Where Iowa Has Been The Best of the Best
Coach Bobby Douglas at Iowa State University is retiring and 4 time undefeated NCAA and Olympic Champion Cael Sanderson is taking over their program. No question Sanderson has been getting the best of the best recruits, and Iowans will have the chance to see if his teaching and coaching abilities match his perfection in competition.
Harold Nichols, himself considered a Dean of Wrestling, coached at ISU for years and built a program that produced many NCAA and world champions. Among them was Dan Gable. Dan Gable then went to the University of Iowa to coach and also produced many NCAA and world champions, in addition to coaching at Olympians. Gable then justly earned the the respect and title - Dean of Wrestling.
At U of I, who could fill Gable's shoes and become the next demigod? Certainly Iowa's winning program was not going to be allowed to die. Rather Iowa looked to its own, a product of Iowa named Jim Zalesky, himself a 3 time NCAA champion. Excepting perhaps maybe a few other schools with wrestling programs in the country, any other college in the nation would consider themselves privileged to have him as a coach. Now Zalesky has been fired...
Stepping into the shoes of best of the best is an almost impossible situation. There are too many Gable produced and Iowa influenced coaches in the nation. Dominating wrestlers are spread throughout the country. Now thecompetitive and coaching talent with cream-of-the-crop recruits are disbursed throughout the nation.
There is however, one dynamic, another important factor that has not been mentioned. It concerns the subject of wrestling competition between the State of Oklahoma and the State of Iowa. The intense rivalry between Oklahoma State University with its own culture and history and that of ISU and U of I must be addressed. Coach John Smith of OSU (himself a NCAA, World and Olympic champion) has built his own program and is now considered the Dean of Wrestling. This Oklahoma nemesis is what Iowa's new coaches must address. OSU's accomplishments have been on a completely different track...
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