Brigham Young University's wrestling team got smacked, pinned and just about thrown out of the Delta Center ON Saturday evening by the Iowa Hawkeyes, the defending national champions and current No. 2 team in the nation. But as badly as the Cougars were dominated, never before has losing felt so good or been as beneficial to a program as Iowa's 33-6 pounding was to BYU's struggling wrestling program.
The loss dropped BYU to 1-1 in the young season -- a season that may be the last for the 28th-ranked Cougars unless coach Mark Schultz and the Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation can raise some money and change some perceptions. Enter the Hawkeyes, the most dominate collegiate wrestling program in history, to help save a program struggling under the headlocks of university administrators, half nelsons of accountants and takedowns of Title IX -- the NCAA rule that attempts to stamp out gender discrimination in college sports.The Hawkeyes demonstrated why they are the reigning champs, crushing wrestler after wrestler wearing the Cougar blue. After losing the first eight matches without getting a single takedown point, the Cougars got some redemption when the Smart brothers -- Rocky and Rangi--won tough decisions to give the crowd something to cheer for.
"There was no way we were going to win," Schultz said, "but there was no way we were going to draw crowds without Iowa."
While the UAWF hoped to sell out the Delta Center and break collegiate wrestling attendance records, the 5,877 fans in attendance definitely helped Schultz and his program make money, especially since Larry Miller donated the use of the Delta Center for the evening.
The money is nice, Schultz said, but he doesn't think his program will be saved or eliminated based on money. The presumption many people have is BYU can't afford to fund the wrestling program and another women's sport, as stipulated by Title IX.
"We can raise all the money in the world," said the former Olympic gold medalist and three-time NCAA wrestling champ said. "We could have 10 billion people come here, but until those guys want to keep the sport, it's irrelevant."
"Those guys," said Schultz, are BYU president Merrill Bateman and BYU's board of trustees. If BYU is to remain the only university in Utah that fields a wrestling team, Schultz said "Bateman has to change his mind."
Schultz also pointed a finger at the misperceptions and misinterpretations of Title IX as being a more formidable opponent to his program than Iowa. "Wrestling is a growing sport," he said. "It's growing in all levels, except collegiately, because of the misinterpretation of Title IX. Title IX is to protect against gender discrimination of both men and women. Well, we're being discriminated against based on our gender."
Schultz and his squad, which includes All-American sophomore Aaron Holker, have a little over two months to prove their case. If Saturday night's meet is any indication, BYU stands to win some battles and lose some -- even occasionally on the same night.