Harvard/Brown Thoughts

Friday night we were in good'ol New Jersey to battle Harvard and Brown in some EIWA action.

While we were prepared once again to enter each match giving up 2 weights via forfeit the wrestling gods felt it necessary to add one more to our forfeit list giving us 3 weights without a wrestler.  Heading into a match down 18-0 is practically impossible to come back from and these duel meets were no different.

Against Harvard we wrestled the best we have all year.  Our team came out fired up and strong and the guys who wrestled took it to their Crimson opponents.  Had we had a HWT and Jake in the line up we most likely would have won this match.  

141-Matt Murray wrestled a tough guy and the son of Blair coach Jeff Buxton.  He was not very strong on the mat giving up the fall in the first period off of an early takedown.

149-Eric Norgard showed us all what he is capable of earning a fall at the very end of the period after a dominating showcase from top.  Eric has been steadily improving throughout the season and I expect great things from this young wrestler over the next few seasons.

157-Captain Matt Gittleman jumped on the grenade for the team here having to wrestle the #1 ranked wrestler in the country JP O'Connor.  Matt made the top ranked Harvard senior earn his victory and fought hard for the team.

165-Anthony Bongarzone looked good on his feet scoring some nice takedowns and then sealed the win with a great showing on top.

174-Matt Fullowan continued to be the "go-to" guy on our team winning in dominant fashion against a game Harvard wrestler.  Matt shut the guy down in all positions and earned his team leading 13th victory.

184-Matt Latessa fought hard against a 2xAA but came up short giving up the fall in the 2nd period.

197-Colin Ely fought hard and mentally broke his opponent in the 2nd period.  he pushed the pace and stayed true to his style of wrestling earning a solid EIWA win.

Against Brown the team came out very flat which is not acceptable.  Our guys need to learn to string 2 matches together and not just wrestle one good match/competition.  Matt Fullowan earned his 2nd win of the day forging the team's first come from behind victory of the season.  We need to see more wins like this if we hope to be competitive over the next few weeks.

As we prepare for our southern road trip things are not looking to get easier.  We have learned that we will be giving up 3 weight classes to forfeits once again and as stated earlier that is almost impossible to overcome in a duel meet setting.  I hope we can get some individual wins in these next 5 matches but as a team I am not expecting to pull off any miracles.  I would like to thank all of the alums, parents, and friends of the program for all the continued support and I promise we are working tirelessly to build and improve F&M wrestling back into a respectable EIWA program.

Coach G

Season 1, Part 1: MG's Thoughts...

Let me begin by hoping you all you had a wonderful holiday season and by wishing you all a healthy and successful 2010.   It has been some time since I have sent anything out, since most of my efforts over the past 2 months have been focused on recruiting.   As I write this letter I am getting ready to head to Wilkes for our first competition since the NYU match a month ago.  I am excited to get back to the team and really wish that I could cut myself in half so I could recruit and coach simultaneously.  Until one of our past, current, or future wrestlers makes such a technological breakthrough I will have to come to terms with being in one place at a time.  Because of my absence from Lancaster I will only give updates on what I have first hand knowledge of, so please be patient, and a more thorough analysis will follow the tournament. 

When looking back at the first half of our season, it is clear that our program experienced a series of up and down results both individually and as a team.  Our first two tournaments were basically identical in the way they wrestled out with 3 or 4 guys performing well while the others performed, to be blunt, not-so-well.   Our team came into the season about as fragile as a team could be, meaning perfect attendance was 14 wrestlers in the room…TOTAL.  Due to the nature of our sport it would only be a matter of time before one or more of our guys would go down with injuries, skin issues, etc. 

As the season started to move forward we began to get visits from some of our old friends and even some new ones.  These friends are not the good kind of friends you have at work or from college, these are the ones that take things without asking and hinder your success.  We had a visit from Mr. Ringworm more than once and I believe he will be back throughout the second half of the season.  We also ran into that damn Injury Bug fellow who if I ever see in person I will shoot first and ask questions second.  Then we had Mr. Mono, Mr. Sprain, and of course Mr. Flu.  There are some new friends that are currently being identified, but they look like they could be relatives of that Ring Worm guy.   So not only do these “friends” show up at our wrestling room unannounced but they almost always leave our room with one or two of our wrestlers for an extended time period.  It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that if you start our with a base of 14 and cannot add to that base for a year but that base can always lose numbers from it at anytime, that we are in a tough position as a team.  I can say that this troubled scenario has also yielded some positives as well.  For example, 4 of our wrestlers have taken it upon themselves to step up and be the leaders of the team.  They are working out every day and constantly trying to get better.  They are the ones who are pushing their teammates to get better and to keep fighting through the hard times.  This core group is made up of soph’s and jr.’s which means they will be back next year to continue our building process.  I am excited for them and for the program because I really believe they are the key to building the F&M program back up to where it should be.

The major issue with our program is the size of the team.  It would have been very difficult to run the necessary practices and create the necessary training environments with 14 wrestlers, most of the time we were working with 7 or 8.  I know what you are thinking: “Why does this cause major issues with the success and growth of team?

Allow me to answer.  With so few wrestlers in the room it becomes very difficult for our guys to get different partners.  This limits their exposure to different styles of wrestling and retards their development.  It also causes complacency do to the fact that there is nobody threatening their spots on varsity, literally no-body.  The worst thing you can be in our sport is to become complacent.  This slows down the learning curve of our wrestlers, kills the warrior mentalities they have built over their years training and competing, and worst of all, it opens the door for “self-doubt” and “why am I’s” to creep in.   We are trying to keep things fresh and exciting for the team but there is only so much that can be done with our depleted roster.  It has become clear that we need to bring in large recruiting classes over the next 3 years to build our room back up and beyond what a college room should be. 

