I e-mail KU athletics a while back and this is the responce I got.


Aldon: Sorry for the delayed response. We've been traveling the past month with the basketball programs. Lew is at meetings but we wanted to make sure we answered you as soon as all the travel was over.

Attached is a link to our 5-year strategic plan. At this point in time there are no plans to add any additional intercollegiate athletics programs. We will not look at adding any programs until all our current programs are provided the resources they need to succeed at the highest levels. We never want to be in a position to drop programs again so until such a time when everything is running smoothly we will not look to add anything. Furthermore, when we get to that point we would first look at re-instating programs, such as men's tennis and men's swimming & diving, that were dropped due to budget constraints.

I wish you the best of luck for your son. Wrestling is a great sport that requires intense dedication and training.

http://kuathletics.cstv.com/genrel/011706aac.html

Brandon

*******************************
Brandon Macneill
Associate Director of Athletics
University of Kansas
1651 Naismith Drive
Allen Fieldhouse
Lawrence, KS 66049
785.864.3310

-----Original Message-----
From: Aldon Isenberg [mailto:aldonisenberg@taylordesigngroup.net]
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2007 11:20 AM
To: KU Athletics
Subject:


Mr. Perkins,



We live probably 30 minuets down the road from KU.

People have told me that my son is a D-1 prospect.

I figure within the next year he will sign with a D-1 School.

He will have to sign with a school outside the state of Kansas.

My family is 5 generations deep in this State and have paid taxes all of our lives.

Can you answer one question for me why does KU not have a D-1 Wrestling Team.

I asked the last Athletic director at KU the same question and he gave me the same old excuses that Title 9, Money ect…

I have been given excuses for so long may be you could enlighten me.



Aldon Isenberg

This was my responce to KU,


Budget restraints, I understood that KU received a multi million dollar TV contract. Thanks any way evidently you have never been around wrestling and don’t understand the sacrifices wrestlers make. To write back and tell me that you would bring back tennis and swimming and diving is a slap in the face.



I will urge the wrestling community to support colleges who have wrestling. To support kids from outside the state in basketball before Kansas kids is wrong. The name of your University should be changed to Basketball University because it does not deserve the name Kansas.



Thanks for your time



Aldon Isenberg 1

To be fair, I'm sure the patrons of those sports would be saying the same things, that their athletes dedicate and sacrifice just as much or more than wrestlers. And in saying so some would have a legitimate point. I know that the prospective D1 swimmers from my high school would have 6am practices every morning followed by more practice after school during the high school season. Then as soon as the school season ended they would then go to their respective club teams and follow an even more intense training regimen, much like top-level wrestlers do. In other words, they put in an incredible amount of work to be successful in a sport with little to no exposure, just like wrestlers.

Now don't get me wrong, I love wrestling more than any other sport and would be ecstatic to see it at KU, much happier than if swimming or tennis were reinstated. But to belittle other sports by saying that it would be a "slap in the face" to see them reinstated before wrestling is added is blatantly biased and just flat out wrong.

Also to be fair, basketball was invented by the 1st head coach at KU...thus it will always be a basketball school.

LancerM

Obviously there are individuals that disagree with your assessment on the importance of wrestling. Accept it or not. And please don't send any letters to K-State. They, of all Kansas schools, seem to be heading in the right direction concerning an in-state D-I program.