What program has made the biggest stride in last 5-10 years?

[HipUp38]

I gaurantee you don't see teams like Lyons, Deerfield, Lockport, ect. whining about how these powerhouses are "unfair. No, they are training to BEAT the powerhouses and BECOME a powerhouse themselves, so that kids want to move to their school. It's the parents who are so self-absorbed that they need to make these excuses in order to feel better about their kids team.


Assembly of Dust is from Lyons and he complains all the time and Lockport has been complaining for years. They just decided to join the game instead of continuing to figh it.

Yes, people on here complain about it, not the wrestlers or coaches in the room doing the work.

[Kurt Angle]

Mean Dean

I think I would have to agree with Marmion. Did they even have a program 10 years ago??

Although the Dean Brandstedter era was not one for the record books, they did have a team.
Marmion has had some very good individuals, but no quantifiable team success.

We are talking about some teams that have gone from below average to above average, which is nice (LWC, Stevenson). But back to Sandburg, they went from average to National caliber, that to me says "greatest stride".

As far as greatest decline, it has to be Providence. Although they are building back up they went from 6 AA team titles to the bottom of the barrel there for a few years.

[Blonjuan44]

I'm not sure I would go all bold caps and all.

This is exhibit A, and it took two seconds of internet searching to find. I'm willing to bet there are dozens and dozens of cases just like this going on all the time that are sometimes found out about, and sometime not.

http://herald-review.com/sports/high...9bb2963f4.html

There was a spot on the news last week, I think channel 7 - said there is a problem of people from the suburbs using addresses from bad neighborhoods in Chicago to get into elite city schools like Walter Payton because they have an inside track to better colleges and other reasons ? (obviously not wrestling) sounds odd to me...they said when people get caught the immediately do the same thing the following semester because there NO PENALTY. I've heard in the suburbs they can go after you for the tax difference but in the city it would be negative. I don't know why people on this site complain about move-ins because 95% of kids are not going to make the line-up at those schools they cite anyway - so the # would be pretty small. (OPRF is practically Chicago anyway and moving from Chicago to Chicago is not a move-in) I also think that people think there are more move-ins than there are, but for these elite kids, they generally drive all over to kid clubs - not the obvious feeders...very few kids on my kids team went to the same feeder ikwf club.

[Leonard Washington]

Yes, people on here complain about it, not the wrestlers or coaches in the room doing the work.

Assembly of Dust is a coach

[Bulldogwrestler]

Ohio Open Enrollment Rules:
Students can attend school in a district that their parents are not residents. Every school district in Ohio decides whether to allow open enrollment. If it is allowed, the district creates a process, such as lottery or first-come, first-served, so that all students who apply have a fair chance for the spaces available in a grade level. Families must contact an open enrollment district for its process and follow it.

Illinois should move to open enrollment similar to Ohio. This will allow parents to make a choice to stay in district or to apply to enroll in another school outside of their district. Agree or disagree, parents that move to another district for athletics are doing so because they feel this is in the best interest of their children. Public schools like OPRF, Sandburg and Glenbard North have all shown that they can provide scholarship opportunities to their wrestlers if they succeed. Not to mention the national exposure these schools provide to their Varsity wrestlers.

I do understand the other side of the argument as well. Sometimes this hurts athletes that live in district all their lives and end up sitting on the bench because of a current move in. With open enrollment, these kids can choose to apply to another district if they cannot break their current varsity lineup. Just my two cents...

[Just get one]

This argument is moot (move-ins/home grown) If it is happening whoever is in charge either doesn't care or can't prove it so better to just move on and deal with it.Build your program with the kids in your room. If the coaching staff dose a good enough job kids/parents will stay or come to the school district (which ever side of the argument your on) Now I don't agree that coaches should be out recruiting grammar school kids but if it's happening (and I'm sure it is ) better to just move on and go about the business of making the kids in your room better. As far as the question of which team or teams have made the biggest strides. Certainly some of the program's mentioned In this post are state and national power houses and hats off to all of them as their staffs have had some if not a lot of influence on their kids success but some other programs are also making great strides.Look At some of the Plainfield schools or Moline,DeKalb,and Deerfield.Take Plainfield South just a few years ago they were lucky to win 3-5 duels,now they have had kids in the AAA finals three years running and multiple qualifiers not to mention very strong regular season tournament/duel succes. The point is there's not much you can do about the politics of Illinois wrestling all you can do is put your hard hat on and go out and wrestle/coach your butt off

[HandControl]

I believe the question was What programs made huge strides? OPRF, Marmion, Mt Carmel, Sandberg, Montini are not Programs, they are all star teams that were designed.

To me a program is someone that has built it from the ground up and continues to do well and compete at a high level and who has strong lower levels. Not just a varsity lineup where people move in to wrestle.

Huntley, Lincoln Way, Lyons,, Conant, Deerfield, Naperville coaches and many others deserve more credit.

The Juice you claim must be haterade. You have the right to your own opinion no matter how wrong it is.

[Mainefan]

Marmion

I think I would have to agree with Marmion. Did they even have a program 10 years ago??

First time they made a noise was at the 2007 DGN Sectional. (Toughest sectional I have attended. They had 2 terrific freshman, Pat Greco and Nico Jimenez.

[Mainefan]

Sandburg

Although the Dean Brandstedter era was not one for the record books, they did have a team.
Marmion has had some very good individuals, but no quantifiable team success.

We are talking about some teams that have gone from below average to above average, which is nice (LWC, Stevenson). But back to Sandburg, they went from average to National caliber, that to me says "greatest stride".

As far as greatest decline, it has to be Providence. Although they are building back up they went from 6 AA team titles to the bottom of the barrel there for a few years.

Sandburg and Glenbard North, 15-20 yrs ago were strong programs. They were just in an era which was dominated by Providence, Mt Carmel, Marist, St. Rita, and Montini.

[2twins]

I have an idea. Why not just go to the school in your district or actually by a house in that district. Or choose a Catholic School within 30 miles of your home. Why not try that and see what happens.

[Gladguy]

I have an idea. Why not just go to the school in your district or actually by a house in that district. Or choose a Catholic School within 30 miles of your home. Why not try that and see what happens.

Or because you live in America, you are free to do whatever you want to do and move to wherever you want to move. You can buy a house or rent based on your money situation or personal preference. You can go to any religious or public school that you want. And guess what? It is nobody's business WHATEVER you decide to do or not do.

God bless America!!!

[Rebel]

The second question- What programs have fallen off over the past 5, 10, 15 years and why? This might help to answer your question, too. It might be different for public and private schools... the rationale for increased success.

Few programs that seem to have dropped off the last few years?
Minooka, Plainfield Central, Nequa Valley

[ken dom]

teams dropping

Add Montini to drop offs , 2-4 forfeits this year in upper wts. 4 at Cheesehead . and not a dual team this year. Next year ouch ! 3-4 left in line up without new recruits .

[Dadof2monsters]

I am not going to get into this whole drama.

But I will say one thing I have noticed is the programs that seem to have the biggest strides in my eyes is the one's with the most involved coaching staffs. You see them all in the off season. You see them supporting young wrestlers that wrestle for the school's kids club. You see them organizing events to give back to the communities they serve. You see them driving their wrestlers to ACT tests because their parents have to work. You see them holding coaching clinics to help spread and increase the # of knowledgeable wrestling coaches we have in the sport. You see them grabbing kids from the lunchroom to get them out for the team and spread the love of wrestling.

Wins and Losses never tell the whole story in "Biggest Strides" or "Biggest Declines"

[trunt67]

Add Montini to drop offs , 2-4 forfeits this year in upper wts. 4 at Cheesehead . and not a dual team this year. Next year ouch ! 3-4 left in line up without new recruits .

I wonder if this is a bi-product of Izzy devoting so much time to the sport of MMA...I just saw he is now working with Anthony Pettis on top of his already demanding work with Jackson/Wink and guys like Bones Jones...

Seems to me like it would be hard to keep the guys together during the offseason and build relations for recruiting when you are off getting big paychecks other places. Kids aren't dumb they know all about the name of Izzy but they also know his work in MMA takes him away from devoting himself to their success whereas other programs the coaches have more time to give to those wrestlers...

This is just my opinion...I have zero insight in to how much time Izzy puts into his wrestlers...But to me there seems to be a direct correlation between the overlapping timeline of his increased time spent coaching MMA stars and the decline of the Montini program (whereas the Football program remains strong, undefeated champs this season)