TitleIX is ripe for reform

After 11 years in Iowa (assuming he served his nearly 7 year sentence there?), I'd think he could claim residence in either state. But at any rate, I suspect he's wished he'd remained in-state. To my knowledge, Iowa has several more D1 wrestling teams than Minnesota. Does Minnesota have any besides the land that JRob helped make great (I.e. the U. of Minnesota)?

High school in Minnesota; college in neighboring Iowa; 7 years in the slammer in...? I presume Iowa, but sometimes states have transfer & exchange programs. Either way, 7 years is a long time to rot in prison. Granted, victims of sexual assault can consequently endure an STD for life, and an unwanted pregnancy potentially for life as well. The former's a risk even for the kind of assault of which he was accused. At least he persevered. I guess he's not allowed to coach at the high school level (or below) nowadays. Maybe a college club program could use him, if he likes: http://www.ncwa.net/teams

Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's topmost leader, sure has inspired many Salvadorans. More power to him, but I cannot help but worry about the mass incarceration of innocent folks along with the Mara (etc.) thugs. Some folks may have just dressed like Mara and gotten gang-style tattoos to avoid being targeted. Any idea what percentage of folks imprisoned in Bukele's purges are actually innocent? Hopefully it's extremely low.

I used the name "Iowa" to refer to the state, not the Hawkeyes. 7 years in a prison, presumably somewhere out there in Iowa, sure was a long time for him to rot, wasn't it?

That's sad to hear, but at least the internet's enabling wrestling to gain ground on that front. In cyberspace we can circulate lists of successful football players who wrestled, for example. We can generate and circulate success stories for participants in our individualized sport, too. We're becoming increasingly aware of how incarceration is a less-than-ideal answer relative to sports opportunities. That said, I've been told by another academic that nowadays, in students' minds sports tend to play second fiddle (if that) to cellphones. If students were learning marketable skills that way, it'd be one thing. But they're apparently just playing around, without getting the cardiovascular exercise and social interaction that taxpayers spend so much money to make available in our school systems. It must be disappointing to coaches and boosters.

UALR isn't on its own yet?

Wrestling, like sports in general, can enable us to inspire troubled youth to pursue more productive paths. A former coach at my high school used to predict how successful a high school football team would be by how much trouble its participants got into as 8th & 9th graders. We can send troubled youth to jail, or relegate them to the career advancement sideline malaise while nevertheless demanding tax dollars from them, or we can welcome them to the wrestling community and try to help them achieve their potential. I'm glad that Gable Stevenson & Dylan Martinez were given the chance to progress in society, aren't you? Gable subsequently won Olympic gold, as you recall. https://apnews.com/general-news-1221944d273eb2cdb0d285de3d665b3f May A.J. Ferrari achieve his full potential too.

Rulon Gardner, the USA's last Olympic Greco gold medalist, is trying out for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/olympic-wrestling-gold-medalist-rulon-gardner-isnt-done-yet Rulon's a nice fellow and he inspired greater interest in wrestling when he defeated eventual Russian congressman and legendary perennial world wrestling champion Karelin for the gold at the 2000 Olympics. By the way, I asked Rulon what he thinks Karelin was saying to himself as the final moments ticked away on the match clock. Rulon modestly said "I think he was cussing." I bet Karelin will be cheering for Rulon's comeback bid for the upcoming Olympics though, don't you?

Remember Iowa's former wrestling star Jordan Holm? He maintains his innocence after serving nearly 7 years in prison for rape. I seem to recall that the allegation was that he woke up in someone else's bed next to a gal, performed an oral favor on her, and then discovered she had a guy with her. She expressed disapproval and he allegedly got out of the bed and ran away. After serving his prison sentence and resurrecting his wrestling career (for a while), he referred to modern DNA analysis to show that his DNA was not even found on her private parts. This is the most recent article I've found on the request for a new trial (which I presume was denied?): https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2017/06/29/former-uni-wrestler-convicted-sexually-assaulting-university-iowa-student-seeking-new-trial/440406001/ As for former Idaho state rep. Von Ettinger (an Afghanistan war vet.), it appears that the purported rape victim has been on a (thus far lucrative) suing spree: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/crime/article272961640.html Notice how she wouldn't even testify (under oath) at trial about the alleged acts of the accused? If what she claims happened really did, then I certainly sympathize with her. Sexual encounters spread diseases and can lead to unwanted pregnancies. If she lied (and continues doing so, for $$$) though, it goes to further show the rest of us why it's important to refrain from conduct that can be claimed to be a violation. If one participant doesn't fully trust the other, it seems best to remain Platonic friends. And who fully trusts anyone else with one's freedom & future nowadays? Sigh... That said, may A.J. Ferrari have a successful future. And may we all remember the examples of less fortunate folks whom I've gone to considerable trouble to find and share in this forum thread in hopes that we'll be sufficiently precautious and avoid having to make the tremendous sacrifices of former wrestlers such as Iowa's Jordan Holm. Meanwhile, supporting women's wrestling seems helpful at reducing women's vulnerabilities to such hazards.

This concluding (and very brief) scene from the 2005 movie hit Kingdom of Heaven depicts the conclusion of a long ago battle in the Middle East in which one of the leaders is asked what he thinks Jerusalem's worth. His reaction seems to indicate that it's not worth much, other than the passion that some feel for it.

Might anyone here know if Coach Denney will be coaching at the college level elsewhere, upon leaving Maryville U.?

At least Maryville U. won't be dropping the program, apparently: https://maryvillesaints.com/sports/wrestling

Folks in Mississippi have been working to change the state's non-wrestling status, as the following link (also shared above) helps show: https://www.sipwrestling.org/ How much longer before someone from Mississippi wrestles for UALR though? We'll see...

I'm not aware that he has all that much. But he does what he can with what he has, and makes a very favorable difference for our sport (and others). His insurance company (the Hatcher Agency) does a wonderful job, too. I know this from experience. That said, I wonder how UALR funds its wrestling operation now that he generously provided seed money for them to get started. Might anyone here know?

UALR would have had a winning season if not for relatively close losses to 3 schools: https://lrtrojans.com/sports/wrestling/schedule/2022-23 (Campbell, Stanford & SIUE).... Meanwhile here's their roster, which shows that they're (apparently) refraining from the (tired, albeit proven) formula of recruiting everyone they can from faraway wrestling hotbeds such as PA & OH: https://lrtrojans.com/sports/wrestling/roster I don't mean to suggest that MO, KA and TX aren't wrestling hotbeds, too, by the way. But I like how UALR's roster shows they're providing opportunities to folks from underserved regions. They need not have winning seasons to be well worth supporting.

I vaguely recall that it's not necessarily that Big 10 members have to sponsor wrestling, but rather that they have to sponsor far more sports than the SEC does.

When will the following suffice? https://www.sipwrestling.org/ PARTICIPATING HIGH SCHOOLS: Participating Wrestlers Count Girls: ~50 Boys: ~400 NORTH MISSISSIPPI (9) Lewisburg Center Hill North Pontotoc South Pontotoc Oxford Tupelo Saltillo Starkville French Camp SOUTH MISSISSIPPI (9) Ocean Springs Vancleave St. Martin East Central Mississippi School for the Deaf and Blind St. Andrew’s Episcopal School St. Patrick's Picayune Mendenhall

How does "that" refer to the Earth's status in your question?

That's an interesting point. Southwestern Oregon's Douglas county reportedly voted 47% in favor of joining Greater Idaho, back in 2022. Meanwhile Josephine County voted 49% in favor. Coos Bay (a coastal port in SW Oregon) is reportedly within 150 miles of one, and 90 miles of the other. As momentum increases, the issue you've raised could be resolved beneficially for the Greater Idaho movement. Or not. I prefer to be an optimist, though. Governments deserve to stop getting to take their citizens & taxpayers for granted, don't they? If the status quo was sufficient, the U. of Oregon and Boise State would both have NCAA D1 wrestling teams presently.

Ann Coulter's reasoning & research skills are considerable. She didn't get to practice law by being a twit. As for research, it costs to create it. Not just money, either. There are those who hate anyone who threatens their political narrative about what victims certain groups of folks supposedly are. There are costs involved with opposing such people, who often have too much time on their hands and who get offended easily. You might want to ask Dan Masterson's daughter what she thinks about the ease with which men can be maligned and convicted based on a purported rape victim's (money-motivated) testimony.

