Examining Iowa men's wrestling post-Bo Bassett decommitment

The Iowa men’s wrestling program has been quite the source of conversation for the past 8-9 days.

That’s a sentence not too uncommon when it comes to the most high-profile, highly scrutinized team in the sport. And yet, the chatter from both within and outside of the Iowa fanbase arguably reached a fever pitch in the aftermath of the recent news that star 2026 recruit Bo Bassett had backed out of his commitment to the Hawkeyes.

Why? Well, it all traces back to expectations.

From its coaches to its athletes to its fanbase, there is only one objective echoed as it pertains to Iowa wrestling:

National titles.

And when it’s been four years since the program last reached that mountaintop not only does the Black & Gold faithful grow restless, but outsiders pour in to revel in its failure to reach that lofty, unapologetic standard.

Recruits like Bo Bassett are a major key to both subduing those percolating outside narratives, but more importantly affecting the ultimate outcome on the mat when it’s time for the rubber to meet the road.

Thus, his decommitment has caused plenty of consternation in the week-and-change since.

But it isn’t the only source of discontentment – in fact, far from it.

So, welcome to an examination of Iowa men’s wrestling.

How did things get here? What does here mean, exactly? And what needs to happen next if the Hawkeyes want to return to their championship standard and silence the doubters crowing louder and louder around them?

Details of Bassett breakdown remain nebulous at best

The last thing I’m going to do is purport to have any inside information as to precisely what caused the split between Bo Bassett and Iowa.

In his decommitment announcement Bassett himself wrote, “This wasn’t easy, but I believe it’s not the right fit for me as a wrestler, a person, or for my faith journey.”

Others, including some national wrestling media outlets, have alluded more specifically to alleged conflicts between Iowa and the Bassett family over their training setup with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club.

And additional, albeit vague references have been made to a growing estrangement between the two parties that ultimately came to a head.

Perhaps some, if not all of that is true – in some mixture of events/factors anyway – although who (if anyone) is truly ‘at fault’ we may never know.

(Again, I’m not claiming to be an authority on the details of this subject.)

But what we haven’t heard amongst this wave of discourse is any sort of version of events from the perspective of the Iowa program itself, as neither the school nor its coaches are allowed to publicly comment on an unsigned recruit.

All I know for sure is that some 4.5 months after his original commitment – a time period during which Bassett consistently promoted/leveraged his relationship with Iowa via his prolific social media presence – it was suddenly over.

Iowa is different. The line outside of Xtream Arena waiting to get into the Bo Bassett meet and greet and #LEEvsONO pic.twitter.com/xngiuMpEJ2

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) February 26, 2025

And not only was it over for Bo, but ties have seemingly been severed with the entire Bassett family – including younger brothers Melvin Miller (the #1 overall 2027 prospect) and Keegan Bassett (a high-profile 2028 recruit.)

A week before, Miller had been contacted by the Iowa staff just after the recruiting contact period opened for high school juniors on June 15^th. Three days later the Hawkeyes were on his initial list of nine schools (as expected). The announcement was captioned with, “I am focused, driven and know exactly what I want and what I am looking for.”

Four days after that – and roughly an hour after Bo announced his decommitment – Miller released a new list of eight schools with Iowa omitted. The caption read, “Family first!”

Regardless of what you believe actually transpired, and regardless of the high-profile nature of Bassett et al, recruiting ‘breakups’ happen all the time in every sport. And in every sport, even the biggest recruiting what-ifs are ultimately disregarded so long as a program’s performance on the field/court/mat/etc. shows few adverse effects long term.

The problem for Iowa men’s wrestling is that it has fallen short of its unwavering championship standard in recent years. And whether it’s a Bo Bassett, a Melvin Miller or someone else, talent acquisition is the name of the game if Iowa wants to compete for championships again.

It’s been at the root of a nearly 15-year period of Penn State dominance. It’s what’s helping supercharge the resurgence of Oklahoma State. And it’s no coincidence those are the two programs squarely in the crosshairs of Iowa and its title-hungry fanbase.

Again, this singular development isn’t what has caused such a stir around the Iowa program. It’s merely a part of a larger, ongoing discussion – which there’s no better time to get into than right now.

Championship standard

There’s no two ways around it, what you do in March defines your legacy as a Hawkeye wrestler/coach.

And therefore, it’s fair to say the Iowa men’s program hasn’t done a whole lot to add to its legacy since it last stood atop the sport back in March of 2021.

The following graphic not only illustrates that fact, but also the discrepancy between Iowa, fellow historical blueblood Oklahoma State, and the juggernaut Nittany Lions – who’ve won the past four NCAA team titles and 12 total since 2011.

Iowa has finished no lower than fifth place at each of the past five NCAA Championships. The Hawkeyes’ average placement (third) and team score (86.7 points) easily outpace every other program in the country…except one.

Penn State has had an average team finish of 1.2. That already wild statistic is accompanied by an even more astonishing figure when it comes to team score – where the Nittany Lions have tallied an average of 146.4 team points dating back to 2021, including back-to-back record totals in 2024 (172.5) and 2025 (177).

That’s 59.7 points more than Iowa’s average team score over the same period.

For some extra context, Stephen Buchanan just won the first individual NCAA title by a Hawkeye since Spencer Lee (2021). He did so while amassing 24 team points – which means on average Penn State is outscoring Iowa by nearly 2.5 ‘Stephen Buchanans’ per national tournament since 2021.

Yikes.

Oklahoma State rates far lower in those two categories (9.6 average finish, 65 team points) thanks largely to some horrific NCAA performances from 2022-24. But the Cowboys have also done something the Hawkeyes haven’t – producing three individual champions to Iowa’s two, including a pair last March under first-year head coach David Taylor.

As for the Nittany Lions, to no surprise PSU laps the field when it comes to individual accolades as well.

Prospect pipeline

Speaking of individuals, many of those top collegiate performers show signs of their elite talent long before then – which is why recruiting the high school ranks is so critical for any college program, especially ones determined to battle for championship supremacy.

And in that area, Iowa is lagging behind its chief competitors.

The forthcoming chart illustrates numbers (courtesy of FloWrestling) from the 2020-26 recruiting classes. It includes the last vestiges of COVID super seniors finishing out their college careers (a la Patrick Kennedy), as well as Bo Bassett’s 2026 class – the genesis of this very article.

Flo does list a top 100 ‘Big Board’ for each class, which you can look up for yourself. However, I’ve drawn a cutoff line at top 30 prospects in part because since 2015 (as far back as my records go) Iowa has signed just two high school prospects ranked lower than that who went on to earn All-American honors as Hawkeyes – #44 Max Murin (2017) and #93 Nelson Brands (2018).

In fact, if you remove Abe Assad (#29 in the Class of 2019) – who was awarded All-American status by the NWCA for the COVID-cancelled 2020 NCAA Championships – Iowa’s next lowest ranked ‘homegrown’ All-American signee since Spencer Lee stepped on campus eight years ago is Tony Cassioppi (#14 in the Class of 2018).

As you can see, there’s not a stark difference when it comes to the ‘average ranking’ of blue chippers signed by the ‘Big Three.’

Iowa (11.4) and Oklahoma State (11.2) are almost dead even, and Penn State (8.9) isn’t far ahead.

But the average is less consequential if the volume doesn’t match up. And Iowa (12) has signed just 60 percent of the top-30 prospects that the Cowboys (21) and Nittany Lions (19) have this decade.

That percentage gets even worse when you pare things down to top-10 recruits – with Iowa hauling in exactly half as many as OSU/PSU.

And if anything, the gap has only grown wider of late.

Between the 2024-26 classes, Oklahoma State and Penn State have each signed and/or received commitments from 11 top-30 prospects. Iowa’s tally over that same span currently sits at just four.

While hardly acceptable for Hawkeye fans, the Penn State figure might be slightly less nauseating because they’ve at least proven to be the gold standard in the sport. But it’s the speed at which Oklahoma State has skyrocketed that has to really sting.

Since David Taylor’s hiring in Stillwater last May, eight top-30 recruits have pledged to the Cowboys. What’s worse, half of them (all ranked between second and sixth overall in the 2026 class) were pursued heavily by the Hawkeyes.

Jordyn and Jayden Raney commit to Oklahoma State 🤠 @CowboyWrestling pic.twitter.com/cMM8L7CdAS

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) May 15, 2025

Trading in transfers

It’s important to note that today’s college wrestling landscape is ever-evolving, and in one major way Iowa has been right on the cutting edge – the transfer portal.

Pat Lugo was the #1 seed entering NCAAs in 2020. Austin DeSanto was a point-scoring, high-placing machine. Credentialled 141-pounders Jaydin Eierman and Real Woods each had the highest NCAA finishes of their careers after becoming Hawkeyes.

The success stories don’t stop there either.

Just this past season former transfers Michael Caliendo and Stephen Buchanan reached the NCAA finals. Meanwhile, injuries sidetracked what had been a strong season by Kyle Parco and could’ve been a great year for Jacori Teemer.

Iowa has jumped feet first into the transfer portal – hitting for an incredibly high ‘batting average’ to boot. And they’ve done it again entering the 2025-26 season.

But the Hawkeyes aren’t the only ones…

Since 2022, three different transfers have won individual NCAA titles for Penn State.

And at Oklahoma State, five of its six All-Americans in 2025 began their college careers elsewhere. Three of them were NCAA finalists in March – including national champions Dean Hamiti and Wyatt Hendrickson.

Club benefits

Be they recruits or transfers, they all provide the sustenance for these programs to embark upon their next championship pursuit(s). And even once their eligibility is gone, their impact (ideally) continues to be felt.

Which brings us to the third and final component under examination – the Hawkeye Wrestling Club (HWC).

What if I told you that dating back to the 2021 Tokyo Games only 2/56 (men’s freestyle) spots on United States World/Olympic teams have been filled by members of the HWC – both by Spencer Lee.

And what if I told you that number was four for Oklahoma State’s Cowboy Regional Training Center (CRTC) – with a chance to bump up to five next month and bring its total to three in 2025 alone.

Then of course, there’s Penn State’s Nittany Lion Wresting Club (NLWC) – which dwarfs them both.

By my count, a whopping 22 members of Team USA have repped the NLWC since 2021 – nearly 40 percent of all available spots.

These are the post-collegiate athletes who are pouring back into the current Hawkeyes/Cowboys/Nittany Lions – ideally providing them a tougher test in the practice room than what they’ll face at the next NCAA Championships. And right now, much like when it comes to incoming talent, Iowa doesn’t match up.

Have there been credentialed wrestlers in the HWC room? Of course.

Names like Buchanan, DeSanto, Eierman, Lee, Lugo, Marinelli, Sorensen, Warner and Young immediately come to mind.

However, others like Thomas Gilman (Penn State/NLWC) and Real Woods (Michigan/Cliff Keen RTC) haven’t stuck around long term. Instead, they’ve moved elsewhere and made subsequent World/Olympic teams, all the while improving the training environment and publicity for the school associated with their new club(s).

Meanwhile, Penn State has brought in outside superstars like Gilman, Kyle Dake and Kyle Snyder – all World finalists/champions before joining the NLWC.

As for Oklahoma State, guys like 2023 World bronze medalist Zahid Valencia and senior-level staple Joey McKenna have already relocated to Stillwater since David Taylor took over.

And it doesn’t stop domestically, either.

PSU alum Roman Bravo-Young competed for Mexico at the 2024 Olympics while training with the NLWC. He’s since moved to the Cowboy RTC and will be a medal threat at the World Championships this September.

And how’s this for another parallel between Iowa’s biggest competitors:

Late last year, Oklahoma State signed Japanese lightweight Rin Sakamoto – whom folks may remember made his collegiate debut at the Iowa/Oklahoma State dual in late February. About a week ago, Sakamoto made the Japanese World Championship team at 57 kilograms.

Meanwhile, in late March, Penn State added 2024 61-kilogram World Champion Masanosuke Ono (Japan) to its roster for the upcoming season.

Look, Iowa has talented, valuable HWC members training with/alongside its college roster. It even has a notable Japanese athlete of its own – 2021 Olympian Keisuke Otoguro – in the room on a regular basis.

