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Discussion Topic: Mitch Moore to Virginia Tech...
Jason Russell added to this discussion on September 18, 2016

damn...



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Discussion Topic: Mitch Moore to Virginia Tech...
Nicholas Sestito added to this discussion on September 18, 2016

Well, that's a strong relationship for you. Virginia Tech has recruited St. Paris heavily and got his older brother.



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Discussion Topic: Mitch Moore to Virginia Tech...
Bob Preusse added to this discussion on September 19, 2016

thats a beautiful campus too, plus a great coach-- from Sept AWN, Q & A with Kevin Dresser:

Blacksburg Va. – After establishing high school powerhouses at Grundy (Va.) and Christiansburg (Va.), Kevin Dresser is a coach focused on bringing an NCAA team title to Virginia Tech. He took over a program in need of strong leadership after the resignation of coach Tom Brands who returned to University of Iowa in 2006. In 10 years Dresser has moved Virginia Tech into the top echelon of college wrestling, edging Iowa to place fourth at this years NCAA tournament.

Question: Kevin, what drove you to succeed as a top wrestler and top coach in both high school and college?

Dresser: I have always been driven by the love for the sport. High level success as a wrestler or a coach starts with loving the sport. Wrestling as a competitor is very hard so you must truly love the day to day training needed to be very good.

Question: Can you offer words of inspiration to youngsters out there who aspire to do great things, but have doubts and obstacles to overcome?

Dresser: My advice to aspiring wrestlers who dream of being great is to stress to them having doubts and dealing with obstacles is part of the process in being great. There isn’t a single GREAT wrestler out there who didn’t have doubts or giant obstacles along the way. I always tell me athletes that ADVERSITY WEAKENS THE WEAK AND STRENGTHENS THE STRONG. Embracing that mentality and trying to be strong in the toughest of situations always is followed by improvement.

Question: Tell our readers the key qualities you look for in a recruit?

Dresser: When recruit, I look for TALENT, WORK ETHIC, and A LOVE FOR THE SPORT. They are all equally important.

Question: Are the upper level high school wrestlers today as good or better than when you were in high school?

Dresser: Wrestlers are MUCH better today than when I was entering college. There is so much more good knowledge available. Youth and high school coaches are much better and the resources for both coaches and young wrestlers are much better.

Question: You built powerhouses at both Grundy (Va.) and Christiansburg (Va,), what were the keys to building those programs?

Dresser: Grundy had already won two state titles when I arrived. They had an unbelievable feeder system in place to do very well in the state of Virginia. I learned how to build a great feeder system at Grundy. They had a great business model. Eventually I got better at coaching while at Grundy and when that happened, the combination of a great feeder program and good coaching produced some national ranked teams. When I went to Christiansburg, I understood wrestling much better but didn't have the athletes to pull from. Christiansburg had some good individuals but no numbers at all, so I had to apply the things I learned at Grundy. I had to build a program at Christiansburg, I didn't inherit one. Once we got the ball rolling, we took off quickly because I was a better coach later in my high school coaching career. We finished we some great teams at Christiansburg!

Question: You were an NCAA champion at Iowa, name the hardest guys that you wrestled in college?

Dresser: The hardest guys I wrestled in college were probably (my teammates) the Zalesky (Lennie and Jimmy) brothers- Barry Davis, Jim Heffernan, and Randy Lewis. Needless to say, I didn’t get many easy days. Dan Gable wasn’t too bad either in the mid 80’s! LOL.
The toughest I competed against were: Joe Gibbons of Iowa State. Joe was a 4x All-American and an NCAA champ. He won it our junior year and I won our senior year. Joe was very strong, had a great go-to takedown, and extremely hard to score on. Pete Yozzo of Lehigh. Pete was also a 4x All-American and an NCAA champ. He beat me in consolation finals in 1985, 12-10. I beat him in 1986 in the dual by a score of 15-12 and in the NCAA finals by a score of 11-6. He was the most fun to wrestle because he could score so many different ways. We had several high scoring matches in our careers. John Guira of Wisconsin. John was a multiple time All-American. John was extremely stingy and a master of winning close matches. Luke Skove of Oklahoma State. Luke was a 4x All-American and had a huge motor. He was my only dual meet loss my senior year. Great competitor.

Question: There is a lot of difference in college and high school rules, e.g. riding, stalling, out of bounds scoring, blood time, injury time, overtime. What rules would you like changed on each level?

Dresser: I grew up in an era where STALLING was called much quicker and more often. I wish we would go back to those days! I think it would make wrestling better for the fans. I do like the new out of bounds (college) stalling rules, if called correctly. The new rule seems to keep the wrestlers on the mat and there is less starts, which I like!

Question: How do you feel about video review? Some like me think it disrupts action, destroys momentum, and hurts the best conditioned wrestler.

Dresser: I am ok with video review because I believe in getting right. Right now, we get a limited amount of reviews which is good. I don’t like stopping action for various reasons but I can live with it if it gets us the right call.

Question: If you had a magic wand what changes would you make to college wrestling?

Dresser: If I had a magic wand, I would like to see the NCAA give our athletes a TWO hour weigh in for dual meets instead of a ONE hour weigh in. We do it for tournaments so I don’t see why we can’t do the same for dual meets. It just allows everybody some cushion to get properly ready for the dual meet.



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