Eastern Michigan head wrestling coach David Bolyard (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)The decision to eliminate the Eastern Michigan University wrestling program Tuesday has generated comments from Eagles coaching staff, protests from wrestlers, and outrage from the wrestling community far beyond the school's hometown of Ypsilanti.
EMU -- the second-oldest public university in the state of Michigan, with a student enrollment of 20,000 -- announced on March 20 that it was axing its NCAA Division I wrestling program, along with three other intercollegiate sports programs: softball, women's tennis, and men's swimming and diving.
EMU wrestlers to stage protest
Eastern Michigan wrestlers will be able to make their case for saving their wrestling program as part of a protest scheduled to take place at the Michigan Youth Wrestling Association state championships Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Approximately 7,000-10,000 people are expected to be in attendance for the state championships, protest organizer David Dean, who also is a wrestling coach at Lowell High School, told MLive.com.
"We are bringing them (EMU wrestlers) out and having the kids tell their story in front of the whole crowd," Dean said. "It ought to be pretty interesting.
"I connected with them and said, 'Hey why don't you guys come on down for this? You have a story to tell. They wanted to come down, so we are doing it."
"Eastern Michigan is very tied into the fabric of this state," Dean continued. "They fully miscalculated. It is emotional and its personal. It's personal to me, and I didn't even go to Eastern. I just supported them because of the quality of the people who were there. People like Dean Rockwell (World War II veteran and EMU alumnus) and (current head coach) Dave Bolyard and so many of the other folks."
"I was completely shocked about it," former wrestler Anthony Abro said of when he heard the program was cut. "I think it's terrible. If you have ever met the coaches, or Dave (Bolyard), you know they do everything for those student-athletes. They don't deserve something like this."
Coaches, wrestlers speak out
Some of the individuals on the front lines of the Eastern Michigan wrestling program -- wrestlers and coaches -- shared their reaction to the news their mat program had been given the axe last week.
"I didn't know this past weekend was going to be my last match, so that makes me really sad," Kayne MacCallum, a senior wrestler, told the Eastern Echo student paper. "We were all blind sided."
Redshirt freshman Mason Kaufmann had a similar reaction.
"We saw the president of the school and the athletic director come in, and we knew it wasn't going to be good," Kaufmann said. "And he just broke the news to us. There were a lot of people crying and getting upset. It was a shock."
EMU head wrestling coach David Bolyard tweeted the following message early Thursday evening, just a couple days after the decision had been made public:
"I know there are a lot of frustrated people out there in the wrestling community and they are looking for someone to take their frustrations out there. The easy and most accessible person to direct these emotions to is our Athletic Director [Scott Weatherbee]. I get it; I understand that he is our leader and that is part of his job. I just want you to know that I truly think that this (decision) was (made) above him. I have gotten to know Scott and his family over the last year and they are great people. He doesn't deserve being attacked and disrespected. That will not get us what we want. We have a lot going for us in this fight. We have facts, we have numbers, we have passion, and we have some key people that are going to bat for us. We can win this fight with class and dignity. Please continue to let him see the amazing support for our program. #SaveEMUWrestling."
In a phone interview with InterMat Tuesday afternoon, coach Bolyard said, "We're trying to figure out ways to maintain opportunities for our student-athletes here at Eastern Michigan wrestling. We intend to fight this. We're working towards a solution."
Luke Smith, an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan, shared his thoughts on the school's decision to axe the Eagles mat program with the Chippewa Herald, the newspaper in his hometown in Wisconsin.
"We were completely shocked," Smith said of the news coming just after returning from the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Cleveland with the school's first All-American since 1999 in Sa'Derian Perry, who placed eighth at 141 pounds. "We knew there were some budget issues with the school, but we thought that across the board all athletic programs would have budget cuts."
The next morning, the coaching staff broke the news to the wrestlers.
"It was one of the hardest things to do to talk to them. You don't know what to do in that moment," Smith said.
"It was tough, because being here you work so hard to recruit and coach these guys. Anyone who's been part of a team knows it's like a family," Smith said. "How do you tell your family that we're going to have to break up?"
"The good thing about us is that we have a lot of alumni support. They're trying everything they can to save the program," Smith said. "It's been an unbelievable push not just from our alumni but the wrestling world. It's been amazing to see the outpouring of support."
Smith went on to cite some of the ways EMU wrestlers are winners off the mat -- the highest APR of any men's program at the school, four Academic All-Americans this year, and one of the highest percentages of scholar-athletes to be the first from their families to attend college.
"It really is more than a sport, it's an opportunity for a better life for these people. That's part of why the wrestling community is fighting so hard for us," he said.
Smith also questioned the school's reason for cutting wrestling based on financials.
"The thing that doesn't quite make sense is that they say it's budgetary, but it's an enrollment-driven school. On our team, the roster cap is 30, and we have nine scholarships. So the rest (of the roster) is tuition going back to the school," he said.
NWCA weighs in
The National Wrestling Coaches Association is not taking Eastern Michigan's decision to axe its wrestling program lying down.
The NWCA posted this message on its Twitter account:
"EMU had their 1st All-American since 1999 just days ago, & now they have announced the wrestling program will be cut. It's time to come together and work to save this program!!"
In an audio interview with Jason Bryant of Mat Talk Online this week, NWCA head Mike Moyer said, "The coach is doing everything right" citing the strong academic performance of the Eagles wrestlers.
Moyer also addressed the budget-enrollment issues cited earlier by EMU assistant coach Luke Smith.
"EMU is an enrollment-driven school," said Moyer. It makes no sense to drop sports because that hurts enrollment along with tuition income."
"Figure a typical roster of 30 wrestlers paying $20,000 a year in tuition. That's approximately $600,000 revenue generated for the school each year just from the wrestling program."
"EMU should be leveraging sports to grow enrollment."
Moyer is not about to throw in the towel.
"I like our chances of saving wrestling at Eastern Michigan. We're just getting started."
What fans can do
The wrestling community beyond the state of Michigan can make its feelings known on the decision to axe Eastern Michigan's mat program.
Fans can sign an online petition to reinstate EMU wrestling. As of this writing, approximately 24,500 individuals have signed the petition which is seeking 25,000 names.
In addition, wrestling fans can offer financial support for the Eagles wrestling program by contributing to a GoFundMe page to #SaveEMUWrestling.
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