I thought that too until I found out is was in Rec Hall. We could just send our whole team out and see if a team of All Stars could beat us in a dual.
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This will be every single dual. It will be unlikely any of our guys have even 20 matches before Big 10s
No way. Troll when it doesn't cost you anything. There's no way this sells out. I normally get at least 4 tickets from a season ticket holder, and I just turned them down.
Just the wrestling gods rewarding Z-man for outstanding coverage here of the worlds. Talk about instant karma. Happy for you.
I believe Kraft has said he would like more duals at BJC because he views it as an untapped stream of revenue, on the flip side, I know Cael has said he prefers Rec Hall as it is much louder and allows a better experience for the fans to see legitimately what is going on. Kraft has made it clear he will listen to Cael and do whatever he wants.
Overall, I think we'll see big opponents at Rec Hall (it certainly isn't to troll Tom Ryan for 2018 lol)
Overall, I think we'll see big opponents at Rec Hall (it certainly isn't to troll Tom Ryan for 2018 lol)
Yeah, I understand Kraft is going to build a sauna in Rec, buy the team a six-month supply of water pills, get each guy his own personal neoprene suit, verify all the training staff are regularly administering IV fluids to maintain peak fitness, and ensure the temperature in Lorenzo never drops below 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
(Just kidding!!! Although if it got Kraft's a** fired I'd be fine if he did! 😉)
You don’t like Kraft? I think he is worlds better than the last one and doing a decent job.
Better, yes, absolutely. Bringing in his BC cronies doesn't score points with me, and he's made a few comments that cause me to pause. In person he's not very impressive (to me at least). In addition, the lack of Penn State awareness is concerning, but to be fair, unless you have a history with Penn State (which he doesn't) you're on a learning curve. I just find it distasteful he's getting paid a mil a year to be on a learning curve (when that money could be put to better use). Bottom line, per my post, I won't lose any sleep if he gets canned and we try something else.
I think your comments are the first I’ve read anything not 100% positive about Kraft.
Long gone is the potential for a wrestler to amass 159 matches in their career.
It is the least they could do after the traitorous Ducks dropped wrestling!
Yes sir. Floor seats it sounds like. Friend of ours son is on OSU team. Kinda like you lol. He was in our sky loft at nationals last year by the way.
What do you expect?
If we don't pay the going rate for an AD, we get a crappy hire. Or, who in the Barbour front office (or former PSU Athletics officer now elsewhere) should've been hired instead, to avoid a dreaded learning curve?
Either path seems like a recipe for football instability and all the problems that brings.
I'd suggest that my comments might be the first you've read anything "about" Kraft, period. He's been here a year-plus and outside of the initial introductory background pieces, I have yet to see anything "journalistic" about him or the job he's doing (Please point me in the direction if you know of any puff pieces out there - I'd be interested to read them!). I mean, when Kraft's in the news it's because Kraft is saying something. To a certain extent that's a positive, and an obvious improvement over his predecessor because the "no news is good news" maxim holds some truth. I mean, he's fine, but for $1+ mil I'd like more than fine (I'd like him to raise the money for a new wrestling venue and a new Beav!). And as long as he gives Cael anything he wants and stays off his phone while sitting across the aisle from Cael in Rec, then I'm not gonna get too bitchy. But I calls 'em as I sees 'em, and I know others who feel similarly, so, that's my two cents!
I’m going to disagree with you and leave it at that.
Investment in expanded wrestling facilities is in the works … plans for renovating Beaver stadium has been publicly talked about already.
At length, and a "new Beaver Stadium" was a pipe dream. It was always going to be modifications to the existing structure.
Washington rebuilt Husky Stadium (re-opened in 2013) -- that took 21 months. At least they could play at the NFL stadium. Can't imagine PSU fans being happy with no home games for 2 years or more. Plus that would be a major dent to the local economy.
I mean minus the fact that both Franklin and Cael went out of their way to talk about how well Kraft has done to support them on a NIL standpoint
Facilities/Stadium Renovations are not an overnight project
I'm kind of replying to a bunch of folks here with this, so bear with me.
Beaver Stadium renovations are low-hanging fruit. Any of us on this message board could become PSU's AD for $300K a year (saving the Dept. a cool mil), and fund $700 mil in renovations with the increased TV money alone ($200 mil of which is for needed upkeep, not renovations.). That's a piece of cake and Kraft is making it look like it's some major accomplishment (as he should since he needs to justify that salary - and any bonuses). But if you're buying that line of garbage then you're not using that $19 TI on your desk. And all we'll get for that is two years of construction headaches and new west stands. 75% of the stadium stays essentially the same.
The better way... if we assume that the TV money is going to continue increasing-- and there's absolutely no reason not to - is then issuing 30-year bonds at the current rates PSU is getting in the market easily justifies $1.5 Billion for a completely new build. Again, any of us could do that math tomorrow for a measly $300K salary. It ain't even close to managing a Sheetz in complexity. And it could be built right across Park Ave. on land that wouldn't disrupt football in the least. And best of all, each of us would be smart enough to give the design contract to Crawford Architects and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson as the architects rather than the nut-jobs at Populous who I guarantee you will find plenty of ways to screw this reno up.
