The Oklahoma Sooners have made their priorities clear, and wrestling is not one of them.
With the House v. NCAA settlement officially being approved and allowing revenue sharing in college sports, OU athletic director Joe Castiglione recently announced six sports that will get a share of the $20.5 million this year -- football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, and women's gymnastics. Wrestling, one of the most popular sports in the state of Oklahoma, did not make the cut.
Wrestling gets left behind as OU picks its six revenue-share winners
All six sports are deserving of the money. Let that be clear. Football and men's basketball are the monsters that have to be fed at every school. Baseball is also one of the most popular sports in America. Women's basketball, softball and women's gymnastics are consistent national contenders that have earned the support at OU.
But in a new era of college athletics where only the strong will survive, OU is experiencing the strain of having so many different mouths to feed. And some sports might not survive, including wrestling.
Wrestling has been on life support at OU for some time, but that's what happens when things aren't nourished. The sport itself is not to blame, though. Wrestling has brought OU seven national championships, tied for the third-most with football and women's gymnastics. It's a sport that could succeed using mostly local talent, which can't be said for the other sports the Sooners are trying to win at.
Just down the road in Stillwater, Oklahoma State has proven what happens when a wrestling program is supported in this state. Even after a major coaching change last year, OSU still broke wrestling attendance records, even at times drawing bigger crowds than men's basketball, and remained nationally relevant. Even at the Division-II level, Central Oklahoma is thriving in Edmond. It's obviously possible and likely.
But none of OU's athletic decisions have considered wrestling as it sits at the bottom of the Sooners' sports barrel. OU moved from the Big 12 to the SEC, a conference without wrestling. That move graduated nearly every sport to better conference competition, while wrestling remained in the Big 12 as an affiliate member. And apparently none of that extra money from a richer conference is being funneled to the wrestling program to give it any sort of benefit.
The sport shares a nearly 100-year-old venue with volleyball and men's gymnastics. Then there was the recent decision to leave wrestling out of revenue sharing, but at least with five additional scholarships as a consolation.
Wrestling is a tradition in Oklahoma, but OU is all in on the new trends of college sports that doom tradition, whether it be in-state conference rivalries, which the Sooners still have in wrestling, or winning by recruiting local talent, which the Sooners could achieve on the mat.
The Sooners haven't pulled the plug yet on wrestling, but they are letting the sport endure an agonizing death at OU while all it needs is the right antidote to thrive.
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