It's obvious that Kansas has some DI wrestling talent, but we have no DI program. This thread is for people to post legitimate ideas on what it would take to get a DI program to one of our colleges.

You might as well save the "We have to get rid of Title IX" comments. It's here, and it is probably here to stay. Let's not make excuses, but come up with solutions.

I know Roy Oeser once formulated a plan that would have been financially feasable for WSU to add wrestling. What else is out there?

Finally, let's not forget to support the college programs we currently have. Newman, FHSU, Labette, Colby, and Neosho are good programs. Maybe if we did a better job of supporting them, our bigger schools would see the support and consider adding a program.

Have a good one,
Coach Jilka

A good way to keep a wrestling team from being swallowed up and and then spit out by Title IX is also have a womens team at the same institution. I am pro womens wrestling and believe it can help save our sport at the college level. That is one idea for us to chew on!

Has anyone looked in-depth at the new, "common-sense reform" to Title IX? I have only skimmed it, but what I came away with is that you only have to meet one prong of the three-pronged test. The key one appeared to me to have to do with a current club sport with enough interest and participation to support a varsity team (isn't this true at both KU and K-State?), and an interest survey of some kind. They also referenced a link to an interest survey that can be used as a model.

If these surveys were done and found positive results, couldn't that and the existence of an active wrestling club allow our two Big XII universities to seriously consider adding teams? There is obviously more than adequate support from the wrestling community in the state of Kansas, and we have the statistics to back it up as evidenced by our showings from kids to high school this past weekend.

Coach Jilka,

Something of Title IX does need to be brought up, but not as a negative but a positive! With the recent reforms in Title IX now allowing an "interest survey" in order to get an idea as to establish opportunities on the college level or not, why don't we try to create a 3-5 question simple survey to establish a program for men's wrestling and a women's sport as well?

Now the idea of women's wrestling doesn't sound bad, but frankly I don't think many schools are going to invest in the idea in our ultra conservative state, when we can't even get a DI men's program. I think our best targets for getting DI wrestling in the state are in the following order:

1. Kansas State- has had several All Americans on the club level and has had several quality wrestlers produced out of surrounding communities. Kstate lacks two sports that I think complement each other (when it comes to #s of players) and that is Women's Softball and Men's Wrestling.

2. Kansas University- they send at least 1 or 2 guys to Nationals each year, but don't seem as willing to travel as the KSU guys. (lack of funds perhaps/have to work?) What ever the case they do have a club team which is a step above the #3 school.

3. Wichita State- Now I was really wanting to put them in at #2 but they don't even have a club team established which is nuts to me! With all of the local high schools in the area, I'm sure someone would open their doors and allow a Shocker Wrestling Club to practice a few nights out of the week.

Wichita has a lot going for it in the the fact you have so many schools right in the area, plus WSU doesn't have football anymore, so in my opinion it would be more cost effective than say resurrecting football at that program.

Another thing that would be great for Wichita is the competitive recruiting and possible wrestling rivalry that would go on between WSU and Newman. I know some people would say DI would easily do better than NAIA Newman, but not so fast...there are a lot of DI teams that year in and year out are not on the same tier as the elite DIs and have a pretty good rivalry with "smaller schools".

That's my 2 cents from a soon to be old guy!

Until I see the Title IX reforms for myself I will believe they are pipe dreams and lies. For now, WSU is the only option and a good one. I think with a gift of say 100K you will get a wrestling program at WSU. I'm not sure you would even need to add a womans program of any kind in order to get this done. One hundred thousand may sound like a lot, but if we could get Kansas Kids to contribute a healthy donation the private sector would follow.

If someone is serious about getting a survey together, I would be more than happy to put it on an electronic survey program I use. The beauty of this program is that the survey is taken on-line and the results are tabulated automatically. Contact me if anyone is seriously interested about this.

khm8795@yahoo.com

An idea is to use Title IX as an advantage. I am not an expert on Title IX but don't dismiss the idea of adding a women's wrestling program the same time as a men's. Having said that here's an approach that I mentioned in a different posting...

Grassroots approach:

I lived in Hawaii for 3 years. A lot (maybe all, I am not sure) of the high schools had their own girls wrestling teams. They had their on dual, tournaments, etc. The state tournament was a combined boys and girls state. The girls had their dedicated mats and wrestled other girls. The boys had their own.

An idea is to start some high school girls programs in order to support the current girls that wrestle and also increase the number of girls.

Once you accomplish that you would have a better chance to maybe get a boys and girls program started at one of the colleges.

Thoughts???

You need a Athletic Director and University President in favor of it. Also the Board of Regents would be a good place to start. Who do we hammer on when a program is about to be dropped.
It is the people above who meet in committee meetings and set agendas. So if you have any friends of the Kansas University System - Take them to dinner and have a solid proposal. As far as the money - the $100K gift would have to be annually - most likely. There would have to be some booster club just for wrestling at that school. The school would need to make a 5 to 10 year committment to the program - in order to get a coaching staff (head coach under contract) interested.

By the way, I have been involved with two College programs that were dropped. They are awful hard to save. I would think it will be equally tough reinstating a program - if not more difficult. A march on the Capital before next years kids state tournament might not be a bad idea.

