The committee reviewed all aspects of college wrestling and made several recommendations to increase the profile of the sport. With increased attendance at NCAA championships and growing participation numbers at the pre-college levels, the committee sees this as an important time in wrestling.

"When we looked at everything, it is apparent that there are very positive things happening in wrestling," said David A. Martin, senior associate athletics director at Oklahoma State University and chair of the committee. "Our committee is charged with making sure we do everything in our power to help college wrestling expand and be shown in a positive manner."

This season's Division I championships finals were televised in prime time on ESPN2, and the ratings showed that 791,120 people watched the event -- a 257 percent increase from the previous early-morning, mid-week time slot.

"Obviously, we are pleased to see the ratings," Martin said. "A lot of work went into making the broadcast possible and these numbers are very encouraging. Having the championships televised in prime time was enthusiastically received by wrestling fans across the country and also gave us the opportunity to expose our sport to new fans."

Rules changes

For example, dual meets that end in ties will now be broken rather than remain tied as in previous years. The team tiebreaker criteria that will be used is the same system currently in use for dual meet tournaments, which already is in the rules book.

Also, the section of the rules book dealing with match overtimes will be altered slightly, with the hope that offensive wrestling will be increased. Matches that end in a tie when no offensive points are scored will now have the flip of the disk before the start of the 30-second tiebreaker period. Previously, the official would flip the disk at the end of the regulation match. When offensive points are scored, the procedure will remain the same.

"We found that once a wrestler knows he has the choice in the tiebreaker period, he isn't as aggressive in the sudden-victory period," Martin said. "This change should help those matches."

In other rules-related actions, the committee voted to have a random draw for all tournaments -- including the NCAA championships -- in keeping with the NCAA's weight certification program. The weight class selected on the first day of the tournament will be the draw for subsequent days.

Scoring -- another change from last year -- was addressed again this season. While the committee decided not to change the scoring format, it did agree to establish a subcommittee to discuss the issue further. Committee members appointed to the subcommittee were Joe Wells, Oregon State (chair, Division I); Pat Simmers, North Dakota State (Division II); and Steve DeVries, Cornell College (Division III). The committee intends to develop a process that is consistent with the system used in high schools.

Other highlights

NCAA Wrestling Committee
April 9-12/Marco Island, Florida

In addition to the joint committee meeting, the division committees also met separately. Actions, by division, follow:

Division I

Heard proposals from cities and host institutions for the Division I championships from 2004 through 2007. The committee will forward recommendations to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet for consideration.

Noted the success of releasing the tournament bracket on the Internet, and agreed to continue that system.

Agreed that the television coverage on ESPN2 was impressive. Although the adjustment in the timetable was inconvenient for some aspects of the championships, the committee felt the exposure gained was valuable.

Voted to use a pairings formula as a replacement for seeding of student-athletes. The committee believes this will enhance competitive equity in the championships. With 16 wrestlers in each weight class, the brackets are easily altered through seeds.

Recommended Vince Monseau, West Liberty State College, as chair of the committee.

Division III

Discussed the allocation of qualifiers and the noted that the full committee was in support of additional competitors for Division III. The current number of qualifiers is 180.

Agreed that mats at the championships should be the same for each tournament. The padding underneath the mats currently is not the same at each championship.

Recommended that a list of student-athlete mementos should be compiled to assist host institutions in selecting a gift. The committee also recommended having two smaller gifts, one to use immediately, one to use later in life.

Voted to award the 2003 Division III Wrestling Championships to Ohio Northern University.