Cal State Bakersfield's wrestling program

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Cal. State Bakersfield is now seeking an assistant wrestling coach:

https://intermatwrestle.com/jobs/assistant-wrestling-coach-cal-state-bakersfield-r23/

 

[Idaho]

Bleise went to Army... good that they are at least keeping the position.  Roster is looking a little thin. Only 1 at a couple weights. Hoping they survive the realignment or whatever happens. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Idaho

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

It's always helpful & inspirational to know how we can try to help Cal. State Bakersfield keep its program alive, ideally without dropping out of the NCAA D1 ranks, too.   

Perhaps Cal. St. Bakersfield's survival can help inspire another reincarnation of Fresno State's wrestling program?  Granted a "lite" budget would likely be needed in Fresno.   Fresno's apparently located just 109 miles north of Bakersfield, via CA-99.   If lean survival's possible in one, why not in the other too?    A suspenseful rivalry between those two programs could seemingly elevate both, couldn't it?    
  
Here's a semi-helpful map of NCAA D1 schools in the USA (with or without wrestling):



Meanwhile here's a textual list:

https://www.ncsasports.org/mens-wrestling/division-1-colleges

 

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

  It would also help add to the rising tide that lifts other boats if we could get  wrestling reinstated at the  University of Oregon.  Here are some helpful links regarding that endeavor:

https://saveoregonwrestling.org/

https://ncwa.net/teams/uo

https://clubsports.uoregon.edu/wrestling
 

[ionel]

58 minutes ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

https://clubsports.uoregon.edu/wrestling
 

Is that really the photo you want to use?  

not that anything's wrong with that

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

I agree with your concerns.   The NCWA page is so thin on details that I figured the official page is worth including too.

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by TitleIX is ripe for reform

[AgaveMaria]

On 2/17/2023 at 8:59 PM, 1032004 said:

CMU has beaten Northern Illinois (among others)

Northern Illinois has beaten Cal Baptist (among others)

Cal Baptist has beaten Wyoming (among others)

Wyoming has beaten Utah Valley

Utah Valley has beaten Northern Colorado (among others)

Northern Colorado has beaten Cal Poly (among others)

Cal Poly has beaten ArIzona State (among others)

Arizona State has beaten Missouri (among others)

Missouri should probably drop their program

 

 

 

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/college/asu/2019/11/22/no-10-asu-wrestling-stuns-no-1-penn-state-ending-60-match-dual-win-streak/4274556002/

ASU beats Penn State - finally..., the ammunition needed to force them to drop their program?

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Arizona State has helped keep the national wrestling scene more interesting.  There's a relatively new tribute to the Sun Devils' NCAA D1 wrestling championship-winning program here:

https://intermatwrestle.com/forums/forum/9-legends-of-the-mat/  

Hopefully ASU and Cal. State Bakersfield (among other teams) can keep their wrestling endeavors alive and making progress well into the future....

[flyingcement]

Wrestlestat does not show Chance Rich on the team for next year.  The teams lone national qualifier from last year has one year of eligibility remaining.  

[Idaho]

2 hours ago, flyingcement said:

Wrestlestat does not show Chance Rich on the team for next year.  The teams lone national qualifier from last year has one year of eligibility remaining.  

Yeah he hasn't been on the official team roster either. He has been really beat up the last few years, so it wouldn't surprise me if he called it quits. 

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

At least Cal. State Bakersfield's team's still alive though.  I'd rather keep it that way without national qualifiers than have the program terminated.   But ideally having national qualifiers each year would be good.   All-Americans now and then (if not more often) would be even better. 

Might you have any suggestions for helping Cal. State Bakersfield survive & thrive, without burning out (hero) Stephen Neal or forcing the coaches to donate even more of their time?   "An ounce of prevention" is my motivation.  We saw Fresno State's wrestling revival vanish like a flash in the pan due largely to budget matters.      

[flyingcement]

34 minutes ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

At least Cal. State Bakersfield's team's still alive though.  I'd rather keep it that way without national qualifiers than have the program terminated.   But ideally having national qualifiers each year would be good.   All-Americans now and then (if not more often) would be even better. 

