In today's weekly press conference, Cael Sanderson was not pleased.
Sunday's third-place wasn't the reason. He said the half of the team didn't fight.
Here is the story I wrote for the Iowa State Daily about it:
I will post a transcript a little later.
Also, here is a brief on how Duke Burk (174) will be back sooner than initially expected.
Here are some of the key quotes, and there were plenty (too many to get into one story):
"I hate sitting there watching my guys not fighting. It drives me crazy, but we've got half of our guys doing that"
"I mean, right now we're taking the easy points. We're not fighting for the tough points, and that's frustrating as a staff because that's what wrestling is. Wrestling is fighting for the tough points. And that's the adjustment we have to make. I feel like I'm giving the guys the Holy Grail of how to think, how not to feel pressure, but it's not working. Everyone is not the same, and that's kind of what I'm learning as a head coach is that people think differently. They're not willing to accept ... People want to feel pressure. They want to have excuses, so I gotta make adjustments and get the most out of these guys, and really hold them accountable for what I expect 'em to do.
Nothing is harder for me than to sit up here and say 'Ya, we're fighting. That's what I expect them to do,' and then we show up at the match and we have five guys fighting. It's ... you know... It's not very fun. That's what I was raised on is fighting. That's all I know: that's all I knew as a competitor, and that's all I know as a coach. And if you watched our team wrestle, you wouldn't know what I'm preaching as a coach. You wouldn't know. Things are going to change."
"That's the hardest thing about being a coach: I can't go out there and wrestle a match, you know. I have to sit back here and pump these guys up and try to get them to go out and do what they're supposed to do. And it's fun, man. You compete, you step out on the mat - how many opportunities do you get to do that? You step on the mat, and you get to throw somebody down, you know? Those days are numbered; they're limited. Those days are over for most of us."
Fascinating stuff.
Sunday's third-place wasn't the reason. He said the half of the team didn't fight.
Here is the story I wrote for the Iowa State Daily about it:
I will post a transcript a little later.
Also, here is a brief on how Duke Burk (174) will be back sooner than initially expected.
Here are some of the key quotes, and there were plenty (too many to get into one story):
"I hate sitting there watching my guys not fighting. It drives me crazy, but we've got half of our guys doing that"
"I mean, right now we're taking the easy points. We're not fighting for the tough points, and that's frustrating as a staff because that's what wrestling is. Wrestling is fighting for the tough points. And that's the adjustment we have to make. I feel like I'm giving the guys the Holy Grail of how to think, how not to feel pressure, but it's not working. Everyone is not the same, and that's kind of what I'm learning as a head coach is that people think differently. They're not willing to accept ... People want to feel pressure. They want to have excuses, so I gotta make adjustments and get the most out of these guys, and really hold them accountable for what I expect 'em to do.
Nothing is harder for me than to sit up here and say 'Ya, we're fighting. That's what I expect them to do,' and then we show up at the match and we have five guys fighting. It's ... you know... It's not very fun. That's what I was raised on is fighting. That's all I know: that's all I knew as a competitor, and that's all I know as a coach. And if you watched our team wrestle, you wouldn't know what I'm preaching as a coach. You wouldn't know. Things are going to change."
"That's the hardest thing about being a coach: I can't go out there and wrestle a match, you know. I have to sit back here and pump these guys up and try to get them to go out and do what they're supposed to do. And it's fun, man. You compete, you step out on the mat - how many opportunities do you get to do that? You step on the mat, and you get to throw somebody down, you know? Those days are numbered; they're limited. Those days are over for most of us."
Fascinating stuff.