The current state of IA wrestling

[ICAlumni]

This team is soft.
That's all there is to it.
Don't tell me I don't know anything about IA wrestling either. I grew up in IC and have been going to meets for 35 years.
This is one of the, if not THE, most depressing year i've had watching the Hawks.
No BT champs.
No offense - the entire team wrestles scared.
It's like we've lost our identity and are afraid of other teams and afraid of making a mistake.
You can't win if you don't shoot.
We are the least aggressive team in the BT.
It's sad that we have no shot at a National Title in our own backyard.

I never, ever thought this would happen, but i'm starting to question Brands.
This is the 3rd year in a row with a team 100% built by him and the results are not good.
The first three years were great but that was a mix of Zalesky and Brands guys.

 

[HerkeyHawk]

Penn State is sure fun to watch. Aggressive, attacking, constantly looking to score. Kids are tough and gritty.

 

[weezer]

Perfectly stated! What freightens me is how a lot of these guys seem to be regressing and how little we get from our top recruits. Take McDonough for example, he's your leader and quite frankly he should be walking through the competition. Think of guys like Ironside, McIllravy, Williams in their senior years how dominate they were. McD or any of them for that matter don't wrestle with that kind of confidence and are not mat savvy at all. And that IS coaching!!! Love me some Brands but he's not getting it done.


The talent level of this sport is now out east which will make it a lot tougher for Iowa to recruit and get back to the top. This year needs to be an eye opener for this program to figure out what changes that need to take place to get back to the top.

 

[jayjm56]

If you want to get even deeper into it look at the transfers he brought with him. JayBo is the only one that got better. Metcalf and Slayton seemed to progressively get worse. It is turning into a trend.

 

[HerkeyHawk]

If you want to get even deeper into it look at the transfers he brought with him. JayBo is the only one that got better. Metcalf and Slayton seemed to progressively get worse. It is turning into a trend.

Huh? Color me skeptical but I believe Metcalf actually won the national title his last year and the last time we saw Slaton at 100% and not in trouble academically was as a sophomore.

 

[jayjm56]

Metcalf was never as dominate as he was his Sophomore year. Palmer caught up to him by his senior year. McD's competition is catching up to him too. Now you can say McDs problems are more weight related, which I happen to believe, but there is very little denying that since Toms first year the teams over all intensity and fire have only gone down.

 

[HerkeyHawk]

Metcalf was never as dominate as he was his Sophomore year. Palmer caught up to him by his senior year. McD's competition is catching up to him too. Now you can say McDs problems are more weight related, which I happen to believe, but there is very little denying that since Toms first year the teams over all intensity and fire have only gone down.

The same Lance Palmer who had Metcalf all but taken down in the final seconds of a 3-2 loss their sophomore year (Metcalf's most dominate in your opinion) in the Quarters at Nationals? Doesn't really sound like clear cut separation to me. Something is wrong with McD, but it's not his weight...

 

[Gabe]

I don’t see the relatively down state of the program a direct reflection of Brands’ coaching. Even with our hole at 149 scoring 0 points at Big Tens, we were right in the running for 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] with Minnesota who had guys at all their weights scoring. If we didn’t have such horrific fortune at 149 with all the injuries/transfers/quitting, we’d surpass Minnesota and be much closer to Penn State and with some great performances surpass them. The problem is that Penn State just seems on another level than all the other teams. It saddens me to say but they seem to have the perfect system set up to be the best year in and year out. They are in the most talent saturated state of Pennsylvania with no other colleges in state really having near as big of a consistent draw of talent. They hired the biggest name in wrestling as coach who seems to be able to keep the top Pennsylvania guys in state and cherry pick some of the top talent around the country from other states when needed. Cael’s built a program that not only dominates but also looks to be having fun doing it. I think about how Iowa can surpass Penn State again and it concerns me a bit. The state of Iowa produces some great wrestlers, but just doesn’t have the population to produce the quantity to fill the majority of your lineup with high AA guys. This means the coaches have to go out of state to bring more talents in which is far more challenging when you have to compete with the local schools for those kids and ask them to pay out of state tuition. Brands has made a big priority targeting Pennsylvania talent with the most recent being Gulibon (who was reportedly the first recruit he flew out to see) and next year possibly Marsteller but has lost almost every if not every direct recruiting battle with Cael. That’s a little concerning moving forward seeing how many of the top level guys come from PA. I think Brand’s great coaching can be seen with Cory Clark’s development into one of the best in the country and hopefully as good or better than the guy who was top ranked for the weight at the time he lost out on (Gulibon). The problem is Clark is the exception not the rule and for every Clark, you have twice as many studs that just don’t hit the same developmental curve and who get consistently outcompeted by the top rated phenoms out there. I hope Brands has an answer because the current model just seems to be getting outcompeted.

