coachknepper

Wrestlers, Coaches, and Parents: For those of you that may not know me, I will start with a quick introduction about myself. My name is Bryan Knepper and I am in my 2nd year coaching at MTSU as the head coach. MTSU DOES NOT pay me to do this, I am strictly a volunteer coach (I work as an Engineer on Arnold AFB in my spare time!). My wrestling pedigree is strong as I wrestled in Ohio in high school and collegiately at the University of Toledo in Toledo, OH. I coached for 7 years in Ohio before moving to Tennessee in 2005. Over the last few months, I may have personally spoken with some of you about coming to MTSU for wrestling. Middle Tennessee State University participates as a member of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association and is funded as the Varsity team at the school. LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR: The MTSU Wrestling Team is NOT part of the ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT, but is the top team on campus and is fully funded by the school. This is the definition of a VARSITY program. Okay--now that I have put up that disclaimer... The MTSU Wrestling Team finished 21st out of 84 schools with 27.0 pts at the 2009 NCWA National Championship after finishing 11th at the NCWA National Duals. The 2008-2009 Roster looked like this (weight class/name/high school/year/final record) 125 Cory Watson - Lebanon (Sr) 10-14, 4th place MAC '09, 2x National Qualifier ('08 at 133, '09 at 125) 125 Jesse Watson - Lebanon (Jr) 6-12, 6th place MAC '09 at 133, National Qualifier ('08 at 125) 133 Matt Houglum - Riverdale (Fr) 16-12, 4th place MAC '09, National Qualifier ('09 at 133) 141 Jimmie Childers - White House (Fr) 4-2 injured 149 Nick Steiner - Glencliff (Fr) 7-7, did not compete at MAC 157 JD Alexander - Montgomery Central (Fr) 11-2, did not compete at MAC 165 Matt Coffman - LaVergne (So) 8-5 injured 165 Tony Morris - London (OH) (So) 5-2, did not compete at MAC 184 Anthony Pierce - McGavock (So) 17-16, 5th place MAC '09, 2x National Qualifer ('08 at 197, '09 at 184) 197 Shane Inman - Smyrna (Jr) 21-7, 3rd place MAC '09, National Qualifier ('09 at 197) 197 TJ Pegram - Glencliff (Fr) 3-3 235 Lucas Borneman - Houston (Sr) 22-2 #8, 1st place MAC '09, National Runner-up ('09 at 235) ALL-AMERICAN 235 Isaiah Bradley - Milton (GA) (Jr) 12-4, 2nd place MAC '09, 7th Place in NCWA ('09 at 235) ALL-AMERICAN HWT Stosh Novak - Page 6-1, did not compete at MAC The 2008-2009 Schedule can be seen at MTSU's part of the NCWA website (www.ncwa.net) as well as the results so far this season. Notably MTSU finished 4th at the Mercer Open, tied for 3rd at the Brawl in the Boro, 7th at the UCF Open, 6th at the Shipbuilder Classic, 11th at the Inaugural NCWA National Duals held at MTSU, 5th at the Classic City Champ., 2nd at the TN NCWA Duals, and 4th at Mid Atlantic Conference. The coaching staff also includes former MTSU wrestlers Kenneth Hammonds and Brandon Hodge who also coach at Blackman H.S. and Michael Westcott (a former wrestler from New Jersey). As coaches, we are looking to recruit 2 deep with freshman at each weight class to fill a 33-man roster for next season. The 2009-2010 schedule will be intense with several Div-I/Div-II eligible tournaments (these dates are not set as of yet--only projected from this year's schedule--BOLD are set dates): 10/24/09 Georgia Tech Open-NCAA eligible (Atlanta, GA) 10/31/09 Patriot Open (Williamsburg, KY)--1st team 10/31/09 Mercer Open (Macon, GA)--2nd team 11/6/09 Central Florida Knights Duals (Orlando, FL) 11/7/09 UCF Open (Orlando, FL) 11/14/09 MTSU Brawl in the Boro (Blackman H.S.) 11/21/09 OPEN DATE...UNC-Pembroke Open moved to 11/14/09...possibly going to Southwest Open 11/28/09 Darton Duals-NJCAA/NCAA dual (Albany, GA) 12/5/09 Crusader Classic (Chattanooga, TN) 12/12/09 HOME MEET - OPEN DATE 1/9/10 BGSU Duals (Bowling Green, OH) 1/15-1/16/10 Lone Star Duals-NCAA/NAIA (Texas) 1/16/10 Cumberland Open (Lebanon, TN) 1/23/10 Shipbuilder Classic-NCAA eligible (Newport News, VA) 1/29-1/30/10 NCWA National Duals (MTSU) 2/6/10 Georgia Classic City (Athens, GA) 2/13/10 Toledo Invitational (Toledo, OH) 2/20/10 Tennessee NCWA Duals 2/27/10 Mid Atlantic Conference Championship (Buena Vista, VA) 3/10-3/13/10 NCWA National Championship (Hampton, VA) If you have interest in joining the team please call either myself (Bryan Knepper) at 931-222-7213 mobile or 931-454-6215 work, Kenneth Hammonds at 615-578-2471, or Brandon Hodge at 615-582-3292. We have already confirmed several wrestlers coming to MTSU next season--so don't wait to get on board. Thanks for your time and I enjoyed watching you guys wrestle this past season and look forward to working with you in college! Sincerely, Bryan Knepper, P.E. MTSU Wrestling Coach NCWA Hall of Fame '07 MAC Development Chair/Treasurer NCWA Tournament Planning Chair

I mean I would probably wear one--nothing wrong with coming in second--but yeah, most competitive people would want that first place T-shirt!

As a coach, it can become frustrating when your team "seemingly" gets underrated when it comes to seeding. However, also as a coach, the ultimate goal is to wrestle and beat the best teams. With this in mind--it shouldn't matter what seed your teams gets...even if you had the #1 overall seed in the first round--if your goal is to be the best, you eventually have to beat that team. Does the seeding reflect the polls...probably not...but as ghouse stated so eloquently--they shouldn't. The state and the coaches' poll must remain separate entities.

A Huge THANKS also goes out to Coach Brandon Hodge for all of his tireless work helping to set up the mats, tables, and cables for the tournament and also for being in charge of all of the table workers...couldn't have run the tournament as effectively without you Hodge! --Bryan Knepper MTSU Wrestling Coach NCWA Tournament Committee

I would like to thank any and all wrestlers (and parents) who gave up their time to help work score tables at the National Collegiate Wrestling Association National Duals at MTSU this weekend. Also, a huge thanks goes out to Kyle Davis for volunteering. I know there were several guys from Blackman and Siegel High Schools helping out--and the MTSU Wrestling team appreciates your dedication to the sport of wrestling. On behalf of the other MTSU Wrestling Coaches: Mike Westcott, Kenneth Hammonds, and Brandon Hodge, I would also like to extend our gratitude to all of the fans who came to support the team as MTSU went 2-3 on the weekend to finish 11th out of 20 teams in the inaugural National Duals. At one point there was upwards of 200 spectators watching the MTSU vs. UCF match...very EXCITING! The earlier match against Tennessee Temple was even broadcast live on flowrestling.org! ---Coach Bryan Knepper MTSU's scores: Round 1 (9:30 am Sat.): #9 MTSU 42 #8 Tenn. Temple 18 Round 2 (11:30 am Sat.): #16 Kansas St. 28 #9 MTSU 27 Round 3 (2:30 pm Sat.): #1 Univ. of Central Florida 37 #9 MTSU 18 Round 4 (4:30 pm Sat.): #11 Ohio University 38 #9 MTSU 16 Round 5 (7:00 pm Sat.): #9 MTSU 33 #14 Dayton 26 Notable Wrestlers: 197 lb Shane Inman (4-0), 235 lb Lucas Borneman (4-0), HWT Stosh Novak (3-0) Final National Dual Standings: 1st: Grand Valley State University (winners of the Collegiate Cup travelling trophy) 2nd: University of Central Florida 3rd: Marion Military Institute 4th: Oakland University 5th: The Apprentice School 6th: University of Maryland-Baltimore County 7th: Bowling Green State University 8th: Kansas State University 9th: Ohio University 10th: Mercer University 11th: Middle Tennessee State University 12th: University of Dayton 13th: Louisiana State University 14th: University of Toledo 15th: Tennessee Temple University 16th: Auburn University DNQ for Saturday's finals: Austin Peay State University, Lee University, Southern Virginia University, University of Southern Indiana

