Boise State wrestlers knew the plan was in the works but still there was shock across the board when the official word came down that Boise State was dropping wrestling in favor of baseball.

Wrestling had been a mainstay of Boise State athletics since 1959 and while recent years have produced many wins, 11 to be exact over the last four season, this was not a decision made based on wins or loses but on revenue.

I'm not talking ticket sales as in wrestling matches vs. baseball game but overall revenue from Boise State moving to another conference and that's where baseball comes into play.

Boise State is always exploring conference options and one obvious hurdle to getting into the Pac 12 for instance is a lack of baseball. Throw in the plans to build a new baseball/soccer stadium into downtown Boise and the decision to sacrifice wrestling for the "long term vision" of the Boise State athletic department is quite apparent.

Despite the obvious Boise State Athletic Director Curt Apsey said this was not an easy decision and to the schools credit they will honor current scholarships and coaches contracts while helping athletes and coaches find careers elsewhere.

That however could be problematic as this year there were only 76 division I wrestling programs as compared to 117 twenty years ago.

As for Boise State the final numbers stack up like this:

10 Big Sky Championships, 6 Pac-10 Titles, 2 NCAA Champions in Kirk White and Ben Cherrington and 22 NCAA All-Americans.

 

More From Power 105.5