 

[WildTurkey]

This team is soft.
That's all there is to it.
Don't tell me I don't know anything about IA wrestling either. I grew up in IC and have been going to meets for 35 years.
This is one of the, if not THE, most depressing year i've had watching the Hawks.
No BT champs.
No offense - the entire team wrestles scared.
It's like we've lost our identity and are afraid of other teams and afraid of making a mistake.
You can't win if you don't shoot.
We are the least aggressive team in the BT.
It's sad that we have no shot at a National Title in our own backyard.

I never, ever thought this would happen, but i'm starting to question Brands.
This is the 3rd year in a row with a team 100% built by him and the results are not good.
The first three years were great but that was a mix of Zalesky and Brands guys.

This team is not soft you are. The most depressing year of watching the Hawks? Really? It was depressing to see the hawks win the regular season BIG title? It was depressing beating Minny and Penn Sate in duals this year? Go cry in the corner by yourself you child. You are like a friend I have that only posts bad things on Facebook about the Iowa basketball team when they lose. But when they win he posts nothing positive, not even an atta boy!

 

[Sparky]

I blame everything on Doyle.

No Iowa athlete has looked the same since Rhabdo.

 

[Sparky]

This team is not soft you are. The most depressing year of watching the Hawks? Really? It was depressing to see the hawks win the regular season BIG title? It was depressing beating Minny and Penn Sate in duals this year? Go cry in the corner by yourself you child. You are like a friend I have that only posts bad things on Facebook about the Iowa basketball team when they lose. But when they win he posts nothing positive, not even an atta boy!

You seem like one of those fans that's satisfied by the mediocre, the same type that thinks kids should all receive a trophy just for participating. Iowa wrestling is the way it is because Gable refused to be second best and when they were second best it was never good enough. If you don't get that then I think you need to study up on the history of Iowa Wrestling or GTFO.

 

[hawkfan340]

You seem like one of those fans that's satisfied by the mediocre, the same type that thinks kids should all receive a trophy just for participating. Iowa wrestling is the way it is because Gable refused to be second best and when they were second best it was never good enough. If you don't get that then I think you need to study up on the history of Iowa Wrestling or GTFO.

I think this is a pretty limited view of how Gable made Iowa as successful as he did.

 

[WildTurkey]

You seem like one of those fans that's satisfied by the mediocre, the same type that thinks kids should all receive a trophy just for participating. Iowa wrestling is the way it is because Gable refused to be second best and when they were second best it was never good enough. If you don't get that then I think you need to study up on the history of Iowa Wrestling or GTFO.

I think I know my Iowa wrestling prettty well thank you. You seem to be one of those fans that always wants to be negative. How about you GTFO!MCD- lost in the finals to a kid that has already beat him twice. Bad loss but not a surpriseRamos- lost in OT to the Hodge front Runner.Ballweg-He will never beat Hunter. Still made the finals.Dwieza- got beat 3-2 and 3-2 up from 41. Sucks he lost but he wrestled hard not soft.DSJ- Tough loss to Green by a point. Then he pinned Alton and beat Demas for 3rd.Moore- bad loss to Taylor wrestled back tough and lost in ot to Yohn. Hard to beat the same guy 4 times in a year!Evans- Brown is a walking muscle. Evans got out of position for 2 seconds and got caught.Lofthouse- Ruth is a beast. Ethen wrestled his tail off to get 3rdBurak-wrestled well! Nearly got 3rd himself.Telford- got 3rd. Lost to the returning champ by a point.Yeah no champs and getting 3rd place is dissapointing but to say this the most depressing year of Iowa wrestling in 35 years?A lot of positives happend last weekend. I will focus on those. The season isn't over. Everybody has to come to Iowa now in 2 weeks. I am excited and can't wait to cheer on the hawks in Wells

 

[olddude]

I don’t see the relatively down state of the program a direct reflection of Brands’ coaching. Even with our hole at 149 scoring 0 points at Big Tens, we were right in the running for 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] with Minnesota who had guys at all their weights scoring. If we didn’t have such horrific fortune at 149 with all the injuries/transfers/quitting, we’d surpass Minnesota and be much closer to Penn State and with some great performances surpass them. The problem is that Penn State just seems on another level than all the other teams. It saddens me to say but they seem to have the perfect system set up to be the best year in and year out. They are in the most talent saturated state of Pennsylvania with no other colleges in state really having near as big of a consistent draw of talent. They hired the biggest name in wrestling as coach who seems to be able to keep the top Pennsylvania guys in state and cherry pick some of the top talent around the country from other states when needed. Cael’s built a program that not only dominates but also looks to be having fun doing it. I think about how Iowa can surpass Penn State again and it concerns me a bit. The state of Iowa produces some great wrestlers, but just doesn’t have the population to produce the quantity to fill the majority of your lineup with high AA guys. This means the coaches have to go out of state to bring more talents in which is far more challenging when you have to compete with the local schools for those kids and ask them to pay out of state tuition. Brands has made a big priority targeting Pennsylvania talent with the most recent being Gulibon (who was reportedly the first recruit he flew out to see) and next year possibly Marsteller but has lost almost every if not every direct recruiting battle with Cael. That’s a little concerning moving forward seeing how many of the top level guys come from PA. I think Brand’s great coaching can be seen with Cory Clark’s development into one of the best in the country and hopefully as good or better than the guy who was top ranked for the weight at the time he lost out on (Gulibon). The problem is Clark is the exception not the rule and for every Clark, you have twice as many studs that just don’t hit the same developmental curve and who get consistently outcompeted by the top rated phenoms out there. I hope Brands has an answer because the current model just seems to be getting outcompeted.

IDK about your recruiting premise, I have spoken with a few kids out here as well as some parents and it is a BIG time deal for these kids to get an offer from IOWA. Now I don't know how long that will last if we can't start getting back to what we were, but as of now the wrestling program still has a name around these parts.

 

[jozzer]

Relax everyone. It IS disappointing, but there were some years they weren't very good with JZ at the helm. Something is wrong with Mcd, it's been pretty widely speculated. It seems 125 hurts Seniors, must just be harder to hold that small weight compared to other weights. He's still going to finish top 4, to 3 very good wrestlers, and I wouldn't bet against him come Nationals. Ramos has gotten better. Ballweg has gotten better. Telford has gotten better. Evans has gotten better. Moore has gotten better. St John has gotten better. Burak has gotten better. This weekend EL looked better than he has all year. Clark and Brooks have been wrestling very well as backups.

Don't let the fact that PSU has two of the all time greats on their roster carrying their squad. The don't just win, they bonus. Some of the best all time didn't bonus at their weight at this rate. It's almost ridiculous.

I think one thing to think about for people is the hole at 149 this year affecting our chances. We lost by 17.5 points to PSU, and 5.5 to Minny, and we got 0 points out of 1 weight. ZERO!

For comparison purposes PSU's worst wrestler Lawson got 6.5 in a disappointing tourney. Minny's Zilverberg got 8.5 for crying out loud. We've had terrible luck at 149 and need to start getting some points or we are done before we start in these tourney's.

