Taylor has passed us now.

maxpain

All-American
Jul 6, 2006
1,625
5,211
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Gusaford1

Junior
Jul 1, 2025
66
347
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Not to be a smart a@@, but I feel like Taylor passed us last year when OSU outscored Iowa at nationals by more than 20 points.

Now he's increasing the distance between the two programs and it'll get worse when three of Iowa's four best wrestlers graduate, and he continues to rake in top recruits.
 

Sett1997

All-Conference
Oct 23, 2025
745
2,288
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Taylor passed tom when he was hired lol
He was mentioned many times as a replacement for TNT on the board. . Many responses were, no thanks! He's a douche, no coaching experience etc...
I knew he was going to be good. Was in Caels system for I believe around 15 years. Had his own club for years. World hardware superstar.
He's a Cael protégé to the bone. Beginning of the Cael head coaching tree.
 
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_Mjolnir_

Sophomore
Aug 23, 2025
80
155
33
He was mentioned many times as a replacement for TNT on the board. . Many responses were, no thanks! He's a douche, no coaching experience etc...
I knew he was going to be good. Was in Caels system for I believe around 15 years. Had his own club for years. World hardware superstar.
He's a Cael protégé to the bone. Beginning of the Cael head coach tree.
A lot of the guys saying that about Taylor were the same one's saying TnT were fine and will have Iowa back on top again. I think we all know those fans are fools. Unfortunately there are too many of them in the Iowa fanbase.
 

Trapper85

Senior
Jun 22, 2020
166
572
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He was mentioned many times as a replacement for TNT on the board. . Many responses were, no thanks! He's a douche, no coaching experience etc...
I knew he was going to be good. Was in Caels system for I believe around 15 years. Had his own club for years. World hardware superstar.
He's a Cael protégé to the bone. Beginning of the Cael head coach tree.
All that may indeed be true, and I certainly think we should have at least taken a good shot at getting him, but even had we, I give a 17% chance we could have outbid OSU. In addition, I at least give some understanding to Beth here. Timing was WAY better for OSU to pull the trigger. Just don't see things having played out differently unless we had a new billionaire turn up to pay big $$ to a coach and for the HWC too. So here we are and would likely have been anyway; we now wait and see what our next best option is going to look like.
 

jakgray

Freshman
Dec 18, 2025
69
72
18
We all know it's time, but sorry to break your bubbles its not happening until Tom's contract is up.

Guys its Iowa there is not enough $ for a buy out. So stop with its time WE ALL KNOW. I guess this gives Beth time for a search for our next coach.
 
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Anon1736006158

All-Conference
Jan 4, 2025
657
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We all know it's time, but sorry to break your bubbles its not happening until Tom's contract is up.

Guys its Iowa there is not enough $ for a buy out. So stop with its time WE ALL KNOW. I guess this gives Beth time for a search for our next coach.
When the average attendance drops below 8,000 at Carver next year, they will find the money. At the very least, Beth should step in and require Tom to make significant changes to his assistant staff. It's too late for that though - as the kids say, Tom's program is cooked.
 

dtripp26

Heisman
Oct 29, 2003
10,184
30,401
113
Midway second year, loaded with young talent. We are riding off into the sunset with no hope in site of being a title contender.
Time for a change guys.
I was told this wouldn't happen when Angelo held up 3 at the dual last year. Nevermind their performance at nationals and their recruiting efforts.
 
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Libertylover

All-Conference
Dec 17, 2020
769
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All that may indeed be true, and I certainly think we should have at least taken a good shot at getting him, but even had we, I give a 17% chance we could have outbid OSU. In addition, I at least give some understanding to Beth here. Timing was WAY better for OSU to pull the trigger. Just don't see things having played out differently unless we had a new billionaire turn up to pay big $$ to a coach and for the HWC too. So here we are and would likely have been anyway; we now wait and see what our next best option is going to look like.
Taylor had 6.5 million contract and 1 million signing bonus, plus we would have to buy out Tom’s last 3-4 years, and dish out big bucks for HWC. It would have taken a billionaire to pull that off in wrestling. There would be a split fan base because Tom wouldn’t get screwed quietly like Smith did, but the billionaire probably gave him a golden parachute to go along with the plan also.
 

