The Iowa Hawkeyes Wrestling Team recently crash-landed on the home turf of the Michigan Wolverines. While this was very unexpected for many, its flip side is also true. Many found an Iowa defeat something that was bound to happen, eventually. The reason for these two dualities lies in the roster of the Hawkeyes.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have lost just one match so far. But, the lineup of the Hawkeyes isn’t inspiring the confidence in fans like it usually does. Especially with the lack of wrestlers who enjoy superstar status in the NCAA. Because of this, it became a little easier for Michigan to get the better of Iowa. But this isn’t the first time the Hawkeyes are rolling with such a lineup. The only question is, will Iowa be able to repeat what it did when it was in similar waters?

What made the 2010-11 Iowa Hawkeyes roster so special?

Frankly speaking, nothing at all. The 2010-11 Iowa Hawkeyes roster was supposed to defend an NCAA threepeat achieved by its predecessors. However, there was just one problem: only two wrestlers from the Iowa lineup had All-American honors. This exposed a baby version of the Hawkeyes to the cut-throat D1 wrestling culture that Iowa had helped build for years.

This was the same year when Penn State’s head coach, Cael Sanderson, entered his enlightened state that has made him legendary in today’s times. Everyone thought that the Iowa Hawkeyes had accidentally ended up on square one. But, head coach Tom Brands made everyone take their words back.

Not many people projected the Iowa Hawkeyes to finish in the top 10 NCAA D1 rankers that season. But nobody saw Brands coming vigorously with a squad that virtually had a new face at every weight. Everyone knows the climax; Cael Sanderson spearheaded PSU to its first championship since 1953. But, what also impressed everyone was the fact that Brands and his team finished third.

It takes real grit and skill to make people remember you despite not finishing in the first place. Tom Brands had that grit and that drive to make his students better and provide them with everything. The question now is, can the Iowa Hawkeyes repeat this with the 2023-24 roster?

A confident Tom Brands leads the Iowa Hawkeyes once again

Tom Brands had appeared for a press conference before the Iowa Hawkeyes faced the Michigan Wolverines on 2 February 2024. The press had several questions to ask him, but all questions had a specific flavor to them: suspicion and doubt. One of those questions asked him what he had learned about his current roster.

Answering the question, Brands said, “I know as a coach, I learned that we have pretty tough, resilient guys.” But, the reporter gave a very awkward response to his answer and said, “You felt that way going into this year? There was no question (in your mind)?” 

The Iowa Hawkeyes HC replied, “I mean, there’s no option. Why are you surprised? Why are you surprised at how we operate? Talk about resiliency, I mean, Drake Ayala had to come off that loss against Matt Ramos. Had two big wins. What did you think of his response over the weekend?” 

Brands further noted, “We got a lot in front of us. We got four dual meets left and then we got a Big Ten tournament and a national tournament. These guys, I think they do a good job of keeping it in perspective but they do, I mean you can’t look ahead, you know, but I think they do know what the challenges are coming up.” 

Thus, while the press and the fans may not be too confident about the current roster of the Iowa Hawkeyes, Tom Brands trusts his boys. Last time we checked, this was all Iowa has ever needed to make a mark. However, 2010-11 was almost a decade and a half ago. Moreover, the new protagonist of 2010-11 has now become one of the biggest final bosses the NCAA D1 Wrestling has ever seen.

The Penn State Wrestling and Cael Sanderson problem

Cael Sanderson has completely molded himself and several dynasties from the Penn State Wrestling Team. The Nittany Lions have won 10 championships since 2010-11, which includes two four-peats and a threepeat in the making. Moreover, PSU is the only team the Iowa Hawkeyes have struggled against during this new era.

Notably, Cael Sanderson has perfected what came to haunt Tom Brands in 2010-11 and has learned to keep a dynasty going every year. While he has five champions and four NCAA finalists on his roster, all of them have different eligibilities remaining. Thus, the PSU HC is taking care of not falling into an Iowa Hawkeyes hole.

But why would this be problematic? Brands can just come third again, can’t he? That would be a difficult mission to accomplish because PSU has a top 15 wrestler for every weight class. That makes individual gold medals a rare prize. Moreover, the Iowa Hawkeyes will still need to work hard to be better than the rest of the competition. 

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But, the picture isn’t all grim for the Iowa Hawkeyes. After all, I mentioned in the beginning that the Hawks have only taken one loss this season. Moreover, Iowa is maintaining the third position with little trouble despite its supposedly low-tier team. Thus, it is very much possible that Tom Brands actually does a better job than the 2010-11 roster. Do you think Coach Brands still has what it takes and his boys can emerge in the top three?

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