NCAA Division I Wrestling Five Year Strategic Plan 2016-2021
A five year strategic plan for Division I wrestling was released this week at the NWCA Convention in Fort Lauderdale. In it are several proposals that would drastically change the wrestling season for Division I schools. Click the link above to see the plan as released. The document suggests beginning a three week tournament competition season at or shortly after Christmas followed by a dual meet season that culminates with a dual meet championship and the individual championship as late as the end of April. If applied only to Division I as described, this would create a difference of a month or more between the Division I schedule and the Division II, III, NAIA, and NJCAA schedules.
There are three main arguments against making this change solely for Division I wrestling and a few against changing all NCAA divisions to a new season schedule. First, the arguments against moving just Division I.
- When a proposal to push back the NCAA Division I Championships is presented, one of the reasons often given is to avoid conflict with the NCAA Division I basketball championship tournament. While it is true that this tournament soaks up a great deal of media coverage, one point in wrestling’s favor is that ESPN does not have the rights to any March Madness games. Therefore, the ESPN family of networks is free to show an ever increasing amount of wrestling during the NCAA Championships as a sort of counter programming to the basketball tournament. If the NCAA Wrestling championship was moved into late April, wrestling would no longer be competing with March Madness, but would instead be up against the NBA playoffs. While the NBA playoff early round games may attract a smaller audience than March Madness, ESPN has NBA rights and broadcasts playoff games beginning the third week in April. College wrestling seems unlikely to attract a larger following if the championship finals are pushed over to ESPN2 or ESPNU because of the NBA Playoffs.
- Is it wise to put Division I wrestling into a silo by itself and separate it from the rest of NCAA Wrestling? As it currently stands, all three divisions begin official practice and competition on the same day and end their seasons within two weeks of each other. This continuity allows for consistency across all three divisions and lets wrestlers from all three divisions participate in early season open tournaments. The NWCA ought to promote unity among the three divisions of the NCAA instead of promoting the idea that Division I wrestling is different or deserving of special treatment. Division I wrestling should not be presented as a sport separate from that contested by Division II and III schools.
- Finally, this proposal would separate the Division I season from the Division II and III seasons in an unprecedented manner for NCAA sports. Division I seasons are often longer than Division II or III seasons in the same sport, but this change would draw a thick line between the Division I season and the season in which all other NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA teams compete. The NCAA Championships Committee may not go for this difference in seasons.
It can be frustrating when the future of the sport is discussed as if only Division I wrestling matters, but it is possible that this proposal could trickle down to Divisions II and III and result in wholesale changes to the NCAA Wrestling schedule for all teams. In that case, there is less concern about separating Division I from the other divisions, but it does create a pair of issues for Division III schools in particular.
- Personnel issues – Pushing the wrestling season a month later into the spring has the potential to cause some major staffing issues for athletic trainers and equipment staff at the DIII level. If wrestling continued into April, it would require athletic training, sports information, and equipment staff support at a time when all spring sports are underway and fall sports are engaging in their non-traditional season practices. I suspect a proposal to move the Division III wrestling season back would encounter resistance from Division III Athletic Directors.
- Season length and practice time – The proposal linked above is a bit unclear on the start of practice, as there is a listed date of November 1st but the calendar at the end shows practice not starting until after Thanksgiving. Any proposed season calendar that shortens the time between the start of practice and the NCAA tournament takes away practice opportunities from Division III wrestlers. Thanks to to NCAA rules, DIII teams can only practice during the official season. This is not an issue for Division I teams, as the leniency of rules about off-season practices allows greater contact between coaches and athletes, while the proliferation of USA Wrestling certified Regional Training Centers essentially allows for unrestricted year round practice at the Division I level. Lastly, beginning the competition season the week after Christmas will all but eliminate a Christmas break for wrestlers and will completely eliminate spring break for every wrestler. This will drive up costs for already strapped athletic departments.
I am sympathetic to the desire to improve the health and academic success of athletes that is the primary motivation for the change, but there may be other ways to promote this idea without making such drastic changes to the sport.
While there would be challenges there are several benefits to moving the season for all of wrestling. Let us think outside the box and look and share the benefits as well.
Moving the season would:
1. Free us up to have more access to the gym and hockey arenas now that we are not competing with basketball and hockey and everyone else is outside allowing wrestling to host end of the year championships.
