Yeah, it's about as embarrassing as criticizing schools for not building up a wrestling program and then stealing a bunch of out of town kids for your own team.

To clarify, I am not advocating for a 4A split in wrestling. My issues are with a) the process & lack of discussion/input and rush for the change to happen, and b) that the split is for some sports, not wrestling.

In smaller schools especially, all sports are in essence competing to attract the most athletic kids to be in our programs. This challenge is now even harder when most every other sport in our schools now are competing against 31 teams for their state trophies....especially our winter sports counterpart, basketball.

I feel the best option is 6A 40 schools, 5A 40 schools, 4A 48 schools. Not the addition of more classes.

If you are directing this statement towards me then it is time for you to rethink this statement. It is a libelous statement. If you have a good product it will attract good customers. Maybe you have SJA confused with another school.

Sorry to not be able to reply for a few days, I have been so busy standing on the "back-side" of my hill that I can't see over the top or anywhere for that matter....I guess there are only a handful of guys that can comment on this topic because you have no credibility if haven't won it all yet!

Kit's most recent post hit it right on the head in terms of where did the data come from, and why rush this piece. IF you split 4A you split it ALL. Not just the handful of sports that want 2 titles for that group of 64 schools!

Got to get back to climbing, chopping wood and trying to get up that hill.....

Doug Vander Linden (my real name)
Burlington Wrestling

Short of moving to just one class, I like this.

Lets keep everything as it stands, but add a twist. Each class has a regional, the top four move to the "State", except now called "Sub-State", then the top four from those move to "The State Tournament" all classes combined. No need to have a Grand State and will solve all issues with which class is stronger and all arguments in between. If need be this will allow for 4A splitting and if need be you could split 321A. Then numbers will be somewhat even and in the end a true individual champ and team champ will be named.

Just my opinion, but I think if they are going to split other sports than they should have split 4A wrestling too. The majority of high school students do not even participate in wrestling, and the ones that do- the majority of them probably do not even make varsity and/or qualify for state. The ones that do place at state- the majority do not wrestle in college, and many who do wrestle in college quit wrestling for different reasons. My point is the diehard wrestling fans have expectations and they also have lots of positive memories from their own personal experiences. If you split 4A you will have that many more student athletes having an opportunity to be state placers (positive experience and positive memories). Maybe the split could actually help promote wrestling in Kansas. The smaller 32 team State competition would probably be somewhat watered down for a few years, but those teams would be able to compete for a strong finish. I do not know the numbers, but I doubt to many of the bottom 32 4A teams are top 10 finishers etc. My point is the split may get more schools and more communities excited about wrestling. More students may end up participating and having a positive experience with the sport of wrestling.

Arizona has just four classes. I cannot find a state in this country with more than four. If we want to add a fourth class, how about girls only state for all classes. Make wrestling gender specific.

I don't believe it is. SJA was not mentioned. Since they were not mentioned, I do not see how they could be confused with another school. By stating that a statement is "libelous" it leaves one to believe that the big bad lawyers will become involved. Pretty lame attempt at a scare tactic. Come on Will, you guys want to be the big dogs, learn to take some comments. It comes with the territory.

Moser has a long history of anti-SJA comments. The awesome work that Coach Medina has accomplished has for some reason gotten under his skin and he's obsessed with bashing them.

And you have a long history of sticking up for SJA. Which wouldn't be so bad if you weren't the 4A and all-class state ranker. I for one don't care for this and would like to see you step down. A ranker should be free of bias and impartial. You seem to have an affinity for private schools. And this is an online chat room form. Then next thing you know he will be trying to sue the comment section on YouTube.

Oh yeah, it's getting good now.

First of all, SJA is a 5A school. If you care to look at the facts, I ranked ARK, SJA and STA 1/2/3 in my final 5A pre-state ranking. That's exactly how they finished. In 6A, I ranked GC, JC and DB 1/2/3 in my final pre-state ranking. That's exactly where they finished. In 4A, 8 of my top 10 teams finished in the top 10.

Every single ranking service on this planet has a personal opinion. When comparing wrestlers who have not met on the mat and have no commons, the ranker makes a choice based on his or her own opinion along with opinions of their trusted sources. Your comment that a ranker should be free of any such opinion is a sophomoric statement, showing a lack of understanding.

Every single time that you have made these unfounded claims, you were asked by myself and others to simply state an example. Your position was found bankrupt when you failed to do so. You will find out in life Steve, that if your claims consistently lack evidence then you will be correctly labeled as a boy who cried wolf.

My example is what you are doing right now Eric. You were not involved in this but you still Can't mind your own business. Time and time again you come to the defense of one program. I would like to think someone who has a position as yours would stay out of it. Will can fight his own battles and doesn't need you to stick up for him. The only thing sophomoric here is your Blatant disregard for every other wrestling program in the state. Again, I call for you to step down as the ranker.

Because I am a ranker, I have to mind my own business? Everyone else gets to speak their mind? You were not involved in this until you chimed in! Are you OK?



Help everyone understand how I am blatantly disregarding every other wrestling program in the state. I've spoken out publically in favor of many of our teams in Kansas.

I do not expect that you will, but call me at 913-484-3624.

I support the Chief. He can also defend SJA if he wants. St. James is good at athletics because they decided that their athletics programs were going to be good. The parents, administration, boosters and students support this. They don't micro-manage their programs and expect their coaches to only work 3 months out of the year. Take a look in the mirror and see if you are doing everything you can to make your programs better or if its easier to waste your energy assuming that the successful programs are cheating. Or, instead of working harder, lets just create more classifications because apparently the only way student athletes can gain any self-worth today is by qualifying for state.

Also, Will is a product of the public school system so we have no one to blame but ourselves.

I believe Eric has every right to have an opinion. I do know this. Ranking, when done right, is a hard job that I would never in a million years want to do. As a head coach, I really don't put a lot of weight in rankings as it eventually has to be settled on the mat. However, they are fun to look at and give us something to talk about. And honestly, his rankings are pretty dang close. They are not only based on opinion. I am pretty sure he has a WAR Room of stats, match-ups, charts, etc. and puts more information into his rankings than anybody.

I would also state that he has no kids left in the game yet he stays on, travels across the state to watch tournaments, etc all in the name of getting his rankings as close as possible. Rankings are an "Educated Guess". And if I had to put my money into someones Educated Guess.. it would be Eric's.

Now back to the forum topic. In my opinion.. to be a STATE CHAMPION you should be the best wrestler or team in your state on the final week-end of the year. Not the best wrestler or team of 4 or 5 different state tournaments.

Granted, I am proud of my kids earning a 6A State Championship in 2011. However, in the final All-Class we were the #2 ranked team behind Andover Central. I would have loved the opportunity to put my team in a state wide tourney to find out where we really were. (I believe we were the best) but we will never know b/c of the "Weakening Waters" of our sport.

We will NEVER HAVE 1 State Tournament. However, split directly down the middle and having only two sure would make it a lot more interesting. Will never happen... but as I stated earlier... just a coach from a Small Hill wishing for something better

Ranking are rankings, until Eric decides by himself who makes the state tournament who cares.

That is the good thing about wrestling, it isn't won on a computer or decided by a commitee who get to compete for a championship. It is decided on the mat.

If and I mean IF he leans towards SJA who cares, that doesn't help SJA kids win on the mat does it?

No no no. On this website only a select few are entitled to their opinions. The rest of us get bashed and bully by those who are. Eric Has always made it a point to interrupt and interfere with my arguments with Will. Will Cokeley has personally tried to embarrass me on this website (He knows what he did). Anytime I have ever shared an opinion on this website he has put me down.

Lighten up Francis.