The following is a conversation with Tom Brands, Olympic champion and world champion in freestyle

wrestling, three time NCAA wrestling champion at University of Iowa and one of the greatest

coaches in the history of wrestling, leading the University of Iowa Hawkeyes for 15 years,

including in 2021, winning the national championships and getting a Coach of the Year award, his third.

He is known for his intensity, focus and mental toughness, embodying both as a wrestler and coach,

the culture and spirit of Iowa wrestling. We recorded this conversation almost exactly three

years ago after I attended the University of Iowa versus Iowa State wrestling meet in the historic

Carver Hawkeye Arena. Tom graciously invited me to his home or his family, a couple of friends and me

spent several hours chatting about wrestling and life. We recorded this brief podcast conversation

that evening and I wasn't sure where, how or whether we'll publish it but returning to it now

three years later, I realized just how meaningful that evening was for me and even though I was

nervous, didn't even put on my jacket, it's the moment I would love to share with others.

The mix of intensity and heartfelt kindness from Tom and his family made me want to stay in Iowa

forever. I think I will return there soon enough because of the amazing people there and because

Iowa is still in many ways the heart of the indomitable spirit of American wrestling,

a sport I love and to which I'm deeply grateful for humbling me early in life and helping me

and many others build character through hard work. This is the Lex Friedman podcast. To support it,

please check out our sponsors in the description and now here's my conversation with Tom Brands.

What's the best motivator for you or for your athletes? Hatred of losing or love of winning?

For me personally, it was definitely the hatred of losing. I was not a guy that was about pageantry.

I was not a guy that was about the parade. When I wrestled in Atlanta, I rented a three cylinder

geo with my wife, drove home and mowed the lawn because it hadn't been mowed for a month.

And I remember one of our neighbors driving by and they were like, they did a double take.

Like, well, that's the, I thought he was in Atlanta. Well, I wasn't in Atlanta yesterday,

just sat on the stand and got a gold medal put around my neck. That's how I was. That doesn't

mean that it was the right approach or the wrong approach. It's just what worked for me.

But when you were a kid, you and Terry, you dreamed about winning that Olympic gold.

Yeah. That's what winning then. There is the lure of winning, but what drives you is that

as you move forward, there's just no reason that you have to settle for anything but being the best.

And if it just, it would get to you to the point where that's not going to happen to me again.

So what, the thing that keeps you up at night is the, the losses and that's not,

that's not going to happen to me again. That's the thought that keeps you up at night.

That's the thought that drives you when you're training. That's why you do,

you know, nine ropes when Gable says do three ropes and buddy pushups and you're out of here

and you do nine or you do them until you can't do any more. And it's a very rare

ingredient. The older I get, the more rare I find it is.

The ingredient of loss, feeding, feeding that the drive of hard training.

Maybe that because everybody's so worried about the negative of whatever and you're

putting too much pressure on yourself. So maybe that, but what I meant was it's when a coach says,

okay, finished with four ropes and you know, buddy pushups and four way neck, you know,

I would do 12 or 10. That's rare. It's no longer about what the coach says.

It's your own demons that you're trying to exercise out. What's the few losses you've had

in your life? Are all of them just melt together? Or is there something that stands out in your

mind? I'm a guy that remembers my career that well. I know that I am judged on a very small

portion of my life and that's minutes of wrestling matches. You know, a lot of winning,

but there's some losing in there too. And you know, people think they know you because of that.

And they think they know you because they see you in a press conference. But

um, you know, to go back to the original question, you know, I don't know how to answer that. So

there's no losses that just that eat at you still. There's opponents that I have learned a great deal

from. I mean, my loss to John Smith, uh, in 1991, um, US Open was something that I learned a lot

about. Um, I learned a lot about positioning. I learned a lot about the importance of parterre,

um, you know, in a certain kind of crazy way, I learned that I could go with the best guy in

the world, even though it was 14 to four. And this is when tech falls were 15 or 12 points,

I didn't get tech fall. And I wasn't, that wasn't a badge of honor for me, but I knew I could go

with him because it was one point takedowns. I scored four takedowns on him. And I learned that

I had to move my feet. Um, and I learned what it meant to move your feet constantly. And there's

no break. John Smith is a very, very intense competitor that people know that now, six time

world Olympic champion. And I felt that firsthand, but I did not go in there, um, taking a backseat,

even though the score, um, was very lopsided. But you knew you could stand with the best of the

world. I knew that I, this is what this is about. And you know what, you move your feet and you

don't give up a lace that's so damn tight that it, you're, you can't, you know, feel your calf

muscle, you know, and I had to get ready for the consolation side of the bracket. Cause I believe

that was in the semis, you know, you know, you just learned from that. And it was, it was better

than learning from, you know, a win over a second ranked senior level guy when you're a junior in

college, you know, you rest on the best on a stage. So if you look back, you probably spent tens of

thousands of hours on the mat, spilled sweat, blood, even tears, maybe, maybe a few times.

