2024 North Carolina Fargo Roster Breakdown
It’s FARGO TIME!!!! Our Fargo teams are set, and we are just a few weeks away from the first the first whistle. We couldn’t be more excited to join this year’s squads in Fargo and give you exclusive footage of Team NC. Make sure to dial into our social media accounts and right here on Rokfin!!!! Let’s go Team NC!
Junior Boys freestyle
120 Ethan Brownlee
120 Elijah Dorsey
126 Devon Conner
132 Layne Armstrong
138 Jackson Rowling
138 Alexander Schweitzer
138 Kaleb Flores
138 Shawn Bass
144 Ashton Shields-Adams
150 John Schulz
157 Jeremiah Johnson
157 Braden Reynolds
157 Luke Osborne
165 Troy Shannon
175 Dominic Blue
175 Connor Reese
175 Noah Michael
190 Harrison Compton
190 Brock Sullivan
190 Troy Deniz
190 Tayshaun Glover
215 Hayden Haynes
215 Dantrell Williams
285 Sebastian Rivera
285 Austin Rivera
285 Damien Couture
The Overall:
Our Junior Boys Freestyle crew is full of hammers!!!! As you go down the list you see accomplished wrestler after accomplished wrestler. This sets up for what should be a great showing from NC in the deepest division this year.
The Favorite to Place:
Tayshaun Glover- At CTT, we are very bullish on Tayshaun. He has a style that translates to freestyle well and is continually improving. NDSU got a good one here.
The Deep Run Darkhorse:
Troy Shannon- Troy is so good in Freestyle and Greco! He has proven all offseason long that he contends and beat elite kids. No one in North Carolina should be surprised if we see him go on a deep run. … more at … Rokfin.com/North-Carolina-Fargo-Roster-Breakdown
Keaton Kluever Named Gardner-Webb Wrestling Assistant Coach
Kluever joins the Runnin’ Bulldogs following six seasons as a student-athlete and coach
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Keaton Kluever was named the new Assistant Coach of the Gardner-Webb University wrestling program, announced by GWU Head Wrestling Coach Daniel Elliott on Monday.
“We are excited to bring Keaton on board with the GWU Wrestling program.”, praised coach Elliott. “Keaton brings some new energy to our program and has a passion for coaching. He has spent time at three universities as an athlete and brings a unique background to coaching for a young guy. He has hit the ground running already and we are looking forward to him helping move our program forward.”
Kleuver joins the Gardner-Webb family after finishing his collegiate wrestling career at Hofstra University where he reached the national championships. A letter winner for the Pride, he led the team in wins and pins during the 2023-2024 season, and was named Academic All-American and All-EIWA. Kluever was also a letter winner at the University of North Carolina, and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities where he was named Academic All-Big Ten for the 2022-2023 season.
Additionally, Kluever continues his role as a coach for the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation where he has been since 2020. His key responsibilities include coaching their Freestyle and Greco National teams, assisting in recruiting, logistics, development, and conducting practices in preparation for national competition. He also served as a Volunteer Assistant Coach for Plainedge High School for the 2023-2024 season, and Assistant Coach for Eden Prairie High School from 2021 to 2023. … more at … GWUsports.com/Keaton-kluever-named-gardner-webb-wrestling-assistant-coach
2024 North Carolina Chapter Honorees
(L to R): Josh Moore, Ed Duncan, Ben Watson, Mark Harris, Neal Dorow, and Barry Nelms.
from the most recent National Wrestling Hall of Fame STATE CHAPTER NEWSLETTER … more details at … https://nwhof.org/state-chapters/north-carolina
Gut-wrenching choices, Title IX complications face college athletics in wake of House v. NCAA settlement
For 100 years, athletic departments have operated as 24-hour ATMs, and for every dollar earned, they spent
DESTIN, Fla. — Thirteen years ago, Trev Alberts was forced to make one of the most difficult decisions in his career. Nebraska-Omaha’s athletics department was facing severe financial shortfalls, and transitioning sports from Division II to Division I had only compounded the multi-million dollar math problem. As the athletics director, Alberts had two options. “Make draconian cuts or the whole thing was going down,” Alberts, now at Texas A&M, remembers. “We couldn’t save it all, but we saved what we could.”
