Why does Iowa Wrestling average nearly eight thousand fans at every home match? Is it because they win? Winning helps but Oklahoma State was winning in 2004-2005. That year they were defending national champions on their way to winning another title. The Cowboys won every dual meet that year but their average home attendance was 3,084. Is it because wrestling is more popular in Iowa than anywhere else? Wrestling is popular in Iowa but Iowa does not even rank in the top ten nationally in participants at the high school level. Ohio is fourth nationally and has a top five team at Ohio State but still only manages to have 2,681 people on average attend a home dual. For what it's worth North Carolina was eighth in participation nationally and hardly a few hundred go to watch the college matches in NC. So what is it then? It's the Iowa style. Iowa wrestles an aggressive attacking style. Iowa wrestlers are very physical and mean on the mat. Former Iowa coach Dan Gable called it intense legal pain. A typical Iowa wrestler is physical and aggressive on his feet. He takes the action to his opponent with brutal hand fighting and takedown attempts. Generally an Iowa style wrestler secures a takedown and immediately looks to turn his opponent. If the turn is not imminent he releases the wrestler in a physical manner by pushing him away and goes for more takedowns. After a few takedowns the opponent begins to break mentally and physically thereby making scoring and pinning easier. A few weeks ago we went and watched a few college matches and they were by and large boring, and I love wrestling. Iowa fans also appreciate the passion demonstrated by the coaches for each and every match. The whole staff wrestles the match matside jumping around, demonstrating moves, and yelling instructions. That passion is contagious. Iowa style wrestling is not unique to Iowa. A few other individual wrestlers around the country have the mentality of continuous scoring. Iowa, however, is the only team that totally embodies that mentality. The Iowa style can be learned. When we lived in Iowa the team our father coached would go scrimmage Iowa. Being in the room with Gable coaching and the Brands brothers wrestling we got to see how the Iowa style is taught and practiced.
Check out the interview with Iowa's Daniel Dennis to see what I am talking about.
Click here to view the interview.
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