University of Virginia Library

THE
SPORTS
SCENE

By Bob Cullen

THE RECENT RESIGNATION of wrestling coach
Mike Caruso raises serious questions as to the direction
of athletic policy at the University. After only one year
in Charlottesville, Caruso decided to accept an offer from
his alma mater, Lehigh, and become its assistant wrestling
coach.

Caruso came to Virginia with the express intention of
building a wrestling team that within five years would
end Maryland's domination of ACC wrestling and accomplish
what the Terps have failed to do, challenge such
national powers as Iowa State and Oklahoma. He believed
he could do this at Virginia, where, except in lacrosse,
rugby, and polo, national ranking is but a pleasant dream.

CARUSO DESIGNED HIS program with this in
mind. Fearful of perpetuating the "losing attitude" he cut
any boy that did not seem totally devoted to the concept
of winning wrestling, using some lesser ability whose desire
was greater. Lack of talent kept him from a winning record,
but under his tutelage, Jon Shurberg finally won an
ACC title, and Dave Williams blossomed into a topflight
competitor.

Simply because of his reputation as the finest collegiate
wrestler America has ever produced, Caruso was able to
begin a recruiting program that was bringing some of the
East's finest high school wrestlers to the University. They
were willing to forego the scholarships offered them by
other schools to wrestle under the NCAA's only three
time champion. They were winners, and now it is doubtful
whether they will enter the University.

THE MOST IMPORTANT facet of Mike Caruso's
character is his burning desire to win. In his entire life,
he lost only one match. He is a cocky, confident man and
losing at anything does not sit easily with him. But he came
to Virginia, and for the first time in his life, he lost.
Regularly. And though he thought he could change that
here, he left for Lehigh knowing that, for the first time
in his life, he was a loser.

In many ways Mike Caruso's departure was predictable
from the start. At Lehigh, wrestling was the number one
sport, the one that drew the crowds and made the money;
fans used to stand in line in the snow to snap up the few
tickets that could be had for the matches in old Grace
Hall. The wrestlers were the darlings of the Athletic
Department, and Mike Caruso was the best of the wrestlers.

BUT AT VIRGINIA, things were different. The wrestling
team was a drag on Athletic Department finances that
were already suffering from poor football and basketball
attendance. There were no scholarships to help the program,
and while the attendance picked up a little, it still
was not significant. Caruso felt alienated by the easy,
gentlemanly atmosphere of Virginia.

And there was no catering to him by the Athletic
Department, as there had been at Lehigh. he had
trouble just getting his uniforms cleaned. His expense
money for road trips was closely monitored. There was a
basic conflict, and neither side was willing to give in to
achieve a rapport Caruso couldn't take it, and he quit.
He may be making more money at Lehigh, but there isn't
enough money in any wrestling job to make him forget
that here he lost.

NEITHER SIDE BENEFITED from Caruso's year
at Virginia. The wrestling program is in worse shape than
it was, certainly. Virginia and Mike Caruso never hit
it off and he felt no loyalty to the school, only to himself.
But why didn't he? Here was a man who had the ability
and desire to lift a segment of Virginia athletics out of the
doldrums and into the limelight. Virginia simply could not
accommodate him.

But it's people like Mike Caruso that are the winners
in collegiate athletics, and if this school is ever to win,
it must change so that the Mike Carusos will feel that this
is the type of school they can work in.

THE ALTERNATIVE IS for minor sports program to
continue as it has, losing in competition with schools
that take their athletic programs seriously. Perhaps this is
the way it should be. Perhaps losing athletics go along
with serious academics and a limited program. But we don't
think so, and we hope that the Athletic Department will
seriously re-assess its policies in an attempt to find another
answer.