So he cut football and wrestling, two sports that had produced eight national titles and the NFL’s first black quarterback, to save costs. The decision at the small school was barely a blip on the national radar, but it was world-ending news for dozens of athletes whose careers suddenly came to an end because of a sudden shift in the competitive landscape. Boosters and fans were upset, and years later those feelings intensified when an internal memo from UNO’s president revealed the department had “a historic lack of fiscal discipline.”
Now imagine similar decisions being made in the ACC or the Big 12, or maybe even inside the big and mighty Big Ten and SEC.
As outrageous as it seems, administrators across major college athletics are preparing for the worst as many programs already strapped for cash face up to more than $30 million in new yearly expenses after agreeing to settle the landmark House v. NCAA lawsuit last week. Schools will be allowed as early as August 2025 to pay their athletes as much as $22 million annually through television and ticket revenues — while also spending an additional $5 million to $10 million in a new model with unlimited scholarships.
It’s a hefty price tag to remain competitive on the field, even for college football’s cash cows and blue bloods. Only two power schools (Georgia and Indiana) had a net income of more than $30 million in 2023, according to USA Today’s database of NCAA finances. Not even Alberts, now the athletics director at one of the richest programs in the nation, can promise Texas A&M’s 20 sports programs are safe from extinction. “I don’t know that anybody would be wise to make that announcement today. I really don’t,” said Alberts. “… I’ve been one of the few people that cut sports and I’m still standing. It’s not fun. It’s last resort. It’s certainly not something that we would want.”
At Texas A&M, the sports Alberts oversees are as follows (listed in order of scholarships allotted).
Football
Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country (18)
Women’s Basketball (15)
Equestrian (15)
Soccer (14) … more at … CBSsports.com/Gut-wrenching-choices-title-ix-complications-face-college-athletics-in-wake-of-house-v-ncaa-settlement
D1 Wrestling Coaches Bracing For Turbulence On Heels Of NCAA Settlement
The House v. NCAA settlement could reshape college athletics. It’s already causing stress for those who make a living in non-revenue Olympic sports.
Everything last October indicated Iowa State was accelerating ahead on a state-of-the-art wrestling facility project.
The Cyclones had picked out a building on the southwest side of Ames and produced digital renderings of the $20 million project, showcasing six full mats, a lounge area and other modern amenities. Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard posted on social media that it would open in the fall of 2025 and claimed it would “be the best wrestling facility in the country.” Less than eight months later, the project has been postponed with no timetable for when or if it will be resumed. “With this lawsuit getting ready to be settled,” Pollard told reporters last month at an Iowa State booster gathering, referring to the landmark House vs. NCAA case, “you just can’t go forward with projects like that.”
This is today’s college athletics world. It’s a place fraught with economic uncertainty — a place where tectonic plates are shifting faster than ever. It’s not a comfortable environment for those who make a living in non-revenue Olympic sports. “If I had to sum it up in a sentence,” Iowa State wrestling coach Kevin Dresser said, “I’d say the next 18 months are going to be crazy, crazy, rocky and bumpy.”
Dresser is far from the only college wrestling coach who’s bracing for turbulence. “I worry about our sport in general,” Maryland coach Alex Clemsen said. “And I worry about Olympic sports in general.” “There’s going to be teams, and it’s not just wrestling, this is going to be every sport — track, baseball, swimming, diving, lacrosse — they’re all going to take a hit,” North Carolina coach Rob Koll said. “There’s no doubt in my mind, unfortunately.”
An ‘Economic Earthquake’
The past decade has ushered in a period of transformation unlike any other in the history of collegiate athletics, headlined by conference realignment, the advent of the transfer portal and the proliferation of name, image and likeness compensation after the NCAA unlocked NIL opportunities for athletes in the summer of 2021.
