Wrestling to save a program

Lennie Zalesky has fought his fair share of wrestling battles, and he's won most of them.

The past challenges resulted in a 1977 state title at Cedar Rapids Prairie and three Big Ten titles and All-American finishes, including two NCAA finals appearances for the University of Iowa from 1980-82.

Now, Zalesky faces arguably the toughest contest of his wrestling career. After nine seasons as head coach at University of California-Davis, Zalesky is fighting to reinstate the Aggies' wrestling program after school officials announced in April it would be one of four athletics programs eliminated at the school.

“It's hard to take on a university and go back over these decisions,” Zalesky said. “We're hoping we can turn it around.”

The premise of the argument is certainly different from the usual complaints about Title IX, a law passed in 1972 mandating gender equity for educational programs receiving federal funding.

The basis of the cause to reinstate the program is focused on sports participation numbers and the lack of NCAA Division I programs offered by the state of California.

“We're working to try to bring an awareness to the public, especially the people that run the UC system, of the number of wrestlers in the state and how it's grown and the college programs are continuing to be cut,” Zalesky said. “These are college programs that are funded by tax money, or the universities are funded by tax money, and we have little to no representation.”

California ranks first in the country in prep wrestling participation levels. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations in a September 2009 release, 27,469 California prep athletes wrestled in the 2008-09 season. The state accounted for more than 10% of the nation's 267,378 wrestlers.

As prep numbers grow, Division I opportunities in California have dwindled. Currently, Cal Poly, Cal State-Bakersfield, Cal State-Fullerton and Stanford University are the only remaining Division I programs in the state. Before the 2009-10 season, 84 schools sponsored NCAA Division I wrestling, according to the NCAA.

Cal State-Fullerton faced a cut but met a deadline to fund its program for one more season. CS-Bakersfield is in jeopardy, facing a May 21 deadline to help raise $1.4 million to keep the program, and Stanford is a private institution.

“We're getting to have very little representation at the collegiate level,” Zalesky said. “For the number of wrestlers we have for the sports offered out here, (wrestling) is absolutely the lowest of all NCAA men's sports.”

Zalesky said the cut also reduces representation of the state's minority population, especially a large number of Latino wrestlers.

“I think at least 45% of placewinners this year at the state tournament were Latino or minority,” Zalesky said. “We're trying to bring that to the people in charge.”

Zalesky was quick to point out Aggies heavyweight Ricky Acala, a two-time national qualifier. He said Acala ran with a gang as a youth and had a brother killed in prison. Wrestling played a big role in his life.

“He vowed not to be like that,” Zalesky said of Acala, who was named to the National Wrestling Coaches Association Division I All-Academic team with a GPA over 3.2. “The first one to go to college. He would get a UC Davis degree but I think he's going to transfer.”

The institution's decision to cut wrestling surprised Zalesky. He was confident the program was safe, but the program became one of the sport's many casualties.

“From what I understand, we weren't slated to be cut two weeks prior to (the announcement),” Zalesky said. “Something changed there, politics or whatever, that put wrestling on the chopping block.”

Varsity wrestling, women's rowing, men's swimming and diving and men's indoor track were eliminated and $400,000 in annual operational cuts made in an attempt for UC Davis to deal with the current financial crisis. According to a news release on the UC Davis website, a $36 million campuswide budget reduction is slated for the 2010-11 school year.

“We do have a financial crisis out here,” Zalesky said. “There's no doubt about that.”

The cost to save the program appears unattainable. The price tag stands $14 million, which is $7 million to endow wrestling and $7 to endow another women's sport.

“Most programs will come back and say OK, well we're cutting you but you can fund yourself,” Zalesky said. “That's going to totally exhaust the wrestling community. Totally exhaust us.”

Wrestling boasted many positives, and had a lot of relative success at UC Davis.

Wrestling was second in fundraising the last five years, only $20,000 behind football, which has a full-time fundraiser, according to Zalesky. The program had its own facility and a donor was set to give $5 million to build a new one. On the mat, Zalesky coached 30 national qualifiers, including 2007 141-pound NCAA champion Derek Moore, who was named the national tournament's Outstanding Wrestler.

“It was a bare bones program when we took over,” Zalesky said. “We had one scholarship, one salary and not much for anything else. We raised money for a really nice locker room (and) our wrestling facility. We have two good assistant coaches. We have a full-time assistant.

“We've done some pretty good things,”

A following was also built the last decade. Zalesky said a golf fundraiser drew 138 people with an addition 20-40 attending the dinner afterward.

“We've built quite a following, quite a family,” Zalesky said. “We feel good about those things, but again I think the best was yet to come.”

Zalesky can only wage the battle for so long. Soon he'll have to move on to find another job, if he plans to stay in wrestling. He's unsure of what the future road will lead.

“Cedar Rapids Prairie,” Zalesky said with a laugh. “I don't know. We don't know right now. My wife has a job here at UC Davis as well. We'll see.”