ASU Wrestling Reinstated
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Arizona State wrestling boosters have raised enough money for the sport to be fully reinstated.
An announcement of the reinstatement is expected Friday afternoon by Lisa Love, ASU Vice President for Athletics.
Wrestling was one of three sports cut by ASU on May 13 to save $1.1 million annually in the athletic department operating budget. Others were men’s swimming and men’s tennis.
To be reinstated, Love said at the time, the sports needed to be fully endowed at a cost of $8 million for wrestling and $5 million each for the other sports.
Updates and Notes from Coach Thom Ortiz
SaveASUwrestling.com spoke with Thom Ortiz about the progress being made to help keep the program. Ortiz along with assistant coach Brian Smith are coaching two athletes as they try to make their respective World Teams to represent the U.S. and ASU. Both are keeping up with business as usual.
“We’re training Kyle DeBerry for the FILA Junior Freestyle Championships and heavyweight Erik Nye for the University World Team Trials in Greco-Roman,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz would also like to send a note of thanks to the other college coaches around the country.
Letter from ASU women’s wrestler Kelsey Campbell
As I can imagine, you’ve received more e-mails from wrestlers this past year than you probably had planned for. I can certainly say I didn’t plan on writing this. Just a month ago, I was writing ‘thank you’ cards to Thom Ortiz, Brian Stith and Don Bocchi, for taking a chance on me. You see, I was the first girl to ever wrestle for Arizona State University. And by the looks of it, I might be the only girl.
Thom Ortiz on Takedown Radio on Saturday morning
From Takedown Radio’s release:
This week we’ll be LIVE from the Brute Adidas Studios and will face the startling news from AZ State right off the bat. There are things we can do politically speaking and we’ll outline those with AZ State head Coach Thom Ortiz. What can be done? What can we do? Tune in and find out. You can make a difference.
Scheduled on the show:
Thom Ortiz- Embattled Head Coach at Arizona State. I think it’s a real possibility we can turn this around. there is precedents and we need to take a look at those examples of what worked and what didn’t. Thom will join us to uncover the truths and what needs to be done right away.
Swimmer Nick Brunelli’s thoughts
The following is posted over in the news section, but swimmer Nick Brunelli’s sentiments are how many on the wrestling’s side of things feel. Swimming, like wrestling, has seen a decline in its male Olympic opportunities. They feel the pinch too.
While the last two years of competition haven’t seen an All-American medal in Tempe, incoming recruits and the solid core of starters returning provided potential. Junior College transfers Joe Cornejo and Erik Nye would have both been immediate All-American contenders.
Amazing how the “dollar” means more than the student.
NWCA CALL TO ACTION: Save Arizona State University Wrestling
Memo:
To: National Wrestling Community
Fr: Mike Moyer, Executive Director – National Wrestling Coaches Association
Re: “Call to Action” – Save Arizona State University Wrestling
Date: May 14, 2008
President Michael Crow
Office of the President
Mail Code 7705
PO Box 877705, Tempe AZ 85287-7705
Phone: (480) 965-8972
FAX: (480) 965-0865
Michael.Crow@asu.edu
Let’s get the word out!
You may be reading that ASU dropped wrestling for the first time or checking back to see how things are progressing, but the most important thing to do right now is begin activating community involvement from all corners of the country. If you are a webmaster, wrestler, or fan of the sport- tell people about our mission.
SaveASUWrestling.com is here for the wrestling community to come together and win one. ASU wrestling needs to continue and there is no question that a University as diverse as Arizona State has the ability to rebound from this tragedy very quickly.
InterMat interviews with Love, Robles
InterMat went one-on-one with Arizona State Vice President for University Athletics Lisa Love and redshirt-freshman 125-pounder Anthony Robles to get a point-counterpoint on the situation in Tempe. To read Jason Bryant’s two-part series, click each of the links below.
SaveASUwrestling.com featured on national sites
Themat.com (USA Wrestling) and InterMat (NWCA) have both put SaveASUWrestling as a main news item on their respective websites.
Momentum will start to build and the Facebook group is taking off, let’s keep it up.
Dan Gable on the ASU situation
“I’m beyond getting sad. I just get mad and say they don’t know what they’re doing.”
– Former Iowa head coach Dan Gable
in the May 14 issue of the Des Moines Register