Completely disagree. The atmosphere of the state wrestling tournament at Century Link isn't even half of what it was at the Devaney. Honestly not comparable at all. Dining, hotels, etc... are obviously better in Omaha, but that is about it.
Basketball Expanding the state tournament to four days
- Thread starter northeastNebraska
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This is something I definitely agree with. If you are looking for quality arenas, hotels, food, etc Omaha is the better option. If you are looking for the better experience for the competitors than Lincoln was way better. Its the same debate we have in football.
Devaney was more "intimate" for a wrestling atmosphere, because the crowd was closer to the action and everything was squeezed in a little tighter. CenturyLink gives athletes and fans more room, and allows more fans to attend.
Agreed. I go back to the question at hand....do we compete for the fans or the athletes? The answer is the athletes, in my opinion. We need to do what makes the experience best for the athletes, not the fans. The athletes do all the work, the fans just watch. That is why I believe it should have stayed at the Devaney. The fans can tough it out. Maybe I'm too old school
I agree, it should always be about the athletes. Unfortunately the NSAA likes to chase money, and money talks
Which is understandable, I suppose. I don't agree with it, but I understand why they make some of the decisions they make. The other side of things is they probably get tired of fielding phone calls from selfish parents that are more concerned about their viewing experience than their kids competing experience.
It seems your opinion isn't widely shared. Certainly not by me, but also, I think, not the overall wrestling community. I think it's in a lot of ways far superior to that crowded old barn. Attendance is up fairly strongly over the years. And finally I'd just add that even with PBA being built, you don't hear a whisper of change or even any dissatisfaction that I'm aware of. I don't recall any of our great champions, medal winners, or qualifiers talking about "If only this could have been in the Bob". ;-) Seriously, it gets just as loud and raucous as ever. Plus the Qwest/Century Link folks are not nearly as big of fun haters!
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The athletes LIKE the CL. They have always liked the new, clean, bright, state-of-the-art. The AV stuff was big, larger crowds were nice, being able to find places to find family/team/etc Full mats, not being run into folded up bleachers. Maybe just me, but I've not heard that from any kids. I'd say just the opposite. We had the nicest facility in the state. Why on earth should wrestling have been relegated to clearly 2nd rate? I think most wrestlers, maybe for the first time, enjoyed having better facilities than basketball.
We obviously don’t know the same wrestling people and wrestling followers. I don’t know that I’ve ever talked to anyone in the wrestling community that likes it better at the CL
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These are good examples, but I do want to point out that state basketball occurs during the middle of Lent. I could see because of that why the NSAA would shy away from that idea
It seemed to me that state wrestling always fell on the same week as Ash Wednesday so we would always have to travel to Omaha on Ash Wednesday which is really the biggest Wednesday of Lent, it almost never is pushed as far back as State Basketball is so Lent Wednesdays shouldn't be much of a problem.
I never understood the no Wednesday rule. I went to Catholic schools K to 12 and I can't recall there ever being events on Wednesday. I get the Sunday thing, but protecting Wednesday for such a small percentage of people that may have a church group never made sense to me.
To me, it's all about money. The NSAA doesn't want to rent PBA for four days. The current set-up probably makes them more money vs. having to pay the PBA rental fee for another day. I'd be curious the NSAA's cost for a one-day rental at PBA and also Devaney. It can't be cheap, where the high schools probably a very inexpensive to rent from LPS.
To me, it's all about money. The NSAA doesn't want to rent PBA for four days. The current set-up probably makes them more money vs. having to pay the PBA rental fee for another day. I'd be curious the NSAA's cost for a one-day rental at PBA and also Devaney. It can't be cheap, where the high schools probably a very inexpensive to rent from LPS.
I think that Wednesday nights are for those student athletes that are Catholic but attend public schools. They go to CCD (or whatever it is called) classes that their Catholic counterparts do during their normal school day. I think other churches have some Wednesday activities as well.
Iowa has 5 classes for girls (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A) and 4 classes for boys (1A, 2A, 3A and 4A). They have separate athletic unions, so I'm guessing the girls union decided to add a class (I think 5A was added not that long ago) whereas the boys union did not.
