by Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com)<\/p>\n
The pugilistic pride of Oklahoma State University, UFC heavyweight
\nchampion Randy Couture (Pictures) originally began his college studies
\nat Washington State in 1981.<\/p>\n
Had he stuck to his intention of completing his education there, the
\nmixed martial arts Hall of Fame might be short one member.<\/p>\n
“They dropped the wrestling program at Washington State, “remembered
\nCouture. “Fortunately, I had already left and gone into the service
\nand stopped my matriculation clock. It would’ve made a difference in
\nmy wrestling career.<\/p>\n
“They cut it for two reasons. One, the coach was a knucklehead. Two,
\nTitle IX was their excuse and a way to get rid of wrestling.”<\/p>\n
Title IX — a law created in 1972 to promote gender equality among
\nhigh school and college pursuits, including athletics — has in its
\n35-year history become a point of contention for critics who say that
\nthe policy has the ironic effect of discriminating against men and for
\nadvocates who believe that opportunity should be equal to enrollment.<\/p>\n
The sport of wrestling has been one of the most notable programs to be
\nwounded by the law’s edicts, which state that there must be as many
\nslots for female athletes as there are female enrollees. Since 1972,
\n448 colleges and universities have excised wrestling from their
\ncurriculum. Of the 146 Division I wrestling teams in 1981, only 87
\nremained in 2001.<\/p>\n
And while the list of casualties has stabilized in recent years,
\ngrapplers continue to hemorrhage high-profile camps from Division I
\nschools like James Madison, Eastern Illinois and Oregon State, which
\nrecently announced plans to cut wrestling in favor of baseball and
\nwomen’s cheerleading.<\/p>\n
While the wrestling community has long maligned the trend, mixed
\nmartial arts fans have equal reason to be concerned. With fewer
\nwrestlers at the collegiate level, the increasingly lucrative world of
\nthe combat sports might see fewer and fewer Greco-Roman and freestyle
\nspecialists, numbers that once helped elevate the expectations for
\nathleticism in the sport.<\/p>\n
“I’d say probably 30 percent or more of the guys I work with have a
\nwrestling background, “said Couture. “It’s hard to imagine one without
\nthe other. I definitely saw MMA as an outlet for all the skills and
\ntools and training that I’d developed through 30 years of wrestling.”<\/p>\n
The Title IX Debate<\/p>\n
In order to receive federal funding, universities must comply with
\nTitle IX’s gender equality mandates in one of three ways: typically,
\nathletic slots must match the number of male and female students. If a
\nschool has a 60 percent female population, then 60 percent of its
\nsport opportunities should be available to women. Colleges can also
\ncomply by displaying that its female students are satisfied with the
\ncurrent ratio, or by continuing efforts to maintain proportionality.<\/p>\n
Because the latter two guidelines are vague in nature and can be
\neasily challenged by Title IX supporters, schools usually opt for a
\nhead count of male and female athletes. In order to balance what is
\nlikely a disproportionate level of male interest, athletic directors
\nhave responded by eliminating less popular programs like men’s
\nwrestling, gymnastics, or tennis.<\/p>\n
To add to the confusion, while 57 percent of the country’s students
\nare female, some are re-entries (adults who have returned to academics
\nand display little propensity for athletics). Of the nearly 10,000 new
\nfemale enrollments in fall 2005, roughly 42 percent are aged 25 years
\nand over.<\/p>\n
Donna Lopiano, Ph.D., the Chief Executive Officer for the Women’s
\nSports Foundation, countered concerns over the erased programs by
\nstating that the overall number of male athletes has grown in recent
\nyears.<\/p>\n
“While wrestling and men’s gymnastics have declined, new opportunities
\nfor men in lacrosse, soccer, and football have totally outpaced those
\nfor women, “she argued. “Title IX does not tell schools how to comply.”<\/p>\n
But it does tell schools to make college athletics largely a case of
\ncounting heads, countered Gary Abbott, Director of Communications at
\nUSA Wrestling.<\/p>\n
“They’re basing whether discrimination happens based on a numerical
\nquota that doesn’t reflect on interest, but on actual enrollment, “he
\nsaid. “It allows for the elimination of opportunities for men, rather
\nthan the creation of new opportunities for women.”<\/p>\n
Billy Baldwin, an actor and former wrestler at Binghamton University
\nwho fought to save that school’s wrestling squad, believes
\nhigh-profile erasures like Oregon State act as inadvertent sanctioning
\nfor other NCAA programs to follow suit.<\/p>\n
Said Baldwin: “The sport of wrestling is an endangered species.”<\/p>\n
`America’s Martial Art’<\/p>\n
Like his father, Casey Olson (Pictures) grew up a wrestler.<\/p>\n
A North Regional Champion at Fresno State, Olson decided to pursue
\nmixed martial arts. With four wins in five fights he credits
\ncollegiate grappling for the necessary work ethic and discipline
\nneeded to become a combat artist.<\/p>\n
“It’s a huge background to have as a skill, “Olson said. “I’ve always
\ntold people it’s easier to teach a wrestler how to fight than it is to
\nteach a fighter how to wrestle. It’s about years of learning how to
\nuse your body, your weight distribution. MMA is the next step up.”<\/p>\n
The sport’s short history bears Olson’s beliefs out. In addition to
\nthe five-time decorated Couture, wrestling has produced Dan Henderson
\n(Pictures), Matt Lindland (Pictures), Mark Coleman (Pictures), and a
\nlaundry list of other mat artists who parlayed their superior
\nathleticism and ground skill into title belts and profitable careers.<\/p>\n
“There’s a natural tie there, “agreed Abbott. “Thirty percent of the
\nInternational Fight League’s athletes have a wrestling background.
\nWrestling is America’s martial art. It’s the one combat sport that’s
\nin our schools, junior high through college. If we’re strong on the
\nyouth and college levels, it’ll mean more successful wrestlers in MMA.
\nIt goes hand in hand.”<\/p>\n
While coaching at Fresno and prepping a fight career, Olson witnessed
\nthe effects of Title IX first hand. One summer, he received word that
\nthe school would be eliminating wrestling entirely. Worse, colleges
\nhad already done their recruiting for the following season.<\/p>\n
Athletes had two options: they could either stay on to continue their
\nscholarship while losing their reason for being there or find the
\nmoney to continue wrestling at another school.<\/p>\n
“We had some seniors who could’ve been very good, even All-Americans,
\nbut all of a sudden they had to decide did they just want to go to
\nschool, or did they want to try and transfer somewhere and finish up
\ntheir wrestling? “Olson remembered. “Doing that for one year is a very
\nhard thing, especially at the end of the year, when most colleges
\ndon’t have money for a late transfer. And they have to make sure all
\ntheir credits are transferable. It was just a really bad scenario.”<\/p>\n
Though Abbott believes elite-level wrestlers will continue to find
\noutlets for their talents, it’s the high school-level competitors who
\nhave yet to come into their own that may suffer the most.<\/p>\n
“Where you see lost opportunities are the kids who don’t have the
\nfinancial means to be able to manage the situation if they’re not
\ngiven support, “Abbott said.<\/p>\n
“There are a lot of `Rocky’ stories out there in wrestling, guys who
\nwere good solid high school wrestlers but were really able to excel at
\nthe college and international levels, “the wrestling advocate
\ncontinued. “By having fewer opportunities, you’re not allowing that
\npossibility for a number of people.”<\/p>\n
The Business of Wrestling<\/p>\n
Nowhere is college spending on more elaborate, bombastic display than
\nin their football programs. Coaches routinely command salaries in
\nexcess of seven figures; one school constructed a $300,000 lighting
\nscheme for a practice field and then never used it.<\/p>\n
Lopiano argues that it’s this kind of gross over expenditure, not
\nTitle IX, that’s killing fringe sports.<\/p>\n
“How can you justify any one sport eating up 85 full scholarships and
\nspending $2 million on a coach and sacrificing wrestling? Women are
\ngetting the raw end of that deal, too, “she said.<\/p>\n
While Abbott and others counter by saying football helps subsidize
\nboth men’s and women’s sports, the numbers don’t bear that out.
\nBecause of such costly investments in cultivating winning teams, most
\nNCAA football and basketball squads operate at a deficit: 60 percent
\nof teams average losses nearing $4 million per year.<\/p>\n
In contrast, wrestlers are able to forgo expensive travel schedules
\nand equipment in favor of a mat. Many Division I teams could operate
\non an annual budget in the low six figures. Yale, which took away its
\nvarsity status in wrestling in 1991, had an expense cap of $4,000;
\ntheir football program, $400,000. As an added insult, wrestlers were
\nturned away from the varsity weight room.<\/p>\n
Despite the cost of what Lopiano has dubbed the football “arms race,”
\nschools are still hesitant to accept contributions from fervent
\nsupporters of wrestling that raise funds to help programs stay viable.
