COLLEGE SPORTS COUNCIL CALL TO ACTION: Save Slippery Rock Univ. Wrestling

Eric Pearson College Sports Council
03/15/2006

CALL TO ACTION: Save Slippery Rock University Wrestling (Please forward and post)
FROM: The College Sports Council

This past February, Slippery Rock University (SRU) announced its plans to eliminate its varsity wrestling program. Please take a moment to write a letter of support for saving this Division I team. Your efforts can make a difference.

Some suggested talking points:

* SRU wrestling has a very rich tradition of producing champions both on and off the mat. Graduates of the SRU program include:
Stan Dziedzic, former World and NCAA Champion, and current President of USA Wrestling.
Jack Spates, University of Oklahoma head coach, and NCAA finalist.

* SRU wrestling continues to be very competitive. This year the team placed first in the East Regional conference while placing all 10 of its wrestlers in the finals and qualifying 5 of them for the NCAA Championships.

* SRU wrestling has produced scores of coaches and teachers who serve their communities in Pennsylvania and other states.

* Western Pennsylvania is a hotbed for high school wrestling. Schools in PA sponsor the third largest number of scholastic wrestling teams in the nation, which provides a rich applicant pool for recruiting. (For example, in PA there are only 36 college wrestling teams to accommodate athletes from 526 scholastic wrestling teams -a ratio of 14.6 scholastic programs for each collegiate program, which is twice that of men’s soccer with a 7.1 scholastic to collegiate ratio.)

Please show your support for Slippery Rock’s wrestling team by e-mailing your letter to the following officials:

Dr. Robert M. Smith, President SRU:
robert.smith@sru.edu

Dr. Dennis Murray, Chairman, SRU Council of Trustees:
dmurray@aasdcat.com

Mr. John Estey, Chief of Staff, Governor’s Office:
jestey@state.pa.us

Remember:
1. Be polite and courteous.
2. Thank them for considering your concerns.
3. If they fail to respond, write them again.

Thank you for your support of college wrestling.

Sincerely,
Eric Pearson
Executive Director
College Sports Council