NATIONAL WRESTLING COACHES ASSOCIATION
SAVE BOSTON UNIVERSITY WRESTLING – CALL TO ACTION

April 8, 2012 - The Boston University administration announced on Monday, April 1, that it is eliminating its wrestling program.  The domino effect from this decision can lead to other institutions making similar decisions if we don’t act now. Now, more than ever, we need the help of the entire wrestling community to save this team.  

That said, we need to conduct an immediate and sustained letter writing and telephone campaign directed at the following Boston University administrators. We need to sustain this letter writing campaign through May 30.  The contact information is as follows:

Dr. Robert Brown 
President
Boston University
1 Silber Way (8th Floor)
Boston, MA, United States
Email:  president@bu.edu

Mr. Robert Knox 
Chairman of the Boston University Board of Trustees
Cornerstone Equity Investors, LLC
281 Tresser Boulevard 12th Floor 
Stamford, Ct 06901
Email:  Bknox@Cornerstone-equity.com

Mr. Mike Lynch 
Director of Athletics
Boston University Department of Athletics
285 Babcock Street
Boston, MA 02215
Email:  nrowan@bu.edu 

When drafting your letters and emails, please be sure put these speaking points into your own words and also be respectful when doing so. While this might be a very emotional issue, we always want to take the high road when voicing our opinion. Secondly, please be sure to include the following speaking points in your letter.

The Director of Athletics, Mike Lynch, has listed “Six Pillars” on the BU Athletic Department website that are to be used as “guiding principles” when determining the future of BU athletics.  Listed below is evidence of how BU’s intercollegiate wrestling history supports the pillars: 
 
Pride in Athletic Excellence 

a.  BU has advanced at least one wrestler to the NCAAs 30 of the last 31 years under Coach Carl Adams.

b.BU wrestling has had 125 NCAA Qualifiers over 31 years

c.Four BU wrestlers have achieved All American Status 

d.Coach Adams has 300 dual meet victories and 10 conference championships over his tenure. 

e.Coach Adams' overall dual meet record is 301-195-7

f. Coach Adams was “Coach of the Year” four times and is in 4 different Hall of Fames

Pride in Academic Excellence
(insert team academic achievement (compare to other sports if beneficial… APR, NWCA all academic, etc.) 

a. One of one 8 teams honored for academic excellence in 2012 within NCAA Div I wrestling).  The award is based on the most recent multi-year Academic Progress Rate and teams in the top 10 percent in each sport earn awards.

Pride in Student Athlete Growth & Development
 
a. In 2011, BU wrestler John Hall was the recipient of the prestigious John Simpson Award for displaying the best leadership & enthusiasm.

b. Wrestling team is considered the strongest team on campus for support of the BU athletic community.

Pride in Community Relations
(talk about success of camps and other community outreach activities that wrestling has engaged in.

a.  Over 20,000 kids have attended “Carl Adams Wrestling Camps” over the past 32 years.

b.  Northeast Duals – BU, Army, and Iowa State tri-meet from 2011-12 season.  275 schoolboy and high school wrestlers attended the camp associated with this tri-meet.  Wrestlers from all over New England attended camp.

Pride in Fiscal Management and Resource Development

a.    Orin Smiley Endowment:

Former Boston University wrestling coach Orin Smiley (SED '56), who passed away in April 2012, named the Boston University wrestling program as part of his estate, his family announced. His generous legacy gift will go to fund an operating endowment for the wrestling program as well as a scholarship for BU wrestlers. 

The Smiley Endowed Funds for Wrestling were established as a legacy gift back in 2006 by Orin Smiley and his family. The Orin S. Smiley Endowment Fund for Wrestling will permanently provide general support for the wrestling program and the Clarke Smiley Scholarship Fund for Wrestling will provide an annual scholarship to one or more student-athletes in the wrestling program. The Clarke Smiley Scholarship Fund is named after Orin Smiley's son, Clarke, who was a Vietnam veteran and helicopter pilot who received the Distinguished Flying Cross and passed away in 2004. 

b. Through Carl Adams Wrestling Camps, Carl Adams has given over $2.5 million to Boston University in terms of user fees for campers over the last 32 years.

Pride in Equitable and Diverse Environment
insert comments about minority participation in wrestling, etc.

a. BU, Army & Iowa State tri-meet and camp was headlined by three minority coaches…this was the only camp of its kind in the country.
- This story was highlighted in many publications including: themat.com, masswrestling.com, and Takedown TV

b.  Four minorities on the current roster for BU Wrestling.  Carl Adams during his entire BU coaching career has been working to include minorities on the BU Wrestling Team.  There have been a large number of minorities on his team, each of the 32 years here.

The IVY League schools and other elite academic institutions currently sponsor some of the most thriving DI wrestling programs in America (Cornell finished 6th nationally in 2013, Columbia, Harvard, and Penn have all had NCAA Champions and All Americans in recent history).   

Boston University has recently joined the Patriot League which has five institutions with very strong wrestling programs (Navy, Army, Lehigh, Bucknell, and American University).  The Boston University wrestling program has a chance to compete in the prestigious EIWA Wrestling Conference with these 5 other Patriot League wrestling teams as well as the Ivy League programs. 
 
By NCAA standards, wrestling is one of the least expensive sports to sponsor and on average, about 80% - 90% of institutions that sponsor wrestling will advance at least one wrestler to the NCAAs each year (very strong return on a nominal investment) 
 
Forbes Magazine recently published an article explaining why wrestlers make the best employees:   
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevecooper/2012/07/31/why-wrestlers-make-the-best-employees/