 

[Trapper]

If you want to get even deeper into it look at the transfers he brought with him. JayBo is the only one that got better. Metcalf and Slayton seemed to progressively get worse. It is turning into a trend.

What did you do, fall down and hurt your head?

 

[WildTurkey]

Those 6.5 and 8.5 points sure make a difference! 149 pounds is like the HB situation on the football team. Some of the names at 49 since Metcalf. Mark Ballweg, Dylan Carew, Mike Kelly,Brody Grothus,Jake Ballweg,Anthony Baldasoro, Patrick Rhoads,Nate Skon... The hits keep coming at 49. It really hurts the chances of winning titles especially when the powerhouses PSU and Minny are firing on all 10 cylinders compared to Iowa's 9

 

[tm3308]

McDonough's decline shouldn't be all that surprising, IMO. Isn't it fairly common for guys who stay at 125 for four years to suffer a decline as seniors? He's having to cut more and more weight, and guys have had time to figure him out.

 

[Gabe]

IDK about your recruiting premise, I have spoken with a few kids out here as well as some parents and it is a BIG time deal for these kids to get an offer from IOWA. Now I don't know how long that will last if we can't start getting back to what we were, but as of now the wrestling program still has a name around these parts.

Thanks for your input. It’s great to get the perspective on recruiting from someone in your area. I’m glad to hear Iowa still has the reputation and luster is has had for so long. I completely agree though we don’t get back to the top soon and Penn State keeps this streak they have going, that luster will soon start to diminish. That’s why I think it is a little more urgent to find a solution the 149 hole. I understand Brands doesn’t typically offer full rides but this is a situation where I think it might be justified to throw top dollar at a stud like McCauley and plug that weight with a true high AA caliber talent. That’s not to say Brands hasn’t done exactly that or pursued other options that have fallen through. Right now it just seems that Cael is getting his #1 target in state almost every single time. That doesn’t mean Iowa can’t go in and get some PA studs as well but if Cael is consistently getting the best of the best, I don’t like our odds. It will be very interesting to see how Penn State performs after Ruth and Taylor are gone and they come back to the rest of the pack.

 

[superfan12]

This team is soft.
That's all there is to it.
Don't tell me I don't know anything about IA wrestling either. I grew up in IC and have been going to meets for 35 years.
This is one of the, if not THE, most depressing year i've had watching the Hawks.
No BT champs.
No offense - the entire team wrestles scared.
It's like we've lost our identity and are afraid of other teams and afraid of making a mistake.
You can't win if you don't shoot.
We are the least aggressive team in the BT.
It's sad that we have no shot at a National Title in our own backyard.

I never, ever thought this would happen, but i'm starting to question Brands.
This is the 3rd year in a row with a team 100% built by him and the results are not good.
The first three years were great but that was a mix of Zalesky and Brands guys.

I think I know my Iowa wrestling prettty well thank you. You seem to be one of those fans that always wants to be negative. How about you GTFO!MCD- lost in the finals to a kid that has already beat him twice. Bad loss but not a surpriseRamos- lost in OT to the Hodge front Runner.Ballweg-He will never beat Hunter. Still made the finals.Dwieza- got beat 3-2 and 3-2 up from 41. Sucks he lost but he wrestled hard not soft.DSJ- Tough loss to Green by a point. Then he pinned Alton and beat Demas for 3rd.Moore- bad loss to Taylor wrestled back tough and lost in ot to Yohn. Hard to beat the same guy 4 times in a year!Evans- Brown is a walking muscle. Evans got out of position for 2 seconds and got caught.Lofthouse- Ruth is a beast. Ethen wrestled his tail off to get 3rdBurak-wrestled well! Nearly got 3rd himself.Telford- got 3rd. Lost to the returning champ by a point.Yeah no champs and getting 3rd place is dissapointing but to say this the most depressing year of Iowa wrestling in 35 years?A lot of positives happend last weekend. I will focus on those. The season isn't over. Everybody has to come to Iowa now in 2 weeks. I am excited and can't wait to cheer on the hawks in Wells

This is the ultimate "half empty," "half full"