\nPrinceton refused a $2.3 million grant to keep its 90-year-old
\nwrestling legacy afloat, a sign that schools aren’t concerned with
\nmoney so much as they are the head count.<\/p>\n
Lopiano believes that there’s simply a lack of interest in wrestling
\n— “It’s gone out of popularity “– while Abbott bemoans the lack of
\nsupport at the collegiate level for a surging high school base.<\/p>\n
“You have entire states that have strong high school wrestling, like
\nFlorida, that have no wrestling programs, “Abbott said. “Washington
\nState has no Division I wrestling. It’s not reflective of what’s going
\non the sports community. It’s a travesty.”<\/p>\n
The MMA Effect<\/p>\n
Should Title IX’s ramifications continue unhindered, MMA could
\nconceivably see a shift in how bouts are contested.<\/p>\n
“The Olympic and collegiate world-class wrestlers that stepped in to
\nMMA early on raised the level of expectation of athleticism, “said
\nCouture. “Guys like Dan Severn (Pictures), Mark Coleman (Pictures),
\nDon Frye (Pictures) and myself all came in around the same time,
\nwithin a year or two of each other. It definitely influenced the sport.<\/p>\n
“I think guys who have participated in wrestling have skills and a
\nmindset that translate very well to fighting and MMA. It depends on
\nthe individual what they do with it.”<\/p>\n
Watching early events from embryonic promotions like the IVC reveals
\nthe extent of the wrestler’s conditioning influence in the fight game.
\nFighters often wave off bouts not because they’re hurt, but because
\ntheir lungs are burning too hard to continue. Early UFC events were a
\nshowcase for paunchy weekend warriors in t-shirts, a gas tank prepared
\nto take them no more than a few minutes.<\/p>\n
“They didn’t have the battle conditioning or the cardio conditioning,”
\nsaid Abbott.<\/p>\n
For adolescents who someday dream of being a Las Vegas fight
\nattraction, the only school-sanctioned outlet for developing those
\nskills is in a high school gymnasium. But without support from the
\ncollegiate level, argued Abbott, the crucial level of ability needed
\nfor MMA won’t be properly cultivated.<\/p>\n
“I would contend that a lot of the athletes who want to become the
\nCoutures or Hendersons realize they need to pursue the world or
\nOlympic level, “he said. “They need to be NCAA All-Americans. If
\nwrestling is a core skill in MMA, the higher level of wrestling
\nsuccess you have should translate into a higher level of MMA success.
\nThat’s going to be part of their career progression.”<\/p>\n
Olson, who has been featured in Strikeforce and the WEC, agrees.<\/p>\n
“It’s a sad thing to see, “he sighed. “Josh Koscheck (Pictures) is a
\nnational champion. These guys won’t have that kind of experience to
\nget into MMA.”<\/p>\n
A combat sport without a substantial wrestling base, Olson continued,
\nis going to be less dynamic. “It’d be like K-1. All stand-up, and then
\nyou’d have submissions, “he speculated. “That’s exactly how it would
\nbe. I think it’s a lot more exciting this way because now guys who are
\nwrestlers are becoming so well rounded and can mix other skills with
\nwrestling.<\/p>\n
“It makes for more of a show. You never know what’s going to happen,
\nif they’re going to stand-up or get a double-leg and slam their
\nopponent.”<\/p>\n
Solutions<\/p>\n
Title IX has withstood several challenges in court, most notably from
\nthe National Wrestling Coaches Association, a coalition of mentors who
\ndecided to commemorate the law’s 30th anniversary in 2002 by suing the
\nDepartment of Education for men’s discrimination.<\/p>\n
Federal court rejected the suit, claiming that educational entities
\nare still at liberty to cut or cap athletic endeavors for reasons
\nunrelated to Title IX.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Abbott says the recently formed College Sports Council is
\ncontinuing an advocacy and educational response at the political
\nlevel: “There are people out there who are educated and have all the
\nbest interests of the student athletes in mind that are trying to go
\nout there and do battle in the political field and in the public realm
\non the issue.”<\/p>\n
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, an ex-wrestling coach, has
\ngone to bat for threatened programs by attempting to refine Title IX,
\nthough with only mixed results. But it’s the communities, not the
\nbureaucrats, who make the biggest difference, suggested Abbott.<\/p>\n
“One of the main things wrestling can do on a college level is
\ncontinue to have strong programs with good fan attendance, good alumni
\nsupport, and to have coaches and athletes that represent the school
\nand sport with dignity, “he said. “You have to entrench every single
\nprogram on campus so it’s indispensable to that community.”<\/p>\n
Recently, USA Wrestling and the team-based IFL formed a partnership
\nthat will allow each organization to boost the profile of the other in
\nthe eyes of their two slightly disparate audiences. “They’ll be doing
\nsome promotion of USA Wrestling through their media outlets and at
\nsome of their events, “Abbott said. “And we’ll be exposing people in
\nwrestling to the opportunities in the IFL, trying to get people
\ninterested in the League.”<\/p>\n
Lopiano, who insists wrestling is a casualty partially because of the
\nexpensive football programs, believes that regeneration can start by
\nexamining the exorbitant coaching salaries found near blocking sleds
\nand basketball hoops.<\/p>\n
“The wrestling coaches are afraid to take on football, “she charged.
