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Is 2024-25 the Peak for PSU?

I, too, think we are about to see an oligopoly with OSU and PSU banging heads for recruits and titles very soon (2-3 years). I’m not as pessimistic as some nor as sanguine as others, but I’m thinking rich Penn State alums besides Ira who have enjoyed this dynasty like we plebes have are contacting Cael with additional promises of support.
 
I am super happy for David, and I think we will all say an audible 'wow' if/wen the salary numbers are published.

Clearly there was no more damaging scenario for the PSU program than DT going somewhere (Iowa, Oky State, or even elsewhere).

Okay State did not have a strong pipeline to getting PA recruits, now it is clear Cael will lose some future recruits to David whether they be local or national.

My immediate term concern is the log jam we have and a few kids with incredibly strong connections to DT. To be honest I do have tangoble concerned for both Kasak and Ryder. Losing either or both would be huge blows to our mult-year plan and neither should be characterized as sure things now with David building his new franchise.

I really hope we get positive news on the M2 front in the next few months. Maybe if someone like Nolf could buy him out, I will sleep sounder. If DT remains the owner, and builds an M2 satellite in Stillwater, ouch. Head coach is all encompassing and ultimately he can't or shouldn't focus on divided interests on that front. He could sell M2 to an Oky state Alum, and that would really hurt.

I am somewhat cool with losing some highschool kids (Jax, Bassett, Blaze) in the future, it's a level playing field, but or chances at getting any of them have to have declined markedly. I think Oky State has just started throwing money at this thing.
It right Paoching the fruit from our current tree worries me. Not so much DT, but the boosters have to be fired up and dialing phones as we speak.

I also see a few less critical guys, hammers nonetheless, such as Perry, Sealy or even Facundo as worthy of a slight pause. I do hope Baraclough heads to OSU.

As painful as this appears for PSU, and no doubt this is a worse case scenario, it will prove to be even more painful for Iowa IMO. They just dropped one more notch on terms of attractiveness. Until Iowa is ready in 2029 or earlier to follow suit with another earth shattering move, from the Cael hiring tree, I don't see Iowa threatening for a title, tOSU and OSU will be the tier above.

There should be no doubt, Cael's brand is not diminished one iota IMO, and he will continue to maintain the dynasty going forward, but I see little doubt we will still feel direct pain sooner than later.

Parity is good for the sport and we will see it sooner than many think.
If SVN can get (and stay) healthy at 149 and with Duke coming in at 157, it's possible that in a couple years Kasak won't have a spot in the lineup. Assuming Ryder is at 174, he'll have competition from some combination of Facundo, Henckel, and maybe even Haines and Sealy. Hard to forecast how the lineup will shake out. Certainly losing Kasak and/or Ryder would sting, but saying their loss would be a huge blow to the PSU multi-year plan seems like hyperbole.

Overall, DT and Okie State will get their fair share of top recruits. I expect PSU will as well.

Losing DT from NLWC to coach at Okie State will hurt PSU to some degree, yes. But worst case scenario? DT going to anOSU or Michigan would probably be worse.
 
If SVN can get (and stay) healthy at 149 and with Duke coming in at 157, it's possible that in a couple years Kasak won't have a spot in the lineup. Assuming Ryder is at 174, he'll have competition from some combination of Facundo, Henckel, and maybe even Haines and Sealy. Hard to forecast how the lineup will shake out. Certainly losing Kasak and/or Ryder would sting, but saying their loss would be a huge blow to the PSU multi-year plan seems like hyperbole.

Overall, DT and Okie State will get their fair share of top recruits. I expect PSU will as well.

Losing DT from NLWC to coach at Okie State will hurt PSU to some degree, yes. But worst case scenario? DT going to anOSU or Michigan would probably be worse.
DT at Michigan with the Cliff Keen bag money and well developed RTC would be a killer.
 
Let's just say I will be very happy if all the M2 guys already pledged to us stay that way.

You all are correct, OSU ain't taking us down any time soon, but if they do raid or cupboard (either the kids want to follow David, or OSU booster via NIL go out and outright buy them), I can definitely see OSU leapfrogging tOSU and Iowa to the perrenial #2 in the country, in as short as 2 years.

That is fast.

I can see OSU becoming my second favorite team to root for as well starting next fall. How can you not?
 
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Let's just say I will be very happy if all the M2 guys already pledged to us stay that way.

