Max Nowry (Photo/University of Central Florida athletics)The Big 12 announced on Friday they were adding four new schools to the conference, so I thought I'd take a quick look at the history of some of the programs, their connection to the sport, and the potential that they "might" add new wrestling programs.
Central Florida-Central Florida is in Orlando and in one of a few states with no Division 1 wrestling programs. That has a bit of a natural appeal when marketing a program to a school, as they have no real competition for recruits. They would immediately be the big dog on the block and have an edge in-state with recruiting and pretty much all wrestling fans across the state of Florida would quickly jump on board with the program.
The negative piece with that is the school doesn't have any competition to schedule in-state. Geographically they would likely have to schedule what they can with the SOCON and ACC and, of course, make a trip out to Big 12 country a few times a year for conference meets.
UCF once had a program from 1970-1985. It was started by Gerry Gergley, and you can read a nice synopsis of the program on their website.
What's interesting is with the help of Rouse and others, they have become one of the top club programs in the entire country. According to our friends over at Wikipedia, they have won three NCWA National Titles, crowned thirteen individual National Champions, and 111 All-Americans! Does any of that translate to D1 level talent? Probably not, but it does mean there is some built-in support, a fanbase of former wrestlers, and some other things that could help push to gain a foothold and convert their already established club team into a D1 program.
Houston-Houston, in many ways, mirrors the UCF scenario. They're in a state with no D1 wrestling, they've had a program before and they have club support.
What's unique between Houston and UCF though is the power that is women's wrestling in Texas. Wrestling in Texas has had some stars on the men's side with Brandon Slay, Bo Nickal, and now AJ Ferrari, but they are legitimately one of the top states around for women's wrestling.
If Houston adds both a men's and women's team, or even just a women's team, they'll have plenty of competition in state and be ahead of the curve when it comes to women's D1 wrestling. They would be a powerhouse in no time.
And where is the biggest current superstar in all of women's wrestling from? Tamyra Mensah-Stock is from Katy, a suburb just outside of Houston. You want to make some noise in the wrestling world? Announce a new program at Houston with the women's team to be led by an Olympic Gold Medalist.
BYU-BYU had a wrestling program up until the year 2000, when it and its gymnastics program were cut. At the time, Olympic gold medalist and three-time NCAA Champion Mark Schultz was the head coach. In their final season, they were able to grab one All-American with Aaron Holker.
They have a decent club program with a few conference titles, but unlike Houston or UCF, they wouldn't be the only show in town as Utah already has a D1 program with Utah Valley. That does have some advantages, though, as they could quickly build up a rivalry that would certainly draw fans.
Unlike Houston and UCF, they would have a bit better geographic situation for wrestling. They would be a reasonable commuting distance from Utah Valley, Wyoming, Air Force and Northern Colorado and could even schedule some duals further west with Oregon State, Cal Baptist, and others.
Cincinnati-Cincinnati is unique in this discussion compared to the three other schools. They're similar in that they have club teams, they have some history in the sport and once sponsored D1 programs, but what's unique about them compared to the others is they are in Ohio, which is a hotbed for the sport.
Ohio is one of the top wrestling states in the country. They push out a high volume of D1 recruits every year and that alone could help make Cincinnati competitive very quickly. But the state does already have four established programs which creates battles for talent in the state but also makes for easy scheduling and competition.
In all likelihood, without a grassroots push from donors or fans for one of these schools, it's hard to see them suddenly adding a wrestling program. But all have some history in the sport and some success that could potentially give a bit of a baseline to work off and build and start something, if that's the direction they decide to go.
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