USA Wrestling has been informed by the Olympic Sports Liaison Committee that the NCAA has approved a new Olympic Redshirt Criteria for the sport of wrestling.

The approved criteria for an athlete to receive an Olympic Redshirt for the 2011-2012 season is:

1. Past Senior World and Olympic Team members
2. Top eight placewinner at the 2011 U.S. Senior World Team Trials
3. Top three placewinner at the 2011 NCAA Championships or NCAA champion from a previous year AND a top two finish at the 2011 University National Championships (must accomplish both).

A group of respected Div. I college wrestling coaches were brought together by USA Wrestling to come up with a proposal for presentation to the NCAA. The head college coaches involved in setting up the criteria included (alphabetically):
• Tom Brands, University of Iowa
• Shawn Charles, Arizona State University
• Barry Davis, University of Wisconsin
• Kevin Jackson, Iowa State University
• Mark Manning, University of Nebraska
• Kerry McCoy, University of Maryland
• J Robinson, University of Minnesota
• Tom Ryan, The Ohio State University

The proposal was submitted to the NCAA’s Olympic Sports Liaison Committee. It was then presented to and approved by the NCAA.

“We felt that it was extremely important that if there was going to be an Olympic Redshirt Criteria developed that the coaches that would be most affected and involved would be included in the process of developing the criteria,” said USA Wrestling National Teams Director Mitch Hull.