You all are correct, OSU ain't taking us down any time soon, but if they do raid or cupboard (either the kids want to follow David, or OSU booster via NIL go out and outright buy them), I can definitely see OSU leapfrogging tOSU and Iowa to the perrenial #2 in the country, in as short as 2 years.

That is fast.

I can see OSU becoming my second favorite team to root for as well starting next fall. How can you not?
I guess it's possible, but tOSU has some excellent young talent onboard and more coming. I see them as the top tier opponent in the near future. It will be tough for the Cowboys to pass them, but it will be interesting.
 
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Let's just say I will be very happy if all the M2 guys already pledged to us stay that way.

You all are correct, OSU ain't taking us down any time soon, but if they do raid or cupboard (either the kids want to follow David, or OSU booster via NIL go out and outright buy them), I can definitely see OSU leapfrogging tOSU and Iowa to the perrenial #2 in the country, in as short as 2 years.

That is fast.

I can see OSU becoming my second favorite team to root for as well starting next fall. How can you not?
Iowa, probably.

Ohio State might be a little longer. They're a young team with the 2nd most returning points, one national champ (Mendez), another favorite in 2026 (Feldman), a threat in Welsh, and a lot of upper end talent incoming.

Taylor might pass Ryan this year as a one-off if he lands both Alirez and Hendrickson -- but either way OKST loses a lot of SR points (Plott, Hamiti, any other rentals). Staying ahead of Ryan might take more than 2 years.
 
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Iowa, probably.

Ohio State might be a little longer. They're a young team with the 2nd most returning points, one national champ (Mendez), another favorite in 2026 (Feldman), a threat in Welsh, and a lot of upper end talent incoming.

Taylor might pass Ryan this year as a one-off if he lands both Alirez and Hendrickson -- but either way OKST loses a lot of SR points (Plott, Hamiti, any other rentals). Staying ahead of Ryan might take more than 2 years.
Bingo. Nailed it.
 
I was going to post this two weeks ago before the latest news, but I definitely think it's appropriate now.

Cael's excellence, NIL, the feed from M2 and AWA, coupled with what I consider some relative weakness in the other big programs brought about a perfect storm to stack our team like never before creating depth at nearly every weight.

Last year's points record was the evidence that something even more special was going on. This year's team with a real shot at breaking the record evidenced it was no one time fluke.

Oky State was already on a rebound and tOSU positioned to have multiple national champs on the same squad as early is this coming year.

With hammers 2-deep, we are already in a situation where some outstanding studs will leave. With NIL being external to the program, you can have boosters call anyone they want. Tampering could soon be rampant, with the vultures circling our program in search of any weakness, doubt or out right dollar chasing.

So yes, per the title, I think this and next season exhibit levels of excellence that simply can not be sustained, and the latest news only has accelerated that inevitability.

Let's be serious the 100 point victory margin was almost comical, and in reality not all that good for the sport, as much as we all enjoyed every drop.

We might see Ben Askren take a job somewhere soon as well and then the answer to the question, where can my son go to wrestle so that he can be the best he can be? Is a bit more difficult to answer. Likewise the obvious pipeline that has been created with M2 is now under serious threat.

I am both happy for David but also quite sad at the prospect of his departure from Pennsylvania, most likely permanently. The exact timing of AB beating him at this point in time is likely to have shockwaves felt for the next two decades.

I hope none of our current M2 kids immediately bail to Stillwater, but it certainly isn't an impossiblity.

Would I trade Cael for DT? No chance in hell. Cael is Cael, and there is only one. David can try to emulate and mimic, but he will be his own man, and Cael is 'the' unicorn.

Do I see a return to the norm where Cael has the strongest program but now OSU and tOSU are nipping at our heals and might win a national championship every 3-4 year cycle? Yes, most likely I do.

Until Cael retires, PSU will remain king, but the barbarians are at the gate, and the days of 100 point record breaking seasons will end after next season. In a free market, competition never competition.

2024-2025 will prove to be peak PSU in time, but the future still remains bright.

All I can say is that when Sanderson started this thing, I said I'd never see a better team than the team anchored by Taylor and Ruth. Clearly I did see better squads again and again. That said, it cannot go on forever especially with the Sanderson coaching tree starting to branch off.

So yeah, 24 and 25 may very well be the peak, and you are spot on - the future is bright.
 
