The NWCA Bowl Dual Championship series and its process to determine who wrestled where has been an ever-growing controversy since Kevin Dresser’s interview with Jason Bryant.

In this interview Coach Dresser states that he believes the selection process was somehow rigged to ensure Iowa would face NC State, not Virginia Tech (In spite of VT's win over NC State just 2 days prior). Later, Kevin Dresser would go on FloWrestling Radio Live and mention that Tom Ryan explicitly told him “I know for a fact Iowa doesn’t want to wrestle you guys." This reported conversation with Coach Ryan occurred on Sunday afternoon prior to the announcement.

This accusation from Coach Dresser comes on the heels of Willie Saylor reporting that Oklahoma State would only participate in the Bowl series if Oklahoma State were sent to Penn State and also that Missouri would not participate if their selection had them go to Michigan.

The dual rankings were ultimately reflective of each coach’s reported desires. OSU would be going to PSU, NC State was heading to Iowa and Missouri was sent to Nebraska.

Pat Tocci (NWCA) and Jason Bryant (Independent Journalist) both confirmed that they received all rankings data from each coach and those rankings by each coach were then combined to create a master set of rankings according to the process that was followed all year. Mike Moyer stated that those rankings were not massaged in any way to get specific or convenient team match ups.

Friday afternoon, after Kevin Dresser said his piece on FloWrestling Radio Live, I received this message from a Division 1 head coach who does the NWCA Coaches Rankings and preferred to remain anonymous:

“I must say, I thought something seemed fishy on Sunday. I was sitting at a dinner table scrambling to meet the 9pm deadline with my rankings. While sitting there, I get two texts telling me that Iowa has already confirmed with NC State that they are wresting. Now, imagine me scratching my head and wondering why the heck am I rushing to get my rankings in if things are already set."

The timeframe is troubling as the match ups were not supposed to be announced until after all the rankings were finished. For this coach to receive a message about Iowa/NC State match up being confirmed before the rankings were finished creates a shadow of doubt around the process involved in determining the dual match ups. Despite receiving those two messages, the coach would later mention he did believed the process was on the up and up from the NWCA's perspective.

What we're left with here is a high degree of uncertainty and a lack of trust from varying factions of the wrestling community including high level Division 1 Coaches. It was confirmed to me by NWCA leadership that there was plenty of lobbying from coaches who had preferences of where they would like to compete. The NWCA maintains these phone calls and politicking were not influential on their decision for the Bowl selection process. That could very well be the case, however, this lobbying is a learned behavior. These coaches wouldn't use their influence and pull if they didn't believe it would be impactful, as it has been over the years.

In the end we're left with a situation where each of the power coaches' reported demands were met, those demands reflected in the Coaches Panel Rankings, and coaches on both sides of the fence arguing on how the selection process was handled.

For this Bowl series to succeed (we believe it is a fantastic solution for the NWCA National Duals), this process needs complete and thorough buy in from the Division 1 Coaches. Let your yes be yes without exception. The idea that power coaches from big programs are calling the shots is not an opinion shared only by Kevin Dresser within the D1 wrestling community. The optics of this process for the wrestling community is problematic, fans and coaches cannot go into these bowls questioning the validity of the selection process. We have the most fantastic, pure sport in existence. It cannot be undermined in any facet. The responsibility to ensure proper process hinges on both the D1 coaches involved as well as the NWCA.

We've been treated to some incredible duals, but the cloud of controversy and accusations on both sides has hung over what should be a huge final weekend for college wrestling.