The latest hot-button issue centers around the House v. NCAA lawsuit and the potential ramifications for college athletics.
In 2020, Arizona State swimmer Grant House sued the NCAA for banning college athletes from capitalizing on their name, image and likeness. In addition to seeking back pay for Division I athletes who were barred from earning NIL compensation prior to the summer of 2021, House v. NCAA also set out to pursue a share of the future broadcast revenue for athletes.
Last month, the NCAA and Power 5 conferences agreed to a settlement worth more than $2.75 billion, resolving three pending antitrust lawsuits — House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA and Carter v. NCAA — which challenged NCAA compensation and NIL limits. The settlement still needs approval from Judge Claudia Wilken, but it paves a path to a more professionalized era of college athletics.
Along with providing back pay to athletes who lost out on potential NIL earnings dating back to 2016, the settlement also creates the framework for schools to share revenues with athletes.
The settlement allows each school to share 22 percent of the average Power 5 school’s revenues, which is projected to be more than $20 million annually per school. “At the end of the day, this is an economic earthquake within the system,” Smith College … more at … Flowrestling.org/D1-wrestling-coaches-bracing-for-turbulence-on-heels-of-ncaa-settlement
The 2024 Offseason Coaching Carousel (6/18/2024)
We had about a week or two with a lull on the coaching hiring front. That came to a halt at the end of last week as we documented the hiring of Tony Cassioppi, Dean Heil, and David McFadden. A few more were announced that we weren’t able to cover and those include Doug Zapf and Andrew Dunn.
Zapf might have to change offices but doesn’t have much of a move. The Penn alum officially joins the coaching staff after spending the last two years on the mat competing for the Pennsylvania RTC. Zapf was a three-time national qualifier for the Quakers – each time coming at a different weight class between 141 and 157 lbs. As a senior, Zapf was 2-2 at the national tournament after starting as the 11th seed. Later in the 2023, Zapf earned a spot on the U23 World Team after claiming a title at U23 Nationals. In Albania, he won three matches and advanced to the quarterfinals, but ultimately was a match shy of earn a world medal.
Dunn will be heading north to join Donnie Vinson’s first coaching staff at Buffalo. He comes to Buffalo after spending a year as the Director of Operations at the University of North Carolina. Dunn held the same position for a season at Stanford – both under Rob Koll. Koll is a link between the two, as Vinson spent time on the Cornell staff under Koll.
As a competitor, Dunn started his collegiate career at Virginia Tech and qualified for the NCAA Tournament as a freshman. He would later transfer to DII Kutztown and won a national title at 285 lbs in 2019. A year later, he was undefeated, but unable to participate in the national tournament at the outset of the Covid pandemic. During his final year, Dunn fell in the national finals. He was named Kutztown’s Male Athlete of the Year in each of those three years.
It sounds as if we’ll have news break this week about the Columbia head coaching position along with Purdue’s assistant coaching vacancy – so pay attention to InterMat!
Offseason Coaching Movement
Binghamton: Louie DePrez – Assistant Coach (Binghamton athlete)
Brown: Micky Phillippi – Assistant Coach (Brown Director of Ops) … more at … Intermatwrestle.com/2024-offseason-coaching-carousel
How Will The House vs. NCAA Settlement Impact College Wrestling?
A breakdown of the recent House vs. NCAA settlement and the potential impacts on college wrestling.
On Thursday, the NCAA and the five power conferences agreed to a settlement in three anti-trust lawsuits that could potentially shift the college athletics landscape forever. The settlement allows eligible athletes back-payment from 2016-2019, allows for universities to pay athletes directly, eliminates scholarship caps, and provides further regulation around NIL payment.
House vs. NCAA Settlement Explained
As mentioned above, several outcomes from the settlement will impact college athletics. However, four main areas of the settlement are worth explaining:
1. Back-Pay Damages
The NCAA and the Power 5 schools agreed to over $2.75 billion in back payments to eligible Division 1 college athletes from 2016 to 2019. This will be paid to individuals over the next 10 years for lost name, image and likeness (NIL) earning opportunities.
