Ohio State coach Tom Ryan is pleased with how the college wrestling season has gone for his Buckeyes. 

Ben Davino was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Two-time NCAA champion Jesse Mendez was tabbed as the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year. Ryan, himself, was named the conference’s Coach of the Year after guiding his team to an 18-1 dual record and a runner-up finish at the Big Ten tournament. The Buckeyes qualified all 10 starters for the national tournament, too.

Ryan’s a little annoyed, however, at the seeding results for this weekend’s NCAA Championships in Cleveland. On X, Ryan reposted former Buckeye Kollin Moore’s tweet that read, “Everyone involved in seeding the 133 lb bracket deserves jail time.”

“When inconsistencies or something that’s not right happens, the first thing you gotta do is speak out,” Ryan said. “Then, you do something — you do all you can to make sure something gets done about it. Nothing will be done if attention isn’t brought to something you know is wrong.”

Specifically, Ryan isn’t happy where Davino and 157-pounder Brandon Cannon ended up in the brackets for this weekend. Davino is seeded second. Cannon is eighth.

“At 157, Brandon Cannon was 13-0 when he was injured against Minnesota,” Ryan said. “He’d majored the defending NCAA champ (Antrell Taylor). They put him as the eight seed. But if you look at 133, they have (Oklahoma State’s) Jax Forrest in the top slot. 

“First off, I love Jax. I love his family, too. This isn’t a knock on him, but he’s 13-0 in a half-season since coming out of high school. Jax is seeded above our guy (Davino), while at 157 Brandon is seeded eighth, and he was 13-0 with wins over quality guys when he hurt his knee. Brandon has proven himself against some of the best in the country. Jax hasn’t beaten a top-three guy all year. Ben hasn’t given up an offensive point all season, he’s beaten the #2 guy (Penn State’s Marcus Blaze), and he teched the guy (Purdue’s Blake Boarman) who beat the reigning national champ (Illinois’ Lucas Byrd). But they think Jax Forrest deserves to be above Ben? Where’s the consistency?”

Ryan’s concerns aren’t over the slighted feelings of his wrestlers. Rather, he says it’s the practicality of where seeds put wrestlers in their chase of placing as high as possible in the grueling three-day tournament.

“The bottom line is, we just have to get tougher earlier in the tournament,” Ryan said. “We’ll be paired against tougher guys earlier. I’m never after an easier road for our guys, just the road we earned. Our guys aren’t complaining, but I gotta stand up for them. Davino isn’t complaining. The kid wrestled every single match this year–he missed none while wrestling the toughest schedule in the country. Whether it was Penn State, Nebraska, Iowa State, Iowa, Ben wrestled everybody this year and avenged his only loss (Blaze) at the Big Tens. The number one seed in his weight class has wrestled 13 matches.”

Ryan said there needs to be more transparency with the seeding process. 

“We need full disclosure on the way each voter voted,” he said. “We should be able to learn what guiding principles or criteria they based their decisions on. We need to get coaches off the committee, replace them with folks who are entrenched in the sport, guys who know college wrestling inside and out, but aren’t affiliated with any team. And there should be an official chance for rebuttal if something is off about a wrestler's seed.”

Big Ten Championships Wrap

Ohio State claimed the runner-up trophy at the Big Ten Championships with 148.5 pounds, thanks in part to its performance on the tournament’s second day when the Buckeyes went 13-2 in matches. 

A day two exclamation point for the Buckeyes was Davino turning the tables on top-seeded Blaze, avenging his 3-2 tiebreaker defeat in the Bucks’ 36-5 dual loss to Penn State two weeks prior. 

“We knew what Ben did wrong in his loss to Blaze,” Ryan said. “Ben knew what he did wrong. We addressed it, worked at it in practice, and Ben fixed it. There’s technique and there are tactics. Ben’s was a tactical error in their first match. We knew he could fix it, and he did.”

Another second-day pivot that went in the Buckeyes’ favor was 174-pounder Carson Kharchla avenging two previous losses this season to Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy.

“Carson battled and took third in the toughest tournament in the world,” Ryan said. “The Big Tens are tougher than the World Championships and yes, they’re tougher than the Olympics. “Matches are longer. Everyone is coming off a season that is brutal. The layout and format of the competition, the way it’s structured, it’s just tougher than how the World and Olympics are run. An entire season of bumps and bruises and weighing in all culminates at Big Tens. 

“I’m not saying it’s tougher to win the Big Tens than it is to win the Olympics, but the event itself is more brutal. With everything Carson has been through, the extended and complete layoffs he’s had to take in his career so he could heal from serious injuries, I was just proud of his will and performance.”