The life trajectories of Derek Moore, his coaching staff and team of California Baptist University wrestlers dramatically shifted Jan. 2. 

Everything flipped when California Baptist announced it would cut the wrestling, men’s golf, and men’s swim and dive programs after the 2025-26 season.

“This has been by far the hardest few days of coaching I have ever had in my life,” Moore, the CBU wrestling coach, said the week after the decision. “Just definitely heartbroken for my athletes and their families and the sport of wrestling in a whole as we continue to fight in an ever-changing landscape. My donors and supporters that have been behind us and this program, it has just been really tough.”

The school restructured its athletic programs, “in response to the evolving intercollegiate landscape,” as it prepares to compete as a full member in the Big West Conference beginning in July 2026, according to its website. CBU wrestling is a Big 12 affiliate.

“We have closely monitored the shifting landscape of intercollegiate athletics that has affected institutions across the nation,” CBU vice president for athletics Micah Parker said in a news release. “While we had hoped to continue offering our full slate of athletic programs in this new environment, it has become clear that changes are required to realize the university's goal of achieving greater competitive excellence that the new Division I era demands.”

As the school transitions to the Big West, Parker deemed the decision as “necessary to discontinue some athletic programs in order to offer remaining student-athletes and teams the best chance to succeed.”

“Considerable thought and prayer went into the decision,” Parker said. “We take seriously the responsibility of supporting our student-athletes, and we are committed to walking beside those impacted as they navigate next steps for their academic and athletic careers.”

The school cited “community impact, Title IX, the House settlement, and available resources and facilities,” as reasons behind the decision, according to its website.

The school will honor the athletes’ financial aid package if they remain at CBU or help those in the transfer process, according to its website.

“I think as a wrestling program in today’s landscape, every coach knows that there is a challenge on the horizon with NIL and with the need for money for revenue-generating sports,” Moore said. “However, for our program being the only one in the Big 12 and some of the conversations that we were having about the future, it wasn’t something that we saw coming.”

Moore was informed of the news in an annual budget meeting on Jan. 2 with Parker and CBU’s sports supervisors, he said.  The head men’s golf coach and head men’s swimming and diving coaches also attended. 

“When I walked in, all three of the head coaches were there, and they let us knew,” Moore said.

Moore immediately scheduled an impromptu meeting with his team.

The AD and sports supervisor also attended, Moore said.

“I talked with my team after that a bit about this and helped to answer their questions and kind of get an understanding of what this means and what this looks like for us,” Moore said.

The decision, in Moore’s understanding, remains final, but a crew of team alumni, parents and the wrestling community quickly rallied “to do everything they can to try to save this program,” he said.

"We’ve seen it happen in other programs, so I believe in my heart that God has a plan here,” Moore said. “Whatever that is, we are going to trust it.”

The Efforts To Keep CBU Wrestling 

CBU alum and three-time Division II All-American Nolan Kistler quickly rounded up a group of “nearly 100 alumni,” he said.

Kistler chairs the keepcbuwrestling.com organization in an effort to ensure future generations can earn the same opportunities he received, especially as a Riverside native in wrestling-rich California. 

“The fuel from our movement really comes from the realization or the acknowledgment that wrestling serves as this pipeline or lifeline for future generations for men and women for mentorship, discipline,” Kistler said. “Most importantly, the opportunities that we have here in California are already very slim in proportion to the talent we have and number of wrestlers in our state.”

Twenty million dollars must be raised for the program to become endowed, Kistler said. 

Kistler’s initiatives with keepcbuwrestling.com gathered more than $700,000 in pledges in the first six days after the website launched. 

“It sounds like a lot, but we are very confident we can get there,” Kistler said. 

Even then, a reversed decision isn’t guaranteed.

“They told the same thing to the Stanford athletes that there is no way we are changing our decision,” Kistler said. “Even if you raise the money, our decision stands. There is a certain playbook. From the institution’s perspective, you don’t want a lot of noise, you don’t want media, you just want people to take it lying down. We are not going to do that.”

Stanford reversed a decision to cut its wrestling program, and 10 other sports, in 2021, months after Shane Griffith won the 165-pound national title while wearing an all-black singlet and headgear.

“Even from a non-wrestling perspective, this is about Olympic sports and non-revenue sports that are highly targeted right now given the changes in NCAA and NIL,” Kistler said.

Kistler cited an NCAA statistic critical to the keepcbuwrestling movement that wrestling boasts the second-highest percentage (23%) of first-generation student-athletes. Football leads the pack. 

“I would argue that wrestling is the most opportunistic sport out of every other sport,” he said. “So, what we are doing when we cut a wrestling program is we are cutting opportunities at the highest degree.”

CBU bluntly answered questions about whether the decisions could be “appealed or reconsidered,” according to the school’s website.

“No,” the school wrote on a frequently asked questions page. “CBU’s vice president for athletics made this decision with the full support of university leadership. Given the current intercollegiate landscape, this decision is necessary to provide remaining student-athletes and teams with the best opportunities moving forward.”

The sports will also not be considered for club status, according to CBU’s website.

The decision won’t deter Kistler, Moore or anyone affiliated with CBU wrestling. 

T-shirts, with the proceeds directly sent to the fund, are available on keepcbuwrestling.com. 

The funds raised now are from the CBU and wrestling communities, Kistler said.

“That is not even counting massive donors that they haven’t really got involved yet, but they have already advised us they are willing to contribute," he said.