Wrestling Rules Committee meets this week

The NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee is set to meet April 12-14 via video conference. The wrestling rule book is updated every other year, and the upcoming season is a rule book year. This means that there is the possibility, but no guarantee, of significant changes for the 2021-2022 season. Major changes in recent rule books include neutral danger, out of bounds stalling, and the five second drop down rule. The most recent rule book that was in effect for the 2019-2021 seasons did not make major changes compared to those that preceded it. Here is a list of the changes from the last rule book revision.

Coaches and administrators have the ability to submit rule change proposals, and the rules committee sends out annual surveys to coaches, conference commissioners, and officials regarding both the application of previous rule changes and potential new rules for upcoming season. Here are the results of the 2019-2020 survey. The survey this year was structured differently and asked respondents whether they would be for or against 18 possible rule changes. Some examples included making takedowns worth three points, shortening the match from seven to six minutes, and adding a step out point in neutral if a wrestler goes out of bounds with both feet.

There is no guarantee that any of the changes in the survey will go into effect, and even if the committee recommends changes, the Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) has final say on whether or not changes go into effect. Usually, PROP rubber-stamps the committee’s changes, but several years ago, the rules committee proposed making headgear optional, and that rule did not make it into the final rule book.

There should be a press release in the next few weeks with the proposals put forth by the committee, and then later in June, PROP will meet to give final approval.

Wrestling Rules Committee
Composition: Nine members. Four members shall be from Division I, two members shall be from Division II, two members shall be from Division III and an additional member shall be a secretary-rules editor. Chuck Barbee is the secretary-rules editor for wrestling.