Just think how fun it will be to be fans of the #1 and #2 team in the country!

logical star trek GIF
 
I think people are making this way to easy for dt. This is going to be a daunting task and he ain't Cael I don't see anyone surpassing us for quite some time just look at what we have going the next four years and tell me a line up that even comes close. Of course there are a ton of what ifs like who goes with him and who stays yada yada yada. Let's let it unfold. I wish dt luck and he's going to need it I would not want any part of that pressure from that school
 
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I think people are making this way to easy for dt. This is going to be a daunting task and he ain't Cael I don't see anyone surpassing us for quite some time just look at what we have going the next four years and tell me a line up that even comes close. Of course there are a ton of what ifs like who goes with him and who stays yada yada yada. Let's let it unfold. I wish dt luck and he's going to need it I would not want any part of that pressure from that school
It won't be easy, but Okie State already has pretty good young talent on hand and incoming for DT to work with:

Thompson, top 10 recruit in 2023 class, 3 years remaining
Jamison, several wins over AAs last season, 3 years remaining
Spratley, R12 at 2024 NCAAs, 3 years remaining
Carroll, one of very top recruits in 2023 class, made Olympic Team Trials, 4 years remaining
Hughes, top 10 recruit in 2023 class, just won U20 title at 61 kg over Kyler Larkin, 4 years remaining
Merrill, one of very top ranked recruits in 2024 class
Lockett, one of very top guys in 2025 class, just won U20 title over Sealey at 74 kg
 
It won't be easy, but Okie State already has pretty good young talent on hand and incoming for DT to work with:

Thompson, top 10 recruit in 2023 class, 3 years remaining
Jamison, several wins over AAs last season, 3 years remaining
Spratley, R12 at 2024 NCAAs, 3 years remaining
Carroll, one of very top recruits in 2023 class, made Olympic Team Trials, 4 years remaining
Hughes, top 10 recruit in 2023 class, just won U20 title at 61 kg over Kyler Larkin, 4 years remaining
Merrill, one of very top ranked recruits in 2024 class
Lockett, one of very top guys in 2025 class, just won U20 title over Sealey at 74 kg
A better base than what Cael had but will they all buy in??? probably not. But they will be there for a year at least because isn’t the portal closed now?
 
A better base than what Cael had but will they all buy in??? probably not. But they will be there for a year at least because isn’t the portal closed now?
Cael had Q (2), Ruth (3) and Molinero (1) sitting here waiting. Okie has talent waiting for development, but not sure it is a better championship base than what Cael had.
 
Let's just say I will be very happy if all the M2 guys ……

I can see OSU becoming my second favorite team to root for as well starting next fall. How can you not?
I think a great number of us will root for Okie State (*) and DT except for the annual meeting that will certainly be set up in the near future. I think what will be most interesting to watch how fast and if DT becomes Darth. I’d like to think that I will always admire DT, but, competition has a way of breeding contempt. Let’s see. Gonna be interesting for sure!
(*)I’ve learned that calling people in Oklahoma an Okie is generally accepted, BUT, calling the university “Okie state” is not.
 
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I think a great number of us will root for Okie State (*) and DT except for the annual meeting that will certainly be set up in the near future. I think what will be most interesting to watch how fast and if DT becomes Darth. I’d like to think that I will always admire DT, but, competition has a way of breeding contempt. Let’s see. Gonna be interesting for sure!
(*)I’ve learned that calling people in Oklahoma an Okie is generally accepted, BUT, calling the university “Okie state” is not.
Darth Taylor has a ring to it.
 
Cael had Q (2), Ruth (3) and Molin[a]ro (1) sitting here waiting. Okie has talent waiting for development, but not sure it is a better championship base than what Cael had.
I wish we had asked ourselves, just after Cael arrived, how many individual titles we expected from the inherited wrestlers. I’m guessing the majority opinion would have been less than 6.
 
A better base than what Cael had but will they all buy in??? probably not. But they will be there for a year at least because isn’t the portal closed now?
A actually I don't expect any defections, but the Oky State kids get a Portal extension due to the coaching change.
 
A actually I don't expect any defections, but the Oky State kids get a Portal extension due to the coaching change.
True, but for accuracy they likely only have a few days left to register. They got 30d from Smith's resignation on 4/11.

The only gray area would be if they got an additional 30d when Interim Coach Scott was relieved. Probably not, since Scott was named interim, but I've not seen that explicitly stated in the rules.

The extra 30d begins when a head coach leaves, not when a new coach starts.
 
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I would've guessed Ruth too. He was so much better after that year at Blair.

I think I would've seen opportunity for mulitple titles from those two -- but not expected it. Winning titles is extremely hard.
That’s fair, coming into 2010 I was confident that Q would eventually find himself on top of the podium after what I saw from him the year prior as a true freshman. I just couldn’t say the same for Ed without him ever wrestling a collegiate match and I love Frank and this isn’t a knock but his commitment level in ‘09 wasn’t anywhere near what it was in ‘11 and ‘12 but that was also a much different culture under NoFunderland.
 
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That’s fair, coming into 2010 I was confident that Q would eventually find himself on top of the podium after what I saw from him the year prior as a true freshman. I just couldn’t say the same for Ed without him ever wrestling a collegiate match and I love Frank and this isn’t a knock but his commitment level in ‘09 wasn’t anywhere near what it was in ‘11 and ‘12 but that was also a much different culture under NoFunderland.
That's completely aligned with Frank's article about his mindset change under Cael. Also, Frank's college results didn't project toward a 2x finalist (which as it turns out, was related).

On the day Cael was hired, I probably would've expected former finalist Jenkins to win a title. Just not for somebody else.
 
I wish we had asked ourselves, just after Cael arrived, how many individual titles we expected from the inherited wrestlers. I’m guessing the majority opinion would have been less than 6.
To count backwards to get the most recent six individual PSU champions prior to Cael's arrival I think we get to 1995. McCoy 95, Abe 96, McCoy 97, Pritzlaff 99, Hunter 00 and Davis 08. I doubt any of us would have seen 6 in a 3 year period sitting in the room waiting to be developed. Perspectives have certainly changed.
 
I was going to post this two weeks ago before the latest news, but I definitely think it's appropriate now.

Cael's excellence, NIL, the feed from M2 and AWA, coupled with what I consider some relative weakness in the other big programs brought about a perfect storm to stack our team like never before creating depth at nearly every weight.

Last year's points record was the evidence that something even more special was going on. This year's team with a real shot at breaking the record evidenced it was no one time fluke.

Oky State was already on a rebound and tOSU positioned to have multiple national champs on the same squad as early is this coming year.

With hammers 2-deep, we are already in a situation where some outstanding studs will leave. With NIL being external to the program, you can have boosters call anyone they want. Tampering could soon be rampant, with the vultures circling our program in search of any weakness, doubt or out right dollar chasing.

So yes, per the title, I think this and next season exhibit levels of excellence that simply can not be sustained, and the latest news only has accelerated that inevitability.

Let's be serious the 100 point victory margin was almost comical, and in reality not all that good for the sport, as much as we all enjoyed every drop.

We might see Ben Askren take a job somewhere soon as well and then the answer to the question, where can my son go to wrestle so that he can be the best he can be? Is a bit more difficult to answer. Likewise the obvious pipeline that has been created with M2 is now under serious threat.

I am both happy for David but also quite sad at the prospect of his departure from Pennsylvania, most likely permanently. The exact timing of AB beating him at this point in time is likely to have shockwaves felt for the next two decades.

I hope none of our current M2 kids immediately bail to Stillwater, but it certainly isn't an impossiblity.

Would I trade Cael for DT? No chance in hell. Cael is Cael, and there is only one. David can try to emulate and mimic, but he will be his own man, and Cael is 'the' unicorn.

Do I see a return to the norm where Cael has the strongest program but now OSU and tOSU are nipping at our heals and might win a national championship every 3-4 year cycle? Yes, most likely I do.

Until Cael retires, PSU will remain king, but the barbarians are at the gate, and the days of 100 point record breaking seasons will end after next season. In a free market, competition never competition.

2024-2025 will prove to be peak PSU in time, but the future still remains bright.
I think DT will do very well at OSU and will win and contend for championships real soon. Different landscape these days. OSU looks to even have deeper pockets than PSU. This said, PSU still has geography and most importantly Cael who is an outlier. Cael will win less, but still more than everyone else for the foreseeable future.

Makes wrestling more exciting these days.

I think The OSU will take a bit of a hit in their recruiting going forward.
 
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