Terry Brands to leave USA Wrestling to accept assistant wrestling coach position with the Univ. of Iowa
Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
USA Wrestling’s Assistant National Freestyle Coach and Head Resident Coach Terry Brands has notified USA Wrestling that he accepted a position as assistant wrestling coach with the University of Iowa today.
Brands will remain with USA Wrestling through October 31 before officially assuming his new job. Brands will coach a group of U.S. freestyle wrestlers on a tour to Yakutsk, Russia next week.
“USA Wrestling is grateful to Terry and Michelle Brands for their contributions and service to USA Wrestling,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. “I wish them the best of luck in all of their future endeavors.”
Brands, a two-time World champion freestyle wrestler and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist, joined the USA Wrestling national staff in April 2005. He has coached the resident freestyle athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, including 2006 World Champion Bill Zadick and 2008 Olympic Champion Henry Cejudo. Brands has served on the coaching staff for the U.S. teams that have competed at the last three World Championships as well as the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
“My heart has come together on a lengthy decision that I have considered since the culmination of the Olympic Games,” said Brands. “The program at USA Wrestling is headed in the right direction. It is time for me to step away and let the new national coach work with his resident coach going into the future.”
In his new position, he will be working along with his twin brother Tom Brands, the head coach at Iowa, and returning to the coaching staff at his alma mater for the first time since 2000.
He has extensive college coaching experience. Brands was the head coach at the Univ. of Tennessee-Chattanooga for three years prior to joining the USA Wrestling staff. He also served in assistant coaching posts at Montana-State Northern, the Univ. of Nebraska and the Univ. of Iowa.
“It has always been on my mind,” said Brands about returning to Iowa to coach. “My family and I are going to do our best to instill great values in young men. My motto is to outwork the world and never compromise my integrity. The Univ. of Iowa provides the opportunity for young men to win Olympic gold medals. It is exciting to me. The staff and the administration at the Univ. of Iowa have the same kind of passion to instill that in their student athletes.”
Brands is committed to continuing his leadership role in the development of freestyle wrestling in the United States.
“I will work with USA Wrestling and its national office and will do whatever I can to help,” said Brands. “I have talked to (National Freestyle Coach) Zeke Jones and told him that I will do whatever I can to help him and the program. The goal is to be the best freestyle country in the world. In my opinion, the collegiate environment provides a lot of that potential.”
Brands talked about his experiences working with USA Wrestling and how it has shaped him as a coach and a person.
“I am not anywhere near satisfied with what I wanted to accomplish there,” said Brands. “I learned a lot of wrestling, understand the sport better and understand myself better. I matured as a person. I feel real good about the experience I had there.”
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