Without a conference affiliation and a qualifying tournament, Missouri wrestling sat for nearly the last three months not knowing its future.
On Wednesday, that changed.
The Mid-American Conference announced a five-year agreement through the 2016-2017 academic year with the program. Missouri will compete this year in the league tournament at the end of the season, allowing it to qualify for the national championship in March of 2013.
“After significant study and discussion by our member institution’s coaches and administrators the Mid-American Conference has made a move that will take what is already a very strong wrestling conference and make it one of the elite wrestling conferences in the country,” said Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher, commissioner of the MAC, in a news release.
The Tigers join the MAC as affiliate members along with Northern Iowa and Old Dominion. The conference now consists of nine wrestling programs: Missouri, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Ohio and Old Dominion. The conference is the third largest in Division I wrestling behind the Big Ten Conference and the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.
“We feel the MAC is best for the program,” head coach Brad Smith said. “When you look at it, there are three teams in the top-12. There are some quality, quality big time programs.”
Wrestling was left in the dark when MU joined the Southeastern Conference, which doesn’t offer wrestling. Upon entering the league, six other conferences reached out to Missouri to add them as an affiliate.
“We were waiting to see if they would combine conferences but it didn’t,” Smith said. “We stayed patient through it. The MAC decided they were going to be proactive and go after a lot of good programs. They brought three new programs in that are top-tier programs.”
Back in March, the MAC reached out to Smith and the Tigers to join the conference.
“Was there the unknown? Yes. We looked into everything,” he said. “We didn’t rush into the decision. We feel what’s best for the program is the MAC. With eight other schools, location, recruiting, it just gives us everything, everything we need. I like the idea of having a conference tournament with nine, who knows even down the road (with) even more teams. It gives you the feel of a NCAA tournament.”
Smith said the school came to him during the transitioning period.
“The administration came to me and said, ‘What can we do? What can we do to reassure the fans and wrestling community that Missouri wants to win a national title, not just have a program, to commit to the highest level,” Smith said.
The program captured its first Big 12 Tournament championship in 2012 and sent all 10 of its starters to St. Louis for the national championship. Smith, already the program’s longest-tenured coach who signed a five-year contract extension in June, said he did not see departing from the Big 12 as a negative.
“The Big 12 was too small of a conference,” he said. “The MAC is going to be one of the better conferences in the future. We lose the respect of the Big 12, but I don’t think the Big 12 is the same.”
The program has 40 wrestlers and return nine out of the 10 wrestlers that qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2012.
“It was great to win the conference especially at home at the Hearnes (Center),” Smith said. “We didn’t accomplish what we wanted at the NCAA’s. This team wants to prove something at the NCAAs. They’re going to be focused on a conference tournament but they’re going to be more focused on performing at the NCAAs because they didn’t have their best last year.”
Smith said it was a relief to have the transition period ended and to have a place to wrestle.
“We can just move on now,” he said. “If the SEC down the road started wrestling, we’d be in it. You have to look to the future and the future is the MAC which is now.”
