Task Force Media Notes, April 30

TASK FORCE MEDIA NOTES
VOL. 3, NO. 7 (April 26, 1999)
This is part of a series of regular reports
to update, inform, educate and stimulate public discussion

SPRING SLAUGHTER BRINGS ELIMINATION OF TOO MANY MEN'S SPORTS TEAMS

It has become a perverse ritual of spring. All across the nation, come March, April and May, college athletic departments announce their decision to drop men's sports programs in the name of Title IX and budget challenges. It has become so predictable that once the college winter sports season ends, all you have to do is keep an eye on the Associated Press Transactions column, and you can keep score of all the lost opportunities.

On March 31, the University of New Mexico announced it would drop men's gymnastics, swimming and wrestling. On April 1, Brigham Young University announced a "phase out" of its men's gymnastics and wrestling teams. On April 4, Mansfield University released that it would "discontinue" wrestling. On April 16, the trustees at Miami of Ohio voted unanimously to eliminate their men's wrestling, soccer and tennis teams.

For those involved in wrestling, this is especially painful, as college administrators have often targeted the sport as part of their slashing. There are many reasons that wrestling is often a victim, one being that there is not yet a matching women's program for the sport on the college level. However, at three of the four institutions noted above, more than one men's programs were wiped out at the same time. This is not a wrestling problem - it is a wholesale dumping of male opportunity, caused by an overbearing quota system.

Every case is different, based upon the individual situation on each campus. We will take a quick look at each of these noted cases, especially in regards to the wrestling programs. It is important to remember that these are not the only four colleges to cut teams in recent weeks, and the odds indicate that more will be sacrificed in upcoming weeks.

NEW MEXICO CUTS THREE MEN'S TEAMS FOR BUDGET AND TITLE IX REASONS

The reasons that the University of New Mexico said that it was eliminating men's gymnastics, swimming and wrestling were a lack of resources to support 24 teams, as well as a "responsibility to achieve compliance with Title IX." The press release also cited a condition of membership in the new Mountain West Conference to maintain programs"that are regionally and nationally competitive."

Let's take a closer look at this situation. The elimination of the three sports will save just $175,000 from their $13.7 million budget, a 1.3% savings. Clearly, the financial savings are relatively insignificant in the overall picture, and could have been achieved in other ways than axing teams. Therefore, the discontinuation of the sports only assists the athletic department by bringing its gender head-count closer to the proportionality quota. There are no new opportunities for women mentioned as part of the plan.

The decision of the new Mountain West Conference not to include wrestling as a conference sport has given New Mexico and other former WAC teams an excuse to eliminate wrestling on their campus. Wrestling certainly could have been "regionally and nationally competitive" if New Mexico had decided to make it a priority. The fact that long-time wrestling coach Bill Dotson was approaching retirement may also have been a factor.

"This is a very painful, but necessary, decision," said athletic director Rudy Davalos. He is right that it is painful. We disagree that it was necessary. A more creative solution for this challenge could have been pursued, including fundraising and shared budget cuts.

Consider this quote by Mike Hall, the associate sports editor for the Albuquerque Journal:

* "Sports cuts? Fact is, Title IX has become a Catch-22 for universities across the country. In order to balance budgets, athletic departments are not adding women's sports, they're cutting men's. Obviously, that was not the idea behind Title IX, but it has become the reality."

Wrestling and gymnastics do not have a matching women's sport at New Mexico. Swimming was for both men and women, but will now be "women only" in the athletic department. The coach, who led both teams, will now only coach women, and the pool, which was used for both teams, will be utilized only by women.

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY AXES WRESTLING AND GYMNASTICS TEAMS, BLAMING TRENDS

Brigham Young University, the nationally respected institution affiliated with the Mormon Church, announced that it would "phase out" the men's gymnastics and wrestling teams at the end of the 1999-2000 school year. Part of the blame was that BYU, another member of the new Mountain West Conference, used the new conference as a way to justify the cuts.

BYU Advancement Vice President K. Fred Skousen gave this excuse for the action: "Across the country, fewer schools are sponsoring men's gymnastics and wrestling teams. This trend is particularly apparent in our new Mountain West Conference, where even before BYU's decision there were not enough teams in wrestling and men's gymnastics to conduct an NCAA qualifying conference championship."

This is a perfect example of blaming the victim for the crime. Certainly, wrestling has seen a reduction of college teams in recent years, fueled by outside forces including proportionality quotas. On the youth and high school levels, however, wrestling continues to grow. It is only on the college level, where administrators like Skousen take the easiest way out and eliminate opportunities, that wrestling is reducing.

The decision to cut wrestling at BYU is especially painful to the sport, as the athletic director Rondo Fehlberg is a former all-American wrestler for BYU. In addition, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, is also reportedly a former wrestler. If wrestling can get cut at Brigham Young, is it safe anywhere?

Skousen claims "this has been a very difficult decision, but one that has to be made." Once again, the question must be asked again - Why weren't other options pursued before opportunities were destroyed? At BYU, at least supporters of wrestling and gymnastics have one more year to battle against this unfortunate decision. As long as there is still a chance, perhaps the decision can be reversed. It is very difficult for a university to admit it made a mistake, but there is hope that reason can prevail in this situation.

MANSFIELD DROPS WRESTLING TEAM, REWARDING RETIRING COACH WITH A LOST PROGRAM

Mansfield University, in wrestling-rich Pennsylvania, announced that it has discontinued its wrestling team. The main explanation for this action had to do with "the ability to provide the financial support needed... for wrestling to be a competitive sport in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC)."

