I am loosely working on an action plan and started to put it into place.
1. We should concentrate on KU right now. I know some of you would have preference for the first one to be at either Wichita State or Kansas State. I ask you to put your allegiance away at this time and concentrate on getting it added at KU right now. We need to do this because they just signed this ESPN contract for over $40 million in the next seven years and they have the money to spend. We eventually want and need a wrestling program for men and women at all three schools. I really think the other two are more likely to follow once we get one to start one. The proximity to Kansas City, Lawrence and Topeka would be a media and fan base advantage for a KU start too. So I am hoping we can all agree to concentrate on KU right now and once we get their program going then we will work on KSU and WSU.
2. I think our petition letters should be addressed to Lew Perkins, the KU Athletic Director, the KU Chancellor, and possibly State legislators.
3. We need to get all the Kansas high school coaches to get a team petition letters signed by all the coaches and wrestlers. TheY should also encourage the wrestlers, parents and coaches to write their own personal petition letters too.
4. We need girl wrestlers and girl coaches to contact KU about adding a Women's Wrestling Team. We need to promote the growth of women's wrestling and this will help here in the Title IX issue for KU.
5. We need to get all the Big 12 wrestling coaches involved in petitioning. It is definitely in their interest for KU to add a team and of course eventually KSU too. For that matter I think any support from any NCAA wrestling school would be helpful. It is in the interest of all of them to have KU add wrestling.
6. We need high profile wrestlers like Cael Sanderson and Eric Akin to petition KU.
7. We especially need recent Kansas Division 1 wrestlers like Zach Roberson, Joe Johnston, Shawn Bunch, Justin Dyer, Matt Murray, etc. to also petiton KU and maybe legislators. I think that would be especially effective if they could say how they would have loved the opportunity to wrestle Division 1 in their home state.
8. We need Kansas kids clubs to send petition letters signed by parents and kids and they should encourage individual letters too.
9. Major national wrestling organizations need to send petition letters.
10. If anyone has any contacts with any major KU donors that we could maybe influence, then we should enlist their support.
11. Need some facts about all the costs of running a Division 1 program both initial setup and on going annual costs.
12. Need Kansas wrestling participation facts. I saw where Richard Salyer posted where wrestling participation ranked nationally. I believe it was sixth for number of participants but where does it rank in the State of Kansas? I think we have a little over 11,000 participating in both youth and high school. I used half of the 13 & 14 Kansas kids numbers of 1,115 in that estimate.
13. We need to contact relatives and friends to also send these petition letters.
14. Remember as Smokeycabin has posted we are all taxpayers and we pay for our universities. They are there to serve all of us, not just the tall and big ones.
15. Determine if there is a current KU facility that can be used. I was at KU yesterday to attend the KU Relays. While there I took some time to see if Robinson Gymnasium could be used. The young man at the desk told me that he was a member of the KU Wrestling Club and that he felt that either Robinson or the other student rec center where the current KU wrestling club works out could be used for this purpose.
Well that is the action plan so far and I am on it. I hope everyone else is too. Let me know if we need to do something else. I think we need to get on it now. Remember CARPE DIEM (SEIZE THE DAY OR THE OPPORTUNITY)!!! Basically we are mad as you know what and we are not going to take it anymore!
