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REPLIES
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By
Illini Hawk
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 12:44:03 PM
Gable needs to back off just like Evy DIDN'T do in the 1960's. Reply |
By
hometownhawk
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 12:44:55 PM
I don't if he will take the job, but an article over at hawk Central states that at least 3 wrestlers will go where ever brands lands up. This was from one of the wrestlers fathers.
Brands coaching at Iowa would be a good thing. Reply |
By
hometownhawk
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 12:46:13 PM
Illini, do you think gable is having too much input about the program right now? Reply |
By
LOKI
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 1:34:12 PM
LP, Tom Brands and Doug Schwab together?! One thing I'll say--guys will know that aggressive wrestling will be demanded!! Another poster suggested Steiner or Zadick might be good asst.s to retain, but my feeling is Brands would want to "clean house", and Bowlsby will give him free reign. Would kids transferring in have to sit out a year, or could they be in the lineup this fall? I can't recall the rules on that one. Reply |
By
mkehawk
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 1:39:58 PM
VT has a free release clause for non revenue sports. Anyone leaving would be immediately eligible at their new school. Reply |
By
LOKI
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 1:54:13 PM
that's great news for Iowa-if the blue-chippers want to follow Brands back here. Is that the case for all Div-1 programs, or is it on an school-by-school basis? Didn't Mocco have to sit out a year when he went to Okie St.? Reply |
By
iowalonely
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 2:39:28 PM
at lot of things 'are wanted' at Virginia Tech.
this time it's good.
always a girl hawk! Reply |
By
LPiowa
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 3:51:11 PM
I've heard conflicting versions on the eligibility issue.....One side says it is a one-semester waiting period, eligible next January. The other says immediate eligibility. Don't know, just have to wait and see. Loki, I'm with you on this one. Tom Brands and Doug Schwab would be a great combination....Do you suppose there might be more than 2,800 fans in the arena when they put a team out on the mat. Reply |
By
Illini Hawk
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 5:09:55 PM
I think Gable needs to stay in 'deep background' and let whoever succeeds Zalesky establish himself. Reply |
By
LPiowa
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 6:04:46 PM
Sometimes it is just very hard for legends to ride off into the sunset. In Gable's case, this truly was HIS program. I'm sure it is hard to totally separate. However, you guys are 100% right. Whoever takes over the reins will only be successful IF GABLE STAYS WAAAAY IN THE BACKGROUND. Reply |
By
buffHAWK
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 6:24:05 PM
LP - I was there in the mid 70's when Gary Kurdelmier (sp)built the program. The first meet we contended with ISU in the old fieldhouse filled to the rafters....hard to believe the program draws 2800 now. It use to outdraw bball. Out of state for quite some time but I remember reading about the Brands... but who is scwab? Reply |
By
hawkNspit
Replied on 3/31/2006 - 6:35:55 PM
Kurdlemeier really screwed the wheels on tight for the Iowa program. He was a great coach and a great guy. He was gone from this earth way too soon. RIP coach K. Reply |
By
buffHAWK
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 2:01:39 AM
Growing up in B'dorf Gable was a legend but got to face it, G.K. built the program. Dan took it to unprecendented heights with guys like Chris Campbell, Chuck Yegela (sp), Brad Smith and Randy Lewis . Yegela, Campbell and Lewis were the best I ever saw. Smith wrestled the best match I ever saw against Lehigh....yea in the 70's Lehigh was good. Should have seen the excitement during the formative years....too cool Reply |
By
stlouhawk
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 2:58:37 AM
what is also too cool is a wrestling thread w/ 13 replies. nice to see you all here w/ the insightful words.
just too bad it takes a fired coach to get ya out of the dustmuffins......
ahh, the banach's in the old fieldhouse.......
in the lou Reply |
By
JLCHawk
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 5:39:53 AM
I traveled with a bunch of guys in an RV to Ames to watch Iowa State vs Iowa. It was the first wrestling meet I had ever attended. I don't know what year, but I think late 70's. It was tied going into the hvy wt match, and Iowa had a guy named Bowlsby wrestling some guy for Iowa State that was huge. Iowa won the meet because the Iowa State guy kept stalling if my memory serves me correct. I ended up being a season ticket holder for wrestling. My favorite dual ever was Iowa vs Oklahoma. Iowa had Lou Banach at heavyweight going up against Steve "Dr. Death" Williams for OU. He was an O-lineman on the football team. Lou was at a size disadvantage, yet he literally threw Williams all over the mat. Great memories. Reply |
By
TheObserver
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 9:35:14 AM
Gary Kurdlemeier (sp?) DID put the program in place, but he also had Dan Gable as an assistant and wonderful card to play at recruiting time. Remember, Gable had won the Gold Medal in Munich in 1972, without giving up a point. He was world-class hero in this state. No HS kid worth his salt could ever have said "no" to Gable at that time. Without Gable, GK would have had a really solid program, with him he had the final piece to make a national championship team. Reply |
By
LPiowa
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 9:38:06 AM
Iowa DID pack the house in those days, but only for ISU, Okie State, and Oklahoma (which was an equal to Okie State in those days.) The other meets drew good crowds, but not sell-outs. Whatever,...they pulled in whole lot more than what we have seen recently. The Fieldhouse was some place special! With the steel girders and steel bleachers on the sides, it could get so loud in there that you could not talk with the person next to you. Reply |
By
LOKI
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 11:03:34 AM
Even if Brands is hired, I doubt Iowa will become a title contender next year; but I am absolutely certain we'll draw more fans than we did this year. LP is right about that. The new coach will take over with much more established talent than KF did after Fry left. If even one of those Iowa kids comes here from VA. Tech., it will make an impact. Someone floated a rumor (w/o any evidence) that Gable might come back one year as co-head coach, then turn things over to Tommy Brands. Is that even possible? If it is, it just sounds like a recipe for disaster. I agree Dan should be as silent a partner as possible.However, if silence is golden, Dan Gable would always be a pauper. Reply |
By
hawrestling fan
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 11:27:31 AM
No disrespect to Gable, but he retired from coaching and should stay that way if Brands does come back. It's not like at ISU where the new coach has never been a head coach.
Let Brands run is own program and sink or swim on his own. Gable will still be around and can offer advise IF Brands (or whoever is hired) asks for it.
Dan had his time now it's up to the guys he taught to have their time.
I agree Scwab would be a good ass't coach. What's Lee Fullhart doing now? He'd be an excellant coach for the heavier weights or even retaining Hartung. He knows the new guys and is also a good technician.
I think it'd be great to see Mark Ironside there also, but I think he's pretty successful in his line of work.
I agree attendance will be up next year out of curiosity if nothing else. With success attendance will increase and return to the old days. If not...well we've seen how some "fans" are.
Good luck to whoever takes the job. Reply |
By
slinger
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 1:55:51 PM
Whom ever--personally I think it was Dave McKusky (sp) that started the ball rolling to successful wrestling at Iowa. Dave coached a Nation Champion team at then ISTC. When he moved to Iowa that is when you started to hear about the wrestling program. I used to watch Gary Kurdlemeir wrestle when he was in high school--Cresco. Harold Nichols came out of there and he was no slouch when it came to wrestling. Cresco also had the Peckum brothers. New Hampton had a heavy weight by the name of "Bear Tracks" Willedson. He lived up to his nick name also. Most of the state did not have wrestling teams. It was pretty well limited to Central and North east Iowa. Power houses were, Cresco, Osage, New Hampton, East Waterloo, Clarion, Waverly. Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Souix City did not even field a team. Dave McKusky gets my vote as the father of great Iowa wrestling.
Go Hawks!! Reply |
By
LPiowa
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 8:43:05 PM
Good posts, Guys!!! Slinger is right about the HS wrestling. In 1971, I went up to Garner to teach/coach. The North Central Conference with Humboldt, Eagle Grove, Clarion, Hampton, Clear Lake, Algona, Webster City, and Emmetsburg (I think) was a powerful wrestling league. Britt HS competed against everybody. They had dual meets vs. Mason City, Waterloo East, Waterloo West, Cresco,...anybody tough who would wrestle them. That was the first place I saw them turnout the gym lights and have one single light above the mat....fans were in the darkness...talk about an atmosphere!!! Reply |
By
hometownhawk
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 10:12:44 PM
I went to many wrestling meets during the chuck yagla years, and those following when he was an ast. coach. His bro-in-law at that time was one of my best friends. So i got to hang out with lots of the wrestlers from that era.
anyway i remember one ISU/Iowa meet in Ames. We all in Waterloo loaded up a charted bus, had a keg of beer on it, took off to ames on a very Icy night. Hilton was packed to the rafters for this meet. unfortunely i think ISU won this meet, from back in the very late 70's. My memory is still fuzzy from that night. There was lots of beer to drink that night in that bus. Reply |
By
Illini Hawk
Replied on 4/1/2006 - 10:57:55 PM
LP - Take out Emmetsburg and add Iowa Falls, and you have the old North Central Conference.
Ft. Dodge had great wrestling in the 1930's through the 1950's under the late great Fred N. Cooper. Reply |
By
LOKI
Replied on 4/2/2006 - 1:55:54 PM
Thanks for the memories, guys. I grew up in Ill., and wrestling was just something we did in gym class because everyone couldn't play basketball. I can't even recall if we had a team. I was amazed when I came to Iowa to hear guys telling stories about great HS programs and meets they'd been to. I learned a lot, and of course, started following the Hawks during the glory years, and have been hooked ever since. Does anybody remember if Charles City or Decorah had strong programs in those years? Reply |
By
LPiowa
Replied on 4/2/2006 - 2:51:32 PM
Illini, you are right!! Iowa Falls! Jeesh!!! Old-Timers disease strikes again. Emmetsburg was part of the old Lake Conference....
