By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – For more than three decades, Iowa fans almost always had wrestling to fall back on during tough times in other sports.

While the Iowa football team struggled through a disastrous decade in the 1970s, including finishing 0-11 in 1973, the Iowa wrestling team lit a spark that would turn into a blazing inferno of dominance that stretched into this current century.

From the mid-1970s when Gary Kurdelmeier led Iowa to two national titles, and then had the vision, forethought and unselfishness to step aside so Dan Gable could work his magic, to right about the time Cael Sanderson became the head coach at Penn State in 2009; Hawkeye wrestling usually stood above all others.

There were times in the 1980s and 1990s when Iowa was blamed for hurting the sport of college wrestling because it was too dominant, and now Penn State, with 12 national titles under Cael Sanderson, is the new bully that shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.

For Hawkeye fans, who obviously are spoiled, it would be bad enough to be second best to Penn State’s dominance.

But Iowa entered Sunday’s regular-season finale at No. 3 Oklahoma State ranked just seventh nationally, and then lost 32-11, suffering yet  another setback in a season filled with setbacks as it was Iowa’s sixth loss this season.

It was stunning watching Iowa senior Drake Ayala, a two-time NCAA finalist, lose by technical fall to Oklahoma State freshman Jax Forrest.

And while Forrest was a highly coveted recruit, so was Drake Ayala coming out of high school.

Ayala has also been one of Iowa’s most consistent wrestlers since he joined the program. But in this particular match, he just didn’t have it, offering little resistance.

Iowa head coach Tom Brands has a major fight on his hands as he tries to keep his alma mater anywhere close to being elite, if there really is anything elite beyond Penn State right now.

Brands represents the very best of Iowa wrestling; three individual national titles as a Hawkeye wrestler under Dan Gable, a 1996 Olympic Gold Medal, and four national titles as the Iowa head coach, most recently in 2021, and it almost certainly would have been five if not for the 2020 NCAA Championships being canceled due to Covid-19 global pandemic.

And right alongside him is his twin brother Terry Brands, a two-time NCAA champion at Iowa, and an Olympic bronze medalist.

Both of them are winners in every sense of the word.

So this fall from elite status has to be excruciating for Tom Brands and for Terry Brands; going from once being a key part of a dynasty as both a competitor and coach to now chasing a dynasty that only seems to be gaining power and strength.

Penn State was a sleeping giant just waiting for a force of nature to sound the alarm by taking advantage of its built-in advantages, namely a vast recruiting base.

Sanderson would prove to be that person; Penn State’s answer to Dan Gable.

The Nittany Lions dismantled Iowa this season, winning 32-3 at home, and causing Tom Brands to acknowledge that there is a gap between the two storied programs.

Six of Penn State’s 10 starters have been ranked No. 1 this season, and the others aren’t far behind.

It’s a team with very few flaws, similar to some of Iowa’s best teams over the years.

So the challenge facing Tom Brands and every other head coach not named Cael Sanderson is to figure a way to start narrowing the gap because the Nittany Lions show no signs of slowing down.

Oklahoma State, under second-year head coach David Taylor, is showing signs that it might have what it takes to be Penn State’s biggest threat moving forward.

But Taylor still needs more time to stockpile talent before having a legitimate chance of beating the monster that he helped to build while wrestling for Sanderson at Penn State.

Tom Brands, meanwhile, was hired as the Iowa head coach in the spring of 2006 after having been Virginia Tech’s head coach for two seasons.

He was brought in to restore Iowa’s dominance, which had faded under previous head coach and former Hawkeye three-time national champion Jim Zalesky.

Brands would then led Iowa to three national titles in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Life was back to normal in Iowa City, but not for long as Sanderson was just starting to plot his course at Penn State.

The 46-year-old Sanderson won his first national title at Penn State in 2011, and only twice since then has Penn State not won the national title, and that includes the 2020 season in which the postseason was cancelled.

