National Collegiate Wrestling Association

History

A post-secondary athletic association built to help the promotion of collegiate wrestling, the NCWA was founded in 1997 as a 501c3 non-profit by the current executive director, Jim Giunta, after resigning as executive director of the Texas Interscholastic Wrestling Association (TIWA). At its founding the association had 13 member teams, but today the NCWA is composed of over 150 wrestling teams and clubs from across the United States and Canada. Many of these programs were formerly NCAA scholarship programs which were affected by Title IX legislation, which has resulted in many colleges being forced to give up their wrestling programs in the name of gender equality. The variety of institutions competing in the NCWA is wide and unrestricted as junior colleges, trade schools and post-secondary prep institutions compete in the same national championship as four-year colleges and universities.

Notable current teams

While the NCWA currently has over 100 schools in competition, a few programs have distinguished themselves as top-tier programs.

Notable former teams

While the NCWA currently has over 100 schools in competition, it has also been home to many programs that transitioned from one association to another or that originated as an NCWA program and later changed associations.

Advantages

The organization and its members encourage wrestlers to compete no matter what the experience level.

Several NCWA members have gone on to become scholarship athletes at NCAA D-I and D-II institutions.

Several NCWA All-Americans have gone on to be NCAA All-Americans.

A good format for the average wrestlers who still have the passion to compete in the sport they love.

Gives smaller colleges and universities the opportunity to begin a collegiate-level program.

Programs can be established and developed quickly without the traditional limitations of an NCAA team.

Funding of teams is open to many sources not allowable under NCAA rule.

Programs currently transitioning from one association to another (NCAA D-I, D-II, D-III, NAIA, NJCAA, USCAA, NCCAA, NJCAA) have a place to compete in the post-season during their transitional period.

NCWA is always looking to implement new rules and functions of collegiate, such as instant replay for officials and the Collegiate Cup.

The student-athletes are and have to be extremely hands-on in all of the team's operations and decision-making; this type of leadership training can prepare the student-athlete for their future careers whether in wrestling or not.

Talented high school student-athletes who were passed over by NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA schools have a chance to compete at an NCWA program.

Talented high school student-athletes who transferred out of an NCAA/NAIA/NJCAA school have a second chance to wrestle in college.

Some U.S. states do not have any NCAA, NAIA, or NJCAA teams with wrestling, but do have at least one NCWA wrestling program, which can make it easier for high school athletes to decide where they want to wrestle in college in terms of financial costs, like residency and tuition. These states have NCWA teams where there are no other associations represented in their states:

FloridaLouisiana

Similarities with NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA

Collegiate weight classes are used (125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184, 197, 285 lbs).

All meets and tournaments use NCAA rules and procedures.

All conferences host a Conference Championships tournament; those who place high enough qualify for the National Championships.

Like the NAIA, a school can enter two wrestlers in the same weight class at the Conference and National Championships (if they both qualify for the latter); one is deemed the scorer and the other the non-scorer (no advancement, match, or placement points are awarded to this wrestler).

Differences with NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA

As mentioned before, the NCWA allows many types of funding to its wrestling programs that might not be allowed by the NCAA. This can allow the wrestling team to grow at its own rate.

235 lb weight class

The NCWA is the only association with collegiate wrestling to offer an 11th weight class: 235 lbs. There are a number of benefits from this:

This weight class bridges the weight gap between the 197 lb and 285 lb weight classes, the biggest weight disparity among any two weight classes.

College wrestlers who wrestled in the 195 or 220 lb weight classes in high school might find this easier to compete in than having to wrestle at 197 lbs or 285 lbs.

Schools who have two or more prominent athletes in the 197 and/or 285 lb weight classes can now give their athletes another chance to succeed individually and earn team points.

Another weight class leads to higher team scores at tournaments.

The 11th weight class can often be used as a tiebreaker as the first criterion of "Number of Matches Won" in dual meet settings.

National Championship Series

Starting in the 2013–2014 season, the National Championships in March and the Collegiate Cup Duals (previously known as the National Dual Meet Championship) directly related to each other in a team's point total. A team's finish at the Collegiate Cup Duals transferred to additional points being awarded at the National Championships.