So technically or philosophically, how would you do any of those hours differently? Just

looking back at the tens of thousands of hours, I would be more probably in my older age. I

probably would have been more relaxed in my training and probably would have went another cycle,

if I could do it over again. In 96, I really thought that when Gable retired, that I would be the

next guy in line and I was wrong and that was immature of me. In terms of the coach.

In terms of the coach, yes. And I knew that Gable was close. I mean, I didn't know when, but it just

so happens, you know, 97 was his record breaking year and then he retired. But I didn't know how

close he was, but I knew that he had, you know, he went down with a bad hip injury. And so, you

know, you're just, you're not going to. So what is, what is the relaxed Tom Brands looks like?

You're saying you would have been a little more relaxed? More like where, you know what, I was

pretty dang good and I was getting better every day, but maybe doing a little bit different,

a little bit smarter and Terry actually did that going through 2000. He had to do it and

he would have been in the, you know, the funny farm, let alone the, you know, the physical farm,

whatever you want to say, mentally and physically beat up. But he had to learn to

less as more type of approach. And how it came around was, is, you know, you work hard at feeling

good. You work hard in your recovery. So even when you're not wrestling hard in that wrestling room

and looking for the toughest partner to go, you're still working hard in your recovery and

massage could be that stretching could be that thing, things like that that are more fluffy.

And that's something you weren't as good at recovery? There's not a place for it with young

people because in my opinion, there's so much development to have happened. I mean, when you

need to learn wrestling, you need to be wrestling. And as you get older, your body won't do it

anymore. And so to learn wrestling, it's more of a probably a relaxed approach. So if you had to

choose between two athletes, who would dominate competition, one who drills 100,000 reps of a

specific takedown, specific technique, or one that spends that time live wrestling, both,

it's the same. And I like to live wrestling, I was always wanting to live wrestling, bring the

warm up into the live wrestle, let's go. But where I got really, really good was a repetition.

And I was disciplined enough to know that the things that you hate to do in this sport are the

things that make you the very best. And that is a rare ingredient, as I've gotten older.

And you spend a lot of time communicating that to younger athletes. So the thing,

if you feel yourself hating something, that's probably the thing you should be doing.

Yes. As a matter of fact, I had a strength coach when I was really young. He was just a

freaking guy that would, he wore white, like he was almost like a nurse, nurses clothes.

He wore all white from head to toe. And he was in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And his first name was Walt.

And he taught Terry and I to hate the bar away from you on that last rep when you're dead.

And whether it's a curl, you hate it up. And then you do the negative and you hate it down.

And you hate that bench up and you hate it. You look at the bar and you hate it away from you.

So, you know, I learned and I was young. I was young. And I remember being bored,

my mom's sister lived out there. And we were dropped off to stay out there with her cousins.

And I was bored a little bit. And they always treated us really good. But this was like the

single most bright spot in a weightlifting, like enlightenment, even though I lifted weights.

But I never knew the psychology behind lifting weights. It's just to look good.

And so you could flex and look in the mirror or is it for performance? And this guy was about

performance. And you said repetition. Do you mean technique?

I'm talking repetition, technique, technique, technique, drill, drill, drill, hit, hit, hit,

hit, hit, drive, finish, hit, hit, hit, hit, drive, finish.

So you believe in that? You believe in that wholeheartedly?

So, I mean... And I believe that you have to do it on your own.

I don't believe in the coach taking you to the promised land.

So in the guys today, or in yourself, how often do you see people that

grow the belief of doing 10,000, 20,000 reps?

I think it's rare. I think it's very rare. And I think it's especially rare.

I mean, you can talk about that as a coach, but it's especially rare to bring a guide to that

understanding, but you never stop trying. You're always trying to reach out to them.

You're always trying to reach them. I mean, we didn't have a good performance

out there tonight, but you know what? You don't stop communicating.

And there's a lot of programs out there that put their head down

when things aren't going their way. And then as things start going their way,

then they rise with the tide. There was no difference in the demeanor of our corner.

And we talk about that. That's a philosophy. And so you're reaching your guys that way.

So go back to your point or your question. Do you believe in the 10,000 reps? And yes,

I do. But how do you inspire people to do that? So by example, but communication.

But I mean, in my experience, what I've seen communicating the value of repetition and drilling

is a hard thing to communicate. It's hard. And it's very rare to have somebody that

goes in there and will do it on their own. Do you have young guys that step up and do that?

We do. And it's rare. And the guys that do it on their own and have done it on their own are the

guys that are in that lineup and doing well. The other thing is, is that when you talk about

getting to that next level, a lot of times it's, you know, what held you back was I did everything

the coach asked of me and nothing more. But I mean, you could be a great guy for,

for an, for a coach as an athlete, and you did everything that coach asked, but you did nothing

more. So you're really looking for the guys that go way beyond what the coach says. We don't want

guys that are looking at their watch running out of the room when practice is over. We want guys

that know what they have to get done and they might leave early, but they're not looking at their

watch. They might be done early. They might be, we might be on a whole different path. And this

guy just excuses himself. I'm all about that. We are not, we are not autocrats.

