Three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year Tom Brands enters his 10th season as head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa. A 1996 Olympic gold medalist and member of wrestling’s Hall of Fame, Brands is only the eighth wrestling coach at the University of Iowa. The former Hawkeye wrestler was a four-time All-American and three-time national champion (1989-92) at Iowa. He has a 163-16-1 (.908) overall and 67-6 (.918) Big Ten coaching record at Iowa, and a 180-36-1 (.832) career mark.
In nine seasons as Iowa’s head coach, Brands has led the Hawkeyes to three NCAA and four Big Ten team titles, crowning nine NCAA champions, 11 Big Ten champions and 50 All-Americans. Iowa has had 70 academic all-Big Ten recipients, including a school-record 12 in 2011-12. The Hawkeyes have qualified 82 wrestlers for the NCAA Championships in the last nine years, sending the entire 10-man lineup in 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015. Iowa has also won or shared seven of the last eight Big Ten regular season titles.
As a competitor, Brands won the 1996 Olympic freestyle gold medal at 136.5 pounds in Atlanta, GA. He also won a gold medal at the 1993 World Freestyle Championships in Toronto, two World Cup gold medals (1994, 1995) and was the 1995 Pan American Games champion. He won four U.S. National titles (1993-96) and made four straight U.S. World or Olympic teams (1993-96). Along with his twin brother, Terry, Tom was named 1993 USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year, the 1993 John Smith Outstanding Freestyle Wrestler, and 1993 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year. He was inducted into wrestling’s Hall of Fame in 2001.
