MatChat: Liberty AD's, wrestler talk about dropping of wrestling program
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by Jason Bryant Editor, Amateur Wrestling News
With the announcement on Tuesday that Lynchburg, Va.'s Liberty University would be demoting wrestling from a Division I varsity sport to club status, questions surfaced.
Despite the school being in compliance with Title IX's Prong Two, the school elected to comply with Prong One -- proportionality. This, according to school administrators, led to the wrestling program being dropped from the varsity roster of sports and as Director of Athletics Jeff Barber said in Wednesday's interivew with USA Wrestling's Jason Bryant, roster management would be implemented.
Bryant talked with Barber and with Senior Associate Athletics Director Meredith Eaker about the issues at Liberty, specifically what went wrong and why they were not using the second prong of Title IX to be in compliance.
Was this a budget issue or was Title IX the lone culprit in this decision?
Listen to the interview below.
Following that interview, Bryant followed up with 133-pound redshirt sophomore Joey Pantaleo. The Stafford, Va., native talked about his thoughts of the program's demise after being reinstated five years ago.
Joey's uncle Joe Pantaelo, was an NCAA runner-up for Michigan and was on Jesse Castro's coaching staff at Liberty.
Listen to the interview below.
Despite the school being in compliance with Title IX's Prong Two, the school elected to comply with Prong One -- proportionality. This, according to school administrators, led to the wrestling program being dropped from the varsity roster of sports and as Director of Athletics Jeff Barber said in Wednesday's interivew with USA Wrestling's Jason Bryant, roster management would be implemented.
Bryant talked with Barber and with Senior Associate Athletics Director Meredith Eaker about the issues at Liberty, specifically what went wrong and why they were not using the second prong of Title IX to be in compliance.
Was this a budget issue or was Title IX the lone culprit in this decision?
Listen to the interview below.
Following that interview, Bryant followed up with 133-pound redshirt sophomore Joey Pantaleo. The Stafford, Va., native talked about his thoughts of the program's demise after being reinstated five years ago.
Joey's uncle Joe Pantaelo, was an NCAA runner-up for Michigan and was on Jesse Castro's coaching staff at Liberty.
Listen to the interview below.
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