October 2010 Archives

Just had a long day at the XRANM office- glad to be done.

The Gophers have signed a couple strong recruits for their wrestling program this season. They signed the No. 4 overall recruit, Logan Storley and No.26 Steve Keogh. They haven't signed any light weights yet, but they will probably be coming shortly.

Hopefully when these guys strap on the Maroon and Gold singlets they can pick up some All-American honors.

We start wrestling practice (open gyms) on November 1st. I have been training and running to be in good enough shape to help out. I also picked up a new pair of shoes because my old ones had the sole ripped off.

The team looks to have about 45 kids going out, perhaps a few stragglers joining late. Most have all of the gear they need, but some need one or two items. We generally help them obtain them, either by giving hand-me-downs or buying online.

I wanted to remember this designers site. She does sports designs for mma and wrestling people.

In football, I think we're in for a treat. Maybe Mike Leach:

Playing and Coaching Career

* no playing career
* 1987 - Cal-Poly Assistant
* 1988 - College of the Desert Assistant
* 1989 - Pori Bears (Swedish football)
* 1989-91 - Iowa Wesleyan (OC)
* 1992-96 - Valdosta State (OC)
* 1997-98 - Kentucky - OC
* 1999 - Oklahoma (OC)
* 2000-09 - Texas Tech

In wrestling it will be slightly more dubious. Recruiting the top high school wrestling talent to strap on their shoes at MN has been a huge challenge for the Gophers. They've recruited and lost some of the nation's best wrestlers including Marcus LeVesseur, Destin McCauley, Matt Mincey, Tyler Lehman, and so on.

Finding a coach that can get Minnesota's best to strap on the maroon and gold singlet will be an interesting task.

If the MN athletic department gets it in gear we could be in store for a major revitalization at all levels of Football and wrestling.

High School Wrestling's No. 5 recruit, Kenny Courts, has signed a national letter of intent to wrestling for the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2011.   Courts joins two other elite recruits - Hunter Stieber & Cam Tessari - creating a huge gap between them and the rest of the Universities in the 2011 recruiting battle.

Kenny's friendship with another elite recruit, Destin McCauley,  adds more fuel to Tom Ryan's effort to rope in McCauley.  Should the Buckeyes lock up McCauley they will have signed the No. 2, No.5, No. 6, and No. 7 wrestlers in the nation.

No. 1 Recruit, Morgan McIntosh, remains undecided, though rumors speculate that the California stand out is looking at Ohio State, Michigan, and Cal Poly.