Iowa wrestling coach press conference
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00:00 Sorry dudes.
00:01 I'm ready. Hey, I was on my phone, you know, getting on the
00:12 zoom call. This is like a live zoom call thing. I'm in Bobby.
00:17 I can't hear you.
00:23 Go ahead, open this up.
00:27 Tom, with the second semester starting up, do you expect any
00:31 additional roster or additions to the roster here for the
00:37 second half of the season?
00:38 With the, what do you, I mean, ask the specific question.
00:45 Do you have any wrestlers joining the roster for the
00:49 second semester?
00:50 We do not at this moment.
00:56 With Ben Keeter, with football being over, is there any kind of
01:01 timeline for him? And kind of getting into the groove and
01:06 maybe seeing time in the lineup?
01:07 If it was up to him, he would have went yesterday. Very eager,
01:14 very eager. And we love it. Hild's doing a great job. The
01:21 more the merrier. We love it.
01:23 Mike, go ahead.
01:29 Hey Tom, are you able to comment on what happened with AJ
01:34 Ferrari the other night at the Soldier's Salute, or what were
01:38 the status of his recruitment is?
01:39 You know, the answer to that, Mike, you've been doing this a
01:44 long time. You've been doing this a long time.
01:47 Okay. So, okay. I just want to make sure on that. One thing I
01:51 do want to ask about the Soldier's Salute though, you had
01:54 several of your wrestlers face each other. The other night you
01:57 seemed to talk about that was a positive thing. Why is that?
02:00 It's how we choose to operate. This is a highly competitive
02:08 level of wrestling. And we have guys that come here to wrestle
02:18 at the highest level and to position themselves to win
02:22 championships. And nothing is handed. You have to earn it. It
02:27 is very competitive to make the team. It's not about making the
02:32 team. It's about being the best guy that can wrestle and compete
02:37 for a national championship. It's always been that way. When
02:41 I first came here in the fall of 1987, it was that way. When I
02:46 was a true freshman and I saw it with my own eyes wide open
02:49 watching it happen right in front of me with Gables teams.
02:52 It's just how we we choose to go about it.
02:56 Okay, thank you, Tom.
02:59 Eli, go ahead.
03:02 I guess with Ben here officially joining the room a little bit
03:08 after the bowl game, what have been your initial impressions
03:10 on just where he is and how ready he can be to hop in the
03:13 line of winning Navy Cold Pond?
03:15 As you know, this is a unique sport. With preparation. He's a
03:23 very eager guy. And like I said, we love it. And we'll see when
03:32 the best time to plug him in there is and you know, you
03:35 remember we have
03:35 you know, Bradley Hill in there. So this is a process.
03:44 I guess what are the things he needs to show to you in your
03:47 opinion coming from football to wrestling to kind of have like
03:50 you like, okay, he can be that.
03:52 I mean, it's I mean, I don't think there's specific things
03:56 that like come to my mind. I said it's a process. It's kind
04:02 of like
04:03 when I say it's a process, it's kind of like the eyeball test.
04:08 What does he look like? Those types of things? I don't think
04:13 there's anything specific that you're checking off as we get
04:16 closer and closer to competition.
04:18 And obviously, PK, Caliendo, they square off the Solchaloud
04:23 at 165. What have you learned from that match and seeing PK at
04:29 174 in a projected lineup? Is that maybe a potential permanent
04:34 spot for him going forward this season kind of wrestling up at
04:37 08?
04:37 I think that Caliendo solidified himself at 165. You know, we
04:45 still have a great asset for our team, a great attitude, a great
04:53 worker, a great teammate and Patrick Kennedy. And we also
04:57 have Gabe Arnold at 174. We have a lot of options there. We love
05:03 all those guys.
05:06 And you mentioned Gabe as well. Catching up with him in the
05:08 Soldier's Loop, he said he's willing to be plugged in
05:10 anywhere. I mean, seeing him wrestle at the Cyhawk at 184,
05:14 is that an area you could look at in the future potentially?
05:17 He's an enthusiastic competitor and we love it. We love that
05:21 attitude.
05:21 Thank you, Tom.
05:24 AJ.
05:26 Given Ben's accomplishments in the past, seeing Gabe step in and
05:33 have success, do you see similar potential there with Ben if he
05:40 were to step in there at heavyweight?
05:43 I mean, he won an age group championship U20 World
05:48 Championship. He made the team U20, very competitive, coming
05:55 out of high school. And we love everything about him. So to make
06:01 a prediction, though, I'm not sure you're going to get that
06:06 out of me. I'm not really a prediction making guy. But I'll
06:12 tell you what, I like what's under the hood with Ben Keeter.