THE HISTORY OF THE IGHSAU
10/07/2014 IN GENERAL NEWS
The origins of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union can be traced to a heated argument at a Des Moines Presbyterian Church. From that argument, a one-of-a-kind organization was founded and continues to serve high school girls like no other activity organization in the United States. Iowa was one of the few states in the 1920's where girls high school basketball was being played. An Iowa girls state basketball tournament had been established in 1920 and the popularity of the sport began to thrive in Iowa's rural schools. Despite the popularity of basketball in small-town Iowa, the enthusiasm over girls basketball was not shared by the state's larger schools. In addition to the larger schools in the state objecting to sponsoring girls high school basketball, there were also concerns over the merits of girls participating in physical activities. Many at the time believed it was harmful for girls to engage in "strenuous" activities such as basketball. These arguments reached a boiling point at the 1925 Iowa State Teachers' Convention held at the Central Presbyterian Church in Des Moines. The annual meeting of superintendents and principals decided that competitive sports before paying crowds was good only for boys activities in Iowa, but not for girls. Girls basketball would no longer be a state-sponsored interscholastic activity. The debate that immediately followed was passionate and heated. One attendee at the meeting that had coached girls basketball lamented that his conscience was forever bothered "for the harm I might have done the girls" in coaching girls basketball. However, Mystic Superintendent John W. Agans responded with the memorable rebuttal, "Gentlemen, if you attempt to do away with girls basketball in Iowa, you'll be standing at the center of the track when the train runs over you!" Agans' powerful message led to an impromptu meeting at the Presbyterian church of 25 men from primarily small rural Iowa school districts. They had decided that if the Iowa High School Athletic Association, who oversaw all high school athletic activities at the time, was not willing to sponsor girls basketball, then they would form their own organization dedicated to sponsoring Iowa girls high school basketball. The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union was born. A four-man committee representing the northeast, northwest, southwest and southeast sections of the state oversaw the IGHSAU in its early stages. The four-man committee rotated as the IGHSAU's part time secretary until 1947 when Rod Chisholm of Exira was employed as the organization's first full-time executive secretary. Now having a full-time executive secretary, girls basketball began to flourish. The Girls State Basketball Tournament, held at the Drake University Fieldhouse, featured sold-out crowds throughout the eight session tournament. To help expand its growth, the state basketball tournament became one of the Iowa's marquee events. The IGHSAU published its own rule book and a girls basketball yearbook. In addition to the publications, the IGHSAU hosted coaching schools for both coaches and officials. The Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament was also one of the first sports to be televised, beginning in 1951. The telecast reached nine different states. When Rod Chisholm resigned as the IGHSAU Executive Secretary in 1954, he was replaced by E. Wayne Cooley. Cooley immediately had big plans for the IGHSAU. His first order of business was to expand the number of programs sponsored by the organization. While basketball was still wildly successful, Cooley believed that for the organization to truly thrive, new sport programs needed to be developed for the girls. Softball was added in 1955 while golf and tennis were sanctioned in 1956. Track and Field became the fifth sport to be sanctioned by the IGHSAU in 1962. While new programs were developed for the Iowa Girl, girls basketball remained the IGHSAU's crown jewel. Taking advantage of its new home, the spacious Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, Cooley turned the nation's oldest high school girls state tournament into a showcase for Iowa talent. In addition to the great basketball being played, the halftime shows were elaborate productions comprised of Iowa high school students and bands; young men in tuxedos swept the auditorium floor to Duke Ellington music and the highlight of the evening; the moving Hall of Fame presentations narrated by the great Jim Duncan. In short, there was something for everyone whether you liked basketball or not. When Title IX legislation was passed in 1972 requiring gender equity for boys and girls in every educational program that receives federal funding, high schools across the country were scrambling. The majority of schools and universities did not offer athletic programs for girls and struggled to find ways to implement the new programs. Sports Illustrated compiled a three-part story in 1973 on women sports and Title IX. One issue of the article featured girls sports in Iowa. The article highlighted to a national audience that equity in girls sports was not only possible, girls programs could shine just as bright as their male counterparts. The IGHSAU continued to add programs. Cross Country was added in 1966, followed by swimming and diving in 1967 and volleyball in 1970. Soccer was added in 1998 while bowling began in 2006. Currently, there are 10 sports being sponsored by the IGHSAU. Today, there are nearly 70,000 girls competing in Iowa high school athletics. Iowa continues to rank in the top half of the United States in terms of girls high school athletic participation, despite ranking 30th in U.S. population. In addition to administrating sports, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union conducts coaching certification courses, official education clinics and offers several scholarships that celebrate the Iowa Girl. Iowa continues to be unique in that there are four separate activity organizations; the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the Iowa High School Speech Association and the Iowa High School Music Association. The four organizations focus their efforts on making Iowa a national leader among its peers in administrating high school activities. Dr. Cooley, who retired as the IGHSAU Executive Secretary in 2002, once stated that "I take a lot of pride that every girl walks down every main street in every town in Iowa just as tall as the boy." The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has made it its mission to uphold Cooley's legacy.
IGHSAU Executive Directors
It's been this way for years upon years and from what I've been told, the Iowa girls union is still all about the girls and the boys is about the money
I have always found it to be odd as well, but it works for them. Thanks bonemeal for the article. Interesting read.
I'm not sure if the opening tip is still done this way or not for Iowa girls basketball. I was at a girls game in Iowa several years ago. At that time they didn't toss the ball for the opening tip. They had a coin flip to decide who got the ball to start the game. This was probably in the very late 90's to early 2000's.
I believe I read that Kansas is going to do that this year for basketball due to COVID concerns
Here's my opinion on the class debate that this has turned into move basketball, Volleyball to 4 classes (the way you do this is move half of B up to the new A, half of C1 to the New B, One-fourth of D1 moves to new C and the rest is in the New D) and wrestling to 3 (why three you ask, this prevents JV Wrestlers making it to state and when girls Wrestling becomes sanctioned you can host it at the same time as the boys tourney or right before. Move half of B up to A split C in half along with other half of B to new B and all D and other half of C is now in the new C).
Anyone ever think of stop playing all games in Lincoln, why not play first round A and B at Century Link and first round of C1 and C2 in PBA and First round of D1 and D2 in Bob D If you can get a one day 8 game schedule in each place. Then rotate ever year where first round is. Then all next round games in PBA and Bob D and finals in PBA