Blackhawk

Redshirt
Feb 4, 2026
2
3
2
Should we all pull out some old DVDs of when we were relevant? I mean it’s not Nebraska football VHS tape bad, but we’re getting there. Tough to watch this happen although I had a blast watching in person against Michigan…which took a miracle to pull out.

I want to believe TnT and the donors can get us out of this death spiral and I’d love to think there is some magic hire out there to get us back to the top, but I’m not seeing the guys in the room or recruits or style or energy to make that a reality.

I hope our program can get up off the mat, but I feel like we’re getting fireman’s carried out of the conversation by multiple programs who haven’t just passed us…they’ve run us over and backed up over us a couple times then sped off in a cloud of dust.

I want to think we can be more like a Miami in football. Someone who was down for a while and came back hard rather than a program that is dead forever like Nebraska.

So I think Iowa wrestling is just mostly dead. And when picturing how we turn this around it seems like it would take a miracle, but today feels like a good day for miracles.
 

Libertylover

All-Conference
Dec 17, 2020
769
1,280
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When the average attendance drops below 8,000 at Carver next year, they will find the money. At the very least, Beth should step in and require Tom to make significant changes to his assistant staff. It's too late for that though - as the kids say, Tom's program is cooked.
Could we attract young up and comer assistants with them knowing Tom’s contract is up in 3 years and may retire.
 
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Libertylover

All-Conference
Dec 17, 2020
769
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Should we all pull out some old DVDs of when we were relevant? I mean it’s not Nebraska football VHS tape bad, but we’re getting there. Tough to watch this happen although I had a blast watching in person against Michigan…which took a miracle to pull out.

I want to believe TnT and the donors can get us out of this death spiral and I’d love to think there is some magic hire out there to get us back to the top, but I’m not seeing the guys in the room or recruits or style or energy to make that a reality.

I hope our program can get up off the mat, but I feel like we’re getting fireman’s carried out of the conversation by multiple programs who haven’t just passed us…they’ve run us over and backed up over us a couple times then sped off in a cloud of dust.

I want to think we can be more like a Miami in football. Someone who was down for a while and came back hard rather than a program that is dead forever like Nebraska.

So I think Iowa wrestling is just mostly dead. And when picturing how we turn this around it seems like it would take a miracle, but today feels like a good day for miracles.
Didn’t they hire a new coach then throw a ton of money at the program? Same as Indiana football did. Indiana having that much money to drop on football shocked me.
 

Sett1997

All-Conference
Oct 23, 2025
745
2,288
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Didn’t they hire a new coach then throw a ton of money at the program? Same as Indiana football did. Indiana having that much money to drop on football shocked me.
They got Cig for 4-5 mill at signing. I believe their NIL spending was in the 12-15 ranking this year. Second year he got a big raise and of course after the NC he got another raise. Cig did WAY more with less this year in NIL spending than the big boys. . Coach is a genius.
I'm still shocked they won it all. They destroyed Bama and Oregon, embarrassing type destroyed. They both had WAY more NIL money than Cig.
 
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BrianLafevre

Senior
Jun 30, 2025
216
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Jul 2, 2025
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He was mentioned many times as a replacement for TNT on the board. . Many responses were, no thanks! He's a douche, no coaching experience etc...
I knew he was going to be good. Was in Caels system for I believe around 15 years. Had his own club for years. World hardware superstar.
He's a Cael protégé to the bone. Beginning of the Cael head coaching tree.
There weren’t a ton saying it, but some of us were saying it over and over well ahead of him getting hired at Okie State. El dub was with me on it. I was asked to produce names several times by the people who said there’s no obvious hires to replace TNT (MSU was definitely one of them) and Taylor was always right at the top of my list. So many TNT devotees were burying their heads in the sand and saying all was well. There was ample warning. The writing was on the wall even before Spencer and Kem and them papered over the cracks for a few years.

Mene Mene Tekel Parsin
 

Mattski

All-Conference
Apr 21, 2022
873
2,163
93
He was mentioned many times as a replacement for TNT on the board. . Many responses were, no thanks! He's a douche, no coaching experience etc...
I knew he was going to be good. Was in Caels system for I believe around 15 years. Had his own club for years. World hardware superstar.
He's a Cael protégé to the bone. Beginning of the Cael head coaching tree.
But, he wore a fanny pack!
 