Hometown, I attended that meet in Ames. If memory serves me correctly, Lou Banach got upset in the heavyweight match that night...I can still see those ISU wrestlers and fans swarming the mat....I hated it at the time, but it was good for the rivalry. Iowa truly DID dominate the sport too much for it to really grow. Same as NCAA basketball. It really started to grow AFTER UCLA no longer dominated year after year. Reply |
By
JLCHawk
Replied on 4/3/2006 - 6:44:59 PM
LP
Remember when the Michigan Wrestling Coach, I think his name was Dale Bahr, wanted something done about Iowa. He thought they were just too dominant. Reply |
By
buzzard51
Replied on 4/3/2006 - 8:28:34 PM
This year was my 20th NCAA wrestling tournament and the least fired up Hawkeye have ever seen. It was really sad to see that after the tradition that we had for so many years. Plus there were hardly any Iowa fans there.I had an Okie State fan ask what was wrong with our program. I didn't really have an answer for him! I really do believe that Tommy and Doug can bring the fire back into our program that we all know and LOVE,but I do think that Gable needs to stay away and let those kids run their own program hopefully Bowlsby can do his job and get us pointed in the right direction!!!!!!!!!! Reply |
By
MBIB
Replied on 4/4/2006 - 1:36:36 AM
JLC:
Bahr just flat out wouldn't wrestle Iowa in duals, which put his team at a distinct disadvantage. Hellickson at OSU took a similar approach for quite some time. When PSU came into the league in '94, there was a real shot at knocking Iowa off the perch whilst Gable was still there. Michigan had some terrific grapplers, Joe Pantaleo comes to mind at 158, and the John Fisher-Joe Melchiore/Tom Brands matches were consistently fantastic 14-12 type of bouts. Mich made a strong push there, even beat Iowa at the Nat'l Duals 2X I think. But Bahr's acerbic style ultimately sunk the program not long after and a lot of talent left elsewhere. The relative resurgence of UM and PSU both seem natural to me, although I'm surprised Mich hasn't developed into a better tournament team by now.
Like I've said many times before, there's a sense among Zalesky's peers that they had a real shot to keep Iowa down but only if someone stepped up and made a push at Nationals. So far that's only been Minnesota, and it's worth keeping in mind for next year. The cupboard ain't exactly bare, no Hayden Fry issues here.
What a fun series of posts, BTW -- I still preferred the Herky wrestling mascot of my fieldhouse youth above all others. Seriously, Big Bird in a singlet -- what could be better? I think I still have the Mark Trizzino "arms" poster lying around somewhere down in the basement, too, with the usual suspects signed.
Speaking of intensity in rivalries. I remember going to Hilton in high school for other events and just getting chills being in the place from the deck looking up at the rafters. Just felt...wierd. Maybe there will be something to that again between Cael and Iowa's Next. Sure hope so. Wisconsin-Northwestern duals at the fieldhouse just aren't quite the same. Reply |
By
thailand hawk
Replied on 4/5/2006 - 5:33:18 AM
To answer the other post about Zalesky and Alford. Well, the money one has mentioned. Also, it was the timing. There was an article written about the possibility of Brands going to OSU. Bowlsby wanted to jump on that before Tommy settled in Columbus for a while. Of course, that means he doesn't have much confidence in Z. Understandable.
Tom and Dougie boy are great. But it's too bad that they didn't get a chance to retain Hartung (worse yet, he's a Clone). Every team needs an upper weight guy as a coach. I can't think of anyone left. Williams isn't big enough. Fullhart is too nice. How about that McCoy guy from PSU?
I think Gable will stay away. Tommy isn't young, 37. Has 17 years of experience with Hawks wrestling. So, why Iowa didn't hire Brands over Z? Oh, oh, I have an answer to my own Q. I believe that the program thought both Brands brothers were just too crazy. But they are matured and wiser now.
Can't wait to see the new change. I just wonder where would they have enough scholarships for those transfers? I the in-state guys prob pay their own way in the first year.
Man, you can tell that I'm not in Iowa anymore. Got no one to talk to so I keep answering my own questions. Oh well, it's not all that bad here. Go Hawks!!! Reply |
By
hawks_one
Replied on 4/5/2006 - 10:04:17 AM
Rumor has it that Gable will be back under Brands. Hope not! They need to bring back Terry Brands under brother Tom! Gable needs to stay away! Reply |
By
OHIO HAWKEYE
Replied on 4/5/2006 - 5:54:57 PM
Tom Brands will bring the swagger back to the Hawkeye wrestling program.
I can remember West Waterloo dual meets being in the dark, except for the mat during the Gable years. And yes the gym was sold out
Loki, yes both Charles City and Decorah had good teams during thar era. During the West Waterloo heyday I bet Siddens would say that his hardest Dual meets were with the small schools like Cresco , Eagle Grove, Algona etc than the big city schools from Dubuque ,cedar Rapids, and Iowa City.
Who was that kid from Cedar Falls that their crowd game a standing ovation to when Gable could not pin him because he bridged almost the entire match. Gable had pinned like his first 16 opponents his senior year. Reply |
