As a coaching staff, we're going to be doing more individual work this semester. The dual meets are fine and we want to win them, but I'm more concerned about getting our kids into the tournaments. Dual meets are preparation and entertainment and like our match against Brown, we'll use them for gaining experience. |
At that point in the season, we were equal. At this point in the season our lineup has changed a bit. We have more younger guys in the lineup. |
Being young is getting pretty tough for us. If we were any younger, we'd be feeding formula to these kids. |
D'Amico wrestled a smart match. He was facing one of the best heavyweights in the nation and he gave him all he could handle. |
He doesn't wait around like some of younger wrestlers or even some of the experienced guys. Steve gets the lead and keeps building on it. |
He started off shaky. He realized that he was capable of doing much better. Now I see that he's inspired every time he steps unto the mat. |
He wandered through last season. We talked at the end of the season, and he said he was going to be stronger. He came back this fall as a different person - dedicated and focused. |
He wasn't at 100 percent last week. Sometimes when you're not feeling good, you still have to go out and compete, so we let him go out there. |
I feel that our kids understand that we're a better team than what we showed against Army. We need to pick it up a notch. |
I had to make a decision about a match or a kid's future in wrestling. If he wrestled, we could have lost him for the season and I know neither Mike nor I wanted that. |
I think some of our young guys wrestled well. But some of them just can't stay off their backs. |
I want our young guys to keep wrestling aggressively. They just have to start minimizing their mistakes and using their heads along with instinct to make the right decisions and win the match. |
It was a back and forth match-up. D'Amico came through for us. I wouldn't say that we reached a turning point after that win, but we raised our intensity level. |
It's a feather in his cap. The judges that voted were impressed with his style and his aggressiveness. He had a solid tournament. |
It's not a one-shot deal. Just because one of our younger guys wins a match, it doesn't mean we improved - but we also didn't regress. |