InterMat publishes National Duals email update from NWCA President

Sep. 11, 2012 12:23 pm

National Wrestling Coaches Association President Rob Koll addressed wrestling "stakeholders" in an email InterMat published Monday. In the letter, Koll discusses the issue of the National Duals proposal, changing it to an NCAA sanctioned event that would determine the new NCAA team champion.

The letter attempts to shine some light on the motive behind the proposal and what exactly needs to happen for it to be pass. The proposal would lead to an NCAA National Duals tournament that Division I teams will have to qualify for with the winner being the national champion. According to the letter, the NCAA didn't seem open to crowning a dual team and individual tournament champion, however, the NWCA has mentioned keeping their own standings with the organization awarding its own team trophies at the individual championships.

The 77 D-I coaches voted to approve the proposal during the weekend. The results were 39 in favor, 36 against and two coaches abstained from voting.

An NCAA Championship Cabinet is expected to vote on the proposal Tuesday. If the motion passes, it won't be officially adopted until it passes Presidents Council consideration in November. Previous reports have said that if the proposal clears all hurdles it would likely take effect for the 2013-14 season.

The theory is a team tournament, where 16 teams have to qualify by regular season dual performances, will attract more mainstream fans and make wrestling more relevant on campuses. If every dual has something at stake, then fans will be excited for the competition.

University of Iowa Coach Tom Brands and Penn State University Coach Cael Sanderson have publicly stated their objections to the current proposal. Interestingly, one of the supporters that Koll mentions is former Hawkeye coach and Iowa State two-time NCAA champion Dan Gable.

Koll quotes Gable as saying, "I am for moving forward whether it works or not, especially if there is little risk that it can set us backward. Going from there, I am not a status quo guy. If this works, we will have improved college wrestling 100% by going from one great event to two. There isn't much in life we can improve by 100%."

You can read the entire email posted at InterMat:

http://www.intermatwrestle.com/articles/10576?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed