The biggest storyline of the Penn State wrestling offseason is this: Will Carter Starocci stay or will he go?
Starocci, a four-time national champion, has one year of eligibility left due to COVID-19.
After he won his fourth national title last month, he hinted in the post-match presser that he’d just wrestled his last college match.
But ahead of last weekend’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Happy Valley, Starocci told FloWrestling he’s “60-40” in leaning toward coming back, whereas he was 60-40 against coming back the previous month. He spoke with reporters at the Trials. During that time, he affirmed that stance and said he’d decide one way or the other “within the next couple of weeks.”
Carter Starocci On Bump To 86kg, Potential Return Next Season To Penn State Lineup pic.twitter.com/rcJRidX9Kr
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) April 18, 2024
At the end of the day, Starocci will make the decision he feels is best for him. He’ll lean on coach Cael Sanderson and others he trusts to help him make that decision. There are plenty of factors that are only known to people close to Starocci. But based on the factors that are public knowledge, he are four reasons Starocci should return to Penn State wrestling and four reasons he shouldn’t.
I chose the number “four” to pay homage to Starocci’s national championships.
Let’s get into it.
WHY CARTER STAROCCI SHOULD RETURN TO PENN STATE WRESTLING: THE STRIVE FOR FIVE
This is the obvious one for proponents of Starocci staying in college wrestling. Nobody in history has won five national titles, and Starocci has a chance to be the first one. That’s pretty tempting, no?
WHY CARTER STAROCCI SHOULDN’T RETURN TO PENN STATE WRESTLING: HE’S ALREADY HAD A STORYBOOK ENDING
If last month in Kansas City proves to be the last time Starocci wrestles at the college level, it will have been a perfect way to end his career. Not only did he win a fourth national title— something only five men had done previously and no other Penn State wrestler had until Aaron Brooks joined his teammate minutes later— he did so less than a month after suffering a serious knee injury (more on that later). Starocci not only winning his fourth national title, but doing so on one leg, was the stuff of legends. Not many sports careers at any level end in storybook fashion, but if Starocci ends up not returning to Penn State wrestling, his will have been one.
WHY CARTER STAROCCI SHOULD RETURN PENN STATE WRESTLING: A NEW CHALLENGE
Aside from the aforementioned fifth national title, there isn’t much to be gained for Starocci if he stays in the 174-pound weight class. But it doesn’t sound like Starocci will stay at 174 if he decides to come back. He told FloWrestling that he and coach Cael Sanderson have talked about moving up two weight classes to 197, and in an interview with reporters the next day, he said he wasn’t a big fan of the weight-cutting process. So it sure sounds like, if Starocci runs it back, it will be at 197. If he does this, it would give him a new mission to conquer, and the weight difference would make a fifth national title stand out from the first four.
WHY CARTER STAROCCI SHOULDN’T RETURN TO PENN STATE WRESTLING: THE INJURY
The fact that Starocci still won a national championship despite his knee injury doesn’t mean the injury isn’t still a problem more than a month later. Starocci didn’t tell reporters if or when he’d have surgery but it seems like a necessity. If Starocci went under the knife, say, the day after the Olympic Trials ended, his recovery process would have likely gone on at least through the summer, if not longer. Would he be able to be ready to go in time for the start of Penn State’s season? Perhaps. But considering how much Starocci has already done in college wrestling, he’s earned the right to rest for a bit and not have to set an exact recovery timetable for himself. If Starocci were healthy, there’s still be reasons not to come back, and the fact that he isn’t could make the decision easier.
WHY CARTER STAROCCI SHOULD RETURN TO PENN STATE WRESTLING: THE DAN HODGE TROPHY
There isn’t a lot Starocci hasn’t done in college wrestling. Winning the sport’s most prestigious individual award is one of them. Of the seven four-time national champions, six competed post-1995, when North Carolina’s T.J. Jaworsky won the first Hodge Trophy. Of those six, only Starocci and Cornell legend Yianni Diakomihalis have gone without winning a Hodge. Who knows how much this matters to Starocci, if at all. But if he decided to return to Penn State, one would think he’d become a contender for the award. If he leaves Penn State with five national titles and a Hodge, it wouldn’t hurt his “greatest Penn State wrestler of all time” case, either.
WHY CARTER STAROCCI SHOULDN’T RETURN TO PENN STATE WRESTLING: WHAT IF HE DOESN’T WIN?
It’s not wise to doubt Starocci, and that was never more evident than after last month’s NCAA Championships. At the same time, what would be the point of Starocci coming back if he wasn’t going to be challenged, and where would the challenge be in Starocci’s fifth season if there wasn’t a realistic chance he could be dethroned? In a way, this creates a no-win situation. If Starocci wins it all— even at 197– some would dismiss the feat because of Starocci’s age and see it as a grown man going against college kids. If Starocci doesn’t win it all— as unfair as this may be— that will be what some choose to remember about his time at Penn State. Self-confidence is no issue for Starocci, and that’s a big reason he has so little left to prove and, relative to what he’s already accomplished, not much left to gain by staying in college wrestling.
WHY STAROCCI SHOULD RETURN: HE LOVES WRESTLING
Starocci is a PA guy wrestling for the best program in the country for a coach that’s on track to be remembered as the best of all time (and who happens to be the best college wrestler of all time, too). It’s a pretty good setup. It’s also quite possible that, whenever Starocci is done with college wrestling, he’ll move on from the sport and pursue MMA, similar to a path another Penn State wrestling legend, Bo Nickal, is going down. If the plan is for Starocci to walk away from the sport soon, it would make sense for him to want to take advantage of his extra year and soak up the time he has left on the mat. I find myself wishing I could relive my days in college a lot, and I’m not nearly as decorated as Carter Starocci. He has a chance to create more memories.
WHY STAROCCI SHOULDN’T RETURN: HE’S PERFECT FOR MMA
The big argument for college wrestlers maximizing their eligibility is: where else are they going to go? Wrestling doesn’t have a professional sports league, and the highest honors in amateur wrestling: Olympic Gold Medals and World Championships, can be attained while still competing at the college level (Current Nittany Lion Wrestling Club member Kyle Snyder won a Gold Medal months after his sophomore year at Ohio State). In Starocci’s case, he has somewhere else to go, and that’s MMA. Nickal is a rising star who got to the UFC faster most partially because of his name recognition due to being a three-time national champ and Hodge Trophy winner at Penn State, partially due to his ability to talk and hype up a fight and partially due to him being good at beating people up. How well Starocci would do in the Octagon remains to be seen but the combination of amateur wrestling stardom and interview skills is something few have. Starocci is one of the few. Nickal competed at the 2020 Olympic Trials and then embarked on an MMA career. It’s not confirmed that Starocci will do something similar, but it would make an awful lot of sense.
