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

[Red Turban]

yes....

but also, maybe those great kids don't walk through the door if they don't have a good coaching staff and a good room.

Exactly!!!!! There's no free lunch in IL wrestling

[lemiwinks31]

Ok fine. My position is difficult to defend on a message board, so I'll just concede and move on.

Either way, programs that have come up over the last few years are not just because some awesome kids walked through the door. They had to do some serious work, and deserve the accolades they have earned

yes....

but also, maybe those great kids don't walk through the door if they don't have a good coaching staff and a good room.

[Red Turban]

There are high school ready 8th graders every year.

Ok fine. My position is difficult to defend on a message board, so I'll just concede and move on.

Either way, programs that have come up over the last few years are not just because some awesome kids walked through the door. They had to do some serious work, and deserve the accolades they have earned

[Oldguy]

Deerfield HS coaching definitely deserves a lot of credit.

Also, I don't know if it's been mentioned, but Jacobs HS has come a long way in recent years and is becoming a very good program.

[PapaBearSLIM]

I will tell you this... NO 8th grader is high school ready. 2 and 3 timers, Tulsa champs, show up in HS rooms for open practices and commence to get flattened.

Any program that is doing well is doing something positive for their wrestlers

There are high school ready 8th graders every year.

[A boyz 3]

Lots of Freshmen do well. AFTER they have been in a HS room for a bit. Jessen, Benoit, etc (under 120 don't count imo). If he hadn't gone to a program like Lockport, he wouldn't be doing nearly as well. My point being that you can't discount a program because they get good wrestlers

Definately not discounting Lockport or its coaching staff. They are definatly a top Notch group. But you could have put Tucker with any other program and he would have enjoyed similar success. The program didn't make Tucker. Tucker was a highly successful polished wrestler before he got there, didn't really start practicing in the room untul football was done and hit the groung running at 15-0 before his 1st loss.

[Red Turban]

Lots of Freshmen do well. AFTER they have been in a HS room for a bit. Jessen, Benoit, etc (under 120 don't count imo). If he hadn't gone to a program like Lockport, he wouldn't be doing nearly as well. My point being that you can't discount a program because they get good wrestlers

[A boyz 3]

I will tell you this... NO 8th grader is high school ready. 2 and 3 timers, Tulsa champs, show up in HS rooms for open practices and commence to get flattened.

Any program that is doing well is doing something positive for their wrestlers

Lil Ron Tucker seems to be handling that transition well. 33-2 as a Varsity Heavyweight, Winning Powerade, losing 1 match at the Cheesehead in overtime on a failed shot and bigman scramble to the tournament runnerup, with his only other loss to the #2 ranked Cassioppi. The HS room is a huge positive, but this kid came in ready. I seem to remember a ton of Tucker doubters on these boards preseason. "He's not athletic enough to win", "He was good in Middle School, but now he has to wrestle grown men", "He will be lucky to go .500 his freshmen year". When he puts on some man strength and muscle to go along with his skill he's going to be right thesre year after year. While he may or may not win a title this year, I think he has proven that he has as good a shot as anybody.

[Red Turban]

I will tell you this... NO 8th grader is high school ready. 2 and 3 timers, Tulsa champs, show up in HS rooms for open practices and commence to get flattened.

Any program that is doing well is doing something positive for their wrestlers

[Nelson*0.5]

The answer is Deerfield.

I remember this board always talking about the best coaches, and it was always Healy, Polz, and Hahn. And I would always tell people, that if they are so great, how about they go up to Zion and start producing state champs and qualifying teams up there. Those guys had state champs walking in as freshmen = where Zion and Deerfield are introducing what a single-leg takedown is to their freshmen.

These coaches at Deerfield did just that. And they are doing it with whatever kids show up, from their own neighborhood.

The playing field is NOT level. And I am not crying about that. But it has to be weighed in to the equation, to recognize what Deerfield has accomplished.

Impressive! Keep up the great work!

No one would even be talking about Deerfield were it not for the Heller bros, Utterback, Perholz, Kerstein and Clough. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe these boys knew a single-leg takedown when they came in as freshmen. These are kids that had a ton of success in IESA, IKWF and beyond. These are kids who got their training at Poeta, Izzy Style, Gomez, etc. and were already quite polished by the time they got to high school. Take them out of the lineup and what kind of team does Deerfield have.

I am not dogging the recent success that Deerfield has had, now am I saying that they have bad coaches. I am saying that like many other coaches that have figured out how to field a strong team that places high in tournaments and gets some recognition in the state rankings that they have inherited a heck of a lot of battle-tested, high school competition ready wrestlers that made their jobs a whole lot easier. It would not be remotely the same thing as doing the same thing at a school like Zion-Benton, or dare I say Hononegah, where you have to drive a minimum of 45-50 miles to find any "elite" training.

[bannerman]

Deerfield

The answer is Deerfield.

I remember this board always talking about the best coaches, and it was always Healy, Polz, and Hahn. And I would always tell people, that if they are so great, how about they go up to Zion and start producing state champs and qualifying teams up there. Those guys had state champs walking in as freshmen = where Zion and Deerfield are introducing what a single-leg takedown is to their freshmen.

These coaches at Deerfield did just that. And they are doing it with whatever kids show up, from their own neighborhood.

The playing field is NOT level. And I am not crying about that. But it has to be weighed in to the equation, to recognize what Deerfield has accomplished.

Impressive! Keep up the great work!

[Rob Sherrill]

Haha not exactly the direction I was going for but yes, that would be the hands down answer. I should have asked what are the teams you are seeing these days competing for weekly tournament championships that surprise you to see at the top?

Wrestling in 90's I would have never expected to see the Deerfields, Stevensons, Jacobs or Huntleys representing the the top programs in the state. I was also curious what drove these programs to success.

I would agree with Deerfield, Stevenson and Huntley as well. Not only have they been successful, but those coaches are building programs - Deerfield, in particular, was able to keep winning big even when they had multiple starters out for a couple of weeks. Jacobs may belong on that list, too, but they've got such a big group of seniors right now. Their test will be whether they can keep it at that level with the group that replaces them.

[South Cider]

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.

People from Oprf, Sandburg, Deerfield, can cheerlead all they want, but Marmion hands down has made the biggest strides/improvements/jumps etc. in the last 10 yrs. And that is with being of an objective mind.

[inpain]

I got an idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoA-cxlATdc

I don't care who you are, that's funny

[chicagowrestling2013]

Lockport, Lyons,Washington,mt carmel