Former Cal Poly wrestler Chad Mendes. Tribune photo by Joe Johnston

Regardless of what happens this week at the Division I NCAA Wrestling Championships, it’s safe to say the Cal Poly wrestling team had a solid bounce-back year.

The Mustangs sent just two wrestlers to the national meet in 2009. This year, they send five — three of which are top-seven seeds. The team was also ranked in the teens nationally for most of the dual season a year after going 3-12 in dual meets last year.

“It just definitely propels and gives you some momentum,” Cal Poly head coach John Azevedo said of this year’s results. “We had a good year, and I think that excites some people and gets them excited for the next year.”

There’s some reason for excitement in San Luis Obispo, but around the state, it’s doom and gloom on wrestling.

This week, UC Davis also announced it would be cutting back on sports offerings in an attempt to balance the budget. Aggies Wrestling wasn’t put on notice, but it did get placed in the “safe” pile either.

Cal State Bakersfield is dropping its storied program unless the team can raise enough funds to support itself and three other programs for two years, roughly $1.4 million according to a Bakersfield Californian report a while back.

Cal State Bakersfield is probably best known for alumnus Stephen Neal, who won a national championship for the Roadrunners by beating MMA and former WWE star Brock Lesnar at heavyweight in 1999. Neal went on to win three super bowl rings with the New England Patriots.

“I don’t understand how you cold drop a program like that for what they’ve done,” said Azevedo, who wrestled at Cal State Bakersfield. “They’ve really brought a recognition to Bakersfield that nobody has.”

But in this California economy, championships and notoriety don’t stack up to dollars and cents.

When I was a student at Fresno State in the mid-2000s, the athletic department there axed men’s soccer and women’s swimming and diving amidst a budget crisis, with the caveat that they each could remain if together they raised enough funds, some millions.

They didn’t.

Fresno State dropped wrestling a couple years later — the same year it hired a new head coach. He didn’t even get a chance to field a team.

Since then, the state budget situation has only gotten worse.

Now, there is potential the Pac-10 could lose two of its wrestling programs before the start of next season. For wrestling, the big-name conference is currently made up of traditional teams Arizona State, Oregon State and Stanford as well as associate members  Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, UC Davis, Cal State Bakersfield and Boise State.

Division I wrestling programs in California could be cut to three, and the Pac-10 could drop to just six wrestling programs.

Azevedo sees the direction things are headed. It takes around $250,000 per year to fund the Cal Poly program, including his salary, scholarships, travel and the operational budget. He said the team also independently raises close to an extra $100,000 for assistant coaches and other expenditures.

It’s far less than the million-plus Cal State Bakersfield is asking of its program, but it’s no drop in the bucket either. That’s why Azevedo is trying to raise enough private funding to ensure his team can be self-sustaining through an endowment.

“That’s when you’re safe,” he said. “Money’s going to talk, basically. So that’s what we’re trying to do is build that mometum. Cal Poly has a great tradition in wrestling and all, but I don’t know.

“We’ve got a lot more money to raise. We’re just trying to build awareness and get people more involved. If people want to see wresting around, they’re going to have to help.”

Bottom line: Cal Poly had a nice wrestling season. It still has a foggy wrestling future.

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