Stanford wrestling coach Chris Ayres releases eye-opening statement amid Cardinal wrestlers in transfer portal
Chris Ayres and Stanford wrestling had a historic NCAA Wrestling Championships in Cleveland, finishing 6th as a team and had individual national champion Aden Valencia. Unfortunately, four wrestlers entered the transfer portal once the season concluded: Nico Provo (125), Tyler Knox (133), Hunter Garvin (165) and Lorenzo Norman (174).Ayres acknowledged his wrestlers, particularly the ones who graduated early from the university, had the opportunity to enter the portal and explore their worth. Garvin and Norman were also ruled out for the season due to injury and didnt even wrestle in the postseason, otherwise, Stanford and Ayres mightve been celebrating a team trophy.Amid the speculation as to where these Stanford wrestlers could end up, Ayres noted there is a conceited effort to retain each of his athletes. He set the record straight this weekend.Fourteen days ago Aden Valencia, with the Stanford S on his chest, let out a primal roar after he scored the winning takedown to realize his dream of winning an NCAA National title, Ayres wrote in a statement. After getting his hand raised he had multiple choices for his first celebratory embrace. The coaches were waiting with open arms and the closest choice, but he chose his teammates, who rushed the platform despite securitys efforts to stop them.In the embrace were six All-Americans, Provo, Knox, Cardenas, Garvin, Posada, and our newly crowned National Champion, Valencia. It was a special moment. No other team raced to greet their National Champion.Thats our culture. Thats love. I hope we can keep it. It was an enjoyable five days after our historic finish at NCAAs, but it didnt last. The first one to call and let me know they were going in the portal was Tyler Knox. That was Friday of last week and by Tuesday Hunter Garvin was in and then on Thursday Nico Provo joined them. Cardenas is also graduating, and has had offers in the past, but he is staying strong in not going in the portal for now.Chris Ayres details wrestling transfer portal, attempt to retain Stanford wrestlersAyres didnt dive into specific detail about tampering or offers for his guys to enter the portal. But, the head coach said he and the institution, despite athletic limitations, will do what they can.Im not going to get into a lot of detail, but the conversations were basically the same with each of them, Ayres said. They love Stanford and dont want to go, but would be fools if they didnt enter the portal to find out the real numberstheir market value. From numerous back channels, the poachers were getting numbers to them and they were high. So I really couldnt blame them for going in. $200,000+. But nothing could be verified without hitting the portal, so here we are. Three All-Americans in the portal, one holding out.We are trying to run this program differently. Of the top 10 teams we are the only team without a transfer on our roster and Im guessing this could include most of the top 20. Culture matters, so I dont like the idea of a transfer coming in and trying to take the spot of someone that has been developing in our environment. So I am doing everything I can to keep these guys. They are Stanford wrestlers. They are the ones that built this. Im staying out of the portal as long as I can. These are my guys and I dont want to do it with anyone but them. We believe in them.There are roster caps in college wrestling set at 30 spots. But in Ayres and Stanfords situation, the scholarships are even smaller at their school, below the 9.9 cap. That makes Stanfords accomplishments under Ayres this year that much more impressive.But we need more help. When looking at the top 10 programs we are the most under-resourced by far, Ayres said. Only 6.9 scholarships when the old cap was 9.9. Every program at Stanford was at the NCAA max except wrestling before the rules changed with the House settlement. We are moving above that old cap, but not for at least 2 more years. While the major programs add to the old cap, we are still playing catch up. And then there are the overall budgets. Penn States revenue share for wrestling is 1.8 million. That is more than our total budget. Iowa State Cyclones wrestling revenue share is $1.0 million. We beat Iowa State at the last NCAAs. How?Its our culture. Love. I hope we can keep it. Every other team with a legitimate shot at a trophy at the national tournament looks at each athlete as a number, points at the NCAA Championship. That is the transactional nature of Division I wrestling right now. I view each individual as a person and wrestling is the vehicle for education. The goal is not just to produce great wrestlers, but great men. Men who can handle adversity, who can lead, who can serve something bigger than themselves. That has always been the mission here. Winning is the byproduct of doing that at a high level. Not the starting point.Chris Ayres open and honest about state of Stanford wrestlingThe type of lineup Stanford can have at full strength under Ayres is an impressive one. Retaining the talent ahead of 2026-27 is another story, but Ayres believes Stanford has a chance to win a national title.Call me crazy, but I believe we will win a national championship, Ayres said. Only one private school has ever done it, Cornell College (IA) wrestling. Only one school west of the Mississippi has done it, Arizona State Sun Devils wrestling in 1988, right in the middle of the Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling dynasty. Nobody thought it could be done then either. If we keep these wrestlers we return the 3rd most points to the NCAA. We have to get better. We have to score more bonus points. But the reality is that we are in the hunt with this team.Imagine Stanford being the team that does it now. From being dropped in 2020, to 6th place in 2026, to National Champion in 202?. If we fall short, we still win a trophy. And think about what that would mean beyond our room. A trophy coming back to Stanford would not just belong to our program. It would belong to the Bay Area. To California. To every young wrestler on the West Coast who has grown up believing they had to leave home to chase this dream. It would prove that you can stay, that you can build something here, and that you can do it the right way. Like Aden Valencia did 14 days ago. It would show that culture still matters. That love still matters. Right now, that future is hanging in the balance.That future that is hanging in the balance comes down to resources and investment. If Stanford had that under Ayres, guys like Provo, Knox, Garvin and Norman wouldnt even think about the transfer portal. Ayres acknowledged the rigorous academics at the school and obviously the grad school portion, but itd be a little easier on his guys.To use Silicon Valley terms, Stanford Wrestling is the startup that is willing to challenge the corporate giants (PSU, Oklahoma State, and Iowa), Ayres said. History is full of moments like this, when smaller, more agile organizations disrupt industries that once felt untouchable. Netflix taking on Blockbuster. Airbnb competing with the largest hotel chains in the world. Uber challenging an entire taxi industry that had been in place for decades. They did not start with more resources. In fact, it was the opposite. What they had was a vision, strong culture, and people willing to think differently. They moved faster. They believed more. And over time, they forced the entire industry to adjust.We are not asking for the numbers PSU, OSU, and Iowa have to use to fund their success, and neither are our wrestlers, but we need more. The reality is they are spending 4-7x the money institutionally, and probably more than that in the RTC. We can win a national title for a fraction of the cost If you believe in what this program represents, I would ask you to reach out to me directly. Join this team! We have something special. It would be a shame to let it slip away. The opportunity is here. The team is here. The culture is here. Now we need the backing to match it. If you have the capacity to help, or any ideas of people I should be talking to, please reply to the email. We can set up a time to talk. Even if its just a conversation, I would welcome it. We have less than two weeks.
Czech
Arabic
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Deutsch
Turkish
Dutch
Italiano
Russian
Romaian
Portuguese (Brazil)
Greek