There's an internal engine in there. Is that something you're born with?

Or is that something you can develop? I think you are born with it. You develop it also. And I

think that there has to be comfort and then go back to the communication that young people are

comfortable enough to communicate that I need to take the day off.

So what do you mean by communication? Just let, exactly. So letting, letting athletes

be part of their own development. Communication to me is, is letting them know

what they're, what they need to do to get themselves in contention to be the starting

quarterback. And then to give them boosts and compliments when they earn them.

And I don't have time to waste with, with lies and cheating. And when I say cheating,

I'm talking about when they cheat themselves. And so there, those become very direct conversations.

And the conversation starts like this. I don't have time to waste and neither do you.

And so why are we wasting our time? And here's what I mean by that. We're having a conversation

about, you know, your accountability. If you look in the mirror and you're accountable, then we are,

we aren't taking the time to go through this. We're already on our way to solving the problem.

Problem can't be solved without that understanding. And that has to do with symptoms that you see in

the wrestling room. There's something where the fire is not quite there. That has to do with

mental, emotional, spiritual, physical, everything, everything that you know about.

You know, I had a boss and our athletic director is a great athletic director and he gives us

everything we need to be successful. But I had a boss, his name was Fred Mims. I didn't think

anybody could be better than him. And then all of a sudden this Gene Taylor guy came in. And I

didn't, and then he was pretty doggone good too. And he actually, you know, was just like Fred and

maybe even a little bit more current. And then he ended up taking a job at Kansas State where he's

the athletic director now. And, and then this, this lady Barbara Burke comes in. And I didn't

think anybody could be better than Gene Taylor or Fred Mims. And this Barbara Burke, she's better

than both of them. And the reason why is because she's a problem solver. She doesn't waste time.

She's correct. And she's a problem solver. And that's what we need. You need problem solvers.

So on the flip side of problems and technique and repetition, here's a thing called toughness,

mental toughness, something that maybe you or maybe even Iowa in general is a little bit

known for. So how do you train mental toughness as a coach? You train mental toughness by putting

them in situations that they're willing to go through, but don't think they can make it. And

then they go through it. And then all of a sudden those barriers are down. Is that have to do

with physical, usually exhaustion, the wraps on the ropes? It has to do with that. And it has to

do with understanding why we're doing it. And sometimes understanding why we're doing it might

not come for months, but there's blind faith. And we have a heavy weight in the room right now,

this, this young guy that he's like that. He doesn't necessarily understand it. He has a lot

of questions, but he doesn't. And he's been here four months now, four and a half months now,

and he's getting better every day. So mental toughness too is a matter of repetition.

That mental toughness is a matter of repetition and having an open mind and being extremely

accountable. And not only accountable that when you maybe, when something doesn't go your way,

that you look in the mirror and own it, but accountable to the point of view that, you know

what, I got to get tough in this situation right here, right now. And this is what's going to make

or break me. And I talked about my own career being defined by, you know, a couple of minutes on the

mat. But that's when you're going to be defined. That's how you're going to be defined. That's

okay. So people are going to talk about you. So you might as well have them talking about how

doggone tough you are. What about we live in a world now, I've often in my own work, I hear about

these concepts of work life balance or overtraining. So you've been one of the hardest workers ever on

the mat. You've coached some of the hardest workers ever. Do you think it's possible to

overtrain train too much? How big of a concern is it peaking and burnout or frames of mind or

burnout is a, is a, like you let things probably get to the point where you could have arrested them

with a good frame of mind, but peaking is a frame of mind. And, you know, you have to know,

be able to read, and that's a lot of it. And the individual athlete also has to know

that it's a frame of mind. And so when you have a coach that's reading that the right way,

and you have an athlete that is knowing that when zero hour comes that you're going to be ready to

go. And knowing that there's light at the end of the tunnel, if you feel like you're burning that

candle at both ends, light's coming at the end of the tunnel. I mean, you're good to go.

So you think about Gable and that whole dream of being carried off the mat because you worked so

hard. And again, do you think it's possible to overtrain? So you said it's a, it's mental.

I do think it's possible to overtrain if you have a lot of distractions.

And if you're looking at your watch running out of the room, then yeah, you're going to,

that frame of mind isn't going to lend itself to excellence. And the thing is, is we have to

accomplish what we need to get accomplished and get better every day. You can't kind of accomplish

what you need to accomplish. You have to accomplish it. And when you're in that mindset, then the

clock is irrelevant. There's no place for a clock in the wrestling room. And maybe a clock that

times a match, but it may be a clock if, you know, we're student athletes here, but that's why we

encourage our, you know, when you schedule your classes that you don't have a class that comes

right up to, you know, practice time or starts as a night class and it starts at 530, you know,

go to get the 630 class or the seven o clock. So you leave it all behind your heart, your passion

is complete. And then there's no, when you walk in that wrestling room, there's no distractions.