\n“Wrestling coaches should be crying for an antitrust exemption that
\nwould allow the NCAA to cap the football and basketball coaches
\nsalaries, which have become obscene. We’re working on the exemption
\nbecause we don’t see any way to comply with Title IX if they’re going
\nto throw all the money into football.”<\/p>\n
While some argue money isn’t the issue, and the quota is, more
\navailable funds would seemingly create as many women’s opportunities
\nas men’s.<\/p>\n
“If they do that, they’re going to keep all the wrestling teams and
\nthey can comply with Title IX, too. But the college presidents won’t
\ndo it, “said Lopiano, because colleges who want to allocate funds to
\nmarquee sports like football can use Title IX as a scapegoat.<\/p>\n
Baldwin, who drummed up support for Binghamton University’s program,
\nbelieves that even rival schools have cause to fight possible cuts in
\ntheir conference. “If I were a wrestler on Oregon, I would literally
\ngo to every other university in the conference that we competed
\nagainst, “he said. “It’s easy to rally these guys because they know
\nthe entire existence of the sport is being threatened.<\/p>\n
“A couple of my friends wrestled at other universities, and some of
\nthe guys at Penn State supported Binghamton. To this day they keep
\nwriting checks to support the coach there. And I’m not talking 50
\nbucks. I’m talking $500, a $1,000.”<\/p>\n
Colleges also have the option of enlisting an intermediary like
\nValerie Bonnette, a former employee at the Office of Civil Rights who
\nhas an extensive history in Title IX education. She now operates Good
\nSports, Inc., a consulting form specializing in helping schools
\nachieve gender equality without sacrificing tenured programs.<\/p>\n
According to Bonnette — who has recently authored a plain-English
\nmanual on Title IX compliance — wrestling programs have been
\nsacrificed due to a simple case of ignorance on the part of
\neducational institutions who find complying with the other “prongs “of
\nTitle IX too involved or confusing.<\/p>\n
“There are many programs in the country where women are
\nunder-represented and yet they’re complying with Title IX, “she said.
\n“So the idea that schools have to drop men’s teams is just wrong.
\nThey’re making a choice. And in my opinion, many times it’s an
\nuninformed choice about what their compliance options are.”<\/p>\n
Schools, said Bonnette, typically choose proportionality only because
\nthey’re fearful that they can’t sufficiently prove compliance with the
\nother options if challenged in a court of law. “Test one is very easy
\nto understand. The idea that they can select numbers and protect
\nthemselves from a lawsuit is very enticing. There isn’t a lot of clear
\nexplanation out there on how (the other two) work.<\/p>\n
“But we have clients that are meeting test three and we could show
\nthat in court if we had to. Some of our clients have a student body
\nthat is 50 percent women, with 38 percent of them being sports
\nparticipants. But they’re complying, because they’re offering
\neverything for which there’s interest, ability, and competition.”<\/p>\n
Looking Ahead<\/p>\n
While wrestling continues to thrive at the high school level, offering
\ncombat sports experience to adolescents, women’s advocacy groups are
\neyeing the disproportionate number of male athletes with intent to
\nchange it.<\/p>\n
“There are many special-interest groups that are trying to enforce
\nTitle IX with the proportionality quota at the high school level,”
\nsaid Abbott. “Right now, there are about a million more high school
\nboys competing than girls. If they put that into effect, you’d have to
\ncut a million opportunities for boys in sports that compete.”<\/p>\n
Among that number could conceivably be the next Henderson or Sean
\nSherk (Pictures).<\/p>\n
For Couture, normally so genial, the Title IX debate is cause for
\noutrage. As a coach at Portland State, his program was on the chopping
\nblock twice due to Title IX concerns. Thanks to public support and
\noutside funding, it was exempt from the guillotine.<\/p>\n
“There’s a huge contingent of high school wrestlers that now have to
\ngo out of state and seek other opportunities to compete in their
\nsport, “he said. “Olympic sports like wrestling take in the shorts to
\ncomply with gender equity quotas based on Title IX and that’s not what
\nit was intended to do. Rather than go out and raise money and create
\nopportunities for women, they cut programs and take those funds and
\nput them in women’s programs to maintain the quota that Title IX lays
\ndown. It’s not fair to the men.<\/p>\n
“In my opinion, it’s kind of a chickens–t way out.”<\/p>\n
For comments, email jrossen@sherdog.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jake Rossen (jrossen@sherdog.com) The pugilistic pride of Oklahoma State University, UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture (Pictures) originally began his college studies at Washington State in 1981. Had he stuck to his intention of completing his education there, the mixed martial arts Hall of Fame might be short one member. “They dropped the wrestling program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling","category-mma"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-FY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}