Proposal 2023-11 passed at the NCAA Convention Saturday with 332 votes for, 134 against, and 6 abstaining. Prior to voting on the proposal, the membership decided which of two season change proposals to vote on. 2023-11 passed over the less restrictive 2023-10 with totals of 314-144-14. The proposal affects wrestling in two main ways. First, the season will be counted using 114 days rather than the current 19 weeks. Second, teams may now use 8 of those 114 days outside the season that runs from October 10th to the NCAA Championships. When using the 8 out-of-season days, no more than three can be used per week, and they can be used both before and after the season. This change will go into effect on August 1, 2023 and will affect the 2023-24 season and beyond.
Below are the 31 schools and two conferences with men’s wrestling that voted against the proposal, preferring to keep things the way they are. Keep in mind that the various aspects of the legislation affect all sports except football, so wrestling was unlikely to be the main factor driving the vote from each school.
Learn more about the proposal and read the language for all sports by clicking here.
School by school voting results
Votes against 2023-11 from schools/conferences with men’s wrestling
American Rivers Conference
Centennial Conference
Baldwin Wallace
Bridgewater State
Buena Vista
Centenary
Central
Coe
Defiance
Gettysburg
Johnson & Wales
King’s
Linfield
Loras
Luther
McDaniel
Norwich
Pacific
Plymouth State
Rhode Island College
Roanoke
Simpson
Springfield
SUNY Brockport
SUNY Cortland
Trinity
University of the Ozarks
UW-Platteville
US Coast Guard Academy
Ursinus
Wartburg
Williams
WPI
This new rule has an unexpected impact on wrestling…
17.1.2.2 Sports with a Winter NCAA Championship. Unless otherwise noted in the applicable sport section, the
playing season shall be conducted according to the following:
(a) The length of an institution’s playing season shall be limited to a maximum 114 team days, occurring
between the following.
(1) First Practice or Competition. September 7 or the institution’s first day of classes for the fall term,
whichever is earlier. (This does not apply in the sports of basketball, women’s bowling, ice hockey and
men’s and women’s wrestling, in which the applicable start date provisions are set forth in the specific
sports sections.)
(2) End of Season. All practice and competition shall be completed by NCAA championships selections. For
those sports without an NCAA championship, the season shall not extend beyond the selection date of
the last Division III winter championship sport to conduct selections.
In (2) it says that the season is over at the NCAA Championship Selections for the sport. That happens 2 weeks before the national championship. In an individual sport (such as wrestling) my understanding is that only those athletes who qualified for the national tournament are allowed to continue practicing after the end of the playing season. So in order to provide a practice partner at the 8+ practices you will hold between the regional and the national championships, you will need to save and use your 8 allowable out of season days in order to prepare for the national qualifier.
If I missed something, please let me know. But it seems like the new legislation didn’t take into account the uniqueness of wrestling as an individual sport that needs a teammate to practice.
The updated legislation regarding individual sports and NCAA Competition reads as follows:
17.1.3 Postseason Activities
(c) NCAA Championships Participation in Individual Sports. Only appropriate squad members considered necessary for effective practice with the individual(s) preparing for the NCAA championships may continue to practice; (Revised: 1/17/23 effective 8/1/23)
I would suggest that each coach has significant discretion in determining who is required for effective practice.
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