(01-02-2020 05:45 PM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(01-02-2020 04:34 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  This got way too long....

This topic comes up every so often, so I thought I would revisit it. If ever there was an opportune time for UT to consider a D-I wrestling program, now would be that time. The MAC currently has 15 members, (most are affiliate members for wrestling only), but the MAC will likely provide close to the 3rd most wrestlers in the NCAA tourney in 2020

Also to consider is the fact that many very talented wrestlers are ending up without full scholarships (that is usually the case unless the wrestler is in the category of "5-star blue chipper, can't miss, junior Olympian caliber" (you get the idea). Teams can only offer 9.9 scholarships (not joking) - on a roster of 10 weight classes. That means back-ups and starters alike are only on partial scholarships. We could offer the second tier blue chippers full rides to get them to UT. Or we could easily fill a team just from transfers where guys are sitting out behind a newly recruited 5-star, blue chipper.... You do see a lot of guys going to the high academic schools in the East or to the military academies. More on that and the cost they take on as a separate topic.

Also consider that the recruiting reach does not need to be that far. So far, 42 Ohio high school wrestlers have committed to wrestle in college at predominantly D-I schools. Pa. has 63, Illinois 22, Michigan 15, Iowa 14, Indiana 10. That's 166 wrestlers going to college to wrestle within a radius of about 400 miles. Compare that to New Jersey 28, Calif. 23, New York 12, Florida 11, Missouri 11, (85 in total with no other states having more than 10). From a recruiting standpoint, we are pretty much in the center of the hotbed of wrestling. Toledo used to be considered one of the centers of international wrestling thanks to Scalzo, Torio, Wilson, Wojo, and others. There were a total of 17 World Cup tourneys held in Toledo at the Field House and Centennial Hall (prior to renaming to Savage). None since 1991, about the same time as Title IX hit and UT dropped wrestling. (Final season was 1993 or '94).

Toledo has also had NCAA finalists 7 times, and won the NCAA title 2 times (Wojo and Lanzi) Dick Wilson finished 2nd an incredible 3 times, and lost the title one of those years on the now defunct referee's criteria (a subjective measure by the ref as to who was the most aggressive of the two wrestlers in a tied match after overtime). Toledo also has had 22 All-Americans over the years, many coming from the Toledo area. 18 of those All-Americans finished in the top 4. No other sport at Toledo has had that level of success.

There are sports that probably should be dropped, simply because UT has never proven to be competitive in them - and likely that cost more money than wrestling.

Why not take this into consideration now? It seems the MAC is taking very positive steps to launch the conference further into one of the Top 3 to 5 conferences in the country. Why should Toledo not be among those teams? Under the new alignment with 15 teams, the MAC would have sent 48 wrestlers to the NCAA championships last year - that would be 4th most in the nation behind Big 10 (14 teams for 89 total), Big 12 (12 teams for 61 total), and the EIWA (17 teams for 54 total).

There is also a head coach consideration that would be a great fit for UT - Ross Thatcher. Not sure how viable it would be, but it is possible he would be interested. He would have an immediate impact on recruiting high caliber wrestlers to UT. He was a 2x state champ. in Ohio, wrestled in college at Penn State, wrestled internationally, and was an assistant at OSU when they won the NCAA title in 2015. My nephew's son wrestled for him in a couple of tourneys in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and had some practices with him at the ORTC in Columbus. His draw would not only be in Ohio, but also Pa. - and that would be the "honeypot" for recruiting. Of the 330 qualifiers for the 2019 NCAA tournament, 40% (128 wrestlers) came from Pa, Ohio, Mich., Indiana, and Illinois alone. New Jersey and New York are not that far away, and if those were added in, along with neighboring Kentucky's 2 qualifiers you would have 51.5% of all qualifiers from those 8 states alone.

Something to think about...

Would love to see it, but we would have to add a women's sport, build facilities and pay for it. For a school that is losing money in athletics already, not sure how you do it. If it was going to happen, baseball would have been dropped when the coach was fired. Now there's a dud of a sport. Not one MAC championship in over 60 years!

I was thinking more along the lines of dropping baseball than adding another women's sport. I do think there is somewhat of a resurgence in wrestling because of the interest in MMA. A few universities have added wrestling after being away from it for a many years. No facilities needed. Wrestling only needs mats and can use any of a number of already existing facilities. Keep in mind, UT has had wrestling as a club sport for many years. Have had a three time champ and finished 8th out of 77 teams in the national duals last year. Organization is called NCWA (National Collegiate Wrestling Association). So however that is being funded, would only require slightly more to move from the "club association" up to D-I. Traveling costs would likely increase and would have to pay more for coaching, but it is not an expensive sport. Scholarships are essentially a non-cash cost even if recorded as an athletic expense. Singlets and shoes are relatively cheap as far as equipment goes. Practice equipment would consist of old singlets, shorts, t-shirts, and old shoes. Add a varsity team at the D-I level and wrestlers will be busting the door down to get a shot to be on the team. Competing in the MAC would be an incentive for top level wrestlers not quite at the elite college level, but still want to compete and have a shot at the NCAA tourney every year.

To be progressive in the sport, could also field a women's team. There is a female on the UT club team that finished 2nd in the nation in the 19U Nuway tournament (female division). This is a growing sport for women and the US is one of the top teams in the world - probably second only to Japan. I believe women only have 6 or 7 weight classes.
Why not?

This is a very aggressive view of what could happen - but why not try to envision it first and see what is possible?