By DAN McCOOL
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Iowa City, Ia. – Tom Brands knew nothing but NCAA team championships when he wrestled at Iowa.
How quickly he can return his alma mater to the top of the heap remains to be seen. If intensity accounts for anything, it could be a short wait.
Brands introduced his first Iowa squad to the media Tuesday. The Hawkeyes have gone without a team championship since 2000 and have not had an individual champion – something Brands was three times – since 2004. They have three returning all-Americans from last season’s team that placed fourth nationally, but lost seven dual meets, finished sixth in the Big Ten Conference tournament and cost coach Jim Zalesky his job.
“We want to do this the right way, but we want to do it in a quick fashion, “Brands said. “We also have to be patient enough to realize that there is development to do. We’re working hard on that every day.”
Patience was never in Brands’s vocabulary while fashioning a 158-7-2 record at Iowa between the 1988-89 and the 1991-92 seasons. He won a world championship in 1993 – his first serious attempt on the world freestyle stage – and won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.
Dan Gable was his head coach. Now the man who led Iowa to 15 NCAA titles in 21 seasons is an assistant to Brands.
“It’s harder because you’re dealing with individuals that maybe, hopefully not, but maybe aren’t as motivated as you were, “Brands said. “You have to be flexible and find the right button to push.
“It’s not always about a hard line. I was raised with a hard line, I can handle a hard line. Some of these guys need maybe a lighter hand. It’s like stroking a $42,000 bird dog: a lot of praise, making sure we’re finding the right angle and just the little tidbit that makes all the difference.”
Mark Perry at 165 pounds, the most decorated veteran on the team with two top-eight finishes, said after the 2006 NCAA Tournament that Iowa would be a major player in the team race this winter in Auburn Hills, Mich. Eight months later, Perry hasn’t retracted his statement.
“I’m feeling more confident about it, “Perry said. “I’m pretty excited about the group of freshmen we’ve got stepping into the lineup this year. We did lose some guys, but the holes that we lost I think we filled them in.”
The coaching staff also boosts his belief.
“The intensity is extremely high in the room day-in and day-out, “Perry said. “It’s exciting as an athlete around here now. We know we have the potential to win and we’re as good as any team out there. We just have to wrestle and prove it.”
There are also some unproven entities on the team. One of them is an inspired heavyweight named Matt Fields. After a season-ending knee injury, Fields said he wants to make some noise as a junior.
“My drive is real high right now because of the fact I haven’t gotten anything in college worth telling anybody about, “Fields said.
The coaching staff at Iowa is ideal for assisting in his drive, Fields said.
“When you’re a driven person, I don’t think you can get any better than the Carver-Hawkeye wrestling room, “Fields said. “These two coaches are going to drive you harder than any coach that I could imagine.”
The mindset of success is getting through to the wrestlers through hard work.
“We don’t go through the workouts he puts us through to finish shy of what we’re working for, “Perry said.
No change: Tom Brands said he would jump on a grenade for Dan Gable, when Gable was coaching Brands to three NCAA championships.
“I still would, “Brands said of Gable, who is now his assistant.
“He’s the only guy that will give it to me straight, “Brands said of Gable. “When I ask a question, I want a straight answer and that’s why he is here.”
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