One-on-One with Tom Brands

Iowa head coach Tom Brands guided the Hawkeyes to a third-place finish at the 2011 NCAA Division I Championships after winning three straight NCAA titles from 2008 to 2010.

Brands, a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, 1993 World champion, and three-time NCAA champion as a competitor, has compiled an overall dual meet record of 97-6-1 (.938) in his five seasons as head coach of Iowa. The Hawkeyes are currently riding a 77-dual meet unbeaten streak.

InterMat caught up with Brands and talked to him about a variety of topics, including this past season, Matt McDonough, Tony Ramos, Doug Schwab, Mark Perry, Brent Metcalf, Henry Cejudo, Dan Gable, Nebraska joining the Big Ten, potential rule changes, and more.

I saw your quote where you said, "We got what we earned (this season). Third place -- we got what we earned. No champions -- we got what we earned." Obviously, the expectations at Iowa are to win national titles. But at the same time, there are only four programs that bring home team trophies every year. How much pride does the program take in third place?

Tom Brands talks to Montell Marion at the 2011 Big Ten Championships at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Brands: Here's the thing, there are positives and negatives. Wrestling is a unique sport team-wise ... because even with a title that you ran away with there's going to be somebody that didn't get what they went out for. When you have 10 weight classes that you're trying to win, there's going to be disappointment every year unless you run the table ... and that's maybe not real realistic, but that's what you're shooting for as a coach ... to get guys to believe they're going to win their weight class. You're going to enter 10 guys going in, so you want to win 10 weight classes. All that being said, I'm not answering your question probably as thoroughly as you would like, but the bottom line is that you take the bad with the good, the good with the bad, and the next day when you wake up you're going back to work regardless of if you blew the competition away or you ended up with a third-place trophy. You're still going to go ahead and keep working.

Your program came under scrutiny this past season for electing not to wrestle in the National Duals. Some coaches even publicly criticized the decision. Did it bother you that others were suggesting how you should run your program?

Brands: No. It's part of the landscape with athletics. Everybody has an opinion. I simply don't pay a lot of attention to it. Of course you hear it and are aware of it. We had some fans that were a little bit in disagreement as well ... I'm talking about die-hard Hawkeye fans. Enemy programs and fans don't agree, that's their prerogative and I respect that. When they're vocal, I respect that as well. They can weigh in with whatever they choose to weigh in with. I'll tell you one other thing. We had a lot of fans that were in agreement as well. How I describe it is that I don't really care because we're making the best decision on what's best for our program. At the time we were trying to replace nine weight classes with new guys. Some of them had experience, but basically you're trying to replace nine weight classes. So regardless of whether you agree with the decision to wrestle in the National Duals or not, at the time we did it for the best reason ... and that what we thought was best for our program.

How has Matt McDonough responded from the setback of losing in the NCAA finals?

Brands: Matt McDonough is a very smart wrestler and he's a very motivated young man. He's top-notch in every way. He didn't miss a beat. He was analyzing it right after the match. We sat back there and talked for a long time. It reminded me of the Metcalf match ... when Metcalf was a junior two years before that, where a lot of things are running through your head. You just lay them out and it's time to go forward. From the minute he walked off the mat he was going forward. That's a tribute to his mentality.

There has been some speculation that Matt McDonough and Tony Ramos could switch weight classes next season. Is there a chance we could see Ramos at 125 and McDonough at 133?

Matt McDonough is a two-time NCAA finalist at 125 pounds, winning an NCAA championship in 2010 as a freshman (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Brands: I think there's a chance for a lot of things. Right now that's not important in our program, what guys are going what weights. There is also speculation with St. John ... whether he stays at 157 or moves up. Right now it's not a priority in our mind. In McDonough's case, I would say he would be back at 125. If Ramos wants to go 125 and challenge, then good for Ramos. If Ramos is at 133 and McDonough wants to move up and challenge Ramos at 133, then good for McDonough. Right now it's not a priority. Our priority is getting better every day. By the way, Tony Ramos is headed to Germany for the first-ever FILA Junior World Cup, along with Bobby Telford and a young team going to Germany for that 20 and under World Cup championship.

One of your former staff members and athletes, Doug Schwab, just completed his first season as head coach at Northern Iowa. How has your relationships changed, if at all, with Schwab since he took over his own program?

Brands: It hasn't changed at all, except that I don't see him every day and we're not on the same team. My respect for him is still at a high level. It always will be. I know that he's going to get the job done there. He has done a great job. He'll continue to do a great job. UNI was on the map when they hired him. That's not the way he wants them on the map. I believe that he'll put them on the map how he wants to put them on the map ... and that's with results.

Another one of your former wrestlers, Mark Perry, recently accepted an associate head coaching position at Illinois. What are some of the attributes Perry possesses that make him a successful coach?

Brands: I think he's a student of the sport. He's probably geared strategy-wise and preparation-wise as good as anybody in the country. That being said, there's still a lot of work to do. Good for Mark Perry. He has a pretty strong case to be a head coach at the next major opening based on his experience at Cal Poly and now going to Illinois.

Brent Metcalf fell in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open to Teyon Ware, but came back to finish third. He recently had a win over Magomedmurad Gadzhiev of Russia at the Beat the Street Gala 2011. Where does Metcalf need to make his biggest gains to accomplish his goals of winning World and Olympic titles?

