Anderson to drop wrestling

[JJKnows]

The AD announced to the team that they are dropping wrestling at Anderson last night. Their contact information is below:

Athletic Director
Bill D'Andrea:bdandrea@andersonuniversity.edu
Office: 864-231-2023

President
Evans Whitaker
ewhitaker@andersonuniversity.edu
Office: 864-231-2100

Sad to hear.

 

[darth vomitus]

The AD announced to the team that they are dropping wrestling at Anderson last night. Their contact information is below:

Athletic Director
Bill D'Andrea:bdandrea@andersonuniversity.edu
Office: 864-231-2023

President
Evans Whitaker
ewhitaker@andersonuniversity.edu
Office: 864-231-2100

Sad to hear.

Just heard this and came on here to post. This is terrible! Was Anderson as competitive as they should have been the last several years - no, but the still offered an opportunity for SC kids to wrestle at the college level.

I heard that before Doc left, he was told that 2 scholarships would be taken away and given to golf. The writing was on the wall. But as you said, JJ, everyone should contact this AD and express displeasure for this awful decision.

 

[darth vomitus]

Just heard this and came on here to post. This is terrible! Was Anderson as competitive as they should have been the last several years - no, but the still offered an opportunity for SC kids to wrestle at the college level.

I heard that before Doc left, he was told that 2 scholarships would be taken away and given to golf. The writing was on the wall. But as you said, JJ, everyone should contact this AD and express displeasure for this awful decision.

The response to the email I sent this morning:
Thank you for your email and I totally understand your concern .This was not an
easy decision but when all factors were considered it is the best for Anderson
Athletics . It is not what we wanted to do but a lot of factors were considered
.You are exactly right ,Wrestling like all athletics provides life skill lessons
. I did not get in this business to drop ANY sport but as I said their were a
lot of factor to consider .I appreciate your email .Thank you

Bill D’Andrea
Director of Athletics

I responded by asking for the "factors" that went into this decision. Waiting on a response....
Still waiting.....

 

[ParTerre57]

This is a joke and smells funny to me.

Really, really terrible. This can be a major point in which the SC Wrestling community, and those outside our state who fight for this stuff can rally behind. With a roster of only 20 kids and by what I can tell, very minimal travel, there is no way the operations of this program are costing the university an exorbitant sum of money.

Creating buzz and noise is important. In a world where one tweet can be shared and spread throughout the country we really have no excuse to not at least fight for this. There are success stories out there about fighting the discontinuing of programs (Brown, Bucknell, etc.) These things happen because we as a wrestling community are not proactive on the front end and fight for ourselves, but also because we simply say "That sucks" and go about our day. I encourage everyone let the AD know this won't be as simply as putting out a poorly written and formulate excuse. (See below)

http://autrojans.com/article.asp?articleID=7226

 

[darth vomitus]

The response to the email I sent this morning:
Thank you for your email and I totally understand your concern .This was not an
easy decision but when all factors were considered it is the best for Anderson
Athletics . It is not what we wanted to do but a lot of factors were considered
.You are exactly right ,Wrestling like all athletics provides life skill lessons
. I did not get in this business to drop ANY sport but as I said their were a
lot of factor to consider .I appreciate your email .Thank you

Bill D’Andrea
Director of Athletics

I responded by asking for the "factors" that went into this decision. Waiting on a response....
Still waiting.....

Was told by the AD that he did not want to share the "factors" publicly, but I could call him. He did not include his phone number.

 

[darth vomitus]

This is a joke and smells funny to me.

Really, really terrible. This can be a major point in which the SC Wrestling community, and those outside our state who fight for this stuff can rally behind. With a roster of only 20 kids and by what I can tell, very minimal travel, there is no way the operations of this program are costing the university an exorbitant sum of money.

Creating buzz and noise is important. In a world where one tweet can be shared and spread throughout the country we really have no excuse to not at least fight for this. There are success stories out there about fighting the discontinuing of programs (Brown, Bucknell, etc.) These things happen because we as a wrestling community are not proactive on the front end and fight for ourselves, but also because we simply say "That sucks" and go about our day. I encourage everyone let the AD know this won't be as simply as putting out a poorly written and formulate excuse. (See below)

http://autrojans.com/article.asp?articleID=7226

I would bet that Anderson might make money from this sport. They have limited scholarships and the school is expensive. If they increased roster size they could probably even profit more. I think this is just an excuse by a wrestling hater to redistribute what little funding they give wrestling to a sport like golf - wrestling is too "hardcore" for the Baptists.

 

[countykid]

Can anyone confirm that this AD is the same that cut the program at Clemson?

 

[rhino_wrestling_club_sc]

Can anyone confirm that this AD is the same that cut the program at Clemson?

Looking at his bio it doesn't look like he was the AD, but pretty high up in the administrative part of Clemson Athletics at the time. Still fishy, and according to Jason Bryant on themat.com forum some information he's getting is "interesting".

 

[masontilt]

Take our state tournament away from there! Nobody likes when you take money out of their pockets (event revenue).

We need to figure out a way, since we're all going to be in Anderson for the State Tournament, to show our support for Anderson Wrestling (petition, fundraiser, social media, etc).

 

[bellr]

finally got responses back from the AD

email 1: Thanks Robert. You make some good points but there were a lot of these issues seriously considered. Finances one of the big issues thanks

email 2: I understand ,this was not an overnight decision Yes it probably will have some impact on our students .Sorry but I just cant respond to all the emails in detail

 

[jtb314]

I received a similar email response from the AD, along with a request to call for further information but no phone number.

 

[GrnWave03]

Isn't the phone # included in the original post?

 

[darth vomitus]

Isn't the phone # included in the original post?

He did not include a phone number in his reply email to me. My understanding is that he was an assistant AD at Clemson when the program was dropped. It is shameful that this is happening. After Clemson's program was dropped, in a very shady, similar way, Anderson was the only non-military school in the state that offered wrestling. I agree that this is just one more reason to remove the state tournament from that town.

 

[Only Avg]

I did not realize that Newberry, Spartanburg Methodist, Limestone, Coker, and Allen were military schools.

 

[darth vomitus]

I did not realize that Newberry, Spartanburg Methodist, Limestone, Coker, and Allen were military schools.

No, they are not. After Clemson dropped their program in 1995(?) I believe Anderson was the only school, other than the Citadel, in SC that had a program. Neither Newberry, Coker, Limestone, or Allen had a program until later - Coker and Allen have only added within the last several years.

I am not sure about SMC....

 

[Only Avg]

OK, I misread your sentence, and now see what you were saying. I'm with ya now.

 

[K.Simpson]

http://www.mattalkonline.com/podcas...on-about-dropping-of-wrestling-program-st236/

 

[spladle40]

The AD announced to the team that they are dropping wrestling at Anderson last night. Their contact information is below:

Athletic Director
Bill D'Andrea:bdandrea@andersonuniversity.edu
Office: 864-231-2023

President
Evans Whitaker
ewhitaker@andersonuniversity.edu
Office: 864-231-2100

Sad to hear.

 

[spladle40]

Sad on many levels.

 

[K.Simpson]

https://www.change.org/p/bill-d-and..._term=mob-xs-no_src-reason_msg&fb_ref=Default