Here’s the last of my Super 7 Rule Changes. Each one is designed to thin down the rule book and reignite fan excitement in the sport. To be clear, if I were I King for a Day, and could only chose one of my Super 7 changes to the Rule Book, it would be A… Read More »
A Winter-Spring Hybrid Season: Wrestling’s Path to Growth How do we make wrestling sustainable and relevant? One critical step is moving our season from being purely a winter sport to becoming a Winter-Spring hybrid. Imagine this: we start training in December, begin competitions in January, and space our national events to land before and after… Read More »
Dual Meet Centric How do we move wrestling toward sustainability? One of the next steps is simple but crucial: Wrestling needs to return to being a Dual Meet Centric sport. Here’s why: spectators and audiences engage with activities that, on average, last no more than two hours. So why does wrestling cling so stubbornly to… Read More »
You Can’t be Saved by the End of a Period One of the next changes the rules committee should immediately adopt is a simple but crucial rule: A wrestler should not be saved by the end of a period if he’s on his back. The ultimate goal of wrestling is the pin. It’s what fans… Read More »
Jumbling Weight Classes I absolutely love this idea. It makes Doubling Up not just exciting, but doubly exciting, interesting, and strategic. Here’s how it works: We’d still start a dual meet with the traditional coin flip. The winning coach picks the first weight class to send out on the mat. But after that, Jumbling Weight… Read More »
Doubling Up: Creating Heroes and Legends We should seriously consider allowing wrestlers to “Double Up” but no more than three times per season—because if we want to create heroes and legends like baseball did with Babe Ruth, boxing with Muhammad Ali, and basketball with Michael Jordan, we need superstars who are as recognizable in wrestling… Read More »
A Point Earned is a Point Scored Let me apologize upfront—this will be the longest read among my Super 7 Solutions. But that’s because it’s the most important one. To my detractors, let me be clear: I’m not claiming any of these suggestions are perfect. But they’re a hell of a lot better than the… Read More »
What characteristics should every leader possess, and why? One of the most essential personality traits every leader should possess is accountability. The best leaders understand that the success or failure of a team or individual, ultimately reflects on their leadership. They take full responsibility for the performances, whether the outcomes are positive or negative. This… Read More »
What are your daily success habits and routines? Success in athletics doesn’t come from one big moment—it’s built in the quiet, often unseen, discipline of everyday choices. Most top athletes start their day with purpose. They rise early, not because it’s easy, but because their goals demand it. Before the world wakes, they’re already moving—stretching,… Read More »
What keeps me awake at night, worry or excitement? Is it winning? Is it Success? Is it overcoming obstacles. One thing I don’t do. I don’t waste time worrying about what might go wrong. Instead, I focus on what success will feel like when it goes right. That said, “full speed ahead” doesn’t mean blindly.… Read More »
How do you push through your worst times and stay motivated? I realized early on that anything worth doing is worth doing poorly… until you learn to do it right. That mindset changed everything for me. It gave me permission to be bad at something without quitting. Too often, we treat failure as a dead… Read More »
These questions were asked of me by a friend who was in the process of writing a self-help book on winning. What initially drew you to wrestling, and what keeps you passionate about it today? First, it was the challenge. Then came the neighborhood bullies. After that, it became obvious how wrestling encourages self-reliance and… Read More »
This was a question a friend asked me and my response. When did you first consider yourself successful, and what was the defining moment? Winning the Pennsylvania state high school championship as a senior. That moment defined me—not just because I won, but because I set a state record: 91% of my victories came by… Read More »
Success requires more than just talent—it demands vision, resilience, and mindset. You need a bird’s-eye view, not a bug’s-eye view. In other words, zoom out. See the big picture of what you want to achieve, rather than getting lost in the weeds. There’s no single right way to succeed, but you can dramatically improve your… Read More »
Why doesn’t the NFL, or the NBA, have rules that state; when any player scores two touchdowns or 30 points in basketball, they’re done for the game and must sit the bench? I’m sure ESPN, CBS, and all the other networks might have a problem with that ineptness of thought. Not to mention what the… Read More »
Who wants to read I told you so? This isn’t the beginning of our problems; it’s a continuation of problems. So, what are? To begin, we have too many Head Coaches scoring high marks with their technical skills and too few of them who have degrees, or interest, in administration, marketing, or promotions. Our survival… Read More »
Paris was a disaster, not for the ladies, but certainly the men . . . in both styles. 12 opportunities for Gold; zero materialized. How could we have fallen so far, so fast? It wasn’t that long ago when we were the best in the world. At issue . . . a failing of senior… Read More »
Is there such a thing as being oblivious to that which is right in front of you? To the point; how many of you have seen the commercials on NBC for the upcoming Paris Olympics? They’re truly well done and for me, they get the juices flowing. But the oblivious aspect I’m talking about is… Read More »
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re already aware of our production, or lack thereof. The men ended five days of competition with what could only be called an underwhelming effort, failing to win even one gold medal for the first time in 56 years. And remember, this was without the powerful Soviet… Read More »
This is for the wrestling fans, and not necessarily the Rules Committee. There are two ways to motivate people; either penalizing them, or incentivizing them. The Rules Committee prefers the former, and why we always find ourselves rolling our eyes and having continuous arguments. If I could fix just one challenge the sport has, it’s… Read More »
Interesting stats from Jason Bryant that I have to take credit for sharing with you, or botching the math as I write. Currently we have 285 D-I, D-II and D-II teams competing in wrestling. According to the NCAA, at our peak in 1972, the sport had 393 teams. In the stats that Jason posted, he… Read More »
People who administer collegiate athletic programs are struggling. They’ve known for a while their train was on the wrong track. But what can they do about it now, or should they do about it? The challenge is House v. NCAA, the recent 2.8 billion court settlement over antitrust claims in collegiate athletics. It’s just another… Read More »
Recently, there’s been an interesting article posted on a lot of our social media platforms. It concerns itself with which style is best scholastically for our women’s programs; freestyle or folkstyle? Before I even read the article, I knew the position the author was going to take. Without lengthening this post more than I could,… Read More »
Is there such a thing as being oblivious to that which is right in front of you? To the point; how many of you have seen the commercials on NBC for the upcoming Paris Olympics? They’re truly well done and for me, they get the juices flowing. But the oblivious aspect I’m talking about is… Read More »
I was floored when I saw WIN’s pre-season collegiate rankings. You could double the number of points the pollsters gave the second-best team in America and they’d still be in second place. I never imagined that would ever be possible. Penn State is now so dominant that conceivably, the Nittany Lion’s second string could finish… Read More »
Does anyone remember what team scoring was like in wrestling during the 1970’s? If you pinned your opponent, it was worth 6-team points. A decision of any point differential was worth 3-team points. And a tie was worth 2-team points. And everyone was happy with the way it was. Everyone. But please notice, the pin… Read More »
Just when I thought wrestling’s challenges couldn’t get any worse… The NCAA has been trying for years to deal with many of the nation’s very vocal State Legislators on how to handle the distribution process of collegiate athletic-department funds from an employee standpoint. Not only is it complex, but at the same time it’s also… Read More »
I’m not the most knowledgeable technician that wrestling has ever known, but I’m close. And I mention this because most of the wrestling you see today, which is referred to as funk, started with me. Actually, it was called garbage wrestling when I first started to experiment with techniques in the 1960’s that weren’t common… Read More »
Here’s a thought for ESPN. Just another off the wall muse by Wade relative to upgrading the sport and increasing the viewing pleasure of the fans we don’t have, but could have. And, dare I say, something that isn’t on our leaderships radar; increasing our power rating within the entertainment community. Question, how many people… Read More »
