The Bryant Blog: Life, Wrestling, Pop Culture

Duals
McKendree 28, Univ. of the Cumberlands 16
UNC Pembroke 38, Belmont Abbey 4

During my daily troll of the wrestling message boards, I came across a thread on themat.com referring to this list put out by The Sporting News about the Top 50 coaches of all-time.

The poster’s comment was, as expected, negative because the list didn’t contain Dan Gable, the long-time Iowa coach and 1972 Olympic Champion who led the Hawkeyes to 15 NCAA titles, including nine of them in a row. This was also in an era where there was more competition, more programs, Division II and III champions competing. He did it at a time where it was tougher, at least, if you’re looking at total competition. There are schools increasing their budgets to help wrestling, but you can’t pull the “beat everyone because there was no one” card with Gable.

The list was trendy. As a broad-based sports fan, there isn’t a single name I didn’t recognize. The “Hall of Famers” were from the major sports. I think Pat Summitt and Geno Auriemma (Tennessee & Connecticut women’s basketball) would have gone unnoticed had they not been likely listed on the nomination form.

Anyway, I also saw another omission — Beth Anders, the long-time field hockey coach at Old Dominion University, my alma mater. So here’s my reply on The Sporting News’ website about Gable and Anders.

Here’s my reply on The Sports News site.

“The comments above on Dan Gable are accurate. You can’t mention college wrestling without mentioning Iowa, which means you can’t not mention Dan Gable. He set the bar in this sport and his omission caters to the trendy mainstream crowd.

Then there’s Beth Anders, the “Wooden” or “Gable” of women’s college field hockey. From ‘81-’00, Old Dominion’s field hockey team won NINE NCAA Championships and finished second three times.

How’s this for a winning percentage: 492-92-7 … In 29 seasons, ODU Field Hockey has made the NCAA Tournament 28 times, with last year being the first time in school history the school didn’t make it.

I’d equate Beth Anders dominance to Pat Summitt’s in terms of competition and becoming the dominant force in the sport.

Without Dan Gable or Beth Anders even considered, this list just continues to be part of the “Hey, it’s a trendy list.”

When polled, did these Hall of Famers know anything outside “popular” names?

Every single name on this list is recognizable. Shows lack of research.

You list Hank Iba at Oklahoma State, but what about E.C. Gallagher … you know Gallagher-Iba Arena? E.C. Gallagher led Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) to 11 National Championships in 13 years, ranging from 1928 – 40.

You guys need to let your “experts” and Hall of Famers know there are more Hall of Fames than what SportsCenter and The Sporting News tell you about. I used to subscribe to this publication, a long, long time ago.

Glad to see the reasons I stopped subscribing still exist … lack of any such broad-based sports coverage.

We talk about being mainstream, then the “mainstream” media compiles a list ignoring two of the most important college coaches outside of roundball and pigskin. If it weren’t for ESPN, who the hell would know who Pat Summitt and Geno are?

I even went further, comparing E.C. Gallagher to Hank Iba. Gallagher won 11 national championships in 13 years at Oklahoma A&M/State. Iba won two in 36 seasons. Iba’s not even the best coach in Oklahoma A&M/State’s athletic history. I know he was a well-respected coach, but in this case, numbers don’t lie.

Same with Anders, who might be the second-most instense current head coach in college, behind current Iowa head coach Tom Brands. Basically, if Tom Brands were a field hockey coach, he’d be Beth Anders.

Back at it with a crappy video.

Here’s an update.

Been very slow going this week, I’ve still got that weird “pop” feeling in the back of my left foot, around where my achilles is … so for that reason, I’ve basically rested up this week and will get back on the horse come Tuesday. It really is problematic when I walk around barefoot and walk up the stairs.

Maybe when I cut the grass tomorrow (it’s way too long and it’s all wet right now), I’ll get a feeling for how the rest has done for it. I had tendonitis in my right achilles a year or so ago and had to wear a boot around for like two weeks. I’ve worn the boot on my left foot just to keep it straight for a few hours at a time, but I’m still doing things with the girl that require anything other than the boot — batting cages, driving range, dinner, movies — so I don’t want to slow the pace.

That’s the abbreviated update for the time being.