Good Twitter thread about Stanford Wrestling

[wrestlingnerd 3,000]

Worth a read, although the decision has been made and I doubt any support will make a difference. There are some great stats about wrestling in general throughout the thread.

 

[NJDan 1,070]

I have heard here and elsewhere that the program got $12 million in pledges since the sport was cut. This seems hard to believe. Where did these pledges come from? Was a lot from one rich dude? Did those who pledged do so knowing they would not have to make good on the pledges b/c the sport was going to be axed in any event?

[ugarte 515]

8 minutes ago, NJDan said:

I have heard here and elsewhere that the program got $12 million in pledges since the sport was cut. This seems hard to believe. Where did these pledges come from? Was a lot from one rich dude? Did those who pledged do so knowing they would not have to make good on the pledges b/c the sport was going to be axed in any event?

you have trouble believing that stanford alumni could raise twelve million dollars?

[NJDan 1,070]

17 minutes ago, ugarte said:

you have trouble believing that stanford alumni could raise twelve million dollars?

In short order and for wrestling-- yes. Has the wrestling program raised that kind of money before? Has any wrestling program done that?

[nhs67 1,993]

2 minutes ago, NJDan said:

In short order and for wrestling-- yes. Has the wrestling program raised that kind of money before? Has any wrestling program done that?

Fck me, guy.  Do you get more ignorant by the day?  You must only read 1 out of 100 threads and never follow media outlets anywhere.  At all.  Ever.

[RichB 226]

When Syracuse announced drop. around 1995, After some initial discussion, their President agreed That if their boosters could raise $2,000,000 The Program could remain with out scholarships. If they Raised $6M they could be fully scholarship. Tommy Hilfiger, A fan not a wrestler (or not a starter?) Announced if $1M  was raised by everyone else, He would make it $2M. If they Raised $3M (maybe even $2M) he would make it $6M. Obviously he could have funded the non scholarship version on his own, probably the big version on his own. Other EIWA fans planned to donate a couple hundred grand, maybe a half million. Did Tommy make the right decision, considering how little support From the Orangemen wrestling alum.

Now Bucknell, pretty much all one person. 

[potentiallydangerous 412]

Stanford gets matching funds to funnel to Antifa, they don't need wrestling.

[AnklePicker 645]

I remember reading when this was first announced that the powers that be were not changing their decision on this regardless if there was money to support it.  What is their rationale?  

[Casey 21]

Just watched the admissions scandal documentary on Netflix - The Stanford Athletic director does not come off great - don't know if the same person as now

[wrestlingnerd 3,000]

1 minute ago, Casey said:

Just watched the admissions scandal documentary on Netflix - The Stanford Athletic director does not come off great - don't know if the same person as now

Same dude. He's not alone. Sports is a well-acknowledged back door into elite schools with D1 sports, even the "non-jock" elite schools like the Ivies (as opposed to the very athletic Stanford, Duke, etc.). Uber-elite HYPS does it. Of course, forging athletic achievements to gain admission is obviously a different level of fked up.

Having $12M pledged versus raised and called in bank account are two different things. I'm not saying the Stanford donors aren't good for their pledge, just pointing that out.

[Elevator 303]

For many schools, $12M is quit a lot to leave on the table - but check out Stanford's endowment.  Small change.

[1032004 1,420]

For anyone that's not a PSU or Iowa fan, the audible "Keep Stanford Wrestling" chant from the minimal fans in attendance was definitely the best moment of the tournament.

 

 

It was almost better that Pitt had that challenge since it gave the commentators more time to talk about how crappy Stanford is.

ESPN also tweeted about it as did some big names

 

 

 

 

Oh and the store is open again, reasonable prices too:

 

 

 

[GreatWhiteNorth 531]

On 3/20/2021 at 10:12 PM, potentiallydangerous said:

Stanford gets matching funds to funnel to Antifa, they don't need wrestling.

I thought that was a little bit funny... until I realized that you actually think this is true.

Dude - get off the "Antifa train", it's going nowhere good for you or anyone else who believes in that nonsense.

[Billyhoyle 2,475]

On 3/21/2021 at 9:17 AM, Casey said:

Just watched the admissions scandal documentary on Netflix - The Stanford Athletic director does not come off great - don't know if the same person as now

The documentary itself wasn't very good, but the key takeaway from it should be the value of a single admissions spot at Stanford relative to other programs that have been dropped and then saved (like ASU)-and the reason those spots are valued by donors.  So why are those spots valued?  The two main reasons are the quality of the university and the perceived quality of the undergrad education.  The former requires significant donations to expand the endowment and fund services-the latter is an idiotic formula from US News and World Report based on average GPA and SAT/ACT scores of the admitted class (as well as other meaningless factors like faculty to student ratio and graduation rate).  

In order for Stanford to maintain their ranking and status, they must balance the admission of kids/grandkids of donors (who generally have below average scores) with the top students (who have higher scores).  Keep in mind that Stanford gets enough applicants with perfect GPA/SAT/ACT scores to fill their entire class-so they have plenty of these high scoring students to draw from and make up for the donor admits.

Why does this have to do with wrestling? For every admission spot that is given at Stanford to a wrestler (or any other athlete), you are admitting a student who likely isn't a big donor and also has lower than average grades/SAT scores. Most of the athletic admits must also be balanced with above average non donor admits.  So for every spot that is given to an athlete, that's one less spot for a donor.

