This letter was specifically sent to Flowrestling and asked to made public by Rob Koll.

Coach Sanderson asked the questions, “What is the purpose of the National Duals? Are we trying to help the "at-risk" programs?  Are we trying to grow home dual meet attendance?  Are we looking for more TV exposure? Are we trying to change the individual tournament to a dual meet championship because we feel it better represents a team effort?  Are we trying to create a second major event?” 

The answer to all these questions is a resounding YES, this is what we are trying to do with the national duals.

Maybe I’m just old but I vividly recall the days when smaller wrestling programs could actually compete favorably in a national dual meet format. Those were the days when Cornell placed 99^th at the NCAA tournament. Over 100 lost teams later times have changed. It pains me to hear coaches at these schools speak as if the present will always be the future. If it were true (that when nothing changes, nothing changes), we would not have only 77 DI programs remaining. We must be willing to embrace change or we are guaranteed to continue down our current road of failure. Although Cornell is currently enjoying a great deal of success, my glasses are not so rose tinted that I cannot see that every wrestling program does not reside in a wrestling spectator “hotbed”. The national dual meet format is not intended as a panacea for all our sports woos. It is intended to force teams to place more emphasis on dual meets. The National Duals, in its current configuration, does not work because a few top schools choose not to participate.

What we will accomplish by focusing more attention on a dual meet format is to attract non-wrestling fans to our sport. Only hardcore wrestling fans are going to spend their vacations traveling to a three day wrestling tournament. No one who is not passionate about the sport would even consider it, while the diehards consider this pilgrimage a yearly sacrament. On the other hand, I could easily envision alumni from any of the involved schools taking a few hours out of their day to cheer on their team at a dual meet. These people would not go to a three day tournament and would have trouble following it if they did, but everyone understands the team concept of a dual meet.  The argument that a tournament is more likely to determine the “right” team is a great argument against the tournament. One of the reasons that the NCAA basketball tournament is so popular is because upsets do occur. A great example of this was when VA Tech upset Ok State at the National Duals several years ago.

Our wrestling community thinks too small; the fact that it is hard for many within our ranks to believe we cannot host two major events is frightening.  If history has taught us anything, we should appreciate that protectionism is a failed concept. We have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by going down this road. If it fails, we can always go back to our current system. But if it succeeds, we have the opportunity to expose millions of new fans to our great sport.

Another concern I have is how little respect is being shown for decisions made by the NWCA board of directors. The coaches who comprise this board in addition to myself include: Tom Ryan, Jim Zalesky, Chris Ayres, Mike Rogers, Mark Cody, Brian Smith, and Steve Garland. This group was selected to represent the best interest of our sport. As the president of this organization, you may not respect my opinions but I am confident this group makes up a highly respected representation of our college coaches.   During the convention’s board of director meeting we thoroughly vetted and unanimously agreed that any risks to this change were greatly outweighed by the likely positive results.

Yours in wrestling,

Rob Koll