I saw first hand Wednesday night what is wrong with wrestling in Northern Nevada, and probably a few other places, too.
Carson topped Douglas in wrestling 48-17. There were a total of five forfeits on the night. The Tigers forfeited four matches and Carson one. Forfeits are littering wrestling mats all over Northern Nevada. It makes me sick.
Something needs to change quickly. Dual meets are a colossal waste of time.
My idea would be to have a schedule like they do for golf - the entire league meets up four or five times for league tournaments. Have a point system set up and use it as a qualifier for regionals.
•••
A recent article in a newspaper in Reno said that Chris Ault's job was in jeopardy if things didn't get better.
I don't see Nevada passing Boise State anytime soon, and that's the only school ahead of the Wolf Pack these days. Nevada went 8-5 this year, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Sure it was disappointing to lose 45-10 in the bowl game, but what did Nevada fans expect after Luke Lippincott was injured and Vai Taua was ruled ineligible. Those are the guys that enable quarterback Colin Kaepernick to run the lead option play. Nevada's other backs are above average. but there is a pretty big drop-off between Lippincott and Taua and the rest of the running backs.
Ault has a lot of enemies, but that doesn't surprise me since he's been at Nevada forever. You stay in one place for any length of time, and you're bound to tick some people off. Reading blogs like I do, it's easy to see that Ault has his detractors.
What's funny is that Ault is just as good a coach now as he was 20 years ago. The man knows football, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Nevada's defense has been suspect. The coaching staff wants to win, and I know they turn over every rock in an effort to get the best p;ossible players here. All you can do is coach them. You can't make plays for them. Athletically, Nevada has gotten better every season.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Ault, for what he's done for the school both as a coach and administrator, ought to decide when he wants to leave. If he knows he's not getting the job done, Ault will walk away. You won't have to fire him.
•••
With possible realignment heading our way, I'd like to see the 4A be one big league, but for that to happen I think the NIAA has to let teams play a few more games.
I think an 11-team football league would be great, which means 10 games instead of nine. It also means that everybody plays everybody else in the league. There are no "misses" like several football conferences have. I have a lot of respect for the Pac-10, which reacently changed its scheduling so that all the teams in the conference faced each other. That's the only way you are going to get a true champion.
If the 4A stays as one league, it should have a four or six-team playoff. If you go with six, the top two teams should get first-round byes. It would take three weeks to complete. A four-team playoff takes two weeks.
I'd rather see a four-team playoff only because I think the playoffs are way too long right now.