Freestyle / Greco have two simple rules that should be no brainers for folkstlye. If you step out of the circle, one point for your opponant. Way to much wrestling on the edge with wrestlers jumping out at the first flinch. Second, first to score wins ties. No more ridiculous overtimes with different rules than whats in place during the regular time. That was always stupid.
both these simple changes would provide incentive for more offense and less defensive wrestling, and increase the action and scoring. Increased action and scoring are proven variables in fan appeal in every sport thats out there. Scoring sells tickets.

Thank you UNC, NCSU, APP State, Campbell, UNCP, and The Citadel, for having wrestling all these years!
Rob Mack Elon College Wrestler 77-80 current coach wilmington rugby football club nc end

The same has happened to, for example, gymnastics. There are only 16 Division I schools left in gymnastics, despite the fact that the sport is gender equal. In fact, there were more women then men involved in college gymnastics. So while it’s popular to to blame Title IX, it is a rather dubious claim: college wrestling was on its way out before that. Sure, Title IX hasn’t helped things, and sometimes it is cited as a reason to do away with wrestling, but it didn’t cause the downfall. If anything, Title IX has merely sped up the decline that was already in place.

To end on a brighter note, I don’t think college wrestling will die. I am sure it will survive, but maybe more as a Division III sport or live on through wrestling clubs. In any case, I hope it survives. There are some good signs here, too. Cael’s move to Penn State was the best thing that has happened to wrestling in years. He effectively pushed college wrestling to the East Coast, which will help break the regional hegemony of the Midwest. And Cornell is also rockin’ nowadays. So now we need a superstar coach out on the West coast. Cheers, M

http://www.savingwrestling.com/

1) As some have already suggested, wrestling is struggling with a different kind of economic ethic nowadays, one that is not-so-willing to support less-than-blockbuster events. The exact same thing is happening in the music world: classical music used to be supported heavily even though it never drew big bucks; the idea was that it was considered something important that ought to be supported. Nowadays nobody cares.

2) The age factor: wrestling is a youth sport. With baseball and basketball, you can have a group of 50-60 folks out playing in a park. And if you play tag football, the same applies. With wrestling, you just won’t have 55 year-old Johnny calling up his friend 49 year-old Mikey saying, “let’s go to the park and wrestle today.”

3) The scoring is hard to follow. Sure, it’s easy for those of us who wrestle, but not so easy for newcomers who don’t have any intention of actually wrestling.

4) Dominated by a few schools. Go look at which schools have won NCAA titles. Maybe 98 percent of the team titles have gone to three schools.

I respectfully offer this observation to any and all of those in our college wrestling family to consider. More importantly, it begs the question as to what are we, as a wrestling community, willing to do to further advance and protect our sport?

As most of us already know, in the past 30 some years, our wrestling fraternity has lost somewhere around 50% of our collegiate programs. Ostensibly, this has happened because of the pressures of Title IX, hostile Athletic Directors, budget cuts and simple mismanagement. Additionally, television and cable access channels have increased the popularity of some sports, notably football and basketball; and now, non-traditional sports such as X-Games, mix-martial arts, etc., seem to crowd wrestling even further out of the sports “enthusiast’s” attention. But I submit that there is an even deeper reason we continue to struggle for the attention and recognition that wrestling deserves.

Some wrestling purists will suggest that, “Many fans of other sports simply don’t understand us, they don’t understand how incredibly tough it is to wrestle, they just don’t understand how remarkable the dynamics of this sport are; so we’ll just have to try survive their ignorance.” While this devotion to wrestling is commendable, I submit to you that we will NOT survive as a collegiate sport much longer if we fail to realize the seriousness of our present condition.

Do we need new rules? No. Do we need to display our athletes on the mat differently? No. Do we need to have athletes risking life, limb and serious injuries to compete with the entertainment “circus” that’s currently available to today’s cable viewer? No. The answer isn’t just “no”, it is unequivocally NO to each question. But what then, do we need to do – not just to survive, but to thrive, grow and become the future aspiration of many young athletes. What is it that we can do to make them dream, yearn and clamor to want to take part in what we know to be the most remarkable sport in the world? Don’t we claim to shape hearts, souls and character better than any other sport that athletes could choose from? What is it then that prevents wrestling from becoming “their” sport of choice?

Ready? Here it is – “Boredom”. Not always, but too often we’re boring. We need to develop an alliance, a partnership if you will, between athletes, coaches and referees; who are willing to embrace and enforce the rules of engagement – in particular, stalling – to create a contest of excitement and action.

Consider this – collegiate wrestlers are arguably the most highly conditioned, technically trained and disciplined athletes to step onto a sports platform. Yet too many matches end up with a bout score of 2-1, or 3-2; many of these bouts having been wrestled into overtime – but with little if any action occurring until the closing moments. The current condition is one of a “Catch 22”, so to speak; and it damages our sport to no end.

What and why is this? In large part, it is a combination of these three factors:
1. Today, many college wrestlers “wrestle not to lose”, as opposed to trying to win by actually attacking and scoring on one’s opponent. Between closely matched opponents “Counter Wrestling” is more the norm than is aggressive wrestling – the reason being, an aggressive wrestler who makes a mistake will pay for it.
2. Currently, the administration of stalling by referees is largely that of allowing whatever scoring has occurred to “rule the day”. If one wrestler is out in front by point or two; unless the stalling is grievous – the match continues as is. A purist might accept this – but our fans, the media and the sports we compete with will not permit wrestling to flourish or increase in popularity if we with continue with this “status quo”.
3. Coaches live with this, because in the “counter wrestling” culture, neither the coach nor the athlete can afford to be “too” aggressive, as a full throttle attack contains considerable “risk”, especially if the referee allows the defensive wrestler to repeatedly counter and wait for a mistake each time he is attacked.

By agreeing among coaches, athletes and officials to simply execute what the rules currently demand – aggressive wrestling – we can achieve a level of excitement that will draw competitors, fans and the media to our doorstep. We will grow. We will be the epitome of what young athletes and their parents dream about.

Incidentally, for the most part, this collegiate “counter wrestling” mentality has not reached down into the high schools. Many of the kids at that level simply attack, make mistakes, and attack again. It’s great fun to watch them.

My comments are not at all new on this subject. The environment of “aggressive wrestling” has always been available to us, and over the years there are a few college and university institutions that have successfully adopted this paradigm as their persona, their identity if you will. You all have seen them – and they are exciting. I could name names, but that is really immaterial. What’s important is that their athletes attack – all the way to the edge, and beyond. They strive for the fall, and they are the guys who, if your kid is ahead 5-3 going into the last period, you already know that you are dead, because they will chase you down and attack and score on you – that is, if officials and coaches everywhere are willing to require what the rules already stipulate. We need to demand this of ourselves and our athletes if we want wrestling to grow into what it was meant to be – the Sport of Kings, the greatest sport alive!

In closing, it is paramount that coaches and referees both get on the same page with this problem – and the solution. The wrestlers will always adapt to the rules – if aggressive wrestling is enforced, they will engage. But if athletes realize there is more to lose than gain in being aggressive, especially if coaches and referees permit counter wrestling and stalling, then we will continue to get the same result – a few great matches, surrounded by a sea of boredom.

This is nothing more than a change of attitude, but a change with enormous implications. Do we have that type of courage?