By KELLY TERPSTRA, Courier sports writer
June 27, 2009 01:33 am
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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.
Brands didn’t hold anything back in his analysis of that team performance.
“We underperformed. You underperform and you’re at USC and you still win the national title, there’s going to be jubilation in the locker room,” said Brands. “Underperforming in a sport where you’re judged with individual results is a little bit different.”
Brands also tackled the misperception that winning is everything and second place is nothing — that’s not the case in the mind of one of wrestling’s all-time greats — athlete or coach.
“I think a lot of people misinterpret my single-mindedness that winning is the most important thing. Doing the right thing every time is the most important thing,” said Brands. “I think getting what you want, when you want it is the most important thing. Being a champion — it’s about the process.”
It’s those first places that weren’t achieved that led to a first-place team finish that should make this an even better and more dangerous Hawkeye squad this season.
Take for example Metcalf’s heartbreaking disappointment after winning NCAA gold the year before. He’s considered to be by many the best college wrestler in the land.
“What do you say about Brent Metcalf? He lost in the finals and that doesn’t change how he represents our program,” said Brands. “He’s devastated by it. He’s driven by it. It takes a long time to get over that type of thing. I don’t know if he’ll ever get over it. He’ll have to get over it to a certain extent to get to the next step.”
Iowa returns several key performers from a year ago in Metcalf, Jay Borschel, Joe Slaton, Ryan Morningstar, Phil Keddy — just to name of few.
“I felt all last year something was missing and I didn’t figure it out. My job is to figure that out,” said Brands. “I feel like we have our finger on it now.”
Bad news for the Big Ten and bad news for the nation.
Iowa men’s basketball coach Todd Lickliter was the featured speaker and he’s looking to bounce back after two sub-.500 seasons.
He’s in his third season now in Iowa City, after accepting the job from Iowa A.D. Gary Barta from his previous post at Butler — where he was NCAA coach of the year in 2007.
That process of getting over the hump and attaining the ultimate goal of an NCAA berth took a hit with mass defections in the offseason — mainly starting guards Jake Kelly and Jeff Peterson transferring.
That hasn’t hindered Lickliter’s enthusiasm and passion to win in the Hawkeye state.
“We’ve had two tough years. At any place else, it probably would have been miserable,” said Lickliter. “We didn’t play well.”
Back for his sophomore season will be hometown Iowa City High star and former Mr. Basketball Matt Gatens, who recently had his appendix removed. He was a top scorer for Lickliter and was named on the All-Freshman Big Ten squad.
Another key performer for Iowa will senior Devan Bawinkel, who proved he’s one of the most dangerous outside shooters in the country as a junior.
An exciting addition for the Hawkeyes will be true point guard Cully Payne, a lefthander out of Illinois.
“We’re glad we’ve got ‘em,” said Lickliter, about Payne, who initially signed with Alabama out of high school.
He’ll share time with Anthony Tucker, who was leading the Hawkeyes in scoring last year before having to sit out the remainder of the season because of grades. Tucker was Minnesota’s Mr. Basketball and will play the off-guard spot as well.
Tucker’s absence, along with the injury of forward Cyrus Tate, hurt Iowa’s momentum in a quest to qualify for “the Dance.”
“We got dealt a lot of tough blows last year. We persevered. We’ll build on that,” said Lickliter. “I think we’re turning the corner.”
Lickliter talked about his up-and-down two seasons in Iowa City and what Hawkeye fans might think of the results.
“For those of you that are mad at me, thank you,” said Lickliter. “It means you care.”
A moment of silence was acknowledged to honor the tragic passing of Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas, who died earlier this week as a result of a shooting.
Thomas helped coach such players as Jared DeVries, Aaron Kampman and Casey Wiegmann, who all later went on to star for Iowa and then the NFL.
Iowa assistant coach Jenni Fitzgerald represented the Iowa women’s basketball team and Eric Johnson spoke for Kirk Ferentz’s Iowa football squad.
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