I would like to clarify for all of those who have been following the disparaging comments and quotes taken out of context my position and role when it comes to Kansas wrestling.

A. I do not have a conflict of interest. The comments about out of state programs vs Kansas Community College were directed at the recent movement by many of the Jayhawk Conference schools to have the "books and tuition only" scholarship limitation. I know there was an effort and I was merely trying to state why this needed to happen. From a economic perspective, you would be hard pressed to pay $7500 out of pocket for a year in Kansas CC when your student athlete could attend NEO, ICCC, IWCC, or many others for substantially less. Absent federal aid this is the economic challenge Jayhawk conference schools are faced with. There are KS CC coaches that have stated, off the record, that they would make the same decision. It is DISHONEST to mislead a KS student athlete with a deceptive phrase such as "FULL SCHOLARSHIP" making it sound like "FULL RIDE" when in fact Kansas Jayhawk Conference Schools mandate that student athletes pay FEES, DORM, and MEAL PLAN. Why would we deceive our own?

B. The inception of the KCWF was in part due to the sudden and abrupt "Killing off" of the UNO program. When this program was taken off the table the word was a six figure fund generated by wrestling for wrestling was taken by the AD to the general fund basically ROBBING wrestling supporters of their donated funds. My position on the board has always been to PROTECT the programs we have by offering a means of both supporting and protecting programs. We went on record telling the State Body and groups of donors that we would be directing the KCWF funds to wrestling specific endowments set up by the secondary institutions. This Letter of Understanding was to prevent what happened to the UNO program. FHSU has such a fund in the Bob Smith Wrestling Endowment. When the KCWF basically pulled every tooth from the LOU I commented that outside of the KCWF I would direct my efforts at bolstering this fund because it met the goals we advertised to the wrestling community. The comment "I will kick your asses" was said in a very non physical threatening way but directed to the fact that donors would be more willing to give to a fund that they can count on as being used forever for wrestling only! I was basically stating that I could raise more funds advocating the Bob Smith Wrestling Endowment when donors discovered that Dan Harris had made our GIFTS from the KCWF basically a donation to the schools general fund with only a current year payback clause. The KCWF became more of a good ole boy group for Shawn to raise money and hand out with no guarantee that wrestling would benefit and that wrestling would be sustained. The comment from Dan Harris that "You can't tell a school how it has to use the funds!" should have been a giant RED FLAG to stop giving funds to schools that didn't want to accept our CONDITIONAL donations. The conditions were advertised as SUSTAINING WRESTLING, WRESTLING SPECIFIC, and REFUNDABLE! All of those goals were discarded by a vote.

C. When considering conflict of interest, it should be noted that having coaches who directly benefit from this fund on the board that VOTES on how the funds are to be distributed should be a serious consideration as well. WHY WOULD WE DO THAT? If you would like to have advisory positions with no vote then I would say that is acceptable. Further, as we discovered on the USAWKS board, the more members the more analysis paralysis you have. The KCWF board grew and grew and grew as Shawn felt it was necessary to only have like minded members on the board to push his simple agenda. Raise money and give money away.

The USAWKS board decided to take an in depth look at funding secondary education institution funding based on a movement NOT STARTED by Will Cokeley. The cause was simple...The total dollars supporting said group of wrestling schools was outpacing the growth of the USAWKS top revenue line. The number of schools offering wrestling being added in Kansas is outpacing the number of kids participating. The cooperation between ALL of these schools and USAWKS was not equal. The question was posed...What are the members of USAWKS getting in return for the tens of thousands of dollars being donated? The KCWF was NOT to be impacted by this deeper dive even though there is a direct tie to USAWKS by this sub group. The motivation to add these programs was not the same as private schools seek to add $'s while state funded institutions are looking to fill empty classroom seats. Should USAWKS be giving our membership dollars away to an entity who has the motivation to garner more funds not offer a quality wrestling experience? While opportunities are good, be careful what you wish for! Talk to every coach in Kansas now and discover how hard it is to fill a community college roster. Growth can be destructive as quality is sacrificed for quantity.

I realize that not everyone has the same ideas and I understand the practice to agree to disagree. This practice has not been accepted
by Shawn McCarthy and he has taken to travel down a destructive path. I have given my heart and soul to ALL Kansas wrestlers and I have done what I thought was right to protect USAWKS' member funds while also supporting post high school wrestling in Kansas. I am worn out from the disparaging remarks and comments being presented out of context. I love wrestling and I thought that common ground would always keep folks moving in a positive direction but I have been proven wrong by Shawn's words and actions.

Best Regards