Previously in the Year in Review, I've looked at the dismissal of Glen Mason and the coaching search that led to Tim Brewster being hired. I had intended to get a handful more posts out on this before the New Year, but now I'm thinking this series might extend into January. Still to come are reflective thoughts on the hiring of Tubby Smith, a look back at the forgettable one-win football season and my favorite posts in the storied history of PJS!!! ... and the Gopher and Vermin of the Year.
I don't cover a lot here outside the world of revenue-generating college sports, but I would be remiss as a Gophers blogger if I didn't shed some light on the accomplishments of Cole Konrad.
Konrad completed his junior and season seasons on the Minnesota wrestling team undefeated, claiming two individual national championships in the 285 pound weight class, leading to a team title in March and Big Ten titles in 2006 and 2007. According to Wikipedia, Konrad finished his career with a 154-13 record, with 10 of those losses coming as a freshman.
As the Minnesota Daily wrote earlier this month, Konrad's successor in the heavyweight class will have quite the legacy to live up to. I think this is one of those instances where you don't want to succeed the legend, you want to succeed the guy who succeeded the legend.
Kudos to Konrad for his success in 2007 and in year's prior. We all might not follow college wrestling, but we can certainly applaud the efforts of this great Gopher even if we don't understand why these guys have to wear outfits designed specifically for leggy, female volleyball players.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Year In Review: Cole Konrad Kicks Ass
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2 comments:
I just wanted to comment on here because I do like wrestling. The success of the wrestling program at Minnesota really is one of the better stories in all of college athletics. Coach Robinson has built a solid program from the ground up. If you ever get a chance to look up the 'full story' at the website of your choice, do it. The short story is Minnesota wasn't all that good, then Robinson came from Oklahoma St. and built them into the best program in the country and is sustaining it. The 2000-2001 team had 10 All-Americans.(there's only ten guys on the team!...sort of.) In 2001-2002 they went undefeated and won the National title. any true Minnesota fan would do well to pay attention to wrestling! Thank you for your time.
The lack of attention to this post proves that most fans don't give a hoot about wrestling.
The fact is though that people like Konrad and J. Robinson are good stories. Thanks for paying attention to them, LB. I'll try to do the same more often as I continue this little endeavor here.
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