Update: Kansas State University is not entertaining the concept of adding wrestling or any other sport as a varsity sport, in the near future.

This is the official answer from the administration. Obviously we are disappointed, but hopefully they'll see the value of adding wrestling in the future. The good thing about having an answer is that we now can focus our efforts on supporting the club to pursue a National Championship.

I believe that Kansas State University has earned the right to the first shot at starting a D1 team because of their strong tradition of wrestling and the momentum and national recognition of the club.

Forgive this long post, but I feel the need to explain what we went through for this effort.

When I lived in Manhattan, I was invited to watch KSU's intramural tournament. The tournament had so many accomplished wrestlers, all attending KSU that I was really impressed. I was also blessed to be involved in supporting the club team. We started a booster club a couple of years ago with the intent of supporting the club and eventually getting it added at the Division 1 level.

Although we wanted a D1 team, we didn't want to approach the university until we had our ducks in a row (the ability to answer the tough questions well).

Finally over the past few months I had the time to look into it and put together a proposal.

Sean McCarthy, David Wallace and I put together a proposal with guidance and mentorship from a steering committee with the following members: Mike Moyer, J Robinson, Shon Lewis, Duane Brucker, Brian Smith, Cody Bickley, David Andrus, Ron Tacha, Robert Gonzales, Bill Keller and Gonz Medina. Mitch Beims and Brad Johnson had a solid fund raising plan and the contacts to achieve their goals. Many other people contributed their time and energy to assisting with making sure that the product was accurate and powerful.

We had a team assembled that were (and still are)willing to brief the administration. We considered the opportunity to present the proposal very important because the decision makers at the University most likely do not understand that they have the best wrestling market and the best feeder programs to draw from. The goal of a brief was to ask and gain an answer to the question... Now that you understand how strong Kansas Wrestling is... Do you want to start a team??

Then we would have three potential answers to work with:

(Answer)No:
(Our Response)Thanks for listening (look elsewhere)

(Answer)Yes if you can raise a certain amount of money first
(Our Response)Raise that much money first (as long as it was a
reasonable amount)

(Answer)Yes
(Our Response) Help raise money, advertise and help solve any
problems associated with fielding a team.

Although it is unfortunate that they are not interested, they really deserved the opportunity to take the next step in leadership. Hopefully they'll find themselves in a position to add a team in the future.

When I spoke to the wrestling coaches in Salina, I mentioned that we would try to partner with womens soccer of softball since they are not represented at KSU. This proved to be a bridge too far for the rapid timeline of the proposal development. Additionally, our analysis of KSU's Title IX standing showed them improving their Title IX proportionality by adding a 30 man men's wrestling team.

We also said we would be requesting pledges. I'm glad we didn't go through all that effort just to reach the same conclusion.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the development of the proposal in some way.

I'm in the process of translating the proposal into "Kansas Deserves a Division 1 Wrestling Team." When it's ready I'll put out the word. Maybe we can post it on this site so everyone can access it.

Erik Hinckley