Takedown Report

Taking one for the team in the wake of a bombshell that rocked a D2 power

By Andy Hamilton
The circumstances are a little bit weird, and Danny Irwin knows that. He left a program on the cusp of a Division II national title for a team that scored half a point this year at the NCAA Championships. And that’s not even the strange part. Irwin was named the Division II Coach of the Year for his work this season at Wheeling Jesuit, where he took a lineup powered by underclassmen, led a couple individuals to the top of the D2 podium and nearly delivered the school’s first team national title.

The Cardinals finished second to St. Cloud State at the NCAA Championships in March and they barely got their feet back on West Virginia soil before the bombshell dropped: Wheeling Jesuit was in the midst of a financial crisis. “The Monday after nationals, coming back everybody’s excited and they called an all-staff meeting and they dropped the news that they could close the school, they could cut programs — both academically and athletically — and pretty much all options were on the table,” Irwin said. “Everybody was in limbo for three weeks before they came out and said no athletic programs were being cut. However, I think they cut eight majors, which affected some of our guys immediately and they were going to be transferring.” One week Irwin’s program was battling St. Cloud State and Nebraska-Kearney for D2 supremacy. The next, he was having conversations with coaches from both schools, trying to line up contingency homes for his wrestlers. “I was on the phone with guys we just got done competing against and telling them how great our guys are and how lucky they’d be to have them,” Irwin said. “It was difficult in a lot of ways, but at the same time it was it was the absolute truth and I knew if they weren’t with me, I wanted to make sure they were with good people, no matter where that was. Rest of the story at https://www.trackwrestling.com/PortalPost.jsp?TIM=1555595841565&twSessionId=thfueelhkg&postId=1428524132&mc_cid=c76314a5c3&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

April 19, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized