By Doug Reese, UM-Morris men's and women's wrestling coach
1. The Problem
2. Why UM-Morris Wrestling Should be Saved
3. Facts
4. What You Can Do to Help
5. Sign the Petition to Show Your Support
Due to recent state reductions in operating budgets, a cut of $1.5 million is necessary from a base budget of $26 million from the Morris campus. The university would save a total of $64,000 by discontinuing the wrestling program. In addition, the university announced that in the 2004-2005 school year women's swimming would be added to the athletic program, which would produce a net savings of $38,000.
Wrestling has a strong tradition here, in 42 years UMM produced a total of 153 All-Americans, such as Olympians Dennis and Duane Koslowski, and World Cup champion Katie Downing, now representing the U.S. in the 2003 World Championships. In fact since 1996, UM-Morris has produced 28 Academic All-Americans at the NCAA II level.
Although UM-Morris is moving into a new athletic conference at the NCAA III level, this new conference does not offer wrestling. UM-Morris has been offered the opportunity to join the MIAC and join Augsburg, St. Olaf, Concordia-Moorhead, and St. John's as a wrestling only member. The women's program has been offered to join the CIF in Canada, and recently at the U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas, USA Wrestling held a meeting with all the women's collegiate coaches to form a new league for women with a dual tournament, and an individual tournament championship format. The league format begins this season.
The university determined that men's and women's wrestling "are no longer viable sports for UMM."
I have always been a champion of developing wrestling opportunities. I started women's collegiate wrestling in 1994 for two reasons: 1) to save men's programs, and 2) to give women the opportunity to compete, with the hope that it would have a positive affect on our U.S. National Team ' which it has!
Now in a heartbeat, the university that gave women the first opportunity to wrestle, is now denying that opportunity in favor of women's swimming which is not a conference sport, which would have to compete independently. In fact our pool is just 25 yards long, not 25 meters as needed for official qualifying times.
I am saddened and outraged. I hurt for the alumni and the current wrestlers. I hurt for all wrestlers who have lost their programs in the past. It is not fair, nor just.
2. WHY UM-MORRIS WRESTLING SHOULD BE SAVED
I also believe that wrestling contributes to the total development of the whole person - the spirit, mind and body relationship - better than anything else of which I know. Discipline is the key to success in wrestling and in life.
But let's remember that wrestling is just a part of life, not life itself.
Wrestling has been my classroom for 13 years here at the University of Minnesota-Morris. It is where I taught techniques, but most importantly where I taught life. Most who went through this program will attest that this classroom was the most demanding and the toughest they took, but mention UM-Morris to any of the alumni who wrestled here and the first thing they think of is wrestling, not “The Nation’s Best Liberal Arts College”.
I will admit wrestling at the collegiate level is not for everyone. Some quit because of the demands, the commitment necessary is so tough. Our practices are intense, come any Tuesday and you will see 40 minutes of live wrestling, no breaks, no drinking fountain, no tying shoes, with the walls in bounds. Not too many athletes can survive that kind of intensity. Wrestling is preparation for life. Life is not easy – life is not full of “warm fuzzies”, it will not coddle you; it is a struggle, a never ending struggle. Wrestling is the greatest preparation for life I know of.
For the wrestling-student athlete there is study table, morning practices, afternoon practices, weight cutting, extensive travel, and tough competitions (we wrestled Arizona State and Northwestern, the national teams of France and Sweden). I believe to be the best you have to strive and work to beat the best – not only on the mat but in life. We do all of that, then you have to go to class and make the grades also. Fact shows that in my tenure at UM-Morris I have recruited and produced 32 Academic All-Americans. That is something that the administration is not pointing out. In this wrestling program is a commitment to excellence. Here is a place to strive to be the best you can possibly be. Here is pain, hurt, and setback. Here too is success, winning, All-Americans, and Academic All-Americans like no other program in the history of this school.
You really got to ask yourself why? What is the truth behind all of this?
Let’s look at the facts, not some broad generalizations stated in a self-serving university press release:
I can also count seven wrestlers that had major surgeries or had physical ailments that required them to retire from the sport. All went home and returned to colleges that were closer to home, and that were more affordable.
Four wrestlers transferred to other schools that had academic programs we don’t offer (i.e. engineering, etc.), two men followed their girlfriends who graduated to new locations, as did one female.
Finally, we several athletes that had to leave school due to personal health issues that were not realted to wrestling. They never returned to wrestling or school here at UM-Morris.
Now those numbers will throw off “graduation rates” at an alarming pace. But these are real people, not statistics. This loss of UMM income is more about life than anything else. In the real world life can throw the monkey wrench of adversity at anybody and at any time. If we were to dissect the entire student population we would find similar stories. Not everybody today goes to college for four years and graduates. That is the hope, not reality.
2) Another interesting point: we had a number of wrestlers who are transfers, or who were recruited, but did not come out for the team until their sophomore year when their grades were up. The administration just noted the number of freshman who came in.
