Division 1 Wrestlers

[Bearhugger]

With all of the camps, clinics, access to information (Flo, Youtube, etc), in season out of state competition and the increased amount and popularity of off season and national tournaments...................why are there not more WV wrestlers competing in college?

Why are there not more D1 wrestlers from WV?

Somebody asked me. Seeking input from all.

[coach_williams]

This is just my opinion (and we all know what those are like) so take it how you will.

1. Too many high school coaches fail to promote their wrestlers to college coaches. While some will argue it is not their job, I would counter that it isn't that hard to create a profile of your graduating wrestlers and email it out to a few dozen colleges. It also isn't that hard to reach out to local and regional coaches and invite them to visit a practice or attend a match and meet your seniors.

2. Wrestlers fail to promote themselves. Expecting college coaches to just notice you when high school wrestling gets so little media attention in our state is just being naive. Again, it isn't that hard to reach out to coaches and get their attention. How many wrestlers have created a 5 minute highlight video and uploaded it to YouTube and then emailed the link to college coaches? How many parents have registered their wrestler with a national recruiting agency? How many senior wrestlers have registered themselves with the NCAA Eligibility Center by the start of their senior year so that they can get on the radar of D1 and D2 colleges? (this is also required before a wrestler can visit or sign a letter of intent with a D1 or D2 college)

[DongerWrestle]

Not directed toward anyone or team... too many coaches coach Wrestling just for extra money. Too many teachers taking positions and not putting energy into building a program. Maybe 5-6 “programs” in WV. If you look at those programs, guarantee you they send more to college to wrestle than all others added together. Just don’t have the culture in WV like in OH or PA.

[mike.carman]

Coach Williams,
I think you are spot on. From the coaching side, it takes extra time for them to promote their wrestlers and personally, I don't think they want to do it. To counter that, if they were to have individuals go to college and wrestle, it would help build their programs. Also, parents fail to educate themselves on the process and thereby don't promote their children either, mostly because they don't know how to and don't know how to educate themselves on how to do it.

Also, eligibility requirements and going through the NCAA clearing house stuff is not something that is common knowledge. Coaches fail to prepare their athletes for this process and likewise information does not get to the parents. As a community, we need to do better to educate our coaches, parents and students on the process.

Just my 2 cents.

[Bearhugger]

Based on the feedback received thus far (3 / 165 views), the general message is lack of effort from the wrestlers, lack of effort from their parents and/or lack of effort from the coaches.

Lack of understanding what to do seems to be a challenge also.

What else?

Thanks to the three that responded.

[Truesouthfaninhunt]

Some kids arent good enough.

[WrestlingFan1]

Some kids that are good enough to wrestle maybe choose to pursue other sports in college. Just throwing that out there, not really sure myself.

[mike.carman]

Based on the feedback received thus far (3 / 165 views), the general message is lack of effort from the wrestlers, lack of effort from their parents and/or lack of effort from the coaches.

Lack of understanding what to do seems to be a challenge also.

What else?

Thanks to the three that responded.

Lack of effort may be some of it but I would say it's more a lack of understanding and education. It is not an easy process to get recruited. There are thousands of kids who wrestle across the country. They need to sell themselves to college coaches and there are only 9 scholarships available from each school. Not to mention, we only have 1 D1 school in the state and only a few more D2 and NAIA schools. Since there are only 9 scholarships, school are rarely able to give full rides to wrestlers and going out of state is expensive. Part of it becomes affordability too.

[Bucktail]

I just went through this process with my son. We had a D1 official visit and he was recruited by several schools from D1 to NWCA club wrestling. Knowing he's not likely to turn wrestling into a profession or make the Olympics, maybe the best choice is the best financial package and best fit. He could have attended an out-of state D1, incurred more cost for his education, but he felt really comfortable with Coach Smith and with West Liberty. The D1 schools pointed out he would be in their town, on their campus for all but about 6 weeks of the year. They would own him and he would have been 5 hours from home. So weigh out the decision, should I go to a place 5 hours away, pay more money, get owned by the coaching staff, and rarely get to come home or should I make a better financial decision, wrestle in state for a place I ultimately feel really comfortable, compete at a high level, but get to come home for holidays and breaks?

Maybe what matters most is getting to stay attached to the sport. I know plenty of wrestlers who did not have great experiences in the D1 promised land and a couple who advised staying away from it. The one coach we were recruited by was very succinct when he said, "The only thing fun about wrestling is winning. All the hours training, cutting, and working are not fun unless you are getting your hand raised." Each student athlete has to do what is best for themselves.

You want to get noticed, put yourself out there. Have your coach send an email to the coaches and let them know you are interested. Include your grades and ACT/ SAT scores. Fill out their athlete referral page on their website. Have a clean twitter & Facebook with your academic stats before your athletic ones. We knew coaches were interested when they began to follow on social media. Oh yeah, they check your discipline record at the school as well. The highlight videos come later. Then wrestle. Go to their camps, which is a much better way to get recognized than huge tournaments. Go on campus visits and request a meeting with the coaches. Be engaged and ask questions and try to envision yourself living in that space and going to school there. Your gut tells you what is right. Be realistic in your abilities and what you are accomplishing on the mat. This worked for us and led us to some memorable conversations and intriguing decisions. We are excited for the next chapter. Go Toppers!!!

J. Zeiders

[Gator]

I just went through this process with my son. We had a D1 official visit and he was recruited by several schools from D1 to NWCA club wrestling. Knowing he's not likely to turn wrestling into a profession or make the Olympics, maybe the best choice is the best financial package and best fit. He could have attended an out-of state D1, incurred more cost for his education, but he felt really comfortable with Coach Smith and with West Liberty. The D1 schools pointed out he would be in their town, on their campus for all but about 6 weeks of the year. They would own him and he would have been 5 hours from home. So weigh out the decision, should I go to a place 5 hours away, pay more money, get owned by the coaching staff, and rarely get to come home or should I make a better financial decision, wrestle in state for a place I ultimately feel really comfortable, compete at a high level, but get to come home for holidays and breaks?

Maybe what matters most is getting to stay attached to the sport. I know plenty of wrestlers who did not have great experiences in the D1 promised land and a couple who advised staying away from it. The one coach we were recruited by was very succinct when he said, "The only thing fun about wrestling is winning. All the hours training, cutting, and working are not fun unless you are getting your hand raised." Each student athlete has to do what is best for themselves.

You want to get noticed, put yourself out there. Have your coach send an email to the coaches and let them know you are interested. Include your grades and ACT/ SAT scores. Fill out their athlete referral page on their website. Have a clean twitter & Facebook with your academic stats before your athletic ones. We knew coaches were interested when they began to follow on social media. Oh yeah, they check your discipline record at the school as well. The highlight videos come later. Then wrestle. Go to their camps, which is a much better way to get recognized than huge tournaments. Go on campus visits and request a meeting with the coaches. Be engaged and ask questions and try to envision yourself living in that space and going to school there. Your gut tells you what is right. Be realistic in your abilities and what you are accomplishing on the mat. This worked for us and led us to some memorable conversations and intriguing decisions. We are excited for the next chapter. Go Toppers!!!

J. Zeiders

Couldn’t agree more! Education means so much today and getting your education paid for through hard work is a great bonus.

[Bearhugger]

I just went through this process with my son. We had a D1 official visit and he was recruited by several schools from D1 to NWCA club wrestling. Knowing he's not likely to turn wrestling into a profession or make the Olympics, maybe the best choice is the best financial package and best fit. He could have attended an out-of state D1, incurred more cost for his education, but he felt really comfortable with Coach Smith and with West Liberty. The D1 schools pointed out he would be in their town, on their campus for all but about 6 weeks of the year. They would own him and he would have been 5 hours from home. So weigh out the decision, should I go to a place 5 hours away, pay more money, get owned by the coaching staff, and rarely get to come home or should I make a better financial decision, wrestle in state for a place I ultimately feel really comfortable, compete at a high level, but get to come home for holidays and breaks?

Maybe what matters most is getting to stay attached to the sport. I know plenty of wrestlers who did not have great experiences in the D1 promised land and a couple who advised staying away from it. The one coach we were recruited by was very succinct when he said, "The only thing fun about wrestling is winning. All the hours training, cutting, and working are not fun unless you are getting your hand raised." Each student athlete has to do what is best for themselves.

