The changes with the ISU program made me think of how this impacts college wrestling as a whole.
Positive: Colleges/donors are investing in wrestling. This is not only at ISU, Arizona State seemed to make a huge investment to their program too. Ohio State and Penn State seem to have continued to grow there post-graduate freestyle clubs. A lot of other programs seem to be investing in regional training center, even small schools and schools that are not traditional wrestling powers.
This seems huge for wrestlers who want to continue wrestling after college. They have an opportunity to make a moderate income and do what they love to do. Those that are successful and want to coach have the chance to make significantly more money and there are more coaching jobs with the regional training centers.
Fear: Wrestling is a non-revenue sport with less than 80 Division-1 programs. Will the investments of the bigger schools with donors cause programs to rethink whether to keep investing in wrestling. A lot of schools will not be able to keep up with the arms race and there will be further distance between the haves and the have nots.
Other observations: Wrestling is an individual sport, so programs that may not be able to compete for the team title can still produce individuals that can be competitive nationally. I believe there were a few programs that had all-americans for the first time. This is important to keep the non-traditional powers investing in the sport.
I think this is an exciting time for wrestling. I think the coverage of ESPN and the money going into programs could bring the sport to a new level of exposure in the country. I think this is great for the short-term. My fear over time is that at some point colleges are going to feel like there is not a level playing field and may decide to drop their program. I hope I am wrong and the sport keeps growing.
Positive: Colleges/donors are investing in wrestling. This is not only at ISU, Arizona State seemed to make a huge investment to their program too. Ohio State and Penn State seem to have continued to grow there post-graduate freestyle clubs. A lot of other programs seem to be investing in regional training center, even small schools and schools that are not traditional wrestling powers.
This seems huge for wrestlers who want to continue wrestling after college. They have an opportunity to make a moderate income and do what they love to do. Those that are successful and want to coach have the chance to make significantly more money and there are more coaching jobs with the regional training centers.
Fear: Wrestling is a non-revenue sport with less than 80 Division-1 programs. Will the investments of the bigger schools with donors cause programs to rethink whether to keep investing in wrestling. A lot of schools will not be able to keep up with the arms race and there will be further distance between the haves and the have nots.
Other observations: Wrestling is an individual sport, so programs that may not be able to compete for the team title can still produce individuals that can be competitive nationally. I believe there were a few programs that had all-americans for the first time. This is important to keep the non-traditional powers investing in the sport.
I think this is an exciting time for wrestling. I think the coverage of ESPN and the money going into programs could bring the sport to a new level of exposure in the country. I think this is great for the short-term. My fear over time is that at some point colleges are going to feel like there is not a level playing field and may decide to drop their program. I hope I am wrong and the sport keeps growing.
