Varsity College Wrestling, Where We're At, Where We'd Be

 As you read this, it is essential that you keep a few things in mind. 

A - Most importantly realize that these numbers are a reflection of what division a school would be as of today. It may very well have been NAIA at the time of discontinuation, but the school today is NCAA Division II.  It'll therefore be counted as NCAA Division II, because if the school still had a wrestling program, it would be NCAA Division II. 

B - There are schools not counted in these numbers for two distinct reasons. 
    B1 - The school no longer exist.  I did not include for example Yankton, which officially closed its doors after the 1983-1984 school year.  Same would go for schools like Pillsbury Baptist and Dana.  If the school no longer exist, I did not include it in the numbers because these numbers are reflective of what the field would look like based on 2020-2021. 
   B2 - The school no longer sponsors sports at all.  A good example here would be Alaska-Pacific.  If a school no longer has athletics, I didn't think it was fair to include those that at one time had wrestling. Most probably had all the other sports too.  So I didn't include those

C - The numbers game here is tricky and can be difficult to configure.  For example Franklin & Marshall is an NCAA Division III institution, but their wrestling program is NCAA Division I.  Therefore of course in looking at overall total #'s, it is counted in the Division I column.  

D - I'm human and I'm not always good at math 
      D1 - I recounted all of my #'s three times, but I still may have made an error here or there. I certainly tried to be impeccable with these #'s but that doesn't mean I am. 
      D2 - I have been obsessed, I'd even be ok with being called fixated with finding as much information about dropped wrestling programs as I can. I have gone through as many schools as I can, with a fine tooth comb, searching for any and every piece of information regarding there ever being a wrestling program. I mean I look into everything trying to find any shred of evidence of there ever being a wrestling program.  Yet, sometimes I miss something.  I know I looked & looked & looked to see if Miami (FL) ever had a wrestling program. I found absolutely nothing. Then someone came along and gave me information regarding The Hurricanes varsity program from the 1920's & 30's.   
            So, maybe a team that should be included in here is not.  I know I tried. 


Last but not least NJCAA is not included in here, because I was never able to satisfy myself with what I found. The history of NJCAA wrestling is scarce, often times inaccurate and records for some reason seemed to have not been kept at all in some cases.   

I'll eventually do CCCAA as well, but want to verify a few things before I include them in the list. 

So here is NCAA DI, DII, DIII & NAIA 


NCAA Division I 
Total Institutions: 357 
With Wrestling Programs: 78 (22%)
# Of Programs Dropped: 160 
Where We'd Be Had None Dropped: 238 (67%) 


NCAA Division II
Total Institutions: 312
With Wrestling Programs: 61 (20%) 
# of Programs Dropped: 52
Where We'd Be Had None Dropped: 113 (36%)


NCAA Division III 
Total Institutions: 442 
With Wrestling Programs: 109 (25%) 
# of Dropped Programs: 97
Where We'd Be Had None Dropped: 206 (47%) 


NAIA
Total Institutions: 249 
With Wrestling Programs: 68 (27%) 
# of Dropped Programs: 12
Where We'd Be Had None Dropped: 80 (32%) 



I hope these numbers help to illustrate something I don't think many wrestling fans realize.  Even if we had never faced the  discontinuations of our programs, compared to football & basketball as well as other sports we still wouldn't be that well represented. 

At the DI level there would still be 119 programs without wrestling (that never did have wrestling) 

At the DII level there would still be 199 programs without wrestling (that never did have wrestling) 

At the DIII level there would still be 236 programs without wrestling (that never did have wrestling) 

At the NAIA level there would still be  169 programs without wrestling (that never did have wrestling) 

So I find it rather sad that even if we still had all of the programs that have since been dropped, comparatively speaking our numbers would still be low. 

Nevertheless, I'd love it if we were to get back the 321 programs accounted for.


***NOTE*** - According to other resources, the total # of dropped varsity programs between NCAA DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA, & other varsity programs is around 670 teams.   Again in my numbers above NJCAA & CCCAA are not included for reasons noted.   With all wrestling programs that I was able to find, I found information on I believe 427 former wrestling teams.   

As to the other 243 teams?  

E1 - Again, I didn't include CCCAA in this. I have those numbers (just wanting to verify a few things before I include them).  They make up for a lot of the missing #'s. Believe me. There are a lot of CCCAA schools that dropped wrestling over the years.  NJCAA is also not included. There are 525 NJCAA schools. I'm sure quite a few that don't have wrestling now, at one time did. 

E2 - 670 may be a bit of an exaggeration.  No fault of anyone's. These #'s are tricky. It's also tricky when a school changes its name.  It's also tricky when a school used to be two different schools, and both of them used to have wrestling.  How in the Hell do you count that? 

E3 - Again a reminder that schools that no longer exist or schools that no longer sponsor athletics were NOT included in these numbers 

E4 - Maybe a school that I'm 99% positive never had a wrestling program, did indeed.  As well as I've researched I'd hate to think that, but that is a possibility.