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Official..

Hodge is Mckenzies next coach.

Why not Memorial Gym? Or Bridgestone? Or have a rotation between the Pyramid, Memorial/Bridgestone and Thompson Boiling every 2-3 years?

Way late on this post, but I do believe that I want to at least weight in so to speak lol. I wrestled NAIA competed against some of the best wrestler over all a crossed the divisions and felt great about my college wrestling experience. I think people make the mistake in believe that wrestling some how gets easier as a sport at the smaller college divisions it doesn't the training is mostly the same. I have that on good authority from a coach who was a D1 all-American. it's more the commitment level of the competitors that is different. There is talented wrestlers that can go D1 at any level in the smaller division. sub in Sammy Shires for one he would have done fine on a DI team. He chose a work life ratio that suited him. It's not about talent it's commitment are you going to make training and studying the sport the center of your world cause that's what it takes: NO MATTER HOW TALATENTED BEFORE HAND YOU ARE. If so then D1 is for you and striving for success at that level is for you like Mr. Palmer said it's what your willing to put in. Now coaches if you have a successful wrestler who fits that bill then by all means D1 is a great option they will see some success no matter how small, but if they are not that committed along with being talented and a killer and you know it then your doing them wrong. You don't have to tell athletes that you don't think they are D1 tell them to keep their options open to take all their visits to consider all the divisions regardless of their goals. college recruiting visits have you most times wrestle against their current wrestlers coaches and athletes will find out real quick it's not easy no matter where you go. That way when they make their decision it's a sound one that's based on well rounded experiences. BobCorker, and oceansize42 I believe what you are thinking is correct but for different reasons. TN wrestler's have the talent... it's a commitment level change. TN wrestlers aren't used to having to put themselves through the level of commitment required and kills them on the D1 level. WrestlingGod, I agree you should push kids to pursue their dreams, but not at the cost of common sense period... we have to much of that going around this country already. Dreams can turn to poison when these wrestler are not educated on what it truly takes. In TN a kid who understands wrestling to a high level can be successful with small amounts of hard work. They think their definition of hard work is enough for D1 that is the mistake not the "talent/understanding". Over-all though we do not celebrate NAIA,D2,D3, or Juco success in this state like other states do. GA/AL celebrates all it's college wrestlers success a crossed the board no matter the division. Why? because it's hard... I have gone to all the divisions National championships let me tell you to be a all-American at any is impressive especially D2 or NAIA. those guys can scrap and not one of those AA's are an easy match. all of them were state placers or champs multiple times in their high school careers. does that at all sound easy to place at? TN does not give those guys enough credit or shout outs period. it's an over sight because of this D1 or it's less than meaningless mentality on this site and in this state. GA/AL is better then us on the highest stage because they send guys to D2,NAIA,D3 ect. they come back understanding the sport better then their pervious coaches, and give back and that cycles to athletes readiness to go D1 with clearer understanding of what it takes to be competitive day 1 freshman year. My post isn't to support one way or the other but to just consider that both sides have merit and that both work when the system in TN. by system I mean coaches are the better educated on preparing athletes for each level they want and should pursue.

Enjoyed watching you wrestle at the SoCons. I’m an App St fan and you had a really good tournament. One my good friends I wrestled with in high school son is going to App St. He probably want get any money. May never start but he wants to compete everyday and go through the grind. It was fun watching everyone pull against Campbell at the SoCons

I never get on here and don’t respond to anything, but I got on here today to make a post about me trying to set up camps and clinics. I saw this and was disappointed and felt like responding. First off, I've seen many of these posts before about talking about how disappointing it is that we don't have a Tennessee All-American almost every year on some sort of social media. Second, almost all of you haven't been a Division 1 All-American or even wrestled Division 1 at all. It was Cody's first year, and he lost two studs. He'll be back and all American, maybe even a couple times, no doubt in my mind. The next thing is, who cares if kids go to Division 1? If they can afford it, why not go chase your dreams? The only thing I'd say is don't go into a crazy debt to wrestle in college because there are other things that are more important in life, but if you can afford it and a D1 team wants it, go for it. It just annoys me when people act like it's an easy thing or all Tennessee guys are a disappointment each year because they weren't an All American when we are battling through so many injuries and I'm destroying my body and can't even stand up before weigh-ins because the weight cut is so hard on my body. Granted, I shouldn't have wrestled at 125 at all, but I'm just using it as an example. We are giving it everything we have, and I'm sure the other Tennessee guys like Cody and Cooper where to. It's just a hard tournament with countless killers in each weight. We should celebrate any TN guy that gets the opportunity to wrestle Division 1 or any level in college because it's most of our dreams to do that, and we are just trying to chase them

Oh, and I can't remember who said it earlier but whomever mentioned that the early to late 2000's crop is still our best in terms of college talent is 100% spot on. The new crop may get there at some point but you can't argue with the data. There were some very special TN wrestlers in that group that got it done at UTC and at other schools (Missouri, Cornell, West Point). For goodness sakes you even have at least one in there that made a US Senior World Team. That is getting it done on the absolute highest level, period. We have had very highly touted TN wrestlers come through since then who didn't accomplish on the same level for whatever reason. We may see another group that gets there but none have come close to achieving what that group did collegiately. Not to mention that there were a few from that timeframe who were finding success at the "lower levels" of NCAA wrestling as well. I would absolutely say that TN wrestling as a whole has grown by leaps and bounds from that period forward, but I don't think there is any argument to say that our top end talent has achieved at the same level. Hopefully some do in the future.

