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Wrestling's survival depends on numbers

By BOB PUTNAM

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2001

Largo coach Kevin Kennedy said he knew this was going to be a rebuilding year.

He found out just how much rebuilding after 19 of his 35 wrestlers quit before the regular season started.

"I didn't even make the kids run during practice until mid-January for fear I might lose everyone," said Kennedy, who ended up having 24 quit by the end of the regular season. "I've never seen it get this low."

He is not alone.

Of the 15 public schools in Pinellas County, Palm Harbor University was the only one to increase its numbers during the regular season (see chart).

The drop-off in participation was so severe, eight schools had barely enough wrestlers to field a full varsity lineup. In fact, three schools -- Boca Ciega, Dunedin and Largo -- did not have a junior varsity squad.

The mass exodus has included several high-profile varsity wrestlers who left their teams and left many coaches wondering why a sport in the third-most populated county in the state is attracting so few athletes.

"These things usually go in cycles, but to see the numbers drop off so fast, especially at the junior varsity level, is alarming," said Frank Niles, a longtime referee in the county who is in his first year as coach at Lakewood.

The downward spiral leaves the future in question. There have been grumblings from several football coaches to eliminate wrestling at the JV level in support of ninth-grade football.

Dixie Hollins football coach Mike Morey is not among that group. He is a former wrestling coach at the school and said he would someday like to get back into coaching the sport. He just doesn't know if he will ever get the chance.

"If it keeps going at the rate it's going, I don't see wrestling surviving at the high school level in this county in another five years," Morey said. "That's sad for me to say because I've been a wrestler and a coach. I'd hate to see it go, but you have to have the numbers and right now they're not there. If I was a high school coach in this county, I'd definitely be worried."

This is not to say everything is grim. There are still several strong programs that have big turnouts such as Countryside, East Lake, Osceola, Pinellas Park and Tarpon Springs. And there are several standout wrestlers, some of whom have a shot at placing during this week's state wrestling tournament at the Lakeland Center.

"I think we're doing fine in the county," Osceola coach Ron Spataro said. "There's talent here. It's just young. Of course, I'm biased because I'm speaking for what I see in my wrestling room and we've got some good guys."

The problem is there is not enough to go around.

It shows in the results. Last season was the first time the county did not have a state champion since 1993. That low point comes six years after the county produced a record eight champions.

So as Pinellas County schools become a bunch of wrestling have-nots, one question remains.

Why?

There are several factors for the decline -- coaching changes, waning interest, few available scholarships.

"There are a lot of reasons kids don't want to come out," Morey said. "They don't want to work hard. They don't want to wear the singlet. They want to play other sports. But I think the biggest thing why they're not out is it's not promoted enough.

"When I wrestled in college in Iowa (Westmar), there were plenty of high school and college meets on television. What do you get to see here? There are no college programs in the state. You get to see the NCAA finals late at night one time a year. After that you have to wait four years for the Olympics. Where's the incentive?"

Countryside coach Dave Frayer said the promotion is lacking locally as well.

"I'm beginning to think this is a three-sport county," Frayer said. "All that seems to be promoted is football, basketball and baseball. It seems like the county would like the rest of the sports to just go away and become club sports. I'd hate to think that is the mind-set, but it sure seems that way. If it is, that's not good for us."

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