Wrestling has returned to Marquette's sports lineup, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

Marquette University Wrestling, headed by College of Arts & Sciences freshman Brett Coffelt, was approved as a club sport on Friday, more than four and a half years after the sport was dropped from the university's varsity roster to comply with Title IX.

"I have no regrets about it," said Coffelt, who spent much of last semester organizing MUW. "I'm really anxious to actually get started."

Now that MUW is an official club sport, Coffelt said, he and other club members can begin recruiting, publicizing and financing the 2006-'07 season in earnest.

The team will be assisted by several members of the Marquette community, including Bob Christenson, Information Technology Services network engineer, and Scott Idleman, a professor in the law school.

Christenson is one of MUW's coaches and has helped the team since the beginning of the year.

"It's exciting for me to be working with these kids," said Christenson, who was involved in wrestling in high school and college. "Their enthusiasm is contagious."

Idleman, who will be the team's faculty adviser and will also offer financial support, said Coffelt's "outstanding" initiative to establish the team was one of the reasons he chose to lend his support.

"The university should encourage this kind of initiative," Idleman said.

Also, "wrestling is just a great sport," he said. "It teaches a lot of self-discipline.

"It really belongs in any athletic program."

MUW's first challenge as a club sport will be the Dubuque (Iowa) Open on Saturday, where six wrestlers will compete in the last meet of the season. It will be the first time since the team was dropped that wrestlers will compete under the Marquette name, Coffelt said.

The team's next step will be to apply for membership in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, where it will join the North Central Conference and compete against such schools as Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Northland Baptist Bible College (Dunbar, Wis.).

If it cannot secure a closer location, Coffelt said, MUW will practice next season at the YMCA at 2420 N. 124th St. The team currently practices at Marquette University High School.

As for being able to secure a place to practice and compete on campus, Coffelt said he is "not going to go there right now."