Help Save Illinois College Wrestling

[admin]

I just received the following email from a former Illinois College wrestler, Dan Barclay. He gave me permission to post his email for all to see. Let's help Dan save the Illinois College wrestling program!
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As an alumni of Illinois College, I went today to speak with Athletic director Gail Vaughn about IC dropping the program. I informed him that he could sell the story about aligning the sports programs with the rest of the conference to the paper, but none of us as IC alumni nor the rest of the wrestling world would buy that story. In laying everything on the line, it all comes down to money. I have talked to many of the wrestling Alumni from my era at IC, and we have a game plan to go in and talk to the President of the college, the AD, and the Board of Trustees about this decision. Our plan is to raise 20,000 dollars that would get the ball rolling to start and endowment that would save the sport of wrestling at IC forever. First and foremost, we have to get the program reinstated at IC as soon as we can so that the athletes that are already there, stay there. Lets face it, a program without athletes is harder to revive than one with athletes. We are asking that you let the wrestling world in Illinois know to email or call Gail Vaughn and let him know the wrestling world is not happy about the decision to drop the program. The more email and calls he gets, the better. His email is gfvaughn@ic.edu and his office phone number is 217-245-3381. The IC wrestling Alum are asking for the wrestling worlds help in saving the program! I will keep you posted.

Dan Barclay

[Coach Scott]

As a fellow alumni of IC I will Share Dan's sentament. Th e IC Wrestling program has been a competitive program at the Division III level. This an issue not only for IC but for the whole sate of Illinois and wrestling as a whole. haven't we lost enough programs when is it going to stop. Get behind this effort and save the oppertunities for other wrestlers to attend college and continue their career. Contact Illinois College and voice your opinion. Every voice is important and should be heard.

[Coach Scott]

Here is the latest the AD at IC said that if the Alumni & friends could raise $60,000 they would reinstate it for next year but they were not going to put a penny into the program. They are also asking for us to set-up an indowment of $200,000 over the next two years to keep the program alive.

More news to come.

[trailerparkwrestlingclub]

I didnt realize that IC had a competitive wrestling program. Have they had more than 3 or 4 kids in their lineup in the past 10 years? When is the last time they have had an all american or even dispatched someone to nationals? Have they ever had a full lineup in recent memory. From what i have seen of this program the way it is currently run is pretty much a waste of money. If they bring the program back then they should can tommy boy and get a real coach.

[Help IC wrestling]

Greg Lehman was the last All-American that IC has had. We was a 2001 all-american. If you think that a wrestling program is a waste of $$$ then you are really not a wrestling fan. We need as many College Wrestling programs as possible. They have had a couple of wrestlers that have come very close to Qualifying for Nationals and one wreslter on the team now that has a very good chance to qualify for nationals next year but the school dropped the program. He will be a senior and can't transfer. It is also hard to recruit kids with a $380 recruiting budget that the college gave the program.. The Wrestling team over the years has been the most successful athletic program in history. The school has been low in numbers the past few years, but look at Olivet College they were going to drop the program there and look how successful they are now...

As wrestling fans we all need to group together to save this program.. So write as many letters and emails to the president, and athletic director as we can...