2. Future Revenue Sharing
Starting in the fall of 2025, schools in the Power 5 conferences can opt-in to paying student-athletes directly. While the specifics haven’t been outlined, it’s estimated that if schools opt-in to this, they would likely pay about $20 million/year directly to athletes. It also appears that schools could opt-in to revenue sharing and be selective in what sports programs they choose to pay. Again this isn’t required and there are still questions surrounding the specifics of this aspect of the settlement.
3. Scholarship Cap Eliminated
In the current model, Division 1 sports have a capped amount of scholarships they are permitted to grant to athletes. Furthermore, the number of scholarships permitted varies from sport to sport. For instance, Division 1 football programs can grant up to 85 full scholarships while wrestling programs are limited to 9.9 full scholarships.
The settlement will eliminate NCAA scholarship caps and instead, roster-caps will be initiated. This hasn’t been fully outlined but essentially athletic departments will have the freedom to grant as many scholarships as they desire but the roster size for each sport will likely be trimmed.
4. NIL Regulation
NIL changed the game over the past few years, but with revenue sharing and the athletic departments able to pay athletes directly, it appears the NCAA wants to bring higher regulations around how athletes are compensated for their name, image, and likeness. Like the other items in the settlement, this isn’t fully defined, but according to reports, the NCAA wants to ensure that athletes enter into legitimate NIL deals rather than a “pay for play” agreement from school donors.
*It’s worth noting that while the NCAA and Power 5 schools have agreed to the settlement, it still has to be approved by the judge. This is expected to happen in the next 30-45 days.
What Does The Settlement Mean For The Future Of College Wrestling?
It will be a year before we see many of the above items put into action. However, the potential changes are massive, and college wrestling will likely feel the impacts of this over the next 5-10 years. Before we know the full details, there are three main questions worth considering:
1. Are college wrestling programs in danger?
College wrestling is a non-revenue sport – which means that most programs do not generate revenue for their respective institutions. If a college chooses to opt-in to revenue sharing, the sports that will likely benefit are football and basketball. That means athletic departments could cut sports like wrestling to allocate those funds to compensate the revenue-generating programs. Whether that will happen or not is yet to be seen, however, it’s clear Division 1 wrestling programs will have to advocate for themselves to their value to their respective institution and make potentially make programatic changes where necessary.
2. Will the biggest wrestling programs opt into revenue sharing?
If a Power 5 school does choose to opt in to the revenue-sharing model and wrestlers are included in the opt-in, this would change the landscape of college wrestling. Any program that pays wrestlers directly would immediately have a major advantage in recruiting. If this happens there are other questions surrounding paying wrestlers – How will contracts be determined? Will starters get paid more than non-starters? We don’t have the answer to these questions yet but it’s fascinating to think how this could impact college wrestling. … more at … Flowrestling.org/How-will-the-house-vs-ncaa-settlement-impact-college-wrestling
2024 Distinguished Member: Coleman Scott
Coleman Scott won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics after being an NCAA champion, two-time finalist and four-time All-American for Oklahoma State University.
He helped OSU win NCAA team titles in 2005 and 2006 and to fifth-place finishes in 2007 and 2008.
Scott was a member of the U.S. National Freestyle Team in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
He was a three-time Pennsylvania state champion for Waynesburg Central High School. Scott was a two-time USA Wrestling National Junior Freestyle champion and a two-time USA Junior World Freestyle team member.
He was the Pennsylvania, Northeast Region and National winner of the Hall of Fame’s Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in 2004. Scott was an assistant wrestling coach at Oklahoma State from 2012 to 2014, where he coached four NCAA Division I national champions and six NCAA DI All-Americans while helping OSU capture two Big 12 Conference titles and finish second and third as a team at the NCAA championships.
