I think what is propelling this movement is nationally the low participation numbers per team. According to the National Federation of High School Surveys in the '77-78 season wrestling had 9,653 programs with 338,328 participants for an average of 35.05 participant per program. The participation numbers for wrestling have dropped considerably by the '05-06 season with slighty more programs at 9,744 with only 251,534 participants or an average of only 25.81 participants per team. That is a significant drop of participants per team. An average of a little less than 26 per team would make it very difficult for many schools to fill out a complete lineup for duals and state qualifying tournaments.

At the same time the '77-78 season survey for 11 man football teams showed 14,983 programs, 1,074,973 participants for an average of 71.75 participants per team. The '05-06 survey showed an increase in the average participant per team for 11 man football with slighty fewer programs at 13,727 about the same participants at 1,071,775 for a higher average of 78.08 participants per team compared to the 71.75 per team in '77-78.

I think our high school wrestling leaders need to consider the reasons the the participants per team over about the last thirty years is lowering in wrestling but increasing in football.