Thursday, June 21, 2007 1:09 AM CDT
EIU wrestling seeks a reversal
BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
If numbers or high-ranking voices make a difference, Eastern Illinois’ wrestling program might not be done after all.
Since a May 17 announcement that the university, citing poor academic performances by wrestlers, was discontinuing the program effective immediately, a Save EIU Wrestling committee had been formed, www.saveeiuwrestling.com has hit the Internet and permission has been granted for individuals to speak at Monday’s EIU Board of Trustees meeting asking for wrestling to be reinstated.
“We’re hoping for 500 to 1,000,” said Linda Trinka, the mother of EIU wrestler Joe Trinka. “We’ve sent out quite a few e-mails and letters. From Crystal Lake area we have 50 alone. I know personally my friends alone I mailed out over 180 letters.”
Among those scheduled to speak at the 1 p.m. Monday meeting at the Grand Ballroom in the University Union is Mike Moyer, the executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association based in California.
“I’ll say this,” Moyer said. “We’ve been involved in saving a lot of programs and I have never seen this level of local, regional and national input. My phone has been literally ringing off the hook. It’s national and local for a very storied 59-year program. Losing this program is not an option. It just can’t happen.”
No decision to bring back or not bring back wrestling is likely to come at Monday afternoon’s board meeting.
“I know that wrestling is not on the agenda for the board to be discussed but there have been several individuals asking to speak during the public comment section of the meeting and those requests have been granted,” said Jill Nilsen, EIU’s vice president for external relations.
However, this apparently is not the first time the elimination of wrestling has been brought to the board.
“The Board of Trustees was fully informed with respect to the actions of the wrestling program and the reasons why the program was eliminated,” said Mattoon’s Robert Webb, the board’s vice chair.
Athletics Director Rich McDuffie on Wednesday declined any new comment about the decision.
Last month he cited EIU wrestling’s poor results in the NCAA’s Academic Performance Rate, which has been in place the past three years recording data. EIU wrestling scholarships had been reduced because of the APR and McDuffie said further penalties could affect other EIU sports.
Others question those reasons.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a school using APR for eliminating a program,” Moyer said. “The NCAA specifically states that its purpose of APR is to improve programs. It’s not intended to be a punitive measure.”
Renny Garshelis, who wrestled at EIU while attending the school in 1964-68, has officiated NCAA championships and has been inducted into EIU’s athletics Hall of Fame, said: “I really believe McDuffie set this program up for failure and needed the APR for his excuse. I believe that Mike Moyer of the NWCA will show the Board of Trustees he did not have to give wrestling the death penalty but chose to anyway.”
“The CEO of a company is responsible for the success of all the products,” Garshelis said. “The athletic director is the CEO of Eastern athletics. He has failed to help this program succeed and should be held responsible for this. There was never any concrete evidence that he has tried to help Ralph (McCausland, the EIU coach) and never warned him of a death penalty as an option.
“For the record, 10 wrestlers earned a 3.0 or better, one a 4.0 and Greg Perz has a 3.7 overall. I believe we can’t shoot all the dogs because a few of them have fleas.”
Dave Klemm, who won an NCAA Division II national heavyweight champion for Eastern in 1977 and now the wrestling coach and physical education department chair at Lincoln College, e-mailed to the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier a letter he also sent to Eastern.
“The tragedy of this situation is that Eastern Illinois University has an opportunity to be a pioneer,” Klemm said in his letter. “You could take advantage of the assistance available through the NCAA to save and improve the academic status of your athletic programs. You have a chance to be a positive model that other institutions could follow to improve their academic status. Instead, the administration has chosen to take what appears to be the easy way out, one that could lead to a negative trend. This trend does nothing but eliminate opportunities for students. I do not believe this is what higher education was designed to accomplish.”
Pat Flynn, another former EIU wrestler and recently named principal at Drauden Point Middle School in Plainfield, also shared a letter sent to the university and questioned the timing of the announcement to drop the program.
“This decision was made public at the height of the recruiting season,” Flynn said. “Coach McCausland and his part-time assistant coach (Clayton) French worked aggressively to bring in quality student-athletes to a Division I program on a shoestring budget. In the eyes of the wrestling world they did their job quite admirably. I believe that notifying coach McCausland of the administration’s decision just days after signing some quality recruits is unethical. I have a hard time believing the university wasn’t aware of its timing.”
Said Garshelis, “The timing of letting Ralph recruit and fund raise and then cut the program is inexcusable.”
While some speak harshly against EIU’s administrators, Moyer is not looking to use wrestling moves at Monday’s meet.
“The last thing we want is for this to be is adversarial,” the national wrestling association head said. “We want to work with the administration to keep the program in place and to improve the academics as whole.”
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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