Interesting debate being waged here! I guess if we are going to use the whole thing about win % and how many people go to state.....well, we probably need to go back to state philosophy and the NSAA philosophy....right Mike...might as well do that so we can figure out where these folks are coming from and what the people in power want!

Football:

OK....how many teams % wise make it to state in class A? Just need to get that out there to see what it tells us.....

How about class C....how many teams make it to state in class C....can you give me a rundown?

Now, what does this say about our state....shall we legislate separately for wrestling??????

Football is king in this fine state...no doubt. When in class A was the last time a school from number 25 on down won the title? A is its own animal and should be what it is...the top 24! Simple!

I still think that B is the best class and has the most opportunity to drive our sports in this state! If you look at most of the sports...football may the only one where the state champion in B could not win that all class game! Otherwise...Wrestling, Basketball B & G, etc...there is no contest!

Hell the state even offers softball to just the A and a few B schools...why not change this whole mess around to fit our needs!

How about this?

Allow the number of state qualifiers to coincide with the number of schools per class.

For example; send 8 kids to state from class A, then maybe 12 with some byes from class B, then leave 16 for C and D.

Or make everyone happy and take 32 for all classes.

New Bancroft kids program has 60 kids out between K thru 6th grade.

Looks like another class D school coming soon.

Good luck

Just to let you know, Pierce's youth wrestling program skyrocketed this year. We now have between 71-80 kids out, and we are excited!!

I am happy to hear about the programs in our state. It is healthy to have the growth we are seeing. Anyone who really knows me knows I am in this business for the entire state and not just my little turf here in Omaha. I think when you are talking about the growth of wrestling within schools and communities, it kind of brings into focus some of the real problem when looking at class A. Ideally with schools this large you probably shouldn't have ANY open weights....you probably should have a reasonable wrestler in each weight....and you probably should have depth in the overall program. However, this is not the case. For a lot of the programs, I am happy to say, the numbers and the level of wrestling is good. However, there are a few schools that just "aren't there yet." Happy to say, though, that times are changing and you will see a much stronger class A in the near future. Specifically, Bob Danenhauer - OPS, is working within the Omaha system to start clubs for each high school. He is working on a feeder system for each high school that will build teams. When you get Nortwest, for instance, back to where it was in the 80's or Omaha South back where it was in the 60's.....then you will see the real class A. Look at some samples of success: Bryan High has a great coach in Kevin Kottich and now the school has about 60 wrestlers. Northwest has a new coach who is working hard to build numbers. Burke now has a club system....I could go on and on, but if class A had all 32 teams in high gear, we wouldn't be talking about this legislation.
The legislation, like it or not, has two clear driving factors. One is the one I just listed, and the other is Skutt.

I'm offering up a compliment to this thread! Its great to have insight from all sides of this issue. Thank you gentlemen, for your wisdom and opinions! Have a safe weekend around the mats, and getting to the mats!

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