Several of us believe the time has arrived to start a Kansas College Wrestling Endowment fund. We all have an idea of how many wrestling programs have been lost over the last few decades. The recent announcement that perennial D-II wrestling powerhouse the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) was planning to drop its wrestling team has sent shockwaves thru the entire national wrestling community. Who would have thought that an university whose team that had just won its third national title in a row could be considering dropping its program?

If this could happen to such a program we all know any college wrestling program is vulnerable. We have seen it happen all to often over the years. Everytime a program drops we lose more opportunity for our young wrestlers to continue their wrestling in college and for some of them their chance at a college education that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

How do we combat this slow but steady erosion of college wrestling programs in our nation and for us especially in our own state of Kansas? Many of us believe that the wrestling community has to step up and financially support the current programs and to build an endowment fund that will give a level of current support to the Kansas college programs that are already in existence and to build the fund so it can also help fund future programs including a possible D-1 program at WSU, KSU or KU.

If this fund had started thirty years ago and it had been marketed well to the Kansas wrestling community and supported annually by the many wrestlers, parents, coaches, referees, fans and other interested parties of the Kansas wrestling community, we can all imagine how large this fund could be today and the level of support it could be providing to the current schools and who knows how many other programs could be in existence in Kansas today because of it.

I have been in contact with Mike Juby, Chairman of Board of Directors, USAW-KS and Sean McCarthy, former NCAA wrestler and STA club head coach, this week about the possibility of the USAW-KS organization being the adminstrator of this Kansas College Wrestling Endowment Fund. Mike Juby has expressed some interest in the USAW-KS becoming the adminstrator of such a fund. Mike has said that he would present it to the USAW-KS Board for approval for their organization to offer administrative support, their 501(c)(3) exemption for the purposes of accepting contributions to an endowment fund, management of investments, distributions of funds to the fund beneficiaries per the fund parameters, and reporting of results.

What Mike has asked of me is that we need parameters of the funds so the donors will know how, when and where the monies will be utilized and this will provide the blueprint for USAW Kansas to follow in managing the fund.

Mike has asked us to come up with a document on what the mission and function of the fund will be. Mike suggested that I also work with Sean McCarthy and any other interested parties in putting together a marketing plan to potential donors.

Once we present this plan to Mike Juby then he will present it to the Board of USAW-KS for approval. All that will need to be done before the fund could actually start accepting contributions.


So Do NOT Send Any Contributions to USAW-KS yet as this is not an official fund yet and needs USAW-KS Board approval first.

What we need from you now though is ideas on the plan that we need to come up with on the business plan of the fund with its mission statement, parameters of the fund for how the money will be used, marketing plan ideas, etc.

I will be meeting with Sean McCarthy (Smokeycabin on our forum) after Kids State to start this document if anyone would like to also join us in these planning meetings, please let us know.

Hopefully this will become a fund that will serve the Kansas wrestling community for decades to come. For it to become successful it is going to need the contined participation of all of us in the Kansas wrestling community. We will all need to support it with our contributions of money, talent and time for it to succeed.

We do not want to hear of an another announcement like UNO's last week for our Kansas colleges. We want to have more of our colleges announcing new programs like Bethany College made this year. Let's make our college wrestling colleges grow in Kansas!

You can send me private messages with ideas or interest in becoming part of the planning process. You could also post ideas on this topic.

Thank you.

I think this is an excellent idea. I will be glad to support your efforts in any way I can. Don't be caught off guard like UNO.

I dont believe UNO was caught off guard. Coach Denney told me several years ago that they were fully endowed. If i recall correctly he said they have the funds available to fund their scholarships from that fund. This is a great idea but may not be the "protect all" answer. Trev Alberts and his big ideas and promises to the Regents is the problem with the UNO situation.

Private Schools see wrestling as a profit center as those kids still pay a considerable amount to attend school there. The Athletic Departments at NCAA schools seem to see every dollar in scholarships as an expense despite the fact that most of the scholarshiped kids spend more than they receive and certainly more at that school than they would if they attended somewhere else.

I know i am getting off the point, This is a great idea to have a fund to help bail out programs in Kansas if they get in trouble.

It is correct that the UNO wrestling program raises a large portion of the funds required for the team. Trev Alberts has told several different stories about why he wants to drop the wrestling team - the Summit League doesn't have wrestling, the team would not be successful in D1, it costs too much to take the team to DI. He has also said it is not about money. Not all teams are as well funded as UNO is through hosting large open tournaments or booster donations. That is why I think this proposed fund to help Kansas Wrestling is a good idea.

Believe me UNO wrestling was caught off guard. There had been rumors for some time that they would eventually move to DI. Never was there a thought that in the move to DI that wrestling would be dropped. Of all UNO sports, wrestling is probably the best suited to achieve DI success in the shortest amount of time. If the decision is not financially based and UNO has experienced great success on the mat and in academics, why drop the team? I believe it is personal with Alberts. He is intimidated by the great respect Coach Denney enjoys within the university and the community. Alberts is all about himself and padding his resume for his next career move. It has been said he has his eye on the AD job in Lincoln when Tom Osborn retires. Also heard he was told he would not get that job coming from a DII AD position

Back to the topic at hand which is the Proposed Kansas Endowment - I am favor of protecting all wrestling opportunities in Kansas and elsewhere. It is easier to raise an endowment in advance of an urgent need. Money seems to be the excuse most programs use to drop a team.

Lou Ann:

I either read in the Omaha World Herald online or I heard it in a radio interview with Trev Alberts an explanation that expenses at the D-I level would be more of a factor for the UNO wrestling team especially to be a successful D-I team as they have been in D-II. I believe Alberts said that currently the UNO wrestling expenses are around $250,000. I believe he went on to say that the expenses for either the two Summit League schools with D-I wrestling teams or maybe it was the average D-I wrestling team expenses were approximately $500,000 and that the University of Nebraska in Lincoln had expenses of approximately $1,000,000 for their wrestling team.

I am still hoping that UNO will not drop the wrestling team. I would like to see them stay at the D-II wrestling level if that is possible with this change to the D-I Summit League for other sports.

I definitely believe if financial support is there that it is more likely for a college or university to maintain wrestling program or start a new one. For example if Warren Buffett decided to donate ten million or so to fully fund a D-1 wrestling program that could be competitive at that level and would also take care of a woman's sport to meet the Title IX requirements, I would bet that it would be a given that Trev Alberts would recommend accepting that deal.

Here is another article that was posted on the national forum that is about the endowment concept with individual teams:

Endowment is an answer for college wrestling woes
Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
12/17/2002

