Cool Deadspin Article on Snyder

[ev_flores0331]

https://deadspin.com/the-perfect-wrestler-1829465630

 

[nerfstate]

https://deadspin.com/the-perfect-wrestler-1829465630

Great article. Some nuggets relevant here:

...though Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan speaks so effusively about how Snyder lives that he has to pull back and make it clear that Snyder is, in fact, not God.

Ryan, who has been a Division I head coach for more than 20 years, says it’s the strongest back he has ever seen.
But Snyder has never participated in the Ohio State strength-and-conditioning program. Instead, he credits his strength-and-conditioning guru, a family friend named Neil Serafenas, who was an elite shot putter.

and my favorite:

During his freshman season, Snyder lost in the Big Ten final to Morgan McIntosh of Penn State. Shortly after that loss, Snyder came to Dlagnev and said he woke up in a panic after a dream where he had finished his wrestling career and realized that he had never touched his potential.

 

[tikk10]

Great article. Some nuggets relevant here:

But Snyder has never participated in the Ohio State strength-and-conditioning program. Instead, he credits his strength-and-conditioning guru, a family friend named Neil Serafenas, who was an elite shot putter.

Damn. How is he ever going to get out from bottom?

 

[El-Jefe]

Damn. How is he ever going to get out from bottom?

Snyder also never participated in the Ohio State tanning program.

 

[Lyons212]

Other than wearing the Ohio State singlet, what part of the Ohio State wrestling program did Snyder participate in? He had his own S&C coach, set his own schedule wrestling when he wanted too. Great wrestler, seems like a great guy in interviews...his situation at Ohio State just rubs me the wrong way, it seems more about me than the team.

 

[dpd926]

it seems more about me than the team.

I disagree. I think it was very much a mutually beneficial relationship. Snyder got a great training situation and resources from a coach who was flexible enough to let him focus on his personal goals of freestyle success. Ryan/tOSU got a 3x NCAA champ who showed up for the high-profile and potentially-close dual meets, B1Gs, and NCAAs. The amount of positive press that KS brought to tOSU would be difficult to quantify. KS was/is a great recruiting tool for tOSU and the Ohio RTC, which helps their whole team/program. Ryan is also able to sit in a recruit's living room and talk about how their program worked with KS to do what was best for KS. You don't think that he is getting a ton of mileage out of that during the recruiting battles?!?!

The in-season schedule of KS was unprecedented, but the benefits of that certainly weren't felt only by KS. Ohio State received a huge benefit by having him in their lineup- even if only part of the time- and their ROI will continue long after KS is gone as they recall his accomplishments and their ability to do what was best for KS.

 

[El-Jefe]

Snyder is the reason Kerk is going to Columbus, and a big part of the reason they got Hoffman too.

 

[matter7172]

Other than wearing the Ohio State singlet, what part of the Ohio State wrestling program did Snyder participate in? He had his own S&C coach, set his own schedule wrestling when he wanted too. Great wrestler, seems like a great guy in interviews...his situation at Ohio State just rubs me the wrong way, it seems more about me than the team.

I think it was at the end of the 2017 season before the dual against Maryland that Casey Cunningham commented to the PSWC group that Snyder was wrestling a lot at the NLWC and other places. He wasn't attending any classes at tOSU (all on-line courses) and was only occasionally with the team. I think he was more like a hired gun than a true student-athlete at a university.

 

[BanjoSaysWoof]

Neither him nor Tom Ryan believe in evolution??

Tom Ryan shouldn’t work at an educational institution.

 

[tikk10]

It's a really nice piece and great to see an in-depth wrestling article by a non-embedded writer. There aren't enough of those. There's a nice article to be written up about Nickal and Nolf come early March if Deadspin is paying attention. As great as Snyder is, he doesn't match the excitement Nolf and Nickal bring to every match.

 

[nitlion6]

Other than wearing the Ohio State singlet, what part of the Ohio State wrestling program did Snyder participate in? He had his own S&C coach, set his own schedule wrestling when he wanted too. Great wrestler, seems like a great guy in interviews...his situation at Ohio State just rubs me the wrong way, it seems more about me than the team.

Spent more than an occasional moment or two in the Lorenzo center rolling with Cael and Varner.

 

[Ranger Dan]

Was Snyder s tOSU lock or did Penn State have any serious shot at recruiting him?

 

[El-Jefe]

Was Snyder s tOSU lock or did Penn State have any serious shot at recruiting him?

We had a real shot at him.

He had 6 finalists -- the other 4 all being personal connections from growing up in suburban DC. Army (brother attended West Point), Maryland, Oklahoma (Mark Cody was previously American Univ. coach), and American (or possibly George Mason, can't remember offhand).

In hindsight, those other 4 schools were probably more courtesy than reality. Can't see any of them helping him achieve World level goals. So it probably came down to OSU or PSU.