Wednesday, May 23, 2007 1:06 AM CDT
Right or wrong, cutting wrestling is sad story
BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
Like or dislike Rich McDuffie, you have to believe Eastern Illinois’ athletics director hated telling Ralph McCausland his wrestling program was being eliminated.
Maybe only one of the worst things would have been a year later going into Bob Spoo’s office to tell the football coach he could not compete in postseason playoffs because wrestlers did not make good enough grades.
That was a real possibility pointed out by McDuffie and Jason Hall, Eastern’s assistant athletics director for compliance.
In the first three years of the NCAA’s new Academic Performance Rate, only the EIU wrestling program was being penalized for substandard academic performances.
In the fourth year, Eastern could have lost its NCAA Division I standing.
That could mean no playoffs in its football division Spoo’s Panthers have frequented so often.
It could mean no NCAA berths in other sports.
Maybe it could mean the Ohio Valley Conference might have kept Eastern from league tournaments considering if the Panthers won the tourney they could not go to the NCAA.
“It got to the point where we said we said just can’t risk it,” McDuffie said.
Maybe so. The other school of thought is that Eastern pushed too early of a panic button.
“The APR is so new, we don’t know what the NCAA is going to do,” said former EIU wrestling star Dave Klemm, now the coach and assistant athletics director at Lincoln.
Who really knows?
Eastern is took the approach that the worst could happen.
So last week much of this community was stunned by the news that Eastern was dropping wrestling.
Few saw this coming. Apparently McCausland had no idea one of the possibilities for his program struggling academically was no more program.
“I did not go to Ralph McCausland and I didn’t go to the student-athletes and say ‘if you don’t straighten up we’re going to drop the program,’ “ McDuffie said. “You just don’t do that. But Jason and Cindy Tozer (EIU’s director of academic services) did set forth a plan of action.”
Hall added, “Ralph made the effort, too.”
Efforts fell short.
Since the announcement, McCausland has not answered phone calls in my attempts for his reaction.
Completely understandable. The man has had his heart torn out.
Eastern is where he was a Division II individual champion when wrestling was at a peak here.
During most of his 22 years as the coach at his alma mater, he has worked with few scholarships and a low budget keeping the program afloat in Division I.
I think I wrote a decade ago when EIU temporarily dropped wrestling and men’s swimming citing gender equity measures, whether you thought those sports should be kept or whether you thought 22 sports were too many for a mid-major university with limited funds, you had to feel bad for loyal, honorable men like McCausland and swimming coach Ray Padovan.
Both programs were reinstated without missing a season but those following EIU wrestling claim the program never really recovered
“Ever since we fought and won that back, there’s been less and less administrative support,” said Dave Klemm, a former teammate of McCausland’s at Eastern when both won Division II national championships.
So we have the regrettable story about McCausland, who has been offered a yet-to-be-determined capacity at the university but not the one he wants, to still be coaching the wrestling program to which he has given so much of his life.
Having his program dropped for gender equity or financial measures would have been a bit less bitter tasting than being told it is eliminated because the program’s academic standing was considered a danger to the rest of the athletics teams.
“This decision was made without any financial implications at all,” McDuffie said “We had an athletic team that couldn’t perform well enough academically to maintain standards over a multi-year period so we made the decision. Is it unfortunate? You bet. But I’d like to think those student athletes are here to get an education first and wrestle second or here to play tennis second or here to play football second. None of our other sports were in jeopardy.”
“I want you to know all the kids on the wrestling team are not bad students, Some are very good.”
For instance, senior-to-be Greg Perz, a two-time NCAA tournament qualifier who also is an Academic All-American.
An Academic All-American is being told because teammates did not make good enough grades, he cannot wrestle here as a senior.
By NCAA rules, he could transfer and be eligible to wrestle immediately but that means leaving the school he chose to attend.
Eastern is also honoring the limited scholarships it provides in wrestling to those who choose to stay.
Granted, that’s not the same when they cannot wrestle.
This story can hardly have a happy ending.
McDuffie insists that no other sports are on the chopping block. But while he said “forever is a long time,” he sees no chance wrestling will be reinstated soon.
“I’ve had people tell me it’s not the right way to drop a sport,” McDuffie said. “There is no right way to drop a sport. I’ve worked for 30 years for student athletes. You don’t want to drop sports. I don’t feel good about it, but I didn’t see any other alternative.”
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Used to Bleed Blue and Grey wrote on May 23, 2007 10:18 AM: