by B.B. Branton
posted November 30, 2008
Semester exams for Tennessee at Chattanooga students start Tuesday, but UTC Coach Chris Bono handed out grades, albeit not very high ones, to the Moc wrestlers Sunday afternoon after splitting home matches at Maclellan Gym.
Virginia Tech defeated the Mocs, 37-0, before UTC rebounded for a 34-13 win against NCAA Division II Anderson (S.C.) University. UTC is 4-5 on the season and the final match before Christmas is December 17 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn.
'I didn't grade the guys very well and we have lots of improving to do to be a solid wrestling team,'' said Bono.
Category ... Grade ... Bono Comments.
Work Ethic in the Room: C- ... "The guys are not pushing each other hard enough. We don't have the fight we need to win. In matches, it comes down to the concept that wrestling is a fight.''
Technical Execution: D- ... "We are just not doing the right things in practice and that shows up in the matches.''
Conditioning: C- ... "We are not in great shape and we have to improve so in the third period we win on conditioning.''
Team Attitude: C ... ''Pretty good attitude, but must improve.''
Handling Adversity: C ... "We have had our fair share of injuries and illness on this a young team, but we have to be tougher and fight through all this. We have depth in several weights and that has saved us.''
Improvement of Freshmen and Redshirt Freshmen: C- ... "Some have shown improvement the past month and have stepped into the lineup when we needed them, but others have not done so well.''
How does the coaching staff gets the grades up to be a better team Bono was asked?
"We have to go back to the drawing board and get back to the basics. We simply have to work our tails off.''
The schedule in November included No. 19 Northwestern, No. 25 Kent State and No. 7 Nebraska, but it gets much tougher in January.
Traditional power Oklahoma (Jan. 11) and No. 4 Cornell (Feb. 1) and national champion Jordan Leen come to town and the Mocs visit No. 3 Iowa State, No. 5 Missouri and Northern Iowa, plus SoCon matches (two at home, two away).
Mat Notes:
40 Wins: Junior All-American Cody Cleveland split matches on Sunday to pick up his 40th college win (40-18 in three years).
6th on the List: Coach Chris Bono is 31-12 in three seasons at UTC and is tied for 6th place (out of 11) with Terry Brands (31-33) on the Moc all-time coaching list for wins ... Bono needs two wins to pass Ralph Manning (32-28) for fifth ... Jim Morgan is first (203-67-1), followed by Andy Nardo (78-37-4), Ethan Reeve (57-38-1) and Mark Leen (43-35-1) ... Joe Seay (16-8-1), Franky James (9-8-0), Ken Carpenter (5-21-4) and Russ Skall (3-5-0) are seven through 11.
Mocs at Maclellan: UTC is 17-3 in Big Mac under Coach Bono.
Different Lineup: The Mocs are without four wrestlers who won in the 46-0 season-opening triumph against SoCon foe Davidson. Since that match (November 8), Steve Hromada (133-left the team last week), Kelly Felix (149), Seth Garvin (165) and Mat Lettner (285) have been ill, injured or quit. Demetrius Johnson (125) claimed the No. 1 spot in the Blue-Gold match, but has only wrestled once since then due to illness.
Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net
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