I can only think of one Kansas senior going on to wrestle Division One this year. Not Grater or Taplin and Cornejo is unsigned. The problem is the Kansas style of wrestling doesn't fit big time college wrestling programs. The best college matches are all about handfighting and shots and counters and scrambles from the feet. Most of our kids are not shooters and they're taught too little on their feet and too much on top. The exceptions, Dyer/Johnston/Roberson---all great on their feet. The Kansas style is ride and ride and ride some more. Our refs and coaches have unknowingly conspired to run Kansas into the ground by having kids ride for minutes at a time without calling stalling. Top is a nice bonus but the least important position. You don't need it to win matches. College coaches want to see kids with great skills on their feet. Kansas coaches and refs, you need to evolve. It's funny to hear coaches talk on this forum about how taking a kid down and letting him go is poor sportsmanship. I guess they never saw Cael Sanderson wrestle? If you went to last year's Metro Classic in KC, you know exactly what I'm talking about. KS got cut to shreds from their feet. Idea: Hold a few pre-season takedown tournaments in your area.

So, who is the one that is going D-I this year?

Gut, good post and good effort but some points i beg to differ with you.

Sanderson was one of the most and one of the last dominant riders in college wrestling history, he absolutely was a monster smothering you from the top.

It is totally true that we Kansas guys are very unskilled at handfighting in general lack the attack, attack and attach again philosophy on our feet. We would get hit for stalling so much more if it was called right.

The problem with the D1 situation is this. Overall the scholarships have dwindled on that level. I absolutely love Brady Lamar as a kid and a wrestler, he is going D1 because he absolutely blew away his grades and standardized tests. He is not a money risk for Nebraska or Columbia.

I attended the Big 12 meet this past weekend and spoke with Coach Douglas of Iowa State. Keep in mind he has Coleman on his roster from Manhattan and was Robersons coach. He stated that when he can bring an in state kid in on a partial scholarship vs. going outside the state and blowing twice as much on a Kansas kid, he has to lean toward the in state kid in order to divy up the pot.

Kansas has no D1 program and that is crippling our kids more than anything.

Lamar=Nebraska

You can't get anymore right on than the above statement. The problem isn't our kids or coaching it's the lack of a D1 program! The same would be true of any other under-funded D1 sport if they didn't exist already at WSU, KU or KSU. Baseball is a prime example.

Coleman is going for his second straight D-1 All-American season, and he is like a spider on top.

I agree that Kansas colleges are killing Kansas wrestling, not coaches and officials.

He stated that when he can bring an in state kid in on a partial scholarship vs. going outside the state and blowing twice as much on a Kansas kid, he has to lean toward the in state kid in order to divy up the pot.

Kansas has no D1 program and that is crippling our kids more than anything.
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pffffffft gutwrench1! I do believe if a kid wants any sport they can be marketed by their coach. If they are seriously wanting professional sports then they will find a way as well.A lot of kids are great at what they do in high school..not just any tom,dick or harry can make it in college. I also believe some incredibly talented kids in all sports are overlooked for scholarships for college and this happens in every state.

Had an opportunity to visit with Coach Smith at a wrestling clinic last year at OSU. He was commenting on only having 9 full scholarships (total) for his wrestling program. Can you imagine the limitations on a D1 program of that caliber and only having 9 full rides? The same is true with all of the other high profile schools. This has to put a tremendous competition on recruiting and the number of quality, talented kids that HAVE to get overlooked or bypassed.

Funny that Bobby Douglas would say that since his only two starters from Iowa are twins. The other 8 are from all over the country. Coleman went to BYU first and did that Morman thing and is closer to 30 yrs old than he is to 20. He's been away from KS for a very long time. I sat with a couple of DI coaches this summer in Fargo and they told me why didn't like what they saw from Kansas--a lack of shooting. Keep track of takedowns tomorrow night against MO. Last year it was 10 takedowns for MO for every one that KS got. Blame our lack of kids going to DI this year on whatever you want to but I think the coaches and refs have created/allowed for a style that doesn't work at the next level. Riding is not going to get you a scholarship.

PS. We weren't watching the same Sanderson, the one I saw was a heel-picking, high C-ing, front-headlocking takedown machine.

Have to agree with gutwrench on comments concerning Sanderson...of course, Mr. Sanderson was pretty darn good in all phases of wrestling.

See, I'm not such a bad guy for trying to get the takedown record. lol.

All fully funded DI programs have a maximum of 9.9 scholarships for wrestling. In most cases they get 9.9 scholarships whether they're in or out of state.

The real budget comes from other sources. Wrestlers work at camps and get paid whatever the coach wants/can give them or they have work study jobs (mopping mats, etc.) At a place like OSU, there's a lot of money provided by their booster club which pays for all those Olympians and other grad assts who stick around. Plus off-season travel dollars for their "club" team. I bet OSU's booster club donates as much or more money each year to wrestling than the school budget for wrestling is.

Gutwrench is 100 percent on base, but there really is no blame to pass around.

The lack of a Division I program, or even more than two four-year programs, hurts the sport in Kansas as much as anything else. I loved the years I spent in Kansas and will always cherish them. But there is a marked difference between Kansas wrestlers (overall) and those from other states.

There are no upper-level role-models for Kansas wrestlers to look to. Oklahoma has two powerhouse D-I programs, a solid Division II and numberous other smaller schools. Iowa has three D-Is, 12 D-IIIs, a couple of NAIAs and three jucos. All of these schools offer off-season camps and clinics and their coaches are frequently in attendence at high school meets.

Kansas needs college wrestling to move to the next level in high school. For every Taplin, Cornejo, Grater, Robeson, Johnston, Bunch and Coleman there are dozens of others with potential who are stuck in the wrong style.

Where is Salyer when we need him eh? D-1 is not the end all be all here. As far as "big time wrestling college programs" a LOT of great kids can get wrestling scholarships from D-less colleges AND complete their education. Just because a kid doesn't go D-1 does not mean they aren't exceptional. There IS life beyond wrestling. Funny thing is you are trying to blame an entire lot of kids not going D-1 because YOU think that is where they WANT to go.

Gutwrench, where do I begin?

1st off, assuming that because Grater, Taplin, and Cornejo didn't sign with a D1 school means we are lacking is absurd. I have a very strong suspicion that Grater didn't sign D1 because he wanted to be close to home at Ft. Hays. As for the others, I'm guessing they didn't go D1 for the same reasons. Finishing in the Top 10 nationally year after year in Fargo is not crippling.

2nd, there is no law that says once you finish high school, you have to wrestle or you suck, which is what you are implying. Could it be that some of our elite are making sound financial decisions and hanging their shoes up because they can't afford the out of state tuition? We are not Blair Academy.

3rd, why would you judge KS's superiority (or inferiority) over Mizzou on the Metro Classic. It is a very well known fact that this dual is not stacked in Kansas's favor. Missouri's strongest in KCMO - KS is not. Any person that knows anything about wrestling could tell you that.

If anything, what kills KS wresters is Kansans themselves. We have stacked the cards out of our favor. KSHSAA has silly rules, KWCA is hellbent on the Dual State concept, and kids are losing interest by the time they reach high school. Plus, look at our situation population wise. There's a reason Ohio has more D1 athletes that we do. They have more kids. Then just think economically speaking. Very few of our kids have the financial resources to travel all over the country or world (Kenny Monday's club traveling to Asia comes to mind).

Even though the cards may not be stacked in our favor, we do pretty darn good considering what we're up against.

If you ask me, I like what I see from Kansas. We have successful wrestlers coming back to coach our high school kids. Eric Akin, Kenny Taylor, Beau Vest, Charles Knox, and whole mess of Ft. Hays wrestlers comes to mind. I'd even throw my name in the mix, even though I wasn't as accomplished.

That's the true testament of wrestling in Kansas. I'm happy when we get a D1 signing, but I'm elated when I see our wrestlers putting time back into a sport that has given them so much.

Maybe Richard Salyer can figure out how well we would fare if our wrestlers were to just stay home at a D1 school vs the rest of the colleges this NCAA. I'm betting we'd be doing pretty good.

Gibby made my Christmas list!!! Yeah what Gibby typed !!! gee...let's see who wants to wrestle there eh?

Sorry Gibby, gotta fight you on a couple of things here...

First, are you going to tell me that the four top recruits in the state this year all turned down D-I scholarships? Chances are they weren't recruited or just offered walk-on status while UNO or Ft. Hays offered money.

Second, there are other schools that offer wrestling besides D-Is. Matt Pyle seems to be doing just fine at Luther (private school, but liberal financial aid). And the Blair Academy comment was silly --- Iowa is no more wealthy than Kansas and 90 percent of the D-III rosters in the state are filled with in-state athletes. There are numberous opportunities not that far from the Kansas borders that one can find wrestling opportunity.

Third, don't blame KSHSAA and don't blame the KWCA. Iowa has more DI athletes than Kansas (as does Oklahoma and Nebraska) and the populations are pretty much the same. KSHSAA's rules (other than the points thing) are so liberal in wrestling that I miss them greatly. You want oppressive rules, come up here. And our kids are no more wealthy and they still figure out ways to wrestle at the top levels in the off-season.

The fact of the matter is that overall, Kansas wrestling is stuck in a style that does not translate well outside the state. Robeson and Coleman and Akin got to where they are with a lot of hard work outside of Kansas. Granted, with the lack of scholarship money, D-I schools throw nickels around like they're manhole covers.

But college coaches aren't dumb enough to turn down someone they see as a solid prospect, either. This is about potential more than money Gibby, it really is.

Kansas wrestling is exciting and fun to watch. I enjoyed coaching there and the friendships I made along the way. But with no examples in house (as in KU or K-State) to look at, it just can't grow at the same rate --- and that's not a knock, it's a fact.

P.S. --- For the record, over 8,000 fans from 24 schools showed up Saturday for Iowa's 20th State Duals in Cedar Rapids. C'mon Gibby, can we really ALL be that wrong?

I think if Kansas had a few D-1 schools we would do pretty good. Look at our JUCO schools, many of them are always on the top...Labette, Neosho, Colby... And many of them have alot of Kansas wrestlers. Kansas just needs more opportunities for in-state D1 wrestling.

I agree with LTW, if we had even one DI school in Kansas you'd see them start excelling immediately, you figure you could keep half of the Juco kids in Kansas and with the success of the Jucos you figure it's a breeding ground for success, too bad KU, KSU, or WSU won't add wrestling they're sitting on a gold mine

If only James Naismith had hung his peach basket in Iowa City...wrestle on you Kansas studs and thanks for your contributions to Kansas wrestling history!