Here is the list of 6A schools in the state without wrestling:

Boone County

Butler

George Rogers Clark

Graves County

Greenwood

Henderson County

Male

Marshall County

Muhlenberg County

Shelby County

Ballard (listed but didn't have a SQ the last two years)

I find it upsetting that there are 11 6A schools in this state (which is over a quarter) that do not have a wrestling program. Each school has over 600 boys enrolled. It seems that a pretty decent team could be formed with such a talent pool to choose from. Out of curiousity does anyone have any information on why these teams don't have wrestling or what the current status is on a wrestling team at the schools?

Boone county has a team.

Boone county has a team.

Either way, this is great news.

They have been back for a couple of years now. I believe they had three or four competing at state.

Well Male has no desire to start a program, with the last 2 football coaches they have, they were both highly anti wrestling,,,(ex. they both caused the death of Waggener HS program) It will be interesting to see what happens over at Jeffersonville HS and what impact lord redmond has on their wrestling program. Butler wont start a program unless Male does. Ballard probably needs a qualified coach and a booster that loves wrestling close to the AD like Tom Jurich was when his son was there. Shelby Co. doesnt seem interested in a program but the new high school Martha Layne Collins might be a chance

Henderson County actually tried to rebuild their program a few years back. I was an assistant coach on that staff. Between no funding from the school, finding gyms to practice, doing a lot of fundraisers, etc., It was hard enough to keep the team going. The thing that killed us was the athletic director. He did not and will never allow a wrestling team at Henderson County. After a couple of decent seasons, we were told that we could operate as a club team. We could go to every tournament except regional and state. It always seemed like an uphill battle. The middle school programs were backed well, but they just don't want it in the high school.......Sad, very sad....One of our former wrestlers is wrestling in the National NAIA Wrestling tournament in a little over a week....

They have been back for a couple of years now. I believe they had three or four competing at state.

Well Male has no desire to start a program, with the last 2 football coaches they have, they were both highly anti wrestling,,,(ex. they both caused the death of Waggener HS program) It will be interesting to see what happens over at Jeffersonville HS and what impact lord redmond has on their wrestling program. Butler wont start a program unless Male does. Ballard probably needs a qualified coach and a booster that loves wrestling close to the AD like Tom Jurich was when his son was there. Shelby Co. doesnt seem interested in a program but the new high school Martha Layne Collins might be a chance

Any idea why the two coaches at Male were anti-wrestling? I have always heard that about Redman but never really knew why. Not being very familiar with Louisville athletics why do you say Butler won't start a program until Male does? If it's because of "rivalry reasons" the logical move seems to be to start one BEFORE your rival. Also, I would be very interested to hear how both coaches caused the deat of the Waggener program.

I remember back in the late '90's and early '00's Ballard had a pretty decent team. Seems a shame a school like Ballard can't field a successful team year in and year out.

Where exactly is the Martha Layne Collins school going to be located?

Henderson County actually tried to rebuild their program a few years back. I was an assistant coach on that staff. Between no funding from the school, finding gyms to practice, doing a lot of fundraisers, etc., It was hard enough to keep the team going. The thing that killed us was the athletic director. He did not and will never allow a wrestling team at Henderson County. After a couple of decent seasons, we were told that we could operate as a club team. We could go to every tournament except regional and state. It always seemed like an uphill battle. The middle school programs were backed well, but they just don't want it in the high school.......Sad, very sad....One of our former wrestlers is wrestling in the National NAIA Wrestling tournament in a little over a week....

Well Redmand coached at Waggener and had many run ins with the established wrestling program there. When Redmond didnt allow football players to wrestle, it cut off a source of athletes to the program. The coach after that did encourage wrestling but he lasted a year because of health problems then the coach hired after that didnt allow for wrestling. So eventually the program went away because of last of support from the adminstration. Male and Butler are traditonal schools that are magnets. They would be great for wrestling because they have direct feeder schools and could foster middle and elementary programs, but one school wont do it unless the other does and Male has an anti wrestling football coach now.

Martha Layne is the new high school in Shelby County

I still find it amazing that some football coaches don't see how wrestling can actually benefit their program. Case in point......this past year the Ohio division 1 state champ in football was a school most here have heard of......Lakewood St Edwards. They are also the top ranked Div 1 school in wrestling in the final state poll. The wrestling team really held back the football team, didn't it? In fact, if you look at the 12 different football teams that played for a state championship in Ohio this year ( 6 divisions ), they All have good wrestling programs. If you look at the teams ranked in the current Ohio wrestling poll ( 3 divisions ), and compare them to the teams that made the playoffs for football this past season, you will find many of the same names....schools such as Cincinnati Moeller and Cincinnati Elder were in the football playoffs, and are wrestling sectional champions and ranked in the top 10 in the state. Haven't done the research, but I'd bet the same is true for Tennessee and Indiana.

Central is a great example of how wrestling has helped football and vise versa. I believe I remember reading something about the UK football coach saying he loved coaching ex wrestlers. Central has had a few of their wrestlers/football players go to division one schools to play football. One was drafted to the NFL not to long ago. If you have a D1 coach saying wrestling is good for football, how can any high school coach think otherwise, I don't see how they can justify it. Ballard had some very good teams in the early 2000's. After their coach(Great Guy) got cancer and passed away, the program went down hill very fast. Trinity and StX seem to do fine in football every year and a lot of their players wrestle as well.

