University of Iowa Sports Information

IOWA CITY, IA — University of Iowa Director of Athletics Gary Barta announced today that Coach Tom Brands has signed a contract extension that will run through the 2013 wrestling season.

“Tom Brands is the best wrestling coach in the country,” said Barta. “When you combine that with the fact he’s been a Hawkeye all his life, the fit is perfect. I look forward to working with him for many years to come.”

Brands’ new contract will run through June 2013 and increases his guaranteed annual compensation to approximately $150,000. Additional academic and athletic incentives will offer Brands opportunities for additional income.

The 2008 NWCA, W.I.N. Magazine and Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year, Brands is in his third season as Iowa’s head wrestling coach. He has a 39-6 overall and 13-3 Big Ten record at Iowa, and a 56-26 career mark. Brands and the defending NCAA and Big Ten Champion Hawkeyes are off to a 4-0 start this season with wins over Iowa Central (52-0), Coe (51-0), Minnesota State Mankato (45-3) and Arizona State (41-0) at the Iowa City Duals last week. Iowa is currently on an 18-dual match winning streak.

Changes are made at Multiple Weights
Kevin Schlosser; the-ozone.net

2008 NWCA All Star Match Ups
125- #2 Troy Nickerson (Cornell) vs #3 Charlie Falck (Iowa)
133- #2 Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs #4 Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois)
141- #1 J Jaggers (Ohio State) vs #2 Nick Gallick (Iowa State)
149- #1 Brent Metcalf (Iowa) vs #4 Darrion Caldwell (NCST)
157- #5 Jordan Leen (Cornell) vs #7 Cyler Sanderson (Iowa State)
165- #1 Mack Lewnes vs #4 Nick Marable (Missouri) (Cornell)
174- #1 Steve Luke (Michigan) vs #2 Jay Borschel (Iowa)
184- #3 Phil Keddy (Iowa) vs. #4 Louis Caputo (Harvard)
197- #1 Jake Varner (Iowa State) vs #2 Hudson Taylor (Maryland)
285- #1 Jake Rosholt (Iowa State) vs #3 Kyle Massey (Wisconsin)

Exhibition Matches:
133- #8 Reece Humphrey (Ohio State) vs. TBA
165- #2 Moza Fay (Northern Iowa) vs. #13 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State)

All-Star Classic Updates: (11/18)

133- #1 Joey Slaton (Iowa)withdrew and will be replaced by #4 Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois). Kennedy was originally scheduled to wrestle an exhibition with Reece Humphrey; that match won’t happen. Humphrey’s new opponent has not been confirmed; but an invitation has been extended to #6 Joey Baker (Navy). Baker is a three-time national qualifier and placed eighth at the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

John Huckaby

It’s no secret that the survival of wrestling as a viable college sport, especially at the Division I level, is not guaranteed.

Tough economic times that strain athletic departments and the constant cloud of Title IX loom over the sport.

That’s why Saturday’s “Wrestling Supporting Wrestling” event at the University of Missouri might bear watching.

Tiger coach Brian Smith came up with the idea. All money from ticket sales at the dual Saturday afternoon against Hofstra will be added to the wrestling scholarship endowment fund.

Smith, whose team won duals over Lock Haven and Bucknell on an eastern swing last weekend, said “If a program consistently draws large crowds, it has a positive impact on the athletics department.”

Wrestling isn’t the only sport at the Division I level that loses money faster than the auto industry.
But if wrestling at least underwrites the scholarship portion of the budget, athletic directors will be less likely to apply the knife to wrestling’s neck.

Early upsets and other stuff

Two wrestlers ranked No. 1 in most polls couldn’t make it through the first couple weeks of the season without being defeated.

Something doesn’t seem right about the phrase.

Pataky won a PIAA Class AAA 112-pound title at Clearfield in 2004. He graduated from the wrestling warehouse a year later. He then spent the 2006 postseason as Penn State s starting 125-pounder.

Shouldn’t Pataky be entering the second half, possibly the fourth quarter, of his college career?

Well, it s a lengthy tale, one that has reached a fascinating point.

Barring injury, Pataky will return to his starting 125-pound spot when the Nittany Lions begin their dual meet season Nov. 16 against Hofstra at Rec Hall. The meet will end Pataky s 927-day layoff between appearances in a Penn State singlet.

Pataky never went away. He spent the past two years hanging around and training with many of his current teammates.

But he enters this year after two straight redshirt seasons.

He took a traditional redshirt season in 2006-07. He then requested and received an Olympic redshirt for 2007-08. Pataky’s second year away from college competition culminated with an appearance in this past summer s Olympic freestyle trials in Las Vegas.

GENEVA — The Swedish wrestler who dropped his medal in protest at the Beijing Olympics was banned for two years along with his coach for “scandalous behavior,” the sport’s governing body said Thursday.

The wrestling federation, known as FILA, suspended Ara Abrahamian and coach Leo Myllari and banned Sweden’s wrestling federation from hosting international events for two years.

FILA also fined Abrahamian $2,600, Myllari $8,600 and the Swedish federation $43,000.

In a statement, FILA president Raphael Martinetti said the Swedes showed a “serious lack of Olympic spirit.”

Abrahamian disputed a penalty call which decided his semifinal bout against Andrea Minguzzi in the Greco-Roman 84-kilogram division. The Italian went on to win the gold medal.

Abrahamian won his bronze medal bout after his coach reportedly argued with judges and accused them of corruption.

During the medal ceremony, the Armenian-born wrestler took the bronze medal from his neck and dropped it on the mat as he walked away.

The International Olympic Committee stripped Abrahamian of the medal and expelled him from the Games after ruling he violated the Olympic charter and was disrespectful to other medalists.

The Swiss-based wrestling body opened its own investigation and published verdicts Thursday.