I dont think you can blame most of this on Pollard. I honestly dont know what wrestling fans have to complain about, seems Pollard has done what he can for the program.
1st, Gable, was LONG before Pollard.
2nd, ISU was falling back before Pollard too.
3rd, wrestling for what its worth is still a sport that is a money loser, in a time that a lot of schools dropped the program all together, ISU maintained it, and gradually built it.
4th, Wrestling fans thinking there is going to be close to the investment in the sport to others that bring more revenue etc is delusional.
5th, Cael was not going to stay at ISU, we had no shot at keeping him.
6th you can complain all you want about the above and others, but in the end, ISU has invested as much or more in wrestling, than 99% of schools in the country. This facility will probably put them in the top or very close in wrestling investment and facilities.
7th, There is no way we can do everything all at once for every sport. Pollard has done a pretty good job of spreading it around and working to improve facilities for every sport as time as went on.
8th, wrestling fans should consider, that there are only a few schools as full members of the B12, as well as SEC, PAC, ACC etc that still have wrestling. There is a reason we have schools like Utah Valley and UNI in the B12 for wrestling.
9th, finally, think about fans in other sports that are not rev generators, how much have we invested in Gymnastics, swimming, Volleyball, etc over the years? Not much. How about Baseball, Mens Gymnastics, Mens Swimming, etc. You can blame title 9, but in the end, many schools dropped Wrestling along with those sports for title 9, and ISU is actually short on mens sports, and could add back or add a new sport for men without worrying about title 9, so its not just title 9, its money etc.
One last thing, compare attendance at Iowa State, ISU is third in the country in attendance but averages less than Half of Iowa and Penn St. at less than 5k. which is also less than half of ISU womens BBall. And I am sure if any Wrestling fans wanted to put their money where their mouth is and earmark a few million dollar donation for the wrestling program it would go a long way to getting everything they want. I am guessing the biggest complaints come from those whose investment in the program is minimal.
I think we all would love ISU to invest $millions in every sport, and be the top program, in every sport, and have every sport we are a fan of, but at the end of the day, there is only so much money to go around, and in sports that are dwindling around the country that are not revenue generating, they are going to have to wait for their turn.