The National Wrestling Coaches Association (or "NWCA") have a National Duals tournament for NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, NJCAA, and NCWA teams, but all do not tie into their respective National Championships point totals. Penn State University (NCAA D-I) won four straight National Championships from 2011 to 2014 – without ever competing in the NCAA D-I entry of the National Duals. The NCWA's National Championship Series is the first of any of the college divisions to have a true champion that is indicative of both its team's as well as its individuals' success.

Structure

The NCWA is divided into nine regional conferences and two divisions. Division I programs are athletic department funded or have met the NCWA's D-I criteria. Many of the Division I programs also offer athletic scholarships. Division II teams are broken into categories; Emerging Programs, that are developing into Division I teams, and Clubs that operate on campuses where there are established NCAA/NCAA/NJCAA Teams; few Division II schools are of the latter circumstance. Schools whose wrestling teams are competing in the NCWA during their school's transitional period are placed into Division I.

In August 2010, the current two-division system was passed at that year's Vision Forum and implemented for the 2011 National Championships. Since then, California Baptist University has won two of the three Division I Championships while no team has won more than one Division II Championship.

Conferences

Great Lakes

Great Plains

Mid-Atlantic

Mid-East

Northeast

Northwest

Southeast

Southwest

West Coast

Former Conferences

Wrestling clubs in the NCWA: Iowa State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech.

National Events

The NCWA sponsors five national events:

1. National Collegiate Wrestling Championships
2. The Women's Collegiate Wrestling Championships
3. The NCWA National Duals
4. The Champions Challenge
5. The Vision Forum

Vision Forum

Every year, the NCWA's Vision Forum convenes during the wrestling off-season in the summer and is held at about the same location as and set a few days before the National Wrestling Coaches Association Convention. The Vision Forum focuses on the NCWA rule changes, policies, and procedures from the previous season and if any modifications need to be made or new topics need to be discussed.

Some important changes/events that have come from the Vision Forum:

Go Greco Initiative; passed in 2015

Collegiate Cup National Championships Series; passed in 2013

National Collegiate Grappling Association; passed in 2013

Seven conferences re-aligned into nine conferences; passed in 2012

Use of mat-side instant replay for officials; passed in 2011

Two National Championships - Division I and Division II; passed in 2010

National Dual Meet Championship; passed in 2008

National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Association; passed in 2007

Addition of 7th and 8th-place finishes at National Championships into All-American finishes; passed in 2006

Champions Challenge

From 2010-2011, the Champions Challenge was formed by the NAIA and NCWA to bring more highlight matches to the wrestling community by pitting NAIA All-Stars against NCWA All-Stars at each weight class in a dual meet (except for 235 lbs since the NAIA does not recognize that weight class in competition). The All-Stars were usually the highest returning All-American at each weight class barring injury; the coaching staffs were one or two coaches for each school represented in the dual. The NCAA Division II is slated to join in the next event.

2010 result: NAIA 39, NCWA 3 (NAIA 1-0)

2011 result: NAIA 23, NCWA 15 (NAIA 2-0)

NCWA National Championships Team Champions

Since the NCWA was formed, there has been an annual National Championships post-season tournament. Until 2007, the top 6 finishers at each weight class received All-American status; starting in 2007 and continuing currently, the top 8 place-winners are recognized as All-Americans. Here, individuals are recognized for their outstanding individual achievement. They can earn team points (unless they are the non-scorer on their team) by advancing through the tournament, scoring bonus points in matches, and placing in the top 8. Teams accumulate points from all of their scoring wrestlers. The National Championships have traditionally been held in the middle of March.

1998 - Yale University

1999 - Pensacola Christian College

2000 - Pensacola Christian College

2001 - Grand Valley State University

2002 - Grand Valley State University

2003 - Nevada

2004 - University of Central Florida

2005 - University of Central Florida

2006 - Grand Valley State University

2007 - Grand Valley State University

2008 - Grand Valley State University

2009 - The Apprentice School

2010 - University Central Florida

2011 - Division I: California Baptist

2011 - Division II: Northwest Missouri State University

2012 - Division I: Notre Dame College

2012 - Division II: Wichita State University

2013 - Division I: California Baptist University

2013 - Division II: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2014 - Division I: Grand Canyon University

2014 - Division II: Florida Gulf Coast University

2015 - Division I: Liberty University

2015 - Division II: Washington State University

2016 - Division I: Emmanuel College

2016 - Division II: University of Florida

NCWA National Dual Meet Championship

In its thirteenth season, the NCWA hosted its first National Dual Meet Championships. Whereas the National Championships focuses more on individual success and teams can depend on one or a few exceptional wrestlers, the National Duals highlights teams with solid line-ups and good wrestlers at each weight class. It is common for teams that win or place highly in the National Duals to do so at the National Championships later. The National Duals usually take place in late January before the National Championships.