He became an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina in 2014 and took over as head coach after one season. Scott coached two-time NCAA champion Austin O’Connor and NCAA finalist Kizhan Clarke and 13 All-Americans while leading the Tar Heels to five Top 20 finishes at the NCAA tournament. … more at … Mattalkonline.com/2024-distinguished-member-coleman-scott
NBC names Jordan Burroughs and Jason Knapp as wrestling announcers for Olympic Games Paris 2024
June 27, 2024, 6:22 PM (ET)
by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
NBC Sports announced its roster of more than 150 commentators for NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, scheduled for July 26-Aug. 11 across NBC, Peacock, USA Network, CNBC, E!, GOLF Channel, Telemundo, Universo, and NBCUniversal’s digital platforms.
Those selected to provide the wrestling coverage for NBC is veteran Play-by-Play announcer Jason Knapp, and 2012 Olympic champion and six-time World champion Jordan Burroughs as the analyst.
Jason Knapp will serve as the wrestling play-by-play announcer for the fourth time. Four-time world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs returns as an analyst after making his NBC Olympics debut in Tokyo.
Burroughs is one of the greatest wrestlers in history from any nation. He has won the most World and Olympic gold medals of any U.S. wrestler with seven (six World gold, one Olympic gold), and has a combined 10 World and Olympic medals. He also has extensive experience as an announcer for wrestling and other events.
Knapp has been a play-by-play announcer for six Olympics for NBC, including wrestling at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympics. He has also called World Cup/World Championship events in beach volleyball, basketball, curling, speed skating, short track speed skating, swimming, show jumping and others sports across the networks of NBC.
Burroughs and Knapp will be based at NBC Sports’ International Broadcast Center in Stamford, Conn. during the Olympic Games. The NBC roster includes Olympians and Paralympians who have won a combined 90 Olympic medals. Team NBC would have had the most gold medals (59) of any country in the Tokyo Olympics, and the second-most total medals behind only Team USA (113). A member of Team NBC has been part of Team USA in every Summer Games dating back to the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. … more at … Themat.com/NBC-names-jordan-burroughs-and-jason-knapp-as-wrestling-announcers-for-olympic-games
Iowa State Wrestling Line-up Taking Shape After Off-Season Acquisitions
Iowa State bolstered its line-up in the off-season. Will it be enough to compete for a trophy at the NCAA Championships?
Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser doesn’t know his 2024-25 line-up, but he knows he has plenty to work with following a fourth-place finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships. The Cyclones kick things off at home with a dual against Stanford on November 1 and Navy on November 8.
There are moving pieces with potential starters changing weights or redshirting. Christian Carroll, a two-time U20 World teamer, transferred from Oklahoma State and fills a void at 197, a weight Iowa State didn’t qualify at the NCAA Championships. Carroll has four years of eligibility remaining.
Cuban-born Osmany Diversent, a two-time Junior Pan-Am champion, will add depth at the lower weights. He has physical gifts but his transition from freestyle to folkstyle remains to be seen. “We’ve got an athletic team,” Dresser said. “We have some real athletes. It’s one thing to be an athlete but we have to toughen them up. The best athletes in wrestling don’t always win because it’s seven minutes long. You have to be an athlete and a tough guy. If you can get both of those going you’ll have a really good team at the end of the year. “We’ll start looking at everybody’s weights in the mid-fall and see where everyone is weighing naturally. We don’t have any major guys watching their weight right now. Once we get to the fall we’ll start nailing it down a little more. We’ll get a better feel in September. We didn’t have 141 or 149 figured out until November so I think the underlying story … more at … Flowrestling.org/Iowa-state-wrestling-line-up-taking-shape-after-off-season-acquisitions
TDR blog
After 20 seasons of publicizing wrestling The TakeDown Report’s (TDR) focus has changed to the collecting of college coaching records from North America since 1903. We will continue to recognize and reward successful wrestlers in eastern North Carolina (east of Raleigh & Fayetteville), assist with schools in starting or re-starting a team and this blog. Join us on our FaceBook Page – “The TakeDown Report” for photos and news. Please send results, stories, links and news to pass along. E-mail us at takedownreport@gmail.com
Martin Fleming, Editor
Takedown Report
Takedown Report 