The long-awaited contest between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Iowa Hawkeyes concluded in shambles, not only on the board but even off it. Most newsworthy about the evening, in fact, wasn’t even Nittany Lion’s dominating 30-8 win but Gabe Arnold’s astounding vanishing act off the sidelines in anticipation of Angelo Ferrari’s bout.

Arnold had been at the center of pre-match hype, trash-talking four-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci and confidently predicting a win over Penn State. But when it counted, Arnold wasn’t even in the starting lineup. Instead, coach Tom Brands benched him in favor of Ferrari, a first-year, technically redshirted player. It shocked the wrestling community, and it begged important questions about inner work at Iowa and in its team environment.

Confusion, frustration, and Hawkeyes’ wrestling drama

Arnold, having initially branded Starocci “overrated” in high school, tripled down with confidence in the build-up to the bout, saying, “We’re getting it done this year. This time, your backyard dojo, and I promise, your head’s mine. Book it.”

But when questioned regarding trash talking with Arnold, it seemed not to matter at all to him. “I thought that started with the other fellow?” shrugged Starocci, referring to Ferrari. “Didn’t the other guy win the tournament? I think the game plan is for the other guy. I think the other guy is a better wrestler, but I don’t know.”

Iowa Hawkeyes coaches corroborated with Starocci, and Ferrari began, and Arnold could not even bear to see it. The redshirt freshman had to be taken off the bench after a report of him getting into a fight with students at Penn State. The benching of Arnold hurt both morale and the lineup for Iowa badly. After all of the trash, he wasn’t even given a chance to make good on it. For a player who threatened to take out Starocci’s head, having to depart in such a manner must have seemed particularly nasty in terms of optics.

Where Ferrari kept pace but finished with a 3-1 loss, dual, Penn State dominated eight out of ten wins. That placed them four in a row over Iowa and firmly in position to charge NCAA wrestling.

Meanwhile, Arnold’s exit rang alarm bells about Iowa’s inner circle and decision-making processes. Was he actually mad? Was there a break of any sort with him and with coaches? Or, yet again, a reflection of Iowa’s mercurial coaching philosophies creating tension in their unit? Whatever, followers did not spare any reaction.

The wrestling community erupted in sharp criticism against the Iowa Hawkeyes player…

The wrestling community erupted in sharp criticism of Arnold’s behavior—and most of it wasn’t sympathetic.

“Such an amateur hour on the Iowa sidelines….how in the world is a D1 athlete so fragile he can’t watch a fellow teammate, AND needs a coach and a cop to escort him to the showers. Coward. ALL BRANDS CREATED.” Many saw this as a sign of weakness, questioning Arnold’s mentality and Iowa’s coaching staff for enabling it. Perhaps only because he did not care to see Iowa Hawkeyes’s best-in-class wrestler at his weight. Others suspected that Arnold simply could not stand seeing Ferrari steal thunder, putting even additional tension in Iowa’s fragile lineup selection.

“Awww, Gabe Arnold runin’ and hidin’.” Others jeered at Arnold outright, seeing his departure as an embarrassing spectacle for Iowa. Not everyone, however, credited Arnold with it. Others pointed fingers at Tom and Terry Brands and insisted that the coaches fluffed it. “Before you all say anything, Arnold wasn’t scared at all. The Brands did that and didn’t let him wrestle. This is what happened with Spencer Lee. One tournament when he was pissed at the Brands, he wrestled unattached and destroyed Ayala.” This theory suggests that Arnold didn’t leave out of fear but rather out of frustration with Iowa’s coaching politics—something that has reportedly caused issues in the past.

Nevertheless, many continued to believe that Arnold simply cracked under pressure. “HE crashed out in fright.” That simple observation captured general thinking that Arnold’s sensational exit was not a pretty sight at all. The Iowa Hawkeyes have a lot of questions to answer in-house. If it’s an emotion-only reaction, then the team will have to go at a breakneck pace in an attempt to rebuild its chemistry. But if it’s a deeper issue with coaching decisions or Ferrari’s ascent, then it could mean deeper fissures in Iowa’s wrestling program. One thing is certain: Penn State dominated on the mat, and Iowa’s soap opera overshadowed everything else. Whether or not Arnold talks, and we don’t mean that in a positive manner, is irrelevant—this soap opera isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.