Takedown Report

How Do You Earn A Women’s College Wrestling Scholarship?

Five head women’s coaches from different divisions weigh in on how to earn a college scholarship (and a few of the myths behind them).
How do you earn a scholarship to compete in a women’s wrestling program? The answer is more complicated than one might think.
Below are seven general insights from head women’s coaches at the NCAA (DI, II, and III), NAIA, and junior college levels.
1. Every Program Is Different
This seems obvious, but every school has different tuition rates, different coaches, different needs, different scholarship availability, and different internal expectations. 
You might be one of the best high school wrestlers in the nation, but a program has two quality wrestlers at a weight, so the timing and scholarship amount might change based on need. 
Some schools have different scholarship amounts. Travis Mercado coaches at Colorado Mesa — a Division II program in Grand Junction. He started with half a scholarship for his entire program, but now he’s at six. “Nobody gets a full athletic scholarship,” said Presbyterian coach Brian Vutianitis. “We are all partial. We have 30 girls, so we have six scholarships to host a team of 30.”
Junior colleges have a different athletic scholarship model. They can offer athletic scholarships to 22 LOI (Letter of Intent) wrestlers.  Using a fictitious and even number of $100,000 athletic dollars means a junior college can give varying amounts to 22 athletes. One athlete might get $20,000, another $10,000, and another $5,000 — as long as it adds up to $100,000 between a maximum of 22 athletes.  “Junior college commitments are only for one year,” Iowa Central coach Zak Hensley said. “All of our athletes have to re-sign if they return. That price can go up. We never like to take money away from kids, but if they’re not the right fit, you can go a different way, even though we never want to do that to a kid. You can go up or down, but it will pretty much go up for our returners.”
2. There Are Myths About Athletic Scholarships
Clout comes from telling everyone you’re on an athletic scholarship, but math teachers around the world are collectively rolling their eyes. 
Tuition at college A might be $50,000, and a coach offers a $10,000 athletic scholarship.
Tuition at college B might be $25,000, and a coach offers a $5,000 athletic scholarship. 
Option B is offering less money, but you’ll pay double at Option A. You can tell all your friends and family that you received twice as much athletic scholarship money and neglect to tell them you’re paying twice as much in tuition. … more at … https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/14920493-how-do-you-earn-a-womens-college-wrestling-scholarship

December 12, 2025 Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | college, higher-education, sports | Leave a comment