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  • Photo: Tony Rotundo

    Photo: Tony Rotundo

    Will the West Coast Need Mountain West Conference Wrestling?

    I’ve stepped back a bit from InterMat lately, but there’s a topic I enjoy/hate following, which is conference realignment. And it’s making the rounds in sports news right now. We’re a few weeks from the start of football and the #1 thing everyone in sports is talking about is conference realignment as Colorado jumped ship from the PAC-12 to the Big 12 and, as I write this on Thursday, it looks like the PAC-12 is now on the verge of collapse as Arizona State, Arizona, and Utah are rumored to be in talks of joining the Big 12 while Oregon and Washington are in similar conversations with the Big 10. 

    If that happens, the PAC-12 conference will drop to just four members. Oregon State, Stanford, Cal, and Washington State. It’s unknown what would happen to those schools if that were to go down. The PAC-12 could somehow grab a few new members from the Mountain West and use their brand name to stay alive as a conference. Many believe Washington State and Oregon State will get absorbed by the Mountain West, and it’s really unclear what could happen with Cal and Stanford. 

    Admitting that no one really knows what will happen in all of this, there’s one thing I believe. In the scenario that the PAC-12 falls, the best thing for the sport of wrestling would be for the Mountain West conference to start sponsoring the sport. The Mountain West already has two teams with wrestling. Air Force and Wyoming. Both are currently affiliate members in the Big 12 conference for wrestling and have had a lot of success in it. Oregon State and Stanford both have wrestling programs and would need a home. The affiliate PAC-12 schools of Cal-Poly, CSU Bakersfield, and Arkansas Little-Rock would also need homes. 

    The most reasonable solution for all of that? Add wrestling in the Mountain West. You would have three core members with Oregon State, Wyoming, and Air Force. You could add homes for the three current PAC-12 affiliates, and even if Stanford doesn’t join the Mountain West as a full member. Again, we have no idea what would happen here, but there are rumors they could remain an independent athletic department if they don’t join the Big Ten. That would add the brand of one of the best academic schools in the country to the Mountain West. I would also explore bringing in California Baptist. They joined the Big 12 because the PAC-12 denied their admission to the conference. They don’t make any geographic sense and travel would be much easier on them in this Mountain West version of wrestling. Making a swap with them and Little Rock could be a reasonable move to think about as Little Rock makes more geographical sense in the Big 12 also and would put the Big 12 at twelve wrestling schools. 

    This conference of Oregon State, Wyoming, Air Force, California Baptist, CSU Bakersfield, Cal Poly, and Stanford would be strong. Could reasonably be considered part of the “Power Five” of college wrestling programs.

    Again, nothing may happen here. The PAC-12 may stay together in some form or another, and in some ways that would be better for wrestling if they do. But if it does fall, the Mountain West conference could be a savior for the sport of wrestling in the western United States if they choose to sponsor it. 

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    Your suggestion here that the 4 remaining PAC 12 schools could grab teams from the Mountain West Conference is not feasible because of the gigantic exit fees that the former MWC commissioner instituted as he left that job.  NOW if a MWC team wants to leave the MWC they face exit fees up to 34 MILLION dollars.   No MWC team is going to pay that gigantic exit fee to go to a conference that is a mere shell of what it once was.  Or to a conference that has no TV plan in place for 2024, etc.  It would be insanity to do that.

    The more logical plan would be for the 4 remaining PAC schools to join the MWC - but I don't see Stanford ever doing that.

    I'm a lifelong wrestling fan but I see no way on Earth that the MWC adds wrestling as a sport.  None - zip - zilch - NADA.

    Edited by Thumper
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    And at the risk of appearing to be sexist - now that the MWC commissioner is a female my comment that I see no way on Earth that the MWC adds wrestling - is even more likely to be correct.

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    Even before the breakup of the Pac 12 I was advocating for a WWL (Western Wrestling League) similar to the former EWL (Eastern Wrestling League).  It would consist of the wrestling schools along the Rockies and West Coast, namely the 5 western Pac 12 programs plus Wyoming, South Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Air Force, possibly Utah Valley and Cal Baptist from the Big 12.  I think that is still a possible option, and it could loosely affiliate with the Mountain West.  Very excited to see ASU moving into the Big 12, that will only help the Sun Devil program.

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    What I would like to see is eight of the Division I wrestling schools come together and form their own eight team wrestling conference.  Namely these eight wrestling programs:

     

    Air Force

    Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

    Cal State University - Bakersfield

    Northern Colorado

    Oregon State

    Stanford

    Utah Valley

    Wyoming

     

    And the Big 12 would still have

     

    Arizona State

    Iowa State

    Missouri

    North Dakota State

    Northern Iowa

    Oklahoma State

    South Dakota State

    West Virginia

     

    With Oklahoma heading to the S.E.C. does Oklahoma wrestling remain in the Big 12?

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