Quincy University announces addition of men’s and women’s wrestling beginning next fall

QUINCY — Josh Rabe has watched as college athletic programs at all levels across the nation disbanded wrestling programs due to budgetary constraints.

The Quincy University athletic director wanted to be on the flip side of that equation.

Rabe and the QU athletic department announced Tuesday they will be adding men’s and women’s wrestling, beginning in the fall of 2022. Jimmy Eggemeyer and Jeff Haley have been named co-head coaches, and the plan is to have a full roster by August.

“We’re creating opportunities for both male and female athletes where those communities are used to being cut,” Rabe said. “This is another opportunity to continue wrestling. I cannot tell you how many people have reached out and thanked us for starting this, telling us to let them know what we need, etc.

“These people are used to being eliminated. When someone does something like this, they are extremely grateful.”

Recently, Lincoln College announced it will cease operations at the end of the spring semester after 157 years of operation. Last winter, the Lincoln wrestling program sent eight wrestlers, including Quincy High School graduate Thomas Culp, to the NAIA national championships.

Also, Hannibal-LaGrange University interim athletic director Clay Biggs confirmed last week the Trojans are disbanding their wrestling program.

According to NCAA statistics, 37 Division I wrestling programs have been disbanded since 2016. 

However, wrestling is the seventh most popular men’s high school sport with over 245,000 participants nationwide, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Association. There are currently only 65 NCAA Division II men’s wrestling programs, but six of those are Great Lakes Valley Conference schools.

Davenport and Ouachita Baptist are members of the GLVC for wrestling as well.

Women’s wrestling is growing and is now an Olympic sport, with more than 32,000 girls wrestling in high schools nationally, but there are currently only 115 women’s college teams across all levels of competition.

There are nine high school wrestling programs within a 40-minute radius of Quincy, and Illinois, Iowa and Missouri continually produce high-level wrestlers. 

“We are in wrestling central, which is a good thing,” Rabe said.

Rabe has no worries the programs will be fully operational by fall.

“There aren’t that many Division II wrestling programs out there, so this is stirring a lot of interest,” Rabe said.

The men’s and women’s wrestling programs join sprint football and men’s and women’s swimming as new athletic programs that have been added at QU since last fall. The Hawks will head into the 2022-23 school year with 26 intercollegiate athletic programs.