College wrestling at Northern Oklahoma College is back.The re-establishing of the men’s program and the start of a women’s program for Fall 2024 is officially moving forward, college officials announced this week.“I am very pleased to announce that Northern will reinstate both men’s and women’s NJCAA wrestling in the fall of 2024,” stated NOC President Dr. Clark Harris. “The NOC Regents approved re-establishing wrestling at NOC at the June 14 Board of Regents Meeting, with the restriction that the start-up costs must be funded with external funding. We are pleased to share that sufficient funding has been secured for us to take these next steps.”A fund raiser was recently held at T.S. Fork in Tonkawa with Oklahoma State University Wrestling Coach John Smith and University of Central Oklahoma Coach Todd Steidley speaking at the event. Currently, nearly $200,000 has been raised toward the startup goal of $500,000 by December 31.NOC continues to fundraise for the program with more events planned for this fall and spring. The first fundraising phase is providing mats, uniforms, equipment, some travel and funding for a coaches’ salary and benefits. The next fund-raising phase will provide funding for scholarships for student athletes.NOC athletic officials are currently with interviews expected to take place later this month.“After a super successful fundraiser where we had many sig-nificant donors committing their support, we are now moving forward with hiring a coach,” said NOC Athletic Director Alan Foster. “We have established a committee and are accepting applications for the head coaching position. We have started reviewing applications and will be interviewing applicants. The goal is to hire a coach in time so the coach will have the high school wrestling season to recruit. In the spring we will be hiring the second head coach, as we will have separate head coaches for both men’s and women’s wrestling. I look forward to the process of finding the right people to lead these programs.”Todd Glasgow, Wrestling Fund Raising Community Liaison, said, “The return of wrestling to NOC has so many people pumped up with enthusiasm. We have so many people who have been generous with their time and money that we cannot thank them enough, nor are we done fund raising either. I am excited to see the future men and women’s teams compete in the Fall of 2024. We are so excited this is happening. Go Mavs!”Members of the fund-raising committee include ...
