Ogden: Time for serious support at Northern Iowa

It's never a time to rejoice when someone is fired. Families and futures are affected by such decisions. But, if handled right, good can come from bad situations. Last week, the University of Northern Iowa fired wrestling coach Brad Penrith.

My feelings about the state of the Panthers' program are well-established. I got my start covering wrestling while at UNI, watching Chuck Patten do wonderful things with the program and Don Briggs keep the fire burning during the early years of his watch.

The Panthers were a Division II power, battling for national titles every year. When the program jumped to Division I, Top 15 - even Top 10 - finishes were expected. It bothered me to watch the program fall so far and, to some, become irrelevant. The worst thing that can happen to any program is when people stop caring.

Penrith was in charge the last 10 years, so he deserves his share of the blame.

But, don't forget, Penrith is a good person, a man who never embarrassed his school off the mat and picked himself up off the ground after a troubled start in this state.

Penrith was a bit of a rebel during his youthful days at the University of Iowa, often finding him self in trouble with alcohol and academics.

But he was an extremely talented wrestler and someone his coach, Dan Gable, believed could turn his life around. Gable's belief paid off and, by his senior year, Penrith was a different person, a dedicated student and athlete.

He grew into an outstanding assistant coach - and still can be - as well as a husband and father.

For whatever reason, he couldn't get the job done at UNI as head coach. This year's team lost the West Regional for the first time in more than 20 years and UNI finished 40th at the NCAA meet.

That's not acceptable for this program. But this wasn't all Penrith's fault.

The program, at some point, was no longer important to the university.

Now - and this could (should?) be the good part - is the time for AD Troy Dannen, the school, the alumni who wanted Penrith out and the wrestling community to get behind this program.

This is Iowa, wrestling country, so this remains a great job - with the right support. If you want a serious candidate to make UNI a Top 10 contender again, let the country know that wrestling is important again.

These are not the best times to be throwing money around, especially at UNI, but it is time to make wrestling relevant again.

By J.R. Ogden, The Gazette