Wrestling to focus more on duals
For some reason, dual meets just aren’t as important to college wrestling as they should be. Everything that happens in wrestling is geared toward the conference and — ultimately — the individual NCAA tournament in March. Even the ranking system used in this magazine is “based on point potential for the NCAAs, not dual meet strength”.
The most obvious sign of disrespect for dual meets is that coaches are willing to forfeit weight classes. With the exception of the scene in the movie “Hoosiers” where Gene Hackman’s character tells the referee ‘my team is on the floor’ and plays only four players, I’m unaware of any basketball, baseball or football coach in America that intentionally sacrifices a position. (Although in hockey there is a chance for a power play if someone goes to the penalty box).
Unfortunately, this happens often in college wrestling. A coach may forfeit one or more weights due to an injury or because they simply don’t have someone to fill the spot.
This is a trend that needs to stop. Imagine how fast a football coach would get fired if he told the press that he just couldn’t find a left guard this year so he’s going to have to go without one. Sorry Mr. Athletic Director, we just couldn’t find a catcher for our baseball team this year so our pitcher is going to have a lot of pressure on him to throw strikes. The job of a head coach is to make sure that all positions get filled.
True, the dynamic of wrestling is different from other team sports in that each athlete on the team competes individually. However, each weight class needs to be treated like a position. I’ve never gone to a dual meet to watch a wrestler march out to the center of the mat to get his hand raised. Forfeiting weight classes is disrespectful to fans who are paying money to watch two athletes battle against each other in a primitive form of combat. The rules committee might need to consider making forfeits worth 15 points instead of the standard six. This might put pressure on coaches to get a full team out on the mat to compete for every dual meet if they plan on winning.
Yet the main reason that the college dual meet season lacks true meaning is that there is no post-season tournament that places any value on them. Since success in college wrestling revolves around an individual tournament there is no real incentive to have a good dual-meet record. Individual results during any meet holds importance at seeding meetings and for competitive conditioning, but the actual team record that a team takes to the NCAA tournament essentially means nothing.
There are now a series of canned statements used to evaluate dual meet performances. If a team had an impressive or unimpressive outing, a coach usually points out the importance of the last competitions of the year.
“We only care about the NCAA tournament” or “we have a lot of work to do between now and March” are statements coaches will use in assessing their respective team. Even Minnesota head coach J Robinson — the king of classic comments and bold statements — recently used the ‘what really makes the difference will come this March’ quote after the National Duals.
This type of mentality can’t exist in basketball or football because if you lose too many games you won’t be seeing the end-of-the-season tournaments. If a basketball team doesn’t win enough games they can wave bye-bye to post-season play. A loss in football almost ensures that a team won’t be playing in the national championship game. A college football team must also win six games to be bowl eligible.
A wrestling team with a losing dual meet record can still give a respectable showing at the NCAA tournament if they have a few individuals who can score big points. This makes wrestling unique because it gives every team an opportunity to compete in a distinctive setting. It also provides a niche that other sports don’t have and it is something wrestling should never lose. The NCAA wrestling tournament is a special event and coaches should want to peak and perform well at the most prestigious competition of the year.
But, in order to effectively market and promote college wrestling, there needs to be a dual meet season with consequences. When I hear a coach say that a dual meet doesn’t really matter I have little reason to drive three hours both ways to support their team. The lack of incentive to win a dual meet tells me, as a fan, that the only competition that is really important for me to attend is in March.
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