It's been 40 years since the University of Cincinnati had a varsity D1 NCAA wrestling program. But with the Bearcats' move to the Big 12 Conference hastened to next summer, a question on many wrestling fans' minds is: is now the time to restart the program?

The answer is obviously 'yes'. There's no way you're reading this article on FloWrestling and thinking otherwise. And most of the Bearcat faithful of the Barstool variety seem to agree.

What sport should UC add if any when we join the Big12??

— Barstool Cincinnati (@UCBarstool) June 11, 2022

Either that or a bunch of random wrestling fans found this Twitter poll and flooded the wrestling option. There's just no way to tell. 

However, at the very least, we can be sure that we think it's a good idea for the school to sponsor wrestling. There are just a few questions that need to be answered to ascertain the probability of that actually happening. 

Does Cincinnati Need To Add Another Sport?

Not as far as I can tell. 

Unfortunately, the fact that the Big 12 sponsors wrestling in no way requires every school in the Big 12 to have a team. In fact, only four full-time members have wrestling teams: Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

Furthermore, the Big 12 requires at least four full-time members to sponsor a sport for the conference to support it. Which sounds like bad news as the number of Big 12 wrestling teams will soon dwindle to three as Oklahoma is set to join the SEC. 

Thankfully, the Big 12 has 'grandfathered' wrestling, exempting the world's most ancient and awesome sport from the conference minimum (rule 11.1.1). 

Beyond the Big 12, the NCAA requires a minimum of 16 sports, with at least 6 and 8 women's, but Cincinnati already meets those numbers with teams to spare. The Bearcats also meet the Big 12's internal requirements of sponsoring both football and men's basketball as well as at least four other currently conference-sponsored men's sports (Rule 11.1).

So no luck there, assuming I didn't miss anything hidden in the rulebook. But that doesn't mean Cincinnati can't or won't start a wrestling program.

So Could Cincinnati Start A Wrestling Program?

Yes, they definitely could. There is no rule prohibiting Cincinnati from starting a varsity wrestling team.

Okay, So WILL Cincinnati Start A Wrestling Program?

I wouldn't hold your breath. Even a relatively cheap sport like wrestling requires about a million dollars a year in operating expenses at the D1 level, and the athletic department of Cincinnati will likely be hoarding every dollar possible to spend on their marquee sports of football and basketball.

Plus there's that $18 million exit fee the school has to cough up just to leave the AAC, their current conference. I don't have any insider info on this topic but I think it's safe to assume that the checkbook will likely stay closed to new ventures. 

But there are yet more interesting questions to ask, such as...

Would A New Wrestling Program Be Supported At Cincinnati?

I think so, for several reasons.

According to Mat Talk Online, the original program was only around for a mere 30 years, but that doesn't mean the wrestling community wouldn't come flocking back if the team returned. Cincinnati is in Ohio, a state where the sport of wrestling has planted deep cultural roots. 

Cincinnati is also located near Indiana, another state with a strong history in the sport. The Queen City also lies directly across the Ohio River from Kentucky, a state with a more modest but still vibrant wrestling tradition. 

To illustrate that point, below is a chart of national qualifiers, All-Americans, and national champs from those three states since the 2000 NCAA Championships.

Only Pennsylvania can boast of higher numbers than Ohio over that same time span. 

I can also show you heat maps to illustrate the point. Here's a map of hometowns of All-Americans from those three states since 2000.

Kinda looks like the area has chicken pox. Maybe should've used a different color for those pins. 

Anyway, Northeast Ohio remains a juggernaut at producing All-Americans. But the rest of Ohio and Indiana ain't too shabby, neither. 

Here's a map that shows the number of All-Americans that could be considered "local" to the Cincy metro. 

Eleven! Plus 13 more in Dayton. Pretty good!

And of course, the traditional heat map.

Can't get enough of those heat maps, can we folks? 

Cincinnati would also fit nicely into the collegiate landscape. The surrounding area could hardly be called saturated with D1 teams, as this handy map from the excellent NWCA shows.

The closest Big 12 team is West Virginia and they are on the other side of Ohio directly below the wrestling-rich territory of Western PA. 

And naturally, Cincinnati could, and likely would, recruit nationally, mooting most of those concerns in the first place. 

Here's more good news: Cincinnati actually has a pretty large endowment, at $1.43 billion (larger than I thought before I started writing this blog!). That means the Bearcats will be one of the wealthier institutions in the conference, especially after those fat-cat Longhorns leave town. 

I would also contend that there is plenty of talent to support more D1 programs nationally. Wrestling has one of the lowest ratios of high school participants to collegiate athletes. According to this nifty website, only 1% of high school wrestlers make it onto D1 rosters. High school lacrosse players (another niche sport) make it to D1 rosters at 2.8X wrestling's rate.  

I still wouldn't expect Cincinnati to start a program, but at least there's an argument to be made for why they could!