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| Brian Smith enters this season as head of the nation's No. 3-ranked wrestling team. |
Chat Live With Coach Brian Smith!
On Monday, Nov. 13, Wrestling Head Coach Brian Smith stopped by to answer your questions about his team and its preparation for the 2006-07 wrestling season! The Q-and-A session with the coach of the nation's third-ranked wrestling team lasted approximately 20 minutes.
The Nov. 13 chat session with Coach Smith kicked off a season-long campaign (Monday Mat Chat) in which fans will have the opportunity to communicate with various members of the Missouri coaching staff and team. Each chat session will be held Monday at 2:30 p.m. (CT).
Mizzou's seventh Head Wrestling Coach, Brian Smith sat down with his team and made a list of goals that he hoped to help the 1998 squad and future Tiger teams accomplish. Over the past eight years, Smith and the 111 men that have come through the varsity program have slowly but surely checked items off the list. Individual Big 12 Champions, improved grade-point averages, record-setting attendances, a top-five national ranking and Missouri's first-ever NCAA National Champion in wrestling were all on Smith's "to-do" list. His unique TigerStyle training program has molded today's team into a national powerhouse looking to contend for the program's first top-five NCAA finish.
Smith enters the 2006-07 campaign with an eight-year record of 98-53-1 at Mizzou, and career 100-61-2 mark over nine seasons.
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Moderator: OK folks....we're about 15 minutes away from the start of our first MatChat with Tiger Head Coach Brian Smith. Feel free to start submitting your questions now and we'll get to them beginning at 2:30! |
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Moderator: Alright, we're ready to start taking your questions for Head Coach Brian Smith. Let's get started! |
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| Gene (Kansas City): We know/hear about the varsity wrestlers but I would like to know how the freshmen and redshirt freshmen are doing, as they wrestle unattached in open tournaments. |
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Brian Smith: Well Gene, we've already had two open tournaments and our young wrestlers have had a lot of success. True freshmen Ashtin Primus (141) won the Lindenwood Open and took third at the CSMU Open yesterday. Willie Saxton (133), also a true freshman, took third at the CMSU Open and redshirt freshman Nick Marable (157) was named the outstanding wrestler.
Sophomores Emanuel Brooks (157) and Joey Garrity (174) were both runner-ups at the CMSU Open yesterday while Nick Velliquette was sixth at the CMSU Open and wrestled at 125 pounds.
The younger wrestlers have had a lot of success and there is a lot of depth and talent in our room this season. By far, this is the most depth in my nine year tenure.
Gene, hope you can make it out to the Missouri Open and see all of them wrestle! |
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| Hap: Coach-Not many people know how far you have brought this program. Keep up the good work and good luck in the upcoming season. |
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Brian Smith: Hap thanks for the vote of confidence. You know as a former coach that it takes more than one person to build a successful program. I've been fortunate to be surrounded by supportive and hard-working people. |
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| Richie (North Myrtle Beach): What are the Tigers expected to place this year in the nation? I hope you guys can beat Minnesota. |
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Brian Smith: Tha rankings have us anywhere from third to fifth in the nation. We'll have to wait and see how it plays out. |
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| Clay McQuerry (Liberty, MO): The KC Star just reported that two Oak Park wrestlers just committed to out of state teams. Can you identify the reasons why local wrestlers would not want to attend MU? What are you finding to be the greatest challenges in persuading them to join your program? Or, am I mistaken into thinking that you are wanting these kids to come to MU? If so, then please identify what qualities are most important to you in a wrestler? Thanks so much and good luck for a super season!! P. S. I am sure hopeful that Deron Winn will join your program, but I know that you cannot comment on that. |
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Brian Smith: Currently we have 40 guys on our roster and we have been fortunate that over 50 percent are from the state of Missouri. We've had great success recruiting in state kids. This early signings recruiting class had four wrestlers from the state of Missouri who were all highly ranked and one from the Kansas City area being the No. 1 recruit in the nation. |
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| Cory (Gainesville, Fla.): What's the truth behind the rumors that Ben Askren will wrestle at 165 pounds and Matt Pell will wrestle at 174 pounds? |
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Brian Smith: Both Ben and Matt are certified at 165, but Ben will compete at 174. Ben certified light like he does every year but wanted the opportunity to wrestle Johny Hendricks at the All-Star Meet. But...it didn't come about |
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| Sergio (Kansas City): What have you done to recruit such good wrestlers to Missouri? Isn't it hard going against some of the other Big 12 schools like Oklahoma State or Oklahoma? What sets you apart from the rest? |
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Brian Smith: Recruiting has gotten easier since my early days here just because of the success of the program. The new practice facility/weight room and future locker room gives us one of the top facilities in the country. I think young men see the commitment from our school to help them reach their ultimate goals of winning a national title. |
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| Mike (Wentzville): Has you training/coaching program changed any with the teams higher national ranking? Has there been an increase in the number of new recruits interested in the school? |
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Brian Smith: This year's team is a spcial group that I've actually had to hold back due to the fact that they train extremely hard year round. With the talent we have on this team we want them to be fresh in March, which is different than my earlier years here when the talent level wasn't the same.
If you look at our past few years of recruiting classes we've made inroads in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and other major states because our success over the past five seasons. Being from the Big 12 Conference which historically is the toughest conference in America also helps. |
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| Mike (Holts Summit): Coach - How nice is it to have not one, but two Askrens on your team? What should we expect from Max this year, and would he beat Ben in a head-to-head? |
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Brian Smith: Obviously having two Askrens is a great thing. With Max's success this summer with the World Team we have high expectations for him and he has a lot of expectations of himself.
You'll have to come out to practice sometime to see if who can win the Askren battle. |
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| Preston B (Overland Park): Hey Coach. Tyler McCormick seemed like a bit of a dark horse last season. What is it about him that makes him better than some of the other wrestlers at 133 pounds? |
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Brian Smith: He's one of the most intelligent wrestlers I've ever coached. He lost early matches in Vegas to the Ohio State wrestler and UTC wrestler and still found ways to improve on his weaknesses. He proved that by coming back later in the season and beating both guys, two times each. |
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| Derek S. (Jefferson City): Which dual this season do you really feel is going to be a good test for the team? Good luck and Go TIGERS! |
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Brian Smith: Every dual is a test. Thursday night we take on Ohio State and they're expecting a crowd of 5-7,000. We'll find out how our team deals with the adversity of the big crowd and hostile envirnoment. |
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| Alex K. (Moberly): First off, good luck to you and the team this season. I noticed that the Missouri Open is coming up on Sunday. Can you tell us what other teams will be competing? Thanks. |
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Brian Smith: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State, UTC, Oklahoma, Eastern Illinois, University of Central Oklahoma, most of the local Missouri colleges and some other schools and individuals. We're expecting over 400 wrestlers. |
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| George O. (Des Moines): I saw the results of the CMSU Open and it looks like you have a lot of good wrestlers at 157 pounds. Is Chandler head and shoulders above these guys or will there be constant battles in the room for the starting lineup? Good luck this season. |
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Brian Smith: Chandler won the wrestle off over Marable but is constantly being challenged by two quality wrestlers behind him. |
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| Francis (Tulsa): Good luck this season, coach. Is the team stoked about hosting Big 12's this year? |
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Brian Smith: We as a team are looking forward to having the Big 12s at home. It will be nice to not have to travel and also have a friendly environment behind us. Hope you can come out and watch! |
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| James (Ft Lauderdale): Last year at the Southern Scuffle, Tyron Woodley wrestled unattached. Will we see any staff or alum wrestle this year. If so I think I can make the cut to 174lbs. |
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Brian Smith: No the Southern Scuffle won't allow post graduates to wrestle, BUT....J.P. you did come in the room the weekend of the golf outting and...enough said. |
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Brian Smith: No the Southern Scuffle won't allow post graduates to wrestle, BUT....J.P. you did come in the room the weekend of the golf outting and...enough said. |
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Brian Smith: No the Southern Scuffle won't allow post graduates to wrestle, BUT....J.P. you did come in the room the weekend of the golf outting and...enough said. |
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| Nick (Columbia): I've been trying to convince my friends to come with me to a wrestling match. Any suggestions on how to entice them? |
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Brian Smith: We have a team that has a shot to challenge for the National Title with the best college wrestler in the nation competing week in and out. Hopefully this will entice your friends, if they do like sports, to come out and watch a great team and individuals perform. |
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| Chucky (Lincoln): I was checking out your schedule and saw "Beauty and the Beast" listed against Northern Iowa. What's that? |
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Brian Smith: It's the first year we're trying this. We'll have a wrestling dual and gymnastics meet going on simultaneously on the Hearnes Arena floor. I'm not sure which team is the beauty and which team is the beast. You'll have to come and see. |
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Brian Smith: Thanks to everyone for all the great questions. I'm heading up to practice to get ready for Ohio State. |
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Moderator: Thanks Coach for coming by. Just a heads up, Matt Pell will be stopping in for next week's MatChat at 2:30. Please check back on the website to submit questions for our 165 pound senior All-American. |
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