I never heard from Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard, seeking my counsel on who his next wrestling coach should be. I knew it would be a long wait.
Pollard, I’m sure, is got plenty of advice from Cyclone boosters and others in the wrestling world before making Kevin Jackson his next coach.
Once again, Pollard proved to be full of surprises in his hire. It looked like the field was narrowed to former Cyclones Chris Bono, Joe Heskett and Jackson and former Arizona State wrestler Zeke Jones. Mark Manning, reportedly, was a candidate, too.
No knock on Jackson, but he would not have been my top choice. Bono and Heskett made more sense. Both are young, talented coaches capable of taking this team to the top next year.
The biggest knock against Bono was he’s still competing, although I think he would have gladly hung up his singlet to coach in Ames. Although he’s never acknowledged it publicly, those close to Bono said he was bitter when Cael Sanderson moved ahead of him on the coaching chart at ISU several years ago. If true, that could have hurt him, too.
That mades Heskett the front-runner in this corner. An assistant at Ohio State now, Heskett will be a great head coach some day. It looks like it will happen somewhere other than Ames.
I did chat with a couple of UNI wrestlers Thursday night at the school's senior sports banquet. Moza Fay, one of the best wrestlers in recent UNI history and a class act, said Jackson is very well-liked and respected among wrestlers.
That's good enough for me, but I still would have liked to have seen what Heskett can do.