|
Kerr Attempts To Establish Wrestling Tradition
|
| |
|
by Dave Meltzer
|
| |
| "I want to establish wrestling as a sport here forever," head coach T.J. Kerr said in outlining the goals
he has set for himself and the wrestling program at SJSU. |
| |
| "I'd like for us to pack the place (Spartan Gym) for every home meet with 2,500 season ticket holders and
have them turn away people at the door," Kerr continued. |
| |
| "If we could keep doing that we would force them to build a bigger facility, like they did at Lehigh,"
Kerr said. |
| |
| Kerr marvels at the progam at Lehigh. "It sold out its old building for every meet with season ticket holders.
The only way you could get in is if one of the season ticket holders gave up a ticket to you," he said. |
| |
| "Wrestling is not as easy a sport to be a spectator as other sports," Kerr said. "With football
or basketball you don't really have to understand them to enjoy them. You can see a ball go through a hoop while
you drink a martini." |
| |
| "Wrestling takes longer to understand, but there's something about it. Once you get into it, it'll suck you
in and you'll become hooked," Kerr said. |
| |
| "When i first became coach, i thought the major duties would be arranging practices, recruiting, and scheduling,"
he said. "I've found that's only about 15 percent of it." |
| |
| Promoting increased ticket sales is one of the areas which occupies much of the coach's time. |
| |
| Kerr has been pushing for more coverage of SJSU wrestling in the San Jose Mercury. To this extent he has started
a letter writing and phone call campaign to the Mercury offices. |
| |
| "We're ranked in the top 20 for the first time in this school's history and the Mercury barely even mentioned
it," Kerr said. |
| |
| "The problem is the Mercury has such a monopoly on the local newspaper market and they just don't have an
interest in covering us," he added. |
| |
| The letters to the editor column in the Mercury each Sunday has been filled with complaints from fans asking the
paper for better coverage of Spartan wrestling. |
| |
| Instead of responding with added coverage, the Mercury has responded with snide remarks toward Kerr's letter writing
campaign, according to Kerr. |
| |
| Sunday's Mercury had another in the string of letters that have been sent to the sports department. |
| |
| The writer of the letter stated the Spartans had a "great wrestling team." |
| |
| Rather than answer all the criticism with more coverage, mercury executive sports editor Terry Galvin responded
to the letter saying "great Division I wrestling teams don't lose 39-9 to Division II schools, even if they
are powerhouses." |
| |
| Infuriated at these remarks, Kerr answered exclaiming that the Bakersfield team Galvin was referring to is ranked
5th in the nation overall. |
| |
| "We were missing six of our best wrestlers with the flu in that meet," Kerr added, a fact that evidently
eluded Galvin. |
| |
| "We're currently ranked 17th in the nation out of 377 schools which field wrestling teams. What would Galvin
call that? Mediocre?" Kerr said. |
| |
| "I think Gill Cable is a key for our future. We've gotten really good response to the matches they've broadcasted.
I'm hoping we can get them to televise more of our matches next year," he said. |
| |
| "You don't really know what to expect from the Spartan Daily. Last year they ripped us apart. I was accused
of writing and typing term papers for my wrestlers, an accusation which was unsubstantiated. They never wrote a
retraction." |
| |
| Kerr is hopeful that the new Athletic Director, Dave Adams, will help boost interest. |
| |
| "Adams could help us without pouring money in. He'd just have to get some of the Spartan boosters interested
in the program," Kerr said. |
| |
|
Click here for .pdf
|
