OTTUMWA — Brent Metcalf walked off the mat of the Scottrade Center last March a dejected man.

The Iowa Hawkeye wrestling junior and academic All-American had just lost. Not just any match, mind you.

His 69-match win streak was snapped in the 149-pound finals at the NCAA National Tournament in St. Louis courtesy of N.C. State’s Darrion Caldwell.

An upset by most accounts.

His Hawkeye teammates picked up the slack earlier in the morning though with big wins in their consolation matches. It was that relentless team mentality in an individual sport that paved the way for the Hawkeye’s back-to-back national titles under current head coach Tom Brands.

Yet anybody that knows anything about the sport of wrestling knows that Brands’ team didn’t live up to the hype on the big stage in 2009 — even though the black and gold was declared the nation’s best.

That’s the state of Iowa wrestling. The bar’s that high.

Twenty-two national titles, 33 Big Ten Championships — only one team owns the nation’s top mantle and can be considered the modern power in the sport of college wrestling — the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Brands made a trek down to Ottumwa on Friday night. He was in town for the final meet-and-greet of a 32-town stop Hawkeye tailgate tour, which ended at the Arnold Net Center on the campus of Indian Hills.

He didn’t disappoint, in fact he flat out wowed the crowd.

Brands, a three-time NCAA individual champ, four-time All-American and Olympic gold medalist, is preparing for his fourth season at the helm of Iowa.

The emcee of the event, Iowa Hawkeye radio play-by play man Gary Dolphin, summed it up best concerning Brands’ feelings toward this past season — a testament to Brands’ fanatical drive to succeed.

“He’s still very, very irritated,” said Dolphin, who has been the voice of the Hawkeyes for 13 years.

Iowa became the first team to win a national title without an individual winning a gold medal since 2001, when Minnesota managed that feat.

The Hawkeyes — a heavy favorite to run away with the national crown in 2009, did not — squeaking by Ohio State by just 4.5 points.