Here’s what the 2020-21 college wrestling season might look like

Back in April, Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands called the novel coronavirus “enemy number one,” and told everybody on a teleconference that their primary goal was to “eradicate the enemy.”

“It’s really that simple,” Brands said then. “We got clobbered upside the head by something we can’t control, so you go to what you can control.”

Five months later, and, well, the enemy is still here.

And because of that, there’s a growing sense that the 2020-21 college wrestling season may be a short one — if it happens at all.

The Register spoke with nearly a dozen Division I wrestling coaches to gain an understanding of how the season might look. Indications, after those conversations, suggest the season will start around Jan. 1, 2021 and end with the NCAA Championships, set for March 18-20 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

The 78-day sprint might feature conference duals only. Each team’s first tournament might be their respective conference championship. When it comes to the national tournament, multiple coaches said they’ve been told to not expect the usual 33 qualifiers per weight. There might not be fans in the stands to watch any of this, either.

All of this comes with a heavy disclaimer, too.

“This could all change by September 1,” Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser said. “This is a week-by-week thing, and sometimes even a day-by-day thing.”

The volatility of the coronavirus was on display last March. In just three days, the NCAA went from expecting 330 competitors and more than 40,000 fans per session at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis to limiting fan attendance to closing the tournament to the public to canceling it altogether.

As such, the primary goal of the 2020-21 season, according to coaches, is to protect and preserve the opportunity to host the 2021 NCAA Championships.

Last week, the National Wrestling Coaches Association’s Division I Leadership Group, comprised of eight head coaches from seven different conferences, proposed starting the competitive season “on or around” Jan. 1. A survey sent to all Division I head coaches revealed that 92% were in favor of a delayed start.

The announcement came with a few more suggestions:

• The first official day of practice, when announced by the NCAA, would not change;
• Teams can compete prior to the sport-imposed delay, but those results would not count toward qualifying for the 2021 national tournament (this would need to be approved by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee);
• The leadership group would look at coronavirus trends every two weeks so that, if the opportunity arises, the season could start earlier or even be restored to its original schedule.

“We want to be able to protect our athletes and keep them safe,” Northern Iowa coach Doug Schwab said. “We also want to protect them from losing another year of opportunity. So maybe starting the season a little bit later will help that.

“Whatever happens, we’ll adjust to it. But we’re all in favor of having a championship.”

The leadership group recently met with Anthony Holman, the Managing Director of Championships and Alliances for the NCAA, to discuss competition options for the 2020-21 season. Multiple ideas are on the table.

The regular season will likely be dual meet-heavy, primarily against conference foes. That could mean multiple duals in a day or over a weekend so teams can simulate a multi-day competition while also ensuring athlete safety.

Larger tournaments, like the Midlands Championships, the Southern Scuffle and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, are likely off the table for now. Smaller open tournaments, like the Cyclone Open and UNI Open, likely won’t happen, either.

“Nobody wants to be that institution that hosts an open tournament, and then wrestling has a huge outbreak and the NCAA would shut it down,” Dresser said. “That’s just not a wise idea. You could jeopardize the entire sport.”

Holman has told coaches that a 2021 national tournament won’t feature the full 330 qualifiers in order for the NCAA to safely manage and run the championships. In an interview with Trackwrestling, he said a shortened season would also mean modifying the selection criteria for the NCAA Championships.

“That may be one of the short-term solutions we have to implement,” he said. “That’s not the first choice we want to go to, but all of that will be dictated by the scientific data and what’s trending around that time.

“If they can compete safely, we can make it work and we’ll provide a vehicle and a pathway for those kids to qualify for the championships.”

But before wrestlers and coaches can hit the mat, all eyes will be on the gridirons this fall.

Football drives the financial bus in college sports. Men’s basketball rides shotgun, but without a football season, the odds of a wrestling season getting off the ground plummet significantly.

The Big Ten announced last week that it is postponing football and will try again in the spring. Iowa athletic director Gary Barta recently told season ticket holders that the athletic department is bracing for a budget deficit between $60 million and $75 million. 

Sports could get cut, in other words. Two Division I wrestling programs have already been axed because of financial concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic: Old Dominion and Stanford (the latter of which will discontinue after the ’20-21 season).

Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard was candid about this possibility in a letter to fans last month. Currently, the Big 12 and ACC, two conferences that also sponsor wrestling, are moving forward with football.

“The remedies to having unfunded financial obligations are significant,” Pollard wrote, “and would require us to explore options that may include operational reductions or eliminations, layoffs, and even elimination of sport programs.”

Wrestling coaches are aware of the potential consequences, even if there is growing optimism about a 2020-21 college basketball season both starting and reaching its conclusion.

“If wrestling wants to happen, we really need football to come along, and if that doesn’t happen, then we really need basketball to come along,” Dresser said. “Let’s call it what it is. Those are the two sports that pay the bills.”

He reiterated the point that nothing is set in stone just yet.

“It’s hard to say what this thing will look like in January,” Dresser said. “We might be out of the woods, or we might be deeper in the woods. Who knows.”

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

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