Mansfield is one of 14 schools in the PSAC. The university indicated that since three other PSAC teams no longer have wrestling, that it justifies its dropping the team. In addition, since eight of the PSAC teams are in Div. I, Mansfield, one of the three Div. II teams in the conference, had justification to eliminate the sport.

Another factor in the decision may have been the retirement of head coach Hank Shaw, who ran the wrestling program for 30 years. Certainly, dropping the team was a heck of a retirement gift from the university to its long-time employee. The tragedy is that the wrestling program has a long history, with teams sponsored from 1929-42 and from 1963-99. After 54 years, the program certainly deserved better treatment. Even though the 1999 team had a 1-10 record and was 10th in the PSAC Tournament, a new coach should have been given a chance to put new life in a traditionally-rich sports program.

"We are disappointed anytime a sport has to be eliminated," said Mansfield athletic director Roger Maisner. Why do these bureaucrats all sound the same when trying to justify a bad decision?

MIAMI OF OHIO VOTES TO ELIMINATE WRESTLING, SOCCER AND TENNIS, SAVING ONLY GOLF

The long-awaited decision by the trustees at Miami of Ohio about the fate of four sports teams came down on April 16, and the news was not good. The trustees voted unanimously to eliminate wrestling, soccer and tennis, with just golf surviving the cuts.

The university set a deadline for supporters of the teams to raise $13 million in less than two months, a completely unreasonable request. In spite of an impressive $3.4 million in pledges to the university in that short time, the university decided to go forward with its plans to wipe out three of the four sports.

Golf was spared for a few obvious reasons. Golf supporters raised the most money, over $500,000. In addition, the golf team has just 11 team members, which will have a minimal impact financially and in terms of the gender quota that Miami is aiming to achieve.

This situation has received national attention, and could put some needed spotlight on the plight of men's sports on the college level. It should concern people that immediately after the university decided to consider cutting the four teams due to financial problems, the women's precision skating team went on two competition trips to EUROPE!!! Certainly, something is remiss in this situation.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, "Athletic Director Joel Maturi said it is time to move on to other pressing matters." However, it would be unrealistic to expect this situation to go away, just because of the trustees vote and because Maturi wants it to.

At the trustees meeting, the wrestling supporters presented a proposal to raise enough private funds to endow the wrestling team. The trustees chose to reject the proposal as too vague and too late. Given some more time, the wrestling group may still be able to put together a plan which could lead to reinstatement. More likely, the wrestling team, and perhaps the other two teams, are expected to take the decision to court, suing for the right to compete at Miami. No matter what happens, the university can expect this controversial decision to continue to plague the campus for a long time.

WRESTLING IS NOT DYING!!! COLLEGE ADMINISTRATORS ARE SMOTHERING THE SPORT

Among the excuses given when a college drops wrestling is that the sport is declining. College bureaucrats can not be allowed to use this deceptive misinformation as the reason for dropping a wrestling team. In fact, the truth is that wrestling continues to be popular all over the United States. However, years of college administrators using this lame public relations ploy to divert attention from the true reasons for dropping wrestling teams is creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Statistics do not lie. The number of college wrestling teams has certainly decreased. According to information in the 1999 NCAA Wrestling Championships media guide, there were 374 NCAA college wrestling teams in 1979-80, and just 243 wrestling teams in the 1998-99 season. This indicates a loss of 131 teams in the NCAA in 20 years, or 6.5 teams a season. The real number is certainly higher, since the number of schools affiliated with the NCAA has risen during the 20-year period.

The same statistics chart indicates that wrestling is ranked 11th out of 19 men's sports in terms of NCAA schools sponsoring the sport. This shows no correlation to the interest in wrestling on the high school level, which is ranked No. 6 in the number of boys competitors and No. 8 in the number of boys teams.

The same booklet indicates that wrestling is ranked No. 3, and one of just five sports, that turns a profit with its Div. I Championships. In 1997-98, the NCAA Wrestling Championships turned a neat $111,463 profit for the NCAA, with only basketball and ice hockey making more money from their championships. It is interesting to note that none of the 13 women's championships made a profit, and the women's basketball tournament lost a cool $5,168,499.

High school statistics show that wrestling continues to grow. The number of wrestling participants and teams on the high school level has grown for four straight years, with an impressive 8,900 teams and 229,176 athletes in the 1997-98 year. More girls are also participating each year, up to 1,900 in 1997-98.

USA Wrestling, the national governing body for wrestling in the United States, has been growing steadily. In the 1990's alone, USA Wrestling has grown dramatically, from 111,480 members in 1990 to 142,163 in 1997. Other youth sports organizations that sponsor wrestling are also reporting a growth in their membership.

So, why are there fewer college wrestling teams? A short explanation could explore the possibility that due to pressures caused by Title IX quotas and increased costs of athletic departments, colleges no longer feel the responsibility to reflect the sports interests and needs of their communities.

Why would colleges in the Great Plains and in the Desert Southwest start women's crew teams, when there is a lack of bodies of water and few if any high school crew teams? At the same time, why would a wrestling-rich state like Florida, which has 7,144 prep wrestlers, have ZERO college wrestling teams?

The combined decisions of college administrators have fueled the decline of wrestling on the college level. They created a situation where athletes in a popular sport like wrestling are having many fewer opportunities to compete in college. There are nine entire states with no two- or four-year colleges offering wrestling today. Rather than blame the sport, administrators should look in the mirror to place blame.

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