NCAA trophies mean more to schools with less
by Kyle Klingman
Column from the November 15, 2006 WIN magazine

No college wrestling season in the history of the sport shows as much promise as the one we are approaching. Out with the old and in with the new is the theme as coaching changes this past summer have dominated off-season wrestling headlines.

This season will be defined by one thing: Old school coaches versus new school attitude.

This theme will take center stage when rookie head coach Iowa State head coach Cael Sanderson (27) takes on 19-year veteran J Robinson (60) and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. And nobody knows what each of these coaches bring to the table better than Tim Hartung.

Wrestling at the University of Minnesota, Hartung was a two-time NCAA champion and three-time All-American at Minnesota under Robinson. Now, Hartung is an assistant coach at Iowa State under Cael Sanderson.

"J is definitely way more of an old school type of a guy," said Hartung. "Cael is a little more modern is how I would compare the two. But they do have the same type of philosophy and competitive edge."

The young coaches and fresh faces of today are hungry to prove their worth. They're also eager to bring home some hardware from the NCAA tournament this year, and in future years.

However, some counsel from the old school coaches might be wise. If the young coaches of the wrestling world decide to listen, my guess is that elder statesmen would tell something along this line: You know this winning a trophy thing you're all excited about, it isn't as easy as it looks.

"People will ask me all the time if I'm disappointed with placing fourth or fifth at the national tournament," said Cornell head coach Rob Koll, a 19-year coaching veteran. "I always tell them 'No, I'm not'. Do you know how hard it is to get a trophy at the NCAA tournament?"

For those who don't know, winning a trophy means placing in the top four at the NCAA tournament. And over the course of the last 20 seasons only 16 teams have earned one or more of the 81 trophies that were handed out by the NCAA (in 1999 Penn State and Iowa State tied for fourth so two trophies were awarded). Of those 16 teams, only seven schools have won a trophy more than twice.

Two of the coaches on the list - Bobby Douglas (eight trophies) and Russ Hellickson (two trophies) - resigned this past season and are no longer coaching. That means the number of current coaches who have won at least one trophy at the NCAA tournament stands at 10.

The senior member of the old school coaches club and the trophy club is Cal State-Bakersfield head coach T.J. Kerr. Entering his 35 th season as a head coach, Kerr has a trophy of his own. In 1996 the Road Runners raced to a third place finish when former Dan Hodge trophy winner Stephen Neal was a freshman. It was, and is, the only trophy the state of California has ever won at the NCAA division I championships.

Since then, it appears as though the Bakersfield coaching staff simply isn't getting the job done. Plummeting to 52 nd place in 2002, Kerr experienced one his worst seasons as a coach.

If it's true that the numbers don't lie then Kerr should have been fired for lack of performance after the 2002 campaign. How can you justify placing 52 nd place after a top three finish six years earlier? There really is no excuse for something like this to happen.

Well, maybe there isn't an excuse but there is a reason. How about trying to build a winning team around a recruiting budget that wouldn't even pay a monthly house payment?

"After we won a trophy in 1996 they cut the budget by 60 percent," said Kerr. "So right now I'm trying to get back to where we were at 10 years ago. The new president here wrestled in college so he has a good idea of what we're up against.

"Right now we have a 500 dollar recruiting budget. I don't think some of our fans realize what we're up against. I've coached for 34 years without administrative support. You have to have the administration behind you to build a successful wrestling program. Having the president on board is going to be a real asset for our program. But you have to go on no matter what kind of support you get."

A 500 dollar recruiting budget!

You can barely buy a bucket of hot wings and a two liter of soda for with that much money. Kerr should just rent a room at a local steak house with a big banner that reads: "Cal State-Bakersfield Recruiting Weekend: All High School Wrestlers Welcome to Attend". Just make sure they know before hand that this is a BYOB event (bring your own beverages). There won't be enough money left over for a tip I'm sure.

In reality, we should be thanking guys like T.J. Kerr for sticking with it this long. A long letter of apology from the university wouldn't make up for the total lack of respect they've shown wrestling but it would be a start.

Another former member of the trophy club that would agree with Kerr is Jim Gibbons. From 1986 through 1992 Gibbons was the head coach of five trophy teams. In his mind, administration is forgotten piece of the successful wrestling program puzzle.

"I tell people this," said Gibbons. "You have to have coaches, athletes and administrators on board to have a successful program. A lot of times the administrative aspect is a missing link in a lot of these situations. You can have great coaches and talent and they'll sneak in there and get a trophy every now and then, but if you don't have an administrative commitment it's tough to be successful long term. Even in programs you think it's there it's not.

"One of the things these coaches are dealing with is these administrators who come from a fund-raising background. They wouldn't know the first thing about how to help you run a program. How many of these administrators have laced it up and run a practice or been out there recruiting athletes? It's a diminishing number. It's a cause for concern when a lot of these guys who are making the decisions have never coached. They don't know how to run a program."

"The solution is that coaches have to bring their administrators along and teach them what's important and let them into what's going on. It does go both ways. Coaches need to help administrators understand where the problems are too."

My problem is the disregard that most athletic administrators show toward wrestling. So no matter how Cal State Bakersfield performs at this year's NCAA tournament the Road Runners have my utmost respect. And to think, a 50 dollar donation to the program means you've covered 10 percent of their recruiting budget.

Kyle Klingman is the associate director at the International Wrestling Institute and Museum. He can be contacted via e-mail at kyle@wrestlingmuseum.org .