I'd like to know how the coaches liked the changes at the state tournament with the 10 mats and mat assignments?

I liked the ten mats. Did not like the preassigned mats. We had a 160 and hwt up at same time, with a 215 on deck. Kids did not go through their warm ups like they normally do because they were not able to follow the weights.

Loved the later start and earlier end time. My dad worked the tournament and said he walked out of Qwest at around 9:00 on Thursday night. Was confused by the mat assignments. That made no sense to me, but I thought it ran well. The five mats were great, I thought.

I agree with Schumaker. Ten mats was a good thing, but the pre-assigned mats can go. I actually think it is easier to follow for fans when they do it like they used to. Each mat has the match number posted anyway.

I think it is better for the wrestlers to have it like it used to be. They know what weights are up, what is on deck, and can prepare themselves like they do at any other tournament they wrestle in during the season.

On another note, really wish they would play the whole song for the Parade of Champions. Let the song play a little before they walk out to get the juices flowing and then let the song finish when they are on the mats. What is another minute or two?

Another thing that could improve is have the announcers build the excitement. If you have ever been to the NCAA Div. I the announcer really builds the crowd. They could be announcing that we are going live in so many minutes so let's get loud. The atmosphere could be built up more.

I enjoyed the later start times and 10 mats.

I didn't care for the arrangement of the weigh ins in the smaller of the two lower concourse settings.

I feel they need to give an announcement that weigh ins are starting or be firm on once weigh ins have started no one is allowed in late.

I think the pre assigned mat idea was good, but you have to stick to it. All the jumping around due to forfeits probably scared them, just wait till the end to move matches. I don't think they will use this next year.

It would be nice to build up the atmosphere before the finals, but the intro is pre-taped. I would love for the whole song to be played bcbrave, allow the juices to flow and then make them walk out on the mats.

i liked the assigned mats. the bout number let you know how many matches you were out, they jumped by 5. it would have run better if they sould have waited to jump mats til the end of the session. the 10 mats was great also.

1) The 10 mats were nice because it made the sessions shorter. ALthough we had section 128 rows 1-10. They were almost too low to see all the way over to Mat 5 for an ol' dog like me but I can handle it.
2) Loved the later start times, especially Saturday. I didn't have to get up at 6 just to get packed up.
3) I didn't like the pre-assigned mats. I thought it actually made it more difficult to follow, especially when your trying to watch both classes. I was continulally looking at the program between 4 and 5 weight classes to see who was wrestling. I understand the whole match numbering system, but this caused us to have 4 weights wrestling at the same time in the first round(125, 135, 140 and 145). This wouldn't happen with the old system. Kudo's to referee Dave Walton for not allowing the 4th match to start until we had a coach in the corner.

I liked the 10 mats and later start, butt he preassignment of mats was not great. I t was hard tot ime up warmups for the upper weights. and ours guys were moved quite a bit anyway, so what is the point. I think the first available is a better way to go, you dont get so far off of the order. As someone posted earlier you had 160 and 215 wrestling at same time.

Another thing they need to look into is allowing schools to purchase a 3rd coaches band if they do not have 6 qualifiers. We had 5 and it is tough to try to get gets ready in the back and coach at the mats especially if your kids are close in weights. Tehy would be better served by allowing schools to purchase 1 extra band, but then actually monitor who is at matside and down in warmup areas. Several students were down below in the warmup areas, i saw parents down there, and the on deck area was crowded with all kinds of people that did not have credentials.

I really liked the 10 mat set-up and hope they continue with it, but I hope they go back to the old way instead of pre-assigned mats, for the same reasons others have mentioned. Some say it is good that you know what mat you will be on, but the 215 an 285 aren't pre-assigned (are we saying it isn't as important for their parents to know what mat they will be coming up on?), and some were moved anyway. Since they announced the mat assignments anyway no time was saved.
I also wish we could come up with a way to amp up the finals.
Could it work to have a charismatic announcer to bring up interesting facts during the finals matches, somewhat like in the tv broadcast? Do we have a hidden Ed Aliverti-like person somewhere in the state that could bring more recognition and excitement to the finals?

I liked the 10-mat setup from the standpoint of it moving the tournament along faster. Even with the later start time, we got out of there a lot sooner than in past years. I don't EVER remember leaving the arena before 10 p.m. on Thursday -- that was really strange.

I'm on the fence on the mat assignments. It was great for me, because I could see from the match number how far away my kid that I was shooting was from being up, so I could better manage my time trying to do radio reports (with what little voice I had to work with). I felt they abandoned that a little too soon at times which made it difficult for some. I can see coaches having problems managing things with 2-3 kids wrestling and 2-3 more on deck at the same time.

bdoggy - I'd settle for four new voices announcing the next matches. Some of those voices have been there for as long as the sport has been sanctioned by the NSAA, it seems. Ed Aliverti was a one-of-a-kind announcer...it would be great if we had somebody like that who was passionate about the sport and we could talk the NSAA into hiring for this event.

I liked the 10 mat set-up and assigned mats, personally. They need to stick with it though.

I would imagine they will go back to next available mat next year. The biggest complaint I heard from other coaches was the wrestlers had to watch their mat to know when to warm up as opposed to warming up by upcoming weight class like other tournaments. In addition, I talked with the guy who ran the computer program for the state meet and he said it was confusing some times getting bout cards with one at 140 and the next at 171, etc. The old way is much easier on the people running the tournament.

From talking to Jim Angele, the ultimate factor on sticking with 10 mats is whether or not there is a Creighton basketball game following.

In the future if there is a Creighton game, they would go back to 8 mats because there wouldn't be enough time to get the floor seating in after the tournament.

Stick with the 10 mats.

Get rid of the predetermined mat assignments.

Just email Darin B. with some concerns and positives about the State Tournament in his reply, he said all Head Coaches will be getting an online survey in the near future to repsond to the changes that took place at the NSAA championships.

Hopefully more of them vote on this, than what voted for the officals. Once again, we'll see how important it is to the coaches.

Darin's reply to my email
Thanks Curtis for the comments.


I agree there are things that I need to work on to improve the state championships. The weigh-in area is difficult – one of the compromises to being able to use 10 mats was not being able to use the large storage area to the north. I have some ideas that will expand the area what little we can – but overall it does need to improve!


Match assignments – I also agree we re-assigned mats too soon. We may put the label of TBA on 215 the first round and 189-285 (pending if the weight classes are the same???) for other rounds. Jury is out on this subject, but I will study some options.


10 mat format was worth the extra work. Now we have to work on keeping it if Creighton has a game following the tournament. Qwest and I have already had a great deal of conversation on this subject.


PA announcements, I agree this can be done, but I cannot promise as to where it will be heard due to the noise levels in different areas.


The head coaches will receive an online survey in the near future regarding the tournament.


Thanks again for your comments.


Darin

I would also like to see them start with a different weight class than 103 every time. I admit I am being a little selfish because my boys are at the heavier weights, but on Friday night when it was down to the class A heavyweights that place was vacant.

I heard from a lot of the fans that the 10-mat format was hard to follow, and from the 6th floor it was sometimes....thank goodness for the binoculars! That will just take getting used to. How long does it take to roll in that extra section of seats?? It didn't seem to take that long. The later start is great, so the NSAA and Qwest need to compromise on the whole Creighton vs 10-mat issue.

Nobody has commented on the 500 start for the semifinals. I would like to see the semifinals start at 600pm again. I don't see the need for an early start here. This is the highlight of the meet (outside of the parade). Give the sport the exposure it deserves here....Primetime!!

I agree with having semis at 6pm. I also think the grand march should include all 6 place winners! The more wrestlers we honor the better. It's nice how Neb does it - but could be better. Nat'l Guard plus a Grand Marshall like Coach Manning or Coach Denney, maybe a Nat'l champ from one of the many Neb colleges.

I Agree. Last year they did do a better job of building the crowd. I did not at all feel like my juices were flowing. This is a BIG TIME DEAL for all involved: Fans, Parents, Wrestlers,Coaches and OUR SPORT. Lets make it BIGGER with the HYPE. "We Are the Champions" Shold play to the end.

quote:

Originally posted by Never Resting:
Another thing that could improve is have the announcers build the excitement. If you have ever been to the NCAA Div. I the announcer really builds the crowd. They could be announcing that we are going live in so many minutes so let's get loud. The atmosphere could be built up more.

Totally agree with the 6pm start for the semis.