Ducks should be taken to mat

July 16, 2007 9:40 p.m. PT

By TED MILLER

P-I COLUMNIST

THE ANCIENT GREEKS invented tragedy and wrestling, so perhaps it's not surprising the two seem intertwined these days.

No, this isn't a column about pro wrestler Chris Benoit allegedly killing his family and himself. If that is what popped into your head, that goes a long way toward explaining why so many college athletic departments seem so willing to kick real wrestling to the curb.

On Friday the 13th, there was another death in the college wrestling family. Oregon, under the cover of announcing that it would reinstate its baseball program after a 26-year absence, added as a footnote that its wrestling program will be no more after the 2007-08 season ends.

But here's a nice parting gift: In order to maintain the appearance of gender equity, the Ducks will now have a competitive cheerleading team. Women's sports advocates everywhere surely are flashing their spirit fingers over that.

Oregon athletic director Pat Kilkenny said "these changes will be in the best interest of the future of the university."

They most certainly are not in the best interest of the approximately 33,000 high school wrestlers in the Northwest. They certainly are not in the best interest of the 25 young men, including two from Washington, currently on the Ducks wrestling roster.

They certainly are not in the best interest of Trevor Hall, the two-time Washington state champion from Battle Ground who signed with Oregon thinking he would be the cornerstone of a rebuilding program and now is scrambling over his options.

Of course, wrestling advocates are getting used to this. There were only 86 Division I schools sponsoring the sport last year. Oregon will become the 448th wrestling program to be shut down since Title IX was introduced in 1972, according to the NCAA.

"It makes me sick," said Brent Barnes, coach of five-time 4A state champion Lake Stevens.

Added former Oregon wrestler and current Oregon State assistant coach Kevin Roberts, "It was a punch in the gut."

Washington long ago shuttered its squad. Last year, Fresno State axed its team. Only three Pac-10 schools -- Oregon State, Arizona State and Stanford -- still compete.

Kilkenny is not a typical athletic director. He's a big-money booster who helped force out Bill Moos last fall. He spent three undergraduate years at Oregon but never earned a degree. He had no previous experience in athletic administration before he was hired, but he apparently is better at, er, "handling" Se