Which brings us to recruiting.  I have been doing everything in my power to get the recruiting process moving while also working to create buzz and hype around the future of our program.  Along my travels I have been met with enthusiasm and excitement about the possible resurgence of F&M Wrestling and I have built a very impressive coaches network throughout the NJ-NY-VA area.  I also learned that there are people out there who are looking to be a part of something special, and the rebuilding of a down program qualifies as just that-something special.  Unfortunately we are that down program, fortunately we don’t have to continue to be.  Over the next month I am going to be in and out of the office trying to lock in as many recruits as possible for next year but I am also open to any ideas or advice from the F&M Wrestling Family if there are things I am missing or not aware of, or you just might have a way to do it better.  I really want to communicate with all of you and I feel this could be a perfect starting point. 

This has been a very rough start to my coaching career performance wise (W-L column) but it has also been one of the most rewarding spiritually.  I have helped some young wrestlers feel good about themselves on and off the mats and hopefully come closer to reaching their goals.   For a specific few, I feel that I have them expecting to win, expecting to get through EIWA’s, and expecting to be at NCAA’s in March.  These little changes are what coaching’s all about for me. It always starts with one or two guys but that quickly spreads to three or four.  Given the size of our team I feel pretty confident predicting it will not take long for this attitude to infect our entire roster (bad joke?)!  It’s why I wanted to be a part of F&M’s program even while we are struggling, and it is also why I hope to be a part of F&M Wrestling for as long as it takes us to become great again.

I look forward to hearing from some of you soon, and as always please email or call me anytime.

Happy New Year,

Matt Greenberg

Coach G's Navy Recap

By now I am sure most of you have checked the results from the weekend.  While we still have a ways to go to reach our goals this weekend was a very good showing for F&M Wrestling and definitely proof that we are in fact progressing.  Here are my thoughts from the Navy Classic…

125 – Kenny Knapp wrestled for the first time this season and it was pretty clear that he was affected by the time he missed with injuries.  Even with the shortened practice time Kenny was able to go 2-2 and showed signs of greatness along the way.  We must also give Kenny credit for making 125 for the first time, and I am confident that moving forward he will be able to focus on his wrestling now that he knows the weight is attainable.

Dan Fox wrestled some tough matches, the second of which was unfortunately Kenny Knapp.  Dan has worked hard all season long and continues to improve every day.  He will undoubtedly get better from having Jake and Kenny as workout partners and I look for great things from Dan in the future.  He is also a pleasure to coach as he never complains and always works hard no matter what.

133 – Two tournaments, two medals, 10 wins, what else is there to say about Jakes performance this season.  He has clearly stepped up as a team leader and the breakout star of our lineup.  Jake dominated all of his opponents into the semi-finals where he ran into a tough David Marble from Bucknell.  The match was close and it was clear that Jake was frustrating the favored Bucknell star from his actions on the mat.  He took some hard head clubs and questionable late shoves from Marble which in my opinion through Jake off his game.  As a result the match got away from him and he lost what could have been a great win.  During the match Jake was clearly shaken by the hard clubs and pushing and we spoke about it afterwards.  We went over some strategy when dealing with those situations and when the same thing happened the next match Jake was able to block it out and focus on his wrestling.  He used his opponents’ frustration as an opportunity to score and mentally break the opposing wrestler, which from a coaching perspective is wonderful to see.  Jake lost a close match for 3^rd, but I am confident he learned from his mistakes and will be better for it. 

Matt Murray had some bright spots this weekend.  He was solid on top as always but still needs to improve on his feet and on the mat.  He lost both of his matches from the bottom position and with some hard work in the room he can fix that and those losses will quickly turn into wins.

149 – Eric Norgard is one of those wrestlers who you know is going to be good.  He is fast, has great technique, and an amazingly large gas tank.  The only problem is he is not physically where he needs to be to make those pro’s work for him 100% of the time.  Eric had some nice wins at the tourney but he still needs to work on getting stronger and wrestling with a strategy.  His amazing endurance will not factor into his matches if he doesn’t get into the 3^rd period.  That being said I would bet my paycheck that Eric Norgard will be star for this team in the future.

David Pucci is still coming into his own this year.  He has improved greatly since the first practice and he does have some positions he really needs to focus on if he wants to continue to improve.  I know he wants to get better so it will only be a matter of time before we fix the mistakes and get David to a level where he is winning the matches he currently is coming up short in.  David did hit the nicest double leg takedown that I have seen in a long time, it was so nice it even shocked him when he hit it!

157 – Matt Gittleman had a tough tournament.  Matt is a hard worker in the room and a great leader for the team.  He also was getting down to weight for the first time this season so I hope he will improve on his performance moving forward.  If Matt is going to be successful he will need to cut down on the points he gives his opponents and fight hard for every single take down.  He will also need to get better on bottom.

165 – Anthony Bongarzone is one of the most talented kids on our team.  He is the funkiest wrestler on our squad by far and sometimes he relies on “the funk” a little too much and it backfires.  This weekend was one of those times – during his first match against a tough Navy wrestler Anthony got into a scramble and tweaked his knee.  Amazingly he finished the match and wrestled hard but he did hurt himself and we did have to pull him from the tournament.  Anthony is a very important part of our lineup and we felt it was a smart move to pull him out and save him for the duel season.  We should find out today how serious the knee injury is.

174 – The winner of the imaginary Most Improved Wrester Award definitely went to Matt Fullowan this past weekend.  He also won the Drove Coach Matt Crazy Award.  Matt is on the verge of breaking onto the national scene.  I have been telling him this for weeks and he has been improving daily through hard work and endless technique sessions.  At the Clarion tournament Matt was a bit hesitant in his matches and this caused him to lose some of the close ones.  Well over the past two weeks we have worked hard on being aggressive and believing in his abilities and this weekend it paid off.  Matt dominated his first opponent with some nice takedowns and even nicer turns on top (I taught him that!).  This put him in the quarters against a tough nationally ranked Shane Riccio, fresh off a win over an All American from UVA.  The last time Matt wrestled Riccio at Clarion he was majored.  We had worked on his strategy and watched film on the match so this time he was prepared.  The first period was scoreless and we had to choose down as a result.  We ended up giving up a quick 2pt. tilt and in the third period we had to let Riccio up.  Matt had a few scoring opportunities and pretty much dictated the pace on his feet with an array of front headlocks and short offense assaults.  Riccio is about 6’2” so scoring is very tough on him.  We were unable to convert a last second high crotch that would have sent the match into OT but we did come away with a good feeling for the next time they meet.  Matt went on to win 2 more matches and then lost a heart breaker to former NJ State Champ Anthony Trangone from Virginia Tech.  Matt had him beat, wrestling a perfect match and sending it to OT.  In OT Matt was spinning around for a takedown when Trangone tried a last second desperation roll.  Matt countered the roll and had what looked to be 2pts but by the time the referee got into position Trangone had come out of the move and had 2 of his own.  It was a tough loss for Matt and he probably should have won the match had the ref been on the other side when he spun, but the lesson learned is that it is not 2pts until it is 2pts and you cannot allow the match to be decided by a ref’s call.  I am very proud of Matt and feel he turned a corner this weekend.  I also think he will improve throughout the season and expect great things from him at the end of the year.

184 – Matt Latessa missed 10 days with a bad ankle sprain and I think it hurt his performance (no pun intended).  Matt has some great takedowns and is very explosive but he needs to get back into wrestling mode.  He had some trouble on the mat and he will need to fix that if he is to achieve the success that I think he can this year.

197 – Colin Ely is a unique wrestler.  He has a very unique style and it can only be described as ballet meets ice hockey at Nascar speeds.   Colin is very gifted with great strength and flexibility-a very rare thing for a 197lber.  What he needs to work on is his match strategy and conditioning if he wants to be great.  He shows signs of greatness but he also makes mental errors that cost him in big matches.  Colin is a very hard worker and never complains in the room so I am sure he will be more than happy to take on these challenges the way he takes on everything, else, with a great attitude and a big smile.

HWT – If there is one guy on our team that I can say listens to me 100% of the time and follows the pre-match strategy perfectly it is Daniel Canfield.  He is a joy to coach and is one of the most courageous wrestlers I have seen in a while.  Daniel weighs about 220lbs soaking wet and was planning on going 184 this year but for the team he stepped up or should I say ate up and filled in at HWT.  He has more than filled in for us over the last two weeks, taking on men weighing 40-60lbs more than him and beating his fare share of them.  Danny wrestled with heart, never gives up, and has pretty amazing technique for a “big guy”.  Danny made the semi-finals but was stopped by some much “bigger guys” than himself.  In his final match he lost on a controversial call to a 285lb monster from Bloomsburg.  If Danny can put on a little weight and continue to perfect our HWT strategy he could be a really bad matchup for any HWT out there.

As a team we finished 5^th behind Navy, Virginia Tech, Bucknell, and Bloomsburg.  I believe this is the highest finish for our team since we started attending the event, and I feel we are only scratching the surface of our potential.  We have 3 days of practice before the holidays and then we come back ready for Princeton and NYU.  I want to thank all of the parents and friends of F&M who made the trip to Navy and supported us throughout the day.  I would also like to give a special thank you to the Fullowan’s and the other parents who prepared food and drinks for the coaches and wrestlers during the long tournament.  Have a safe trip to wherever you are headed and have a great holiday with your families and loved ones.

Best,

Coach G

Follow us at the Navy Classic...

Updated brackets will be on www.NavySports.com


Participating teams: Bloomsburg, Bucknell, Campbell, Duquesne, F&M, George Mason, Navy, Virginia Tech, West Virginia




Participating ranked wrestlers:
• 125 - None
• 133 - No. 13 Dave Marble, Bucknell
• 141 - No. 12 Chris Diaz, Virginia Tech
• 149 - No. 20 Peter Yates, Virginia Tech
• 157 - No. 11 Bryce Saddoris, Navy; No. 19 Jesse Dong, Virginia Tech
• 165 - No. 20 Rick Schmelyun, Bloomsburg
• 174 - No. 10 Shane Riccio, Bucknell; No. 14 Luke Rebertus, Navy
• 184 - No. 18 Tommy Spellman, Virginia Tech
• 197 - None
• HWT - None 

Returning placewinners from the 2008 Navy Classic:
• 125 - Allan Stein (Navy, 6th); Austin Clouse (Navy, 5th at 133)
• 133 - David Marble (Bucknell, Champion); Denny Herndon (George Mason, 4th); Jared Jones (Virginia Tech, 6th)
• 141 - Chris Diaz (Virginia Tech, 2nd); Kelin Bidelspach (Campbell, 3rd)
• 149 - Kevin LeValley (Bucknell, 2nd); Glenn Shober (Navy, 4th at 157); John Majka (Navy, 4th at 141)
• 157 - Jesse Dong (Virginia Tech, Champion); Bryce Saddoris (Navy, Champion at 149); Cory Vernon (Navy, 6th at 149);Kramer Whitelaw (George Mason, 5th at 165); Aaron Keeton (George Mason, 6th at 165)
• 165 - Matt Epperly (Virginia Tech, 2nd); Frankie McLaughlin (George Mason, 5th at 157)
• 174 - Luke Rebertus (Navy, Champion); Shane Riccio (Bucknell, 3rd); Anthony Trongone (Virginia Tech, 4th); Mike Billings (Navy, 6th);Matt Weston (West Virginia, 4th at 184)
• 184 - David Thompson (Bucknell, 2nd); Matt DeMichiel (Navy, 3rd at 165)
• 197 - Jay Hahn (Bucknell, 5th)
• HWT - Khiry Reid (Campbell, 5th); D.J. Bruce (Virginia Tech, 2nd at 197)

NEW LOOK: F&M WRESTLING

Here is the new F&M singlet design for this season.  It took a lot of work to make this design a reality...

Gearing up for Navy

As we prepare for the Navy Classic things in the room have started to get a little monotonous.  We have a very small team, roughly 14 guys which doesn't lend itself to multiple workout partners and a wide variety of practice match ups.  Because of this things can get stale very quickly in our room.  Yesterday was one of those days where things were starting to get pretty stale and it caused the coaches to step back and take a minute to think about how we can spice things up.  Today we are going to run a simulated tournament practice.  That means we will be in and out in 60-80 minutes tops.  The practice will be mostly up to the guys on the team as far as the intensity and the level of exertion.  Because we are simulating a tournament it will focus on mainly live wrestling, matches to be exact.  There are two things that can happen when you run a practice like this.  The first thing is the guys do not push themselves and they cost through the matches never experiencing a hard fought battle or a situation that they need to push themselves through.  The second scenario and hopefully the one I see this afternoon will be hard fought matches where guys are fighting for every point.  Nobody will concede a takedown and even if someone is losing they are still fighting to come back and earn the win.  Until the latter scenario becomes the norm during our practices we are going to have a very hard time competing at our best.  It is my job as the coach to guide our wrestlers towards that attitude during the workouts and then to help them maintain that killer instinct once they step out on the mat this weekend.

Here we gooooooooooo......

Clarion Open Recap (Part 2)

What I took away from my first tournament with F&M:

If I was told on Friday that we would come out of the weekend with 80% of the team earning one win or better and we would have 5 legitimate placing threats and 2 guys eventually making the podium I would have gladly taken those results and called it a success.  The funny thing is that after experiencing that exact scenario play itself out on Saturday I couldn’t help but feel like we didn’t perform at our best and we could have done much better.  That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t impressed by what I saw from our guys (every one of them showed signs of improvement both mentally and physically), it just means that I believe they are only starting to scratch the surface of their potential and they are capable of so much more in the future.  This assessment was something I put a lot of thought into over the last few days.  Was I being too harsh on them?  Were there breakdowns in coach/wrestler communications?  Did I have unrealistic expectations for the team?  I decided I would sleep on it and revisit everything in the morning. 

6hrs and 3 Megan Fox dreams later I came to my conclusion.  There was no outcome, short of 10 champions, that would have fully satisfied me coming out of the Clarion Tournament.  There probably will never be an outcome that will make me say “Ay dios mio, Perfecto, Perfecto!”  I  then found myself thinking that this epiphany might actually make me a bad person/coach/mentor.  Panic ensued.  One NJ bagel w/ cream cheese later I concluded that the reason I could never be 100% satisfied with the outcome of a competition was not because I was an unrealistic egomaniacal dictator, but because of the potential I see in our wrestlers and the belief I have in every one of them that they can achieve great success in our sport.  

After all of this soul searching I concluded that if I was guilty of anything  it was guilty of being the eternal optimist, of believing that each one of my wrestlers can achieve and surpass all of their goals.  My job as a coach is to now figure out how I can unlock each wrestler’s potential and get them to believe in themselves.  Once that is done, they can finally go out and compete at their best.  Clearly this past weekend was not only a learning experience for the wrestlers, but for me as well.

Derek Jeter hits rock bottom...

Much to my dismay reports have been coming in that Derek Jeter is experiencing some major financial trouble and is out on the streets begging for change...He has pawned his rings and his girlfriend walked out on him...Lets all keep Derek in our thoughts and hope he makes it back onto the diamond next season...

Clarion Open Recap (Part 1)

First let me apologize for the slight delay in this post.  There were a few things I needed to work through before I could write something that was not influenced by emotions from the tournament.  Even with that intention, I cannot promise that revisiting the weekend’s events won’t get me worked up again but here we go…

I am going to keep it simple here with my thoughts on our wrestling this weekend.  All of our guys wrestled hard and represented F&M with honor.  There were some guys who might not have had the tournament they had hoped they would, but in the long run everyone will definitely benefit from the experience.  Like the old cliche states, you learn more from a loss than you do from a victory.  That being said there was one issue/theme that we absolutely have to work on if we plan to improve throughout the season-our attitude while we are on the mat (aaaaand the lightbulb just went on!)

Our attitudes on the mat or our...Wait for it....waiiiiit ....here it comes..... "MATT"itudes, (Oh yes, I said it!) is the way in which we carry ourselves pre, during, and post match.  I believe that the technical part of the sport is much easier to improve upon when the mental part has been put firmly in place.  What I mean by that is that in order for our wrestlers to achieve success they must first believe it themselves.  I spent a good part of yesterday (Monday) working on this with the team and I think this past weekend will serve as a great reference point during the process.  As with any competition there were some minor technical mistakes that I am not too worried about and we will focus on them during our morning drill sessions leading up to the Navy Classic.  If anyone wants specific details on the guys feel free to email me and I will f/u with whatever you need.  The actual weight by weight recaps were posted earlier on here and are also on www.GoDiplomats.com .  I believe Coach Schuyler sent out a recap as well, and if you want to be added to our email list please shoot me a note at matt.greenberg@fandm.edu

Off to practice I go...




12 days until the Navy Classic

COMING SOON

My Clarion Open recap...

Diplomats Open Strong

CLARION, Pa. - Franklin & Marshall's Jake Bucha and Colin Ely were both placewinners as the Diplomats kicked off wrestling season at the Clarion Open. Bucha, a senior 133-pounder placed third, while Ely, a 197-pound sophomore grappled his way to sixth place. (GoDiplomats.com Story).

---

I suspect that Matt will suspect that I am simply trying to bump his Yankee's win down the page. He might not be entirely wrong, but that is beyond the point.

Having talked with Coach Schuyler, it sounds like the guys wrestled strong. He was extraordinarily upbeat, and from what I could gather from the background noise as the bus steamed towards a hard earned meal, the team felt pretty good about the day's effort as well. Without brackets or direct witness to the day's bouts, we are left with only results and little insight about the effort.

Matt - an anxious group of F&M wrestling alumni and fans await your digestion of your first day matside (MattSide?) with F&M. In the meantime, we'll have to enjoy this moment.

It's Go Time!

Tonight I write to you all from Clarion University in Clarion, PA. We are all here resting up and preparing for our first competition of the year. We brought the entire team and from the registration lists there looks to be solid competition from PA and other local teams. I know Lehigh, Bucknell, PSU, Clarion, and Maryland all have guys competing here so we should be able to get an early reading on where we stand within the league and among our Div. 1 brethren.

The guys have all been managing their weight and health very well and I do not foresee any problems at the scales tomorrow morning. We had a good 1hr workout today at F&M before making the 5hr trek out here tonight. Tomorrow we have 6am roll call before we head over to the gym for a good pre-weigh-in workout (drill) to make sure they knock all of the hotel and bus ride rust off before the tournament starts. I will be updating the results on here if I have a wifi connection from the gym and will also be taking detailed notes for a post tourney recap. I expect some great things from our guys tomorrow as they have all worked very hard to get to this point.

Talk to you all tomorrow

MG

Thaaaa Yankees Win!

Always working hard...

The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.

~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Yankees in 5?

What will happen tonight????

UPDATE #1...We are heading back to NY for Game 6

"Burning" Questions

Over the last few weeks a lot of you have been emailing me with questions relating to F&M Wrestling and its place within the EIWA. After reading through and organizing these questions, I decided that there is no better person to answer them than Stephen Peed, the Associate Athletic Director here at F&M. Over the course of the season we will address the most popular questions here at “Matt” Burn in the new "Burning" Questions section…

Q: As a Division 1 program why doesn’t F&M offer Scholarships?

A: Stephen Peed: Franklin & Marshall cannot grant scholarships. At the 2004 NCAA Convention, a sweeping Division III reform package jeopardized the status of Division I sports at DIII schools. While the schools competing in Division III were ultimately spared from having to decide to go “all-in” in a single division, they were also required not to offer scholarships, with the exception of schools that were already offering them. Their scholarship status was grandfathered in, allowing schools like Johns Hopkins to continue granting athletic aid.

There is another model out there that we can follow: that of the Ivies. We can achieve success by following the trail blazed by institutions such as Penn and, your alma mater, Cornell. To that end, Franklin & Marshall is working diligently towards meeting 100 percent of the need of all of its incoming students. This year a greater percentage of need will be met than any year prior, and that will continue to be the case going forward until we achieve 100 percent.

We are very confident that we can compete at any level. We field NCAA Division III championship teams and contenders. Our “multi-divisional” squash teams successfully compete with many of the same teams our wrestling team faces in the EIWA, and both have numerous top ten finishes.

In development circles, you often hear the term “silent phase.” In our silent phase, we were able to secure our first fulltime assistant coach. The generosity of our alumni has continued beyond that milestone. The silent phase is over. We are - and have always been - unequivocally Division I in wrestling. We are now repositioning ourselves to achieve in a changed environment.

This is an exciting time to be a student-athlete at F&M. Beautiful new housing options, academic buildings and athletic facilities are built, being built or in the queue to be built. Partner that with an extraordinary education and access to an amazing faculty, and Franklin & Marshall’s ability to deliver a Division I athletic experience in an elite, small campus environment is a truly unique niche.

Guest Blogger: Matt Fullowan 174lbs

Let me start out by thanking everyone that helped provide the wrestling team with our first full time assistant coaching position. We have to start somewhere and this is a huge first step in bringing F&M back to its rightful place within the EIWA Community. I’m convinced the combination of Coach Schuyler and Coach Greenberg will bring the best out of our team. It’s now up to us to make this happen and I’m convinced we’re up to the task.

