wrestling that don't bring in money like football and basketball are not going to get better. It takes money and time to develop a program and the face of WVU wrestling is Flynn so he has to go out and promote which does not happen. Until they figure that out they will not get the recruits and money they need to build a great program. The other big issue is that they don't care much for USA wrestling olympic sports. A lot of high level wrestlers want to be on that stage in the off season and the coaching staff is nonexistent when it comes to that so a lot of wrestlers will not join if the coaching staff does not participate in it. Until WVU gets a coaching staff that is all in, they will not get much better than they are now.

[Jon Perkins]

Jon,
Flynn and his coaching staff doesn't put much effort in fund raising for the wrestling team. They have a hard time reaching out to donors and don't care much for talking with a lot of fans or people. That is one thing I liked about Henson. I would hire Henson today as a PR guy because he could promote with the best of them. Their golf tournament is held in a cow pasture and as far as I know, that's the only event they hold during the off-season. It is hard work fund raising and if you don't do it then programs like wrestling that don't bring in money like football and basketball are not going to get better. It takes money and time to develop a program and the face of WVU wrestling is Flynn so he has to go out and promote which does not happen. Until they figure that out they will not get the recruits and money they need to build a great program. The other big issue is that they don't care much for USA wrestling olympic sports. A lot of high level wrestlers want to be on that stage in the off season and the coaching staff is nonexistent when it comes to that so a lot of wrestlers will not join if the coaching staff does not participate in it. Until WVU gets a coaching staff that is all in, they will not get much better than they are now.

These are all good points and I will not argue with any of them. This was the purpose of my post, what does this coaching staff have to do to gain local fan support in order to raise the funds necessary to further the program. From what I have seen is the few fundraising opportunities they have do not gain as much traction as they should. The one thing this staff does, that I like, is that every year they put on two day clinic for coaches. Every team in the state from Youth teams to HS teams should send at least one coach to this function. There is always something new to learn and these are actual professional coaches to learn from. As far as the golf tournament, I agree the golf course is not that desirable, but that is no reason not to participate if you want to see the team get better. I don’t spend $5 for a box of Girl Scout cookies because they taste good, I spend the $5 because it’s a good organization that does good things and it’s just the right thing to do. What other activities would get more people involved? A large BBQ, tailgate party, bingo???

[Bearhugger]

Below is a listing of the final team scores. I actually think WVU did decent. We finished above Oklahoma, Michigan State, Indiana, Wyoming, and tied with Rutgers. I would have loved to have a top 25 finish but that is tough without multiple All Americans or a national champion. WVU has had 3 National Champs and 3 Runners up in it's history. WVU has only had 25 All-Americans in its history (not counting multiple All Americans). WVU has only had multiple All Americans in 6 years of its history. Since 2000 our average NCAA finish has been 34. Your expectations just aren't real. All but 141 and 157 return 7 or more All Americans next year, with 165 returning 9. Its just not easy to have multiple All Americans when that just hasnt been the history of WVU wrestling.

1 Penn State 137.5
2 Iowa 82.5
3 Cornell 76.5
4 Ohio State 70.5
5 Missouri 64.5
6 Michigan 58.5
7 Arizona State 55.0
8 Nebraska 54.0
9 Virginia Tech 49.0
10 NC State 48.0
11 Iowa State 47.0
12 North Carolina 42.0
13 Princeton 37.5
14 South Dakota State 37.0
15 Minnesota 30.5
16 Northern Iowa 29.0
16 Wisconsin 29.0
18 Air Force 28.5
18 Oklahoma State 28.5
20 Lehigh 28.0
20 Purdue 28.0
22 Pittsburgh 27.0
23 Northern Colorado 26.0
24 North Dakota State 25.5
25 Northwestern 24.5
26 Stanford 18.0
27 Cal Poly 17.5
28 Clarion 15.5
29 Oregon State 15.0
30 Lock Haven 12.5
31 Illinois 11.0
32 Pennsylvania 9.5
33 Rider 9.0
34 Rutgers 8.0
34 West Virginia 8.0
36 Columbia 7.5
36 Maryland 7.5
38 Indiana 7.0
39 Northern Illinois 6.5
40 Michigan State 6.0
40 Oklahoma 6.0
40 Utah Valley 6.0
43 Drexel 4.5
44 Campbell 4.0
44 Chattanooga 4.0
44 Harvard 4.0
47 SIU Edwardsville 3.0
48 American 2.5
48 Virginia 2.5
50 Binghamton 2.0
50 Navy 2.0
50 Wyoming 2.0
53 Appalachian State 1.0
53 Central Michigan 1.0
53 CSU Bakersfield 1.0
56 Army West Point 0.5
56 Buffalo 0.5
56 Duke 0.5
56 Gardner-Webb 0.5
56 George Mason 0.5
61 Bloomsburg 0.0
61 Bucknell 0.0
61 Cleveland State 0.0
61 Edinboro 0.0
61 Hofstra 0.0
61 Kent State 0.0
61 Ohio 0.0

Here are the number of NCAA qualifiers by school to add more perspective.


SCHOOL NQs
Iowa 10
Missouri 10
Oklahoma State 10
Virginia Tech 10
Minnesota 9
NC State 9
Northwestern 9
Ohio State 9
Penn State 9
Iowa State 8
Michigan 8
Oklahoma 8
Penn 8
South Dakota State 8
Wisconsin 8
Cornell 7
Nebraska 7
Northern Iowa 7
Oregon State 7
Rutgers 7
Columbia 6
Lehigh 6
North Dakota State 6
Pitt 6
Stanford 6
West Virginia 6
Air Force 5
Appalachian State 5
Arizona State 5
Campbell 5
Illinois 5
Maryland 5
Navy 5
North Carolina 5
Cal Poly 4
Harvard 4
Indiana 4
Lock Haven 4
Michigan State 4
Ohio 4
Princeton 4
Purdue 4
Virginia 4
Army 3
Binghamton 3
Bucknell 3
Central Michigan 3
Chattanooga 3
Clarion 3
Drexel 3
Northern Colorado 3
Rider 3
SIU-Edwardsville 3
Utah Valley 3
Wyoming 3
Gardner-Webb 2
George Mason 2
Hofstra 2
American 1
Bloomsburg 1
Buffalo 1
CSU-Bakersfield 1
Duke 1
Edinboro 1
Kent State 1
Northern Illinois 1

[WVU]

149 Jeff Boyd entered the transfer portal on 3/8, joining soph 133 Ryan Sullivan who did so back on 11/24

Another WVU wrestler enters the portal, wasn't on the active roster though: Colton Smitley Freshman 133 March 22 West Virginia

[armyscot0873]

Jon,
Flynn and his coaching staff doesn't put much effort in fund raising for the wrestling team. They have a hard time reaching out to donors and don't care much for talking with a lot of fans or people. That is one thing I liked about Henson. I would hire Henson today as a PR guy because he could promote with the best of them. Their golf tournament is held in a cow pasture and as far as I know, that's the only event they hold during the off-season. It is hard work fund raising and if you don't do it then programs like wrestling that don't bring in money like football and basketball are not going to get better. It takes money and time to develop a program and the face of WVU wrestling is Flynn so he has to go out and promote which does not happen. Until they figure that out they will not get the recruits and money they need to build a great program. The other big issue is that they don't care much for USA wrestling olympic sports. A lot of high level wrestlers want to be on that stage in the off season and the coaching staff is nonexistent when it comes to that so a lot of wrestlers will not join if the coaching staff does not participate in it. Until WVU gets a coaching staff that is all in, they will not get much better than they are now.

I have wondered about this. Why arent WVU wrestlers wrestling greco and freestyle in the summer? I saw that a few did last year but it was really surprising. Anybody know why Flynn and the staff dont push olympic style in the off season? If you look at all the good college wrestlers and high schoolers that is what they are doing in the summer. Look at Gomez from Wisc, he went to Mexico to wrestle for a spot on their national team the week after the NCAAs. If Flynn doesnt have the experience in Olympic styles he needs to bring someone in that does.

