Coaching Staff Next Year

Coastal2

Senior
Dec 19, 2025
128
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If recruits aren't impressed with a 4XAA and Finalist, all but MAYBE the top 2 each year are morons. His accolades are basically the SAME as Kemerer and everyone is pretty damn high on him. Are you saying no one would be impressed by Kemerer either???
The recruits Iowa needs to compete with Penn State, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and now Va Tech won't be impressed. A phone call from Warner would solicit a "who?" from most recruits.
 

Stick Kitty

All-Conference
Jul 7, 2025
469
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Heard it was going to be Yianni. But... things change.
My bad. That would have been perfect one of my top 2 young guys to get to round out a staff- other Carr. Also imo speaks volume about any prominent outside guy wanting to come into a "narrow minded" room. I cant blame them for not putting themselves out there only to not be heard or valued. Its very unfortunate. We just flat out are not attractive right now.


Cody and Nick Lee are assistants at psu, Kennedy and Ward are assistants at Okie st. Why would anyone think Warner cannot be as good or better then any of these guys as a coach???

You are completely missing the picture. The whole staff needs fresh air or a face lift and needs to reinvent its approach to recruiting, style & scrambling.

That needs to come from top down with tough decisions and hard changes. This is just Tom going to the old small circle of trust that he completely controls any teaching, coaching etc. As great as JW would be for any D1 school as a 3rd assistant- it isn't bringing even an ounce of freshness into the stale room.

Now if JW was replacing BT and Morningstar moved on and was replaced by say a Nolf. NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON ON THIS BOARD WOULD COMPLAIN ABOUT JACOB.

Best thing for Jacob - because I really like the kid- is he gets one year coaching under his belt before the whole staff is asked to go.

Edit- Sorry for going Iron Brid and yelling but the slow kids in the back of the room aren't keeping up.
 
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TheREALSpooner

All-Conference
Dec 16, 2022
915
3,036
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$46k salary is not enough money to make a splash hire from someone outside the program.

Yes we all know about the unofficial HWC money that accompanied his $46K salary from 2025

The position doesn’t pay a lot


Hot damn, dude. Make up your damn mind. Do you have a mental deficiency?

4th assistant usually runs camps and gets compensation from those on top of salary

There's no such position as 4th assistant. There are only 3.


Kind of pisses me off that people are so down on Warner. Flash isn’t everything

Not too many are "down on Warner." They are down on the staff Brands has assembled. People have been, and continue to be, "down" on Brands.
 

kingstown

All-Conference
Dec 7, 2025
663
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My bad. That would have been perfect one of my top 2 young guys to get to round out a staff- other Carr. Also imo speaks volume about any prominent outside guy wanting to come into a "narrow minded" room. I cant blame them for not putting themselves out there only to not be heard or valued. Its very unfortunate. We just flat out are not attractive right now.




You are completely missing the picture. The whole staff need fresh air or a face lift and need to reinvent its approach to recruiting, style, scrambling.

That need to come from top down with tough decisions and hard changes. This is just Tom going to the old small circle of trust that he completly control any teaching, coaching ect. As great as JW would be for any D1 school as a 3rd assistant- it isnt bringing even an ounce of freshness into the stale room.

Now if JW was replacing BT and Morningstar moved on and was replaced by say Nolf. NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON ON THIS BOARD WOULD COMPLAIN ABOUT JACOB.

Best thing for Jacob because I really like the kid is he gets one year coaching under his belt before the whole staff is asked to go.

Edit- Sorry for going Iron Brid and yelling but the slow kids in the back of the room aren't keeping up.
I pretty much agree. I have only heard positives about what kind of a person Warner is and expect him to do very well given the situation, but it just seemed like a different perspective could have been nice here. The more people in the know talk though it seems like maybe he does bring some extra mojo that could benefit the team. I have been strongly of the thought that a change at the top is needed, but if Brands is going to get more time to coach he should get to control his staff.
 

el dub

All-Conference
Nov 2, 2005
584
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This was the perfect opportunity to show Tom is capable of evolving and having outside influences in the room. Yianni would have been an awesome hire for the optics alone (talent, recruiting, HWC notwithstanding).

I hate that this will be considered as criticism to Warner but this is just more of the same from Tom, as expected.
I’m guessing Yianni may have been a first choice and JW came into play after he fell through, maybe?
 

TherealGrip220

All-Conference
Oct 14, 2025
494
1,490
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My bad. That would have been perfect one of my top 2 young guys to get to round out a staff- other Carr. Also imo speaks volume about any prominent outside guy wanting to come into a "narrow minded" room. I cant blame them for not putting themselves out there only to not be heard or valued. Its very unfortunate. We just flat out are not attractive right now.




