Ground&Pound

Which program will be the first to return to prominence?

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pinnum

What do you mean? First to get a AA or national champion? Or the first to be nationally ranked?

WrestlingTerp

Easy answer, it will be Lehigh. They simply have more support for their program. From what I gather, most of the PSAC schools are struggling for funding.

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"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? "

pinnum

Do you think that having a wrestler for an AD is the reason for the success at Edinboro?

D1 programs tend to get more funding brought into their athletic programs as a result of the basketball and football donations... PSAC schools don't have that advantage.

I, however, don't think that the money will buy championships in wrestling since so many programs are without it.

fanforlife

The PSAC Schools have been having their funding cut/or not gaining for many years now. I think more of the problem may lie either with the AD's or the University Presidents (the Presidents seem to have the power and control everything that happens with athletics).

With a few of the PSAC Schools having DI Wrestling but every other sport competes in DII, yes they have less funding than the Big 10 schools. I think if they are given the opportunity to raise money for scholarships and their program they could do great things.

Baumgartner has done a great job at Edinboro, putting many fund raising opportunities together for the entire athletic department. He also has a great staff put together to run the wrestling program.

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Champions are made while no one is watching.

WrestlingTerp

I have to disagree with you a bit. The top programs, and the top rising programs, are the ones with funding and support from their athletic departments.

Maryland isn't a program on the rise simply because we are willing it to be, it's because we were able to fund raise to 9.9 scholarships. The athletic department pays for two full time assistants, and one of the top 10 head coaching salaries in the country. 7 or 8 years ago we had 5 scholarships a full time coach, and one part-time assistant coach.

Lehigh has 9.9 ENDOWED wrestling scholarships. The have an ENDOWED head coaching position that is now not only the highest paid coach in the Lehigh department, but the highest paid wrestling coach in the country. They have a well funded club program too.

A school simply isn't going to be a national power with 3 or 4 scholarships. They can recruit and develop kids and make a splash every few years, but they really can't sustain a high level year in and year out.

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"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate? "

gg121and2

Terp and fan are making key points. Right or wrong - long term intercollegiate success in wrestling requires financial support - both from alumni and athletic departments. Terp mentioned an important term - ENDOWMENT. Even the Hawkeyes - the most fan-supported program in the country - have at least seven of their scholarships endowed.

Stanford hired Bob Bowlsby primarily because he's a great fund raiser.It would be my guess that, behind the scenes, he's working very hard to get wrestling scholarships fully endowed there.

fanforlife

Endowments are very important to a program. Any school out there who has a chance to fund raise and endow scholarships and is not doing it... now that is a problem!

Contacting alumni and getting that support is also overlooked from time to time.

When you are talking about Clarion and Lehigh. I would say Lehigh has the better support at this point.

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Champions are made while no one is watching.

Ground&Pound

Clarion does have a few advantages over Lehigh.

1. Their academic standards are much lower. They can enroll wrestlers that don’t have the grades to make it into many of the private schools.
2. Clarion is affordable.


There are a lot of excellent PA wrestlers that don’t get full scholarship offers and end up with partials scholarships to out-of-state schools.
The MAC (except for maybe CMU) is sprinkled with PA talent.

If Clarion (or any other PSAC school) could achieve a level of success, perhaps these types of kids could stay home and pool their talents.

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fanforlife

Each school has their advantages that is for sure, but with the APR being able to keep those kids is important as well. So taking an academic risk may not be the best thing for the program either.

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Champions are made while no one is watching.