Most high-profile Division I men’s wrestling programs have a single-digit drop at the NCAA Championships. Not the University of Iowa.
The Hawkeyes became relevant when Gary Kurdelmeier lured Iowa State superstar Dan Gable to Iowa City to be his assistant coach in 1972. Gable took over in 1976, and since then, Iowa has placed eighth or higher in every national tournament.
The program reached its apex in the 1980s and 1990s, winning 24 NCAA team titles since 1975. Iowa’s standards are high, but its consistency stands out.
“I think what keeps you going is if there’s a mentality that’s beyond yours,” Gable said. “It’s a program mentality that is supporting what you’re doing and sees things clearer than you do. As a coach, if you’re used to being at a higher level and you have a slide a little bit or don’t get a trophy, it’s kind of like a disaster.
“That means we have something going for us. We just have to fine-tune it. Gary Kurdelmeier was the architect of Iowa wrestling, and when you’re an architect, you build a structure, and you keep that going if you can.
“If you’re a good architect, it doesn’t just crumble unless something crazy happens. Kurdelmeier started what's going on, but it’s going on to much higher levels now. He started by getting a big backer in Roy Carver, and now you have to have a big backer — or two backers or three backers or 10,000.
“I’ve never thought about this before, but I think it’s valuable because I’ve only thought about and worked at the highest level all the time. I’ve had some fall-offs, but only temporarily. The fall-offs were due to lack of discipline by me.
“If 10 is low and one is high, once you get away from first, it’s not easy to accept second place.
“The real competitors aren’t thinking that we’ve been in the top eight in the past 50 years, but in reality, if it stands out, that’s a positive, and that’s a gain. This is very valuable. You want to get first, but you also didn’t fall down to 18th, and the majority of the time it happens, but not at Iowa for some reason. I think it shows that we have a fairly stable program that, even in the non-first years, we’re still competitive.
“We don’t like just being competitive, and if you fall into just being competitive, pretty soon you will be 18th.”
The graph below shows NCAA Championship team finishes for programs that have won national titles since Iowa became relevant in 1973. Every program except Iowa has finished 18th or lower at least once.
Oklahoma State was banned from postseason competition in 1993, and DNC indicates that a program didn’t send a wrestler to the national tournament.