You are completely missing the picture. The whole staff need fresh air or a face lift and need to reinvent its approach to recruiting, style, scrambling.

That need to come from top down with tough decisions and hard changes. This is just Tom going to the old small circle of trust that he completly control any teaching, coaching ect. As great as JW would be for any D1 school as a 3rd assistant- it isnt bringing even an ounce of freshness into the stale room.

Now if JW was replacing BT and Morningstar moved on and was replaced by say Nolf. NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON ON THIS BOARD WOULD COMPLAIN ABOUT JACOB.

Best thing for Jacob because I really like the kid is he gets one year coaching under his belt before the whole staff is asked to go.

Edit- Sorry for going Iron Brid and yelling but the slow kids in the back of the room aren't keeping up.
Wrong
 
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TherealGrip220

All-Conference
Oct 14, 2025
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Nick Lee is a multi-time National Champ, Cody Sanderson multi-time finalist and has name recognition. Kennedy made a world team and got his job through nepotism and Ward has decades of head coaching experience.

Warner might be the nicest guy in the world and turn out to be a heckuva coach but he's not going to be able to bring anything new, isn't going to be able to tell the Brands that they are wrong and no recruit in the country is going to be impressed by his accolades.
Warner is a 4x all American and a finalist, Smart and a hell of a nice guy. Your points hold no validity of why Warner cannot succeed to be an excellent college coach.
Why does everyone think You need to be a world beater or name recognition 🤣 to be a good college coach.
I say we Need to get the best on the team and have tremendous resources, but as many here said coaching is more important. Warner could be the next best coach around, all of you do not know otherwise.
 
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TherealGrip220

All-Conference
Oct 14, 2025
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Kind of pisses me off that people are so down on Warner. Flash isn’t everything
Thank you
Why are you asking me to take a POV on the hire that isn't much different from your own on the subject? I mean...my goodness, man. Have I not been critical enough of this hire today? It's just your supporting points this morning are/were awful.




He said "4th assistant." Words mean things. They matter.



I don't see too many being critical of Warner, per se. This program is fantastically stale, and he represents more of the same. Group think prevails yet again.
Wrong
 
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Libertylover

All-Conference
Dec 17, 2020
897
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So now Willie is also reporting it’s Warner… I’m sure Warner will help a lot with recruiting, especially in the Illinois front.

It’s not the greatest splash but I do think he will help 184/197/HWT. He wrestles with the guys and Buchanan did contribute some of his success to Warner in some of his interviews.

Not the flashiest hirer but I’m sure it is still a great hire. I do think he will help a lot with the recruiting, especially in IL.
He basically said what do you expect with a coach who probably has no more than 2-3 years left. A no lose situation for rookie coach like Warner. Even if a new coach comes in a few years and cleans house, it will be a nice first job to have on your resume. Doubt if he helps sway any 2028 mid to upper weight recruits, which we desperately need in that class. He mentioned only way to get a bigger name would be a head coach in waiting deal, and they don’t see Iowa doing something like that, just taking what they can get at the time Tom retires. I find it hard to believe we can sell any more big time 2028 recruits knowing TNT could be gone the after or even before the first year they compete, depending if they redshirt. Someone said last year Hutcherson and his dad asked what successor plans are. Wonder what they told him? We will just see what we can scrape up last minute? I know he most likely is PSU with Taylor now always having a shot, but this doesn’t help.
 
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Deerwrestler69

Redshirt
Dec 26, 2015
1
3
0
Warner is a 4x all American and a finalist, Smart and a hell of a nice guy. Your points hold no validity of why Warner cannot succeed to be an excellent college coach.
Why does everyone think You need to be a world beater or name recognition 🤣 to be a good college coach.
I say we Need to get the best on the team and have tremendous resources, but as many here said coaching is more important. Warner could be the next best coach around, all you do not know otherwise.
Not that it moves the needle for anyone, but I have seen it posted numerous times on here. Jacob Warner is one of 3- 5X All- Americans. With Lee and Kemmerer, the others. Just giving credit for his achievements.

Others have mentioned Nolf and I too have been on board with that. However, my nephew says he has a club down in Texas and not that he isn't good, but none of those wrestlers scare him. Average at best. I personally enjoy Nolf's content, but it may not translate to the "answer" we are all looking for here in this assistant hire, or even future head coach.

Also, for those that say Warner hasn't done enough to have name recognition or prove he has the accolades to be a good to great coach, some have noted the assistants at other programs. Not putting Warner there yet, by any means, but Cunningham himself was a good, but not great collegiate wrestler. Same with Kennedy, Snyder, etc. Not many are in that elite level. Yianni would be, but for some reason no one puts him up there with the likes of the others, including Taylor, Dake and others.

Just some observations. Not directed at Grip or anyone in particular. Just sat on the sidelines listening to takes and seems we all seem to know better than the next guy. Warner will have every opportunity to be a great coach, if he works at it. If he is in fact the next hire.
 
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ILLHawk135

Junior
Feb 22, 2021
65
279
53
Kind of pisses me off that people are so down on Warner. Flash isn’t everything
What is there to like about the hire if it’s happening? Do people remember how much criticism Warner got his senior year? It’s the same criticism many of our guys currently have, not getting to offense and losing close ones because they didn’t open up the whole match. I was a Warner fan but if this is the hire it shows exactly why we won’t ever be passing Penn state or Oklahoma state. Warner brings nothing new to the program just another plotter who fights hard but doesn’t have many ways to score and can’t scramble.

On top of that, this doesn’t help with recruiting at all. Warner is from a weaker part of Illinois and the connections he has Medlin at Illinois will also have. I doubt the type of kids we need in order to pass Penn state or Oklahoma state are blown away by the idea of being able to be coached by JW
 

AndreTheHawk

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
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Nah. I would never compare credentials.

I was simply pointing out to Sabula that coaching is coaching. Regardless of what kind of athlete a guy was, doesn't necessarily translate into how they coach. It's why I mentioned TNT as well. They wrestled as free as anyone ever, with an attack rate second to none. They weren't just great handfighters. But has that translated to Iowa as a team? Nope.

If you told me that Varner would be a coach who could get guys to open up, based on how he wrestled - NONE of us would believe that.
I've always been in the camp in what you stated above, the Brands were non stop *** kicking and attacking. That isn't debatable, and I have a really hard time believing they want their wrestlers to be the exact opposite of them and teach them to wrestle that way. There is no way in hell that's true, so either they aren't instilling that correctly or they aren't getting the right guys to pull it off. Or some combination of both.

Think about how frustrating it is to us Average Joe's watching Iowa wrestle in duals when over half the lineup can't get a single takedown. Then think of the fierce competitor's the Brands Brother's were and imagine what THEY must be thinking. Yikes.

Jacob Warner was no dynamo, but he's a 4 time All-American. If he's the guy, he's the guy and hope for the best.
 

SodaCostanza

Heisman
Jun 17, 2005
29,810
13,393
113
Kind of pisses me off that people are so down on Warner. Flash isn’t everything

It's amazing another team didn't snatch him up as a coach the last three years!
I don’t know that is right to say people are down on Warner. Nobody really knows what kind of coach he will be.

I believe people are down because we continue to hire in house, Iowa mold, types of guys and it feels like we need to shake up the approach more. The Warner hire feels like more of the same and I think the program needs some bigger changes.

That being said, I hope he’s the next Gable. Go hawks!
 

Mattski

All-Conference
Apr 21, 2022
983
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Kind of pisses me off that people are so down on Warner. Flash isn’t everything
It's really not about being down in Warner, it's about being down on the status quo.
Those fine with the job the program is doing are fine with the hire. Those that expect Iowa to compete for championships generally aren't b/c we know the status quo isn't good enough.
 

MItoAZ

Redshirt
Jul 1, 2025
6
23
3
Was Warner Spencer’s roommate? Still good buddies?

What if grooming Warner for #2 or #3 behind Spencer in a few years, with Kem, keeping Bobs $ intact.

By that time, it will be like when Spencer was recruited and trying to bring Iowa back to relevance.

Anyway, Spencer may not want to coach as has been stated and that’s not until after 2028 Olympics, so that’s some painful years.
 

LIV4GOD

All-Conference
Oct 2, 2001
499
1,194
93
It's really not about being down in Warner, it's about being down on the status quo.
Those fine with the job the program is doing are fine with the hire. Those that expect Iowa to compete for championships generally aren't b/c we know the status quo isn't good enough.
Exactly. If Warner is the hire then at least it gives a greater chance the next season is the last season for the Brands at Iowa.
 
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Jul 7, 2025
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Exactly. If Waner is the hire then at least it gives a greater chance the next season is the last season for the Brands at Iowa.

This is the type of deal where TnT gets an extension. Recruits won't sign if they think TnT are gone in a couple of years, I can smell it.
 

ChicagoHawk2020

All-Conference
Nov 6, 2017
830
2,388
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Exactly. If Waner is the hire then at least it gives a greater chance the next season is the last season for the Brands at Iowa.

