The University of Arkansas at Little Rock did not win the Pac-12 championship in college wrestling even though the Trojans won the Pac-12 championship on March 6. Their victory was overturned after a bizarre eligibility violation went completely unchecked for more than four months.
Fifth- or sixth-year senior Tyler Brennan should not have been allowed a fifth year of eligibility.
Before we go any further here, let’s first address the elephant in the room. Yes, Little Rock is a member of the Pacific 12 Conference for college wrestling even though its campus is located in Arkansas. Other members include Cal Poly and Cal State Bakersfield. I don’t really understand how this unique partnership came to exist but it did.
Now six years later, the Trojans were crowned as conference champions at Gill Coliseum at the beginning of this month. They had their title revoked earlier this week. Oregon State will be officially listed as the 2024-25 Pac-12 champion in the history books.
Brennan is the reason for the switch. The fifth-year graduate student was retroactively ruled ineligible. He was also ruled ineligible for the NCAA Tournament.
Brennan joined the Little Rock program as a freshman in 2019. This was his sixth year on the team, but his fifth year of competition. His true sophomore season did not count because of the pandemic in 2020.
However, that blanket waiver only gave him one additional year of eligibility. By that count, Brennan concluded his college career in 2023-24.
So how did he wrestle for the Trojans during the 2024-25 regular season through the Pac-12 championship? Great question. Nobody seems to know. He stayed an extra year and nobody noticed.
It was only discovered that Tyler Brennan was out of eligibility because of an off-hand comment during a podcast. The unraveling of his final (illegal) season ensued from there.
Brennan was first pulled out of the NCAA Tournament by the governing body of college sports. That was step No. 1. Even though he managed to fly under-the-radar all year, he is not allowed to compete. Thus, he was ruled as ineligible for the remaining postseason.
And then the Pac-12 got involved.
In direct response to the NCAA’s decision, the conference went back and pulled his spot in the Pac-12 championship. It also deducted his points from Little Rock. The deduction caused the Trojans to drop below the Beavers in aggregate score. Oregon State was named as the new Pac-12 champions.
Not only did Tyler Brennan lose his place in the record books, he will not be allowed to compete for a national title. Although it is a huge bummer, it is the right decision. For him to have made it this far before anyone realized that he should not be eligible to compete in the first place is mind-boggling. He should not be on the mat.