BigBossMan

Just a couple of thoughts from reading this report. $62,314 receipts, is that from semi-state and the final round combined? Not sure what is classified as Misc & Sponsor expense?(sponsors typically pay) Lastly, with as many medals and trophies that are awarded(weight class, small school, big school), how on earth does volleyball spend twice as much as wrestling?

Parking is negotiated in the contract. Busses, team vans and coaches can be taken care of.

Do you think the KHSAA pays 4 days x $30,000 for Rupp Arena?

The main concern should always be the wrestler and how can the state tournament be a memorable experience and a desirable place to get to! A true wrestler will wrestle anybody, anywhere, anytime. But the pinnacle of tournaments should be the pinnacle experience as well. Cost is always a factor. To the point the question was asked directly, "How much money does the KHSAA have to profit from the wrestling state tournament to be satisfied?" No answer was given. It would be nice to see a budget report.

GOO you are correct. No way to wrestle a 32 man bracket in 1 day. Middle school only seeds the region champions. The format high school used at the horse park is the best way, as far as rounds and timelines go. 2 days of wrestling, not 3. I do think the region champions(only) should be seeded in the high school state tournament.

The biggest complaint is venue. Every year, without fail, the problem is the venue. Problems have solutions. As a BOC comprised of educators and administrators, THEY should be really good at it. Granted THEY have been able to complete the season by hosting a state tournament, which is all that is required. But THEY have fallen woefully short of putting together a low level event, not even close to a top notch event. They have taken money(gate/concessions/vendor) and given very little or poor quality in return. Even when given help reserving suitable venues, by those who are willing to help, THEY refuse or seem unwilling or bothered. George Rogers Clark has a beautiful gym. Their coaches and staff should be applauded for their efforts. Which in my opinion every school would if put in the same situation. The people that care the most about wrestling are those that have wrestled, have been a coach, have been a ref, and are parents or grandparents. Why not host the Sweet 16 (Boys or Girls) at George Rogers Clark? Those games are only 2 teams playing at a time. It seems a quite a bit more logical compared to 65 teams wrestling at the same time. Rhetorical question: Would there be any backlash if the Sweet 16 was moved from Rupp Arena to Lexington Sayre? My point is let's work together to solve the problem. Coaches, ADs, BOC and administrators get together and provide a suitable solution, a desirable location for the State Wrestling Tournament.

I think you are definitely in the majority. Not sure how the format for the final round was derived. This is the only tournament formatted this way that I have ever seen. It is better than what was originally done a few years ago, but it could be better. Not only is the First Round an absolute meat grinder of a tournament in which you have to wrestle 4, 5, even 6 matches to qualify for the final round, you may even have to wrestle the same opponent 3 times in 3 weeks. I agree with you wholeheartedly on the seeding aspect. We seed every tournament all season except for the semi state. All you have to do is seed the region champions, the seeding criteria has been established. Why is seeding the semi state such a problem? Middle school spent about 20 minutes seeding their state tournament this year. Since the final round is a continuation of the first round, why are kids wrestling to placement positions? When you essentially know where you will be seeded some may jockey placements to get a better draw for the final round. Instead, why not wrestle the first round like a true first round. Wrestle 2 rounds of championship matches and 2 rounds of consolation matches. 8 wrestlers from each semi state move on to the final round. Continue the tournament from there. Seeding the first round is key though. SS1 #1 overall seed should theoretically meet up with SS1 #4 overall seed in the championship round 3(which would take place at the final round state tournament). The winner of that match would theoretically wrestle the winner of SS2 #2 overall seed vs #3 overall seed. Those winners would be the semifinalists in the top of the bracket. SS1 #2 & SS1 #3 winner would wrestle the winner of SS2 #1 & SS2 #4 in the bottom bracket semifinal. The losers would drop down to the consolation quarterfinals. Essentially, this would make the tournament a true 32 man bracket. (With proper seeding). I hope this is a moot point and that in the near future a venue suitable for a true 32 man bracket is used, and the state wrestling tournament becomes an epic event comparable to surrounding states' tournaments. Fingers crossed.

Couple of simple questions. How does CovCath fall into 1A? They are 5A in football. 3A sections 2 and 3. Central Hardin, North Hardin have to travel through all of section 3 to get to Oldham and South Oldham. And vice versa. If drive time is a concern, wouldn't the following make better sense. Central Hardin, North Hardin, Meade Co., Bullitt Central, Bullitt East, North Bullitt, Southern. Oldham, South Oldham, Woodford, West Jessamine, Male, Seneca, Fern Creek.

