Okay, I'm back. I've spent the past few weeks speaking with a lot of people, Coach Gavin, Heather Lyke, members of the athletic department, supporters of the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club and other interested Pitt alumni. I am convinced that there is a concerted effort on everyone's part to get the wrestling program what it needs to succeed. Success is measured by being among the top 5 programs in the country on a continual basis. I've got copies of the plans for phase one of the facilities upgrades. The goal is to have them completed by the fall. We're talking about a spend of just under $1 million, a pretty significant initial commitment. I'm actually going to Pittsburgh next Wednesday to meet with all of the above to review everyone's role and commitment to get this done.
My part in this goes beyond my pledge. I want to lead a separate fundraising effort to reach alumni with a personal plea to support the program. I'll be using platforms like LinkedIn with 22,000 Pitt alumni and the 40+ Pitt Clubs across the country. I put together a 3 page letter that I'll be sending out. I've enclosed most of it below and only omitted the lead-in which explains who I am. It's a long read but answers all the questions I could think anyone would have.
If you want to send my complete letter to other alums, contact me at nishanvart@gmail.com and I'll forward you a copy.
Like I said before, I hope many of you join me in this effort.
Hail to Pitt!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which brings me to what I’m writing you about today, our wrestling team. We have a long and storied history but haven’t been able to reach past heights for a while. We have an opportunity, right now, to get the program back on track and rank with the very best in the country. To do so does not require a huge spend. When Pat Narduzzi was hired as our football coach, the first thing Pitt did was spend $4 million to upgrade facilities. Football is our single largest revenue generator, so Pitt has an opportunity to recoup those dollars if the program can be consistently successful. Pitt, and Pat Narduzzi, are off to a great start.
Wrestling is a non-revenue sport, or, more accurately, a small revenue sport. But we also don’t need $4 million to transform the program. Pitt has already upped the ante by committing to pay more for our coaches. We just hired Keith Gavin as our head coach. Keith is a two-time NCAA finalist for Pitt and is our most recent NCAA champion winning the title in 2008. He then had a very successful international wrestling career, representing Team USA at the 2013 World Championships. His success at this top level of competition will be invaluable to our student athletes. Jordan Leen is joining the coaching staff after success both on the mat and in collegiate coaching. He is also an NCAA champion, winning the title in 2008 while at Cornell. He has been on staff at Duke and has spent the past six years at UVA where, most recently, he was associate head coach. Drew Headlee is the third member of the coaching staff. He is a Pitt alum and earned All American status. He also landed a spot on Team USA and competed internationally for several years. Most recently, he has been on the Pitt coaching staff and served as co-interim head coach this past season. That’s a very strong team so we’re off to a good start.
Our facilities definitely need upgrading and here’s where our donations can help Pitt. The wrestling team uses the same facilities as they did back in the 60’s, when I was in school. I told you I was old. The wrestling room has gotten some makeovers in the recent past but much work needs to be done. Again, Pitt is stepping up its commitment and has designed a plan for short-term as well as long-term upgrades. Coach Gavin is in agreement that these are the changes he needs to help attract the very best wrestlers in the country. Lucky for us the most fertile recruiting grounds are in western Pennsylvania. If you can afford $1000 or more, please join me and others in making these changes happen. For those that are interested in earning Panther Club points, yes, your donation will accomplish that. Pat Bostick is the contact in the athletic department. If you are interested in donating to Pitt, contact Pat:
412-648-8235
pbostick@athletics.pitt.edu
Okay, I have a little more to tell you about. The top wrestling programs in the country have additional resources outside their universities that are solely funded by donations. Pitt is not allowed by NCAA rule to provide financial support here. Specifically, every top Division 1 college wrestling program has a Regional Training Center (RTC). The RTC model has proven effective for three primary reasons. Its presence improves recruiting, advances the development of our student athletes and provides us a way to keep Pitt guys who have Olympic aspirations. Let me explain:
1. Recruiting
The very best high school prospects in the country have Olympic goals and will pick a college that can best help them achieve those goals. Every year we see most top-ranked Pittsburgh-area high school wrestlers picking colleges other than Pitt. We have great academics and a long list of past wrestling champions. That’s not why these kids are leaving. It’s because we’ve not had an effective RTC. To do so means we have to attract and pay post-graduate wrestlers, preferably recent NCAA champions, to train with our student athletes during our practices. This is allowed by the NCAA with salaries paid entirely through donations. We also need a well-known coach to run the RTC. If we can accomplish this we can truly level the playing field.
2. Development
As I said, our RTC resident athletes will be able to wrestle and train with our student athletes. This will push our student athletes and greatly aide in their skill development. Expectations will be raised throughout the program. It’s one thing to be in a wrestling room with guys trying to win NCAA titles. It’s another to be in a room where there are training partners trying to win World and Olympic titles.
3. Retaining Pitt Grads
The RTC will provide us a way to keep our own post-graduates with international goals. We don’t want our student athletes to have to find a new place to train after they graduate. We want them to train at Pitt with our RTC and show our student athletes and recruits that Pitt is a place where you can train to be an Olympic Champion. Quoting Coach Gavin:
…”when I graduated from Pitt, I had just won an NCAA championship and wanted to make the US World/Olympic team and be the Olympic champion. I wanted to chase this dream at Pitt but that wasn’t an option because they didn’t have the resources. I ended up moving to Columbus, Ohio and training at Ohio State’s RTC. As part of the OSU RTC, I made the World team along with several other OSU RTC members. Not surprisingly, Ohio State won the NCAA championships shortly after. I know the same can happen at Pitt…”
The Pittsburgh Wrestling Club (PWC) has existed for a while and done great work promoting Pitt amongst junior wrestlers in the area. Coach Gavin’s plan is to transform the PWC to an RTC. The PWC is a 501c3 charitable organization so all donations are eligible for federal and state income tax deductions. Here is how to donate:
Either send a check payable to the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club c/o Dr. Armando Scuillo, 30 Wood Acres Lane, Grove City, PA 16127 or go to their website http://www.pittsburghwrestlingclub.com.
Thanks for sticking with me through this long letter. I hope you can now appreciate what it will take to get us back to where we belong, in the top echelons of college wrestling. The sad fact is we only have 8,000 alums who contribute to Pitt athletics. That’s out of 300,000 living alums. If we can get 1,000 alums donating $1000 each to either Pitt or the PWC, we’ll have what we need to get the job done. I hope that’s not asking too much.
HAIL TO PITT!
Regards,
Nishan Vartabedian
Class of ’67 Engineering, ’69 MBA
My part in this goes beyond my pledge. I want to lead a separate fundraising effort to reach alumni with a personal plea to support the program. I'll be using platforms like LinkedIn with 22,000 Pitt alumni and the 40+ Pitt Clubs across the country. I put together a 3 page letter that I'll be sending out. I've enclosed most of it below and only omitted the lead-in which explains who I am. It's a long read but answers all the questions I could think anyone would have.
If you want to send my complete letter to other alums, contact me at nishanvart@gmail.com and I'll forward you a copy.
Like I said before, I hope many of you join me in this effort.
Hail to Pitt!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which brings me to what I’m writing you about today, our wrestling team. We have a long and storied history but haven’t been able to reach past heights for a while. We have an opportunity, right now, to get the program back on track and rank with the very best in the country. To do so does not require a huge spend. When Pat Narduzzi was hired as our football coach, the first thing Pitt did was spend $4 million to upgrade facilities. Football is our single largest revenue generator, so Pitt has an opportunity to recoup those dollars if the program can be consistently successful. Pitt, and Pat Narduzzi, are off to a great start.
Wrestling is a non-revenue sport, or, more accurately, a small revenue sport. But we also don’t need $4 million to transform the program. Pitt has already upped the ante by committing to pay more for our coaches. We just hired Keith Gavin as our head coach. Keith is a two-time NCAA finalist for Pitt and is our most recent NCAA champion winning the title in 2008. He then had a very successful international wrestling career, representing Team USA at the 2013 World Championships. His success at this top level of competition will be invaluable to our student athletes. Jordan Leen is joining the coaching staff after success both on the mat and in collegiate coaching. He is also an NCAA champion, winning the title in 2008 while at Cornell. He has been on staff at Duke and has spent the past six years at UVA where, most recently, he was associate head coach. Drew Headlee is the third member of the coaching staff. He is a Pitt alum and earned All American status. He also landed a spot on Team USA and competed internationally for several years. Most recently, he has been on the Pitt coaching staff and served as co-interim head coach this past season. That’s a very strong team so we’re off to a good start.