Might you have any suggestions for helping Cal. State Bakersfield survive & thrive, without burning out (hero) Stephen Neal or forcing the coaches to donate even more of their time?   "An ounce of prevention" is my motivation.  We saw Fresno State's wrestling revival vanish like a flash in the pan due largely to budget matters.      

Absolutely agree - no doubt about that.  I was bringing that up because I was unaware of that fact - it wasn't meant to detract from the overall point.  

Conventional wisdom in business says that it's a lot cheaper to retain your current clients than it is to gain new ones.  I think similarly about wrestling programs.  For every dollar it takes to launch a new program, the same dollar would seemingly go a lot further in keeping a current program afloat.  It's exciting to see Lindenwood, Queens College, Bellarmine, etc. joining the D1 ranks, but at the same time we have seen Fresno State, Old Dominion, among others which have folded up.  From the perspective of college wrestling (not from the perspective of any individual team), I don't think its an efficient way of spending wrestling money (closing and opening programs).  Adding stability to existing programs would be my preference.  

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

 

That's an interesting point of view that you shared.   

Sadly enough, the enrollment driven schools seemingly won't be able to keep luring in as many student loan-backed tuition payments as before.   That well is running dry, after all:  http://www.USDebtClock.org 

As for state-backed schools such as Fresno St. and Old Dominion U., they don't have as many enrollment pressures to add wrestling.    They get plenty of applicants anyway.   Perhaps the NCWA club programs option is best suited for converting what remains into wrestling teams of some form or another.   That opportunity hasn't been embraced at ODU though, sadly enough.   It's not clear why.   At least Cal. State Bakersfield still hasn't fallen into that state of sadness.   I do remember how ODU's athletic director rushed to sell ODU's wrestling mat(s) after axing the program.   It reminds me of how the Spanish conquerors came to Mexico City, Mexico during the 1500s (etc.) and built their own buildings on top of where indigenous constructions (such as pyramids & temples) had previously been.   Little was left for nostalgia, tradition and the like.   It was demoralizing and meant to be that way.   

It's not clear what the best solutions to the wrestling program-related challenges are, and I appreciate your insights.  If we can keep even thinly funded teams around, that helps alleviate travel budget pressures while also keeping alumni and potential fans more engaged.   The future outside of Iowa, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania (to name a few) may very well be Cal. State Bakersfield's to exemplify.   I.e. thin budgets, modest expectations and as much pragmatism as they can generate.    

[JVStateChamp]

One impact for smaller wrestling programs that I have noticed or at least believe to have noticed is that they do not get the big-name coaches anymore. In the past, there was a trend where a younger coach looking to get his start in college coaching would start at a smaller program and then build their experience to become a head coach at a top program. Many of our youngest and brightest coaches are opting to stay an assistant at a bigger university rather than become a head coach at a smaller one. The best examples I can think of are UTC's coaching history as previous coaches include Terry Brands and Chris Bono or Tim Flynn at Edinboro before making the jump to WVU. Does this mean the program will be successful? No, but it does draw attention and fans which in turn shows support for the program making it more difficult to drop the program. 

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Thanks for sharing those observations.   It seems worth mentioning that musical chairs-playing head coaches arguably do not seem to sufficiently benefit schools left behind by them.   UTC may have been stronger if it had had lasting leadership.   Maybe that's why we no longer see certain kinds of coaches head to such schools... Perhaps such schools don't want a coach around for just a few years or less.    Alumni seemingly prefer to back a coach who will be around for longer terms.   

 Or you might be on to something in asserting that the higher profile influx of coaches helped such schools more than such coaches' departures hurt.     Nevertheless, the U. of Missouri didn't juggle head coaches these past two decades.   They're now ranked in the Top 5 at the NCAA D1 level.   They even survived being the only wrestling program in their eventual athletic conference (the SEC).   But admittedly there's a significant difference between the U. of Missouri and UTC & Edinboro.   

At least nowadays the growth of the NCWA.net (club league) gives more folks coaching opportunities than perhaps ever before.   So does the growth of women's wrestling.    


 

[Ivan Stankowski]

Bono!