I can speak for the alignment that currently exists as I was the coach that was the most outspoken about it. I researched, lobbied for it and proposed it. My name is Jack LaRue, coach of LaRue County Middle School. The current alignment was put in place to alleviate the previous alignment. Prior to realignment, there were four regions. Several regions stayed the same based on participant/team numbers. Region 5(previously region 3 NKY) participation is down a bit from prior years, but the number of clubs/teams are the same. Region 4(Lex/EKY) has added clubs/teams since the realignment, but numbers are close to the same(always high due to geographic nature). Region 1(WKY) has the same number of clubs/teams, but numbers are up. Region 2(Part of WKY + part of Lex) has stayed the same. Region 3(previously region 2Jefferson/Oldham/Bullitt) has decreased, primarily due to covid. When I proposed the current realignment, I also suggested that regions pick centralized hosts. Regions 1 and 4 were and still do encompass the greatest travel from furthest points. In Region 2 Franklin Co is one of the furthest points for several schools, but is still within 2 hours drive. Previously, Danville and Taylor Co. hosted. So regions has moved around to accommodate every team. The largest complaint from region 4 has always been drive time or region size. I understand drive time sucks. I would suggest that the coaches in that region make a plan/rotation for hosting and use more centralized venues. No offense intended when I say this, but Belfry is as far away from most of the schools in that region as you can get. As far as region size goes, the same scenario is true now as it was then. There is not really a good way to divide this region and still have comparable numbers to other regions. If you remove the woodford/scott/fayette/harrison/madison/montgomery schools thats 91+ participants out of 205. And you still have teams from Belfry/Pikeville all the way to Carter/Boyd county. Plain and simple travel stinks, I hate it, you hate it, the rest of the state hates it. Centralize and rotate your region tournaments. Alignment is always on the table. If you want to see numbers, they are on track from previous years or I can give you what I have.

I love this conversation about hold backs. Let's flip the coin. I've got 3 boys. All of them turned 18 after their last season of sports or will turn 18 after their last season. My oldest turned 18 a week after placing at the state tournament for the 2nd time in a row(March). Turned down multiple athletic scholarships to join the work force. Makes a ton of money for a 19 almost 20 year old now and will be eligible to retire when he is 48. My middle turns 18 during the region baseball tournament his senior year(May). He has been all district, region, area and has multiple scholarship opportunities in baseball. My youngest turns 18 2 weeks before the district baseball tournament his senior year(April). He was also all district, region, area, in 2 sports and good lord willing will have scholarship opportunities as well when he is a senior. Started on time, finished on time and all were successful. I didn't take the time when they were in 3rd grade or 4th or 5th or 6th to hold them back. By the time they were in 7th I couldn't hold them back without them sitting out a year per KDE and KHSAA guidelines. Then covid hits and our school system didn't allow covid holdbacks. So... Hooray for the kids and parents that do it on time and are successful! P.S. Could each of them been better off being held back? Possibly. Did I or do I go to games or matches and say well he's only 17 and a senior or 16 and a junior or 15 and a sophomore? No. Does anyone care? Doubtful.

Wrestling is just a money grab for KHSAA. Get as much money as possible with the least amount of work possible.

Wrestling is just a money grab for KHSAA. What is the justification for the KHSAA receiving all the gate money, when the schools are providing the labor, materials and facility? Shouldn't there be some sort of split?

Unless you have 2 gyms and 6+ mats going, 1 day tournament would be difficult to get through. Unless you do weigh ins and skin checks the day before, start wrestling at 7:00 a.m., no breaks, wrestle championship and consolation rounds at the same time and wrestle finals on all mats. Then you might be able to get it done by 12:00 midnight. 406-420 matches is a lot. Heckuva way to end a season. Sarcasm laid on thick --- "Let's take the championship tournament of the sport and make it the most grueling, least enjoyable experience for everyone participating and their fans, just so WE don't have to come back a second day!!" Guess who WE is?? I'm not referring to Panthers' comment either. For reference, middle school state was formerly held at Montgomery Co High School. 6 mats, 16 man brackets, wrestle back to 6th place. Wrestling would begin at 9:00 or earlier, no breaks unless required by time which is less than high school and finals would begin around 8:00. High school is more competitive, longer matches/periods and requires longer between matches. Ranger or Plantman can verify the timeline, but from what I can remember that's close.

Great work GOO! Just 2 cents worth. Couple of suggestions. Trinity Whitesville is on an island if you keep them in region 2. They are short drive from the owensboro schools, probably better suited travel to region 1. Taylor Co and Green Co are closer to Region 2. 45 minutes or less to all the hardin county schools and an hour to bowling green. Plus add to the number of participants. If you move them to region 2 from region 6, I'd replace them with the jessamines from region 7. numbers will equal out and drive time for jessamine is similar. Then replace the jessamines in region 7 with Woodford from region 4 to replace those participants.

1. Cannot afford the venues right now. Money is a problem not just for the KHSAA, but they have found a way to use Rupp Arena(16 teams) and Kroger Field(12 teams) and Whitaker Bank(8 teams). GRC Gym(36 teams). Disparity is the problem. Those sports aren't going backwards anytime soon. Wrestling went from Horse Park 2020(32 man) back to Atherton 1988(8man) to Atherton 1994(16 man). I think a 3 year independent review of the budget for wrestling would be interesting to see. I don't know what the $$ goal is. How much does wrestling have to bring in to get the KHSAA, boards, and shot callers to get behind the sport? 2. Giving the opportunity to voice the format we want from the options handed down from KHSAA is not really what I would call "working with the association". I.e. boss gives you the option of a spoon, a hand spade, or a short handle shovel and says dig a ditch for a drain tile, while he sits on a backhoe that he won't use because fuel is too expensive and hurts the bottom line. 3. Bravo to Girls Wrestling. The sport is here, it's no longer coming. It is here and should be recognized. It should be used to prop up both male and female wrestling. We, the old timers and the wet behind the ears need to grow the sport and this is just another avenue. The situation imho is that the problems are the same every year, but there are zero changes made to make improvements. If you have a girls and boys sport that runs parallel and intersects more than a handful of times during the season, why not combine the 2 and have "The State Tournament" that every enthusiast wants? Do all the things that wrestlers are taught to do. Championships don't happen overnight. Set goals. Work hard everyday. Outwork your opponent. Be Better.