NCAA - Women’s wrestling “Emerging Sport†- 06/07/19 10:06 PM
Foley's Friday Mailbag: June 7, 2019
T.R. Foley
T.R. Foley, InterMat Senior Writer
6/7/2019
foley@intermatwrestle.com, Twitter: @trfoley, Instagram: tr.foley
The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics this week recommended that women's wrestling be granted the organization's emerging sport status. The status would allow member institutions to add women's wrestling as a Division I sport and enjoy whatever benefits come with adding and running any other Division I sport.
The sport will have 10 years to reach 40 schools, at which point if women's wrestling is in that number of schools and has a valid number of participants, will be granted status as a fully functioning Division I sport. If not, it'll be dropped.
From the NCAA:
In the past 21 years, some have become championship sports (beach volleyball, rowing, ice hockey, water polo and bowling), while others have been added to or removed from the list. Bylaws require that emerging sports must gain championship status (minimum 40 varsity NCAA programs for individual and team sports; with the exception of Division III requiring only 28 varsity programs for team sports) within 10 years or show steady progress toward that goal to remain on the list. Institutions are allowed to use emerging sports to help meet the membership minimum sports-sponsorship requirements and, in Divisions I and II, minimum financial aid requirements.
But wrestling has one heck of a head start. There are currently 23 women's wrestling programs at the NCAA level and another 13 that are looking to be added in the coming two seasons. If that weren't enough there has been buzz about a handful more announcing in the coming months.
Women's wrestling will meet the requirement, but it'll be on all of us to support these programs when times turn tougher. Just like the men's side there are plenty of factors -- a down economy, campus scandal, or crazy athletic director -- that could put these gains at risk. We need to stay as vigilant in the future as we are today.
Congrats again to all those involved. Can't wait to see who adds programs over the next few years!
To your questions …
Q: Any idea what NCAA women's wrestling might look like in five years?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Tough to predict, but I'd hope for 60-plus programs, conference championships and for an established end-of-year national championship. The last part may be difficult, but there is always a chance that the momentum is strong enough to get the NCAA committees to act.
Where I'm most interested to see the growth is in which schools will add, and why. For example, would a women's offset entice a school like Texas to add both a men's and women's program? Could the women actually draw out the schools who couldn't lift the creation of another sport due to Title IX?
I think year five is when we might start seeing schools like Oregon, Clemson, Texas and Syracuse enter or reenter the sport.
T.R. Foley
T.R. Foley, InterMat Senior Writer
6/7/2019
foley@intermatwrestle.com, Twitter: @trfoley, Instagram: tr.foley
The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics this week recommended that women's wrestling be granted the organization's emerging sport status. The status would allow member institutions to add women's wrestling as a Division I sport and enjoy whatever benefits come with adding and running any other Division I sport.
The sport will have 10 years to reach 40 schools, at which point if women's wrestling is in that number of schools and has a valid number of participants, will be granted status as a fully functioning Division I sport. If not, it'll be dropped.
From the NCAA:
In the past 21 years, some have become championship sports (beach volleyball, rowing, ice hockey, water polo and bowling), while others have been added to or removed from the list. Bylaws require that emerging sports must gain championship status (minimum 40 varsity NCAA programs for individual and team sports; with the exception of Division III requiring only 28 varsity programs for team sports) within 10 years or show steady progress toward that goal to remain on the list. Institutions are allowed to use emerging sports to help meet the membership minimum sports-sponsorship requirements and, in Divisions I and II, minimum financial aid requirements.
But wrestling has one heck of a head start. There are currently 23 women's wrestling programs at the NCAA level and another 13 that are looking to be added in the coming two seasons. If that weren't enough there has been buzz about a handful more announcing in the coming months.
Women's wrestling will meet the requirement, but it'll be on all of us to support these programs when times turn tougher. Just like the men's side there are plenty of factors -- a down economy, campus scandal, or crazy athletic director -- that could put these gains at risk. We need to stay as vigilant in the future as we are today.
Congrats again to all those involved. Can't wait to see who adds programs over the next few years!
To your questions …
Q: Any idea what NCAA women's wrestling might look like in five years?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Tough to predict, but I'd hope for 60-plus programs, conference championships and for an established end-of-year national championship. The last part may be difficult, but there is always a chance that the momentum is strong enough to get the NCAA committees to act.
Where I'm most interested to see the growth is in which schools will add, and why. For example, would a women's offset entice a school like Texas to add both a men's and women's program? Could the women actually draw out the schools who couldn't lift the creation of another sport due to Title IX?
I think year five is when we might start seeing schools like Oregon, Clemson, Texas and Syracuse enter or reenter the sport.