Good job on the wins last night. Region Champs...way to go! See you on Friday AND Saturday?

Good luck at Regional Duals tonight--we need a win so that there are ample helpers for Saturday!! How selfish of me!

Just trying to keep announcement fresh people...nothing to see here...nothing to see.

Senior Cory Watson (Lebanon H.S., 125), Junior Shane Inman (Smyrna H.S., 197), and Junor Lucas Borneman (Houston H.S., 285) all placed 2nd at the 29th Annual Shipbuilder Classic Invitational at the Apprentice School in Newport News, VA on January 24th, 2009. The team finished 6th overall with only these 3 individuals out of 15 teams. Lucas Borneman wrestled tough in the final against Apprentice's record-holder for wins (Cecil Lee) in a contest pitting one of the premier 235 lb (Borneman) against the #1 ranked HWT in the NCWA (Lee). The match ended with both guys bruised or bleeding and Lee winning 14-6. On a side not, Borneman weighed in at 227 and Lee was 277. Watson lost to Frito Cherenfant (#10 NCWA, '08 All-American) of the University of Central Florida in the finals 20-4 and Shane Inman (#8 NCWA) lost a hard-fought match to Nathan Behrent (#1 NCWA) of Florida Gulf Coast University 8-4. The Blue Raiders are excited about the possibilities this upcoming weekend (January 31st) at the NCWA National Duals hosted by MTSU at the Recreation Center, which will have their full roster competing against 19 of the other top NCWA teams in the nation. Come out and see Watson, Inman, and Borneman among others clash with some of the best programs in the country! Tickets for Tennessee wrestlers/fans are $10 adult and $5 students. MTSU students get in free and the action starts at 9:30am. For further information on the Shipbuilder tournament, see http://www.ncwa.net/results?show=832 . Bryan Knepper MTSU Wrestling Coach

Well done guys--go out and do Tennessee proud at the NAIA Championships. Coach Knepper MTSU Wrestling Coach

Wow--I couldn't have said it any better. What an accurate introspective on the sport of wrestling and coaching! Hey--could you e-mail me so I could talk to you outside the forum? Thanks, Bryan Knepper MTSU Wrestling Coach

This was the exact sort of thing I was saying earlier --- see above posts. The good programs are hurt by less weight classes...and with wrestling's popularity on the rise, why hinder it by reducing opportunity? I applaud you for your coaching and hope that you are still involved with a program somewhere?

Thanks for posting this Hamm. I wish Tiffany wouldn't have used the word "club"...we try to refer to ourselves as the Wrestling Team funded through the Sports Club Dept. Oh well, what can you do?

Okay...maybe you need to read my post that you replied to again. I didn't say that all freshmen wrestlers are at 103 and 112. I said "alot of freshman get their start" at the lower weight classes...which is true. If you look at those weight classes, the majority is covered by freshman and sophomores, which was my point. In order to keep YOUNGER wrestlers involved, it is important to keep those weights. As for football and the heavier weights--I never said anything about "major college programs." There are football teams at every level that high school players (who also wrestle) go to play for...it's the #1 high school participation sport by far for boys. It just so happens that many wrestlers also play football. As a coach in college, I can tell you for a fact that the top 2 weight classes (235 and HWT) are the hardest to fill.