I along with a group of parents tried to re start the Ballard wrestling program in Nov of 2008. We had parents support. We had a football assistant coach and former wrestler as a coach. We had mats. The kids already had begun conditioning practices at the school. There was a small group of parents willing to form a wrestling booster club and pay for all expenses.

This was all shot down by Mr. Kinney, the athletic director. He informed me there was no where in the entire school for wrestling practice. Seems the YOGA club was in the old wrestling room. Funny how the Lacrosse team was given space under the stadium bleachers for a locker/practice room. I suggested renting a practice space but was ignored. It became clear that someone at Ballard didnt want wrestling interferring with any of the high profile sports. After several email correspondence to Mr. Kinney, he stopped returning any of my emails. So if my son wants to wrestle we have to transfer to a public school that already has a team or payup for a private HS.

What reasons did the AD give for not allowing a program? And another sad story to hear.

He said there wasn't enough gym space, title IX, etc.....Anytime we would do what they said we had to, we did. We played the game. They just didn't give us a chance. They basically got rid of us, because the AD did not want any part of it....>We funded ourselves and provided our own transportation.....By the way, they have something like 7 basketball teams, multiple cheer teams, and even JROTC that purchased a place at the school.......

They allowed us to have one tournament at the high school......

It was a downer on that end, but I wouldn't have traded my time coaching those kids for anything.....All the old coaches feel that way.....It was a great time.....Sad to see wrestling go there....

Shelby County is no longer a 6A school. When Collins opened up this year, the students were split between the two schools and they are now both 4A schools. As for Butler, they are the only other "true" traditional school in Louisville other than Male. It's not rivalry purposes, but may have something to do with that as to why they have not started a wrestling program. As for Redman over at Jeffersonville now and it potentially harming their program, trust me it won't. The wrestling program at Jeffersonville is too established, not to mention Redman may be done at Jeffersonville soon. I have a few friends who are assistant coaches with him at Jeffersonville and he's not happy with the overall situation over there when it pertains to football. At Male, football is king so he had pretty much had whatever he wanted. At Jeffersonville (and any other Indiana school for that matter), basketball is king and he doesn't like it. Kind of ironic actually.

More so than the 6A schols that don't have wrestling, personally for me, it's more shocking the number of Catholic schools in Kentucky that don't have wrestling. I'm particularly curious why an all boys school like Covington Catholic that is a 5A school, doesn't have wrestling. Maybe it has something to do with the football coach. Again, I'm not from Northern KY so I don't know. Regardless, it's pretty perplexing to me. Maybe schools like Owensboro Catholic and Newport Central Catholic are too small, but Holy Cross (1A) and DeSales (2A) have wrestling in Louisville so I don't see why they can't do it. Then you have Lexinton Catholic. I know it's not all boys, but still I don't see why they don't have wrestling. Anybody else know as to why they don't?

I know that Newport CC did have a good wrestling team at one time. I don't know when or why it was stopped. I would be willing to bet that declining enrollment and rising cost probably were factors. I don't remember Cov. Cath. having a team, but I wouldn't swear to that being correct, they may have had a team at one time?

I heard something about another school in Owensboro making a program, but I don't have enough knowledge about it to make any gurantees over who it is and if the rumors are true

I heard something about another school in Owensboro making a program, but I don't have enough knowledge about it to make any gurantees over who it is and if the rumors are true

Owensboro had a mat at the state tournament. Also there is talk of two more region one teams being added next season.

Owensboro had a mat at the state tournament. Also there is talk of two more region one teams being added next season.

I've been doing some work in Oboro and I heard that Davies County is wrestling too.

Ok Just out of curiosity what schools had teams last year.

lets list them by region and Division

I know Region 6

These Divisions are according to the football new allignment for next year.

http://www.khsaa.org/football/realignment/20112014/final20112014alignment.pdf

Bishop Brossart-----2A

Boone County--------6A

Campbell County-----6A

Conner--------------5A

Cooper--------------5A

Dixie---------------6A

Grant County--------5A

Holmes--------------4A

Newport-------------2A

Ryle----------------6A

Scott---------------5A

Scott County--------6A

Simon Kenton--------6A

Walton Verona-------2A

14 Teams

6 6A Schools

4 5A Schools

1 4A School

0 3A Schools

3 2A Schools

0 1A Schools

What about the other regions?

I've been doing some work in Oboro and I heard that Davies County is wrestling too.

Daviees has had their program for a couple years

Male is looking for coaches. They are supposed to have a team for this upcoming 2011-2012 season. Great news.

Yes, the Owensboro mat at state was kind of like a debut, or to let people know they are starting a team. McCrackin County High School, being combined of Heath, Lone Oak, and maybe Reidland down in Paducah is either being built or will be soon. They asked Coach Dennis Walls to help get their team running now that he had retired from Union. They will be a 6A school, btw. That is another region 1 team.