From the head Hawk: Tom Brands takes the mic at Iowa Media Day

With a brand-new Iowa men’s wrestling season nearly upon us, Wednesday afternoon’s team media day in Iowa City set the stage for the next five months of action on the mat.

The Hawkeyes – ranked third in today’s NWCA Division I Men’s Coaches Poll – return four All-Americans from last year’s fourth-place NCAA finisher.

Add to it a quartet of intriguing transfers, some talented freshmen, plus a title-contender emerging from redshirt and you’ve got yourself a team (and fanbase) that has much higher aspirations for its 2025-26 season.

As we roll out our multi-part coverage from Media Day, we’ll begin with some takeaways from Iowa head coach Tom Brands’ season-opening press conference.

Now entering his 20^th year at the helm of the Iowa program, Brands touched on a variety of topics during 17 minutes at the podium.

(You can watch for yourself below, and/or read the full transcript.)

I’ve selected several standout topics to dive deeper into here.

Entire roster, including plenty of new firepower to be relied upon in 2025-26

Among two focuses during Brands’ opening statement, one that would crop up again and again later on was the theme having not just an entire lineup, but an entire roster at the ready for this season.

That means those four returning All-Americans. It means the four intriguing transfers. It means those talented freshmen. And it means everyone in between.

“You can throw a lot of names in 10 weight classes,” said Brands of his 2025-26 Hawkeyes.

Without naming anyone specifically, the head Hawk mentioned utilizing the five-date rule to its fullest extent for some of his true freshmen – a la Angelo Ferrari last season.

Ferrari’s name came up again as Brands mentioned program stalwarts like Ayala, Caliendo, Kennedy and Kueter (2025 All-Americans all).

“We have great character on this team,” said Brands. “They’re pretty doggone good students, too.”

“We have a good thing going. But you can have great character and be a good student but you still have to win, and that’s the simple part. It’s not easy to do, but you have to win. It’s freaking easy, man. Not easy, but it’s simple. The formula is simple. W-I-N, win.”

“Intriguing” is how Brands described both his presumptive starter at 125 and 197 pounds (Dean Peterson and Massoma Endene).

Meanwhile, at 141, Nasir Bailey – a 2024 All-American – “is a serious guy” according to his new head coach.

“And Jordan Williams (157), need him to keep continuing to do that. We need him to keep continuing to do that.”

The more Brands speaks, the more the theme of this season comes into focus.

Iowa has no shortage of talent on its 2025-26 roster. But strides must be made across the board for the Hawkeyes to achieve the lofty goals inherent to the program.

A tough schedule gets even tougher – but there’s a significant prize to be had

One of the biggest talking points this offseason – not just at Iowa but around the country – has been the revamped National Duals Invitational.

There – in Tulsa, Oklahoma – the top-seed Hawkeyes will be joined by a who’s who of elite programs from around the country – 14 of whom finished in the top 18 at last March’s NCAA Championships.

This reinvented version of what was once a staple event on the wrestling calendar adds even more marquee opposition to Iowa’s regularly loaded schedule.

“I would like someone to do a study on who has the toughest schedule, RPI, whatever the metrics are, use some NFL or Major League Baseball metric and figure it out, because every year we do, and then this year we’re going to the National Duals,” said Brands.

“I’m not tooting our own horn because we do have the toughest schedule every year, but what I am saying is that there’s been a lot of conversation around those National Duals, and why would you do that when you already are wrestling Penn State, from the Big Ten, Oklahoma State every year. Every year we’re wrestling them.”

As it turns out, the ‘why’ is pretty simple.

“There is a million-dollar purse, and it keeps getting higher,” said Brands.

“And then the profits are going to be put back into the purse for next year. That’s unprecedented in the sport of wrestling. A million-dollar purse that’s going to get bigger every year if they make money?”

In the era of NIL and revenue sharing in college athletics, there are no false pretenses necessary.

So, let’s call it was it is:

There’ll be a lot of money at stake on November 15-16 ($200 thousand for first place, in fact), and it benefits the Hawkeyes to go and win it.

The final ride for ‘No-Brake Drake’

In an afternoon full of enthusiasm and anticipation for the season ahead, no prompt elicited a more passionate response from Tom Brands than the mention of his senior 133-pounder.

In fact, Brands himself couldn’t wait to answer – interrupting the question along the way:

“No-Brake Drake from Dirty Dodge. I’ve been waiting for his name to come up. No-Brake Drake Ayala from Dirty Dodge,” said Brands.

“He’s always been serious about the sport of wrestling. He’s always wanted to win. He was a winner coming in. He was a winner when he got here. He’s still a winner.”

In back-to-back years, Ayala has been just one win away from achieving the ultimate in college wrestling – an NCAA title.

“He’s been close twice,” said Brands. “It sucks the first time. It really sucks the second time.”

But even through the tough losses, Ayala has been a pillar for the Iowa program every step of the way.

That leadership is something his head coach values tremendously. But it doesn’t mean he’s going to let Ayala take his foot off the gas with one season left – and one mountain left summit in March.

“There’s not a lot of wiggle room with him as a leader. You don’t always have that in your roster. You don’t always have that. What I mean by wiggle room is he’s going to pinch you if you’re not doing what you need to be doing, so an extension of the coaching staff,” said Brands.

“(He’s) very mature. I can’t say enough good about him.”

“We have to win, though. We have to win. Is that too much pressure? We have to win.”

Asked to compare Ayala to a Hawkeye alum with some striking career parallels, a classic Brands-ism ensued:

"Cory Clark was a quirky guy – one of my favorites."

"Drake Ayala has his s*** together."

– Tom Brands on some of the similarities/differences b/t a pair of Iowa 133-pounders who have (Clark) & will attempt (Ayala) to get over the hump after back-to-back NCAA runner up finishes

— Tanner Lafever (@TannerLafever) October 29, 2025

Yeah, wrestling season is officially here, folks.