This is the type of deal where TnT gets an extension. Recruits won't sign if they think TnT are gone in a couple of years, I can smell it.
The current AD is not giving them an extension.
 

hawknut

All-Conference
Jan 12, 2003
629
1,232
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Think about golf for a second. Most of the VERY BEST coaches never made it on tour. Should they not be able to coach? Just like golf, wrestling takes special innate abilities to actually do at the very highest level. However, that doesn't mean that many do not know how to do them.

Some simply aren't fast enough, or strong enough, or able to build their gas tank deep enough. Some don't have the flexibility and can never develop it past a certain point. Some may have simply not had the mental makeup to do it in the heat of battle. NONE of that means you can't TEACH it at the very highest level. In fact, I would argue that many that couldn't do it spend MORE time trying to find out why they couldn't and what was necessary to be able to do it.

In short, many that couldn't quite be the most elite of elite become students of the sports, much moreso than many that could naturally accomplish it. EVERYTHING about Warner showed he was a true student of the sport. If the argument is simply RECRUITING value, that is an altogether different subject. But, flat out coaching, I would say his work with guys at Iowa has shown he is very good at the actual coaching ON the mat...
So we should hire bad wrestlers as coaches over good wrestlers because bad wrestlers are better coaches? Typically Iowa cuck wrestling fan—defend whatever we do and make it sound good
You must not read well. Vhs has already said he thought Yianni was a done deal and that’s who he was talking about checking the boxes, and that obviously fell through. Im assuming Cornell got word and opened a spot to keep him there.
VHS is a serial liar. He doesn’t know anything. He made it up. He got caught lying about wrestling at Iowa. He should be banned.
 

WillieTheBrain

All-Conference
Jun 29, 2025
221
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They were. He wrestled with them everyday. Like I said. 83%.

Look I get it. We're the 4th best team in the country. And this isn't some splash hire. But Warner was and is going to be fantastic. I think he's going to connect with these really well and we will see improvements in action and activity.
i'm pretty sure i get it now.

Corby was fired and now you're the one on the payroll.

i kid, i kid!
 

InTheCircle

All-Conference
Apr 3, 2018
397
1,364
93
Warner is a good hire. Most people forget he rode pretty well from the top position, which very few of our guys can do now. Is it exciting, of course not, however it’s necessary.
From a personality perspective Warner is a great fit. When he was on the team he was known to be very funny and upbeat.
Perhaps it’s not what most wanted, however give the guy a chance. He sacrificed a lot moving from his hometown to be better and so did his parents. This is a relatable recruiting tool.
I do have a question for Tom as it relates to the process of this hire. He said
“It will be an exhaustive search.” I’d like to hear his answers on the process. Were other candidates from outside the Hawkeyes circle interviewed? How many candidates were considered? How will results vs. expectations change because JWar is officially a coach?
 

SpacemanSpifff

Sophomore
Jul 18, 2025
50
154
32
here's where i'm at with the JWar hire....

i think he has all the makings of a great coach.

he isn't the splash hire you wanted. but that's not Jacob's fault. you wanted a splash hire b/c of other deficiencies that you don't want to admit.
For the record, on behalf of the cesspool (other than Grip who is universally positive), I hereby admit to all deficiencies.
 

Tiltman

Senior
Sep 14, 2012
181
939
93
Warner is a good hire. Most people forget he rode pretty well from the top position, which very few of our guys can do now. Is it exciting, of course not, however it’s necessary.
From a personality perspective Warner is a great fit. When he was on the team he was known to be very funny and upbeat.
Perhaps it’s not what most wanted, however give the guy a chance. He sacrificed a lot moving from his hometown to be better and so did his parents. This is a relatable recruiting tool.
I do have a question for Tom as it relates to the process of this hire. He said
“It will be an exhaustive search.” I’d like to hear his answers on the process. Were other candidates from outside the Hawkeyes circle interviewed? How many candidates were considered? How will results vs. expectations change because JWar is officially a coach?
The hiring process might of went a little bit along the lines of one of our biggest donors giving TnT a call and just “mentioning” he’s had a guy working for him for a while that he thinks would be a good hire.
Jacob is obviously capable of meeting expectations in this role but this reminds me of a lot of slimy **** our government is always doing. It doesn’t sit right that our new coach was just previously employed by a large donor if that’s true.
 

1stplacehawk

Senior
Jun 5, 2025
172
713
93
The hiring process might of went a little bit along the lines of one of our biggest donors giving TnT a call and just “mentioning” he’s had a guy working for him for a while that he thinks would be a good hire.
Jacob is obviously capable of meeting expectations in this role but this reminds me of a lot of slimy **** our government is always doing. It doesn’t sit right that our new coach was just previously employed by a large donor if that’s true.
You clearly don’t know a thing about Bob or Tom.