It is an issue that many would keep on the back burnner but maybe some folks on here would have input on the issue facing USA wrestling. over the past 10 years wrestling has gone through changes and in that time womens wrestling has been integrated into the sport with open arms for the most part, but because women are now wrestling the search light has gone off for People with questionable back grounds. inorder to look for these people in the sport USA wrestling will soon start to make it manditory for people to undergo back ground checks. Now i am a fan of back round checks when it comes to the safety of the youth in america and i think its no big idea, but one of my friends then asked me well what happens to you with that? Now i have worked in education and other such fields where the CIA and FBI have done back rounds but the stereotype in wrestling is that gays in the sport are out to have sex with everyone on the mat! i mean this is crazy. what do you men think about the back round checks and the issue of those who do know of gays/bi sexuals in the sport trying to out those who are not ready to come out just because they now feel its " their responsibility to protect the youth"!

This is an interesting topic. I went to a Western Pa college as well, at a time, and an area where homophobia was not only rampant, but acceptable. The school was THE undisputed powerhouse for swimming, both mens and women's, and wrestling. They liked to think their football program was top notch but it sucked more ass than a high colonic. Back when I was living there they would probably have tried to kick anyone out of the program that was a homosexual. Ironically, the first man I ever kissed was on my college's football team (and he was HOT... Joe if you read this drop me a line!!), and the second man I ever kissed was on the wrestling team.

I think that when working with kids a full background check is applicable, particularly in districts where so many of the coaches are volunteer or paid positions that come from outside of the education community. I don't however believe that it is necessary in a college environment. With the exception of the coaches that work directly with red-shirts and freshman, how much direct contact is there with under 18 kids? It makes sense, but only in a convicted of a felony, arrested for drug dealing, sexual offender, type of idea. I would not want my kids around a known sexual predator, but at the same time I would not want my kids around a coach with an alcohol problem. Yet there is no policing of that, unless they fall under the convicted of a felony category from a DUI conviction.

It all boils down to what kind of background check they do on an individual. I would probably vary if there are moral turpitude stipulations in the individual's contract. In which case such acts as indecent exposure, public drunkenness, lewd acts etc would be fair game, but I don't believe that homosexuality falls under those terms. Other than that, I think a standard background check would suffice. But who knows especially with some of the smaller religious based colleges.

Has there been a standard requirement for these kind of searches / background checks for college teachers and coaches?