Prior to the 2015 National Duals no team has won the Duals more than once. The 2013 Duals made history as the finals were the first re-match between the previous year's finalists - Liberty University, who won in 2012, and Lindenwood University wrestled each other again with Lindenwood exacting revenge and winning it in 2013. in 2015 Liberty University became the first team to win the National Duals twice.

Starting in the 2013-2014 season, two changes took place: 1) the National Dual Meet Championship was now renamed as the Collegiate Cup Duals and 2) a team's finish at the Collegiate Cup Duals would earn it a certain amount of team points at the National Championships and aid them in winning it. Two major reasons for this change were to 1) encourage more teams to want to wrestle in the Collegiate Cup Duals and, 2) while still recognizing up to two different champions at the two different tournaments, one team could be determined as the best true overall team and individual wrestling champion that year.

2009 - Grand Valley State University

2010 - Marion Military Institute

2011 - California Baptist University

2012 - Liberty University

2013 - Lindenwood University - St. Charles

2014 - Grand Canyon University

2015 - Liberty University

2016 - University of Central Florida

612 Project

The 612 Project is a community outreach program created by the NCWA for its wrestlers, coaches, officials, volunteers, and staff to help the city hosting the NCWA National Duals. NCWA wrestling programs serve food to those in need and hold canned and non-perishable food drives. They later donate those goods, as well as clothes (especially jackets), to one of the city's organizations.

The name "612 Project" comes from the Biblical quote Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12 from the New Testament:

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

The first 612 Project took place at the 2012 National Duals in Dalton, Georgia and repeated for the 2013 and 2014 events which were also held in Dalton. It is scheduled to continue at the 2015 Collegiate Cup Duals in Dalton again.

NCWWA Women's College Wrestling Championships

The first Women's Collegiate Wrestling Championships took place in Lakeland, Florida in 2008. The NCWA sponsored this event under their new banner organization, the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Association (NCWWA). To date, the NCWA is still the only collegiate association in the United States to officially recognize women's collegiate wrestling. Whereas before matches were done using freestyle rules, as was the norm with associations like the WCWA, the NCWWA uses collegiate/folkstyle rules like in the NCWA, NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA. The NCWA sponsored the first women's collegiate national championship in Lakeland, Florida in March 2008, where nine women's teams were represented. The NCWA continues to sponsor women's collegiate wrestling.

The top 3 wrestlers in each weight class are recognized as All-Americans.

The Women's College Wrestling Championships has been dominated by northern and northwestern teams. Bo Icalia has won all but the inaugural Championships - he was the head coach of Yakima Valley Community College for the 2010 and 2011 seasons and has been the head coach of Southwestern Oregon Community College since 2011. Jasmine Grant of the University of South Florida is the NCWWA's first and only 4x All-American (2011-2014) so far.

2008 - Simon Fraser University

2009 - Yakima Valley Community College

2010 - Yakima Valley Community College

2011 - Yakima Valley Community College

2012 - Southwestern Oregon Community College

2013 - Southwestern Oregon Community College

2014 - Southwestern Oregon Community College

2015 - Southwestern Oregon Community College

2016 - Southwestern Oregon Community College

Collegiate Cup Duals

At the 2013 Vision Forum, the NCWA approved a new National Championships Series to crown a true National Team Champion. The National Dual Meet Championship will be renamed the Collegiate Cup Duals. Each annual winner of the Collegiate Cup will take home the Collegiate Cup trophy. Teams that place in that tournament will earn an additional amount of team points at the start of National Championships tournament later in the season.

The team that wins the Collegiate Cup will earn 24 team points at the start of that year's National Invitation Tournament. The runner-up will receive 23, third-place 22, and so forth until the 23rd-place team receives 2 points. All other teams that participated, but did not place in the top 23 will receive 1 point.