Athletic futures of Gilroy High’s CCS champions Due
ñas and Gonzalez uncertain after Fresno State University cuts
wrestling program
Gilroy – Citing budgetary reasons, Fresno State University cut its men’s wrestling program Thursday, leaving Gilroy High wrestling stars Adin Dueñas and Armando Gonzalez with no place to wrestle next year.
The two seniors had received scholarships to continue their careers with the Bulldogs in the fall and were going to be roommates at the Division I school.
“This is really terrible…Everything was perfect. Everything was set up,” said Gilroy wrestling head coach Armando Gonzalez, who was the person to break the news to his son and Dueñas. “They were really embracing the Fresno community. Then you have all of that taken in one swoop, that it’s not going to happen.”
Dueñas and Armando Gonzalez, who both placed in the top five in the state and were named All-Americans during their careers at Gilroy High, were on a bus with classmates returning from the Gilroy High senior trip Thursday afternoon to Disneyland when they received the news.
“I was in disbelief at first,” the younger Gonzalez said. “I’ve never heard of a team getting a top-13 recruiting class and getting dropped all of a sudden.”
Added Dueñas, “I was really surprised. I couldn’t believe what was happening. The only explanation I could think of is that it was happening for a reason.”
The reason, as outlined by Fresno State athletic director Thomas Boeh Thursday, is to reduce costs and help the Fresno State athletic department in the long run fiscally. In a concurrent move, the school also reinstated men’s cross country.
“Given today’s industry standards, it is very clear that to remain a sustainable (Division) I-A program we need to find more efficiencies,” Boeh said in a press release. “This adjustment will enable us to direct an adequate amount of resources, in the form of money, facilities, support services and staff, toward the support and advancement of all of our student-athletes.”
The school estimated that the athletic department would save $350,000 to $400,000 annually by dropping the wrestling program. The school cited wrestling not being a sponsored sport within the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) or a broad-based NCAA championship sport, lacking the proper facilities, not having a comparative women’s sport program and having a recent record of low academic achievement as other reasons the program was cut.
Boeh, who was in New Orleans Friday on business, could not be reached for comment by press time.
Should Dueñas and the younger Gonzalez still choose to attend Fresno State, the school will honor their athletic scholarships for four years or until they transfer to other schools. But both wrestlers said they have no interest in attending Fresno State if they cannot wrestle.
“They’re just not ready to retire from wrestling,” coach Gonzalez said.
Dueñas echoed his coach’s statement.
“I really hope this is not the end. I’m not ready to stop,” he said. “I have four or five more years. I’m not ready to quit.”
According to coach Gonzalez, no one anticipated the program would be cut, including head coach Shawn Charles. Just last week, the Gonzalezes and Charles had gone fishing and were talking about the future. Then two days ago, athletic officials contacted the families by phone to tell them the program had been cut.
Coach Gonzalez, who has strong ties to the collegiate wrestling community, said he planned on contacting other college programs, including Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and UC-Davis, to see if they have room for Dueñas and Gonzalez. But right now, all the three can do is wait.
The younger Gonzalez is hoping that the news that the strong wrestling community in the Fresno area is going to try to raise money to keep the program alive is true.
“I believe they’re going to try to fight to keep the program,” he said. “But if the wrestling program is dropped, I’m not going to go to Fresno.”
Although there is still a lot of uncertainty about the situation, the younger Gonzalez is staying positive.
“I’m not worried. I’m going to have to go somewhere else,” Gonzalez said. “I’ll be fine and I know my wrestling career is not over.”