Also, I cap our women’s team at about 10 wrestlers. I cannot afford to keep above that number since the university only gives me $5,000 for a women’s wrestling budget, the men’s budget is $26,000. We also have to get the whole team in one van for travel. I want to be able to travel everybody on the team. I don’t want to leave someone home after they have made a commitment to come all the way from California. We have low numbers for this reason, but we have quality. WE HAVE NEVER LOST A DUAL MEET in nine season of women’s wrestling. We continually pump out All-Americans and U.S. National Team members. IN FACT, ELEVEN female wrestlers as college students have wrestled in the world championships! I think the university is getting their money’s worth!
On the men’s side we are an academically solid. We have had 28 NCAA II Academic All-Americans in the past seven years! THAT IS MORE THAN THE ENTIRE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT COMBINED IN 42 YEARS OF ATHLETICS!
3) Minnesota is a hotbed of wrestling. Some of the best high school wrestlers in the nation are found in our state. Looking at the success of the Gophers and of Augsburg College will attest to that. Wrestling interest nationwide is UP, not down as suggested by the administrations press release. More high schools are fielding boys teams, and female wrestling is exploding. In fact, women’s wrestling will be in the 2004 Olympic Games. UM-Morris played a part in that happening. After the Games in 2004, women’s wrestling will take off.
4) We have a place to wrestle that is not the UMAC. Our men’s team has been offered the opportunity by Jeff Swenson of Augsburg College to form a new wrestling only league with Augsburg College, Concordia-Moorhead, St. John’s University, St. Olaf College, and Pacific University (OR).
Our women have formed a league of U.S. colleges and will wrestle in a dual meet tournament (in the works at the National Duals in Cleveland along side the NCAA I men) and in an individual tournament this season. We have a defined season, and USA Wrestling is over seeing us much like the NCAA would.
THE FACT IS BOTH TEAMS HAVE A PLACE TO GO!
5) Why are our numbers down? In 1995 we moved to the NCAA II from the NAIA without athletic scholarships. Later we were given some limited athletic aid. Football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Women’s Soccer, and Volleyball were given at least $10,000 in athletic aid each. Wrestling was given $1,000. The next year the Athletic Director (who is the baseball coach) gave himself $1,000 for scholarships even though he did not have any recruiting budget and he did not actively recruit any athletes. The softball team in the same situation was also given $1,000, and $500 was available to women’s track, cross country, tennis and gold for an outstanding athlete. None was given to women’s wrestling though.
I was allowed to raise money for the athletic scholarship program, but not for wrestling. In the Chancellor’s plan all fundraised money would be divided up. Some would go to talent scholarships for music, etc. Half of what would be left would go to women’s athletics. Then on the men’s side it was divided up between basketball and football. Under the master plan if $100 was raised from a wrestling alumni, wrestling would receive roughly $2.50. YES, THAT IS THE TRUTH! I wouldn’t donate to such a program, and I surely wouldn’t ask an alumni to do so either.
In the competitive world of NCAA II wrestling I had four - $250 scholarships! That was it. When Moorhead State or Southwest State had much more to invest in one athlete alone, I had little. How do you compete that way? When I could not offer any kind of money to an athlete, they went elsewhere. The university in their plan did this to the program.
Football and basketball have $12,000 for part-time assistant coaches, wrestling has just $4,000.
6) The University proposes to drop wrestling but add women’s swimming. Swimming is not a sport in one UMAC school. According to the Sandy Olson-Loy there is more opportunities to compete for women’s swimming than with wrestling. According to the 1998 Blue Book of College Athletics there are nine schools in Minnesota with women’s swimming programs. But in wrestling there are 10 collegiate programs and four junior college programs. I do not see the trend of women’s swimming on the rise.
In 1995 women’s cross country was added to the women’s athletic program in hopes of helping the Title IX problem the university was experiencing. At the high point in 1998, there were approximately 15 runners on the team. Last season, most of the races were run with just five or six runners. Cross country is a popular sport in Minnesota, more popular than swimming at the high school level, yet it did not help us in increasing the number of female athletes significantly at UMM.
According to Vice Chancellor Olson-Loy, the university needs to sponsor sports like swimming “that have a high student interest rate and advance the school’s liberal arts mission.”
How does swimming advance the school’s liberal arts mission? How does any sport advance the mission? What is the school’s liberal arts mission? Maybe wrestling isn’t preppy enough? I am not quite sure?
7) Budget Decisions, Campus Wide Cuts. Tuition, Books, Fees, Room and Board are $12,896 for the upcoming school year. We generally have about 30 wrestlers in the program. These are student-athletes who come to UMM because of the wrestling program. 30 wrestlers x $12,895 = $386,880! That is a lot of money. Can the university afford to lose $386,8800. Can the Morris community afford to lose 30 student-athletes who purchase food, pop, gas, clothes, rent apartments and off-campus housing, and not to mention pay parking tickets?