For those of you who may not know me I am a sophomore economics major from Berkeley Heights NJ currently wrestling at 174 pounds. Sports have been a large part of my life and my family (my two older brothers Rick and Mike were great athletes there as well) as I played football, baseball and wrestled for Governor Livingston High School. From a college selection standpoint I selected F&M because of the chance to compete at the Division I level without sacrifices the academic aspect of school. Also, my high school coach (Coach I) knew Coach Schuyler and thought it would be a good match for me. I believe life is all about challenges, and to reach your potential one must compete against the very best. At F&M I’m challenged everyday both academically and athletically. In order to navigate through my semesters I have to be very goal oriented. I’d not only like to wrestle in the NCAA’s but also earn All American honors. This is no easy task but I feel my coaches and desire to be successful provide me with the necessary tools it takes to achieve said goals. Last year I had the honor of backing up Justin Herbert (National Qualifier) and getting in a match here and there. Although a majority of my matches were at 184lbs. I was able to compile a winning record. Personally I think I could have done a lot better, but that’s what this year is about and I have a long hard road ahead of me with no reason to focus on the past.

What were my first Impressions of Coach G? The first time I met Coach Greenberg was during a scheduled individual drill session with Coach Schuyler. I was in the wrestling room at the time warming up waiting for Coach Schuyler to arrive, thinking he was running his usual couple of minutes late. As it turned out, Coach arrived 20 minutes later and introduced me to Coach G. and apologized for having to cancel our session since he had to show Coach G. around. I was disappointed since I had been dreaming of double legging Schuyler all week and was ready to get this season started. Before I could get too upset Coach G went on to tell me that we would be having a lot of workouts this year and kind of smirked and looked over at Coach Schuyler. I could tell this guy meant business and he was going to do everything in his power to help make us a better wrestling team.

I figured lets find out what this guy is all about. The next day I went up to the coach’s office at 11AM to ask Greenberg to get a drill in. He said yes and off we went to the wrestling room where after about 30 seconds of drilling I was already hitting better shots than I ever had. After about 10 minutes of drilling Miley Cirus’s new song “Party in the USA” came on and out of nowhere I just start singing and telling him how much I loved the song. I don’t even know what Greenberg must have thought, and not really knowing anyone on the team at the time, he must have thought I was crazy and asking what he got himself into…haha. For the record I believe it’s a pretty good song even if every teen girl in the world loves it. Anyway… back to the drill session. After a little while of drilling we went into live wrestling where Greenberg beat the crap out of me and put my body into positions I didn’t even know existed. For those who don’t know me I am the most inflexible person in the world (I can’t touch my toes) and I think Coach made me kiss my toe while almost snapping my back. Well I’ve been coming back ever since, (Sunday is our day off) and Coach G. is there ready to teach and challenge me more and more. It’s clear that he’s in this for the long haul and if he cares for my teammates and me so much we have to show him that we care about the sport and our team that much as well.

What it takes to be the best: After our initial drill session I talked to Greenberg for about an hour about his experience at Cornell and what it’s like to wrestle for a nationally ranked team and finish your career as an All-American. After this meeting I could tell this guy has a great passion for the sport as he’s left the business world to help make us better. Emerson say’s “Nothing great happens without enthusiasm” well Coach G. brings enthusiasm to a new level. Between Coach G and Coach Schuyler I’m convinced that if we work hard and listen we’ll be able to reach our fullest potential.

Our normal practice: We start at 4:30PM on the dot everyday and they are intense. As Coach G said in a previous blog I lost ten pounds in one practice when I usually only lose about four. Even though they’ve been hard it’s been great! Practice flows nice and smoothly starting off with a warm up then getting into a nice high paced drilling session then making our way into live wrestling where we crank the music up. Live wrestling usually consists of me “funking” with Bongarzone, banging heads with Latessa, or a first to blood match with Ely. I can feel myself improving each day and the techniques I’ve been learning in the drill sessions with Coach G. have been working nicely. We end practice with Koll Krawls and running, which is very punishing and have made many a grown men cry.

Outlook: Our team this year is very consistent with strong, tough, hardnosed wrestlers at every weight class. I think we can expect big things this year and we’re going to surprise many opponents because we’re putting in the hard work it takes while receiving great instruction. I’m looking forward to starting the season off this Saturday at the Clarion Open on a positive note. We have a very challenging schedule and I’m convinced if we put in the work and take advantage of the unique opportunity to train and listen personally to two NCAA Division I All Americans we’ll make great strides.

We’ll it’s been an honor to share my thoughts and experiences in Coach G’s “Matt Burn” Blog. The addition of Coach Greenberg to Coach Schuyler’s staff and the F&M Wrestling Family is going to help F&M wrestling achieve great things. In closing I’d like to say I’ve committed to doing my best to help bring F&M back to it’s rightful place within the wrestling world and to challenge myself everyday to reach my fullest potential while helping my team once again become a force in the EIWA. In the not so distant future I want people to look at our team and say, “oh ****, I have to wrestle a kid from F&M.”

Matt Fullowan

The Original "Matt" Burn

So not only is this blog title a play on the common wrestling injury, it is also a reference to a miserable time in my life where I fell asleep on the beaches of Miami. I can honestly say that this was the final straw in my decision to come back to the Northeast and the wonderful (indoor) sport of wrestling. I guess you could also say that I could have been a Maine Lobster for Halloween!

In more important news, Game 4 of the World Series is all tied up at 2-2 in the 5th and I am hoping that America's Team, The New York Yankees, can take a 3-1 lead into tomorrows Game 5.

Hope you all had a great weekend

Lobster Boy

UPDATE #1 @ 9:50PM

Mr. November, Derek Jeter, just knocked in a run so it is 3-2 NY in the 5th!!!

UPDATE #2 @ 9:52PM

Johnny Damon with a bloop single...4-2 NY w/ 1 out in 5th!!!

UPDATE #3 @ 11:21PM

Joba gives up a HR and we are tied 4-4 going to the 9th...

UPDATE #4 @ 11:40PM

AROD delivers!!!!! 5-4 Yankees!

UPDATE #5 @ 11:43PM

Jorge knocks in 2 more!!! 7-4 Yankees going to bottom 9th

UPDATE #6 @ 11:45PM

Enter Sandman.....

1 out, 2 outs, 3 outs

Tha Yankees win...ThaaAaa Yankeeeeees WIN!!!!!

New shoes, new moves

Today Matt and I drilled for a good hour. This was no ordinary drill though, as we were donning our new Adi-strike shoes for the first time. We wrestled faster, stronger, and longer than ever and it is undoubtedly a result of the new shoes. I have another drill with Colin this afternoon so I will try and report back with the updated results from Rd. 2 of the Adi-strike Revolution.

UPDATE #1 @ 2:25pm

There is most definitely some magic in the shoes. During my last workout I floated over the mats like fog on a mountain lake. I was poetry in motion...I look forward to practice later, I expect jaws to drop and eyes to bulge!

Viva los Adi-strikes!

Practice Update

(Matt Fullowan, Soph. - 174lbs, Colin Ely, Soph. - 197lbs)

Today we had a good, hard, and short practice. This year we have implemented bi-weekly drill sessions in the mornings which gives us a great opportunity to work with the guys and get them caught up on technique and the "style" of our program. In those sessions we break down the core positions (feet, short offense, defense, top, and bottom) and work on how to score in each of them. While we throw a variety of moves at the wrestlers, the goal of the sessions is to emphasize the importance of scoring from each of the positions, and not so much on what move they eventually score with. Sure I would like each of them to use the moves we show, but realistically they all have certain techniques and moves that they do better than others and their comfort level in each position is paramount to any one move I could force on them. The mantra this year has been "If you have to think about it, it's too late!" What this means is that in every position you encounter throughout the course of the match you must have a reaction to capitalize on it. You do not have time to react to what your opponent does you must act on what you are going to do. This is only achieved through repetition and constant drilling...hence drill sessions.

Because we focus on technique in the mornings we are able to focus on old fashioned hard wrestling in practice. Our practices deal with situations, fast paced drilling, and of course, live wrestling. They usually run for 90 minutes, but every now and then we push the guys for 2+ hours. Tuesday we had a 2hr practice with a 20 minute conditioning afterwards. Matt Fullowan lost 10lbs in that practice wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Ladies, please feel free to contact Matt for his "8 Easy Steps to a Fabulous Beach Body" workout book in stores this spring...

To contrast Tuesdays hard workout we went 90min and 65min Wed and Thursday respectively. This gives the guys ample time to recover without sacrificing their cardio and wrestling development. Today we did three matches and everyone worked extremely hard. We have a small team (14 guys plus coaches) which can work to our advantage in certain cases. Live wrestling is one of those cases because guys know each others styles very well and it forces them to focus on technique if they want to score on their opponents. It also can hurt when you don't have a lot of different styles for each guy to work with. Because of this, the coaches play an important roll in the live wrestling in practice. I do not think we have had a live session that I have missed since I got here and they guys I work with have been steadily improving. I work with everyone from 174-HWT but also work with the entire team during drill sessions which I run every week.

What has really made me excited this season is that 4-6 guys/week come to me for extra workouts above and beyond the mandatory 2 workouts (drills) per week. Everyone from 125-HWT has been in for extra instruction, and so far I am seeing quite a few front headlocks and scoring from underhooks-which is my dream come true. Most of the guys had never seen the stuff I teach them so it is always fun to show new techniques and moves for them to try out during practice. As with any team there are always one or two guys that are very special, and as a coach you hope they do very well. I want all of my guys to reach their goals and I will do everything I can to help them do just that, but Matt Fullowan (174lbs) and Colin Ely (197lbs) have become my special projects.

Matt wrestles a style almost exactly the same as mine (don't worry those who know me, he shoots much more than I did) with lots of pressure and cerebral leg attacks. Over the last 4 weeks he has become a very different wrestler. He will be a threat in the EIWA this year and anything less than a trip to NCAA's would be a huge disappointment for Matt, something I feel comfortable saying he didn't recognize prior to this season. Every day at 11am I can look up at the office door and Matt will be standing there asking me to workout. He has not missed a day since I got here and it is showing in his wrestling and success in the room. From what I hear, there are still a bunch of seats left on the Fullowan band wagon if anyone is interested in getting on board early (no guarantee there will be room later in the year!).

Colin Ely is a different animal all together, literally. Colin has hands like dinner plates and they do not feel very good as they come crashing down on the back of your head/neck. He has a never ending gas tank on his feet and has no problem bending your knees 90 degrees in the wrong direction should you turn your back on him during a live go. When I first wrestled with Colin he would dive in at the legs and hope to hold on and if he was luck score. Those who know my style know that is not the best strategy when wrestling me. After countless front headlocks and reshots, Colin learned how to select his shots with more caution and he is now starting to get in and finish them on most of the guys he wrestles. The gains he has made in 4 weeks are amazing and I look forward to his continued improvement throughout the year.

