Are you kidding me?! Penn State’s wrestling program brings to mind several thoughts and memories worth talking about when it comes to milestones or markers in Iowa wrestling. First, the name Bill Koll. Even before being Penn State’s coach, Bill was the coach at State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa [now the University of Northern Iowa] where I was growing up. I actually had the opportunity to work out in his college room while I was in high school and experience him first-hand. Of course, while this was happening, I knew they instituted the slam rule because of Bill and his rough style of wrestling (or at least as the stories were told).
Freshmen weren’t eligible to compete in college in my time, so in 1968, as a sophomore, I won the 130-lb NCAA title for Iowa State University right there in State College. In the 1987–88 season a defeat by the Nittany Lions woke us up after we had been asleep too long. This loss created a much needed valuable change in the program for the future.
This defeat by Penn State in Carver-Hawkeye Arena (19–18) was the only loss of my coaching career in Carver. My record as head coach ended up being 95–1 in Carver. I’m not real happy about that one loss in the loss column; it always seems to continually haunt me.
In the 1990–91 season Iowa defeated Penn State in State College in December by the score of 32-6. A month later in the National Duals, Penn State advanced over Iowa, 19–19 (on criteria), in the semi-finals. Quite a turn around in a month’s time. It actually made the difference in the season for the Hawks because what was learned from the dual loss changed the rest of the season into positives.
In 1993, the first year Penn State entered the Big 10 conference, Iowa’s line-up was adjusted right up to the end of the season to make sure we could be victorious over Penn State. The conference and NCAA tournaments were wild with adjustments, last-minute changes, and official calls that all ended up making the difference in who won.
For those with good wrestling memories, Iowa barely won the Big 10’s over Penn State. It took a last-minute eligibility issue being solved, a back-up Iowa wrestler weighing in, and pulling a red-shirt freshman out of his red-shirt while the defending champ moved down a weight class. All this to barely defeat Penn State. It kept the Big 10 string of 19 in a row moving forward.
At Penn State Iowa always drew a great crowd, and the fans were always very appreciative of the home team and even the visitors until the match started. Rightly so! I mostly left out names with the above many examples, but see how many can figure out the scenarios. Thanks.
