Division I coaches asked to vote on proposal to NCAA

To: DI Wrestling Coaches
Fr: President Rob Koll & DI NWCA Board Members
Re: Update on Status of DI National Duals initiative

We wanted to bring you up to speed on the status of the DI National Dual Meet Championship that was discussed at the 2012 NWCA Board meeting in Ft. Lauderdale. As our 2012 Board minutes reflect, the 8 DI board representatives (Rob Koll, Brian Smith, Mark Cody, Mike Rogers, Chris Ayers, Jim Zalesky, Tom Ryan, and Steve Garland) unanimously supported moving forward with the concept of an NCAA National Dual Meet Championship.

The following day, we presented the concept to all DI coaches who were in attendance at the Convention and after a very spirited debate, there was widespread consensus for moving forward (many coaches did have concerns but nevertheless supported it). Since then, there have been numerous emails floating around from coaches who were both in favor and opposed to the concept.

On Thursday, September 6, Mike Moyer and myself, in consultation with other DI Board members, disseminated an email to the 77 DI wrestling coaches suggesting that the NWCA should forward a memo to the NCAA Wrestling Committee suggesting that we “table” this initiative for another year just so we can have more time to educate coaches. Our primary concern is that we've come such a long way in galvanizing our coaching community over the past few years and we feared the very emotional responses stood to splinter our DI membership base.

We indicated (to the NCAA Wrestling Committee) we would be forwarding a letter requesting that the NCAA Championship Cabinet table this proposal for another year. We then received a request from the Chair of the NCAA Wrestling Committee, Dave Martin to have a conference call on the morning of Friday, September 7 with the Division I members of our board before submitting our letter.

This morning, the Division I NWCA Board Members (Tom Ryan and Jim Zalesky were not on the call) had a call with the chair of the NCAA Wrestling Committee, Dave Martin and Associate Director of Championships, Jeff Jarnecke to discuss new details regarding the National Duals proposal and ramifications for asking to table this decision. During this conversation we were able to address many of our constituents concerns regarding the current National Duals format and the ramifications of withdrawing our support.

As a result of this dialog, we were able to find solutions to many of the major issues brought forth by our members. I believe the NCAA and the NWCA have set forth a strong blueprint for future growth for the National Duals while at the same time protecting the integrity of our individual national championship. The following is a list of changes and issues that were agreed upon during the call.

The current 16 team model is the initial plan. Just like all other NCAA tournaments we hope to grow the tournament with an intermediate five year goal of adding 8 more teams.

Should any of the 8 traveling teams in the first round need financial assistance, the NWCA will cover up to $10,000 of travel expenses covered (by the NWCA).

The NWCA is permitted to promote the Individual tournament team score. This includes team trophy's, announcing the score at the venue. Furthermore the NCAA committee representative went so far to say that the NCAA would even be willing to generate the team score for us.

It is the NCAA Wrestling Committees opinion that tabling this proposal will in all likelihood kill this legislation for the foreseeable future.

The NCAA would continue to support the individual NCAA Championships (recognizing All Americans, per diems, etc……. Just not recognizing a team champion).

Following this call, all Division I NWCA Board Members supported a strategy of conducting a formal vote later tonight among all 77 coaches to accurately access their support or opposition to this proposal knowing the expanded details as outlined above.

I do not expect these amendments to placate everyone's fears but I do believe the vast majority of coaches voices have been represented through by the addition of this legislation. All that said, we need all 77 DI head coaches to cast your vote (the survey will be disseminated around 8pm est. tonight). We need this completed by noon (est) on Saturday, September 8. If the majority of the DI coaches respond favorably to this, we will proceed with our support of the NCAA Wrestling Committee (when they present this to the Championship Cabinet next week). If not, we will pull our support for the initiative and it will likely not be brought up in the foreseeable future.