cruiser_96
Nike? ...seriously??? Please check out #2 on this list...
Jason Bryant:
"The biggest drawback to covering the sport of wrestling is the emotional toll it takes on you when you hear programs are being dropped. Ever since I started following wrestling with Mat Talk On-Line, I've had to deal first-hand with many schools cutting the sport.
For all fans, it's extremely disheartening. Then when you have to follow up and write a story and actually talk to these men and women, you just get angry when they lie to you right to your face (or in many cases, the ear).
I've had the displeasure to talk with numerous AD's and administrators who have cut wrestling for one bad reason after another. Some refused to speak with me. Probably a smart move. I'm pretty street smart and can smell out B.S. pretty good.
I came under some criticism from some wrestling-advocate A.D.'s some years ago about my comments in a W.I.N. Magazine story because my characterization (or perhaps caricaturization) of those individuals as “scum bags.” That was then, this is now. I still don’t feel any positive vibe toward any athletic department that treats kids as property and just jettisons them off, never to be seen or cared about again.
Here's a list of some of the worst AD's I've had to deal with when they dropped wrestling. I'll go in reverse order.
5. Don Lemish, Longwood College, Farmville, Va.
Early on in my career, I was doing the boat-rocking thing with a small Divison II program in Virginia. The school was a real pipeline to the state high schools for teachers and coaches. Longwood cut wrestling in 2000 to prepare for a move to Division I (sound familiar?). In conversations with Mr. Lemish, I found there to be a gross overstatement of participation numbers, forfeits and a general skewing of the numbers. I started a petition drive on Mat Talk On-Line, and was met with a cease-and-desist from the school for unapproved use of their logo. Basically, I was using their logo on “Save Longwood Wrestling” banner ads and petitions. Mr. Lemish at one point called my writing “yellow journalism,”despite the fact my information came directly from the current head coach and a number of wrestlers on the team. Mr. Lemish took an early “retirement” from Longwood after some questionable room service bills racked up by the men’s basketball team on a road trip out west. The last straw was walking into Longwood College’s (now University) Athletic Department and delivering over 3,000 signatures from high school students who would never apply to Longwood, and another 3,000 of parents who would discourage their sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren from applying.
Anyone heard of Longwood now and their great decision to move to Division I?
4. Richard McDuffie, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Ill.
The doomsday theory of the APR. In case you’re not familiar, the APR is the Academic Progress Rate. It measures graduation and retention rates for Division I programs receiving scholarship funds (or something close to that). I’m not an expert on the issue, but there’s a three-strikes policy of sorts. If your APR falls below 925 (50% graduation rate), then you could be subject to penalties. The first violation is usually just public notice, which amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. The second and third warnings basically lose a school scholarship money, of which Eastern Illinois had little. Although I’m not 100 percent clear on how many violations it takes for a school to get to the worst penalty – revocation of NCAA membership – it hasn’t happened yet.
I called McDuffie back in 2006, shortly after Kenny Robertson was a match away from placing at 174 pounds for EIU. It’s the same school Matt Hughes of UFC fame attended.
McDuffie’s claims were the wrestling APR was so poor, it put the entire athletics program in jeopardy and had to be cut. Nevermind the fact EIU was one of the lowest-funded Division I wrestling programs and the school refused an invitation to become a charter member of the Western Wrestling Conference.
Nevermind the fact that during the two years EIU was listed in the APR reports, they were below the 925, but had improved from one year to the next. With small schools with limited scholarships, one kid who fails out and is on scholarship money can disrupt the entire ration. McDuffie didn’t care. He spilled out this doomsday scenario about EIU getting kicked out of the NCAA. About a year later, McDuffie was placed on administrative leave from EIU for accusations of sexual harassment.
What’s become of EIU’s athletics program in the meantime?
3. Thomas Boeh, California State University-Fresno, Fresno, Calif.
Probably my most public Q&A, not to mention my most spirited antagonization of an Athletic Director. I was on Boeh big time. Fresno State was a proud wrestling program and the wool he pulled over the eyes of former coach Dennis DeLiddo and then-coach Shawn Charles still makes me angry. Fresno State has been embroiled in lawsuits and Title IX problems since Boeh’s arrival. He refused to talk to me over the phone, but did answer a Q&A I’d sent to him when I was working at InterMat. He ducked the questions we most wanted answers to, changed questions to suit his answers, THEN posted an edited Q&A of my questions on the Fresno State athletics site with some shoddy“admin speak” responses. Admittedly, I wasn’t the most professional in dealing with Mr. Boeh. During our e-mail correspondence, I did fire barbs at him and his failure to run a department. Of course, that’s a matter of opinion, I’m sure people in the Fresno area still think that way. Fresno State brought in a young, eager coach in Charles and a dynamite recruiting class. Boeh decided to not answer any of my e-mails after I called him out on the plagiarism of my InterMat Q&A, not to mention failing to answer the important questions that the wrestling community wanted to know.
What’s become of Fresno State’s athletics program in the meantime?
2. Pat Kilkenny, University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore.
While my distain for Pat Kilkenny and Phil Knight circles around the poor execution of how the wrestling program was cut, the biggest issue I had with the entire situation is the fact Kilkenny, a man without a college degree or any experience as an A.D., got hired anyway. He was Oregon’s second-highest booster (behind Uncle Phil) and was instrumental in buying out the previous A.D.’s contract. An avid baseball fan, Kilkenny cut wrestling to add baseball and started pumping loads of money into the program. He wanted to keep pace with rival Oregon State, who had recently won the College World Series. The previous A.D. promised the program a new wrestling room, in return, the old wrestling room would be turned into a training room, mainly for the Ducks’football program. A new room was never built and was one of the reasons Kilkenny sited in why the sport was cut. “Lack of a functional practice facility” was I believe the terminology. Oregon had an NCAA champion in Shane Webster in 2006. They cut the program in 2007. The most troublesome thing to me is how a man could be hired at an academic institution and have the life and legacy of athletes seeking degrees in his hands. The guy never even graduated. How can he be remotely qualified to oversee student-athletes? Then volunteer assistant Jason Powell needed a degree to even be considered for his coaching position. Nebraska was called to validate Powell graduated. Yet, the “degree requirement”for the A.D. position was notably missing. This one still stinks and is the reason I’ll never buy another Nike product again. I think Nike should get out of wrestling altogether. If “Nike U” doesn’t have wrestling, then Nike shouldn’t make money on wrestling. This one still leaves me with a bitter, bitter taste.
Of note: No one from the Oregon Athletics Department ever followed up on repeated requests for interviews.
1. Trev Alberts, Nebraska-Omaha, Omaha, Neb.
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I'm JUST saying...
ps: From the day I read this until I die, I will never buy another item by Nike again. The only exception that will occur - if it does at all - will be if I choose to support an Ohio university that is sponsored by Nike. Even then, I'm thinking of writing a letter with the above attached, and regretfully telling them how I would love to support [enter example university here] but cannot due to Nike and my disdain therefore.
I have a pair of size 13 blue p2s. You would be better off looking on ebay or flickr.com for some shoes. Also, I used a pair of Kolat speeds my freshman year of college and I must say they are a nice shoe, but can also damage and wear very easily in the toes and bottoms.
