The NCAA scene offers a lot of sports for college fans who look forward to watching these youngsters make their way to their professional sporting careers. And one of them is wrestling, which has its own fanbase, and that community looks forward to action on the mat during the entire season. However, despite the popularity, the scene faces its own challenges over the course of time, and recently a program got caught up in trouble due to financial constraints and caught the attention of popular coaches like David Taylor.

Indeed, Cleveland State declared on January 23 that it won’t be continuing with its wrestling program in the NCAA Division 1, which will be effective at the end of the 2024-25 season, leaving many of its wrestling talent in the dark. The news was heartbreaking, but during these harsh times, coaches like Taylor sent out a powerful message for the other NCAA coaches.

“Yeah, I mean, I think that the idea, there was a time when it’s just like, ‘hey, here’s your scholarships,’ and we’ve evolved past that. And we gotta think about ways, as a head coach, you gotta think of ways that you can generate revenue and excitement for your program. It does matter,” said the 34-year-old during an interview posted on X by journalist Seth Duckworth. Wrestling is indeed an old sport, and Taylor is aware of the fact that it has evolved just like other big leagues and sports out there that heavily focus on their revenue.

As a head coach of Oklahoma State University’s wrestling program, he understands that there’s more to coaching the youngsters on his team. Taylor stressed that a wrestling coach’s role has evolved with the sport and that they must understand how much revenue their roster generates in every NCAA match. Stressing the revenue part, the head coach shared his thoughts, stating, “There’s not a single coach out there that can say, ‘I don’t need the revenue, I don’t wanna generate revenue, and I don’t need the resources.’ Everybody needs that.”

Taylor warned that all NCAA coaches must change or risk becoming like Cleveland State. However, he also shared his opinions on the opportunities available in the league, stating, “The National Duels is an opportunity to do that. I think the more times we get our athletes a chance to wrestle, the better that is. But yeah, in terms of generating revenue, our home events are really valuable. Places, wrestling here in Gallagher, and being able to fill it up and be able to, the support that we’ve had from our fans this year has been amazing. Our students has been amazing, and we got one match left in Missouri and we just wanna create a great environment. But that stuff’s on the horizon and it’s real. And as coaches, we gotta do the best that we can to help our program the best that we can.”

Every NCAA wrestling season is long, and as per OSU’s head coach, there are always a lot of opportunities to generate revenue throughout the given time. Indeed, an individual NCAA wrestler attends around 20–30 bouts per campaign, and it also depends on their team’s schedule. Apart from the 10-15 dual meets, there are also popular tournaments like the Midlands Championships and Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, which generate a lot of anticipation among the community and can be a fantastic opportunity to generate revenue for the programs. However, what really happened with the wrestling program that they had to shut it down?

A situation that even made David Taylor concerned

It’s been a long time since Cleveland State University had a wrestling program with major talents that fared against top teams in the NCAA. However, on January 23, Kelsie Gory Harkey, CSU’s Director of Athletics, announced the heartbreaking news, stating, “It is a tough day for Cleveland State Athletics. The student-athletes and coaches in the impacted programs have been an important part of the Cleveland State community, and the decision today is not a reflection of the commitment or passion they, our staff, or our alumni have to our program.” 

Indeed, the university decided to discontinue not only the wrestling program but also other sports such as women’s golf and softball, with the decision taking effect at the end of the 2024-25 academic year. And the reason for getting rid of these programs? It was a part of CSU’s cost-saving measures, and it had to be done to protect their other 15 athletic programs.

The moment the update spread, many got concerned in the wrestling world, as CSU was a team that was popular in the NCAA scene. And David Taylor wasn’t the only person who voiced his concerns, as this is a wake-up call for the other programs not to get themselves into this revenue trouble and try to keep their fanbase happy with the required anticipation and performances from the wrestlers.