You want to get noticed, put yourself out there. Have your coach send an email to the coaches and let them know you are interested. Include your grades and ACT/ SAT scores. Fill out their athlete referral page on their website. Have a clean twitter & Facebook with your academic stats before your athletic ones. We knew coaches were interested when they began to follow on social media. Oh yeah, they check your discipline record at the school as well. The highlight videos come later. Then wrestle. Go to their camps, which is a much better way to get recognized than huge tournaments. Go on campus visits and request a meeting with the coaches. Be engaged and ask questions and try to envision yourself living in that space and going to school there. Your gut tells you what is right. Be realistic in your abilities and what you are accomplishing on the mat. This worked for us and led us to some memorable conversations and intriguing decisions. We are excited for the next chapter. Go Toppers!!!

J. Zeiders

Mr. Zeiders, your input and commentary is comprehensive and incredible. Hopefully over 1,000 people will read this.

I will share that I have heard of one D1 coach that was interested in a WV wrestler a few years ago. The coach started following the wrestler on social media and lost interest because of what the wrestler was posting on Twitter.

[JoeGio76]

There are a lot of reasons that WV doesn’t produce as many D1 wrestlers as maybe it should. However, like football I think that trend is changing a little. The overall numbers in WV might not be great but I think the quality at the top is very good. I don’t want to leave anyone out but in 2018 the state of WV had probably 10 potential D1 kids. My guess is that is more than ever before. Amos, Humphries, Rea, Whorton, Peyton Hall, Hart, windland, Best etc. Numbers might be down but quality is on the rise. Also like someone else earlier said, until recently, WV had very little exposure or opportunities for in state college wrestling. In the 80s and 90s it was WVU and West Lib. That has now changed and we are starting to see results.
Mr. Zeiders hit the nail on the head. His post was 100% correct.
As far as blaming coaches I think that’s crap. I can tell you right now that a local HS coach has opened up the facility at the HS for 2 different wrestling camps. 1 was in October and 1 is happening right now. Both camps feature the WVU coaching staff and wrestlers along with instruction from West Liberty Coach Mitch Smith. The cost of this camp is $40 and it covers 8 sessions. That’s the cheapest you will find anywhere. 2 camps featuring D1 and D2 coaches for $80 total and it covers 16 sessions. You want to know how many HS kids showed up? 2. That’s right 2. You want to know how many Middle school kids were there last night? 0. That’s right 0. So I wouldn’t t be so fast to blame it on coaches. Local HS and MS kids has the opportunity of a lifetime and said no way. The room was full of youth wrestlers only. You can’t say the coaches aren’t trying.

[russling]

Wrestling may be one of the easiest in terms of getting noticed sports around plus if you are good enough and have decent grades you will get some sort of scholarship. Just enter, place and beat some ranked wrestlers at Ironman, Powerade, National Tournament and Duals, Disney Duals, Flo, Fargo etc. and you will get noticed. Win any of the big ones and you get more schools interested and more money. If you just wrestle in state (WV) during season then YES it will be a lot tougher to get recruited. You will then need to contact schools and fill out recruitment questionnaires and update the coaches.

[mscoach26]

I personally know a wrestler now competing at an out of state D2 school who had multiple offers from highly regarded D1 programs. He chose the D2 school for academics, it’s smaller size and a great relationship with the coaching staff. So tell me what’s wrong with getting a quality education in your chosen major worth well into six figures while doing what you love with people you get along with on a beautiful campus with small classes where you are not just a number? D1 is not the be all, end all. You wrestle 4-5 years in college but your degree is yours for life.

[Bucktail]

Its not all about wrestling either. The head coach of Bloomsburg came to watch my son play football against Capital. They recruit the student and the athlete.

[hollywood]

Not everyone goes to college or even wants to go to college. This includes wrestlers, not every wrestler in WV wants to go to college and even some of the “good” wrestlers in this state don’t go to college, therefore they can’t wrestle in college. This state also doesn’t have the D1 talent states like NJ, PA, and OH have. But there still is good talent in this state.

[J.W.]

This state also doesn’t have the D1 talent states like NJ, PA, and OH have. But there still is good talent in this state.

Totally disagree with this state doesn't have D1 talent, may not have the depth that NJ, PA, and OH have but there is many with the talent and ability.

[Truesouthfaninhunt]

Steel sharpens Steel

[J.W.]

Steel sharpens Steel

Two pieces of steel can also rust away together if somebody does not put work into them.

[NhsMom]

Some kids don’t choose D1. My son had the option of D1 or NAIA. He chose NAIA, smaller school and academics over athletics. I’m sure he could do either if he wanted, but he understands that his college academics will pay the bills in 4 years.