Three college wrestling programs have been thrown in the trash since April. That’s a lot, and there hasn’t been a lot of focus on it. Probably because of the huge shift in coaching at PSU, ISU, ASU and Illinois. But this is MASSIVE! And finally, the NWCA is getting involved. They are putting together a program to demonstrate and convince the board of directors at the universities that wrestling is beneficial, especially to small colleges.
On the axe list from this last season: MIT, Carson-Newman, Delaware Stat, New Jersey, Lawrence College, Norwich University, Portland State, Rose-Hulman, and Wagner College.
One the steps that the NWCA is taking is explaining to the college boards of trustees the important role that wrestling can serve in helping smaller, private schools that wrestling is a way to maintain and grow overall enrollments, not shrink it, even if the economy is in the crap hole. The NWCA brings a very valid point to the table that there are more than 260,000 high school wrestlers in the U.S., but only 260 wrestling programs at four-year colleges… so there is tremendous opportunity for colleges that establish or reinstate a wrestling program to attract students from this massive potential.
The College of New Jersey wrestling team not only had success on the mat this season, but the team excelled in the classroom. The Lions were recognized as one of 25 teams by the National Wrestling Coaches’ Association that boasted a team grade-point-average of 3.0. So if the GPA is so high, which means it is bringing in quality athletes, why would you axe it? What can wrestling fans do to save college wrestling? Thoughts?
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