Hawkeyes hope mixing old, new is recipe for success
By Michael Rand
Special to ESPN.com
They say getting to the top isn’t the hard part; rather, it’s staying at the top. The Iowa wrestling program spent plenty of years dispelling that notion. The Hawkeyes won an NCAA title in 1975, and it proved to be not a blip on the radar, but a sign of dominance to come. Including that season, Iowa won 20 NCAA championships in 26 seasons, including nine consecutive from 1978 to 1986.
The Hawkeyes went to the top and stayed there. But since the last team title in 2000, the Hawkeyes have finished second (twice), fourth (twice), seventh and eighth in the NCAA championships. In corn country, much like in the Bronx with the Yankees, that doesn’t cut it. Even more damaging than the results, however, was a sense among fans and program loyalists that Iowa’s trademark aggressiveness and swagger had given way to timidity and laziness.
So now comes perhaps the biggest challenge any team can face: returning to the top. It’s one thing to get there. It’s another to stay. But what about getting back to where you once belonged? There is the burden of a legacy without the pieces immediately in place to revive it. And it’s in wrestling-mad Iowa, where fans have a certain set of expectations.
To do it, Iowa is dipping into the past while looking toward the future. And to all the challenges facing the program, first-year coach Tom Brands and his top assistant — Iowa legend Dan Gable — say one thing: Bring it on.
“I think there’s pressure. I don’t think fans are unreasonable, though, “Brands said. “I think they expect a good product and a certain style. If you don’t deliver, they’re going to let you hear about it. That’s the business you’re in. It’s no different than any other moneymaker. You have to perform to keep your head above water.”
Brands replaced Jim Zalesky, whose nine years as Iowa’s head coach started out strong with three consecutive NCAA titles, but gradually grew tenuous as the program slid back to the pack. Zalesky’s contract was not renewed at Iowa; he’s now the head coach at Oregon State. Zalesky’s tenure followed that of Gable. Those were large shoes to fill, as Gable lost just once as a college competitor (the NCAA title match his senior year at Iowa State) and was the head coach for 15 of Iowa’s 20 NCAA titles before stepping down in 1997.
Brands, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, wrestled under Gable at Iowa from 1989 to 1992, winning three individual NCAA titles and two team championships. He was a Hawkeyes assistant under both Gable and Zalesky from 1993 to 2004, before leaving to take over head coaching duties the past two seasons at Virginia Tech.
“It was the best thing I ever did and the hardest thing I ever did, “Brands said of leaving Iowa for those two years. “It reinforced everything I believed in. I had a chance to do it my way, from a structure point of view. We learned quickly you cannot compromise standards.”
Iowa hired Brands to take over in April, and he’s been applying that lesson — one he believes the program needs to relearn — ever since. He said for the past four or five years, wrestlers were “training themselves “in a system that lacked structure. Hence, things started to fall apart.
“You’re loyal to the people you work for until your standard is violated. I believe in loyalty, but I also believe in a certain standard in the way you do things, “Brands said.
“Without getting into anything, I’ll say that standard wasn’t very high. And it’s so important to a lot of people, and a lot of people were hurt because of it. And that’s what we’re repairing.”
Gable preferred to use a metaphor when answering the question of why things went offtrack.
“Put it this way, “he said, “I just feel that you have a wheel that’s working well. It seems to me there were some things the last staff did that were almost like trying to reinvent the wheel, and some major components were changed.”
Almost immediately after Brands was hired by Iowa, he and then-athletic director Bob Bowlsby asked Gable to rejoin the team. Gable, 58, had been working as an assistant athletic director at Iowa. In response, Gable asked Brands and Bowlsby to take a step back and reevaluate whether they believed it was a good idea.
It’s an unusual relationship, to be sure. Brands has leaned on Gable for advice at every step of his career, looking up to the coach as a mentor. A man of that stature could cast a shadow over a new coach, but Brands says there is no ego involved for either of them.
“Let’s get the job done, “Brands said, “and get these guys wrestling hard and dominating.”
Gable said he wanted to be sure he was coming back “not just for a name, but from a contribution point of view. “While Gable’s return was sure to — and did — ignite a spark among fans, Brands and Bowlsby made it clear they wanted him to be a hands-on coach.
“Once I realized that was what they wanted, I didn’t want to disappoint them, “he said.
Gable also said he felt he had “a lot to contribute “– which is like saying oxygen might play a key role in breathing. He has a commanding presence and an unbelievable track record for success. Coaching is still in his blood, as demonstrated by his admission that his entire body was shaking during a recent match.
Still, the early stages of changing the culture in the wrestling room this fall have presented challenges.
“I’m respected and Coach Gable is respected, but you don’t just flip a switch, “Brands said. “These habits are ingrained in these guys. You don’t let a day go by without telling them what’s important.”
Added Gable, “Every word you say they don’t believe until there’s some proof that you really know what you’re talking about.”
That said, both coaches have a positive feeling about the direction they’re headed, in spite of a nail-biting dual meet victory over Northern Iowa recently, in which Iowa did “everything but lose, “Gable said. Another measuring stick will come Sunday against rival Iowa State.
But at this point, it’s more about getting a system in place and emphasizing the need to be aggressive. Brands has no timetable for winning an NCAA title. Few current Iowa wrestlers have tasted individual NCAA success, but they are “capable athletes who want to be good, “Brands said. Possibly more important, they have bought into the program. Put in the work, the coaches tell the wrestlers, and results will follow. That was the foundation of a program that got to the top under Gable and stayed there.
“I know that we expected to win every time we stepped on the mat, “Brands said of his days as an Iowa wrestler. “When you have teammates who think that, too, there’s a lot of butt that’s going to be whupped.”
The distance between then and now could overwhelm a rookie coach if he let it.
“You work your whole career to get here, and you can’t look at those types of things, because they’ll nail you really quick, “Brands said. “When we came in, there was a tremendous amount of work to do. You just start digging in.”
But can Iowa really get back to where it once was? We’ll let a man who knows plenty about the past and is immersed in the present tackle that question.
“You look at who’s running the show now, “Gable said of Brands, “and you believe that it can get back to that level.”
Quick Takedown
“¢ In one of the bigger head-turners of the weekend, No. 11 Hofstra defeated top-ranked Minnesota 18-17 at the Northeast Collegiate Duals. Hofstra won six of 10 matches, including the clincher at 197 pounds when Chris Weidman rallied from a 7-2 deficit to defeat the Gophers’ Yura Malamura 11-8.
“Everybody wrestled hard for us, and I am so proud of them, “said Tom Shifflet, Hofstra’s first-year coach.
Hofstra defeated all four teams it faced at the event, while the Gophers won their other three matches. Minnesota will have plenty to work on heading into a showdown next Wednesday against Oklahoma State, winner of the past four NCAA team titles.
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