And it's never eternal. The only thing that's eternal is death. You know, there's nothing,

sometimes guys come in there and they wig out. Oh, it's an hour and 25 minutes.

Or an hour and 45 minutes. You have to be willing to go as long as it takes. There's no clock.

There's no clock. Again, wrestlers are some of the hardest, some of the toughest people

in all of sports, but weight cutting often breaks people. So what's your thought on weight cutting,

both nutrition wise, mental wise, how do you approach and think of it as a coach in your own

career too? It's a lot of discipline and it's a lot of discipline during a very uncomfortable

time period that really doesn't last that long, but it feels like it lasts long and it's painful.

And but once you shrink your body down, and if you're hydrated, you'll get through it. If you're

a little hungry, but you're eating, but you're hydrated, once you break that sweat, your energy

depletion goes away. That's a fact. I've practiced that. You come in and you're yawning and you're,

you know, you're starting to shrink your body down. And it's that time of year where, hey,

I got to get my body shrunk down. And you're dehydrated, you are dead in the water. But if you're

hungry and hydrated, when you break that sweat. Have people gotten better with that over the years

over the past few decades? I think that coaches science is better. I think that coaches communicate

it. I think they always have. I think the bottom line is, is having the energy to implement that

and taking a guy by the hand when he doesn't understand and he's new in your program and he's

essential and or he's unwilling to and not disciplined enough because when you take him

by the hand enough, they will learn that discipline. This is an important aspect of wrestling, buddy.

You know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's not just go and show up for the match.

I mean, it's not about just making weight either. You got to be able to make weight. That's part of

the warmup. That's part of the process. Getting ready to wrestle. The whole thing. It's a lifestyle.

Yeah. When did you first start believing you're going to win Olympic gold?

I don't know. I mean, I found out I got really addicted to wrestling really, really fast,

started late, but looking back at my life, wrestled my whole life with my twin brother.

And when Terry and I would fight, it was wrestling and it was to maim. And so, if you're trying to

maim me, I better be tough because if I roll over and expect you to scratch my belly when you're

trying to maim me, I won't lose my head. And Tom and Terry Brands, there was no alpha male.

And when it was on, it was on for real. What do you mean there's no alpha male? There's both.

There's both. There's a lot of twins. There's a dominant twin. Oh, a lot of them. Very few times

is there a situation where you're going to, I'm going to win every time and everything. And then

he's thinking the same exact way. And Terry used to describe it like when we used to get interviewed

a lot about our careers, like it'd be like you grabbing a steering wheel and me grabbing a steering

wheel and fighting. And that's what it was like when you would wrestle him or fight him. And so,

I had that benefit. So when did I know, well, I got addicted to wrestling really, really fast

in fifth grade and started to research it. And I don't know why. And talked about the Olympics and

put it in my head and remember said something about being an Olympic champion in fifth grade.

And somebody made fun of me and I got into fighting the playground. And I remember

getting pulled in, getting in trouble for that. And the people that got me in trouble for that

were smart enough to not rake me over the coals, but they researched or they actually found out

what the fight was about. And I was distraught. I was really emotional, like crying or whatever

you want to say. You don't want to admit that to me. But it wasn't because I got beat up or got

my nose bloody or got punched in the face or broke my arm or there was any pain. It was because

they stomped on my dream and they doubted me. And so I fought for that. And that was a lesson.

There's going to be a lot of doubters. And one thing we talk about as a staff is our staff

has to be locked up in that hallway, in our offices. And when you deviate outside of that,

that is heresy. So everybody has to be on board confident that you're going to be number one in

the country. We go forward and we go put our public foot forward. There is a decision. We

are unified and there is no backbiting. And we have great people right now. And we hadn't had that

before. We've had detractors in our Hawkeye wrestling club. We've had guys that would go out and get

rolled up in ankle laces and not care in our club. And we got Brandon Swanson who got rolled up by

James Green last night. But I'll tell you what, I don't have a problem with that. You know why?

Because I know it means a lot to him. He didn't roll over. He didn't quit because he was on the

consolation side of a bracket. And so when you have that and then you have, you know, if there's

a disagreement, it's behind closed doors and then you're moving forward. And when you have people

that when they're meeting your fans and your supporters, you know, they're talking the right

way with the right message. And anything that's catty won't kiss to that. You got to be careful

there. You got to be careful there. So that in terms of affirmations, in terms of really believing

as a team, as an individual believing that you're the best in the world. Did you, I'm sure you had

detractors. You had people that continued after fifth grade. And that's probably where my hatred

of losing trumps my love for winning because I wanted to shove it up their rear end bad. Yeah.

And the thing is, is we maintain a high level and there's very few programs, Oklahoma State,

Ohio State now, Penn State. I mean, there's four programs that try to win a national title every

year. And that's it. And these, these, these other teams, they get up and they got a good team and

they get up and they get going. And then when, when things don't go well, okay, we're going to do it

next year. Or this is a down year. We're going to, we're going to get right. We're three years out.

