Today is the day

[JHRoseWrestling 187]

4 hours ago, Billyhoyle said:

Nobody is going to give 12 million dollars to bring back wrestling at a different college.  There is an order of magnitude more value in having wrestling at elite universities than enrollment driven colleges or small universities (the latter is where we currently see the growth of the sport). And by elite, I don't just mean Stanford/Harvard.  If you look at the academic program offered at D1 universities like Stanford, Oregon, Notre Dame, Boston University, etc, it is clearly separated from most D2 or NAIA programs that often utilize athletics as a means to drive enrollment. Wrestlers getting scholarships to attend these universities is a huge value for the sport, and saving wrestling at Stanford would be incredible (and the loss of the other programs was awful).  I'm skeptical about whether it is feasible, since I assumed Stanford wanted fewer athlete admission spots, but it's great that the Uni president appears open to it.  

I was not being literal with regard to the 12M, I recognize that those funds are not wrestling funny money to be allocated however we choose. 

Still, I am challenging you and everyone else to think way outside the box.  Is the best use of our effort and funds to tie our time, money, and energy up in a situation where the ultimate goal is to get our money and wrestlers to a place where they are beholden to an athletic department that doesn’t value them?  

Stanford is a rare case where an obscene amount of money won’t move the needle.  At most places that amount would be successful, but maybe only to the point where the department would begrudgingly reinstate the program and allow it to continue without overwhelming support or excitement.  Maybe there is a better way.  Maybe there are avenues where greater return on significant investment can be achieved.  If we got Stanford wrestling back, we would celebrate because we won our chosen battle.  Maybe, for a minute, consider that the price has been too high and the reward would be too low.  Maybe the number of kids nationwide who get scholarship money or admissions spots due to wrestling at elite institutions is a paltry number in comparison to the wrestling population.  Maybe the values you shared above, while good and honest and noble, actually underserve our great community.  Maybe it is time to look at investing that energy in opportunities for athletes in that age group in the Palo Alto area that are not married to the Stanford/NCAA structure.  Maybe it’s time to look at the NCAA structure and ask ourselves, as we often ask about the IOC, on a holistic level is our commitment to some of these virtues of collegiate wrestling advancing our great sport or is it holding us back?