Cutbacks in College Sports
Risk U.S. Olympic Future
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS

BEIJING — The U.S. won more medals here than it has in any nonboycotted Olympics, but even with that haul, its days of dominance may be numbered.

That is in part because U.S. colleges, the primary breeding ground for the country’s Olympians, have eliminated hundreds of teams in Olympic sports in recent years.

“We used to have a lot of kids going for the Olympic dream,” says Scott Barclay, coach of the men’s gymnastics team at Arizona State University. “Without the carrot of a college scholarship, a lot of kids give up, or their parents won’t support them as much,” he says. Mr. Barclay took out a personal loan several years ago to build a private gym as a way to keep his team alive as a club sport after ASU cut the varsity program.

Rutgers University in New Jersey last year eliminated six teams in Olympic sports, including fencing and rowing, programs that over the years generated more than a score of Olympians. In 2006, James Madison University in Virginia eliminated 10 teams at once in a handful of Olympic sports, including swimming, gymnastics and wrestling.

Title IX Tied Our Hands At the Olympics
Phyllis Schlafly

The Olympics demonstrated again what competition, hard work and determination can produce, as numerous world records were shattered. American swimmer Michael Phelps and gymnast Nastia Liukin gave us much to cheer.

But U.S. athletes won in spite of Title IX regulations, which impose gender quotas on sports for institutions that receive any federal money. Title IX has crippled our national competitiveness.

Title IX regulations have forced educational institutions to eliminate men’s teams until the number of men and women on sports teams is the same ratio as the number of men and women enrolled in academic classes. In the numerous colleges that are now 60 percent female in academic enrollment, Title IX requires that men’s teams be eliminated until only 40 percent of the athletes are men.

Title IX quotas have caused the elimination of all but 19 men’s college gymnastics teams. This deprives boys of the scholarship incentive to take up gymnastics as a sport in high school and takes away the competition needed to improve their skills in college.

SAVE THE MUSEUM!

“Wrestling teaches you how to get off your back. Old Man River put us on our back, but we’re on our feet and fighting to survive.”
- Mike Chapman

The massive water damage in the Midwest has affected countless homes and businesses in Iowa. Unfortunately the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute & Museum was included.

$250 annual gift for 5 years, $1,250 total.
Donors will receive:
Free lifetime admission to the museum
Save The Museum t-shirt
Dan Gable Asics Gold Poster
Abraham Lincoln or Lou Thesz print

$250 annual gift for 10 years, $2,500 total.
Donors will receive:
Free lifetime admission to the museum
Save The Museum t-shirt Waterloo was one of the many victims of the flooding. We are asking for donations to help restore our fantastic facility. Your assistance is appreciated.

$250 annual gift for 3 years, $750 total.
Donors will receive:
Free lifetime admission to the museum
Save The Museum t-shirt
Dan Gable Asics Gold Poster
Abraham Lincoln or Lou Thesz print
“Match of the Century” print – Gotch/Hackenschmidt

The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute & Museum is a not-for-profit organization, 501 3(c). Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. All monies will go to the restoration and preservation of the wrestling museum.

Marty Morgan was the top assistant under head coach J Robinson at Minnesota for 13 of his 16 seasons on staff. While at Minnesota, Morgan helped secure the program’s status as one of the most successful collegiate wrestling programs in the nation.

Head assistant wrestling coach Marty Morgan resigned from his position at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday afternoon after 16 years with the program. Morgan will go on to train former Gopher All-American wrestler Brock Lesnar, a popular Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) competitor, on a full-time basis.

“I’m going to step back for a year to help Brock [Lesnar] train and I’ll see where I’m at next summer. I’ve been working with Brock [Lesnar] the past few years on his training and now I’ve been offered a unique opportunity to work with him full time.” Morgan said. “This has definitely been a difficult decision, considering that I have been involved with the program for 20 years as an athlete and coach. I am happy to have a great relationship with the University of Minnesota administration, J Robinson, the wrestling staff, past and current team members, and numerous fans around this great wrestling state.”

Tommy Rowlands Places Second at the Olympic Trials:
Buckeye Coach will be 2008 Olympic Alternate
Kevin Schlosser; the-ozone.net

Tommy Rowlands advanced to the finals of the Olympic Trials by winning a US national championship in April. His opponent that day was long time rival Steve Mocco. They met again in the finals in June as Mocco fought his way through the qualifier to wrestle Rowlands for the sixteenth time in their careers. Each and every match before finals of the Olympic Trials was a war and Sunday in Las Vegas was no different.

In a best of three series of matches in the championship finals; Mocco won the first the first match 1-0, 1-0. In the first period they wrestled to a scoreless tie before Mocco scored a takedown off the clinch. Rowlands stepped out of bounds in the second period to give Mocco the lead and the first match.

Rowlands came back in the second match to force a third and deciding match by winning a 3-0, 1-0 decision. Wrestling to a second scoreless tie in the first period, he picked up a three-point takedown out of the clinch. In the second period Mocco returned the favor by stepping out of bounds to give Rowlands the match winning point.

PARK RIDGE, IL - Iowa wrestler Brent Metcalf and Northwestern lacrosse standout Hannah Nielsen were respectively named the Jesse Owens Male and Suzy Favor Female Athletes of the Year, the Big Ten Conference announced on Thursday. The Big Ten Athletes of the Year are selected by a panel of conference media members from nominations submitted by each institution.