Brent Metcalf finished third at the 2011 U.S. Open (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)

Brands: I think he needs to continue to stay on the course that he's on. Youth is not an excuse ... and certainly not with his mentality and the way he has been brought up in the sport. But you have to remember that he's still young. Whoever wrestles Brent Metcalf is going to have their hands full, not because he lost and is super motivated now. He's always super motivated. I wouldn't say that those results at the U.S. Open are going to be the norm for him. There are some things that have to be ironed out. They're being ironed out and he is moving forward very well ... and he proved that with the win against the Russian. Actually, the Russian beat him earlier ... so good turnaround there and good progress.

Nebraska will be joining the Big Ten next season. What are your thoughts on Nebraska joining the Big Ten from a wrestling perspective?

Brands: Well, the first thing I'll say is a little bit in jest. They've been trying get us on the regular season schedule for a long time. Now we have no choice. They've been saying that we've been avoiding them. I'm just speaking in jest ... I'm not trying to start anything here. So now we have to wrestle them. They're one of our common rivalries, so we'll wrestle them every year. This year we go to Lincoln ... and I believe that is the first time since the National Duals when it was held in Lincoln (1997) . We're headed to Lincoln. We're excited to have Nebraska in the Big Ten. I'm good friends with Coach Manning. They do a good job. I know their past has been strong results, but not the results they want ... meaning they want to win championships. They're not about having strong finishes every year and coming out with a healthy average at the end of 4, 5, 6, 7 years. They want to win championships. Now they're in the Big Ten. I think they have the resources to do it.

You mentioned going to Lincoln. Any idea when your season schedule will be finalized?

Brands: The Big Ten schedule is finalized. I don't know if there is anything released. I can't comment on it. But our Big Ten schedule is finalized. If it's not, the only holdup would be maybe a meeting we're waiting on for the athletic directors or whoever would be voting on the finality of it before it's released to the press. But it's pretty much final.

There has been some talk about college wrestling potentially exploring the idea of implementing instant replay in light of some questionable calls that were made at the NCAAs. Where do you stand on that issue?

Tom Brands at the 2011 NCAA Division I Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Brands: I think first of all you have to have your athletes ready to wrestle hard for seven full minutes and be able to put guys down hard so it's beyond a doubt ... so it leaves no doubt in the referee's mind what the right call is. I don't know if instant replay is the right way. It seems like you're getting into a lot of unintended consequences if you go that way ... It might not be a bad idea, but you better really think it through. Number one is I put it on our coaching staff. We have to get our guys ready to go and be able to execute the right way and be able to finish matches the right way.

On the topic of changes to the sport, Bobby Douglas has suggested that folkstyle wrestling should tweak its rules and scoring to closer resemble freestyle wrestling. Would you be in favor of that?

Brands: Absolutely disagree. There's no better sport. There's no healthier rules than in folkstyle wrestling. Here's the thing ... When you look at college wrestling, you're looking at programs being dropped. Programs aren't being dropped because of excitement levels. Programs are being dropped because of other reasons. What we have to do is continue to get coaches in programs that are going to push exciting wrestling and put good, competitive teams on the mat. Along with that, you have to be healthy socially and healthy academically. Even though that goes without saying, that's the bulletproof formula. To tweak rules and things of that nature, I don't agree with that. A seven-minute match with riding time is a pretty good formula for excitement. When you talk about developing excitement, maybe they need to get a clearer definition for staying in the center of the mat. You look at some of the rules in wrestling that they've come up with to try to create excitement, they have not enforced those, at least consistently. If they can maybe get a clearer definition for stalling, I think you're on your way. I'm not sure what that is. But to shorten a match, to try to create parity, to save a sport, I respectfully disagree. It's about building what we have and making it better. I put it on the coaches first and foremost to be able to do that.

Henry Cejudo recently announced his intentions to train in Iowa City as he prepares for the 2012 Olympics. What kind of impact, if any, will that have on the Iowa wrestling program?

Henry Cejudo won in his return to the mat at the Beat the Streets Gala 2011 at Times Square in New York City (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)

Brands: Well, the first thing is that we haven't seen him. We need to get the details ironed out. He had a good experience with Terry Brands. If he's going to get serious, I know that he feels the most comfortable with Terry training him. But Henry Cejudo is a pretty motivated guy on his own as well. If he decides that this is a priority in his life, he's going to be able to get it done in other places as well. So he's going to have to make up his mind on whether or not he wants to live in Iowa City. He has announced that. I don't know what his timeline is. There have been no detailed conversations. I'm a fan of it. As far as impact on the Iowa wrestling program, the NCAA rules say him being a non-alum, he would have the biggest impact on our club for guys like Dan Dennis, Brent Metcalf, and Mike Zadick before our team. But we welcome him. Terry had a good relationship with him ... and that relationship has continued, but there haven't been any detailed conversations to really lay down a plan about when he's coming and how engaged he will be.

You're going to be speaking at Gable's Gold: A Celebration of Dan Gable's Legacy. What does that opportunity to speak at that event mean to you?

Brands: I think it's probably a natural that I'm a speaker. I'm not going to say they picked me because I'm some celebrity. I'm not putting myself in that category. I'm in a unique position where I wrestled for him and now I coach at Iowa, where he coached. My relationship with him continues today. It never went away, even when I was at Virginia Tech. And it never will go away. I think it's probably a no-brainer that the head coach at the University of Iowa, whoever it is, would speak at Gable's retirement. But I'll tell you what, I'm an advocate for my coach. I'm an advocate for the Gable philosophy. His impact in the sport is far and wide. I'm a very grateful man for him.

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