There was no wrestling gear in the student union. I would have spent an entire day at the Wrestling Hall of Fame, but I was there for a conference, so I did not have the time.

You can't use Ohio State as an example. OSU has an enrollment of 38,000 undergrads compared to KU's 23,00, is the flagship institution of a state that has almost 4 times the population of Kansas, and is conference that has the strongest wrestling tradition in Division 1. Comparing the Pokes & the Jayhawks is a much more accurate comparison:

Enrollment: KU-23,000, OSU-23,000
Men's Sports: KU-6, OSU-8
Women's Sports: KU-10, OSU-8
Total Sports: KU-16, OSU-16
Total Revenue (2008-2009): KU-$70 Million, OSU-$71 Million

So, KU offers a comparable amount of sports to OSU, and for all intents and purposes is the exact same school. OSU happened to have an excellent program builder in Ed Gallagher (who they named their arena after). KU happened to have an excellent program builder in Phog Allen (who they named their arena after).

Big 8 crowds at OSU wrestling were at record numbers, and have never reached that point since it dissolved in 1996. My contact at OSU was an employee of the athletic department, and was a huge supporter of the wrestling program. I was thrilled to be on a Division I campus that had wrestling, but out of the 30-40 OSU students I met, I did not find a single wrestling fan. I do not doubt that there is an excellent group of fans: students, alumni, and otherwise, but they are not in the droves they once were. I'm sure you see plenty of orange shirts at the NCAA's, I saw plenty of KU baseball shirts when I went to KU baseball games.

As for Title IX, I cannot guarantee that any school would adopt wrestling as a sport if they did not have to maintain scholarship balance. I would say wrestling would be one of the first logical choices for KU, or any mid-western university. Sheahon Zenger, the current AD at KU, is a football guy (got his start under Bill Snyder at KSU). He's originally from Hays, and played football at Fort Hays and Mid-American Nazarene. I have no doubt, that if given the opportunity and the means to do so, he would fully investigate the possibility of a wrestling program at KU.