TitleIX is ripe for reform

New article on Jim Jordan's wrestling his way to power: https://dnyuz.com/2023/04/16/how-jim-jordan-a-fighter-aligned-with-trump-wrestled-his-way-to-power/

I'll always be particularly impressed by the Arizona State Sun Devils' 1988 team which won it all despite having to travel so far so often for championship-caliber competition. Current coach Zeke Jones was a sophomore on that team, by the way: https://thesundevils.com/news/2018/1/20/1988-sun-devils-put-west-coast-wrestling-on-the-map.aspx Talk about a team effort... they apparently had no NCAA champs the year that they nevertheless won the NCAAs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_NCAA_Division_I_Wrestling_Championships Admittedly the Minnesota Gophers team circa 2000 that had no NCAA finalists but still won it all impresses me too.... Such teams put some suspense back in our sport's team title chases. That helps boost interest in it.

Are freestyle tournaments really worth souting for filling folkstyle college wrestling teams? The two styles are significantly different, aren't they?

Austin O'Connor has really helped keep NCAA D1 wrestling alive in the South. That's worth some consideration, IMHO. For that matter, UNC: Chapel Hill, NC State & Duke help keep NCAA D1 wrestling alive in the South. It's much appreciated. Their presence & prosperity help keep our sport from becoming a mere "regional" sport, like men's gymnastics has reportedly become. Clemson used to be part of the frontier but we lost the Tigers' D1 program circa 1995. https://ncwa.net/teams/clem Title IX was, indeed, cited as a reason. But laws have since changed, arguably favorably for wrestling too. Of potential interest: That said, my vote's for Austin O'Connor. Not to knock the other folks at all, though.

UNC: Chapel Hill, NC State & Duke help keep NCAA D1 wrestling alive in the South. It's much appreciated. Their presence & prosperity help keep our sport from becoming a mere "regional" sport, like men's gymnastics has reportedly become. Clemson used to be part of the frontier but we lost the Tigers' D1 program circa 1995. https://ncwa.net/teams/clem Title IX was, indeed, cited as a reason. But laws have since changed, arguably favorably for wrestling too. Of potential interest: https://intermatforums.com/topic/54-which-colleges-will-add-mens-wrestling-now-that-title-ixs-restored-to-its-original-more-gender-fair-legislative-intent

It's not on campus? It has a standalone wrestling facility on campus, I had thought...

Can we engage Stephen Neal in this discussion, somehow? He was instrumental in keeping the program afloat years ago when CSUB wanted to drop wrestling: https://news.csub.edu/the-remarkable-improbable-career-of-stephen-neal

Here's a related thread which analyzes why opportunities for reinstating (or otherwise adding) wrestling teams at the college level here in the USA are seemingly better now than they have been in decades. This is due to legal reforms of Title IX (and other statutes) that have been increasingly emerging from the U.S. Supreme Court. Essentially the Supreme Court is saying that statutes are to be taken at face value, and major questions are to be resolved by Congress instead of the bureaucrats. All that Title IX says is the following. Notice the lack of gender quotas? No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Nearly 5,000 fans in attendance: https://cyclones.com/news/2023/2/15/wrestling-carr-defeats-o-toole-isu-falls-at-missouri.aspx

Jim Jordan's hanging in there, making history! https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/03/house-speaker-vote-republican-kevin-mccarthy-looks-to-win-support.html By the way, Bobby Good (of Virginia) is a former high school state champion wrestler who went on to wrestle for Liberty University when it was an NCAA program: https://good.house.gov/ I think he's supporting Rep. Jordan, too.

Here's more info. on the female on UNC's wrestling roster: https://goheels.com/sports/wrestling/roster?path=wrestling In particular: https://goheels.com/sports/wrestling/roster/marisol-nugent/23708

Match highlights are now featured on video at the Tarheels' wrestling page: https://goheels.com/sports/wrestling Didn't App. State's rival Campbell U. (also in North Carolina) demonstrate to its share of D1 powerhouses that SoCon schools can get it done, too? Admittedly Coach Kolat left rather soon, for Annapolis. But they continue winning... Parity's good for our sport. What I don't fully understand is why the abundance of NCAA & NAIA wrestling programs in Carolina and the proximity to far more in neighboring Virginia (and increasingly in SC, GA and AL) hasn't made North Carolina a high school wrestling powerhouse. Any thoughts? It's not like there's a lack of college wrestling opportunities for them to aspire to. Or do the college coaches in North Carolina reputedly overlook potential winners from North Carolina? Either way, it's interesting how the Tarheels already have a woman on their roster: https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/01/unc-wrestling-marisol-nugent-first-female-wrestler-on-unc-d1-roster?fbclid=IwAR0mVD73-62TK9T5UlK00e8X6AQiosBcIZV-glRXdrkpc7vb1MO-Kl4zEpI More to come? Hopefully so. Iowa head coach Clarissa Chun deserves to get to wrestle more than 1 NCAA D1 dual when visiting the Carolinas. Might you agree?

About 45 miles north of Tulsa is Winganon, Oklahoma. This story will likely amuse you. https://www.newson6.com/story/5e3656392f69d76f6206bc99/lost-cement-mixer-of-winganon-gets-spaceage-update They even have a Facebook page devoted to this cultural phenomenon, which has even been the site of marriage proposals: https://www.facebook.com/winganonspacecapsule If you know any Planet of the Apes fans heading to the NCAAs in Tulsa, they might find that story to be particularly amusing. It's now featured at this fan forum: http://www.facebook.com/groups/potafriends

By the way, Schreiner U.'s wrestling programs for men & women both began as NCWA.net club programs less than a decade ago.

Well... here's some brand new, encouraging NAIA news from Olympia, Washington: Evergreen State's adding men's & women's wrestling: https://gogeoducks.com/news/2022/12/12/womens-wrestling-evergreen-expands-athletics-with-wrestling-and-cross-country.aspx More good news to follow? It's up to us...

The NCAA D1 wrestling championships consistently sell out each year. Meanwhile what (if any) college sports besides football & basketball bring in as many fans during the regular season as wrestling? If any others do, they probably don't have the weather-related challenges for transporting fans to and from the venue that wrestling has. Wrestling's increasingly becoming a sport regarding which fanbases can likely be co-ed, even excluding mothers of wrestlers. That's a game-changer, fan-wise... Wait 'til more of these women become mothers of young athletes... Meanwhile wrestling has capitalized on unprecedented marketing opportunities that social media makes available, too... It's so much easier to keep up with one's favorite teams and competitors than ever before in history. Admittedly cellphones' increasing prominence has reportedly made it tougher to recruit high schoolers to compete in ANY sports. So many students would rather just play games or text (temporary) buddies rather than put forth the effort expected of athletes. But if that means we have fewer athletes to work with, that also translates into more time being available (per capita) to give athletes greater individualized attention. Whenever we're handed lemons, we make lemonaid. When peacetime makes bayonets undesirable, bayonet factories can transition into making plow shears. Real wrestlers don't give up merely because they've been pinned too many times. We learn to bridge and pin back, right? BTW, here's a photo of Texas' first, ever, NCAA D3 wrestling program for women, straight outta Kerrville, TX (near San Antonio). Behold the Schreiner University Mountaineers. They have 4 other NAIA or NCAA women's wrestling rivals in Texas with which to duke it out nowadays. 15 years ago, there were NO college wrestling teams for women or men in Texas. Now there's 5 & 4, respectively. That doesn't even include NCWA clubs, either. But 40 years ago, Texas had over a dozen. We're steadily working on the rebound...

Really? Are you sure the money raised was specifically allocated for wrestling? I've read that the U. of Texas rakes in the dough on athletics, but also spends slightly more than that amount on athletics. There may be some fuzzy math involved but I wasn't aware that wrestling funds had been raised in significant quantities there. I'm also not tuned into that school much, admittedly. Thanks for any insights, TexRef...

Can you believe California has nearly 2 dozen community college or JUCO college wrestling programs for guys nowadays? https://caccwrestling.wordpress.com/2022/12/12/cccaa-final-results-brackets-and-photos If any of you knows of a wrestler languishing away without a wrestling team at (for example) a community college or JUCO (junior college), please feel free to share that inspirational link with him or her. It has this past weekend's results for the state community college championships out in California. Why aren't there more such programs in other states? A lone wrestler is enough to start a club program at plenty of colleges. That can attract recruits (male & female) for future seasons. Encouragingly enough, there's already an established college club teams league: http://www.ncwa.net/teams Right, Shute?

Lousiana's due for some more college wrestling teams to emerge, at the enrollment-driven level anyway. Hopefully these duals (and the growing quantity of college teams in neighboring Arkansas and Texas) can help inspire such a breakthrough. There's interesting news regarding neighboring Mississippi, below, too... But first: as recently as the mid-1980s, Lousiana State University (LSU) was a Top 20 NCAA D1 wrestling powerhouse. Kevin Jackson transferred to Iowa State when LSU dropped their wrestling preauxgram. He reached the NCAA finals the following year or so, losing to the Hawkeyes' Royce Alger. Meanwhile neighboring Mississippi is making a noteworthy push to get high school wrestling... https://www.facebook.com/sipwrestling Furthermore, although neighboring Texas had no college programs left 15 years ago, now it has 5 women's and 4 men's programs at the NAIA or NCAA D2 or D3 levels: http://www.Facebook.com/TexasCollegiateWrestling Geaux Louisiana. May the waves of progress increasingly smile upon the region. We have even seen an NCAA D1 team emerge within it (UALR) in a state where there was barely even high school wrestling 15 or so years ago. And did I forget the new college team that is springing up in Alabama?

Encouragingly enough, before Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby (a former wrestling coach from Iowa) retired earlier this year, he impressively managed to help keep wrestling a conference-sanctioned sport in the Big 12. He achieved this despite having just 3 teams (IA St., Oklahoma and Ok. State)...plus Big 12 newcomer West Virginia. Maybe West Va. U. was recruited to join the Big 12 in part to help keep wrestling a conference sanctioned sport. It's an example of how small changes can make major differences. Men's soccer isn't even sanctioned in the Big 12, to help put things in perspective. Can you believe that? Sure, we nevertheless lament that Commissioner Bowlsby didn't manage to get a Big 12 college wrestling team added in Texas. But progress continues to be made at the NAIA, D2 and D3 levels in Texas in part because he helped keep wrestling strong in a neighboring Big 12 state (Oklahoma). That also helped inspire neighboring Arkansas to make such dramatic progress these past 15 years. (The Cowboys' 4x NCAA champion Pat Smith teamed up with insurance great Greg Hatcher in Arkansas.) Anyow, Texas still lacks a D1 wrestling team (even as it had a few as recently as the 1980s) but hopefully that can change. For the latest news on college wrestling in the Lone Star state: http://www.Facebook.com/TexasCollegiateWrestling Meanwhile, happy retirement to Commissioner Bowlsby. Thanks for having done what you could. 15 years ago, Texas had NO NAIA or NCAA college wrestling programs, and for either gender for that matter. The same can be said of neighboring Arkansas. College wrestling established valuable momentum in Texas and Arkansas during Commissioner Bowlsby's tenure heading up the Big 12. Now if only more of us can help influence other organizations to help wrestling too...

Newsflash: Wrestling is underway at the federal appellate level regarding how Title IX should be interpreted regarding gender quotas. Here's a brand new update on the subject, with a Michigan focus. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2022/12/12/supreme-court-wont-hear-title-ix-case-college-sports/10880478002/

One can (at least) hear this match online: Cyclones: https://cyclones.com/sports/wrestling/schedule/2022-23 Hawkeyes: https://hawkeyesports.com/sports/wrestling/schedule/

For the latest results in this CyHawk showdown: https://www.trackwrestling.com/tw/seasons/DualMatches.jsp?TIM=1670182089484&twSessionId=jfvxodmzxv&dualId=6696527132&teamId=971429143

Here's the data showing that the state of Oklahoma has won more NCAA D1 team wrestling championships than any other state (even as I've read from unconfirmed sources that 2/3's of OK's high schools do not have wrestling teams): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_Wrestling_Championships#Championships_by_school

I have previously read that 2/3's of high schools in Oklahoma lack wrestling, too. Oklahoma's nevertheless the state with the MOST NCAA D1 men's wrestling team championships...