J Robinson publicly reprimanded by Big Ten conference

The Big Ten Conference issued a public reprimand Tuesday of Gophers head wrestling coach J Robinson for “violating the Big Ten Sportslike Conduct Agreement following Minnesota’s dual match against Penn State on Feb. 13.”

Assistant commissioner Scott Chipman issued a release that said some of Robinson’s post-match comments were in violation of the Agreement, presumably those from a Q&A with Robinson posted by the Daily Collegian — Penn State’s student newspaper — following an 18-18 tie in which Robinson said:

“They’re good. They wrestle hard. They came to compete. I was disappointed in the coaching staff. They let one of their kids, Molinaro, take a timeout when he wasn’t hurt. It’s not okay to break the rules. The kid wasn’t hurt. He knows he wasn’t hurt and the coaches know he wasn’t hurt and they allowed it anyway. It’s outside the integrity of the sport. He just got tired. He wasn’t hurt. He just wound his clock, took a timeout and the coaches just went along with it instead of keeping him out there and letting him deal with it." 

Robinson was referring to Penn State’s Frank Molinaro (149-pounds), who took injury time during his match with Danny Zilverberg on his way to an eventual 6-5 win. The Nittany Lions’ coaches and medical staff came out to check on Molinaro, but gave him no actual treatment.

Robinson told The Minnesota Daily after the dual: “The difference in the dual meet came down to one school allowing their guy to take a timeout when their guy wasn’t hurt. That’s what it was. Their guy wasn’t hurt and the coaching staff allowed him to take a timeout. I think there’s an integrity issue there.”