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November 11, 2009

College wrestling mulls early-season takedown

By Jim Rueda

The Minnesota State University wrestling team opened the 2009-2010 campaign on Saturday at the South Dakota State Open but that traditional early start to the season could be eliminated if supporters of a new movement have their way.

Discussions to alter the competition season for wrestling have been ongoing for a few years now and, lately, the idea seems to gaining momentum.

Although there is no concrete proposal on the table yet, the basic premise is to move the start of wrestling competition from the first week in November to right after the Christmas holiday. The season would also be extended a few weeks and would culminate with the Division I championship the weekend after the completion of the Final Four basketball tournament.

Mike Moyer, the executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, says there are two basic factors driving the proposal. First, it would give wrestlers, particularly freshmen, a chance to acclimate themselves to college classes during the fall semester without having to also engage in dual meet and open tournaments.

“The statistics show that most freshmen lose more matches in their first three weeks of college than they have during their entire careers previously,” Moyer said. “That’s a big adjustment for wrestlers who are used to having success and to couple that with academics can put a lot of stress on a first-year student athlete.

“A lot of the focus of our organization is on the welfare of student athletes. This could be a step in improving that welfare.”

Moving the end of the season back a few weeks could also have some media benefits for the sport. Right now, the D-I wrestling champions usually rank somewhere between 3 and 5 in terms of producing revenue. By not having to compete with the D-1 basketball tournament, that revenue could be even more lucrative.

During preliminary discussions, it appears that the majority of Division I coaches are for the move, the Division II coaches are split, and the majority of Division III coaches are against it. Division III has more two and three-sport athletes, so extending the season could interfere with the other sports.

MSU head coach Jim Makovsky favors the change. He believes giving the incoming wrestlers more of an opportunity to get acclimated to college before having to compete would serve them well.

Moyer says the NWCA is in the midst of a survey across all three divisions to get a representative sampling of how much support there is for a change in the schedule. He hopes those survey results will be ready for viewing at the annual spring meeting with the NCAA wrestling committee.

“At that point it could become more clear what action, if any, we want to take on the matter,” he said. “It is possible that one or two of the divisions could change without the other(s). It will be interesting to see what happens.”



Jim Rueda is the Free Press sports editor. To contact him, call 344-6381 or e-mail him at jrueda@mankatofreepress.com.

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