Terry Brands vs. Tom Brands....Tom Brands vs. Dan Gable

Bad idea. I don't even want to think about it. I don't even know why it would be considered! Well, I do know why it would be considered, Iowa has the best of the best. Who wouldn't want to pull our guys string by string.

Click HERE for an article published by the Des Moines Register which alludes to the idea that Dan Gable may have considered taking the head coaching position at Iowa STATE. Not only that, but he has recommended our very own Terry Brands (assistant coach) for the position as well.

Either candidate would be a huge loss to the Iowa program. In fact, Iowa might already be in trouble with the move by Sanderson.

I'd like to say we're better than that. I like to say we're the best because we are the best - which shouldn't have anything to do with anyone else. But then you look at the other schools and what they're bringing up. Sanderson going to Penn State makes us have to work even harder against them...and as was mentioned in the article - Iowa State's program isn't headed for a decrease themselves. They had all 10 of their weight classes at Nationals this year...ALL of which are underclassmen. Yikes that says something right there.

But now, let's think about this a little bit. Has anyone thought of the idea that maybe some of the Cyclone boys might follow Sanderson? That's what happend when Head Coach Tom Brands left Virginia Tech high and dry back in 2006...in fact FOUR guys followed him to Iowa (Joe Slaton, Brent Metcalf, Jay Borschel and Dan LeClere).

When wrestlers are looking at schools they don't just look at the school and the program the school has, they also look at the coach and the style of the program.

In a conversation I had with Tom Brands he said, "We always were attracted to a certain style on television. Iowa public television would come on and you would see one style, whether they won or lost a dual meet, but you would see one style that grabbed your attention and that’s the style that you were attracted to. And that style happened to be coached by Gable, and those guys happened to be wearing the black and gold instead of the other colors, whether it was Oklahoma State or Iowa State or whatever. And it sealed the deal seeing that over and over. It wasn’t just a one-time thing."

So if a headline comes out tomorrow naming the top wrestlers of Iowa State transferring to Penn State, I wouldn't even blink an eye. It'll probably happen.

Back to the whole Terry Brands leaving his loyal Hawkeyes to coach the Cyclones though. I don't see a positive in this at all. Except for maybe ratings. Sure the stands would fill for one meet, sure fans would be going nuts. But is it anything that would actually benefit either program? Well, yeah it'd benefit the Cyclones, no doubt. I'm sure they'd jump on a candidate such as Terry.

For now, let's try not to think about the possibility of the twins leaving each other's side, or the legendary father figure - Gable - for that matter.