The Beav is neither architecturally interesting nor historic. Putting lipstick on a pig is not the way to go, especially with the incoming TV revenue. And that's a small issue with Kraft -- the money is now there. You're getting paid $1+ mil a year to do things - not sit on your butt and explain how we can only do this and not that. Especially when the $19 TI shows it can be done. Show the math, do some fundraising (supposedly your good at that), and get stuff happening. Now. Not a year from now. Now.
Look, in the old days when we paid an AD $350K and there were only 11 Ass't AD's and the Dept budget was tens and twenties of millions less than now, they could plead poverty and we would sit on metal benches and pee in troughs, or sit on wood benches in a gym with no airflow and 8 urinals for 6,000 people, and like it. And not give them a hard time as they did their best while we waited patiently. Those days are gone. The Dept. budget is well over $100 mil. The AD gets $1mil+. He's got 30+ Ass't AD's. The head foosball coach gets $7mil+, has an untold number of houses, and access to a helicopter and jet. And now the foosball players are making bank as well. They're all well-paid professionals and we should expect and demand they live up to their hype and pay. I don't want to wait, and I don't want to be told I can't sit in a decent stadium with decent facilities and decent food options because they can't do their dang jobs. And not demanding it allows them to just coast through and laugh while they live fat off our money.
So yeah, again, if Kraft got canned tomorrow, I'd be fine.
Now we are talking TRS… ICA is bulking up again in a brand new facility and other than a few recent sound bits appears to falling back in the same trap. Former BC staff are running the PSU athletic department. They just hired another one. Not feeling big time. They no longer have their hand out to shake yours… they have it out for you to give them money. No money, no time. Agree. A new Beaver Stadium is needed. But Old Main is playing poor so they can get huge state funding. It’s a chess match.
If it weren’t Kraft it would be another like him. The tolerance, or is that desire(?), for bloat comes from the top.
Beat me to it. Let’s bring back Joyner who knew PSU history, even played football and wrestled at PSU too! We didn’t like him either. I hear JayPa needs a job….
Kraft's $1.25M salary this year would've put him 8th in pay -- in 2018.
Those salaries haven't decreased in 5 years.
So again I ask: what exactly kind of AD do you think you're getting for $300k?
I'm sure @ItalianLion will update the current thread when he can, he's a boss. He's already updated the spreadsheet though (linked in the OP)
Maybe I’m just reading into things, but I got the sense, especially when NIL became legal, that the coaches didn’t feel the AD was on the same page with what needed to be done to be competitive from a recruiting standpoint. It was the little comment here or there from a coach or written by a journalist. I sense the opposite now from the same sources.
On the wrestling side, I’m not sure we get all of Nagao, Truax, Messenbrink, etc. and the high school recruiting class that has committed without the change in philosophy towards NIL at the top. Maybe I’m wrong.
I’m also aware that PSU, like all the top schools, are now doing the almost $6k in annual academic award money that is now allowed. PSU was not on the early lists of schools doing that. I might be wrong, but that seems like another something that happened because of Kraft.
I assume doing all of this in a compliant manner at a school with an athletic program the size of Penn State and with no real NIL framework in place when you got there took some mountain moving.
Maybe all coincidences and maybe I’m wrong in assuming it happened mostly under and because of Kraft.
On the wrestling side, I’m not sure we get all of Nagao, Truax, Messenbrink, etc. and the high school recruiting class that has committed without the change in philosophy towards NIL at the top. Maybe I’m wrong.
I’m also aware that PSU, like all the top schools, are now doing the almost $6k in annual academic award money that is now allowed. PSU was not on the early lists of schools doing that. I might be wrong, but that seems like another something that happened because of Kraft.
I assume doing all of this in a compliant manner at a school with an athletic program the size of Penn State and with no real NIL framework in place when you got there took some mountain moving.
Maybe all coincidences and maybe I’m wrong in assuming it happened mostly under and because of Kraft.
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If you're an athlete, you have to weigh money vs results (and likely, increased future money).
As an example, if you're Mitch Messenbrink and you get a similar offer from Iowa, Michigan and Penn State, where are you going? Money is money, sure, but if you're thinking about results and long term compensation, you should probably lean PSU. If you have that kind of talent, you're far more likely to win an NCAA championship (or several) at Penn State than you are at Iowa or Michigan. Which, in turn, opens lucrative employment possibilities down the line.
I'd consider taking the job for $300k 🤷♂️ Especially if it includes that sweet seat right next to Cael & Co.
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No matchups yet, but some more info about the all-star classic.
nwcaonline.com
2023 NWCA All-Star Classic Set For November 21 At Penn State - National Wrestling Coaches Association
The NWCA All-Star Classic presented by Cliff Keen is back this season. Many of the best men's and women's college wrestlers in the country will head to Penn State
nwcaonline.com
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