The premise that forfeits are killing the sport is also disproved by this article by Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling: High School wrestling participation grows for boys and girls in 2007-08 Gary Abbott USA Wrestling 09/04/2008 The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has released its 2007-08 High School Athletics Participation Survey, and the sport of wrestling has grown in all five categories identified. The statistics for boys wrestling grew during the 2007-08 season concerning the number of athletes participating. In 2007-08, there were 259,688 boys competing in wrestling, an increase of 2,422 wrestlers from the previous year (a 0.9 percent increase). In 2007-08, there were 10,090 boys wrestling teams, an increase of 645 from the previous year (a 6.8 percent increase). Wrestling remained the No. 6 most popular boys sport in terms of number of participants and the No. 8 most popular sport in terms of number of teams. Girls wrestling increased in both major categories. The number of girl wrestlers in high schools grew to 5,527 athletes, an increase of 479 wrestlers from the previous year (a 9.5 percent increase) The number of teams with girl wrestlers in 2007-08 was 1,287 teams, an increase of 60 teams (a 4.9 percent increase). When combining the number of boys and girls involved in wrestling in 2007-08, the total number grew to 265,215, which increased 2,921 athletes for the year. This amounts to a 1.1 percent increase in total wrestlers for the year. The number of girl high school wrestlers has gained every year since 1990, a streak of 19 straight years of growth in participation. For the 18th consecutive year, the number of student participants in high school athletics increased overall. There was a total of 7,429,381 in 2007-08 in all sports, an increase of 86,471 for the year. The top 10 states for boys wrestling participation were: 1. California (25,896); 2. Illinois (16,535); 3. Ohio (14,004); 4. New York (13,932); 5. Michigan (11,533); 6. New Jersey (9,839); 7. Pennsylvania (9,000); 8. North Carolina (8,801); 9. Minnesota (8,437); 10. Florida (8,011) The top 5 states for girls wrestling participation were: 1. Texas (1,602); 2. California (1,142); 3. Hawaii (415); 4. Washington (386); 5. Florida (383) TEN MOST POPULAR BOYS PROGRAMS Participants 1. Football ??” 11-player, 1,108,286 2. Basketball, 552,935 3. Track and Field ??” Outdoor, 548,821 4. Baseball, 478,029 5. Soccer, 383,561 6. Wrestling, 259,688 7. Cross Country, 221,109 8. Golf, 159,958 9. Tennis, 156,285 10. Swimming and Diving, 111,896 Schools 1. Basketball, 17,861 2. Track and Field ??” Outdoor, 15,835 3. Baseball, 15,720 4. Football ??” 11-player, 13,987 5. Golf , 13,647 6. Cross Country, 13,485 7. Soccer, 11,122 8. Wrestling, 10,090 9. Tennis, 9,576 10. Swimming and Diving, 6,428 ----end of article---- Let's not kill the growth of the sport, by subtracting opportunity!!!

Alot of freshman get their start in those 103 and 112 lb weight classes. I agree that there are forfeits at those classes, but I would say that if you made the upper classes 215 235 260 and 285 you would have just as many...either that or encourage the youth to get bigger? Seeing as obesity is becoming such a huge problem with young people, I'm not sure if that is the correct route to go or not...just an observation. One solution would be to make the following weight classes: 105 115 125 130 135 140 145 152 165 174 184 197 215 285 This would pare the lower weights down to 2 from 3 (103 / 112 / 119) and allow the upper weights to transition to collegiate style weight classes. We still need to encourage young kids to get involved, which is why lower weight classes are needed. NCAA is 125 / 133 / 141 / 149 / 157 / 165 / 174 / 184 / 197 / 285 and NCWA adds a 235 weight class. The hardest weight class to fill in college is HWT--285, because most quality wrestlers that are that big get scholarships to play Offensive/Defensive Line in football.

