The remnants of a once-dominant program are all but gone.
A few wrestlers dressed in ripped sweats and faded shirts remain in the dark and gloomy wrestling room in the northeast corner of the Stott Center.
Some stretch out and work on technique off to the side while others spar playfully while somehow putting the painful reality of their own vanquished dreams out of their mind.
This is all that remains of a once-proud program that boasts national champions and Olympians, a powerful alumni group and what was once the most dominant collegiate wrestling team in the Northwest.
While the task force, athletic department and PSU President Wim Wiewel certainly had their reasons for dropping the formerly revered program—lack of success, academic concerns and the economic recession leading the list—the decision looks suspect and screams injustice.
Since athletic director Torre Chisholm arrived two years ago, he has certainly improved the overall quality of Portland State athletics by leaps and bounds.
The resurrection of the men’s and women’s tennis teams, the improved play of the men’s and women’s basketball teams and the decision to restructure head basketball coach Ken Bone’s contract can, at the least, be partly contributed to Chisholm.
But not even the hoopla and fanfare that has prevailed over the last couple of weeks fueled by the success of the basketball teams could effectively mask the collective stench of this decision.
While it is easy to argue with the actual decision, the timing of the announcement to discontinue the program came just hours before the NCAA Tournament began, amid the pressures and potential distraction of finals week and weeks after the conclusion of the season.
Coincidentally or perhaps strategically—you can be the judge of that—it came at a time when there were other matters that most students, alumni, faculty and media felt needed attention.
Despite its storied history, the wrestling program has been playing, essentially, with its hands tied behind its back by the athletic department for the past several years.
The team is unable to recruit top-notch student-athletes because it has only two scholarships to split among the more than 20 grapplers. They receive no help by way of marketing, promotion or funding to help with an assistant coach.
The small group of people that had a say in this decision did not seem to take their decision lightly.
But at a time when Portland State is expanding in nearly every way possible, removing a program—albeit a less-than successful one—is not the right thing to do, especially when you have just reinstated a tennis program that has struggled to remain competitive and already undergone one coaching change.
It is not the right thing to do when you are preparing to renovate and enlarge the Stott Center, a remodel that will cost millions of dollars.
While the motives for seeking an alternative solution to the dilapidated state of the wrestling program were well intentioned, the timing of the decision tells you all you need to know.
And once again, the wrestling team, a team with more success than all other sports combined have had in the South Park Blocks, has been left without a voice.