In today’s climate of Title IX cuts and the college sports financial crunch, it is with great joy that I post good news from college wrestling programs. The most positive announcement that can be made is that a college wrestling team has developed an endowment. An endowment, no matter how large, makes wrestling a more attractive choice within a college sports program. When alumni and wrestling supporters place endowed money behind a college program, it makes it much more secure in an insecure world. The most recent announcement came from a college that does not win NCAA team or individual titles, but has a long and rich wrestling tradition. Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania will celebrate a $1 million endowment for the program later this winter. Alumni and wrestling supporters came together and raised money to honor a former coaching legend, W. Roy Phillips. Those involved felt that nothing would better honor Phillips than making the F&M program financially secure in the future. I remember a conversation I had at last year’s NCAA Div. I National Championships with Bill Lam, the longtime coach at the Univ. of North Carolina. Lam was explaining how the proudest achievement of his long career was the development of an endowment for the Tar Heel program. He said that he could now retire from coaching knowing that UNC would always keep wrestling on its athletic program. Lam is hanging it up this year and passing the baton to one of his great champions, C.D. Mock. Mock will be able to continue to create UNC wrestling stars, the future T.J Jaworskis and Rob Kolls. I have also heard from coach Greg Strobel about the amazing support for Lehigh wrestling by its alumni. A few years ago, Lehigh supporters created an endowment to pay the salaries of the head coach and the assistant coach at Lehigh into the future. This program is so secure, that even the paycheck for the coaches is now guaranteed. It would be nice to know just how many of today’s 300 college programs have been endowed, and how many have reached the status of “fully endowed.” It sounds like a great project for the National Wrestling Coaches Association sometime in the future (after they win their Title IX lawsuit). Knowledge is power, and it would be nice to know how much of college wrestling is currently backed by financial support. It seems to me that endowment must be done before a program is in danger. Those that understand Title IX must believe that every current program is in danger under the current rules. It would make sense that every college team, regardless of division, should immediately undertake a campaign for endowment. We have gone from over 750 college wrestling teams to just over 300 squads, a 60% loss of opportunity for our current wrestlers. Considering how few programs are now available for the 1/4 million American high school wrestlers, we need to realize how precious each of our existing programs are. Every single barrier we can place in the way of colleges cutting wrestling should be erected, as soon as possible. Just because you can raise money doesn’t mean a university will take it. Remember how Bucknell University turned down a $1/2 million gift from a wrestling alumnus to save its wrestling team? The university had gone through the process of cutting the program for Title IX purposes, and decided to turn down the money rather than face the numbers problem caused by keeping the team. For those attempting to defend the Title IX quota, this is an example that finances are not the only problem in college athletics. A great example of how to save a wrestling program comes from Princeton, where alumni leaders stepped up and raised millions of dollars to keep the program after it was announced to be dropped. Leaders such as Clay McEldowney reached out to former Princeton wrestlers and they came up with the funds to save wrestling. This past year, a Princeton wrestler made the finals of the NCAA Championships, something unthinkable during the years of battle for the team’s survival. One of the interesting aspects of this success story was how much work had to be done to get Princeton to agree to accept the alumni money and keep the team. Now, what if Bucknell had already established the endowment for wrestling, rather than trying to rally for support once the program was placed on the chopping block? Perhaps we would still have varsity wrestling on that campus. Maybe not. But is there any reason we should wait as a wrestling community for the axe to come for our college programs? Some people get very upset that wrestlers are forced to fundraise, while other programs (including women’s sports) can exist without supporting itself. Morally, this certainly is not right, but the reality of life says that we can’t get too hung up on this truth. If we are willing to do the work, and a university is willing to let us, perhaps we should “do whatever it takes” to maintain our college wrestling tradition. This would be something that we leave as a legacy for the future, a gift for the next generation of young wrestlers. Some college programs help secure their future using the “brick and mortar” method. Cornell University wrestling has a tremendous wrestling facility on campus supported by alumni leadership. Down at Lehigh, wrestling people were involved in the renovation of famous Grace Hall, the site of so much college wrestling history. Buildings alone don’t always do the trick. At American University, a major alumni leader donated the construction of an impressive wrestling room on campus. This generous gift did not stop the school last year from deciding to evaluate the wrestling program, with a possibility of dropping the team. Credit goes to that same leader, as well as an active team of alumni and supporters, who stepped up to save the team. Now American has made a stronger commitment to wrestling, with a talented coach and an ambitious plan for building a winning team. Another lesson from the Princeton program is that this must be done by alumni leaders, not coaches. Certainly coaches can work hard to motivate the alumni to build a bond with the current team. However, when the endowment leadership comes from alumni, it carries more weight with the administration. It is especially helpful when prominent alumni threaten to pull future support in other areas of the college if their favorite sports team is not supported. This will be more difficult at smaller colleges and state colleges, which may not have as many financially successful alumni. In addition, some schools do not have many decades of alumni to pull from. However, even at these places, an endowment program makes sense and sends a strong message to campus athletic directors and presidents. Later this year, Columbia University will hold a celebration of its 100 years of college wrestling. Columbia has survived and thrived with the support of generous alumni, who have provided support to wrestling. While not the most successful of the Ivy League wrestling programs, Columbia has provided a rich tradition for wrestling and has impacted the lives of thousands of young men. Building on that strong base, Columbia is now showing great improvement on the mat, as well. If we are going to celebrate more 100-year birthday parties for college wrestling teams during the new century, the creation of an endowment program will certainly play an important role. The first step to saving college wrestling for the future comes from the “entrenchment” of those valuable programs we still have.

THE TIME IS NOW GUYS and GALS. MORE LATER

If every wrestling club (200 plus), every high school wrestling team (200-300), and the colleges were to get at least 1 business to donate $250 (bronze level, $500 (silver level) and over $500 (gold level). Each College could try to get 5 to 10 businesses. This would be a true grass roots effort in developing this fund. $1 entry fee at every event held in Kansas in kids, high school, and college events, spring and summer wrestling. Some areas of the state are going to have more success raising business funds.
Statewide there are 75,000 private sector businesses - Sedgwick county accounts for 12,000 businesses and Johnson County accounts for 15,000 businesses. So over 1/3 of the states businesses are in 2 counties. This does not include business owners who live in the state and have kids wrestling in the state - but own businesses outside of the state. A draft proposal is being put together. It is going to take a joint effort - with the ultimate goal of giving more kids in Kansas an opportuity to get a college education in state.