DES MOINES — Athletic Director Jamie Pollard shared during media availability prior to the start of the Cyclone Tailgate Tour on Thursday afternoon that plans for a new Iowa State Wrestling facility are now on hold, with no alternative plans in terms of next steps currently in place.
Pollard referenced the changing landscape of college athletics as the reason that has led for these plans to come to a halt.
Here is what Pollard had to say:
“The new wrestling facility has been put on hold. It’s been postponed. We’ve told the donors that. Coach Dresser knows that. We’ve communicated that we made that decision three weeks ago,” said Pollard.
Iowa State Wrestling was planning to acquire and renovate the Iowa Attack facility adjacent to the Iowa State Sukup Basketball Complex in West Ames. At the time of the initial announcement, Dresser shared that Pollard had pledged a portion of the $20 million needed for the facility’s purchase. The rest was planned to be made up of donations which included an already pledged $2 million the week of the announcement.
“There’s just no way possible to go forward and convince the state that we can take bonds out to pay for a wrestling facility when the College Football Playoff decided to take all the money and give it to the Big 10 and SEC,” said Pollard. “With this lawsuit getting ready to be settled you just can’t go forward with projects like that. That’s the same reason we didn’t go forward with Hilton. You just can’t bond for them.”
Pollard was asked how conversations went with Dresser and what next steps are. Here’s what he had to say:
“Coach Dresser was actually really good with it. He recognizes that is where the world has moved to. The world has moved away and said we need to pay the athletes. The athletes will be just fine. We got fourth in the country in the current facility. Would it have been nice to have that facility? Absolutely because I think it’s a facility you need 20 years from now but I think we’ll be just fine without it.”
When Dresser was asked his thoughts on the news he said he’s staying optimistic about the future. Here’s his full quote on the matter:
“I think there’s a lot of challenges in college athletics financially. I’m sure Jamie (Pollard) is pumping the breaks on a lot of things right now because you don’t know what’s going to hit you with the players being paid in the future and how these conferences are going to shake up,” Dresser said. “I still think that it can happen sooner rather than later. Maybe I’m too optimistic. We’ll keep chugging along. We have a great facility where we’re at right now. We look forward to getting into something like that at some point.”
Listen to both Coach Dresser and Jamie Pollard below:
