Virginia Tech and Kevin Dresser responded to a Saturday report from the Iowa State Daily (student newspaper) that Hokies wrestling coach had accepted the same position with the Cyclones.
Sources close to the Iowa State wrestling program told the Daily that Dresser had already accepted the job.
However, Dresser released a joint statement along with athletic director Whit Babcock that pumped the breaks on that claim.
"I am scheduled to visit with Iowa State officials later this evening by phone," Dresser said in a release. "I am going to make a decision with my family later this evening and will announce it tomorrow afternoon. I would like everyone to respect my wishes and let the process unfold. I will be available later this week for comments on that decision."
For his part, Babcock is seemingly trying to keep Dresser from walking out the door.
"Obviously the in-season timing of this situation is not ideal," Babcock said. We've been in conversations with Kevin for the past two weeks regarding his potential interest in the Iowa State opportunity and why we believe he should remain at Tech. We've offered to extend his contract at the conclusion of the season and further our already strong commitment to wrestling at Virginia Tech.
"We intend for Virginia Tech to remain one of the elite programs in the nation and are striving to bring a national championship to Blacksburg. Kevin is an outstanding coach and we absolutely want him to remain as our head wrestling coach.
"Over the course of the next month our primary focus will remain on our wrestlers and supporting them as they compete at the highest level during the upcoming championship season."
Tech is ranked No. 5 in the USA Today/NWCA Coaches poll. At the time this was posted, the Hokies are facing No. 6 Nebraska in a match for the NWCA National Duals. The ACC Championship is scheduled for March 4.
Comments
Said this on twitter I wish Hokie Club was big enough to offer these coaches pay raises, their assistants raises and top facilities.
Cash is always a good thing, but I get the impression that this is more about being close to his family than about the money.
Whit, you know what you need to do:
Will ESPN cover his presser?
The presser for Dresser would be a real stressor
Please stay. Watching wrestling for the first time ever tonight.
Good time to start, this has been an exciting dual
Took me a few minutes to understand the scoring. Still don't know how the team points accumulate but it was definitely fun to watch.
In Dual Meets:
Six team points shall be scored toward the team total for each contestant who wins by a pin, default, forfeit or disqualification.
Five team points shall be scored for a technical fall (15+ points) if the winning wrestler was awarded a near fall during the match.
Four team points shall be scored for a technical fall (15+ points) if the winning wrestler failed to score a near fall during the match.
Four team points shall be scored for a major decision (8-14 points)
Three team points shall be scored for a decision (by fewer than 8 points)
- Every match tonight was a 3 point decision, except for the two pins and Walz's Major decision
Appreciate the explanation. Seems fairly simple.
The timing of all this is really suspect. I smell a highly competitive ncaa team in the tourney having connections starting this in the media. I may be wrong, but I'm not big on coincidences.
22-15 Fing A
How did y'all watch?
It was on WatchESPN. Great dual for the Hokies. Walz ended it in style.
Watching Walz was like watching a cat torture a mouse before finally killing it. It seemed like after he had the riding time point locked up, he spent the whole 3rd period playing catch-and-release. He'd get a takedown, rub the guy's face in the mat, then just let him go so he could do it again. Poor fella had no answers. Ty certainly looks like he's much better than the 5th-best heavyweight in the country. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in the ACC and NCAA tourneys.
Between 3 and 5 is about where he would fit unless he wrestles out of his mind. Kyle Snyder is likely the runaway favorite and would probably get a major decision over Walz pretty easily.
Snyder is obviously #1 running away, but I think Ty looks to be a solid #2 or 3 at this point in time. That loss to the guy from Duke was just a down day, IMO, and I think Ty will get his revenge next week at the ACC Tourney.
While I'd never bet against Snyder against anybody, I doubt he "easily" gets a MD if they meet in the tourney. Walz fought him hard last year and kept it to 10-6, looking a bit gassed in the final round. He looks like he's got a bit more endurance this year and should be able to put up a good fight.
