Personally, I feel if you don't wrestle it doesn't count. If you shake hands and start the match then whatever happens counts on your record. If you have no opponent then you cannont win. If you don't step on the mat you cannot lose. I know coaches who count dual or tournament forfeit wins towards lettering criteria and that is justified since you earned your team points but they are not true wins.

That being said, I have seen coaches count anything they can to get a seed. The whole seeding process in high school has been such an eye opener. Purely, seeding SHOULD be used to seperate the best wrestlers. I have seen some of the goofiest criteria ever. Freshman can't be seeded, last year's tournament placing is more important that last year's state placing, last year's head-to-head doesn't count, placing at 103 doesn't mean anything, yada yada yada. Coaches can become real cunning in a seeding meating. The true spirit of the sport is lost when that starts happening. The best wrestler always gets first but when the two best end up on the same side of the bracket it isn't fair to anyone from 2nd on down. Coaches should use common sense to seperate the two best and then use criteria if needed.

Seeding meetings get quite confrontational too. Why in the world would you use a mat official to run one of these? All that does it create a situation where a coach and the mat official butt heads. Don't even try to tell me that the mat official won't remember that and take it to the mat. An AD or other non-coach figure should be use to manage the seeding meeting.