Mattski

All-Conference
Apr 21, 2022
873
2,163
93
All that may indeed be true, and I certainly think we should have at least taken a good shot at getting him, but even had we, I give a 17% chance we could have outbid OSU. In addition, I at least give some understanding to Beth here. Timing was WAY better for OSU to pull the trigger. Just don't see things having played out differently unless we had a new billionaire turn up to pay big $$ to a coach and for the HWC too. So here we are and would likely have been anyway; we now wait and see what our next best option is going to look like.
We could have at least given him something to think about. If the money was close I bet he'd have chosen Iowa. Stillwater is a sh**hole and I think he'd have rather raised his family here.
All that said the timing sucked bc of the new facility and the part Tom and the donors played in it.
In the end, if the powers that be including Tom wanted what was best for the program, it would have been the perfect time to hand over the keys.
 
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Random4598375

All-Conference
Jan 10, 2020
506
1,524
93
Could we attract young up and comer assistants with them knowing Tom’s contract is up in 3 years and may retire.
This seems doubtful. The young up and comer coaches will want to make their mark and Brands is a control freak stuck in the past as the sport is passing him by in real time. Needs to be a clean break.
 

Mattski

All-Conference
Apr 21, 2022
873
2,163
93
Could we attract young up and comer assistants with them knowing Tom’s contract is up in 3 years and may retire.
No chance short of a guarantee to take over after 27 or 28 and even then I don't see our current coaches leading a smooth positive transition.
If they're going to stay, best we can hope for is Gold in '28 for Spencer and he takes over with a fresh new staff right after.
 

Sett1997

All-Conference
Oct 23, 2025
745
2,288
93
We could have at least given him something to think about. If the money was close I bet he'd have chosen Iowa. Stillwater is a sh**hole and I think he'd have rather raised his family here.
All that said the timing sucked bc of the new facility and the part Tom and the donors played in it.
In the end, if the powers that be including Tom wanted what was best for the program, it would have been the perfect time to hand over the keys.
Agreed, I believe he would be here if we had offered. We are notorious for hanging on to coaches that are past their prime. Lol
Kirk, I kind of get it, but not really. Fran? 🤣🤣
Stupid!
 
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NitFan53

Sophomore
Feb 13, 2019
42
122
33
I could be way off but I didn’t think Cuban donated until after Cig had their huge breakout year the year before.

You may be correct. Cuban may not have wanted to buy in to a first year model but he's bought in now. With his money Indiana has become a player in the new NIL era.
 

CarolinaHawkeye

All-American
Iowa Swarm member
Feb 5, 2003
4,404
8,638
113
Not to be a smart a@@, but I feel like Taylor passed us last year when OSU outscored Iowa at nationals by more than 20 points.

Now he's increasing the distance between the two programs and it'll get worse when three of Iowa's four best wrestlers graduate, and he continues to rake in top recruits.
This year he's doing it with freshmen.
 

MSU158

All-Conference
Nov 20, 2014
947
2,428
93
incoming novel from @MSU158 explaining that it's actually too early to tell, but even if it's true it was still the right decision not to pursue him yada yada yada
I love that I keep getting mentioned and yet I am intentionally staying out of the current dumpster fire that is this board now fully enveloped in Anti Brands rhetoric while swinging from Taylor’s nether regions as if him coming to Iowa was EVER even a remote possibility.

look, I have given everyone a clear avenue for me to back away and let you guys burn it all down here without my trying to get in the way. If they produce like this in March, I have flat out said you guys can go nuts and I won’t argue against it. Even then, I may not agree with you, but I think you would have enough reason to feel that way…
 

el dub

All-Conference
Nov 2, 2005
535
1,382
93
We could have at least given him something to think about. If the money was close I bet he'd have chosen Iowa. Stillwater is a sh**hole and I think he'd have rather raised his family here.
All that said the timing sucked bc of the new facility and the part Tom and the donors played in it.
In the end, if the powers that be including Tom wanted what was best for the program, it would have been the perfect time to hand over the keys.
Speaking of new facility…. What did spending that money do for us, as far as recruiting goes?
 

el dub

All-Conference
Nov 2, 2005
535
1,382
93
No chance short of a guarantee to take over after 27 or 28 and even then I don't see our current coaches leading a smooth positive transition.
If they're going to stay, best we can hope for is Gold in '28 for Spencer and he takes over with a fresh new staff right after.
I don’t really want a new coach with ZERO coaching experience.