West Gym news

[Wxcpanther]

I *mostly* agree with this. But Schwab is a different animal.

And there is no "if" on the Illinois job. Schwab was offered it. He turned it down.

The if I think was for if he knew what was going to happen here from the administration with West Gym closing and an apparent lack of commitment to the program.

[UNIpanther99]

This whole thing is still so weird to me. It needs $20M to be operational, but yet they aren't saying they are going to tear it down. Does that mean they are going to "eventually" pump money into it for another purpose? And if so what? The dorms aren't full, so no need there. Seems like there is plenty of classroom space. What is the plan for the structure or space?

[DomeIsHome]

This whole thing is still so weird to me. It needs $20M to be operational, but yet they aren't saying they are going to tear it down. Does that mean they are going to "eventually" pump money into it for another purpose? And if so what? The dorms aren't full, so no need there. Seems like there is plenty of classroom space. What is the plan for the structure or space?

Why have a plan? It's been working out so well without one *sarcasm font*

[A Fan In Lean Years]

I know Schwab has roots here but he may have been a fool to turn down that Illinois(?) job - if it was offered to him. I get the feeling the athletic department is going to screw around and they will have a makeshift wrestling room that a decent sized high school would laugh at. I get the feeling the West Gym will get torn down and God only knows what will take its place. Schwab may feel he's getting the fuzzy end of the lollypop from the AD and the next job offer that comes around, he'll snap up.

No mystery to it at all. Schwab stated very clearly why he didn't take the Illinois job and none of his reasons had ANYTHING to do with what is being said here. Zero.

[iron panther]

What were his reasons than?

[A Fan In Lean Years]

What were his reasons than?

You can find it. It was a full interview.

[BCPanther]

What were his reasons than?

He threw out huge unrealistic numbers and hoped the no one would actually pay attention or think about what he said. Apparently the price tag for a roof and glass railings is now $20M.

He didn't want to save it. He didn't even try to save it and now wrestling is literally homeless in a year.

[A Fan In Lean Years]

He threw out huge unrealistic numbers and hoped the no one would actually pay attention or think about what he said. Apparently the price tag for a roof and glass railings is now $20M.

He didn't want to save it. He didn't even try to save it and now wrestling is literally homeless in a year.

I may be wrong, but I think Iron Panther was asking me. That's why I said the interview can be found somewhere.

[clenz]

Didn't want to start a thread on this, though it could be it's own with the news around it.

Upper Iowa - a school that is actually broke - is adding womens wrestling. I think there is approaching 15-20 womens programs in Iowa at the college level now.

The fact UNI is this far behind is ****ing criminal.

[sevelev711]

Genuinely embarrassing how we're not in on this. There is, in my opinion, no reason to not be involved with girl's wrestling in the state. I mean for goodness sake, I heard the other day that CF's girls wrestling team had 30 people go out for it, which is more than cheer or dance. The popularity of the sport in Iowa is growing at an absolute break neck pace, and it's not unrealistic to say that it could be comparable with boys wrestling within a decade. Of all the fumbles of the AD in the last few years, this is maybe the most mind boggling. How many times does, essentially, a new sport pop up in your neck of the woods that the locals would fully embrace and appears to be on a fast track to become NCAA affiliated? Yet we're actively ignoring it while all the bigger universities and all the smaller universities and all the high schools fully embrace it?

I'm not one of the people that believes that David Harris is actively trying to sabotage the school, but like...that really feels like the only option here. Because even being as incompetent as possible, I still feel like "we should add the girl version of the sport that we're very good at and is incredibly popular locally and growing rapidly and will soon be an NCAA sport" is an insanely obvious one.

[BCPanther]

There are middle schools that are having a tough time putting a Girls Basketball team together because they all want to wrestle. It's BLOWING up right now. It's a sport where we could be a national power IMMEDIATELY and it's ****ing crickets from an incompetent AD.

David blowing off the girl begging him to add it is all we needed to know....

[HBpanther]

Im sorry but how the hell is UNI going to pay for this.....UNI doesnt even fund wrestling full!!!! Doug gets guys even after we dont give them a stiffen that almost every Big 12 school gives!!!! Being fully funded for is very different to UNI than Iowa.

[UNIpanther99]

Im sorry but how the hell is UNI going to pay for this.....UNI doesnt even fund wrestling full!!!! Doug gets guys even after we dont give them a stiffen that almost every Big 12 school gives!!!! Being fully funded for is very different to UNI than Iowa.

We do it by hiring leaders who are already doing these sorts of things with limited resources. Someone with a vision and an enthusiastic drive to accomplish great things.

[BCPanther]

Im sorry but how the hell is UNI going to pay for this.....UNI doesnt even fund wrestling full!!!! Doug gets guys even after we dont give them a stiffen that almost every Big 12 school gives!!!! Being fully funded for is very different to UNI than Iowa.

Agreed. UNI will never fund like Iowa.

Now do UIU who, without the league change to attract new regular students from larger metros, was having legitimate discussions about shuttering the entire university. Why can't we keep up with them?

[vbfan19]

Now do UIU who, without the league change...

I hadn't heard about their league change (then again, I don't really follow D2 that closely).
I looked up an article about it and this snippet caught my eye...

UIU’s residential campus is located in Fayette, Iowa, which includes an undergraduate enrollment of 572, 475 of which are student-athletes.

so 83% of the students actually on campus are student athletes. That seems rather unusual.