Tom Brands
Tom Brands is the simple choice. Why? Just look at the man’s résumé, and you’ll see why Brands should be the next head coach to guide the Iowa wrestling program back to the top, where it rightfully belongs.
Four-time All-American. Three NCAA and Big Ten titles. An Olympic gold medal in 1996 in Atlanta. Jim Zalesky’s top assistant for years. Head coach at Virginia Tech, where he has quickly recruited some of the best wrestlers in the nation to grapple under his tutelage – Jay Borschel, Dan LeClere, and Joe Slaton, all freshmen from Iowa. He can recruit, and he can coach. It just adds up.
For Iowa to finish sixth in the Big Ten – that’s right, sixth, behind Northwestern – is simply unheard of, considering this program has been the most dominant dynasty in any sport at any level. After winning nine-straight NCAA titles at one point and taking the top spot in the Big Ten for 25 straight years, the team has won the conference just once in the last six years. A change was needed, and Brands is the man to lead the turnaround. Hawkeye wrestling has become stagnant, getting lapped again by Oklahoma State and seeing the rest of the Big Ten – Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois, to name a few – catch up in the increasingly equal wrestling world.
But, it’s still Iowa, and while things had become old cereal-stale in the Iowa wrestling room, Brands will restore that fire. He’s something of a crazed man, rocking back-and-forth as he coaches, like he wishes he could jump on the mat and tangle during a match. He has a little bit of Dan Gable in him. He won’t be anyone’s friend. He might ruffle some feathers. He’ll bring back the attacking, aggressive, takedown style that marked the Gable years. No more stalls, no more waiting to attack until it’s too late. That won’t happen. He’s going to win, and Iowa wrestling, which had become so boring and uneventful in the last two years, will be back again under Brands.
– by Nick Richards
Others
So Tom Brands will be in Iowa City for an interview. Big deal. If interviews guaranteed anything, I’d actually have an internship this summer.
The winds that circle high-profile coaching positions are fickle. Remember when Steve Alford was a lock to go to Indiana? And mere days later, to Missouri?
Or how about when Bob Stoops was destined for the Iowa football position almost a decade ago? What about when ESPN penned in Kirk Ferentz as the head man for the Jaguars, Packers, Texans, and your little brother’s flag-football team?
The point is, the media like to speculate. But all too often, that speculation sits on a foundation of quicksand.
Administrators Bob Bowlsby, Fred Mims, and Dan Gable will probably have more say in the search for a new wrestling coach than anyone, and only Gable has gone public with possible candidates.
Off the top of his head last week, he rattled off five, not one, likely candidates, including Minnesota’s J Robinson, Oklahoma State’s John Smith, Virginia Tech’s Brands, USA Wrestling’s Terry Brands, and Division-III Wartburg’s Jim Miller.
Tom Brands might have the lead on the other four in a head-to-head race, but, collectively, the others clearly have the edge. Combine the prestige and viability of those candidates with the fact Gable didn’t rule himself out as a replacement, and the field starts to look pretty attractive.
Brands is the popular choice among fans and may ultimately be the choice. But, if there’s one certainty in this search, it’s that Bowlsby will not be pressured into a rash decision. He’ll pick, as is his job, who he thinks is best for the program’s future.
He didn’t kowtow to fan pressure when Alford was on the hot seat, he didn’t appease the football faithful by promising Stoops the moon to secure his services, and he won’t offer Brands the wrestling post just because he’s the fan favorite.
– by Tyson Wirth
Wrestling Gear