Ty is fantastic and really a great heavyweight on his feet and would definitely be a major contender for Techs first individual champ, but Snyder is a gold medalist and just went undefeated at Worlds in Iran. I think the best he can hope for is getting in the other side of the bracket from Kyle and hopefully shows well especially Friday morning in the death session and he might make it to the finals.
I sent Whit an email this afternoon voicing support for doing all we can to keep Coach Dresser. He responded shortly with an indication that he's doing all he can to try and keep him. If Kevin leaves, I firmly believe it won't be for a lack of trying on Whit's part to accommodate him in every possible way.
I think Whit is just limited by the reality of finances.
How much does a wrestling coach make?
The top ones (inc. Dresser) are all in the 175k-225k + incentives range.
I was way off, but here is an article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
http://www.richmond.com/sports/college/schools/virginia-tech/article_b417838e-4fc4-56ac-a156-e3648235a3a5.html
So we need to bump him from $150k to $200k. I'm sure he will want more for his assistants and more recruiting/facility money. So a $100k-$150k investment.
Is that worth it? I would think so, he's earned it. But we really gave him a great opportunity out of CHS, he should consider that. We took a big risk with him back in the day.
This all comes back to why the Hokie Club is important. Want our wrestling team to have a great coach and great recruits? Gonna have to pay. CJF and Buzz keep winning, that's going to be expensive too. Want top recruits, then you have to have the top facilities. Everything has its price and as awesome as Whit is, he can't turn nothing into something.
Looking past that, keeping Whit around is going to cost us, too.
For wrestling it's actually a lot more than the Hokie Club. I probably can't explain it as well as others but Dresser started the SERTC (Southeast Regional Training Center) that serves as an avenue to bring in post-graduate wrestlers to train for international/national competitions. SERTC provides financial support for those wrestlers to train and in turn provides additional benefits for VT with regards to training and coaching opportunities. SERTC is funded by donors and Dresser appears to be heavily involved in the fundraising and administration in addition to his coaching duties. I've read that in some ways Dresser "competes" with the Hokie Club by soliciting donations for the SERTC, which ultimately benefits VT wrestling but not the athletics department as a whole. So it's an interesting situation and I wouldn't be surprised if that infrastructure is more supported as Iowa State and Dresser wouldn't have to put as much effort into something like the SERTC.
I would disagree with those that say this is something that competes with Hokie Club. Donors to SERTC are either people that are in Hokie Club and willing to co-donate to both, or wrestling fans that are not in Hokie Club. If VT AthDept feels it is competing then they need to go out and win those donors just as Dresser has done.
And you cannot say that a dollar of Hokie Club member money donated to SERTC is a dollar lost to Hokie Club, because that donor would have been giving Hokie Club more money if they wanted to or if convinced to.
Frank Underwood needs to remind them:
http://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/college/iowa/wrestling/2015/10/0...
Brands earns 225,000 base at Iowa.
If only we had comparable resources to financial juggernaut Iowa State
At one point 2010, ISU was tied for top paid head wrestling coach.
I get it, the HC needs more membership but I'm not sure constantly reminding us about it is really going to help on here. We're trying to fix the finances but parroting this message and beating this point over our heads constantly is beginning to cheapen the message a bit.
And now I will go back to my pint before taking the behind the scenes tour of the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam. Humble brag over.... For now
People constantly make the comment they don't hear enough about the Hokie Club well I'm going to make sure they hear about it at every chance I get. Someone mentions keeping great coaches and Whit making better offers to them well the Hokie Club reminder is getting played, because that's how those things happen.
While I don't disagree with the premise, the TKP user base is effectively the most engaged type of Hokie fan. If we took a survey (and everyone answered honestly and not in the interest of messing the the numbers), I don't know if a single TKPer would be unaware of the Hokie Club or what it sought to do. The specifics of their programs, how they're fundraising and advertising, etc. is another matter, but I think everyone here gets it, in general. We're the people that on a daily (or close to it) basis seek out information about VT Athletics. While not all of us are HC members, we know that it exists. What the HC needs is for the more casual Hokie fans to start caring and investing more in our programs. Reach out to those who don't read about VT every day, or even every week, those who don't know what's going on in the offseason of their favorite sport(s), those that are surprised every year when it's National Signing Day rather than those of us who are abusing our F5 keys. It's all about target audience.
In summary, he's been preaching to the choir
And even the choir needs to be reminded of the "word" every now and then. The offering plate also gets passed back there. We have plenty of people on the board who are not Hokie Club members, we have new visitors and lurkers also.
Do we?
I get it if you're telling us to donate and we're not, but I'm willing to guess the VAST majority of us already do. If you're trying to tell us all that what were already giving isn't enough when the overall giving level is about 4%... Not sure that has a chance to go over well.
Considering Hokie Club is only about 10,000-11,000 members and we have how many unique visitors per month I'd say the majority are not Hokie Club members.
And how many of those are students that already pay the school a lot of money? Or recent graduates (among others to be sure) who aren't in the position to donate right now, but want to get their VT sports fix without a guilt trip in every thread?
I say this as someone who is gearing up to join Hokie Club next month, but I really do think the constant reminders have a reduced effect, especially on a site where the participation is likely higher than in other populations.
Also, I think the people saying they never hear about Hokie Club are specifically referring to the school's (until very recently) lack of effort in promoting it. At least that was my stance on it.
Students can join the student Hokie club for free.
Which is awesome, but doesn't change anything in terms of being able to pay our wrestling coach more.
Actually it does long term, Hokie Club has found that students who join as students are more likely to start giving as soon as they leave school. People act like 50 dollars (because new grads can join for first two years at 50 a year) doesn't make a difference but it does. Two reasons people who join at the entry point usually bump up their giving over time and just getting people to join is actually the hardest part for the Hokie Club because people don't think either their small gift can make a difference or they don't see a personal benefit to joining. Well if someone is a wrestling fan and wants to keep the current coach welll this is how they help keep him, join the Hokie Club.
I was in Blacksburg this for a fraternity reunion and the alumni director from VT speak to our chapter. I do not remember his name off the top of my head. Probably 10 minutes long, most of it about the VT with some sports discussion thrown in there and the typical fraternity whatever. As soon as they introduced him, I thought, surely he will mention the Hokie Club and Drive for 25. NOPE. Big surprise there and a missed opportunity. Of course, the fraternity is also asking us for money too, and he's asking for money on behalf of VT.
WatchESPN app...
I've been processing this all weekend ever since I first got wind of the rumors yesterday morning. Though I hope I'm wrong, I believe he will be leaving for several reasons. #1) He is from near ISU in Iowa and although he was a IU Hawkeye and not an ISU Cyclone he still has his mom and his brother near there. #2) Although it has been several years since ISU was very good they still care as much about wrestling as any other sport including football. #3) related to #2 is that they have a very strong wrestling alumni Association and will pour a lot of money into the program. #4) I believe and the ISU wrestling faithful believe that with Dresser's great recruiting in a hotbed of top HS talent, that he can turn that program around and be a hero in Iowa and so they will pay him BIG.
To compound matters, if Dresser leaves we may also lose several of the great assistant coaches we have now. BUT DONT WORRY! I believe in Whit and if we do lose Dresser then I have complete faith that he will bring in a TREMENDOUS NEW HEAD COACH!
Devil's advocate reasons against:
1) His wife's family are all from the NRV. His kids were born in C'Burg.
2) ISU is Big 12, not Big 10.
3) Agreed...but currently, VT has better facilities for the wrestling program than ISU. But if they promise Dresser upgrades, who knows.
4) Recruiting-wise, Dresser's been tapping into the Eastern pool of talent while at VT. At ISU, there may be a larger pool of recruits in the MidWest, but there's also a lot more programs mining that pool than here on the east coast.