2. We would be able to evaluate students before they become athletes. How nice would it be for not just DI but all coaches to be able to use the first semester to determine if academically and socially its worth adding certain students to their rosters (APR). We would see a spike in overall team GPA and that would be significant.
3. It would allow college coaches to schedule to attend High School post season to recruit. Currently we miss several end of the year tournaments because we are competing too.
4. High School students (Recruits) would be able to attend our post season tournaments and championships.
5. Weather at times is an issue in February and March. Having the post season should help address delays due to weather.
6. Athletic training staff are stretched thin now when we start the fall is finishing up with post season and spring sports have nontraditional season going on. This proposal could in fact benefit and support the training room staff because now they can focus on post season championships for all.
Fall sports WVB, MS, WS, FH, Tennis, CC, – November
Winter sports MB, WB, Hockey – March
Wrestling and Men’s VB – April
Spring sports BB, SB, MLAX, WLAX, – May
So before we get scared of any change let’s be open minded and see what the benefits could be. I personally love the idea and think “Why not try it?” Our current season is so much longer than other sports. At the convention coaches said it would make the season even longer because student athletes would train throughout the first semester. That is 100% on the coach for allowing them access to the wrestling room. Student athletes can now focus on being a student and if not we’re now in a position to prevent them from hurting our programs by NOT adding them to or rosters. It’s a home run, sign me up!
Lonnie. Great post and first of all let me say that I’m up for change. However, I think if we are going to make any drastic changes such as this, we need to look at what best aligns with the stated objectives of the Blue Ribbon Task Force. Correct me if I’m wrong or missing something, but wouldn’t it make more sense to move us to a fall semester sport instead? Kids would report in late August for preseason like all fall sports, competition begins in September through early December (probably with a reduction in dates of competition/less weigh ins due to shortened season) with our culminating championship taking place 1-2 weeks before finals in December. In doing so, we would more closely align with the stated objectives of the Blue Ribbon Task Force. Examples….the student-athletes would be able to focus on final exams; actually have a holiday break with their family between semesters as well as a spring break without the worry of weight management; focus on being a student in the second semester; we could potentially offer a non-traditional season like fall sports do in the late spring which would help us develop our athletes without the stress of weight management/competition; if student-athletes wanted, they could participate in FS/GR following the spring USAW competition calendar, which would enhance the Olympic movement. (moving the NCAA championship into April only hurts FS/GR in the United States).
Obviously the California Community College has been doing this successfully for years so there is prior precedent by a fellow national governing body showing that it works.
Of course, like all drastic proposals such as these, there will be arguments for/against. I’m sure the trainers would be spread thin, but as you stated, they are spread pretty thin already as it is so it wouldn’t be a major change. By competing over 1 semester in the fall, while it would be busy, it would also free them up for winter and spring sports from us almost entirely.
From a recruiting standpoint, with our season being finished by December, it would not only allow us to attend more post season HS events, but rather a large portion of the high school dual meet season as well. This is where we would be given the time to better evaluate recruits and how they would fit into our programs. (we all know recruiting isn’t an exact science regardless so it will always be hard to predict how they will respond when they get to school) All without the stress/time constraints of balancing recruiting travel with our own competitions. As you said, high school kids and coaches would also be able to more easily attend our events in the regular season (Sept-December) as it wouldn’t conflict with the high school season.
I’m sure there are plenty of pros/cons to this type of proposal, just like there are to our current season or the proposal shared at the NWCA convention. At least we are trying to evolve as a sport and while there is no perfect solution that will make everyone happy, we continue to try and make changes in the best interest of our student-athletes!
Mike,
I love that idea because it supports the Freestyle/Greco season, but I’m not a fan because as you know football was my first love and I really believe the two sports compliment each other. Competing in the fall would hurt several programs numbers with two sport athletes competing in Football and Soccer. No perfect solution but to continue with the season the way it is currently is beyond a grind on our athletes and I would be in favor of either at this point. I just know teams have trouble finding hwts. to begin with, now you almost eliminate filling that weight class going to the fall.
I was hoping to see a “Reaction to D3 Regional Restructure” post by now. It that happening or will we continue to offer certain regions/teams the advantage at Nationals while we remain piled up with 18-19 teams in the Northeast Region.
@ Coop
Some changes took place. Some teams were moved to other regions to make room for the new d3 programs. Still an unbalence though.
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