One more thing. Maybe form a not-for-profit group called Friends for College Wrestling in Kansas.
You'll need a wrestling attorney for that.

Ryan Jilka,

Best thread started in a long time. I hope this gets 400 ideas.

AGREED

Someone need to get the balls and propse this to Donald Beggs...We 2 sheets full of signitures..one sheet full of patitioners (sp) willing to donate money and the other full of wrestlers willing wrestle for the club...if it is succesfull...mabey in a couple of years we could propose adding wrestling to the athletics. We would most likley need an A$$ load of signitures and propbolly a sponser....this is the best post ive seen in a LONG time

I did an interview a while back and Coach Stovall and he told me about his efforts to start wrestling at Wichita State. The idea fell on deaf ears even though he had done the work to show them the money they could eventually make and the cost effectiveness of the program. I don't know if the issue is as much being able to show the feasibility of a program, as it is the lack of willingness on the WSU part of the equation. Coach Stovall could probably speak on this in far more detail as he has the experience of presenting a wrestling program to WSU prior to his effort to start one up at Newman.

Link to article and initial thread - http://www.usawks.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000264#000002

If anything, I think Newman might start a trend should it really hit it off and do well. The thing that's appealing for Newman is the fact it's in the heart of Wichita and can bring in some quality wrestlers. I would love to see Newman host a college open sometime in the near future (if not on the campus then at a nearby school) and run it simultaneous with a high school tournament or something with plenty of mats designated for high school and college.

I am sure Coach Stovall created an excellent proposal. Could the downfall have been that it fell on deaf ears because it was a proposal by a small group, rather than a proposal with a large number of names attached?

I have VERY little knowledge on how to get a program started, but I have some ideas:

Let's do several surveys.

1) Let's find out how many HS juniors and seniors would consider WSU over other universities if there were a club team or a true program. More students=more $ to the university.

2) Let's find out how many Wichita based companies/individuals would pledge money to get and keep a program. Scholarships, donations, booster club work, etc. We have a lot of great wrestling people that are successful in the business world around here.

3) Swayz said a Title IX survey may help. Maybe someone can look into that as well.

How about getting the media more involved? Preaching to the choir won't get it done. If we can get the media to ask the university for reasons they have not added wrestling, it could pressure them from a more "credible" source.

I realize we're all busy, and nobody can or should take this on alone. If it is a battle we want to take on, we'll have to pool our resources, form a committee (as if we're not on enough of these) and go at it like we're in double overtime of the state finals!

Jilka- I think the very first thing you will have to do is to show the adminstration at college how the program will benefit the University. That way when they ask you, "Why should we take on all this extra work and responsibility"?, you will be able to show them exactly what, why, and how the school will benefit from adding a wrestling program.

You also have to show a benefit to the community as well as the university. If anyone knows business and civic leaders. If someone has people involved in large and small corporations. City Mayors and Managers. These people all have pull in their respective communities. If any of these types of people have children and/or grandchildren involved in wrestling. Start making your lists.

I personally would like to see another D2 program started in Kansas at Pittsburg State. They have a great gym just asking for a wrestling tourney other than the kids one every year. Also they have Kansas State Champs playing football for them .......Nathan Baker(parsons)...JOsh Lattimer(fort scott). I also knew I guy when I went there who was trying to start a club there but I dont know if he ever accomplished that.

I've read your post on adding girls wrestling to boy's programs at colleges in Kansas. It all sounds good but I have to tell you, it will be harder than you think. The biggest enemy to girls wrestling is girls themselves. We have been trying to grow women's wrestling for about 3 years. Girls are hard to get to commit to anything that's demanding. Especialy when you have basketball, softball and soccer. The girls that have the talent to be good at wrestling, are heavily recruited by coaches of other sports. Even though there are more scholarships and money than any other sport out there. To give you an example, we took 15 girls to a women's tournament in Missouri. Our high school and middle school girls were beating the tar out of the women's college wrestlers. Girls that really don't have that much experience, if any, at wrestling are getting full ride scholarships to major colleges. We have already talked to Mr. Bowden about girls wrestling in high school, and all it would take is for the high school coaches to ask for it and it's in. Once you have it in high school it doesn't take much for the colleges to look at it. We also talked to the assistant athletic director at WSU and it was told to us to prove that it would be a viable addition to women's athletics, and boys would soon follow. I tell you now, my wife works her butt off to keep these girls interested, but it is only a few that will commit. The main reason of all is, girls want to wrestle boys. They say boys are easier for them. Neither boys nor girls like how their counterparts can flex beyond compare. The girls also have an excuse when a boy beats them, but not when a girl does. Some of you probably think I'm putting down girls wrestling, but it's just the opposite. We have traveled and missed alot of our own boys' careers, to promote girls wrestling. The one way Kansas high school coaches could help is to encourage and promote girls wrestling, because the one sport you might save is your own. So I hope this will help you direct your efforts in promoting wrestling over all. If anyone sees the value of a presentation to the KWCA in November, please let us know.

Coach Ed
Kansas Krusaders