Subtract the cost of wrestling at $64,000 from the monies the students pay to the university and UMM is making $322,880. Now any person of business knowledge facing a funding problem should recognize the fact that $322,880 in income is better than a net loss of $322,880 because you saved $38,000 by eliminated wrestling! Who is in charge here with our tax dollars? You really have to be asking that question.
8) Why Target Wrestling? The football team is down in numbers. As of this date there are 42 student-athletes certified by our Compliance Officer for the start of fall camp. In the past the team had over 80 athletes. The football team has not won a game in four full seasons, just one game in the last five years! The basketball team has not won more than four games in the last two seasons. The women’s basketball team set an NCAA II record for a consecutive losses last season! The baseball team and softball team have not posted winning seasons since the mid-90’s. The administration has decided to cut two of the three most successful programs on campus!
Fairness, equality is not known here.
Wrestling is the only sport that has advanced to the NCAA II championships. Making it to nationals is not a far fetched dream, but something we expect to do each season. 28 Academic All-Americans says a lot! Dante Lewis is one of the best wrestlers in the nation at any level. Last season he posted his third consecutive conference title and went 40-3. He out scored his opponents 433 – 30! Eric Steinhoff was a first team Academic All-American and won All-Conference honors.
The women have won SEVEN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, yet not one banner hangs in our gym. This summer Liz Short is wrestling in the FILA-Junior National Champions, UMM alumnus Katie Downing is preparing at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to win a gold medal in the World Championships, she will be joined by Sara McMann and Tina George former UMM wrestlers in Madison Square Garden in New York, and sophomore Sharon Jacobson will be in Budapest, Hungary wrestling in an “Olympic Hopefuls” tournament. Finally, I have been asked to help coach our U.S. World Team at the Olympic Training Center as they prepare for the world championships in New York. I have been blessed to coach five world championships, the Pan American Games, and I have traveled to Europe 13 times for international wrestling competitions. Wherever I go, whatever I do, I represent the University of Minnesota-Morris. The institution goes with me.
Let me ask you this:
DOES WRESTLING ADVANCE THE LIBERAL ARTS MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY?
DOES WRESTLING BRING GREAT PRIDE TO THE COMMUNITY?
DOES WRESTLING BRING DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION TO THE UNIVERSITY?
IS THE PROGRAM WORTH THE INVESTMENT?
9) Finally, as stated early in this letter, “let's remember that wrestling is just a part of life, not life itself.”
When I look back over the past 12 years on the mat here, I don’t think of wins, All-Americans, national team members or national championships won. I think of the people that touched me:
I remember NCAA II All-American B.J. Friedrichs bravely doing Peacekeeping duty in Bosnia. I remember Academic All-American Bill Roberts who teaches chemistry at Dartmouth College. I remember NAIA All-American, Dr. Simon “Flash” Shannon, the quickest wrestler I have ever seen. I remember World Cup champion Katie Downing pursuing her dream of being an Olympic champion as she trains daily at the Olympic Training Center. I remember fifth grade teacher and Academic All-American Kip Lynk touching the lives of a new generation students in the classroom and athletes on the mat. I remember the winningest wrestler in NCAA history Randy Rager now coaching at St. Cloud State. I remember sitting and crying in a Las Vegas hotel room with Crystal Metz when her career was finally over. I remember NSIC champion and Academic All-American John Amundson who spent all of his meal money on every road trip on baseball cards – now his vocation. I think of Academic All-American Eric Steinhoff now on his way to law school at the University of Minnesota, talking of politics and his agenda on his future run to the Senate. I remember pointing out to Academic All-American Greg Pauling a beautiful girl on campus that he should date. Now that girl is his wife.
I appeal to the wrestling community to join in this battle to save TWO collegiate wrestling programs. We need your support today! Call, write, fax, or e-mail. Your assistance is needed. Today we need to fight tooth and nail for our sport. We can not afford to lose one more program, especially in the upper mid-west where it could cause a snowball affect with other collegiate programs. After you write to the administration, please also sign the petition to show your support of the UMM program.
Please contact:
Sam Schumann, Chancellor
309 Behmler Hall
University of Minnesota-Morris
Morris, MN 56267
schumans@mrs.umn.edu
Office 320-589-6020
Fax 320-589-6399
Home 320-589-9034Sandy Olson-Loy, Vice Chancellor Athletics
309 Behmler Hall
University of Minnesota-Morris
Morris, MN 56267
olsonloy@mrs.umn.edu
Office 320-589-6013
Fax 320-589-6399
Home 320-239-4782Mark Fohl, Athletic Director
P.E. Center
East Second Street
University of Minnesota-Morris
Morris, MN 56267
fohlmv@mrs.umn.edu
Office 320-589-6421
Fax 320-589-6428
Home 320-589-3748Any way you can help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you and God bless.
Doug Reese
Head Wrestling Coach
University of Minnesota-Morris
reesedc@mrs.umn.edu
320-589-6437
Home | Photo Galleries | Technique Illustration | Spotlight | Interact | Links | Search
AmateurWrestlingPhotos.com is a free site. To support our site, please click on the banner below and buy your wrestling gear from JRwrestling.com!