Some ideas to consider in the aftermath of the Board of Regents' pre-determined decision to end the UNO wrestling program:

-- NO THREATS OR ACTS OF VIOLENCE, VANDALISM OR PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION - all you are doing by committing one of these acts is justifying their decision. Who wants their college or program to be represented by a bunch of thoughtless thugs? Our frustration and disappointment must be turned away from violent acts such as these.

-- FINANCIAL SUPPORT - Is there a way we can put together an endowment that would continue the funding of wrestling so that it can compete at a D-I level? Alberts said it would take close to $10 million to fund a budget that is twice what the wrestling program now has (including fundraising). Can those who are pulling their funding from UNO athletics as a whole be encouraged to redirect that money specifically toward wrestling?

-- GET OFF YOUR A$$ AND VOTE - If you're one of those who doesn't think your vote matters, here's a GOLDEN opportunity to make it count. Even better...if you're one of those who would like to make a difference in the world, how about running for a Board of Regents seat? I'm sure that anybody who is supportive of wrestling that runs for the office will have a LOAD of grass-roots support at his (or her) beck and call. Remembering when I was in college...those who were against the closing of the Fairbury campus of Southeast Community College that ran against candidates who voted to close the campus had a TON of former Fairbury students running around communities, dropping leaflets and talking about the situation. Of the seven candidates who voted to close the campus...ALL SEVEN were eliminated when they ran for re-election. As dedicated as we were, my guess is a driven bunch of wrestlers, on their worst day, would be 100 times as focused as we were.

-- NO SUPPORTING THE UN SYSTEM - Support of ALL athletic programs in the University system -- with the exception of the wrestling programs in Lincoln and Kearney -- should be discontinued. This INCLUDES the support of Husker football, which is a part of the same University system the Regents, who voted to shut down UNO wrestling, oversee and support. If you're a Husker football fan, this will be the hardest thing to deal with. I've been a fan for 40 years. I have tickets to the spring game that I have already committed to use with family members, and that will be the last game I attend...it will be the hardest decision I'll have made as a sports fan since giving up Major League Baseball after the 1994 strike.

-- PUT YOUR MONEY TO WORK - If you can't help endow the program, start pulling any financial support from any business owned by a Regents member. Also, think long and hard about doing business with anyone who publicly supports the UNO athletic program from this day forward. The message has to be heard by the powers that be, and if they can't hear it in a public meeting, they need to feel it in their pocketbook. If that means taking your business across the river or to another community, make it happen.

We can sit and b*tch and moan and cry about this decision, or we can work for change. I know what I'm going to do...how about you?

Very well said NWI! Does anyone know when any of the regents term is up for re-election?

Half are up in 2012, the others in 2014.

I'm not sure which four are in which election cycle, but it shouldn't matter...the vote was unanimous, so they all have political targets on their backs, IMO.

Would Alberts actually consider reinstating wrestling if 10 mill was raised?

Does the phrase "Money Talks" ring a bell???

If $10M was endowed for the program, it could live off the interest from that endowment forever. I think Trev could find a way to deal with the "pain" of mutli-conference affiliation if he had $10M in his back pocket to work with.

It's also time to be at every wrestling event possible from duals to camps summer leagues these programs have on there campus tournaments like Midwest classic need to be attended by Nebraska kids. UNL is going big 10 don't think that if they finish at the bottom 2 or 3 years in a row they won't get axed. What we as a state did for UNO in the last month needs to be a constatnt everyday lifestyle from now on for our in state programs and the sport of wrestling

NWI,

Try to refrain from sarcasm and lets have a discussion here. I'm trying to understand Alberts mind-set because none of this up to this point has made any sense to me. If what you say is true then maybe the horse should be put before the cart by first asking Alberts if he would be willing to commit to reinstatement if such a fundraising endeavor were successful.

Patriot...wasn't trying for sarcasm. Not being on the doorstep of what's going on, I'd like to think there is work being done to try to make that happen. Similar efforts were made to save Arizona State's program a few years back when they were going to cut wrestling, so I'd like to think the same is being done here.

Will Alberts' ego allow for such a consideration? That's the question.

At state next year we need to all wear fire Alberts shirts. We could line people from the quest center to 72nd street picketing UNO. We could storm the UNO campus. We need to make sure that no Administrator ever wants to take on the wrestling community again. It would be cool to see everyone at the quest during the finals wearing save UNO wrestling or fire Alberts shirts. I only wish we would have known this sooner so that we could have done it this past season.

Consider this your notification to Save all Nebraska Wrestling Programs, if this isn't enough of a notice I am not sure what is. UNL and UNK need to be looking for endowments to save their wrestling programs ASAP.

quote:

Originally posted by Vbadger:
At state next year we need to all wear fire Alberts shirts. We could line people from the quest center to 72nd street picketing UNO. We could storm the UNO campus. We need to make sure that no Administrator ever wants to take on the wrestling community again. It would be cool to see everyone at the quest during the finals wearing save UNO wrestling or fire Alberts shirts. I only wish we would have known this sooner so that we could have done it this past season.

The thing is...the announcement on this dropped out of the sky less than two hours after UNO won its third straight national title. The Weird-Harold forced the issue by running a story on Alberts' decision to make this proposal, and he basically had to call Denney late that night to tell him before it hit the Internet (and, from what I got from some of the testimony today, word was already spreading even before the OWH published it on their website).

At this point, protesting and picketing isn't going to do any good. Money and votes will have to do the talking for us. If the money for the endowment can be raised, and we as a wrestling community bust our butts in the trenches to campaign for EVERY candidate that runs against any current BOR member who wants to run for re-election in 2012 or 2014, that's going to do a lot more than T-shirts and protests (although both would keep the issue in front of the public).

I think that there needs to be a concerted effort to not hold any more wrestling events in Omaha. When the next bid comes up for the state tournament we as a wrestling community need to really throw our support behind Lincoln.

I will be start an do not re-elect Hawk campaign for sure. He looked very uninspired this morning. Guess that is what happens when you are rich and really have no vested interest in anything except you own self. Brain-melt at its best. Also when UNO goes to D-I basketball how do they expected to get fans in the stands when UNL can't even do it. Creighton basketball has a fan base in place and will only get bigger.

Once the arena is built in Lincoln, you'd have a strong case for it. But remember, the N$AA is going to go where the MONEY is. They're not the world's most socially-conscious organization, after all...

Can anyone tell me the businesses the board members own?

Schroeder is an Attorney in Keanrey.

quote:

Originally posted by BLASCHKO:
I think that there needs to be a concerted effort to not hold any more wrestling events in Omaha. When the next bid comes up for the state tournament we as a wrestling community need to really throw our support behind Lincoln.

Already there...

Temporary injunction seeking a permanent injunction for violation of Title IV is the best alternative left (outside of club wrestling). May be sustainable depending on the gender demographics.

UNL won't get rid of wrestling because the big ten won't let them. You don't think that the big ten doesn't see it self as the best wrestling conference in the nation and for good reason. They won't have a school in their conference without wrestling, just not going to happen.

So its more likely to have UNL kicked out of the Big Ten then for UNL to lose their wrestling program? I hope you are correct.

quote:

Originally posted by miracle worker:
UNL won't get rid of wrestling because the big ten won't let them. You don't think that the big ten doesn't see it self as the best wrestling conference in the nation and for good reason. They won't have a school in their conference without wrestling, just not going to happen.