So no matter what you're fighting for first, we do. And we haven't won. And you say, well,

we won in eight years. Well, you're right. We haven't. But look at our results are better,

better than anybody out there. And it's, and besides Penn State, and it's because of our

mentality and because we have great people. Ryan Morningstar, Bobby Telfer, Terry Brands,

our medical team, even our strength coach, Quinn Holland, we're all on the same page.

And when I send something, I hit it immediately. I don't have time to waste.

There will not be dissension in that hallway. Everybody's in together. Yeah.

1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Can you take me through the day when you're going for the 62KG

gold? What did you eat, drink? What did you think? It really doesn't matter. I have a routine

that, you know, I had a routine as a competitor that I could run through right now. It was a lot

of self talk, very, very positive self talk. Visualization. Yes. Visualization, self talk.

And that's how I was able to relax and getting ready for matches my whole life.

Learned that very early age at a camp, at a developmental camp, at a young age, Terry and I

did. And I can tell you what I ate. And I can tell you what I did to relax. And it doesn't matter.

What you have to do is you have to find that piece. And I just know that when I was getting ready for

the finals match, I had gone back to my room. I had my relaxed material, you know, and I was able

to relax because I prepared for it. Hopefully I'm right on this. But just looking at the insane

bracket you had to go through, you had to beat, just to get to the finals, to be three world

champions, eventually world champion Dave. And you know what? I don't talk about that and nobody

else does either. But everybody talks about it in their own career. So now you're making my head

big. But yeah, I had a road. I had a road. You're right. That is the hardest bracket I've seen. So

I've talked to a lot of Olympic champions. That is the hardest bracket I've seen of any champion.

So maybe I'm confused on this, but it seemed like a really tough day for you. Did you have,

did you know the bracket ahead of time? Did you know who you faced?

You see the draw and it's a two day tournament. So psychology comes into it as much as physical

shape, you know, because there's those you got to sleep, you know, the night before after the

weigh in, then you got to sleep again that next night after you're set. My final match is going

to be in the morning, you know, and then you have to go back and rest because your final

matches and then tell whatever time it was. And so all this relaxation and all that stuff that

you just talked about, that visualization and self talk, that's what helps is your routine.

And was there any doubts, any fear, any, anything there?

The fear is the type of fear. And I just talked about this to one of my athletes today,

Jack Dempsey talked about fear and the fear of losing is what motivated him to try to take his

opponent's head off. He was a boxer and that's okay. So fear of competition, fear of screwing

up, fear of, oh, I don't feel good. No, no, but that little fear that, you know what, there's

somebody out there that thinks that, you know what, they're going to, they're going to revel in my,

they're going to, they're going to, they're going to eat it up in my misery. They're going to love,

they're going to be thriving because I fail. And I'm not going to let that happen.

You're identical twin brother, Terry, you've been at him, like you said, your whole life. And you're

both some of the greatest wrestlers of all time. You won the gold medal, he won the bronze medal.

You've mentioned, you know, all that really matters is the six minutes or, you know, just a

few minutes, sometimes a few seconds to find your whole career. So how do you think about

that thin line, the tragic line at the Olympic level between winning and losing?

I think you come to peace that in the end, when it's over, that you did the best you could.

And that's certainly the case with Terry. He has a career credentials are better than mine

internationally. You know, he won two world championships. I won one and he won an Olympic

bronze medal. And you know, I won an Olympic gold medal, but I only won one. And the thing is, is

that's not what's important anyway. What's important is, is that when it's all over,

you know, how do you look back on it? And you're kind of like, well, you just said that you made

sure that you weren't going to leave anything undone. But you know what, there were tournaments

where I did leave things undone. And so how do you come back from that? Well, Terry never came

back from 2000 because he retired. Well, you know what, you duplicate and exceed

when you're communicating to these young athletes. And because of that experience,

that makes Terry a better coach. Because of, you know, 1995, that makes me a better coach.

You know, realizing that there are certain things that unraveled in that year that I could

have control looking back on it. And when you have that perspective, you can communicate.

So what control is there? Can you control everything? How big of a role is luck?

Control how you react to an injury. Control that. So you can't, you don't have any control over it.

It's over, you know, you have whatever and whatever happened, but relax and you learn to deal with

injuries matter because of that. You have that experience that you let this thing maybe get

the best of you. And that's just an example. And, you know, Terry put a lot of demons to rest

with that bronze medal. So becoming an Olympic medalist, a few demons could relax.