Metcalf led the Iowa wrestling program to its 21st overall NCAA Championship in 2008, scoring 23 team points to be named the event’s Outstanding Wrestler. The sophomore earned the individual national title at 149 pounds by defeating Bubba Jenkins of Penn State, 14-8, in the finals. At the conclusion of the season, Metcalf took home the Dan Hodge Trophy, given each year to the nation’s best wrestler, and was also named the NCAA Wrestler of the Year by RevWrestling.com. The Davison, MI, native was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and the Outstanding Wrestler of the Big Ten Championships, becoming just the fourth grappler in school history to earn both awards in the same season. In 2008, his first year with the Hawkeyes, Metcalf finished with a 35-1 record, ending the season on a 35-match winning streak, posting a 21-1 dual record and a perfect 8-0 mark in Big Ten competition. He was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 16 and Jan. 23, becoming first wrestler in conference history to earn the honor in consecutive weeks. Metcalf also picked up weekly accolades from TheMat.com on Jan. 16 and Mar. 12. An academic all-Big Ten honoree and NWCA all-academic team member, Metcalf was named Division I Outstanding Wrestler at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in January. He is the fourth male Hawkeye to be named Jesse Owens Athlete of the Year and the first since Chuck Long in 1986. He is the third Iowa wrestler to receive the top conference distinction.

“I really appreciate the opportunity that Cleveland State gave me 10 years ago and I will look back on this time with a lot of great memories,” said Jack Effner, who is leaving as CSU head wrestling coach.

Cleveland State University announced this morning that Jack Effner has resigned as head wrestling coach.

Effner, who has coached at CSU for 10 seasons, has accepted a school counseling position in Virginia. His resignation is effective August 2.

“I would like to thank Jack for the dedication that he has shown during his 10 years at Cleveland State,” CSU Director of Athletics Lee Reed said in a release. “Because of his effort, he is leaving the program in good shape and it should be easy to find a successor. I wish Jack
good luck in his new position.”

Effner was only the second head coach of the modern-day CSU wrestling program after replacing Dick Bonacci for the 1998-99 season. His record at CSU was 71-91-3 and he had 37 wrestlers qualify for the NCAA tournament. His overall record in 19 seasons, including nine seasons at Army, is 158-133-8.

A 2004 Olympian, Brad Vering will make his second straight Olympic appearance at Greco-Roman’s 84kg/185 lbs division. The Nebraska native won silver at the 2007 World Championships, at which the U.S. won the team world title. The avid fisherman spoke with NBC Olympics about his previous Games experience, his pride in cauliflower ear and why fishing is his favorite hobby.

Having been to Athens, how do you feel about Beijing? Are you better prepared?
Yeah, I think all the kind of glitz and glamour of going to the Olympics is kind of past me now, and now I’m really focused on getting the job done. And not worried so much about — you know, I really enjoyed the Olympics and the Olympic spirit, but right now I’m really focused on getting a medal. That’s the most important thing for me

Wrestlers constantly need to cut weight before a competition. What’s it like to always have to be mindful of that?
It’s tough, and you’ve always got to be on top of your game. But as an elite athlete, that’s what you got to do no matter what sport you do. So you just try to do things professionally, whether they’re losing weight or gaining weight or whatever you have to do to perform at your optimum.

By: Ward Gossett

For close to five hours Wednesday, Chris Bono had nothing to do but drive and fly and think as he went from one wrestling clinic to another.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach hasn’t yet made it home after last weekend’s loss at the U.S. Olympic team trials in Las Vegas.

He flew from Las Vegas to Atlanta and then drove to the Tallahassee, Fla., area to work a camp. Wednesday he was back in the car driving to Atlanta to catch a flight for St. Louis and another one-day clinic.

“I’ve got a bag of dirty clothes and a lot of thinking to do,” said Bono, who came within a win of wrestling for a berth in the Olympic Games.

“It’s tough whenever I’m alone,” he said of the loss that might have been the last match of his career. “It is always on my mind — not so much what I could have done but how close I was. Everything fell into place. The training was perfect and I felt perfect. It was all right there.

State College, Pa. — LionHeart Management proudly announces the signing of Elite XC fighter Paul Bradley to an exclusive MMA career management contract. Bradley who was seen this season on Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” will represent LionHeart and train at the LionHeart MMA complex in State College, Pa. Currently signed to a 3 fight contract with Elite XC, Bradley is undefeated in the cage with a professional record of 5-0.

LionHeat owner, Chad Dubin, who signed NCAA Wrestling Champion Phil Davis earlier this month, believes Bradley will bring an important level of national recognition to his new team. “Signing a fighter with Paul’s reputation and experience is a big step forward for us. With the national exposure of an Elite XC contract, there were plenty of other opportunities available to him. The fact that Paul chose to sign with LionHeart means we must be doing something right.”

Bradley is an Iowa State High School Wrestling Champion and a two-time All-American wrestler at The University of Iowa. “I’m really excited about signing with Lionheart and I am looking forward to representing them in the octagon. This is a great place for me to further my career as a fighter and I really appreciate the opportunity Chad has given me.”