Stanford Wrestling - Printable Version

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Spiny_Norman - 04-03-2026

(04-03-2026, 02:24 PM)fullmetal Wrote:  Any read on whether they're just testing the market or whether they're leaving because they really want to leave?

They are gone. I am pretty sure that Knox and Garvin are graduating. Don't know about Norman. And it may or may not be about money. There certainly could be other factors (i.e., wanting to be closer to family, the challenge of getting into a Stanford grad program, following an assistant coach who is leaving).

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Spiny_Norman - 04-03-2026

Jiminy cricket. Nico Provo (3rd place finisher at 125 pounds) is now in the portal as well. 

A common element among all 4 is that they will have completed 3 or 4 years at Stanford by the end of this academic year. It might be an issue that they could not get a spot in a graduate program to remain at Stanford one more year. Of course it also might be money. 

This comes after Stanford lost both Shane Griffith and Real Woods to the transfer portal after their senior seasons (but with eligibility remaining) in 2022. Griffith was a national champion and Woods was an All American.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Spiny_Norman - 04-04-2026

I just got a letter from Coach Ayres. An appeal for money because that is the main issue for the guys in the portal. 

Quote:They love Stanford and don’t want to go, but would be fools if they didn’t enter the portal to find out the real numbers…their “market value”. From numerous back channels, the “poachers” were getting numbers to them and they were high. So I really couldn’t blame them for going in.

 . . .Penn State’s revenue share for wrestling is 1.8 million. That is more than our total budget. Iowa State Cyclones wrestling revenue share is $1.0 million.

We are not asking for the numbers PSU, OSU, and Iowa have to use to fund their success, and neither are our wrestlers, but we need more. The reality is they are spending 4-7x the money institutionally.

So if you know someone with a chunk of money to invest in athletics who wants to make a difference, send them to Coach Ayres.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Vandelay - 04-09-2026

Stanford wresting coach decries NIL poaching

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - jacket3ree - 04-09-2026

I'm not going to pretend to be a wrestling fan, although I always liked Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Can't say the name without thinking of Curtis Mayfield.

If Penn State wants to spend 7 percent of their revenue share on wrestling, more power to them. That seems really high to me. I'm sure they do it because NIL coverage in football is a lot easier to come by than in wrestling.

Penn State sponsors 31 sports. Stanford sponsors 36. That's not it, really. Which five sports does Stanford dump to equalize with wrestling powers? They tried that. I thought part of the resurrection was solid financial footing, but maybe that didn't include evergreen money to pay players.  Eventually donors get donor fatigue. New guy has more decisions to make. So does the coach.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - fullmetal - 04-09-2026

In his third season, Chris Ayres takes the wrestling program to a historic best finish with a national champion and three other All-Americans.  And after this stellar season, large vultures have pulled out their checkbooks to get a piece of the success pie that they didn't build but hope to have a taste of.  I'm sure Stanford isn't the only program being targeted, but I don't wish this for any other coach either.  Coaches deserve to build on their athletes' successes year after year.  Now even more than ever, their job is dependent on boosters keeping the talent in house (or poaching other talent).  This isn't what coaching should be about, and it's not what collegiate athletics should be.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Spiny_Norman - 04-21-2026

Hunter Garvin and Tyler Knox have announced that they will return to Stanford next year.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXYLPcWDqo2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Still waiting on Nico Provo and Lorenzo Norman. As far as I know, neither has announced for a new school yet.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - martyup - 04-21-2026

(04-21-2026, 02:03 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:  Hunter Garvin and Tyler Knox have announced that they will return to Stanford next year.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - fullmetal - 04-21-2026

They may have received good news from their respective graduate programs.  Exciting for next year's success!

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Mick - 04-22-2026

(03-21-2026, 10:18 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:  Aden Valencia upset top seeded and previously unbeaten Shayne Van Ness for the national championship!! I am so proud of the entire wrestling program. Left for dead 6 years ago when Bernard Muir tried to kill the program. Seemingly abandoned by Coach Rob Koll when he was offered a job as head coach at North Carolina. But Bernard then made a great hire in Chris Ayres who came in from Princeton. Tonight was a peak moment for any Stanford fan.

This is a nice compilation of highlights from Valencia’s match.
https://x.com/globalwresorder/status/2035549738242568576?s=46&t=ab-5Y8WqBKxQHNRJeBC_DA

My sons knew a lot of wrestlers at Princeton (they were in the same fraternities and dining clubs) where Ayres was coach for 17 years (I met one of his wrestlers a few weeks ago, and Ayres' daughter was a Princeton wrestler, class of 2025). They spoke extremely highly of Coach Ayres, a 4x Ivy Wrestling Coach of the Year. Stanford wrestlers feel the same way, from what I gather. Great morale on that team, great team unity. Watch how the team embraced Valencia after his win, other teams didn't do that.

Ayres operates under some difficulty. Thanks to Muir's torpedoing of the program, Stanford wrestling only has 6.9 scholarships versus the old cap of 9.9. The Big Three, Penn State ($1.8 million), Iowa State ($1 million) and Oklahoma State have budgets 4x to 7x Stanford's budget. And four Stanford wrestlers are testing the waters in the portal (Provo, Knox, Garvin and Norman).

He's done a great job. Last year, Stanford finished 18th with two All Americans, this year probably a #6 finish with six All Americans and a national champion. 

Stanford wrestling coach Chris Ayres releases eye-opening statement amid Cardinal wrestlers in transfer portal - Yahoo Sports

Chris Ayres - Stanford Cardinal - Official Athletics Website

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Spiny_Norman - 04-22-2026

Nico Provo is the ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year for wrestling. 5 other Cardinal wrestlers named ACC All Academic.

https://gostanford.com/news/2026/04/22/acc-names-provo-scholar-athlete-of-the-year

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Spiny_Norman - 05-07-2026

Nico Provo reportedly is staying at Stanford for his final year.

https://x.com/_wrestlersgrind/status/2052462979229118891

That's 3 of the 4 wrestlers who entered the portal returning to Stanford. Still waiting on Lorenzo Norman.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Spiny_Norman - 05-13-2026

Looks like Lorenzo Norman is transferring out. So Stanford will retain 3 of 4 of the wrestlers who entered the portal.

I received an email report from Coach Ayres. I am sharing excerpts since it illuminated a positive impact of AD and alumni leadership (at least from the perspective of one coach). The bolding is mine. 

Quote:They say March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. From my seat in the program, it came in like a lion and went out like a rabid honey badger on steroids that hadn’t eaten in a week.

For those not keeping up with the program, or college wrestling, somewhere around the last weekend in March we had three of our returning All-Americans let us know they were going to enter the transfer portal: Nico Provo, Tyler Knox, and Hunter Garvin. We also had NCAA qualifier Lorenzo Norman enter the portal. Daniel Cardenas had his degree as well and could have entered, but he stuck it out and chose not to go in.

April was a crazy month. The guys were taking visits to other schools, and back on the Farm we were trying to figure out how to keep them here. Fortunately, we were able to keep Provo, Knox, Cardenas, and Garvin.

Quote:Churchill once said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” We certainly got the most out of this one.
 
First and foremost, the response from the athletics administration was amazing. In order to piece this thing together, we needed the department to step in in a big way, both with resources and with some major decisions that had to be made quickly. Former Stanford football player and current athletics executive team member Shayne Skov became our point person, and without him, along with the individuals leading this department, we would not have retained these wrestlers. 
 
I affectionately refer to him as Coach Skov now, as he was in the trenches with us, trying to do whatever he could to solve this issue.
 
Throughout this year, the culture inside the athletics department has seemingly grown stronger and stronger under the new leadership. Several seasoned coaches who have been here a long time have said this is the most cohesive the department has ever felt.
 
That is easy to say when things are going well.
 
The real test comes when something difficult lands on your desk and there is no easy playbook. Our situation tested that culture in real time. We needed urgency. We needed creativity. We needed people to care enough to lean into a complicated situation and help us find a path forward. They did. And because they did, Stanford Wrestling is in a much stronger position today.
 
The second group we could not have done this without was the Stanford wrestling community, which consists of our alumni, fans, and friends. Having such an accomplished alumni base, coupled with the quality of people who live in the Bay Area, allows us to work with a community of incredibly smart, talented, and resourceful people. They stepped up in a brobdingnagian way and were instrumental in helping navigate the situation.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - Hurlburt88 - 05-13-2026

I really like reading that!  Nice to see the sense of passion, commitment, & creativity in the face of a brobdingnagian challenge.   Need Coach Skov everywhere!

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - fullmetal - 05-13-2026

Love Coach Ayres' fire and perspective.  Glad Coach Skov was able to move the needle on student-athlete outreach and departmental priorities.  Ultimately, it's the students who will benefit the most, imo.

Also, just to clarify, Lorenzo Norman has graduated and will grad transfer to another program. So it could be an NIL decision, or it could be a graduate program admissions issue.

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RE: Stanford Wrestling - SkiBum80 - 05-14-2026

Thanks for sharing email from Coach Ayres.
In a land awash, indeed aflood, with namby-pamby, doublespeak, wishy-washy, gobbledygook, jabberwocky gibberish, say nothing communications,
his note stands out like an island of clarity and steadfastness.
And cuts through the gelatinous ether like Winston Churchill cutting a swath through the poofy aristocracy on the way to last call at the bar.

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