Well, a little, he will never admit that. And he probably is truthful. And I should,

I'm speaking for him, but he's truthful when he says that. But if I look at it and bronze sucks,

but if I look at it, he did put some demons to rest and I'm proud of him for it. There's

something there that is a consolation in the fact that he won the consolation medal. The consolation

medal sucks, but there is a consolation that he won the consolation medal. That's a tough

medal to win, by the way. Yeah. But do you see the, the Shakespearean tragedy of it all that

the line between winning and losing? So you often say that, you know, winning is everything, but

it feels like, especially at the Olympic level, or you talk about NCAA finals or

that tournament, you know, a split second mis move can result in a loss where you

dominated all the way up to there. That's where your psychology comes in. And that's where the

repetition and all of the self talk and visualization and the physical shape and everything comes

together. And so that doesn't happen. And tonight you, we got beat twice, actually three times and

we outwrestled those. We lost three matches and we outwrestled the guy for six minutes and 30

seconds or one match went to overtime. And if our guys can move forward with the right perspective,

I'm confident that they'll be better. I'll tell you what, I'd take our guy over their guy any day,

any day, because our guys get up for every match. And now we got a lot to work on.

Right. A lot to work on. But you know what, I could say all that and I'll take our guy and

blah, blah, blah. But what are they going to do tonight in their meal? How are they going to do

tonight and their rest? What are they going to do tomorrow in their recovery on their own

necessarily? What are they going to do Monday? Great wrestlers can use their imagination with a

win that they're not satisfied with and go forward as if it was a loss, but it's still

easier to go forward with that win. But they can, they don't just, oh, I want, I'm fine, goes on.

But then when they lose the exact same way that they could have lost before, then they go off the

deep end. And then that's when they're going to make the change in their life. And we talked about

that to our team tonight. And the mature, rare ingredient is guys that can get better even

with success like it was a loss without beating themselves out. That's complicated.

It is. It's a balance. You often talk about Iowa's focus on creating individual champions

like Spencer Lee. Can you explain the philosophy of focusing on individuals versus the team?

I think that we need to put them both together and the individual impacts the team. And

you know, we haven't done that since 2010. And we need to do a better job of putting 10 weight

classes out there that contribute to the team. And if it's not 10, then it's nine. And if it's

not nine, it can't be four. And that takes a lot of pride and it takes a lot of

where the coach is on top of it. And you're not just working on the easy things.

The glaring things, you're working on everything. What do you mean by everything? So the...

I like there's just some, you know, there's ideas that when you're a coach that aren't

there beneath the surface and you got to find them. And that's where communication comes in.

Yeah. But you're talking about, yeah, we got to move forward. What does that mean? Well,

I know what that means. But how many guys really know what that means in their program?

You know, there's so many levels of that. You've said before that winning is everything.

And that means people lose. Most people lose. You know, there's really in whatever the context

is only one winner. In many parts of our world today, outside of wrestling, that concept,

the brutal honesty of that is uncomfortable for people. So how do you think about this very

philosophical, difficult concept of, you know, there only being one winner that winning is

everything? This kind of really painful idea. I don't think that that's a bad thing to have

that mentality. I mean, I think at Kudakov, I remember a story I read about him, he comes to

mind, you know, Sargush, I remember when he lost in London. And I remember the look on his face.

And those are some of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the sport freestyle wrestling. And

you know, what it's what works for you. And you can talk about being at peace with your results

and that the approach is in the journey is what it's about. But and that's great. And that relaxes

some champions. And that makes some champions really, really tick. But not everybody. So it's

okay. It's okay. And if that wigs you out, that that really makes you uptight, then then go the

other route, you have to find what works for you. And that takes a lot of work. If you're lazy, forget

it. Forget it. So you and Terry, but in general, how do you find the line between extremely physical,

extreme physical wrestling and rough wrestling or angry wrestling? So to which degree has anger,

whether it's in your wrestling room these days or in your own career, entered wrestling? Do you see

it as a tool that can be used in the wrestling match? I think there's a balance and not even a

balance. There's a line that you go up to and you can't cross it. Sportsmanship is everything. You

can get dinged for points, you can get thrown out of tournaments. There's rules with flagrant

misconduct where you're kicked out of the match. Other team gets the points and then you have to

sit the next meet. So it's very serious. The NCAA sends a message, a very serious message about

sportsmanship. And so we talk about that. The other thing with wrestling is there's rules in

wrestling. These guys that are tough guys outside of the rules, that's what you want in your opponent.

That means they're frustrated. You've got to be a tough guy inside the rules of the sport.

That's more honorable than cold cocking somebody and knocking them out. So yeah, anger doesn't mean

breaking the rules. But I mean, a lot of people know you just watching you as a coach. There's

quite a bit of passion there. Well, come and do what you're doing tonight. I mean, break bread with me

in my kitchen and see how big of a jackass I am. Now you're a pretty nice guy. Well, I'm not asking

for that necessarily, but thanks. I'm saying, you know what, you as a coach, I mean, okay,

come spend a month in our program and you'll see really what kind of people we are. And there's a

stigma out there because they are very threatened by our program. There's nobody else that threatens

the sport of wrestling like we do. And that's the truth. There's a legend to Iowa wrestling. There's

it's one of the most intimidating. There's a legend to John Smith. It's the same thing.

But they get up for John Smith. They get up for Oklahoma State. They get up for Penn State.

My question is, okay, I'll answer it this way. I'll give you an example in my coaching career.

I coached at Virginia Tech for 22 months. We recruited the number one recruiting class.

We got the administration to change 100% 180 how they looked at wrestling. Here's the thing. And

because of how serious we were and because we weren't idiots, we were able to do that with our

administration. But my point is this, we tried to win. We tried to win even at Virginia Tech. It

wasn't a stepping stone for me. It ended up me in one quickly. And looking back on it, I was a fool

to think that I'd be there for 20 years. But you believed you would be. I did. I did. I did.

So do you remember a time that you really pushed yourself to your limits? So Gable talks about

having to be carried off the mat. Have you really found that level? I said something about that too

in a book. And I think I was misquoted one time. And actually it was Gable's quote. I was trying to

make the point that Gable's quote was like this. And they were making it like it was my own words.

I think it was a first wrestling tough book. But it's a good book. But the story's Gable's.

And I don't know if there's anybody that has done that besides him. And I think that's a very rare

quality. But I've definitely been in that nirvana level of either you could go all day long.

And you have to shoot me to stop me. Yeah. But there's a balance because you're not going hard

with and holding your breath. It's a relaxed. And like you got a guy cornered and who's most

dangerous. Well, the guy that's cornered. And so that's where you relax. I'm not bum rushing him.

I'm relaxed. I'm still moving fake and very fluid. Guy falls down in his face. I run around behind

him. That's offense. You don't have to just grunt to the leg and call that offense. Offense is a

in and out smooth. Now you sound like a Russian wrestler. Yeah. Well, that's they're the best.

In a certain light, looking at the history of wrestling, wrestling is much bigger than

folk style freestyle Greco. It's it's one of the oldest forms of combat period. There's been

cave drawings 15,000 years ago. Do you ever see the year you're one of the great coaches of all

time, you're now focused on a particular rule style right now. But do you ever see wrestling as

bigger than all of this, you know, as one of the pure combats? I do. And we're raising $20

million for a facility to make it the best facility on the planet. We have a vision to build the best

facility on planet Earth and put the best wrestlers in it. And that is bigger than wrestling. It's

for the University of Iowa. And our donors are doing it for the University of Iowa. But it is

about the value of wrestling. To me, also, there is so much value to wrestling blind. Blind people

don't play football. They wrestle. Blind people don't play basketball. I mean, maybe they do.

But it'd be very difficult. They can wrestle. Wrestling is a field sport. Yeah, there's no

ball. There's nothing. It's just two guys or two girls. And that's it. That's right. And I mean,

I'm not going to say you can't because somebody will get ahold of this. And I'll get an email or

a letter that says, you said blind people can't play baseball and blah, blah. I'm just saying

that blind people can wrestle very effectively. I've wrestled with my eyes shut. I mean,

was honest about it too. And it was I was effective. So why was I able to be effective? Because

wrestling is a sport that you can overcome a lot. Your demons that you're overcoming,

they're not limited with whether I'm blind or not. The demons that are overcoming are inside you.

You have to overcome those demons from within. So what's the future of Iowa wrestling look like

with this facility and this momentum you have now and this great group of guys you have now?

We have a good young group of guys and there is a lot of buzz in the program and probably

hasn't been this much buzz for quite some time. And our job is to be relaxed and be focused and

not get caught up in the buzz. But we have to put it together. And we have a catalyst,

Spencer Lee, but he's going to have to get better. And we have some other catalysts as well

that are going to help us in the future. But they got to get better. And so all this stuff about

independence and accountability and being able to get better every day under duress

and not knowing that you're getting better, but you are. You know what I mean by that?

Like the great thing about Gable was wrestling for him was is you were getting better and you

didn't know you were getting better. Well, just like you said, grow from success. So you never

allow yourself to think that you're getting good. All of a sudden you do something in the practice

room that you've been working on and all of a sudden you hit it and it's like it was automatic.

And then that, you know, that multiply success. So if I may say so, you're a bit of a man of

the Bible. What's where do you go? What do you go to the Bible for your faith? Strength, love,

patience? Same things I talked about things that you can't control, you turn them over.

So the biggest thing for me is I got to turn over the things that I can't control, turn them over

to that power. And I'm going to be a lot better off. And that's the reason why I'm not in the

funny form. It's very competitive to me. Yeah, it's very serious that we know that these young

wrestlers come to school here to be the best that they could be and to accomplish goals

that like me, when I was young, they've set out to accomplish and they chose I would do that.

So we have to deliver. And because of that peace with God, you know, it's peer. It's a peer motivation

and it's a peer platform. It's not it's not doing this for my ego. We're not corrupt people. We're

not liars and cheaters. And so often that gets in the way of a decent person. Yeah, first and foremost,

you're a good person and God helps you be that. Yeah, and we're serious about wrestling.

So a couple more questions. What's the role of family in wrestling? You mentioned your wife

who I read turned you down when you asked her for a phone number, said it's in the phone book.

That's pretty smooth. Her story of that is that she didn't want me to have to remember the number.

