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Fran McCann (pictured, lower right in story) still calls it the hardest thing he has ever had to do. He was the man who had to tell the members of the Notre Dame wrestling team that the program was being dropped. That was more than 17 years ago, but the memories still are strong for the former coach of the Fighting Irish. In an exclusive interview with The Wrestling Mall, McCann talks about the elimination of the Notre Dame wrestling program, how it all went down and the reasons why he believes the program was dropped
By John Raffel
TWM Contributing Writer
info@thewrestlingmall.com
Fran McCann can remember his days as Notre Dame wrestling coach like it was yesterday.
But it's been more than 17 years since the Fighting Irish discontinued the program, which McCann had built into a winner. Still a member of the Notre Dame teaching staff, McCann's heart remains with wrestling. McCann was reassigned to Notre Dame's physical education department when wrestling was dropped and is still on the staff.
When the program was eliminated, then athletic director Dick Rosenthal said the reason behind the decision was the reassessment and realignment of the athletic program. The sport started at Notre Dame in 1955-56.
In his eight coaching seasons at Notre Dame, McCann had a 50-53-1 record. In the sport's final season at Notre Dame, McCann's team was 6-5, won the National Catholic Championships and took 36th at the NCAAs.
Prior to coming to Notre Dame, McCann spent nine seasons at Indiana State University as head wrestling coach and assistant professor of physical education. He previously had been eight years at Winona State University in Winona, Minn. as head wrestling coach and physical education instructor. He was a high school coach one year in his hometown of Chicago.
“When I was at Indiana State, we had a good program,” he said. “We had some top 10 teams in the NCAA and had some great wrestlers come out of there. I wasn't interested in moving. My kids were going to school there. We hosted the NCAA regionals and Notre Dame was in that regional. That afternoon after I completed a seeding meeting, one of their administrators came to my office and talked to me about an opening at Notre Dame. He asked if I would be interested. My concern was that there be a commitment there because we had a good commitment at Indiana State. Notre Dame indicated they were very committed. I called my wife that afternoon and said I might be getting a job offer. She said 'where?' I said at Notre Dame. She said, 'well, why would you want to go there? They're not very good.' We beat them like 48-3 that year in a dual meet. I said 'I think they really want to make a commitment.'”
McCann decided to accept the offer.
“In retrospect, it was a good move on my part,” he said. “It's a prestigious university. Both of my daughters got degrees here because of the tuition break that families get. I don't second guess myself.”
McCann considers his eight years at Notre Dame to have been successful.
“It was difficult, I'll be perfectly honest,” he said. “We had to build the program from scratch. We had a couple of tough years. One year we were 0-13. We upgraded the schedule, but we didn't really have the talent to match the schedule. They normally would wrestle like a Division III schedule. This was the first time they had a true Division 1 schedule.
“I didn't really look into it until afterwards but being a private school, it's more difficult than at a state school because you can't get the numbers. We had a full complement of scholarships and I had a full-time assistant. You can't attract the numbers. If we have the kid on a half-scholarship, it might still cost him $15,000 to attend private school and $5,000 as opposed to a state school. We did get quality recruits. To maintain consistency was a lot more difficult than being at a state school.”
McCann recalls that he was caught “totally off guard” when he was told the program was being eliminated.
“I went into the office about another matter with the athletic director,” he said. “He looked across the desk and said 'we've decided to discontinue the program.' I had to go and tell the team. This was in the spring right in the middle of recruiting season. They were all in the weight room and I called them down to the wrestling room. It was hardest thing I ever had to do, looking back, to tell the kids their program was gone.”
McCann acknowledged, as have others, that Title IX had an impact on the decision to eliminate men's programs such as his.
“They deny that. But I think the athletic department was caught off guard,” he said. “They didn't think there would be much repercussion of their decision. They got blasted by the media. I don't think they were prepared for that. I'm sure the AD wasn't real happy, but it wasn't his decision. It came from higher ups. They didn't come right out and say it was because of Title IX. But it was.
“When they discontinued it, I cleared out and prepared to go back into teaching which I thoroughly enjoy.”
Between teaching and coaching, McCann has been at Notre Dame for 26 years.
“There were some inquiries from different universities,” he said. “I still felt I could coach and it was still in my blood. But I had one daughter who was a junior at the time and another daughter just coming up. I looked at the total picture and my kids' education is very important. I knew I had a great situation for them to get a degree here with the cost.”
But it was impossible for McCann, who wrestled collegiately at Oklahoma State and Iowa and finished third place in the NCAAs while at Iowa, to completely give up the sport.
He's been a volunteer wrestling coach at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., about 10 years.
As for the possibility that the sport might someday return to Notre Dame, “we have a very prestigious alumni group of wrestlers,” McCann said. “We had a reunion about three years ago. They'd love to see it. There's been rumblings from alumni. But to be honest with you. I don't think we'll ever see it. Most universities, when they make a decision, they stand by it because they don't want to admit they made a mistake. I seriously think it will never come back, which is unfortunate.”
McCann would like to think college wrestling has a bright future, especially with the continuing popularity of high school and youth wrestling.
“What people don't realize is what's hurting is that we're not turning out the coaches,” McCann said. “The high schools are hurting for good coaches because the universities have cut back the programs. That's not fair to the kids. That keeps me motivated to help out. I want to give back because wrestling has done so much for me.
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