wvmat.com

Rumor mill has 125 Cardinale, 133 Sullivan, and 197 Adams leaving the program. If that's true, then 3/4 of our NCAA qualifiers have left or are considering leaving and 1/4 of our coaching staff is gone. What is going on in Morgantown?

1. Cardinale was not a WVU recruit, he was the product of the transfer portal when Old Dominion killed their program. If the rumors are true, Cardinale will leave after a year as our only 2021 All American. Is Drousias the replacement for next year or do we burn the red shirt for Schafer or Lautzenheiser?

2. Like Cardinale, Sullivan was not a WVU recruit, he too was the product of the transfer portal via Pitt. If he is gone then Seibert could in theory take the spot, but there's also some talk that he is done. If no Seibert, then Spring Mills Dolan could start as a true freshman.

3. The shocker is Noah Adams leaving to start his career. Noah had 2 years remaining and has been the face of the program. It will be hard to see him go but I totally understand the desire to get started with life. He's done us all proud and his career choice will allow him to continue to serve the people of West Virginia. His departure makes me nervous about the direction the program is heading. Who is the next 197? A trio of in state boys could take the helm. Bradbury, Moomau, or Carman are possible suspects. Incoming freshman Amburgy is a possibility as well.

Noah was the last of the Henson recruits, everyone else saw the writing on the wall and left for other opportunities. This is now 100% Coach Flynn's team. Accountability should naturally follow. I have been a Flynn supporter and even apologist. I am still a Flynn supporter but there's no more blaming Henson. With 25% of the coaching staff also leaving, we better find a quality replacement for the upper weight coach, fast. We better not let the next generation of in state guys like Humphreys, Best, Amos go elsewhere without putting up a fight. I get the love for Pennsylvania kids but we have some good WV kids in the pipeline who should be high recruiting priorities. We need to find ways to schedule duals at in state high schools to attract in state fans and athletes. Bringing a recruit into the Coliseum with what looks like 50 people in attendance is not going to win recruiting battles.

Issues that every coach/program is facing right now, is the transfer portal the answer? When we get someone from the portal can we expect a long term result or will it be a one and done?

Now for the positives
In June signed a very accomplished Lehigh transfer at 149.
Flo wrestling's Kyle Bratke coming home as director of ops has to help with instate recruiting and media exposure for the program.

This is the first Ive heard of this but could be totally true. I don't think the Coaching loss is that big of a deal. We will replace him without much fanfare but you are right it needs to be a coach for the bigger guys. However, lets not forget that Coach Flynn was assistant to Bruce Baumgardner for many years. He might know a thing or two about how to coach some big guys.

I'd hate to see those wrestlers go but everyone has a life to live. Recruiting has been good so let's hope things stay rolling even if they decide to leave.

JoeGiovengo wrote:This is the first Ive heard of this but could be totally true. I don't think the Coaching loss is that big of a deal. We will replace him without much fanfare but you are right it needs to be a coach for the bigger guys. However, lets not forget that Coach Flynn was assistant to Bruce Baumgardner for many years. He might know a thing or two about how to coach some big guys.

I'd hate to see those wrestlers go but everyone has a life to live. Recruiting has been good so let's hope things stay rolling even if they decide to leave.

1. Coach Flynn has been at WVU for three seasons now. I hope he hasn't been holding back any secrets on how to help the bigger guys, the medium guys or the little guys.

2. The bigger guys need an active bigger coach to provide more help in sparring. With Adams leaving, the bigger coach leaving, this puts the 184s and above in a less than favorable situation and compared to last season.

mscoach57 wrote:Rumor mill has 125 Cardinale, 133 Sullivan, and 197 Adams leaving the program. If that's true, then 3/4 of our NCAA qualifiers have left or are considering leaving and 1/4 of our coaching staff is gone. What is going on in Morgantown?

1. Cardinale was not a WVU recruit, he was the product of the transfer portal when Old Dominion killed their program. If the rumors are true, Cardinale will leave after a year as our only 2021 All American. Is Drousias the replacement for next year or do we burn the red shirt for Schafer or Lautzenheiser?

2. Like Cardinale, Sullivan was not a WVU recruit, he too was the product of the transfer portal via Pitt. If he is gone then Seibert could in theory take the spot, but there's also some talk that he is done. If no Seibert, then Spring Mills Dolan could start as a true freshman.

3. The shocker is Noah Adams leaving to start his career. Noah had 2 years remaining and has been the face of the program. It will be hard to see him go but I totally understand the desire to get started with life. He's done us all proud and his career choice will allow him to continue to serve the people of West Virginia. His departure makes me nervous about the direction the program is heading. Who is the next 197? A trio of in state boys could take the helm. Bradbury, Moomau, or Carman are possible suspects. Incoming freshman Amburgy is a possibility as well.

Noah was the last of the Henson recruits, everyone else saw the writing on the wall and left for other opportunities. This is now 100% Coach Flynn's team. Accountability should naturally follow. I have been a Flynn supporter and even apologist. I am still a Flynn supporter but there's no more blaming Henson. With 25% of the coaching staff also leaving, we better find a quality replacement for the upper weight coach, fast. We better not let the next generation of in state guys like Humphreys, Best, Amos go elsewhere without putting up a fight. I get the love for Pennsylvania kids but we have some good WV kids in the pipeline who should be high recruiting priorities. We need to find ways to schedule duals at in state high schools to attract in state fans and athletes. Bringing a recruit into the Coliseum with what looks like 50 people in attendance is not going to win recruiting battles.

Issues that every coach/program is facing right now, is the transfer portal the answer? When we get someone from the portal can we expect a long term result or will it be a one and done?

Now for the positives
In June signed a very accomplished Lehigh transfer at 149.
Flo wrestling's Kyle Bratke coming home as director of ops has to help with instate recruiting and media exposure for the program.

What's going on everyone? Kyle Bratke, the new Director of Operations, coming to you from the Wrestling Pavilion in Morgantown. I've been on the job now for exactly one month and I've loved every second of it so far. It's been awhile since I was last on this board as a high school wrestler checking out what people were saying about me and teammates, but I just wanted to stop by and address your concerns.

1. Killian Cardinale is going nowhere. I've watched him come in each and every day I've been here and put in work. He's actually already beginning to look into his options when it comes to school for his free year of eligibility next season.

2. Ryan Sullivan's return is up in the air right now. Don't forget we signed Jordan Titus out of New York in the class of 2021, who spent a large amount of time as the #1 ranked wrestler in the country at his weight (132). He finished his high school career as the #25 overall recruit in the nation.

3. Noah Adams has decided to put his degree to use and begin a career in law enforcement. We can't thank Noah enough for everything he did for Mountaineer wrestling and are so proud of him. As you said, he will continue to serve the people of West Virginia and will do so honorably. The entire coaching staff loves Noah, and he feels similarly about the staff and program. We look forward to keeping Noah involved with the program moving forward as an alumni.

4. Volunteer Assistant, Cody Walters, did leave take a job outside the sport of wrestling back in his hometown in Ohio. He and his girlfriend are expecting their first later this summer and wanted to be back closer to friends and family. I was looking forward to working with Cody as we were teammates at Ohio University, but we wish Cody and his family the best during this exciting time for them. We are working through the process of hiring a new volunteer assistant right now and have plenty of extremely qualified applicants already.

I can assure you that we love homegrown hammers. We currently have 10 West Virginia natives on the roster. During the 2019-20 season, the last year we could have fans in attendance, we had duals at Parkersburg and University High School. It's fun taking the show on the road, but we are also looking forward to welcoming Mountaineer Nation back to the Coliseum this fall/winter. There's no doubt in my mind it can be one of the best venues in college wrestling, and I will be working hard to increase attendance and the atmosphere.

The Wrestling Pavilion is not burning down. For the second straight year we had an All-American (which had not been done here since 2006-2007), we signed three top 115 recruits in the class of 2021, we already have a commitment from a top 75 recruit in the class of 2022, we finished the spring semester with a team GPA of 3.21 thanks to 26 wrestlers earning over a 3.0, and had three individual scholar All-Americans. The entire staff is committed to making West Virginia University one of the top wrestling programs in the country, and I believe we are building towards that.

We are a program of the people of West Virginia. We want you involved with the program, and won't be able to get to where we want to go without your support. If you ever have questions, concerns, or just want to reach out, don't hesitate to contact anyone on staff. You can reach me at: kyle.bratke@mail.wvu.edu.

Let's Go Mountaineers!

Thanks for the update Kyle! How is the coaching search going?

JoeGiovengo wrote:Thanks for the update Kyle! How is the coaching search going?

It's going well. We interviewed a few candidates last week. We'll speak to a few more this week and then look to make a decision.

KBratke wrote:

JoeGiovengo wrote:Thanks for the update Kyle! How is the coaching search going?

It's going well. We interviewed a few candidates last week. We'll speak to a few more this week and then look to make a decision.

What do these candidates weigh?

Bearhugger wrote:

KBratke wrote:

JoeGiovengo wrote:Thanks for the update Kyle! How is the coaching search going?

It's going well. We interviewed a few candidates last week. We'll speak to a few more this week and then look to make a decision.

What do these candidates weigh?

All of them so far have been bigger guys that could work with our upper weights.

KBratke wrote:

Bearhugger wrote:

KBratke wrote:It's going well. We interviewed a few candidates last week. We'll speak to a few more this week and then look to make a decision.

What do these candidates weigh?

All of them so far have been bigger guys that could work with our upper weights.

Thank God!!!!!!!!!!

Holy &*^&( I can’t believe this is really true. Hate that Sullivan could possibly leave and that it’s a done deal that Noah is done?! He has two years left with the extra hear right? I could see not using the extra year but not really sure why he wouldn’t want to hold off a year to work and wrestle for redshirt senior season. Unless money is tight and he HAS to go to work. Man that’s a bummer. You have all your life to work but oh well. I wish him the best tho.
The best wrestling schools in the country have guys wrestling seven possible eight years and we can’t even keep a guy for his rs senior year?

Unless we get a transfer our upper weights are going to be weak. Our 165 is a stud. 174 is average, 184 below average, no one even close to being ready to go at 197, Wolfgram is ok at HW.

Not sure what’s going on up there. Big Flynn fan but this is some pretty disheartening news. Last year was pretty good. Something to build on, assuming everyone would be back, and this is a major step back.

Yeah we’ve added Titus but you think these other schools that have a lot of success in wrestling have only one stud per weight? Titus needs to redshirt anyway. Then maybe next year sullivan can bump up or Titus can who knows. If John Smith had him Titus would be a 125er lol.

KBratke wrote:

Bearhugger wrote:

KBratke wrote:It's going well. We interviewed a few candidates last week. We'll speak to a few more this week and then look to make a decision.

What do these candidates weigh?

All of them so far have been bigger guys that could work with our upper weights.

That is at least some good news. Glad to have ya at WVU. Thanks for answering some questions.

On an unrelated topic. You gotta give the JD kid some advice on Flo wrestling radio lol. He’s horrible. Literally all he does is interrupt Askren and Pyles constantly. Plus maybe some allergy medicine for the phlegm in his throat he won’t cough up lol.