I hope that if Kevin leaves, we immediately shift focus to keeping Robie, Zadick and St. John.
Leg for you because I hope you're right! Absolutely agreed, we need to keep as many assistant coaches as possible. Those 3 you listed are top notch. I imagine Robie will get the nod as interim if he does leave. I'm trying go be optimistic myself. Dresser has laid down years of roots in VA with his Grundy, Cburg & VT stints. His wife being from NRV and his kids only knowing VA has got to be considered. Plus, I believe Whit has sweetened the pie (or cake) for him in a strong bid to keep him so my fingers are crossed. I guess we'll know tomorrow.
Dresser staying in Grundy for a decade is enough to realize he doesn't operate like the typical person when it comes to where he wants to live.
Staying 10 years in Grundy is a noteworthy accomplishment. Last time I was in Grundy, I didn't want to stay 10 minutes.
FYI, Iowa State is not in the Big 10 so therefore your pts #2 & 3 aren't really valid. In fact, Iowa State is as a likely candidate as any to be left out of the party if/when the Big 12 implodes - and if it does money will be an object for all athletics at ISU.
From what I've read, it's pretty much down to #1.
ISU wrestling has money, not sure where they are getting it but they put money into that sport.
I agree, but it's not that different from VT - and my guess is it's just a budgeting decision based on the priority of wrestling at ISU vs other Olympic sports. But if Iowa St is a loser in the conference musical chairs game - that $10 million or whatever shortfall per year is going to hit every sport at ISU.
Somewhat like Buzz taking a Texas Big 12 job was/is far from a slam dunk, no-brainer, so is taking an Iowa St wrestling job.
I think Dresser wants to coach somewhere that makes a big deal out of wrestling. He came here and built one heck of a program and still can't get more than a few thousand people to come to a match. Last night he mentioned growing up watching 14,000-15,000 people at Iowa state matches. We just can't compete with Iowa being "home" for him and the great wrestling atmosphere of the Midwest
What's an average meet get at Tech? Last numbers I could find for Iowa state was averaging over 6,000 per meet.
Last night there were 1,300 for #6 Nebraska. Last weekend there were 3,000 for #8 NC State and 1,100 for #16 South Dakota State. 2,200 were there for UVA last month.
Ouch.
I get that wrestling may be difficult to understand at first if you've never been around the sport, but we need much more involvement from fans and students to take the next step. We've hit our ceiling with our available resources.
The Penn State meet last year broke VT's attendance record and it was only about 5300. If ISU is averaging 6k, that just goes to show how much bigger a deal the sport is over there.
Apparently attendance has dropped since 2008 ( where I found those numbers) now average is just below 4,000 per meet.
So even in a downswing, their average attendance would still be our 2nd best ever. There's still work to do building a wrestling culture here. Let's hope enough of Dresser's staff stays here to keep building.
I think you're confusing Iowa State with Iowa. I think Iowa is about 6k; ISU is maybe half that.
Please stay!!
Not to be a Debbie downer but after watching his press-conference video he sounded like a man that has already made up his mind. The way he talked about how he felt like Virginia Tech wrestling was going to be fine without him gave a tone of finality.
I thought the exact same thing after watching it
When your coach wants to leave during the season and you are ranked number 5 in the nation...
Wait, Is the kid in the middle Coach Dresser?
I get the feeling I re-cropped the photo after captioning it back in the day.
Okay, I have to ask is Dresser the former Christiansburg High School coach? If he is, I am surprised that he is considering leaving he has been in this area forever.
Longer than you think... he coached Grundy before that. Grundy wrestling club supporters are the ones who brought him to SWVa.
But before that he was an Iowa native.
If he does end up leaving, Iowa State must've thought he would be the perfect counter to Iowa after seeing him not afraid to confront Brands, etc.
ISU has watched Iowa actively avoid VT and Dresser for 2 years straight now. So yeah, they're excited about him beating the Hawkeyes.
The timing of this just feels so weird. When has a coach previously left a school in the middle of the season when they were top ten in the country? Better yet, when has a coach left a school in the middle of a season, without being fired?
*I'm not counting all of the examples with college football and hirings prior to bowl games.
My understanding of the urgency is the pressure is on to try to keep some of the top recruits the previous coach signed who had requested releases due to his leaving. They want Dresser to convince those studs to stay on board with ISU and be part of the rebuild.
Valid point. Just sucks from our end but hopefully the interim guys step up.
Has a decision come down yet?
So no news is good news? Decision anyone? Bueller, Bueller?
I just heard that ISU won't pay for relocation expenses.
Lots of noise on twitter that he is gone, offer is north of 225,000 from ISU.
http://s200.trackwrestling.com/tw/PortalPost.jsp?postId=359112076
He's gone, officially.
And it's official.
https://twitter.com/vt_wrestling/status/833783566463070209
Well poop.
It's worth noting that he grew up in Iowa and his mother is still living there. While money may have been a reason, I think the main reason is he wanted to go back home, and it's tough to hate on that. Good luck, Coach.
It's a factor, certainly. The underrated factor is often that coaches get bored and want a new challenge. Geography, money, relationships, stability, growth....all important factors. But coaches, like us all, often just want to try something else.
Well, damn. Even when you know it's coming, it's still a kick to the gut when it becomes official.
Why not wait until the end of the season?
Keep recruits.
You mean taking his VT guys to ISU or keeping ISU? Do they have a good class? I know nothing of rasslin'.
Apparently ISU had a pretty good class committed and 3 of them have asked for their releases. They needed to make a strong hire quickly to keep those guys in the fold.
What does our class look like, and maybe more importantly, what is the 247 equivalent for wrestling?
ISU has the #5 class this year. Ours is #22.
http://d1collegewrestling.net/Recruiting_Front.html
I really don't think he will directly recruit any of the VT guys. Now if one of the VT recruit independently chooses that he wants to follow Dresser, then maybe he will allow him to come to ISU. Dresser still loves VT, and has said he will cheer on the team for the rest of the year.
I hope that Whit manages to keep the rest of the assistants at VT.
Give them money, promotions, whatever.
OPT= Can someone explain the NWCA National Duels? I can't find anything explaining it. All I see is that PSU was named champion. Don't get it.
The National Duals are wrestling's equivalent to the bowl games. They're also viewed as a way for the top teams to get in one more meet against quality competition before the conference and national tournaments. College wrestling has two different scoring formats, the dual meet, and the tournament. Apparently, until a few years ago, there was a bracket-style dual meet tournament that crowned the dual meet champion, and then the NCAA tournament, which crowned the tournament champion. The tournament champ was the official champion and, as I understand it, the dual meet bracket was more or less an exhibition. You could win a dual meet championship, but the record books wouldn't much care. It's similar to how VT won the ACC dual meet championship last year by going undefeated in conference during the regular season, but the record books will forever show NC State as the conference champ because they won the conference tournament. The National Duals never really took off or generated the buzz that they had hoped for, so they re-invented the format to try and generate more interest, and ultimately, more money. Now, the top ten Big 10 teams square off against the champions of the other conferences (minus the Pac-12, who has declined to participate because the date is too close to their conference tournament) plus the top-ranked runner-up teams. Similar to the BCS system, the top B1G team wrestles the top non-B1G team for the National Duals championship. Generally speaking, rankings are used to seed the other matchups, but travel distances, rematch avoidance, and Iowa's orangeness can factor into the downcard matchups. In one year, all the the B1G teams will host, and the following year, the non-B1G teams get to host.
So the reason that Penn State was crowned the Dual Meet Champion is that they, as the top B1G team and ranked #2 nationally, got to wrestle #1 Oklahoma State in Stillwater and thumped them pretty handily.
Thank you very much! Makes sense now. More interest would be generated with more availability of info.
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