The problem with reducing weight classes is that the Top Notch programs would then be losing one more weight class to put a quality wrestler. This misplaced wrestler would then be more likely to quit wrestling rather than go to another school to wrestle. Some of the bigger programs keep the interest in the sport alive when other teams are struggling to find numbers. A quick case in point. When I was in high school--my team struggled to get enough wrestlers to fill the 13 spots (215 was not a weight class yet). Now my high school has a Varsity squad, J.V., and freshmen team--these things work in cycles. The biggest problem with wrestling today is NOT ENOUGH OPPORTUNITIES at the highest level--that being COLLEGIATE...Title IX has reduced the sport in college (D-I) wrestling to the few elite conferences. In order to get younger kids wrestling again, we (as concerned wrestling enthusiasts) need to promote college programs at all levels to give kids something to look forward to, whether it be NCAA-D1 (UT-Chattanooga), NCAA-D2 Carson Newman, NAIA (Cumberland, King), or NCWA (MTSU, Lee, Vanderbilt, Tenn. Temple, UT-Knoxville, Austin Peay).

Good luck this weekend Anthony. MTSU will be at the Shipbuilder Invitational @ The Apprentice School (Newport News, VA). Marion Military is tough man! We saw them at the UCF Open in Orlando, FL this year. Say hello to the Hazewinkles for me. Also--are you and some of your wrestlers able to help staff the National Duals? Coach Knepper

Thanks for your support Ken! Do you know if Hodge will be able to assist as well? I know that Westcott will be there and that would give us 4 coaches. Setup on Friday will begin around 9am if you are able to make it and we are working the tables for the Friday matches (4 mats / 12 matches total). This is going to be fun and really help build the college wrestling scene in Tennessee! Coach Knepper

As Development Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Conference for the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA), I can tell you that Vanderbilt has a good tradition within the league. However, the school is not likely to help fund the team to a level that would put them where they would like to be. For this reason, a quality coach devoted to building wrestling in middle tennessee is needed. I am personally available to help both Jon Dial and whomever decides to help out with coaching with logistical issues / fundraising / etc...but not with the physical coaching (as I am the MTSU coach and live in Manchester, TN). The remaining events for this year include: Tennessee NCWA State Duals at Tennessee Temple 2/21/09 Mid-Atlantic Conference Championship at Southern Virginia University 2/28/09 NCWA National Championship at Hampton University (VA) 3/12-3/14/09 It would benefit all of Tennessee to have a strong wrestling program at Vanderbilt to go along with the strong Academic tradition. Sincerely, Bryan Knepper MTSU Wrestling Coach

Visit www.ncwa.net for more information on individual teams and schedules.

To all Tennessee wrestlers, parents, and coaches, Middle Tennessee State University will be hosting the Inaugurul National Collegiate Wrestling Association Dual Championship on January 30th and 31st, 2009 at the MTSU Recreation Center Gymnasium. Friday's Wrestling will include 8 schools vying for 4 open spots in the National Dual Tournament on Saturday. The 8 teams competing on Friday will be: Auburn University Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, TN) Lee University (Cleveland, TN) Southern Virginia University Tennessee Temple University of Dayton University of Southern Indiana University of Toledo Friday's events start 2pm with action on 4 Dollamur Mats. Entry at the gate will be $5 Saturday's events begin at 9:30am. The finals begin at 7pm. Wrestling will take place on 8 Dollamur Mats with Riding Time/NCAA scoring. Tickets at the door are $20 for adults / $10 for students... ...HOWEVER, Tickets are half off for all Tennessee Residents (w/ ID) or any fans wearing a MTSU shirt...that's $10 for adults / $5 for students. MTSU students get in free with ID. Tickets bought in advance get you in free for Friday's matches as well. The 12 teams already in Saturday's NCWA National Duals: Bowling Green State University Grand Valley State University (3x defending national champions) Kansas State University Louisiana State University Marion Military Institute Mercer University Middle Tennessee State University Oakland (MI) University Ohio University The Apprentice School (VA) University of Central Florida University of Maryland - Baltimore Co. THESE ARE 20 OF THE TOP NCWA WRESTLING TEAMS IN THE NATION. IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO WRESTLE IN COLLEGE AT AN ELITE LEVEL...THESE SCHOOLS ARE A QUALITY OPTION!!! Concessions and Wrestling Merchandise will be available in the lobby. Tickets are all-day tickets. For more information, please contact: Coach Bryan Knepper MTSU Wrestling Coach (931) 222-7213 mobile (931) 454-6215 work