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WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

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  • WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

    "ST. LOUIS, Mo. ? First-year University of Northern Iowa director of athletics David Harris had a busy agenda this past weekend.

    Friday, Harris watched the Panther women?s basketball team play a first-round NCAA Tournament game in Starkville, Miss. Then he rounded up his family and made a 7 1/2-hour trip to attend a UNI wrestling gathering at the NCAA wrestling championships in St. Louis.

    Saturday, Harris got to see Max Thomsen and Drew Foster earn fifth- and third-place finishes at the tournament and was beaming with pride afterward.

    Harris already held head coach Doug Schwab?s program in high regard from his initial encounter with it last winter. After going through a semifinal interview for the UNI job in Des Moines, Harris drove up to Cedar Falls to witness the Panthers? dual with Iowa State, where he was serving as an assistant director of athletics."


    entire read:
    "Well, that escalated quickly."

  • #2
    Re: WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

    I found this even more interesting...

    One immediate issue is whether UNI will continue as a wrestling member of the Mid-American Conference or look elsewhere. The university’s initial five-year contract with the MAC has expired.

    There have been rumors UNI will try to join the expanded Big 12 Conference. A year ago, the Big 12 added affiliate members Air Force, Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming, all members of the old Western Wrestling Conference the Panthers used to belong to.

    “We haven’t gotten any other invitations from other conferences,” Harris said. “Right now we are going to look at all of our options.”
    I'm curious to hear from the wrestling fans and their thoughts regarding a switch of conference alignment.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

      If it is MAC vs. Big 12, I hope we stay in the MAC. MAC has better parity and I think wrestling needs more conferences not less (only 8 conferences as it stands now.) The remnants of the WWC in the Big 12 get no revenue sharing and the conference tournament is held in a neutral location. I prefer on-campus venues, FWIW. Ok (9.5 points)and ISU (1.0 point) both went without an AA this year but should be back to usual strength before too long. Only plus is that WWC schools will get OSU, ISU, and Ok to their campus once in awhile. BTW, let me put a plug in for college wrestling switching to freestyle!
      Last edited by Unionpanther; 03-20-2017, 05:53 PM.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

        Originally posted by FOTY View Post
        I found this even more interesting...



        I'm curious to hear from the wrestling fans and their thoughts regarding a switch of conference alignment.
        The current autobids were something like 37 MAC and 39 B12, but that seems to be boosted more my OU and OSU than having Wyoming, SDSU and NDSU in there.

        Using the wrestle stat rankings from another thread

        Final B12 dual rankings
        #2 OSU
        #15 OU
        #23 SDSU
        #25 ISU
        #28 Wyoming
        #34 NDSU
        #50 UVU
        #56 UNC
        #58 AF
        #60 WVU

        Compared to the MAC
        #6 Mizzou
        #14 UNI
        #17 CMU
        #37 ODU
        #39 NIU
        #49 EMU
        #52 OH
        #53 UB
        #62 KSU

        They are quite comprable. I guess you could argue adding UNI to the B12 makes it better. SDSU and NDSU seemed to be carried by a veteran line up as well. The B12 is essentially, right now, OSU and everyone else.

        I'm not a wrestling efficianado, by any stretch. I'm squarely no the rube side of things, but the MAC seems like a good fit for wrestling, as well as potential future alignments.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

          Originally posted by claw View Post
          I'm not a wrestling efficianado, by any stretch. I'm squarely no the rube side of things, but the MAC seems like a good fit for wrestling, as well as potential future alignments.
          Not to drag down this thread and turn it into another conference realignment thread, but boy would it help us get into the MAC for all sports if we were already in the MAC for one of them.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

            Agreed with all above.

            In order to hedge our future bets, we need to stay with the MAC, that relationship could be huge going forward.

            Plus, there is a nice rivalry building with Mizzou and we know there is ZERO chance of them getting into the Big 12 in anything...
            #MACtion

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

              Originally posted by sevelev711 View Post
              Not to drag down this thread and turn it into another conference realignment thread, but boy would it help us get into the MAC for all sports if we were already in the MAC for one of them.


              Yes, that is another topic for another thread, but wrestling in the MAC does a ton for relationship building and having a feeling out process already done.

              Back to the topic at hand. Sorry guys.

              EDIT: more on topic

              To build on BC's point, the budding rivalry with Mizzou is great. I don't know what it's like with the other schools but Mizzou and CMU seem like great rivals to have.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: WCF Courier:"UNI wrestling: Panther A.D. Harris likes program's direction"

                Would much rather see UNI stay in the MAC.

                Comment

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