New d1 Program?

[d3grappler]

Saw flowrestling posted about 5 days back that a new d1 wrestling program was coming, looked like Ayers and Ward seemed to gave knowledge about what was coming? Does anybody have info on what this might be? Sorry if I missed another thread...

[Husker_Du]

idk if it was mentioned in another thread, but it's Tarleton State in Texas. 

[d3grappler]

18 minutes ago, Husker_Du said:

idk if it was mentioned in another thread, but it's Tarleton State in Texas. 

Awesome, thank you for letting me know. Seems like a solid school! Hopefully they can pull the best from Texas and some Oklahoma guys!

[11986]

1 hour ago, Husker_Du said:

idk if it was mentioned in another thread, but it's Tarleton State in Texas. 

has there ever been a D1 program in Texas? This is great news

[flyingcement]

This is awesome news!  Will they be Big12 or Socon?

[Formally140]

How’s the area ? Appeal wise?

school has good academics from a quick glance

[TwoPointsTakeDown84]

Not seeing it on NWCA. What's your source? 

[gimpeltf]

24 minutes ago, flyingcement said:

This is awesome news!  Will they be Big12 or Socon?

They're in the WAC now.

[BobDole]

1 hour ago, TwoPointsTakeDown84 said:

Not seeing it on NWCA. What's your source? 

[ionel]

18 minutes ago, BobDole said:

Bob didn't recieve the inappropriate photo message?  

[SetonHallPirate]

1 hour ago, gimpeltf said:

They're in the WAC now.

Would need one more program, but wonder if the United Athletic Conference (would be Bellarmine, California Baptist, Queens, Tarleton State, and Utah Valley, plus one more program) could expand to wrestling...just a thought. (also wouldn't be eligible for a bid until 2026-27, due to Queens being in transition until that time)

[Idaho]

7 minutes ago, SetonHallPirate said:

Would need one more program, but wonder if the United Athletic Conference (would be Bellarmine, California Baptist, Queens, Tarleton State, and Utah Valley, plus one more program) could expand to wrestling...just a thought. (also wouldn't be eligible for a bid until 2026-27, due to Queens being in transition until that time)

It would be great to have another conference, however I think it would be difficult for a team from the Big12 to step down into a lower level conference like this.  You almost need a few more lower level teams to ban together to join, along with some new D1 programs of the future. It would be great to have a new conference with some new teams that get some automatic qualifiers. 

[TexRef]

7 hours ago, 11986 said:

has there ever been a D1 program in Texas? This is great news

Yes, the University of Texas had wrestling. It was many many moons ago. UT even beat Oklahoma A & M in a dual, two years in a row! I want to say that was back in the 1920's. 

[TexRef]

7 hours ago, Formally140 said:

How’s the area ? Appeal wise?

school has good academics from a quick glance

The town of Stephenville has a population of about 20,000 and it is considered to be in the heart of Tornado Alley. It is over an hour to get to Fort Worth and almost 2 hours to Dallas. 

There is no HS wrestling in the area. Most of the wrestling in Texas is in the metropolitan areas. I think it will be hard to pull a kid from Houston, Dallas, or El Paso to Stephenville. I hope I am wrong. 

Edited June 22, 2023 by TexRef
.

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

Here's a list of NCWA, NAIA and NCAA programs in Texas:

https://www.ncsasports.org/athletic-scholarships/wrestling/texas/tarleton-state-university

The list lacks Texas Woman's U., which is new and NCAA D2 (based near Dallas / Ft. Worth / Denton County).   It also lacks Richland College (now Dallas Community College).   Their program's status, post-pandemic, is uncertain though.   Beforehand, however, they were a relatively tough NCWA program.

   

Edited June 22, 2023 by TitleIX is ripe for reform

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

9 hours ago, 11986 said:

has there ever been a D1 program in Texas? This is great news

Here's an interesting resource on that topic:

https://johnnythompsonnum1.blogspot.com/2022/09/gone-lost-forgotten-collegiate-teams-of.html

[TitleIX is ripe for reform]

1 hour ago, TexRef said:

The town of Stephenville has a population of about 20,000 and it is considered to be in the heart of Tornado Alley. It is over an hour to get to Fort Worth and almost 2 hours to Dallas. 

