#PopQuiz: Popolizio Wraps Up 2016-17 Season and Previews 2017-18

#PopQuiz: Popolizio Wraps Up 2016-17 Season and Previews 2017-18

4/21/2017 8:46:00 AM | Wrestling

Q: This past season NC State finished eighth nationally in the final NWCA Coaches Poll, placed second at the ACC Championship, and 17^th at the NCAA Championships. How do you feel about the results of the 2016-17 season?

Popolizio: I think if you go back and look at the group of individuals we had, and you look at those results on paper when all was said and done, I think when you group those three results together it was a very successful season for us. We had to incur a few challenges along the way: making changes at 125, getting Jamal Morris healthy at 133, the early season change at 157 losing a top-10 guy, and a couple of weights during the season that went back and forth as to who the starter was. Those things all had an affect on the outcome of the season. I view it as us doing very good in piecing everything together at the end of the season. This team was totally different then a year ago. When you bring in as many freshmen as we did this year, it not only changes the dynamic of the group but also the personality of it. We did carry a lot of our momentum from last year into this past season.

Q: You had 10 NCAA Qualifiers this season, and six of those went to the NCAAs for the first time. How does that first-time experience help the team moving forward?

Popolizio: I think it is huge. If you look at previous seasons and some of the guys that have gone, a guy like Pete Renda went 0-2 his first trip then two years later he is getting third place with a tech fall in his final match. You gain that experience, and you start learning what you need to work on and what your expectations and ultimate goals should be. I think that will be extremely valuable to the future of our program, getting that experience under their belts. Obviously we want to produce and see results right away, but that ultimately was a success for the future here.

Q: With the $35 million renovation to Reynolds Coliseum complete, NC State ranked in the top-20 nationally in attendance this past season. How was it to be back inside Reynolds?

Popolizio: It is such a beautiful venue. The whole athletics department did such a great job, and has provided us with one of the best arenas out there. I think starting with the vision the administration had all the way to the execution, it has exceeded expectations as far as the atmosphere and the history that is on display for everybody to see. To me, it is a perfect wrestling venue and it speaks volumes that we have such a great home arena to try to accomplish what we are setting out to do here at NC State. Our fans were beyond great in supporting us when we were at the Fairgrounds two years ago, but I don't think anything will be able to compare to what Reynolds brings to the table.

Q: How is the 2017-18 schedule shaping up?

Popolizio: We are working on trying to bring some high caliber teams into Reynolds because we want to try to wrestle as many good teams as we can. We are trying to bring in some teams we haven't seen before, but scheduling duals in always challenging so we are just working on that now. I think our focus is also going to be shifting to tournaments, and how to better prepare our guys to go through the rigors of March. The one thing I do think you will see which we have not done here before is taking a bit of a break midseason to where we will be able to focus more on individual training. I think you will see us take about a month break from competitions, and just focus on getting our guys extra training in the practice room. Halfway though December through halfway through January you will not see us competing too much, but we will be focusing on getting our guys better through training during that time. We are going to continue to put the focus on both the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. We will be going to some good tournaments, but I want to take that month off for some high-level training to give us peek performance at the end of the year.

Q: After his third place finish in 2016, Pete Renda redshirted last year. He comes back for his final campaign, how did his season go?

Popolizio: It was an extremely valuable season for him. Technically and mentally he made a lot of gains. We agreed to put him in redshirt this past year to put him that much closer to winning a national title, and that is his goal. I think this experience is what our Regional Training Center and working with high-level guys, and then him going out to Colorado Springs to work USA Wrestling, was the purpose for him taking this year out of our lineup. He will have a major impact on our performance next year. It has been a great situation for Pete, and his leadership is going to be so valuable for us.

Q: Each of the last three years you redshirted a true senior that would have been a preseason ranked guy (Tommy Gantt, Sam Speno and Renda). Kevin Jack falls into that category this year, what are the chances he redshirts in 2017-18?

Popolizio: Probably such a slim chance. I think he is good enough right now to win that national title, and the only reason we would redshirt somebody is if we felt he needed to get better with an extra year training to get to that level. Kevin is at that level right now, he will be competing for the title at 141 pounds next year. For us as coaches, it is our job to put these guys in the best position to win a national title. We feel Kevin can win it right now. He will be going after it, and he will be in that mix.

Q: Who are some redshirts from 2016-17 that fans will be seeing competing next year?

Popolizio: I think you will be seeing some very exciting wrestling out of Hayden Hidlay. His style and his mentality is going to be very fun to watch. He is a very dominate wrestler who will compete right away with the best in his weight class. As a freshman he will have some ups and downs during the season because it is long and grueling, but I think after he redshirted this past year and his background coming in, he knows what to expect. He will do some big things for us next year, we expect him to be at 157. Tariq Wilson is another freshman we were able to redshirt, and we are going to be relying heavily on him at 133, along with classmate Kellen Devlin. Those two are going to be battling it out there for that spot. You will also be seeing Daniel Bullard out there for us, and I think he will show us some good stuff hopefully at 174.

Q: Thomas Bullard and Nick Reenan were a pair of true freshmen who got inserted into the lineup and were NCAA Qualifiers. What plans do you have for them?

Popolizio: The plan right now is try to redshirt both of those guys. Where we were at at the beginning of this past season, those two both took advantage of the opportunities and were critical to our success. For Thomas to be even able to get to 157 was huge for us. Now we are going to be able to buy him a year and get him stronger to go up to 165, since we have a redshirt-senior in Brian Hamann in there right now who was All-ACC and another NCAA guy this past season. We have the option of having Reenan back out there at 174, but much like the rest of the freshmen class we brought in, if we can have somebody step up and claim 174, a redshirt year for him would be a huge benefit.

Q: What are your plans with Renda and Michael Macchiavello, both of whom have been ranked consistently each of the last two years at 184 and are both going into their redshirt-senior seasons?

Popolizio: We are still in discussion as to where to put both of them, but I do think you will see them both in the lineup next year. As we get further along this summer, we will decide who goes to what weight. But we do know both of those guys are going to be competitive regardless, and we are counting on them huge in their final seasons.

Q: Heavyweight went back and forth this past season, how do you see that weight working out?

Popolizio: We have Michael Boykin coming back as a senior and we were able to redshirt Mike Rogers, and we could also potentially have Malik McDonald too. Having Renda and Macchiavello where they are at, that gives us flexibility to see about a guy like Malik at some different weights too. Regardless of who goes where in the three top weight classes, we are going to put three very good guys into our lineup. I am excited to see who wants it, and who is willing to do the work to claim those spots. Despite having some questions as to who goes where right now at the upper weights, I really like where we are at and who our options are.

Q: What is the plan for Sean Fausz after seeing time at 133 early and then moving down to 125 this past season?

Popolizio: Sean is going to finish his career out at 125, he knows that is the best spot for him. He is very good at that weight. It is about putting guys in a position to win a national title, and that is his best shot.

Q: A starting spot is open at 149 with the graduation of Sam Speno, who is in contention there?

Popolizio: I think you could see a few different guys step in there and battle for that spot. Right now I see Jamal Morris making that jump up there to compete, 133 was so hard for him to be at this season. Beau Donahue has been a starter there before and will be in the mix. Robbie Rizzolino will get a shot, and Sam Melikian is coming out of redshirt and he has some good experience in our lineup in the past. I think that is a spot where everybody will be hungry to claim it. It might be up for competition, but the guys vying for it have an awful lot of experience in big matches for us.

Q: There are eight seniors and redshirt-seniors on the 2017-18 roster, how does having that much experience help this team?

Popolizio: I've never had this anywhere I've been. I can fell it right now in the practice room. It is the best leadership as far as going into the offseason we have had here. It is going to be a fun training atmosphere. Our training right now is some of the best our coaching staff has seen as far as guys being very motivated and helping each other. That all comes from experienced guys.

Q: With eight of the 10 NCAA Qualifiers returning from last year's NCAA Championships, and Renda and Boykin also making it in previous years, what does it speak to the program to have 10 individuals returning who have NCAA Tournament experience?

Popolizio: I don't know of too many programs that have ever had this many guys on their roster who have been to the NCAAs. It is an advantage for our program. But it is a new year, so we can not just go off of past results, we have to move forward. It brings value to your program, and it doesn't allow anybody to not be trying their hardest in that practice room. If you are not giving it 110%, there is nowhere to hide in that practice room. Guys are hungry, they want to compete. What makes a champion is coming in everyday and being on your A-game.

Q: Virginia Tech and Pitt both have new head coaches, how is the ACC shaping up?

Popolizio: You hope that we continue to grow as a conference. I think it helps raise the level of everybody, how much talent there is in the conference. You have to continue to improve, not just the student-athletes but the coaches must too.

Q: The U.S. Open is coming up next weekend. How will the summer months be for not only your team for next season but for those that are in the Regional Training Center?

Popolizio: We are gearing up for the U.S. Open right now, with our senior-level guys and our 20 and under group. The next couple of weeks we are focusing on our grades and finishing this semester strong, but after that we come back and go through a couple of phases of our summer training which are extremely valuable. We have a great mix of RTC guys and the youngers guys on our squad. We focus on strength training, agility and technique and working a little more on individual skills to improve each guy. Having post-season guys (Gwiazdowski, Gantt, etc.) as part of our RTC I think is probably the best hands-on valuable thing our guys get in the practice room. You come in our room some days and the amount of help you can get to get better is invaluable.

Q: Seven will receive their degrees in May, four were named to the All-ACC Academic team and three were honored by the NWCA for their work in the classroom. How proud are you of their efforts off the mat?

Popolizio: I am extremely proud of the work our guys put in. I think it gets lost in the scuffle sometimes. A lot of people don't know the academic background of these guys coming in, so when you see a kid overachieve what he did in high school to me is a sign of what our culture is here. We are raising the level of expectations for our guys, because we know how valuable it is for a team to get as many academic accolades we can. We work extremely hard to keep improving that team GPA, we are above a 3.0. I think our APR the past two years has been a perfect score, so those are things we are focusing in on as we advance as a program.

Q: All the talk about the arms race with athletic facilities, what does that hold in the future for NC State Wrestling?

Popolizio: I truly see it, and we envision it. I think you have to have that vision as a coaching staff first. We know what we need to reach that next level as a program, and I know the administration here knows how important that is as well. I do think it is becoming something that is really realistic for us to achieve. It is getting talked about more and more. If reality is right, it is going to happen within the next few years with all of the supporters we have here. We are very fortunate to have such great support from our leadership here at NC State, and that makes a huge difference that our guys know that. That they have people out there fighting for them, that gets them motivated.