[Bearhugger]

149 Jeff Boyd entered the transfer portal on 3/8, joining soph 133 Ryan Sullivan who did so back on 11/24

Another WVU wrestler enters the portal, wasn't on the active roster though: Colton Smitley Freshman 133 March 22 West Virginia

Has any of these three gentlemen been picked up by anybody else?

It will be interesting to see what WVU alumni get picked up and by what schools.

[aacoach61]

Here is a link to Flo’s transfer portal summary:

https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/8 ... er-tracker

[KDunbar]

Here is a link to Flo’s transfer portal summary:

https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/8 ... er-tracker

As of 3/8/23, both Sullivan and Boyd were still available. However, did notice that A J Ferrari was still available, but I'm not sure what time he is able to serve, or I mean wrestle, on the mat.

[WVU]

Two more WVU wrestlers hit the portal:

Athlete Year Weight Entered Portal Transferring From
Scott Joll Senior 174 March 9 West Virginia
Brayden Roberts Sophomore 165 March 8 West Virginia

[Bearhugger]

Who will be next to leave?

[WVU]

Through March 30th, schools with two or more wrestlers to have entered the transfer portal since the beginning of the 2022-23 season:

Num Team
7 Buffalo
6 Edinboro
5 Sacred Heart
5 WVU
5 Wyoming
4 NC State
4 Northern Illinois
4 Oklahoma
3 Cal Baptist
3 Campbell
3 Northern Colorado
3 Pitt
2 App State
2 Clarion
2 Cornell
2 Kent State
2 Nebraska
2 North Carolina
2 Northwestern
2 Ohio
2 Presbyterian
2 Rider
2 Rutgers
2 Utah Valley

[NJwvu12]

WVU got a commitment today from Logan Sallot, finished 3rd in Pennsylvania as a senior , should be 125 for a few years

[Jon Perkins]

WVU got a commitment today from Logan Sallot, finished 3rd in Pennsylvania as a senior , should be 125 for a few years

Logan had actually committed before the season started this past year and withdrew his commitment at some point and time. I have seen where he recently committed to Lock Haven. WVU did however pick up another pretty good guy out of Minnesota. His name is Mason Mills and he will slot in at the 125 or 133 pound weight class.

[WVU]

WVU got a commitment today from Logan Sallot, finished 3rd in Pennsylvania as a senior , should be 125 for a few years

Logan Sallot had committed to WVU back in September:
https://www.goerie.com/story/sports/hig ... 493023007/

But as of 3/28, he is now committed to Lock Haven:
https://twitter.com/LoganSallot_

And just for fun: Logan Sallot vs Bo Bassett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7REGyg ... ingChannel

[mscoach57]

I have wondered about this. Why arent WVU wrestlers wrestling greco and freestyle in the summer? I saw that a few did last year but it was really surprising. Anybody know why Flynn and the staff dont push olympic style in the off season? If you look at all the good college wrestlers and high schoolers that is what they are doing in the summer. Look at Gomez from Wisc, he went to Mexico to wrestle for a spot on their national team the week after the NCAAs. If Flynn doesnt have the experience in Olympic styles he needs to bring someone in that does.

You're going to upset some people asking questions like this. I asked a year or two ago and had a parent of a prominent WVU wrestler scold me, informing me that the lack of freestyle and greco wrestling had no effect on WVU wrestling team. If you point out that many/most of the wrestlers on the team do not appear to even qualify to participate in Regional Training Center activities, thereby reducing/eliminating significant off season practice opportunities, some will argue that you're just against the program or coaches.

The same parent who was upset that I was asking about why no emphasis on freestyle/greco at WVU was also upset about noah adams and others who "abandoned ship on the rest of the team". The numbers in the transfer portal are increasing. Although his name does not appear in the transfer portal, rumor has it another starter with time left on the eligibility clock may be "abandoning ship". I hope the rumors are not true. I hope Coach Flynn can pull in someone from the transfer portal like he did with Cardinale.

