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Dear Mr. Boeh,
It is with a great deal of sadness that I write this letter.
Until recently, I was a proud alumnus of California State
University at Fresno. The proudness was reduced to shame on
Thursday, June 15 when I heard YOU had plans to cut the Wrestling
Program at Fresno State.
While you site a number of reasons that you felt the need
to eliminate wrestling, I find it a BS, no, wait, bulls have
balls, I find your way of cutting the program to be rather
a chicken sh#t way of doing so. Your plans, whether yours
alone, or with the consent of the University President, John
Welty, seem to have been in the works for some time. I find
it hard to believe that you woke up early Thursday morning
and planned your day. Hmmm, let's see, make coffee, shower,
eat breakfast, notify the athletic secretary to inform student/athletes
(read wrestlers) that their program is being dropped, oh yeah,
while we're at it, we might as well inform Coach Charles too,
and why not bring the president up to speed? My guess is,
that this was yours and the president's idea all along.
Your reasons for the elimination of the program are as follows:
Considerations that led to the decision
1. In the interest of achieving annual financial stability
of the athletics program
There will be a net annual financial savings to the program
of between $350,000 and $400,000. However, these savings will
not likely be fully realized until the 2007-08 academic year.
1a. If the savings are not realized until the following year,
why not allow Coach Charles, his staff, and more importantly
the wrestlers to compete this year, while looking for ways
to help fund their program?
2. Wrestling is not a sponsored sport within the Western
Athletic Conference
The WAC does not sponsor wrestling and points toward the conference
all-sports competition are not available.
Fresno State’s wrestling program, following its departure
from the PAC 10, it has been competing as an independent.
The team was scheduled to join the newly formed Western Wrestling
Conference (WWC) in the fall of 2006. It is a conference where
the membership is spread out over seven states and three time
zones. This dynamic would likely to have significantly increased
wrestling travel costs.
Western Wrestling Conference: Air Force Academy, North Dakota
State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State,
Utah Valley State, Wyoming.
2a. Ironically, one of the teams in the WAC that gives our
school fits, is Boise State University. They not only have
a quality football program, they also have wrestling. In fact,
this past March, a Boise State wrestler was crowned NCAA Champion.
As for the increased travel coasts, again, why not give the
coaching staff an opportunity to travel to and host three
way and four way dual meets, and reduce said travel expenses?
3. The absence of a dedicated wrestling practice facility
and locker room
3a. The wrestling practice facility is just fine. I am sure
that if you let them, they would roll a mat out onto a parking
lot and practice. As for a locker room, the North Gym facilities
are more than suitable for changing into practice gear and
uniforms. Besides, will you be looking to build a dedicated
cross country practice facility and locker room?
4.The absence of a cost-effective venue for competition
4a. The North Gym once again is a great venue to hold dual
meets. When FSU played host to National Champion Oklahoma
State University it was standing room only. Too bad some idiot
in the Athletic Department doesn't want people sitting on
the first row. Maybe too, that you are not aware, that when
Fresno State hosted Iowa State University in the Save Mart
Center, that we set a wrestling attendance record for an event
held west of the Mississippi River. In the following years,
we have had great turn outs for the University of Iowa as
well as the University of Illinois.
5. The recent history of academic achievement within the
wrestling program
The program has most recently scored an NCAA APR rate of 871.This
is well below the acceptable rating of 925 and ranks the team
in the lowest 10% among Division I wrestling programs.
The team has an aggregate GPA of 2.44. This represents the
lowest team GPA in the athletics department by a large margin
and .45 below the average student-athlete average of 2.89.
5a. Coach Shawn Charles was well aware of this when he inherited
the FSU wrestling program. And during his first recruiting
season he not only recruited quality wrestlers, but quality
students as well. This years' incoming class was ranked the
15th best recruiting class in the nation.
5aa. This is a quote from Pat Hill about the Academic Game
Plan initiated by John Baxter, another Loras University Graduate.
"Prior to our arrival at Fresno State, the football team
had a GPA of 1.95 and a cumulative GPA of 2.21. There were
21 players who had a semester GPA below 2.0 and only 8 players
who had a semester GPA above a 3.0. There were also 21 senior
players who were disqualified. Since our arrival in 1997,
and the implementation of John Baxter's Academic Gameplan,
our team cumulative GPA has risen to 2.67. Since Academic
Gameplan, we have averaged over 34 players with semester GPA's
over 3.0 and another 21 players who have attained personal
academic records. Academic Gameplan is engineering one of
the greatest worst-to-first graduation-rate turnarounds in
NCAA history. Every one of our seniors is on track to graduate."
. . . Nobody every considered dropping the football program
due to the low GPA. And, you certainly don't appear to want
Coach Charles to show this same growth.
6. Wrestling is not a broad-based NCAA championship sport
As of September 1, 2005, there were 87 NCAA Division I wrestling
programs. This represents roughly 27 percent of the NCAA Division
I membership. On the same date there were 303 NCAA Division
I men’s cross country programs.
6a. I am guessing that you have never attended or even watched
an NCAA Wrestling Championship. They are certainly well attended
and well watched. And rather than making us competitive as
you say, you'd rather make FSU a top 304 cross country team?
7. Wrestling carries a significant roster and scholarship
level.* It also does not have a like women’s program
Wrestling carries 9.9 equivalency full scholarships and a
roster of 35 student-athletes. Continued sponsorship of the
sport would impede compliance with Title IX and CALNOW student-athlete
participation levels and distribution of athletics aid. These
challenges have become considerably greater in recent years.
Currently the student body ratio at Fresno State is 60/40
in favor of women, and the trend is expected to continue into
the foreseeable future.
Further, because wrestling does not have a like women’s
program it is less efficient regarding the use of resources
and facilities. Finally, the sponsorship of a uniquely men’s
sport also makes it more difficult to make the appropriate
comparisons among men’s and women’s sport programs
OCR’s "13-point laundry list."
7a. This one takes the cake. Rather than addressing the problem
as you see it, and taking some initiative and adding another
women’s sport such as wrestling, which by the way is
growing nationwide, you are going to add another men's program
to balance things out? What an idiotic statement!
8. Reinstatement of men’s cross country
The reinstatement of men’s cross country is expected
to cost less than $25,000 annually, which will be recovered
via the NCAA sport sponsorship distribution, Subsequently,
any additional cost for the program will be negligible.
8a. Once again, let's drop a men's sport to gain compliance
with Title IX and add another men's sport?
In being hired at California State University at Fresno,
you stated, "I am extremely enthused by the staggering
potential of Fresno State Athletics. There are obvious challenges
facing the program today, but we intend to meet them all HEAD-ON
and build upon the great tradition of the Bulldog Athletics
program."
You certainly did NOT meet the challenge head-on Mr. Boeh,
you did a sneaky end around.
This is from the Loras College website: Loras College Wrestling
is recognized around the nation as one of the premier Division
III programs. I shudder to think what any of your old Duhawk
buddies would think of this egregious decision of yours.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rob Roy
CSUFresno Graduate
High School Teacher
High School Coach
High School Athletic Director
CIF Wrestling Official
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