Finding the Ones Who Get Missed: Wrestling Program Optimization Model (WPOM)

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in WIN’s Volume 32 Issue 11, which printed on Aug. 25, 2026. 

By Tristan Warner

Manny Ramirez knows what it feels like to fly under the recruiting radar.

Coming out of high school in Fayetteville, N.C., Ramirez wasn’t a blue-chip prospect. He was a three-time state qualifier and two-time state placer, but on the national scene, he described himself as more of a two-and-two or three-and-two wrestler than a tournament champion.

He walked on at UNC Greensboro, started near the bottom of the depth chart and eventually became a Southern Conference champion and NCAA DI qualifier.

Years later, after moving into coaching at Pine Forest High School, Ramirez began noticing athletes who reminded him of himself.

There were talented wrestlers in North Carolina capable of competing in college. But why did some wrestlers get discovered while others seemingly disappeared into an enormous recruiting pool?

That question became the foundation for the Wrestling Program Optimization Model, or WPOM.

“I started asking myself, if I’m a college coach, who am I grabbing that is wrestling their tail off on the backside that can help my program?” Ramirez said. “I think those are the guys that really get overlooked and don’t really have that visibility or that spotlight.”

WPOM is a data analytics platform designed to evaluate high school wrestlers and college Transfer Portal athletes. Wrestlers receive a score ranging from one to five based on factors including tournament performance, quality of competition, notable wins and consistency over time. On the college side, the platform also provides an estimated NIL valuation.

Ramirez stresses the word estimated. WPOM isn’t intended to tell coaches whom to recruit or athletes where to go.

“This is a tool, not the decision maker,” Ramirez said. “The coaches and athletes still have a say in the entirety of the process.”

The scoring system accounts for something wrestling people inherently understand: not all results are equal.

A performance at Super 32 carries different weight than one at a state or regional tournament, and even state tournaments are weighted differently based on competitive strength. WPOM also rewards wrestlers for advancing deep into consolation brackets and for defeating highly-rated opponents through what Ramirez calls the Notable Wrestling Index.

That is where the platform could be particularly useful.

Everyone knows about the wrestler winning Super 32. WPOM is also interested in the kid who went 5-2 and came within a match of placing.

“If you’re in the Blood Round of Super 32 — you are very good at wrestling,” Ramirez said. “You can find some real diamonds in the rough there.”

WPOM already has close to 15,000 athletes scored, with historical data reaching back more than two decades. Wrestlers can search for themselves, claim an existing profile or create one, then add results WPOM may have missed. Submitted information is verified before being incorporated into the scoring system.

The platform costs $5 per month for athletes and $25 per month for coaches. Eventually, Ramirez envisions something resembling a wrestling-specific LinkedIn, connecting the two sides of recruiting.

An athlete could indicate interest in a college and provide the coach with his or her score, GPA and contact information. A coach, meanwhile, could filter prospects by weight, geography and WPOM score to identify athletes who fit specific roster needs.

For programs without large staffs or dedicated recruiting personnel, Ramirez believes WPOM could essentially serve as roster intelligence.

“If you don’t have a general manager, you can be your own general manager with this tool,” he said.

Perhaps the most intriguing information WPOM has produced, however, is what its numbers say about how good a wrestler actually needs to be to succeed in college.

According to Ramirez, the average WPOM high school score among 2026 NCAA Division I national qualifiers was approximately 2.9 — nowhere near the five-point score reserved for the most elite high school prospects.

For Ramirez, that number could be powerful for a high school wrestler wondering whether college wrestling is realistic.

“I wasn’t 2.8 leaving high school,” he said. “I was probably a 1.9, 2.1 type of guy. But I was also stubborn enough to say, ‘You know what? I’ll just walk on somewhere.’”

That opportunity ultimately took Ramirez to the NCAA Championships.

Now, in an era of roster limits, NIL and an increasingly complicated recruiting landscape, WPOM is designed to help another overlooked wrestler find his opportunity while helping a college coach find him.

“The more high school athletes that try to wrestle in college, the better off the sport is going to be,” Ramirez said. “The talent continues to go up, competition continues to go up, and it’s only going to help us.”

Visit https://wpomwrestling.com and follow @wpomwrestling on Instagram to learn more.

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