Dear Alumni & Friends of UB Wrestling:
Hello from Buffalo, NY! It is my hope that this letter finds all of you in good health and ready for another exciting year of UB Wrestling. I wanted to take a minute or two to give you an inside perspective of what is going on with our UB Wrestling program.
Before we move forward, let me provide you with last year’s highlights. The 2010-11 Wrestling Bulls had a banner year. We crowned four Mid-American Champions and one of them was voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. When all was said and done UB qualified 6 out of 10 wrestlers to participate in the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. Our accolades did not stop there; because of the strong finish Coach Jim Beichner was named the 201-11 Mid-American Coach of the year. One would ask how could our wrestling program build upon that?
First, our Athletic Administration decided to make a major investment into our wrestling program and our wrestling facility. They invested $400,000 into our facilities to ensure that we can compete both on and off the mat. This allows us to recruit and compete for the ‘blue chip’ wrestlers. It provides the current wrestler with a state of the art wrestling facility complete with a remote scoreboard, mini fitness center and top notch video system. When you see it will light the competitive fire in you and stir up old memories of you and your teammates.
Second, Coach Beichner took the coaching staff to another level after the sudden departure of coach Frank Beasley. Coach used all of his contacts and put the word out that UB needed to fill the assistant coach’s position. Within minutes of this announcement, the flood gate open and the amount of high quality candidates poured in. When the dust settled and the interviews were completed, our wrestling program was able to attract and hire an unbelievable coach. Don’t believe it, let me spell it out for you. Our new assistant wrestling coaches’ name is Matthew Lackey. Coach Lackey brings a great deal of experience to the program in both the collegiate and international styles of wrestling. As a collegiate wrestler, Matt was a 2003 Division I National Champion, 3X all-American, Academic all-American and Big Ten Male Athlete-of-the-Year at the University of Illinois. He is a two-time Olympic Trial qualifier and took fourth at the 2008 U.S. Senior Nationals. An Illinois native, Lackey won two high school state championships. He brings to our program experience, intensity, intelligence and is a person with great character. Enough said on that topic, the proof is right in front of you. He won the big one and he wants to work and train our athletes to achieve the same and he expects nothing short of excellence in every aspect of the wrestlers’ lives.
Finally, did you know that the Univeristy at Buffalo purchased a suite at the NCAA’s and hosted an UB Wrestling Alumni & Friends during all three days of competition at the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships held in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania. It was a first class event and our administration and alumni association like it so much that they are going to partner with us to make this a yearly event at the NCAA’s. Please consider making the trip!
Do I have your attention yet? If not, let me explain how you can help yourself and our wrestling program continue to grow to becoming a top ten wrestling program! We need each and every alumnus, former wrestler and friends to get on board; only together we can make this dream a reality. With the next two weeks the athletic development office will be sending you a mailer outlining the room renovation concept. I would like to ask that each of you take some time and read this important material and also reflect on your past experience wrestling here for the BULLS. IF you had a great experience here and enjoy wrestling and meeting our friends and teammates, I would ask you to strongly consider giving back to the program that made all of us winners and gave us the ability to provide for our families. I like many of you have pledged what I could to ensure that our wrestling program has the resources it needs to remain competitive. It is a personal choice and I am aware of the current financial twist and turns, however your wrestling coach and your teammates believed in you and it is now you turn to step up to be heard and remembered if you are so inclined. The letter will outline the current funding levels broken down over a four year period.
This will be another big year for our wrestling program, we will be having a wrestling room grand opening and dedication, we will be wrestling the University of Michigan in Alumni Arena in November, The University will be inducting two more former wrestling greats into the Athletic Hall of Fame, we will be wrestling in the Virginia Duals, conducting our third annual Takedown Cancer Event. All of this with the sole purpose of winning the Mid-American Championships and qualifying as many wrestler as we can to represent you and our university at the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships.
I like all of you who wrestled for UB want the very best for this program. The sport of wrestling gave me all of the tools I need to successful and now it is my turn to do the right thing and help this program. Let’s support the Blue and White and continue to prove that wrestlers are the best, both on and off the mat.
Bleeding Blue and White Forever,
Joseph D. Muscarella
Alumni – Class of 1993
Voice of UB Wrestling & Program Historian
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