Northern Oklahoma College Seeking Funding to Reinstate Wrestling Program

According to an email from Northern Oklahoma College President Clark Harris, the university is seeking funds to restart its wrestling program which has been gone since 1983. The email states the school is interested in reinstating the men’s program along with starting a new women’s program.

Here is the full email from Harris to the group working to reinstate the program.

Thank you for your interest in supporting the re-establishment of wrestling at Northern Oklahoma College. As you may know, NOC had a nationally significant program from 1968 through 1983, and the wrestling team was discontinued in 1983. NOC is proud of the wrestlers that competed for NOC.

Several individuals have brought forth the concept of re-establishing the wrestling program. The North Central Region of Oklahoma has always had a strong wrestling tradition, with many high school state championships coming from this region. And there is a growing interest in women’s wrestling, with several new programs in regional high schools. The individuals that have come forward to encourage re-establishing the program have told the NOC Administration that there is strong financial support for this to happen.

Todd Glasgow, former NOC graduate and member of the NOC Wrestling Team has been given the authority to pursue substantial donors that are interested in donating at a significant level to reinstate NOC Wrestling. Todd has begun by forming a committee of highly interested individuals and he is securing names of individuals that have been on the NOC Wrestling Team, or are strong advocates of adding men’s and women’s wrestling at the NOC Tonkawa campus.

NOC does not have funding to start a new sport, and is actually making quite considerable budget reductions. The budget situation is due to a decline in State funding and a ten-year decline in enrollment, as tuition and fees pay for 67% of the college budget. The NOC Board of Regents, and the NOC Administrative Team are in favor of the concept of adding wrestling, but they must protect the financial stability of NOC. I am fairly confident that the Regents will approve wrestling at NOC once the funds are secured. Men’s and women’s NJCAA Wrestling will bring new excitement to campus and grow the campus enrollment.

The expectation of the committee is to work with myself, and Sheri Snyder, Vice President of Development & Community Relations as the committee moves forward to secure donors. If NOC is going to reinstate wrestling, we want to have a quality program, including a quality facility which the wrestlers can be proud. As there are no current facilities that are appropriate to meet the needs of both men’s and women’s wrestling teams, the committee’s charge is to identify a small number of larger donors that can establish the core funding to build a quality practice facility and to enhance the weight lifting & exercise facility for the wrestling team in the adjacent NOC Wellness Center. Required funding also includes initial operational costs to jumpstart the program. Once a core group of donors is identified and the significant foundational funds are secured, the committee and the NOC Athletic Department will collaborate with the NOC Foundation staff to host a large-scale fund-raising event to generate excitement and to get the funding over the top.

In this fund-raising period, a special fund has been developed in the Northern Oklahoma College Foundation to hold the funds in escrow until it is determined that NOC will be able to re-establish the NOC Wrestling Program. If for any reason, it is determined that sufficient funding can not be secured or if for any other reason, it is determined that NOC will not reinstate wrestling as an NJCAA sport the donations will be returned in full to the donors.

Thank you for your support of wrestling at Northern Oklahoma College. Feel free to contact Todd Glasgow or myself if you have any questions.

Any questions in regard to the committee may be referred to Todd Glasgow, Chair of Committee to Re-Establish Wrestling at NOC