But when you evaluate where Iowa’s club situation stands right now in comparison to Penn State and Oklahoma State – it just doesn’t stack up.

And with similar themes as that echoing throughout this piece it’s clear the Hawkeyes have some major work to do.

What’s next?

As we’ve covered, the takeaways from the Bassett saga are more wide-reaching than the loss of one prominent recruit. And as such, the solutions to the Iowa program’s clear and present hurdles need to be equally multiple in nature.

But I believe the root of it all is recruiting at the high school level.

Bassett, his talented brothers, and by extension the Bishop McCort high school program, were viewed as a potential key to re-opening the Pennsylvania pipeline that was so crucial to Iowa’s last run atop the sport – when it was the undisputed best team in the country for two years running (2019-20 and 2020-21).

Back then, it was Michael Kemerer, Kaleb Young, Spencer Lee and Max Murin who signed with the Hawkeyes over a three-class span. A year later, thanks in large part to Lee’s influence, a fifth Pennsylvanian joined the fray via the portal in Austin DeSanto.

That fivesome combined with Alex Marinelli, Jacob Warner and Tony Cassioppi – each elite recruits themselves – to form the bedrock of Iowa’s best teams in a decade.

This isn’t to say Iowa needs to replicate that recruiting run from a geographic standpoint to contend for titles again. But the Hawkeyes do need to reestablish a similar type of volume when it comes to top-end prospects – and probably exceed it – to make a legitimate run at where Penn State is and where Oklahoma State appears headed.

Classes producing minimal firepower like the years listed below simply haven’t been and won’t be enough to close the gap:

• 2019 (Abe Assad)
• 2020 (Patrick Kennedy)
• 2021 (Drake Ayala)
• 2022 (none)
• 2023 (Ben Kueter)
• 2024 (Angelo Ferrari)

Mind you, it’s far too soon to write off some other names from those latter classes – i.e. Ryder Block (#22 in 2023) and Miguel Estrada (#48 in 2024). But the point remains:

Iowa needs more elite talent from the high school ranks – a lot more.

Down goes No. 3 at 184 lbs 🚨

Angelo Ferrari pulls off the 6-3 win in SV over Dustin Plott 👀#B1GWrestling x @Hawks_Wrestling pic.twitter.com/oQzGs8lb6Y

— Big Ten Wrestling (@B1GWrestling) February 24, 2025

2025 was a decent start, landing blue chip New Jersey products Leo DeLuca (#9) and Harvey Ludington (#15). But now 2026 is totally in flux – with only April commit #15 Michael Mocco near the top of his class.

(I wrote more today about where the Hawkeyes may turn next in their 2026 recruiting efforts.)

Iowa also can’t fall further behind in 2027 – where its original (presumed) centerpiece is now off the board in Melvin Miller.

So, what needs to happen next for the Hawkeyes? It’s pretty simple: talent acquisition from the ground up.

It must start with renewed vigor/success with high school recruiting. From there, the transfer portal must remain a consistent source of high-end talent whenever available/needed. And once all that talent has cycled through its NCAA eligibility, keeping it in Iowa City with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club thereafter is paramount.

Oh, and Iowa shouldn’t resolve itself to only homegrown athletes in the HWC either. If/when interested top talent becomes available, make them a priority and bring ’em aboard.

Tom Brands knows all of this, of course. Just as he undoubtedly understood his predicament the last time Iowa was viewed by many as a ‘third banana’ in the men’s college wrestling hierarchy.

In 2015, a surging, star-studded Ohio State program won an NCAA title, then tallied three consecutive runner-up finishes (2017-19) as the greatest challenger to the Penn State machine.

It took some time, but Iowa ultimately responded with back-to-back championship runs – even though 2020 will never officially hang in the rafters at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

A similar, if not even greater response is required now.

Penn State remains as fearsome as ever. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State is loading up with top young talent and financial backing spurred on by its new star coach who has refashioned the program’s historical prominence with his own modern flair.

But simply recognizing the challenge at hand is easy. The hard part is doing something about it.

We’ll have to see if the Hawkeyes are up to the task.