With the Tennis and Golf programs in their penultimate year, questions have been swirling around campus about the vision AU Athletics has for its future.
Those who don't want to see tennis and golf cut might find hope in the AU Wrestling program, which was rescued three years ago by alumni fund raising and lobbying. But they might also see why tennis and golf are not in AU's long-term goals.
In early 2002 administrators conducted an evaluation of the wrestling program, and those close to the team said at the time that the program may have been headed toward elimination.
In response to this review, alumni surfaced in an effort spearheaded by Alan Meltzer, an AU graduate who owns a financial services company in Bethesda, Md. Meltzer immediately met with school officials and contacted alumni and national wrestling organizations for support, according to a National Wrestling Coaches Association newsletter from 2003. In two months donors pledged $100,000, and the administration kept the program alive.
With much help from renewed financial support, President Benjamin Ladner announced intentions to make the team a "powerhouse." AU hired coach Mark Cody, a former assistant at powerful Oklahoma State, and joined the tradition-rich Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. Joining this conference was consistent with AU's move to the Patriot League, which does not sponsor wrestling. The EIWA's 13 members also comprise academically prominent institutions.
In retrospect, the decision seems to be a wise one, said former AU coach Bob Karch, pointing to the team's record finish and Daniel Waters' All-America performance at last weekend's NCAA championships.
Karch, a health and fitness professor who came to AU in 1969, served as the school's faculty representative to the NCAA at the time of the 2002 review. He said the review concluded that with a recharged program, AU could become nationally prominent. This fit with AU's overall goals, as Ladner outlined in 2001 with his "15-Point Plan."
"When he laid those out, we wanted to be able to do the things we can do really, really well, whether it's academics or social," Karch said. "With respect to wrestling, AU can compete and be among the top, and rank very high in the nation."
AU Athletic Director Joni Comstock has also pointed to the University's goal of reaching national excellence by narrowing and concentrating resources as a reason for the latest cuts. But wrestling's profile on a national level is different from those of tennis and golf.
College wrestling programs are relatively rare. The number of programs at Division I schools has been cut almost in half in the last 25 years. While Division I tennis and golf teams numbered at about 270 schools last year, there were only 86 wrestling programs. This makes wrestling the smallest men's sport in which AU fields a team, and fewer opponents can mean greater chance of success on the national level. Small schools like Cornell and Lehigh regularly join big public schools in the top 10 rankings.
Other AU programs that are nationally competitive among even fewer teams have also recently received a boost. The new artificial-turf field will serve the AU Field Hockey team, which was a win away from the Final Four this fall and competes among 76 Division I programs.
Members of the cut teams are now inquiring with the Athletics Department to see how much would have to be raised to save their programs, and Comstock hasn't said she opposes private funding. However, Karch warned that the outcome of this situation can't be determined based on what happened to wrestling.
"It was a different time, a different place, a different athletic department and a different focus from what we have now," he said. "We need to be cautious in comparing these situations"
