The Sad Reality of it

[JohnnyThompsonnum1 102]

Here is a list of schools that have produced NCAA All American Wrestlers that no longer have wrestling programs.

 

 

 

 

Syracuse – 35

Oregon – 31

Fresno State – 29

Toledo – 22

Brigham Young – 21

Portland State – 19

Colorado – 18

Colorado State -18

Washington – 18

Kansas State – 16

Indiana State – 13

Louisiana State – 13

UCLA – 13

Slippery Rock – 12

Yale – 11

Tennessee – 11

Kentucky – 11

SIU-Carbondale – 11

Temple -10

Utah State – 10

Clemson – 8

San Jose State – 8

Miami of Ohio – 8

Auburn – 8

Arizona – 6

New Mexico – 6

Kansas – 5

Notre Dame – 5

Western Michigan – 4

California PA – 4

Boston – 4

Morgan State – 4

Seton Hall – 3

William and Mary – 3

West Chester – 3

Weber State -3

Washington State -3

UC-Berkeley -3

Winona State – 2

Utah -2

Utah State – 2

Tampa -2

San Diego State -2

Northern Michigan – 2

Moravian – 2

UNLV – 2

Marquette – 2

Lafayette -2

James Madison – 2

CCNY – 2

Ball State -1

Boston College – 1

UC Davis – 1

UC Santa Barbara – 1

Central Washington -1

Chicago State – 1

Colgate – 1

Delaware – 1

Denver – 1

Eastern Carolina – 1

Florida – 1

George Washington – 1

Georgia Tech – 1

Haverford – 1

Lewis and Clark – 1

Montana State – 1

Montana – 1

Missouri State – 1

Texas -1

Western Illinois -1

Youngstown State -1

[Jaroslav Hasek 2,050]

happy Saturday!

 

also FWIW Washington & Lee still has a program they are just DIII.

[JohnnyThompsonnum1 102]

happy Saturday!

 

also FWIW Washington & Lee still has a program they are just DIII.

 

That has been fixed. I guess I was thinking that they were just a club team NCWA. My mistake.

[Ryan 2]

71 schools. Incredible.

 

However, wouldn't the quality of the wrestling be affected if all of these schools still had wrestling?

 

I'm curious how many high school wrestlers participated back then compared to today. The ratio would be an interesting number to dive into.

[ban_basketball 16]

Go Winona State, one of my alma maters.

 

Drake University never had an AA? That surprises me, being that it is in the heart of Iowa.

 

Cue flat/lamebrain...NOW!

[JohnnyThompsonnum1 102]

Ban - I was surprised to find out that Drake never had an All American either. I can remember when they dropped their wrestling program in 1992. I saw one of their last duel meets against Iowa. They got hammered. I imagine the reason for not being able to produce an AA had to do with tough academic standards and competing against the powerhouses of Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa in Division I. Not to mention all of the stiff competition for recruits with Iowa's dominant Division III presence.

[JohnnyThompsonnum1 102]

I guess what astonishes me is that some of these schools that no longer have wrestling programs, have produced some of most well known wrestlers that we have ever seen or they have produced wrestlers that have very well known stories behind them.

 

I'm not sure of the exact year that Brigham Young dropped their wrestling program. I want to say that it was 1999 or 2000. I believe that Aaron Holker, who later went on to wrestle for Iowa State, was their last All American. Scott Coleman who also transferred to Iowa State and Rocky Smart who transferred to Arizona State, were also some of the last wrestlers at BYU. Utah has produced some great talent over the years, including Holker, Ryan Lewis of Minnesota and the Sanderson brothers of Iowa State. Thankfully Utah Valley has a program, but it's a shame that Utah, Utah State and BYU do not.

 

Portland State produced the only wrestler to ever shut out Dan Gable, in Rick Sanders in a 6-0 freestyle match.

 

Washington produced the only wrestler to ever defeat Dan Gable in a collegiate varsity match, Larry Owings who defeated him 13-11 in the 1970 finals.

 

Indiana State produced Bruce Baumgartner, who many consider to be one of the, if not the most decorated American wrestler of all time with four Olympic medals.

 

Coaches Sammie Henson (Clemson) and Kevin Jackson (Louisiana State) I believe are the only coaches who wrestled for programs that are no longer in existence?

 

Then of course remembering greats like Ricky Dellagatta that wrestled for Kentucky.

[DSims 1]

Portland State also had the last wrestler (and AA) from a DII or DIII school to compete at DI nationals, Dan Russell who beat Pat Smith in a previous year.

[ban_basketball 16]

I'm not sure of the exact year that Brigham Young dropped their wrestling program. I want to say that it was 1999 or 2000. I believe that Aaron Holker, who later went on to wrestle for Iowa State, was their last All American.

 

This is correct; 1999, in fact.

 

Cue flat/lamebrain...NOW!

[MadMardigain 1,606]

Then of course remembering greats like Ricky Dellagatta that wrestled for Kentucky.

 

Jimmy Carr and James Johnson also former UK wrestlers.

[cbg 27]

71 schools. Incredible.

 

However, wouldn't the quality of the wrestling be affected if all of these schools still had wrestling?

 

I'm curious how many high school wrestlers participated back then compared to today. The ratio would be an interesting number to dive into.

The true reality is that with the money & emphasis that the SEC schools place on athletics they would be competing for the national championship every year. It would be just like football and other sports where for the most part the power conference is now the SEC.

[FiveWords 14]

Then of course remembering greats like Ricky Dellagatta that who wrestled for Kentucky.

 

I fixed it for you.

[gutfirst 220]

i couldn't find montclair st. on the list? they were a d3 team. i can think of 4 aa's and 1 champ at d1's.

[redblades 322]

i couldn't find montclair st. on the list? they were a d3 team. i can think of 4 aa's and 1 champ at d1's.

 

Montclair State is looking to be reinstated as a d-3 program, here's a recent article:

 

http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/art ... g-program/

[npope 174]

Coming from an "old dog," that list is truly a sad statement for our sport at the collegiate level. So many greats came out of many of those programs. The NCAA meet was filled with that high level of diversity with guys from UCLA, Slippery Rock, etc., making it to the finals.

 

Just plain sad state of affairs.

[Stove_Pipe 15]

^^Above there is a mention of which current Div I coaches wrestled for a college that has dropped NCAA wrestling. Two others are Binghamton head coach Matt Dernlan, who wrestled for Liberty (now a NCWA club program) and Duke head coach Glem Lanham, who used to wrestle for the Univ of Tennessee (Knoxville), but transferred to Okla State when Tennessee dropped wrestling.

 

Yes, the SEC was spending money on wrestling and was becoming rather powerful back in the 1970-80's. I have talked with some of the ex-SEC head coaches and one thing I have heard that usually is not posted about the SEC dropping, is that they usually were wrestling home dual meets to a lot of empty seats. One comment was that wrestling in the SEC did not attract fan interest in that region of the country. The sport simply was not popular in the SEC.

[CollegeWrestling4444 7]

What's being done by the coaches association to bring D I schools back?

 

Every other division is growing.

[flaBigRedfan 0]

Wasn't Jeff Buxton an AA at Rhode Island before they dropped the program?

[killdozer 53]

ashame

[PT 13]

What's being done by the coaches association to bring D I schools back?

 

Every other division is growing.

 

1. We are approaching the presidents and admissions officers of all DI Historically All Black Colleges & Universities (most are enrollment driven and many are looking to bolster male enrollment)

2. We are working with a tax consultant to comb thru the tax returns of DI private schools to identify the schools that are most struggling for enrollment and tuition dollars

3. Over the past year, we have met with several university presidents of Division I schools who have expressed interest (We will be meeting with two more presidents over the next 3 weeks)

 

As most people within the wrestling community already know, establishing new DI programs is much more challenging than the other collegiate divisions for the following reasons:

 

1. The costs are much greater at the DI level (the DI philosophy is much more about focused excellence). In other words, many DI administrations desire to invest more money into fewer teams in hopes they can compete for national titles in all sports

2. Most DI colleges are not enrollment driven so they don’t need to add sports to grow enrollment like many of the non-DI colleges.

3. The big DI-A athletic department budgets are the ones that are most scrutinized in Title IX complaints

[Pinnum 840]

PT sent you a message.

[Pinnum 840]

PT sent you a message.

buried between pages

[CollegeWrestling4444 7]

What's being done by the coaches association to bring D I schools back?

 

Every other division is growing.

 

1. We are approaching the presidents and admissions officers of all DI Historically All Black Colleges & Universities (most are enrollment driven and many are looking to bolster male enrollment)

2. We are working with a tax consultant to comb thru the tax returns of DI private schools to identify the schools that are most struggling for enrollment and tuition dollars

3. Over the past year, we have met with several university presidents of Division I schools who have expressed interest (We will be meeting with two more presidents over the next 3 weeks)

 

As most people within the wrestling community already know, establishing new DI programs is much more challenging than the other collegiate divisions for the following reasons:

 

1. The costs are much greater at the DI level (the DI philosophy is much more about focused excellence). In other words, many DI administrations desire to invest more money into fewer teams in hopes they can compete for national titles in all sports

2. Most DI colleges are not enrollment driven so they don’t need to add sports to grow enrollment like many of the non-DI colleges.

3. The big DI-A athletic department budgets are the ones that are most scrutinized in Title IX complaints

 

 

PT, that is great and exciting news! Thanks for answering the question, and for all you and Mike do. You guys are doing great at the lower levels of bringing wrestling to those schools.

 

Hopefully the NJCAA can add some schools as well.

[JohnnyThompsonnum1 102]

What's being done by the coaches association to bring D I schools back?

 

Every other division is growing.

 

1. We are approaching the presidents and admissions officers of all DI Historically All Black Colleges & Universities (most are enrollment driven and many are looking to bolster male enrollment)

2. We are working with a tax consultant to comb thru the tax returns of DI private schools to identify the schools that are most struggling for enrollment and tuition dollars

3. Over the past year, we have met with several university presidents of Division I schools who have expressed interest (We will be meeting with two more presidents over the next 3 weeks)

 

As most people within the wrestling community already know, establishing new DI programs is much more challenging than the other collegiate divisions for the following reasons:

 

1. The costs are much greater at the DI level (the DI philosophy is much more about focused excellence). In other words, many DI administrations desire to invest more money into fewer teams in hopes they can compete for national titles in all sports

2. Most DI colleges are not enrollment driven so they don’t need to add sports to grow enrollment like many of the non-DI colleges.

3. The big DI-A athletic department budgets are the ones that are most scrutinized in Title IX complaints

 

A few questions. Is Howard University one of the historically black colleges that you are looking at?

 

Any word on who the several University DI presidents are that have expressed interest? I know Fresno State is one of them and rumors have fan about Louisville and Clemson. Any insight to other possibilities?

[GRAPLER 7]

I'd imagine Howard University is included....since he said, "All" HBCUs. It would be great to see the Bison have a team again.