Even if the $12 million raised figure is accurate, which I have serious doubts about, in the long run Stanford will make more money simply selling the admission spots that are currently going to wrestlers.  Carrying 35 non revenue sports simply makes zero sense for the university in the arms race they are having with Harvard (and Harvard is really the only university in the country that competes with Stanford top to bottom in terms of undergrad, grad, and professional  schools).

I'm all for trying to get Stanford to keep wrestling, but financially there is zero reason for them to do so, even if the $12 million value is real.  

Edited March 23, 2021 by Billyhoyle

[Billyhoyle 2,475]

3 hours ago, GreatWhiteNorth said:

I thought that was a little bit funny... until I realized that you actually think this is true.

Dude - get off the "Antifa train", it's going nowhere good for you or anyone else who believes in that nonsense.

The funny thing is that poster has clearly never met anybody who has gone to Stanford...Antifa is largely an anarchist/socialist  movement, while Stanford students are basically the epitome of capitalists. Most go to finance/law/consulting/tech. I bet almost everybody that considers themselves to be part of antifa hates Stanford.    It's a bit ironic because the far right and far left largely hate on Stanford for similar reasons-it represents a status quo that they do not like because it excludes them.

[Lurker 2,034]

I’ve said in a couple other areas: I think this is a golden opportunity, if there truly is 12+ million sitting there for a wrestling program at Stanford, to buck the trend and potentially start a new way that could both increase post HS wrestling in this country and improve our status on the world stage at the senior level. 
 

Growing off the current RTC model, begin a USOEC type club situation at Stanford. Start with six athletes in each of the three international styles. These athletes receive scholarships (in this initial case to Stanford) and, like in NCAA sports, have five years to complete their bachelors program.  The athletes are training for future Olympic medals, and competing a USAW/UWW schedule. Going forward this could start a new trend, as there are many universities with big pocket alumni and no NCAA wrestling program. The athletes themselves would compete a schedule less demanding on their time, bodies, weight cuts.. Our Olympic hopefuls will be fully engaged in the Olympic styles and not grinding their bodies down nearly as much as would in four years of the college season. Combined With the influx of money into wrestling currently, our athletes could compete longer more regularly. These clubs opening up around the country creates more opportunities for wrestling after HS. 

 

The con is that it would water down the level of competition at the NCAA, as many of the elite HS athletes with real world and olympic aspirations would go this route, particularly those that love Greco would have many more Greco opportunities. But I think that’s a fair trade off for more wrestling and being more competitive internationally. Particularly the very large curve we can never make up in Greco, my favorite of the three styles. Stanford is a major player as far as universities go in the Olympic sports. With the funds supposedly sitting there, this is a perfect setting to get something like this going.  

[TFBJR 464]

On 3/20/2021 at 11:22 PM, AnklePicker said:

I remember reading when this was first announced that the powers that be were not changing their decision on this regardless if there was money to support it.  What is their rationale?  

x

Edited May 7, 2021 by TFBJR
clean up

[smsu150 24]

On 3/20/2021 at 3:56 PM, NJDan said:

In short order and for wrestling-- yes. Has the wrestling program raised that kind of money before? Has any wrestling program done that?

When Oregon was dropped, the administration allowed Oregon to fundraise in an attempt to get the  program endowed and therefore reinstated.  The number that was given was 30 million. Oregon gave the old coach an office on campus to conduct those fundraising activities.  When it appeared that Oregon might actually reach the goal, the university changed course and said 300 million or something along those lines.  It was all a charade.  

Someone on these boards might be able to recap the story a bit better than I, but that is what I remember from it. 

[NJDan 1,070]

27 minutes ago, smsu150 said:

When Oregon was dropped, the administration allowed Oregon to fundraise in an attempt to get the  program endowed and therefore reinstated.  The number that was given was 30 million. Oregon gave the old coach an office on campus to conduct those fundraising activities.  When it appeared that Oregon might actually reach the goal, the university changed course and said 300 million or something along those lines.  It was all a charade.  

Someone on these boards might be able to recap the story a bit better than I, but that is what I remember from it. 

Both of those numbers sound imaginary to me.

Has any wrestling program EVER raised that kind of money in months?

[gimpeltf 2,045]

2 hours ago, NJDan said:

Both of those numbers sound imaginary to me.

Has any wrestling program EVER raised that kind of money in months?

Bucknell was out for about 4 years then getting $5.6m. I don't know about months here but it was from one donor.

Oregon State dropped after Howard Harris won in 1980 but were almost immediately reinstated. No idea how much money involed.

[Downtown Brown 64]

On 3/21/2021 at 9:17 AM, Casey said:

Just watched the admissions scandal documentary on Netflix - The Stanford Athletic director does not come off great - don't know if the same person as now

Would love to see this myself. What’s it called? Thanks.

[1032004 1,420]

1 hour ago, Downtown Brown said:

Would love to see this myself. What’s it called? Thanks.

 

[Bronco 231]

On 3/20/2021 at 2:37 PM, ugarte said:

you have trouble believing that stanford alumni could raise twelve million dollars?

Anyone who "thinks" (using that word VERY loosely here) that the alums and boosters of Stanford wrestling couldn't raise $12.4 million in a few months (July to January) simply isn't very bright.   My only disbelief in this matter is that they didn't raise MORE than that.

[smsu150 24]

5 hours ago, NJDan said:

Both of those numbers sound imaginary to me.

Has any wrestling program EVER raised that kind of money in months?

You're right.  I was way off.  Here is a link to the story:

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2015/10/goe_the_university_of_oregon_t.html