Takedown Report

West Liberty Hires National Coach of the Year

WHEELING, W.Va. – West Liberty University announced Monday that NCAA Division II Coach of the Year Danny Irwin has been hired as the Hilltoppers’ new head wrestling coach. The announcement came during a morning press conference at the university’s downtown center.
    “We are tremendously excited to bring in such an impressive young man who has demonstrated success at the highest levels athletically and academically,” WLU President Dr. Stephen Greiner said. “Coach Irwin’s incredible work ethic combined with his proven ability to recruit and develop high-achieving student-athletes on and off the mat make him a perfect ambassador for his sport and a great fit for our university.”
    Irwin replaces former head coach Mitch Smith, who recently stepped down to accept a position in the private sector that would permit him to spend more time with his growing family.
    “I want to thank Coach Smith for his hard work and dedication over the past four years,” athletic director Lynn Ullom said. “Mitch played an integral role as we upgraded our facilities to the point where we now have some of the best in the region, putting us in position to take the next step.
    “I’m always looking for the best possible candidate but being able to hand the reins of our storied wrestling program over to the reigning National Coach of the Year is the definition of a home run hire. Coach Irwin’s accomplishments speak for themselves, but I was even more impressed by the obvious passion he has for the sport and his student-athletes along with the vision he has for the program. We are thrilled to welcome him to the West Liberty family.”
    Irwin comes to WLU a few weeks after leading Wheeling Jesuit University to a runner-up finish at the 2018-19 NCAA Division II Nationals in Cleveland. All six of Irwin’s national qualifiers earned NCAA Division II All-America status with two of them winning national championships. Irwin was honored as the 2018-19 NCAA Division II Coach of the Year in just his second season as a collegiate head man.
    Just as impressively, a program-record seven members of Irwin’s national runner-up squad at WJU were named to the 2018-19 National Wrestling Coaches Association’s All-Academic Team. Rest of the story and details at https://hilltoppersports.com/news/2019/4/8/wrestling-west-liberty-hires-national-coach-of-the-year.aspx?mc_cid=c971c5fbec&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 14, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

ASK KOLAT: Where Did the Rubber Knee Come From?

A Pioneer in the Sport

This week, Kolat was asked about how he came up with and developed his rubber knee or trick knee defense. Flexibility in wrestling is important but Kolat had never seen another wrestler use this technique before he began to. Another technique Kolat famously did was the backflip out of a single leg takedown, which he did during the Pennsylvania high school state finals. This was brought up recently when Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young successfully pulled the move off during their dual against Lehigh. Many people credit Kolat for inventing this move as well by calling it the “Kolat Flip” but Kolat doesn’t take credit. He says he saw a wrestler do the move at Midlands and then practiced it before using it in the match.

Developing the Technique

Kolat can’t recall the exact age he started using the rubber knee defense but it was around college. He found himself in positions most people wouldn’t be able to get in. There is some flexibility in the knee but Kolat says it’s mostly in the hips and the twisting of the leg. Kolat developed an extreme amount of confidence in this position. The very best wrestlers in the world all have different areas where they feel extremely confident. For Kolat, He felt that if his opponent got on his right leg, he was in the driver seat and would win the position.
Rest of the story and video at https://therudis.com/ask-kolat-where-did-the-rubber-knee-come-from/?mc_cid=73cf51713b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 14, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Meet the Trojans: UMO Wrestling Unveils Members of the First Signing Class

TDR Editor’s Notes ; It is great to see another new college wrestling team starting in North Carolina. Looking forward to more wrestlers being revealed and to see them competing for the Trojans.
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MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The University of Mount Olive wrestling program and head coach Jake Patacsil are excited to begin unveiling the inaugural class for the new Trojan wrestling team. Over the next couple of weeks, Coach Patacsil and the Athletics Communications office will introduce the incoming grapplers who will begin competing in the 2019-20 school year. The first edition of Meet the Trojans introduces the following group of young men; Jeffery Thomas, Easton Griffin, Micah Dixon, and Nickolas Richardson. The first grappler is Jeffery Thomas from Saint Paris, Ohio. Thomas wrestled at Saint Paris Graham high school where he was a three-time state placer in the 140-pound weight class. During his freshman season, Thomas was the Ohio State runner-up and he finished third as a sophomore. Thomas sustained an injury that kept him off the mat as a junior but he bounced back to stand atop the podium as the state champion as a senior this year.
Next is Easton Griffin, a 160-pound wrestler from … Rest of the story at https://moc.prestosports.com//sports/wrest/2018-19/releases/20190409lchn8w?mc_cid=73cf51713b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 14, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wrestling head coach Frank Romano retires

TDR Editor’s Notes ; Admittedly this is posted out of order with the announcement of the new coach shared earlier. Yet Coach Romano deserves to be recognized and there is a good photo of him at the linked web page. We wish him well in his retirement and offer congratulations to him for his success in wrestling.
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SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Director of Athletics Scott Swain announced on Tuesday that National Wrestling Hall of Fame member Frank Romano is retiring as the head coach of the Notre Dame College wrestling program. Notre Dame has seen tremendous success in Romano’s time at the helm of the program, leading the Falcons for 13 seasons. After taking over as the first head coach of the new program in 2006, Romano has coached the team to nine national team titles, including four while a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), four in NCAA Division II and one National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) Club National Championship. In 2019, Notre Dame took fourth place at the National Tournament. Jose Rodriguez was crowned the National Champion at 141 lbs. and five wrestlers were named All-American.

“You always want to go out on top, and I feel like we had a really good season,” Romano said. “A great season is when you win a National Title, but this year, we were the runner-up at the National Dual meet and then won every other dual meet. We won the Regional Tournament and we finished fourth in the nation, with five All-Americans. You want to go on top and you want to go out on your own terms, that’s really important.” The Falcons have won nine Regional Tournaments in NAIA and NCAA, while taking home the biggest trophy in six of the seven regional tournaments following the move to NCAA-II. Rest of the story and picture at https://notredamefalcons.com/news/2019/4/9/wrestling-head-coach-frank-romano-retires.aspx?mc_cid=73cf51713b&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 14, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

TDR’s top wrestlers of 2019

The TDR Top 12 Rankings are to recognize the scholastic wrestlers in eastern North Carolina who have had the most success this past season. The Top 2 at each weight plus 12 ‘wild cards’ or those with an ‘honorable mention’ status. Each of these wrestlers will receive an individualized engraved wooden plaque to recognize them as being on the TDR Top 12.

April 14, 2019 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | Leave a comment