Fresno Bee
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University President Joseph Castro reinforced that pledge Tuesday during a meeting with The Bee editorial board during which he also stated a new athletic director would be named before the end of the year.
“It’s no longer a question of whether (wrestling will return),” Castro said. “That decision was made on my 100th day when I said we were going to do it. … I expect to make an announcement later this fall.”
Castro announced in November 2013 he would consider reinstating the wrestling program, which was axed in 2006 following a string of lean budget years and gender equity issues.
Last March, Castro took another step by hiring consultant Todd Turner, a former AD at North Carolina State, Vanderbilt and Washington, to review Fresno State’s athletic structure and each of its 17 intercollegiate teams.
Castro and others are currently reviewing Turner’s report.
The timeline to reinstate wrestling, along with the addition of at least one new women’s sport, is independent of Fresno State’s search for a new athletic director, Castro said. Following nine years on the job, Thomas Boeh was reassigned Aug. 12.
However, Castro does want to wait until the women’s soccer/lacrosse field east of Bulldog Stadium is completed.
Stephen Abas – 3X NCAA Champion
Castro said that $2 million project, the final requirement of Fresno State’s decade-long review with the Office of Civil Rights, should be finished by the end of October. The university has grappled with gender-equity issues since the early 1990s.
“As of this morning, it’s still on schedule,” Castro said. “I check on that all the time because it’s so important. Once that happens, I’ll feel a lot better about doing other kinds of things. I just want to close that important chapter, and then we’ll open a new one.”
Wrestling at Fresno State produced 33 All-Americans and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Stephen Abas. Men’s soccer and water polo were cut in prior years.
“I want to stop saying we’re going to do (reinstate wrestling) without giving people a timeline,” Castro said. “I think we’ll be ready to do that by later this fall.”
The wrestling announcement presumably would come before the AD hire. Castro said a search firm would be retained this week and that he hopes to name Boeh’s successor before the holidays, with that person officially coming aboard in early 2015.
“I’m very encouraged by the quality of candidates who are either saying confidentially or publicly that they are interested in the job,” Castro said. “It’s all good for us.”