I will say this much. This is actually a great topic and debate. I have had the benefit of getting to have this discussion with several kids over the years. It isn't a simple debate, nor a simple choice. In my opinion, if you really look at it, I think ocean and a few of the others are actually on to a really good point here. I have coached guys who have gone on to wrestle at all levels (some with a level of success and others who did drop out quickly) of collegiate athletics and some on the international / Olympic ladder. i think it is vitally important for most good coaches to be having the types of conversation that ocean and others are bringing up here with athletes. I recall vividly talking with one of our wrestlers about whether he should move to the OTC or continue wrestling in high school after his sophomore year... that was a lot of conversations about goals, stages of life, what do you want short-term and long-term, etc. Thankfully he had plenty of good people to talk to. Anyone speaking in absolutes here is probably off-base or not thinking very logically. To me, the key question has to be... do you want to continue wrestling or do you have a goal (dream, etc.) of wrestling DI and that is the only thing that will fulfill you. If you want to be successful (starting time, placing, AA, etc.) at whatever level you choose to pursue then you better understand what that is going to entail. If you are going to go and wrestle at the DI level and hope to have true success, then you better be ready to understand that wrestling is going to be treated like a very demanding job. You will need to make just about everything else in life subservient to wrestling and what you have to do there... and yes for many this also includes academics. Many of the DI programs they might get into might not be the perfect fit from other aspects of what they want and they may have to sacrifice (especially if not a top-end recruit) to achieve their DI dream. Very few can balance high level academics and the rigors of a top-end DI wrestling program. If that is the absolute desire for the athlete, then go after it and chase it to your fullest... even if they are one of the ones that aren't likely to "make" it or have high level success based on where they currently are... and yes you can sometimes overcome that, but let's be honest blue-chip recruits will pan out far more often than college coaches develop someone to that level who was far below it. If the athlete doesn't have their heart set on DI or just wants to continue wrestling, then they really should be looking at what level of wrestling will help them find a school that is the right fit for them. They need to be looking at academics, academic curriculum options, graduation job placement rates in their desired field, financial aide packages, wrestling team success and culture, activities / lifestyle they want to pursue outside of school (big city or country, etc.), etc. in order to find a place that will help them thrive and mature into the young person that we all hope they become. Plenty of kids know it is DI only for them while many others find what they are looking for (in all aspects) at DII, DII, NAIA, etc. Nothing wrong with that... they are making the choice that is best for them. A coach that is strictly pushing an athlete to "get into the best (wrestling) program they can" to indirectly quote someone else, may not be giving the athlete the best advice... they may actually be hurting them in the long (and short) run. Coaches are here to guide student athletes to a very tumultuous time in life, not simply make them the best athletes possible and put them in the "best" athletic programs.

The facts are very simple; when The State of Tennessee had collegiate wrestling programs at University of Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Middle Tennessee State University, Carson Newman, Sewanee and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga many Tennessee high school wrestlers filtered through those programs. Almost all of those coaches would go from town to town having clinics for the local kids. These clinics raised the technique level but it also allowed the coaches to recruit the kids at the clinics. The end result was that many of those college wrestlers became high school coaches and most of the officials also competed on those teams. I still say that both coaching and officiating was much better during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s due to so many guys wrestling for the local Tennessee colleges.

You lied my man, not me. I'm stating the truth so more TN kids can have a better time in collegiate wrestling by entering the level they might belong.

You are correct. Coach Bentley at App St took kid from NC who never won a State Championship in high school and he ended up being a AA when he left App St. There are a lot kids on a roster. Some may never be in the starting lineup. There job in the room is to compete for that chance and to make their teammates better. You can’t tell me that don’t make them a D1 wrestler if they are putting the work in.

From my perch at West High, It would be easier on your part and more satisfying for the rest of us if you would just to have diarrhea on your keyboard. You’re typing into the void about a man who is universally respected by multiple generations and people from all walks of life, and you are who exactly? Someone who posts in an anonymous chat room about high school football? Don’t feel the need to respond to those questions because no one cares about the answers. Regardless if you hate or love Eddie Courtney or that his son was hired to continue the work of that program, all you can ever do is watch as they’re remembered and you’re not.

Let's call it like it is. The Glass House is a dated disgusting mess. It takes 15 minutes to walk to the bathroom because your feet get stuck at every step. Nobody empties the garbages, half the snack bar people look high. Tech is a much cleaner, comfortable facility. Move it.