The reason I ask is the numbers of teams participating in both college and high school have been on the decline for the last 1-15 years. Is it a lack of interest in a tough, physical sport like wrestling or the lack of funds available to support it? Just curious, I have been coaching forever and wonder if kids just don't have the toughness that I remember being prevalent 20 years ago (or at least I thought it was).

maybe not dieing, but definitely ghey!

It is neither DYING nor GAY.

The crowds do not draw as much money as football, basket ball, baseball.  So low funding from school is part of it.

Don't get me wrong, I love this sport. Been doing it my entire life. But there has been a steady loss of numbers for quite some time now. This has even shown up in very successful programs with strong tradition. Granted wrestling is far stronger in the midwest than in most places but even there.....

And by no means ghey! Must have been a BB player

Title 9 kills a lot of these programs.  If they are dying, it is not of natural causes.

It's mostly lack of funding.  Due to Title IX, schools have to give equal funding to sports for both guys and girls sports teams.  A lot of sports are seem as more of a male thing.  since schools have to spend the same for both guys and girls sports, the disparity in the number of guy sports vs. the number of guy and girl sports means alot of physical, more masculine sports have been axed over the last couple of decades in order to comply with Title IX.  Couple in how much basketball and football get in funding and there's often not very much left.

As far as wrestling goes, its mostly larger schools that can spare the funds to give any sort of support for it.  I don't know about the rest of the country, but in south Georgia the wrestling teams that exist often resort to using the football equipment.  I remember doing alot of fund raisers so we could pay for going to the tournaments(the money the high school gave us for the season would be gone after 3 or 4).

Quoted: Title 9 kills a lot of these programs.  If they are dying, it is not of natural causes.

Title nine is a fucking joke, and is directly responsible for killing programs.  Also see: mens soccer

Quoted: Couple in how much basketball and football get in funding and there's often not very much left.

I disagree.  Usually those are the only programs that operate in the black.  

Quoted: maybe not dieing, but definitely ghey!

whatever man. I used to wrestle in HS. I also played football. I thought football was physically demanding...untill I started to wrestle.HAHAHA Wrestling is in a whole different category of tough.

Wrestling was my life back then...

It ain't dead.  It's a thriving subculture of wackos who enjoy twisting the laws of gravity.  One of the toughest most challenging sports.  Ever.  Wrestlers are also the toughest sumbitches I know...not to mention a little pyscho.

Quoted: Title 9 kills a lot of these programs.  If they are dying, it is not of natural causes.

Yup.  Beat me to it.

Title 9 demands that sports funding be equalized between mens and womens sports.  As a result, schools are forced to spend alot more money on womens sports than is perhaps warranted, and consequently must reduce funding for some other sports, ie Wrestling and others.


-K