Sanderson finished undefeated during his legendary career at Iowa State; something even the great Dan Gable didn’t accomplish as a Cyclone. Sanderson would also go on to win an Olympic gold medal and now he’s overseeing the dynasty that he built, while Tom Brands is struggling to keep Iowa amongst the nation’s best.

Bringing attention to Iowa’s decline under Tom Brands isn’t to suggest that he should step down or be fired.

Because who would be a step up amongst those that would want the job?

Cael Sanderson certainly wouldn’t be interested nor would David Taylor, who is just getting started in Stillwater.

You could also argue that Tom Brands deserves a chance to right the ship given everything he has accomplished and contributed to Iowa wrestling, both as a competitor and coach.

What’s awkward about evaluating Hawkeye wrestling is that it’s judged far differently than any other sport at Iowa because of what it has accomplished.

Tom Brands is also judged differently from other Iowa head coaches because of the monster that he helped to build and to sustain, at least until Sanderson changed the landscape.

Perhaps the strangest thing about Iowa’s recent woes on the mat is the lack of takedowns by Hawkeye wrestlers, including just two in the loss to Penn State.

Tom Brands and Terry Brands were constantly on the attack as wrestlers; non-stop aggression from start to finish, almost to the point of being violent.

Neither was dirty as a competitor, but they also wanted nothing more than to beat their opponent to submission, mentally and physically.

Gable used to tell his wrestlers that the goal was to break their opponent, physically and mentally.

And few took that to heart more than Tom Brands and Terry Brands did.

They wrestled with that mentality while growing up in Sheldon in northwest Iowa and then took it to another level under Gable.

So to see the current Iowa wrestlers struggle to get takedowns goes against everything that Tom Brands and Terry Brands stand for as competitors.

When they both came to Iowa in the late 1980s, the program had hit sort of a rut, at least by its incredibly high standards, finishing sixth in the 1989 NCAA Championships.

Gable said the Brands twins helped to re-energize the wrestling room with their tenacity, toughness and grit, and that led to more dominance in the 1990s before Gable retired in 1997.

Of course, it also takes talent to break an opponent, and Penn State as a recruiting force relies heavily on talent, as did Iowa during its dominance; talent, mindset and execution.

So perhaps it is mostly a talent issue. And if so, the only solution is to recruit better.

Tom Brands always talks publicly about scoring points and forcing the action, so of course, he does the same in private with his wrestlers.

And yet, it doesn’t seem to register for some.

It’s hard to believe that Tom Brands has suddenly lost the ability to motivate, train and develop wrestlers.

But his recent track record of developing star wrestlers also leaves something to be desired.

So what is it?

What is causing Iowa’s fall from dominance?

One narrative suggests that Tom Brands hasn’t evolved in this new world of college athletics.

Okay maybe so.

But he has been more than willing to play the NIL game, but with only mixed results.

As far as what he teaches on a daily basis, it would seem that Tom Brands is well-equipped to meet that challenge given his track record and his vast knowledge of the sport.

So again, what is it?

Nobody seems to know for sure beyond saying the obvious that Iowa has to do a better job of recruiting and developing its wrestlers.

It will be interesting to see how Iowa Athletic Director Beth Goetz handles the wrestling situation once the season ends.

She already has shown a willingness to take action when she fired former Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz with four games left in the 2023 football season.

This isn’t to say that anyone specifically with wrestling deserves to be fired.

However, something has to change on the mat regardless if there are changes off the mat.

It doesn’t take a wrestling expert to reach that conclusion.

There is a belief, and a hope, that former Iowa three-time national champion Spencer Lee will some day be the head coach for his alma mater.

But Lee still is competing with his eyes on the 2028 Olympics.

With Penn State’s dominance, it’s easy to forget all the good about Hawkeye wrestling; the devoted fan base, top-notch facilities and a strong NIL foundation.

But even Hawkeye wrestling fans have a breaking point, and if there are more seasons like the current one, that point will eventually come, probably sooner than later.