There is no HS wrestling in the area. Most of the wrestling in Texas is in the metropolitan areas. I think it will be hard to pull a kid from Houston, Dallas, or El Paso to Stephenville. I hope I am wrong. 

Ithaca, NY has a population of around 31,000.   Charlottesville, Va. has one of around 45,000.    Both have significant NCAA D1 presences though.   

Texans are hungry for college wrestling programs.   Schreiner U.'s roster is quite healthy for an NCAA D3 program that's less than a decade old.  Kerrville, TX has a population of around 25,000.   Meanwhile Wayland Baptist U. up in Plainville, TX does well for an NAIA program.  Plainview's population is around 24,000.   

[Jason Bryant]

Yes, the University of Texas had wrestling. It was many many moons ago. UT even beat Oklahoma A & M in a dual, two years in a row! I want to say that was back in the 1920's. 

That was long before divisions. Divisional structure wasn’t enacted until 1974 and the college/university split started in 1963. There was major college wrestling there, but it can’t be described as D1. Same with results into the 1960s with schools like UTEP and Houston competing within their own Texas league, which best I can tell, would be like a club equivalent.

[boconnell]

2 hours ago, TexRef said:

The town of Stephenville has a population of about 20,000 and it is considered to be in the heart of Tornado Alley. It is over an hour to get to Fort Worth and almost 2 hours to Dallas. 

There is no HS wrestling in the area. Most of the wrestling in Texas is in the metropolitan areas. I think it will be hard to pull a kid from Houston, Dallas, or El Paso to Stephenville. I hope I am wrong. 

They've been going to Kearney, Nebraska and Edmund, Oklahoma and Longview, Texas and other places like that for a long time.  Texas kids don't get much choice if they want to wrestle at the next level.  I don't think they'll be very good, but an inability to attract Texas kids won't be a negative for them.  

[Formally140]

6 hours ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

Ithaca, NY has a population of around 31,000.   Charlottesville, Va. has one of around 45,000.    Both have significant NCAA D1 presences though.   

Texans are hungry for college wrestling programs.   Schreiner U.'s roster is quite healthy for an NCAA D3 program that's less than a decade old.  Kerrville, TX has a population of around 25,000.   Meanwhile Wayland Baptist U. up in Plainville, TX does well for an NAIA program.  Plainview's population is around 24,000.   

If they want to be competitive early they’ll need to be able to attract out of state talent. 
 

I think it’s awesome they’re adding a program. 

[TwoPointsTakeDown84]

So, to confirm, still no D1 wrestling programs in Texas? 

[Jason Bryant]

There has not yet been an announcement on this. I hear there is still a fundraising figure that needs to be met for this to become a reality.

[TwoPointsTakeDown84]

So, yes. 

And of course there's a fundraising figure that has to be met. That goes without saying. So why did you?

We've had good luck, recently, with new D1 programs in states without any. Texas would be the crown jewel of that group, for sure. But instead of dancing around the edge by saying, 'I hear' this or that. Point us to resources so that we can help with the raising of funds. Why are you keeping this a secret? 

[Gus]

9 hours ago, TitleIX is ripe for reform said:

Ithaca, NY has a population of around 31,000.   Charlottesville, Va. has one of around 45,000.    Both have significant NCAA D1 presences though.   

Texans are hungry for college wrestling programs.   Schreiner U.'s roster is quite healthy for an NCAA D3 program that's less than a decade old.  Kerrville, TX has a population of around 25,000.   Meanwhile Wayland Baptist U. up in Plainville, TX does well for an NAIA program.  Plainview's population is around 24,000.   

Brookings, SD population 23,000

[Idaho]

11 hours ago, TexRef said:

The town of Stephenville has a population of about 20,000 and it is considered to be in the heart of Tornado Alley. It is over an hour to get to Fort Worth and almost 2 hours to Dallas. 

There is no HS wrestling in the area. Most of the wrestling in Texas is in the metropolitan areas. I think it will be hard to pull a kid from Houston, Dallas, or El Paso to Stephenville. I hope I am wrong. 

So kids who really want to focus on wrestling should go here rather than Arizona State.