TexRef

There is a great documentary "Home of Champions" by Domenick Cucinotta about Morina and his Paulsboro program. I think it came out around 2015, shortly after their streak was broken.

A lot of people are not educated on the NAIA for sure, especially wrestling people.

ionel-To take a line from the Crocodile Hunter, "She was a beaut!"

It was a beautiful spring morning. The flowers were blooming and the birds were singing.....NAH it was more like this....I was out for a drive early on a Saturday morning, (wrestling season is over and I was avoiding doing yard work) and I stopped at this small town grocery store. There is a cowboy sitting at this card table selling Walt Garrison Salsa. We exchanged some small talk, I purchased a jar of his Black Eyed Pea Salsa, and he commented on my wrestling hoodie. He then proceeded to tell me that he was friends with some of those "foreign guys that came over from Japan. You know, we all went to Okie State together." He told me that he really liked those guys and there was a big bunch of other OSU athletes that would not miss a home dual and some of them would even go to Norman to watch the "Pokes kick the chit out of those Sooners!" He told me about his grandson Case, and how he wrestles and how they moved to Ohio. I was surprised when he told me "He's in a decent program up there, I guess. Hopefully Okie State will have room for him." If I am not mistaken, he went to St. Paris Graham. They aren't too shabby, right? When I got home my kids asked me where I had been? They didn't believe me when I told them that I was shooting the breeze with HOF Dallas Cowboy Fullback, Walt Garrison. They accused me of making up that story to cover up the fact that I didn't catch a single fish.

I met Walt Garrison a few years back and he told me some funny stories of those wrestlers that came over from Japan.

I mentioned the WP situation because it is not the first program this has happened to. We haven't heard much about the programs that closed or were dropped, because they were not D1.

We REALLY do need the college wrestling season to start! This must be what it is like to be a hardcore baseball fan, with all of these stats that I have been looking at! lol

Are you talking about Liberty that dropped their program and is now a decent club team?

I am just saying that they took a Texas girl that has not seen much success and that is the only HWT they have. When you could have just about any other HWT in the country, it is a head scratcher. There are no scholarship limits on academics. They could fill the entire roster with just academic scholarships!

I agree with you on the fact that not many want to go to those small expensive schools. But Iowa has passed over some very talented girls to get a Texas girl that wasn't even a SQer and doesn't wrestle much FS. WTF?!

Boy this thing reads like a power point presentation that Moyer put together! First off you're right there are no P5 schools in Texas or any D1 schools in Texas for that matter that will add wrestling. People say that "UT is talking about it." They are not talking about it and neither are any of the other BIG 12 & SEC teams. Abilene Christian is not a very good option as it is over 2 hours away from the nearest HS or youth program plus there 2 other colleges in that small west Texas town. For an area that is not accustom to wrestling and has seen success with Football, I don't see it happening. Portland, Oregon was recently tried and failed. Warner Pacific added a men's and women's program back in 2014. It is a private school that costs about $32K a year without housing and meals. They could not get the ladies to come out in "droves" like all of the arm chair know it all's think will come out. The market for women's college wrestling is flooded! There are a bunch of programs that can't fill the roster, and yes it only has 10 weights too. The women's program at Warner Pacific has been cut and by the looks of it, the men's program is not far behind. Here is a breakdown of the numbers for each season they have been in existence. 2014-15 season-ladies 14 & guys 27 2015-16 season-ladies 12 & guys 25 2016-17 season-ladies 13 & guys 28 2017-18 season-ladies 12 & guys 24 2018-19 season-guys 17 (The info on the ladies is not available but the 2019-20 season is listed twice and only had 2 wrestlers, not the same 2 either). 2019-20 season-ladies 2 & guys 17 Ladies program was eliminated 2020-21 season-guys 17 2021-22 season-guys 4 I am not sure what happened at WP and I hope the guys team grows and is successful. Could it have been too hard to get admitted? Wouldn't this be the same issue at most small private schools? This may come as a shocker, but there really aren't that many girls that want to wrestle in college. I think the presentation that is shown to these small schools also says something to the effect that you will get a coach to work for only $40K, for both programs! Oh yeah and it might mention doing some camps to supplement your income and to raise some funds to go to the coaches convention in Florida. I bet every college coach wants to have those big J Rob type camps and make that kind of money too. A lot of these coaches are younger and not professional, and that has to play into the lack of recruiting/retention numbers. When one of these small colleges does add a program, there is a lot of interest from the local HS coaches (if added in an area where they have HS wrestling) until they find out about the salary. So yes, it does pay more to coach & teach at a public HS (in most states) than it does to coach lower level college wrestling.

Rumor on the street is that Skylar Smith is transferring from NC State and going to Oklahoma. He has a shoulder injury that he is rehabbing, so look for him to be adding to the depth at 133/141.

There is a bunch of talent in that area! Beers, cheers, Mountaineers!

John Kading

Michael Lightner Now only 567 left!