Our facilities definitely need upgrading and here’s where our donations can help Pitt. The wrestling team uses the same facilities as they did back in the 60’s, when I was in school. I told you I was old. The wrestling room has gotten some makeovers in the recent past but much work needs to be done. Again, Pitt is stepping up its commitment and has designed a plan for short-term as well as long-term upgrades. Coach Gavin is in agreement that these are the changes he needs to help attract the very best wrestlers in the country. Lucky for us the most fertile recruiting grounds are in western Pennsylvania. If you can afford $1000 or more, please join me and others in making these changes happen. For those that are interested in earning Panther Club points, yes, your donation will accomplish that. Pat Bostick is the contact in the athletic department. If you are interested in donating to Pitt, contact Pat:
412-648-8235
pbostick@athletics.pitt.edu
Okay, I have a little more to tell you about. The top wrestling programs in the country have additional resources outside their universities that are solely funded by donations. Pitt is not allowed by NCAA rule to provide financial support here. Specifically, every top Division 1 college wrestling program has a Regional Training Center (RTC). The RTC model has proven effective for three primary reasons. Its presence improves recruiting, advances the development of our student athletes and provides us a way to keep Pitt guys who have Olympic aspirations. Let me explain:
1. Recruiting
The very best high school prospects in the country have Olympic goals and will pick a college that can best help them achieve those goals. Every year we see most top-ranked Pittsburgh-area high school wrestlers picking colleges other than Pitt. We have great academics and a long list of past wrestling champions. That’s not why these kids are leaving. It’s because we’ve not had an effective RTC. To do so means we have to attract and pay post-graduate wrestlers, preferably recent NCAA champions, to train with our student athletes during our practices. This is allowed by the NCAA with salaries paid entirely through donations. We also need a well-known coach to run the RTC. If we can accomplish this we can truly level the playing field.
2. Development
As I said, our RTC resident athletes will be able to wrestle and train with our student athletes. This will push our student athletes and greatly aide in their skill development. Expectations will be raised throughout the program. It’s one thing to be in a wrestling room with guys trying to win NCAA titles. It’s another to be in a room where there are training partners trying to win World and Olympic titles.
3. Retaining Pitt Grads
The RTC will provide us a way to keep our own post-graduates with international goals. We don’t want our student athletes to have to find a new place to train after they graduate. We want them to train at Pitt with our RTC and show our student athletes and recruits that Pitt is a place where you can train to be an Olympic Champion. Quoting Coach Gavin:
…”when I graduated from Pitt, I had just won an NCAA championship and wanted to make the US World/Olympic team and be the Olympic champion. I wanted to chase this dream at Pitt but that wasn’t an option because they didn’t have the resources. I ended up moving to Columbus, Ohio and training at Ohio State’s RTC. As part of the OSU RTC, I made the World team along with several other OSU RTC members. Not surprisingly, Ohio State won the NCAA championships shortly after. I know the same can happen at Pitt…”
The Pittsburgh Wrestling Club (PWC) has existed for a while and done great work promoting Pitt amongst junior wrestlers in the area. Coach Gavin’s plan is to transform the PWC to an RTC. The PWC is a 501c3 charitable organization so all donations are eligible for federal and state income tax deductions. Here is how to donate:
Either send a check payable to the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club c/o Dr. Armando Scuillo, 30 Wood Acres Lane, Grove City, PA 16127 or go to their website http://www.pittsburghwrestlingclub.com.
Thanks for sticking with me through this long letter. I hope you can now appreciate what it will take to get us back to where we belong, in the top echelons of college wrestling. The sad fact is we only have 8,000 alums who contribute to Pitt athletics. That’s out of 300,000 living alums. If we can get 1,000 alums donating $1000 each to either Pitt or the PWC, we’ll have what we need to get the job done. I hope that’s not asking too much.
HAIL TO PITT!
Regards,
Nishan Vartabedian
Class of ’67 Engineering, ’69 MBA