Remember when Coach Flynn took over for Coach Henson? He did not try to hide his disdain for the way Sammie ran the show. He promised to bring discipline to the program with "his recruits" and the exodus of Henson recruits began. Now that the last of the Hensonites have fled the mecca known as Morgantown, I believe it is fair to ask if Flynn's promise has been fulfilled. Is Tim's team "cleaner" than Sammie's were? Seems about the same to me. We have alter boys and we have hell raisers from both teams. We have successes and failures from both teams. We have guys abandoning ship and staying the course on both teams. Flynn's early bravado overlooked what we all know about Morgantown, Morgantown can be a trap for young people. If you are a West Virginia native you knew multiple smart people who got lost in the WVU party scene. I am not being critical of how Coach Flynn runs the team. I think he is doing the best he can under the circumstances. With the transfer portal and NIL being what they are I do not know how any coach maintains discipline.

[Jon Perkins]

I could be wrong, but I thought the participation in Freestyle & Greco were higher last year than in years past. The results were not much better, but the participation was up. A strong RTC can take a mid-level team like WVU to a Top 10 or Top 15 team, but again it takes funding and where are those funds going to come from? There are plenty of really good wrestlers out there that want to focus on folkstyle and being an NCAA all-American and/or champion and having a smaller RTC works just fine for them. They can stay on the mat working out throughout the summer and squeeze in one or two good competitions helping to prepare them for the next NCAA season.

There has been several mentions of the number of guys entering the transfer portal. Just because someone enters the portal doesn't mean they are leaving. They could be exploring options for a better scholarship deal or in some cases the guys looking to transfer out had been a starter in the years past and have lost their spot and they just don't want to be a backup.

[JR080502]

I could be wrong, but I thought the participation in Freestyle & Greco were higher last year than in years past. The results were not much better, but the participation was up. A strong RTC can take a mid-level team like WVU to a Top 10 or Top 15 team, but again it takes funding and where are those funds going to come from? There are plenty of really good wrestlers out there that want to focus on folkstyle and being an NCAA all-American and/or champion and having a smaller RTC works just fine for them. They can stay on the mat working out throughout the summer and squeeze in one or two good competitions helping to prepare them for the next NCAA season.

There has been several mentions of the number of guys entering the transfer portal. Just because someone enters the portal doesn't mean they are leaving. They could be exploring options for a better scholarship deal or in some cases the guys looking to transfer out had been a starter in the years past and have lost their spot and they just don't want to be a backup.

Participation was up last year and some only went because it was in Vegas (which I don't blame them!) but you have to have a coach that wants to be involved. The wrestlers don't get much support after season ends. Flynn only went out for freestyle all though they had a couple of the guys wrestling in greco. And the only reason he went was that his brother wrestled in the free style tournament. The funding and fan involvement starts with the coaching staff and not the fans doing the lifting. That goes for every sport from little league all the way to college.

[KDunbar]

This may seem like a dumb question, but if the college wrestling season is essentially from October through March, or 6 months, then what does the coach get paid to do with the wrestlers for the other 50% of the year that they're getting paid for. And please don't say recruiting or fundraising.

[Doyablameme?]

This may seem like a dumb question, but if the college wrestling season is essentially from October through March, or 6 months, then what does the coach get paid to do with the wrestlers for the other 50% of the year that they're getting paid for. And please don't say recruiting or fundraising.

They are likely busy organizing stuff.

[KDunbar]

This may seem like a dumb question, but if the college wrestling season is essentially from October through March, or 6 months, then what does the coach get paid to do with the wrestlers for the other 50% of the year that they're getting paid for. And please don't say recruiting or fundraising.

They are likely busy organizing stuff.

So.... you're saying it was a dumb question .

[Jon Perkins]

This may seem like a dumb question, but if the college wrestling season is essentially from October through March, or 6 months, then what does the coach get paid to do with the wrestlers for the other 50% of the year that they're getting paid for. And please don't say recruiting or fundraising.

They are likely busy organizing stuff.

So.... you're saying it was a dumb question .

No, this was not a dumb question at all. Unfortunately, you put parameters on the answer to your question that made it impossible to answer because fundraising and recruiting are the two biggest things a coach does in the off season. That is when they are not busy organizing stuff...lol