Playing Devil's Advocate: Is it time to drop wrestling?

**CycloneErik** · 11-09-2011, 07:32 AM

Originally Posted by cowgirl836

Disclaimer: I know very, very little about our (or any other wrestling program beyond the facts of Cael Sanderson, and we seemed to pretty much have been the school to beat at some point.

With that said, where would you suggest we re-direct those funds? Our powerhouse football team? Our perennial favorite men's basketball team?

And someone can feel free to correct me, but didn't we just land a big-time recruit? To me that says the program is rebuilding vs. dying.

We did. I think the OP's argument wasn't that ISU wrestling is dying, but wrestling as a sport overall.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't a more serious discussion in a few years. That might be 10-20, but there might come a time when holding onto wrestling is just holding on to something that nobody else is bothering with anymore.

**Clone9** · 11-09-2011, 07:38 AM

I guess Texas should have dropped football after last season when they were 5-7.

I don't even like wrestling and I think this is one of the dumbest ideas ever.

**dundermifflin** · 11-09-2011, 07:45 AM

with the funds... bring back baseball

I am one of the few that will probably never go to a wrestling match but would attend a number of baseball games.

**skibumspe** · 11-09-2011, 07:47 AM

Drop the sport? You sir, are an idiot! Either learn about WHY the sport will remain at ISU for many years to come or STOP POSTING!!

OK, so let's have some fun w/this, since the thread has been started.

Given the OP's line of thought, since the wrestling team is a 'shadow of itself' and no longer a dominant force on the national scene (the same could be said for MBB, correct?) we should instantly 'cut our losses' and throw the money to other sports.

However, we've recently won the conference tournament & been a top 5 team nationally w/in the past five years. The cupboard was left bare after Cael's departure & the new staff has had to not only deal w/filling the room but also a slew of other complications (i.e. injuries, departures, miscreants, etc), which will set any school's program back even further.

If we want to look at relevancy on a national stage, football is probably right in line w/the golf team when it comes to respect, tradition & national importance. Thus, we should also kill our revenue generating sport (football) since we can't really compete w/any of the power schools, have no tradition & will never win a national title.

Maybe I'm mistaken but seems like the same sort of logic....challenge everyone to support what KJ, his staff & the wrestlers are working towards - much like everyone is doing w/Freddy or CPR, neither of which are dominating but I certainly believe they have a plan in place & will be successful very soon (more-so than they already have been).

As someone kneegusto pointed out, we need to make the sport self sufficient & it is a very realistic possibility, it just takes lots & lots of small time donors, so....pony up the $50 for an annual membership in the CWC, then, next year, double it (it's $100 for crying out loud), then double again, etc until you feel you can't double it any more. It doesn't seem like much but getting lots of little donations adds up fast.

Here's the link for joining the CWC as well as a link to the CWC's front page (for those completely unable to navigate from one page to another w/out frustration)

Join the Club

Cyclone Wrestling Club

FYI - most of the 'no-name' schools are (and have been) quite dominant on certain levels over the past years. You probably don't recognize their names b/c you have no idea what you're talking about....just saying.

**skibumspe** · 11-09-2011, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by cyclonestate

We killed men's gymnastics after having won a national championship (I think).

Correct. Iowa State was no slouch in gymnastics but money always becomes an issue & Title IX played a major part as well.

**Bigman38** · 11-09-2011, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by Tank

It didn't stop a school like the University of Nebraska at Omaha...

True, but we JP is a million times better at his job than that idiot Trev Alberts.

**drlove** · 11-09-2011, 08:04 AM

"you don't cut a program that you are a traditional Top 10 team. "

Try telling this to UCLA's Men's Swim Program that had produced 16 Olympic Gold Medalists and 41 national champions as well as a NCAA team title.

I'm not saying it should happen, but these things can and do happen.

**Cyclones_R_GR8** · 11-09-2011, 08:04 AM

Anti bacon billboards in Des Moines, talk of dropping wrestling at ISU. if those aren't signs of the "End of Days", I don't know what is.

**jay moe** · 11-09-2011, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by ruxCYtable

Schools are dropping the sport left and right and it seems to me ISU has only kept the program because of tradition. Now, that tradition is gone.

ISU is off to an 0-2 start this year and unranked. A litany of no-name colleges are now ranked ahead of ISU in the polls: Lehigh, Cornell, American, Wyoming, Hofstra, Central Michigan, Penn, and mighty Edinboro.

The past is the past. Our once great program is a mere shadow of its former self. Perhaps it is time to follow the lead of many others, drop this dying sport and direct the funds elsewhere.

You really don't know anything about wrestling do you? None of those programs are no-names in the world of college wrestling.

**ribsnwhiskey** · 11-09-2011, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by NobodyBeatsCy

Wrestling is a part of ISU's heritage and history. You crazy

Baseball was the oldest sport at ISU. Heritage and history are meaningless.

**NobodyBeatsCy** · 11-09-2011, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by ribsnwhiskey

Baseball was the oldest sport at ISU. Heritage and history are meaningless.

And apples are nearly the same as oranges, but not quite.

**cybsball20** · 11-09-2011, 08:20 AM

I am in no way saying to drop Wrestliing, but you guys are being far too hard on the OP. I can see what he is saying, wrestling is a dying sport, how many colleges even sponsor it at the D1 level? How many in our own conference? Wrestling also has one of the highest operating budgets in the department. As for you guys getting on him about the no-name argument, I think you could all agree that those are no-name schools... they just may be traditional wrestling schools... In the end, I see Iowa State being one of the final ten schools to offer Wrestling...

**bostrem00** · 11-09-2011, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by cybsball20

I am in no way saying to drop Wrestliing, but you guys are being far too hard on the OP. I can see what he is saying, wrestling is a dying sport, how many colleges even sponsor it at the D1 level? How many in our own conference? Wrestling also has one of the highest operating budgets in the department. As for you guys getting on him about the no-name argument, I think you could all agree that those are no-name schools... they just may be traditional wrestling schools... In the end, I see Iowa State being one of the final ten schools to offer Wrestling...

I'd even go so far as the one of the final 5.....Oklahoma State, Iowa, Iowa State, Penn State, and Oklahoma IMO...

**CtownCyclone** · 11-09-2011, 08:30 AM

Has anybody read the SI article regarding paying college athletes? Interesting read (I don't agree with much of it) in which, among other things, a "Free Market" approach is taken which basically calls for the non-revenue sports to die off unless major donors are found or relegating them to club status.

The mission of our universities is to educate, but college - 11.07.11 - SI Vault

The Free Market Plan? - 11.07.11 - SI Vault