06:15 Now that January is starting, and you're kind of getting into
06:23 the Big 10 season, how much of the lineup is still fluid? Or
06:28 are you kind of getting things set?
06:31 As we go forward, we will know more every week, every weekend,
06:37 every competition. This is a very unique year. There has been
06:43 a lot of steps that have happened to get through to get
06:48 to this point, starting back in May. And we've waded through
06:56 them. We've been patient. And we're going to continue to do
06:59 the right thing, the best thing for each individual. What's best
07:04 for the individual, what's best for the program, and keep going
07:08 forward. That's how you do it. There's no deviating from just a
07:15 basic, solid approach.
07:18 No, Nebraska is Friday, but on Monday, you have Minnesota. It
07:23 seems like kind of a rare Monday duel. How did that kind of come
07:27 about to be a Monday night duel?
07:32 Originally, it was on Sunday, it got moved quickly to Monday. I
07:37 think it's something that they want to make room for. I don't
07:41 think there's a lot happening on Monday for the Big 10 network.
07:44 It's a great way to see how this works. And I know Penn State is
07:49 the, I think the early slot with Rutgers, maybe, not sure
07:52 exactly. But there's back to back duels there on that Monday
07:56 night. It's Martin Luther King Day. A lot of people are off
08:01 work. I mean, it makes sense to me. Let's see how it works. Let's
08:05 see what the numbers come back on the television. I think those
08:08 are both live duels. Those aren't BTN Plus, they're linear,
08:14 they call it.
08:15 And then my last question, does that affect the routine? I know
08:21 you have a lot of Friday, Sunday, Friday.
08:24 No, you put a, no, it was not like it was last week where they
08:29 changed it. I mean, we've known about this for a long time. And
08:32 originally, we're Friday, Sunday, we go. If it's Friday,
08:36 Saturday, we go. If it's two on Friday, we go. If it's Friday,
08:40 Monday, we're ready.
08:41 Thanks, Tom.
08:44 All right, Eli and then Ross, you'll wrap this up, okay?
08:50 With Nebraska coming up on Friday, there's a lot of really
08:53 good opponents down, up and down their lineup. What are you
08:56 looking to learn from guys like Ayala or Frannick who have some
08:59 really high profile matchups?
09:00 Learning is a funny word because we're looking for performance.
09:06 We're looking for these guys to step out and compete like they
09:14 want to compete. Wrestle your best match, stay in your best
09:20 positions, do what you do best, control what you can control.
09:24 And that's part of the preparation. You know, you
09:30 mentioned a couple names there, but really, you could mention
09:32 10 weight classes. And that's what we want to see a ready
09:35 state of mind, go out there and wrestle your match, do what
09:38 you're capable of doing. And things will take care of
09:41 themselves. If each guy gets ready, you know, it's,
09:45 wrestling's a funny deal. And wrestlers know that and people
09:50 that are in wrestling know that and fans of wrestling know that.
09:54 But sometimes it has to be repeated that wrestling is a
09:58 funny team sport. Take care of what you can take care of, do
10:02 your part and let the other guys do their part. And if everybody
10:08 does their job, you know what? You're going to be in a good
10:14 place at the end of the day. I'll tell you another thing
10:16 too. This team has always been good, great when they get ready
10:23 to go. And I'm talking about taking care of the things that
10:26 they need to take care of as far as that ready state of mind
10:30 that I'm talking about. And when our guys focus on that type of
10:33 stuff, pretty good team we got.
10:35 Thanks, Tom. Trying not to get snowed in out there in Iowa City.
10:39 All right, Ross, wrap us up. Thanks.
10:43 Yeah, Tom, at the Soldier Salute, you kind of said Caleb
10:47 Rotchie made a statement that he wanted to be the starting guy
10:51 at 149. So now that he's made that statement, that he wants to
10:55 be the guy, what are you telling him to make that step forward?
11:00 And if you are the guy in the lineup, taking control of that
11:04 opportunity, I guess.
11:05 Do what you do best. Everything that I just talked about is how
11:12 experienced wrestlers march, how wrestlers march at this
11:16 level. You go out, you do what you do best, control what you
11:21 can control, and put points on the board and have fun in your
11:27 own way, whatever and however you define having fun, go do it.
11:31 There's no need to be uptight about this opportunity. There's
11:37 no need to worry about, you know, what does the coaching
11:41 staff think or what do the fans think or it doesn't matter. Go
11:45 out and do what you do best. Don't look over your shoulder. I
11:49 mean, it's all good. Just go out there, relax and do what you do
11:53 best. And the thing is, is these guys been doing that for a long,
11:56 long time. They know how to do it. Just go do it.
11:59 Thanks, Tom.
12:02 All right. Thanks, coach.
12:04 Thank you very much.
12:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]