Flying Dutchmen Fans

The Mack Arena should be packed with hundreds of local collegiate wrestling fans this Sunday when former Hofstra head coach Tom Ryan brings The Ohio State Buckeyes (ranked #6 nationally) back to Hempstead for the first time since 2010.

Tom ranks right up there with Jay Wright (two NCAA titles at Villanova) and John Danowski (three NCAA titles at Duke) as former Hofstra coaches who have achieved great national success. He led the Buckeyes to an NCAA championship in 2014-15 and three B1G championships. At Hofstra, he led our men to six straight conference titles, including five in the CAA. His record as a head coach over 30 years is 309-148-2.

Sunday's match starts at an unusual time (4 pm) because the Buckeyes will be wrestling at Columbia in the morning.

For those who can't be there in person, you can follow on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO1jrUXgMjg.

Don't know if the stream is free or not.

Stuball, you follow wrestling closer than I do. What do you remember about Tom Ryan? And how does our team look this year?

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/news/2023 ... tra-sunday

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/wr ... -ryan/1603

Jojogunne wrote: ↑Fri Nov 17, 2023 12:00 pm Sunday's match starts at an unusual time (4 pm) because the Buckeyes will be wrestling at Columbia in the morning.

This time works great for anyone who wants to see a big Hofstra sports doubleheader practically next door to each other. I don't know how long the wrestling matches go, but I'm guessing it would be done before the Yale-Hofstra NCAA tourney soccer match at 6 pm?

Tom was always a standup guy what I remember most about him is how the wrestlers developed from year to year
I believe it was Tom Shiflett, who took over for him and that year we beat number one Minnesota 18-17 in a duel match
Was at his son Teagues funeral
I never want to have to go through that again

Superb coach - has gone on to lead an absolute powerhouse at OSU - and the HU program hasn't been the same without him. Def expecting HU to have some tough going in this one. He's not coming back to lose to his former program that is nowhere near the level he had them at.

Great for the program, for LI, and for all the young wrestlers out there - hope it's packed, and I hope HU gives a good fight.

Off topic, I would like to see HU get on VT's schedule - talk about a budding powerhouse, VT has developed one heckuva program - and they are about to secure one of the best recruiting classes in the country... again. Top 5 class last year, already multiple top 60 recruits this class, consistently ranked. The south has some really strong talent to recruit. Would be a smart move scheduling them.

(And OSU just beat them this year, so this could get ugly for HU lol.)

Not knowing anything about wrestling I see we get trounced 51-0. Ouch is this what people who know the sport expected? I only know about watching wrestling on TV which is all scripted I believe with all kinds of illegal things going on, lol. https://gohofstra.com/news/2023/11/19/w ... state.aspx

I did warn this might get ugly. This isn't lax where Tierney is out there losing to his former protege every year. Ryan is one of the best coaches in the nation in this sport, no way he was coming back here to lose to his former home. And once I saw they beat VT, who has become a national powerhouse program, figured HU would be in big trouble.

That said, I really don't know the landscape super well, so no idea if this means anything for HU for this season, or if this is just a one-off and they can still go on to have a nice year in the conf. Def a cool sport with a passionate following, wishing these guys well this year.

Another B1G match for our grapplers:

https://gohofstra.com/news/2023/12/7/wr ... unday.aspx

So again I'll ask is this another ugly beat down? I'm asking an obvious question does wrestling against the #1 behoove us in any way.

Did playing #1 Purdue in MBB help us? Athletes want to play the best.

Remember, these sports are for the athletes as well as the fans.

I think this is fantastic, heckuva schedule!

Fully agree, ALWAYS schedule the best you can. Never shy away from the top dogs, especially in this sport where HU is able to get them. A lot of good comes from these, including recruiting boost as kids want to face the big names, and most importantly MONEY to the program in a few ways.


The more unfortunate thing to me is the fact this is even a question. This program has really fallen off since Ryan. HU wrestling used to go toe to toe with every one of these 'big dogs', more than holding their own, even beating them. I never remember them ever getting embarrassed when I was a student. Team had some absolute beasts, loaded with All-Americans, and routinely producing champions.

Sadly, other programs have invested and really elevated themselves to equal or best HU. But it's still a sport where a 'mid major' can compete with the P5's - happening this year too, just not happening with HU lately