Takedown Report

SOME BELIEVE IOWA HAS CLOSED THE GAP WITH PENN STATE, BUT TOM BRANDS WANTS NO PART OF THAT NARRATIVE

By Pat Harty
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – There will be a time again when Penn State doesn’t win the national title in wrestling, but until that happens, Cael Sanderson’s dynasty-in-the-making still is the king until somebody else proves otherwise. That somebody could be a once-proud dynasty from the Midwest that ruled college wrestling for most of the 1980s and 1990s.
Before Penn State, it was Iowa that dominated college wrestling, winning 15 national titles under the legendary Dan Gable, and three apiece under former head coach Jim Zalesky and current head coach Tom Brands.
But not since 2010 has Iowa won a national title in wrestling, and by Iowa’s lofty standards, that’s an eternity. “I think about it every day,” junior Alex Marinelli said at Iowa’s annual media day event on Wednesday. “I’ve got the 2010 national title picture in my apartment right now. My wife and I have it hung up and it’s a motivation for me every single day.” Iowa still has elite status in wrestling, but the dynasty is long gone and has since been supplanted by Penn State’s dynasty, which includes winning eight of the last nine national titles.
Penn State was hit hard by graduation, losing three NCAA individual champions, while Iowa returns the bulk of its roster, and that is fueling a belief that Iowa could be a legitimate threat to Penn State’s dominance.
Wednesday’s media day event was held outside at Kroul Farms on Highway 1 just south of Mount Vernon despite almost freezing temperatures, and the first question asked to Iowa head coach Tom Brands was if he was trying to make a correlation with toughness. The farm is owned and operated by the family of former Iowa football player Matt Kroul. “There’s not a correlation of toughness,” Brands said. “I think wrestlers pride themselves on being tough. That’s not what we’re trying to show. We’re trying to do something different, and include a part of Iowa that is synonymous with wrestling. Rest of the story at https://allhawkeyes.com/pages/story/details/3327?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

and another story on this at https://www.press-citizen.com/story/sports/college/columnists/chad-leistikow/2019/10/30/tom-brands-should-proud-iowa-wrestling-roster-hes-compiled/4095741002/?mc_cid=5bd3846593&mc_eid=2ef7cbca4b

November 4, 2019 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized