Takedown Report

NCAA Division I wrestling not immune to NIL, transfer portal impact

Chris Easterling
Akron Beacon Journal
CLEVELAND — Kevin Dresser wrestled decades ago for legendary Iowa coach Dan Gable. Much more recently than that, he’s been a wrestling head coach, first at Virginia Tech and, since 2017, at Iowa State University.
So, needless to say, Dresser’s seen some things in both college wrestling and, more broadly, college athletics in general. And, yet, little has been as transformative since name, image and likeness (NIL) arrived on the scene on July 1, 2021. “Well, I started at Iowa State nine years ago,” Dresser told the Beacon Journal the day before the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships began in Rocket Arena, “and if you would have told me on day one that I’d be negotiating six-figure contracts with student-athletes on top of scholarship money, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy as hell.’ So, yeah, it’s been a change.”

NIL and the transfer portal have been dual-track subjects that have dominated the off-the-field conversations about college sports, only getting louder as they’ve become more established. However, so much of those discussions have revolved around the impact on football and basketball, men’s and women’s.
NCAA wresters like Indiana’s Tyler Lillard see NIL as ‘opportunity’
As 330 wrestlers descend upon Cleveland for the national championships, they’re not sheltered from the realities that exist at every level of collegiate athletics. … more at … https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/2026/03/19/david-taylor-penn-state-ncaa-wrestling-championships-nil-transfer-portal/89205304007/?utm_source=beaconjournal-newsalert-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsalert&utm_term=hero&utm_content=nabj-akron-nletter01

March 19, 2026 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized