Though the mats may have been rolled up for the season, and – after Charlie Alexander and Ryan Dunn compete at the NCAA Championships – Oregon wrestling’s season is complete. That doesn’t mean the fight to keep the program at the University is over – far from it.
“I am optimistic,” former Oregon coach and Save Oregon Wrestling director Ron Finley said. “And hopefully we can get something done in a fairly short period of time.”
The former Oregon State wrestler and Oregon wrestling coach of 28 seasons began the campaign right after the announcement was made last July that the program would end after this season. Finley has helped organize the fundraising campaign to finance the program, including handling donor interest and drumming up support at Duck meets.
“We’ve got virtually every wrestling group in the nation trying to help us,” Finley said. “We’ve got coverage coming out in the next couple issues of the top wrestling magazines in the nation, W.I.N. Magazine and Wrestling USA. There’s stuff coming in from all over.”
With Alexander and Dunn traveling to St. Louis, Mo. for the NCAA Championships March 20-22, Oregon wrestling is on the minds of the wrestling world, Finley said. The campaign will travel to St. Louis as well, and they plan to set up informational tables at the meet. Save Oregon Wrestling and USA Wrestling have teamed up to create a 30-second advertisement that will run during ESPN’s coverage of the championship rounds.
Finley estimated the current donations and pledges to the campaign at around $2.5 million dollars. Interest from the NCAA Championships should add to that total, Finley estimates, adding that the campaign is organizing new ways to take donations and sales through their Web site.
“It’s amazing the number of states where people have sent money from,” Finley said. “We’re also getting calls and e-mails for T-shirts from everywhere. The interest is nationwide now.”
Interest and support may be nationwide for the campaign, but the expected crowds at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships at McArthur Court weren’t quite there. In a moment when the Save Oregon Wrestling campaign needed a large turnout to support the sport at the University, according to figures from Goducks.com, the three sessions saw a total of 4,411 spectators through the gates, an average of just 1,470 per session. Finley was a little disappointed with the turnout, but attributed part of it to the timing of the championships – all day on Sunday and on Monday evening.
“Not as much as I’d hoped for, to be honest,” Finley said of attendance at the Pac-10s. “I thought it was a pretty good turnout, but I was hoping for more.”
The campaign is preparing to make another presentation to the University soon.
“We’ll get (donation figures) solidified even more than they are now,” Finley said. “We’ll just see if they really want to turn down money.”
Finley aired frustration with Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny, saying that he has not provided a consistent argument for cutting wrestling.
“He changes his story every time we talk to him,” Finley said.
Despite it all, Finley remains hopeful that the campaign will succeed.
“It’s really unbelievable that I can’t walk down the street without having all kinds of people coming to me saying, ‘Good luck,’” Finley said. “The biggest thing we need right now is for them to sign up as a donor and help us in this thing, because we’re not done.”
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