Are you saying most rape accusations nowadays are fully truthful? If so, what's your basis for that assessment? Ann Coulter would take issue with your reasoning, I bet... https://anncoulter.com/2014/12/17/one-in-five-people-who-write-for-rolling-stone-are-morons/ EXCERPT: "We are truly in the middle of a rape epidemic: an epidemic of women falsely claiming to have been raped. It’s said that “women never lie about rape!” But the evidence shows that women lie about rape all the time -– for attention, for revenge and for an alibi. All serious studies of the matter suggest that at least 40 percent of rape claims are false. The U.S. Air Force, for example, examined more than a thousand rape allegations on military bases over the course of four years and concluded that 46 percent were false. In 27 percent of the cases, the accuser recanted. A large study of rape allegations over nine years in a small Midwestern city, by Eugene J. Kanin of Purdue University, found that 41 percent of the rape claims were false."

I'd be interested to learn more, please. All I know is that Maryville added wrestling and brought in Coach Denney to head its inaugural program. Hopefully it is glad it did so (?)

Andre Metzger's no longer coaching at UNT (Univ. of North Texas)? That's sad to know. He was doing well. But then rivals Schreiner U. went NCAA D3 and the Dallas community college system reorganized and Richland Community College's head coach retired again (this time in his 80s). That turn of events didn't leave much afterwards within driving range, competition-wise. Matters at UNT were surely affected. As for ODU, I am also unaware that Boise State U. added a club program after its somewhat recent demise. Last I checked, I saw nothing for them at: http://www.ncwa.net/teams

For some reason, the destination link from my previous post is correct but it nevertheless reads incorrectly. Here's how it's supposed to appear, though: Property taxes on shacks, trailers, huts, tiny homes and RVs are lower and worth considering instead of lifetimes shackled by mortgages, lofty property taxes and HOAs (home owners associations and their fees), are they not?

Personally I'm grateful as heck to see Arkansas finally have NCAA D1 wrestling. It's a first for that state, isn't it? Maybe they're struggling financially and doing the best that they can. I sincerely do not know, but I salute the insurance broker who donated and sacrificed to make the program's emergence possible: https://www.hatcheragency.com/ Greg Hatcher I think of certain college wrestling programs more as beacons of survival and stability for our sport than I do as sources of likely NCAA medalist contenders. Such schools inspire more folks in their states to embrace our sport in ways that sponsors, academic administrators and even Olympics officials notice. We want to avoid the fate of men's NCAA gymnastics, which has become very regional instead of national. Along those lines, what if we could get D1 (or at least NAIA) wrestling added to nearby Mississippi next? That would be a first, too, right? Here's a foundation taking on that challenge: https://www.sipwrestling.org/ Another nearby state (Louisiana) apparenly used to have D1 wrestling (Tulane U. comes to mind) but presently does not. Surely there's an enrollment-driven D1 school there (or an NAIA one) that could follow UALR's footsteps too? Nearby Alabama's added NAIA wrestling during recent years. I recall reading about a second one's emergence there a few years ago, but I'm not recalling if it's D3 or NAIA. At any rate, may they keep up the progress. Anyhow, we've recently been discussing how Cal. State Bakersfield isn't producing as much as is desired, lately. But at least they avoided nearby Fresno State's fate in going over budget and getting eliminated (again). Their survival is enabling other schools in the region to keep wrestling too. Road trips can be lengthy without these beacons of survival. Would Stanford, Oregon State, Cal. Poly and Cal. Baptist still have NCAA D1 wrestling if not for Cal. State Bakersfield's continuing existence? How about Arizona State, Northern Colorado, Utah Valley and others in that region? Fortunately Boise State's demise a few years ago didn't start the chain reaction of team elimination that some of us feared (yet). That said, I appreciate your concern about UALR's wrestling health. Perhaps more teams' emergence in the region can generate greater overall interest and buoy teams that dare to join the local and regional title pursuits to greater success?