The fact that he was even there was newsworthy. NCAA President Myles Brand addressed the National Wrestling Coaches Association membership at its annual convention, at a luncheon at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, Ind.    Since assuming leadership of the NCAA as only its fourth CEO, Brand has been a strong advocate for the current interpretation of Title IX, and one of the harshest critics of the wrestling community and its effort to reform the way the law is enforced.    Brand's speech covered a number of current college sports issues, including NCAA legislation concerning academic standards, as well as the current college gambling crisis.     "Never before have we tied scholarships and appearances in the NCAA Championships to academic success," said Brand. "This is the most successful academic reform initiative in history."    He let the wrestling coaches know that college wrestlers were the third most prone among men student-athletes to participate in gambling. "The answer lies in an active partnership locally and nationally," he said.    Then Brand got to the topics that those in attendance were most interested in - the loss of opportunity for wrestling and other men's sports on college level, as well as the role of Title IX in that process.    "The answer is to increase acedemic opportunities, not reduce it," said Brand. "I am a strong proponent of Title IX. I am an equally strong proponent of athletic participation."    Using statistics from the flawed 2001 GAO study often cited by those defending Title IX, Brand gave statistics that showed that participation had increased for both men and women in NCAA and NAIA programs. He did note that for a dozen sports there had a net decrease in opportunity, including wrestling.    He noted some of the reasons for dropped sports, such as student interest, reallocation of finances and gender equity. But Brand refuted the charge that men's sports programs were cut due to Title IX.    As Brand has done in other speeches, he cited a quote from Dr. Peter Likens, the president of the Univ. of Arizona and a past wrestler. Brand noted that  Likens said, "I assign fault to male leadership, not to Title IX."    Taking a shot at football, Brand noted that while the number of wrestling teams had dropped, the number of football teams had increased.    "The decisions to discontinue sports are made at the institutional levels for a variety of reasons," said Brand. "Title IX is not the cause for dropped programs. Title IX is used as an excuse."    "If I were you, I would say, 'So what? What are you going to do about it.' The good news is we are doing something," he said.    Brand explained the new USOC/NCAA Joint Task Force to address the decline in Olympic sports opportunity on the college level, and noted that USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender was a member of this new task force.    "The pressures to cap and cut programs will increase," said Brand. "It is real and must be addressed."    Brand noted that 94% of the Olympians for the USA had come from college sports programs. In another shot at football and other big-time sports, Brand noted that many universities average $3 million a year in spending on facilities and non-sports related expenses.     He also took a new direction in this speech by quoting the Education Secretary Rod Paige, who issued a re-interpretation of Title IX at the conclusion of the federal Title IX Commission hearings in 2003. Brand noted that the Office of Civil Rights considered it "a disfavored practice to eliminate men's teams." Brand said that this statement by the federal government should make it more difficult for colleges to cut squads.    Brand indicated a recent meeting with leaders in the Office of Civil Rights, who assured him that the OCR will not ask colleges to eliminate men's programs as a way to comply with Title IX. He also suggested that the NWCA and wrestling leaders contact the OCR and ask them not to permit colleges to drop men's teams as part of Title IX enforcement.    "It will become increasingly important tostrengthen sports and its value within the educational mission of the institution," said Brand. "The challenge for you as coaches is to make sure that wrestling is viewed as a sport that increases the educational goals of the university."    He suggested that wrestling coaches encourage their athletes to become more engaged in campus leadership, including student government and student newspapers. He said that wrestling student-athletes need to be more visible in regular campus life.    "Your enemy is not Title IX," said Brand. "It is the decline of the influence of Olympic sports on campuses."    "The NWCA can not solve the problems of the decline of Olympic sports alone, nor should you have to," said Brand. "The solution is a partnership. We need to bring people together on this issue."    Brand also took questions from some of the NWCA members after his speech.     He again mentioned that the "universities have to be prepared to invest more money in athletics. This is one of the jobs we have to do, to convince campuses you have to invest more in intercollegiate athletics." Brand kept to that theme, saying "we have to convince the instititutions that participation in athletics has educational values."    When asked specifically about overspending in football and basketball, Brand did not shy about giving his opinion.    "We can't make those decisions for the campuses," said Brand. "Having said that, we can talk about the expenditures that are extravagant. We will try to do that. We have the ability to raise the issues for them. We are focused too much on particular sports."    "The excesses are real," he continued. "We need to use them in a better way."    Brand received polite applause from the NWCA membership, and spoke after the speech to some of the coaches. His speech included some old rhetoric and some new approaches, and may have been a step in bringing the college wrestling community and the NCAA staff at least a little closer to each other on the issues facing college sports.