Time to watch my Yankees figure out how to hit against Philly. I am working on a special guest poster for early next week which I am sure you will all enjoy. Until next time....

MG

"To be a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one. It is rather an endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives. Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other."

— Carlos Castaneda

Inaugural Burn

I would like to kick off "Matt" Burn with a big "thank you" to all of the administration and F&M Wrestling alumni, fans, staff, and wrestlers for providing me with the opportunity to get back into the sport I love so very much. Throughout my interviews and hiring process it became very clear to me that there are a lot of people who care very much about F&M Wrestling, so when I was hired I made it my mission to find ways to give back to them for all they have done for us. This blog is one of those efforts.

Through "Matt" Burn I hope to give our fans a peek behind the curtain of a Division I wrestling program in the early stages of rebuilding. I hope to offer a unique viewpoint on our team, our wrestlers, and all things F&M Wrestling both on and off the mats. We are very lucky to have so many ways to reach our alumni, fans, and families so that you can all follow your favorite team as we climb the EIWA and national rankings over the next few years.

I look forward to updating this site often, and I will be as candid and straightforward as possible in an effort to paint the most accurate and detailed picture possible for our national and alumni fan base. I will also bring in some of our wrestlers and department members to guest post from time to time so there are different perspectives on the season. Finally, I encourage all of you to send any feedback, questions, or ideas that you would like to see on the site as we continue to grow "Matt" Burn within the F&M and wrestling communities. My contact info is in the profile section of the site.

Now onto the good stuff!!! The first month of my coaching career has run the gamut from educational to exhilarating! My first day on campus was hectic to say the least, running from orientation meetings to wrestler introductions, and finally to practice. To be honest, I did not know what to expect as far as how the wrestlers would receive me, and I was very nervous before I met them for the first time. Would they be open to a new coach? Would they be excited about the upcoming season? Were they willing to work as hard as necessary to become successful? Were they any good? All of these things ran through my mind for weeks and finally they would all be answered whether I wanted to know or not.

Before we go any further let me give some background on myself to help put this blog in context for everyone moving forward (cue time warp graphics/sounds):

I grew up in Northern New Jersey and started wrestling in high school. I was not very good when I started and it is fair to say that my transition into the sport didn't go smoothly. I was used as a throwing dummy/punching bag/ easy match for most of my first year, frequently enough for my coaches to let me know I didn't have to keep getting back up and practicing all the time, that it was ok to sit out a day. That was when I was bitten by the wrestling bug. I had dabbled in football and baseball all through my youth, but for some reason I never really made the jumps necessary to earn a regular place in either sport.

With wrestling it was different...

In wrestling I was able to control my own destiny. I didn't have to rely on someone throwing me the ball or blocking for me to run or making a three-pointer at the buzzer. I only had to worry about me working out, and me practicing 2x day and studying tapes nightly. I loved that success was directly related to the amount of effort put in during the practices. Taking that information and adding what I recently learned in science class (that there were actually abs under my "protective layer" of chub) I decided that it was in my best interest to focus on wrestling and working hard to improve in the sport.

Lo and behold, this formula worked and by my senior year I was one of the top wrestlers in the state. I ended my year with a 3rd place finish in the state tournament and parlayed that success into a spot on the Columbia University Wrestling team. After a year at Columbia where I took 4th at EIWA's I decided things were going to smoothly at home and I needed to create more stress in my parents lives. Clearly the best way to do this was to transfer to Cornell University were I would be competing for one of the top teams on the east coast.

This strategic move was hands down the best decision of my short life and because of my experience at Cornell I am now doing what I always dreamed of for a career. While at Cornell I was lucky to be coached by Rob Koll, hands down the best coach and mentor anybody could ever ask for. While with Rob, I completed a successful wrestling career, culminating with an EIWA title and All-American honors my senior year, but what was much more valuable was that I had the opportunity to learn and observe how to build a decent TEAM into an elite PROGRAM. Those invaluable lessons and experiences are what I hope to bring to F&M in my role as assistant coach.

(cue time warp graphics/sounds) Aaaand we're back at F&M:

Coach Schuyler introduced me to the team and of course I was excited to get things started with these guys. Who would be the workhorses? Who would put in the time, blood, sweat, and tears necessary to achieve greatness? Surely not everyone would have that drive....right? Well I can honestly say I was surprised to hear everyone of the guys say they were willing to do what it takes to get better. They were all open to new ideas and training techniques. They were all open to extra workouts and high intensity drills/conditioning. Not one wrestler rolled their eyes or looked away when I shook their hands. Not one wrestler backed down or had an excuse for why they couldn't make a drill session. They all met my challenge with a youthful exuberance and excitement that I knew would soon disappear after the first sprint workout (Muahahahaha)...

So there I was, standing in front of 15 wrestlers who entrusted me with their careers. How exciting is that?!? Over the next four weeks some of the guys improved at incredible rates never looking back at the boys they were the prior year, and as expected, some went through the familiar peeks and valley's any wrestling renaissance presents, but most importantly as of this post all but one are still with me, training hard and becoming better. As a rookie coach this is much more than I could have ever hoped for. That retention percentage (93%) is better than any team I had ever been on in my career. That retention rate is a great foundation for us to recruit on and build our program on. It is a great first step, hopefully the first of many...