And I say at this point, and I say there's no way and I remember it very clearly,

like it's in the phone book and I was like, okay, she's following me off. That's okay.

But luckily, anyway, here's the thing with family. I mean, we have great people in our program. We

have great parents. We have a culture of parents that that's part of the buzz. And this class that

you see wrestling right now that's been here a year now, Lee, Miran, Costello, Warner, and then

Lugo was a transfer. And I'm forgetting somebody. I don't want to forget anybody, but these parents

are phenomenal. And that's a different parental culture. So the camera's dad is the same. And

so there's a lot of good there. And that's a big, that's a big, a big move because

how we talk to parents, we don't talk to parents to get along with them. We talk to parents to

help them understand, you know, where we're at with their sons. And when you can have a direct

conversation with a parent who is helping his son or her son, the mom, helping her son to be

accountable and to own it, then you can get a lot accomplished. And that's what we've been able to do.

And so you're solving problems like I talked about earlier. That's part of the family. The other part

of the family is the coaches are like family. The other part of the family is the coaches,

the coaches, significant others and wives are part of the family. And we fed, you know, we fed

40 guys and an entire coaching staff and wives and their children here at Thanksgiving. And that

equals 70 people. And it's, it's fun. It's fun. So family means administration. Gary Bartow,

my, my athletic director gives us everything that we need to be successful. And he has an open mind

for, for the sport of wrestling and wrestling is important in Iowa. So that's a no brainer. But

not if you're not a wrestling guy, but he sees we do it the right way. And so the commitment

is there from him. If we were doofuses, you know, he, the commitment wouldn't be there.

So family is, everybody's all in. I mean, it's from the rest of us to the family.

It goes back to what I said earlier about our people, our people are great. Ryan Morty Star is

great. Bobby Telford is great. Bobby Telford took over for a guy named Ben Burhaugh, who is great.

Our medical team is great. Dr. Westerman, Dr. Wolf, Jesse Donaworth, our athletic trainer is great.

Terry Brands is great. Mariah Stickley and Elise Owens are managers are great. My daughter's a

manager as well. It's great. They're, they're hardworking young women. Our, our Hawkeye Wrestling

Club is, is where it needs to be in terms of how they help in their role. And now we have four

women in there. And that's great. And, you know, at least one of their dads is super involved with

us. But, um, and so it's, one thing that I've learned is that you have to have that. And if you don't

have that, then you have to address it quickly. And those outliers, you know, let's solve that

problem. Let's get it out in the open here. And if they're, you know, if it doesn't work out,

it's not going to work out. That's a heck of a Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah. Next year. Well,

I don't know if it'd be legal, but I'd have to check with our compliance and, you know,

they'd have to vet you. You could come, you can come and see what it's all about. This room is full.

Oh man. Well, yeah, I'll be back next year then. All right. Awesome. Last question. In 2014, I watched

this video four years ago, uh, of you competing in, I believe your first swim meet against your

brother Terry, uh, and you came out victorious. Not really. Okay. So let's, I won the rate. Did you

cheat? Here's what happened. I researched this thing because I'm, that's how I am. You practiced.

No, I didn't, but I researched it in swimming. If you flinch on that starter block, it's a full

start. You can't twitch a finger and because they would be doing that to get their buddy to move

or the guy next to them, you know, so you have to be rock solid. Well, when we went, Terry was

leaning forward as the gun was going off. So he's moving. And so I was like, no, no, no,

false start. No, no, no, no. And he couldn't hear me. He was already in the water. And so he took

off like a bat out of, you know, where for the end of the pool and couldn't hear me and got to

the end of the pool. And it was a down and back. Well, that's a hard thing to do with a guy with

no body fat. And so he burned a lot of energy and he come up on that end of the pool and he was

like, where's, where's he at? Cause he didn't see me. And so we stopped him and then he came back

and then we went another one and I beat him. But it's the only time that, you know, I would say

that he was tuckered out and that's the reason why. And I'll also say this, we did a time

where we timed my race, the one I won. And then we timed his first down to the wall.

And then we timed his, the actual race where once he hit the wall, we timed him on the way back

and he'd beat me. Now, how's that for being honest? That's pretty honest. That's pretty honest.

Accountable. Wow. Person. And I'm going to tell you something else, getting in those shorts,

those swim trunks as impressive. They are tight. Yeah. So is there outside of wrestling,

is there a thing that Terry got the better of you? I mean, I guess this could count as one

that you're still really bitter about that you need to avenge?

I mean, that's past. I mean, we, he's got an UNO title. We have UNO world championships. He's

got an UNO title I have, I have yet to have one. Morningstar has two titles. That's unprecedented.

So there's only four trophies out there and Terry's got one of those and I don't have one yet.

Yeah. Well, it's still time. Tom, thank you so much for letting a Russian with a tie into your home.

Thanks for listening to this conversation with Tom Brands. To support this podcast,

please check out our sponsors in the description. And now let me leave you with some words from

Marcus Aurelius. The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing. Thank you for listening

and hope to see you next time.