1972 was a pivotal time for women in academics and athletics, but it has been a nightmare for colleges in deciding what sports to keep.

Since Title IX has been introduced, athletics have had to figure out what sports to keep, add or get rid of.

Title IX states that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

This includes having a balance of men and women head and assistant coaches, funding for programs, scholarships for athletes and sports programs for men and women.

Currently, in the Ohio Valley Conference, one sport that has taken a back burner to most schools is wrestling.

Out of the 11 OVC schools, only the Panthers still have a wrestling program.

Eastern has kept their program running through 59 years and six coaches, with only two years of having no team in 1951 and 1952.

“In all my years here, I think wrestling has only been affiliated with a conference for two years,” head coach Ralph McCausland said. “The Mid-Continent Conference, from 1978-1979 and 1979-1980.”

During the 1995-96 season, the program came close to being cut from the sports.

While this is primarily due to Title IX, finances have also started playing a bigger part in deciding what sports to keep.

With having to pay for multiple sports for men and women, equal salaries and scholarships, funding for smaller universities have been stretched thin in recent years in other conference schools.

Morehead State and Tennessee Martin both had a wrestling program in the past, Morehead in the 1970s’ and UTM from 1968-1973.

Morehead Media Information Director Randy Stacy said the dropping of the program predated any of the current athletic administrators.

“As far as today, cost and Title IX compliance would be major issues in why an institution might choose not to institute a wrestling program,” Stacy said.

Another OVC school, UTM, whose program was originally lost due to funding reasons, also eliminated their golf program at that time for the same reason. The Skyhawks brought back a men’s golf program.

Another program they and Murray State also had to drop in recent years was the track program. UTM said it was also due to funding. But Murray State does have both a men’s and women’s track and field program.

UTM does not anticipate bringing back wrestling due to just now being in compliance with Title IX.

The Skyhawks’ most recent addition to their athletic program was women’s equestrian, added because of the agricultural department.

A non-OVC school close to Eastern, Illinois State University, had a wrestling program until 13 years ago. Todd Kober, ISU assistant athletic director, said the program was cancelled in 1994 due to financial constraints primarily, but also because of Title IX.

“At this point in time I would be surprised (to see wrestling back), but anything’s possible,” Kerber said. “Right now our focus is toward funding our 19 sports we currently have.”

Tennessee Tech, which did not report ever having a wrestling program, doubted they would add any more programs due to funding their other 16 sports.

“At this time I do not anticipate adding any sports and this is multi-pronged,” said director of athletics Mark Wilson. “We are currently in compliance with Title IX in terms of participation rates and awarding of scholarships with the 16 sports that we sponsor. Adding or subtracting sports would change this and we would no longer be in compliance. Additionally, our sports programs do not have the necessary financial resources now and adding programs would just make the financial burden on these sports more.”

Dave Winder, director of media relations said Murray State has not had a program in the past due to the “powers that be.”

Currently, he also said Murray State is not planning to add any more sports.

“We probably won’t (add wrestling any time in the future), because I believe if Murray State is going to add a sport it will be a women’s sport because Murray State is still working toward being Title IX compliant,” Winder said.

One interesting note with Murray State, along with five other OVC schools, is the inclusion of a rifle program.

Winder speculates that because of World War II, the area around where the campus is now was a big naval training area.

“After that, Murray State was, for years, a big ROTC program,” he said. “That may be part of the reason.”

With both Title IX and finances causing many schools in the NCAA to end their wrestling program or not even try to start a program, McCausland said he’s seen a scenario forming.

“When I first started coaching, there were 17 teams in the west region,” McCausland said. “Only two are left in that region.”

The only two left are Northern Iowa and Eastern.

Currently, Eastern is affiliated with South Dakota, Northern Iowa, Air Force, Wyoming, and Colorado in their wrestling regional.

Rifle schools

UTM

JSU

TTU

Murray State

Morehead State

Austin Peay