Catch up with head coach Barry Davis
May 22, 2015 | Wrestling
May 22, 2015
MADISON, Wis.-- UWBadgers.com caught up with Wisconsin wrestling head coach Barry Davis to talk about what is going on in the program during the summer.
Now that school is over, can you talk about what's going on?
"We have guys training for the University Nationals in Ohio. We have quite a few guys training for that. We have Connor Medbery and Jesse Thielke in the World Team Trials coming up here in Madison in June on the 13th and 14th. Most guys have a couple weeks off and then will come back to help with our summer camps. People usually say that summer is slow but not really, Madison is hosting the World Team Trials and we are hosting our camps. We have freshmen coming in over the summer for orientation and recruiting starts July 1. It is a full-packed summer here but it is the best time to make improvements here overall as a team and individual-wise as well."
On Connor Medbery and Jesse Thielke competing in the upcoming World Team Trials:
"(Jesse) made a lot better strides than he did last year. He did a really good job at controlling his weight. Last year wasn't his best showing but he made the adjustments and I am really proud of him. I think he is going to do an Olympic Redshirt and I think he needs to do that and spend some time in the Olympic Training Center and work on the new Greco rules. He knows Greco really well and he's a very smart wrestler. He learns quickly and I think he will adjust quickly but he put himself in the position to be on the team. I think it will be a great experience for him to be on the world team, he's been there before but I think he will get the chance to travel overseas and spend a full year where it is Greco only. I think that will give him the improvements he needs to make to make the Olympic team in 2016.
Connor could Olympic redshirt or could not, we will see how things go. He's in a good position to do that if he needs to be because he is qualified for the World Team Trials so he can legally Olympic redshirt. I think after being an All-American he is going to have to make some big adjustments. If he does the Olympic redshirt it could be good for him to train with better guys and to better his skills at the World level. Anytime you can bring world level back to the college level it's a lot of adjustments but it's good because he will pick up a lot of small things that will help him out position-wise. We will decide all that after the World Team Trials."
On having the World Team Trials in Madison:
"I think it's good for the people in the state of Wisconsin. I think it's good for our team to be around that and work the event and be around world-class athletes. I think it's great for the high school people and all wrestling fans in the state of Wisconsin. When you're around types of guys like that, you see what you would want to be like at the elite level in the sport of wrestling. Mitch Hull has done a great job bringing the World Team Trials here two years in a row. I think that he doesn't get enough appreciation for what he does. It's good for the state and good for the fans and good for wrestling in general."
