Wrestling Blogs - Rick Addante

So this is my first blog, and I am not used to this. But I was writing a few ideas of creative out-of-the-box ideas to help save our sport from programs like Oregon dropping it. I thought that posting it here might result in getting good feedback on improving the ideas, as well as how feasible it might be. I dunno...I also had some other non-traditional ideas about ways to exert pressure to save the program and gain further funding.

If football, basketball, and baseball are Kings there [at Oregon] to whom the AD must cower to, and if there are other midwestern and eastern universities to whom dropping wrestling would be particularly harmful by decreasing competition and national support, why not enlist their help at the bargaining table? What I mean is that, for example, we all know Iowa is a huge wrestling state and university, as is Illinois. They are also, however, big national football contenders as well as for basketball. Yet it is still in their best interest for their wrestling teams, whom they support strongly, to maintain a high degree of variability and competition for their wrestlers, just as it is important for OSU guys to help support the Ducks program survival.

I am assuming that such universities would want to see Oregon survive and flourish to give their own athletes competition at high levels around the country, in addition to a more general goal of stopping the trend of dropping programs that could put them on the chop block next. Iowa, Illinois, Ohio State, and all the Big Ten and Big 2 Schools surely can not want to see wrestling become an isolated midwest sport, because this would make their competition pool for getting better much smaller, and ultimately slowly shrink the sport to their schools. If college wrestling shrinks to purely midwest schools eventually, it will not be long before the NCAA could consider not sponsoring it because there is not enough apparent interest. Midwest schools NEED national widespread competition, not just in principle for the sport, but for self-preservation as well.

As such, why not enlist AD's at these schools to also exert pressure on the AD at Oregon via leverage to something that he needs: football and baskeball? They could come to him, and tell him they would refuse to schedule games against Oregon football and basketball, whom needs national competition against the top ranked programs in order to gain and maintain a high national ranking. In this way, they could say, we need wrestling competition for our Illinois wrestlers, and you need basketball and football game competition for your players at Oregon. If you take away your wrestlers from us in competition, then we will likewise refuse to schedule you against our basketball and football players.

The idea here is that it is not a local problem at Eugene, nor will the effects be local. It is a National Problem, and the Effects will be felt immediately and long term Nationally. It can affect everyone, and therefore, everyone should hold a stake of interest in the outcome, if nothing else than for self-preservation through helping out the common good of programs nationwide. This approach could build into an alliance, especially for the Big Ten Conference, whom is the primary wrestling conference. The Big Ten Conference as a whole, or simply a collection of Big Ten Schools, could say to either the PAC-10 and/or Oregon AD that Big Ten wont schedule football and basketball against PAC-10 schools or Oregon specifically if they drop wrestling. This sounds drastic, but would be the Big Ten recognizing the collective needs of ALL of their student athletes, and thus advocating for all of their best interests. If it went to the PAC_10, then Oregon AD would also feel big pressure from more local west coast PAC -10 schools, and it might even result in garnering support in other PAC-10 schools to reinstate new wrestling programs in places like USC and Cal.

Football and wrestling have forever shared common athletes and training from little leagues right up through NCAA competition of heavyweights who are dual sport athletes. Football should therefore see self-interest in maintaining wrestling programs that support developing their linemen and other skills in football players in high school and college ranks during their off seasons. Why Can't Football Help Us with their Leverage? Football can be convinced of this by identifying the trickle down effects of cutting wrestling programs nationwide. When they are cut, college opportunities decline for wrestlers in high school. This can decrease high school players participation or interest in continuing high school wrestling with college goals.

Yet, football coaches predominantly recognize that their players' off season wrestling training is a great cross training for their football programs, as their players athletic skill sets. If less of them wrestle, then less of them develop these skill sets which are beneficial for football. In this sense, their football players lose opportunities to cross train in very effective football training, especially for linemen, and their own sport, team, and athletes may suffer a big chunk of players who are dual-sport athletes. This of course in addition to the more general point that other sport teams should be interested in preserving the existence of other college athletic sports. This would not require any $$$ form football or basketball programs for this type of leverage, but simply require them to take a stand for student-athlete opportunities nationwide. They make no donation, but simply state that they will prefer to compete against schools that maintain equal opportunities for athletes of their respective schools to compete against.

I digress a bit, but the general idea is to rally support from creative and non-traditional methods. We are not isolated sports in the university setting. We are a collection of teams in athletic departments who all serve to offer students athletic and academic opportunities. We are in this together, instead of isolation from other sports. Oregon has interests of football and basketball, so use leverage towards their interests. If they want to be top ranked with the best competition faced in basketball and football, they need to face Ohio State in each to prove it. Penn State, Rutgers, NC State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State wrestlers likewise NEED to face national competition from top programs such as Oregon. Enlist the Ohio St. AD to use this leverage in the best interest of all of his departments teams and student athletes.

Tell KilKenny (Oregon AD) that Ohio State wont face them in one sport that Oregon needs available (football and basketball) unless Oregon keeps equal opportunities available for a sport that Ohio State needs available (wrestling). It is in everyones interest across the board, and therfore helps everyone. Maybe it could work, maybe it might not. But its something that is perhaps new, and perhaps effective when other methods might otherwise fall short. If could also work in general to prompt creating new programs in the SEC and PAC-10 where there are none or limited programs, but where football and basketball are very important.

Wrestling supportive AD's are VERY critical to making this overall effort in the best interest of ALL of their student athletes, and we should remind the AD's of this, and of their position to use this leverage to let the sport survive and ultimately expand. They have a Title IX mandate to keep opportunities for the students, and by doing these leverages, they are fulfilling their job title by keeping opportunities for their wrestling students. Ideas? OR is this just crazy that sports and programs would work together for the common good?