COACH TERRY BRANDS
Two-time World Champion and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Terry Brands recently completed his 10th season on the University of Iowa staff along with his twin brother, Tom, who is the head coach of the Hawkeyes. Brands was promoted to associate head coach in 2011 after serving two stints (2008-10 and 1992-2000) as an assistant coach at Iowa.
During the last three seasons, Brands has helped Iowa to two NCAA and Big Ten team titles, crowning three NCAA champions, 18 All-Americans, six Big Ten champions and 24 academic all-Big Ten honorees. Iowa posted an unbeaten 62-0-1 dual record during those three seasons. The Hawkeyes will enter the 2011-12 season riding a 77-dual match unbeaten streak, which started during the 2007-08 season.
In the last three seasons, Iowa set school records for longest dual unbeaten (77) and winning streaks (69), longest dual road unbeaten (49) and winning streaks (44), most Carver-Hawkeye Arena victories (11) and most dual shutouts (8). Iowa also made another entry in the record books, setting the national collegiate dual meet attendance record of 15,955 when it hosted Iowa State Dec. 6, 2008, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The previous record of 15,646 was set Feb. 1, 2002, when Minnesota hosted Iowa at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The Hawkeyes won the Iowa State dual, 20-15.
Brands rejoined the Hawkeye staff in 2008 after a three-year stint (2005-08) as USA Wrestling's National Freestyle Resident Coach in Colorado Springs, CO. During his tenure, Brands worked with 2008 U.S. Olympic freestyle gold medalist Henry Cejudo and 2006 World champion Bill Zadick.
His previous collegiate coaching experience includes three years as head coach at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (2002-05), and as an assistant coach at Montana State-Northern (2001-02), the University of Nebraska (2000-01) and the University of Iowa (1992-2000). At Chattanooga, Brands led the Mocs to the 2005 Southern Conference title, while crowning three conference champions and two All-Americans. At Iowa, he helped the Hawkeyes win seven NCAA and Big Ten titles, while crowning 19 NCAA and 26 Big Ten champions. Iowa's dual record of 115-12-1 during his tenure included three undefeated seasons (14-0 in 1995, 17-0 in 1996 and 18-0 in 2000).
Brands was one of the nation's greatest freestyle wrestlers, winning Two World gold medals in 1993 in Toronto, Canada, and in 1995 in Atlanta, GA, at 125.5 pounds (57 kg). As a member of the 1993 and 1995 U.S. World Teams, he was on the only two U.S. teams to win World Team Titles in freestyle. In 1993, he won his world title with Tom, who was the World champion at 136.5 pounds (62 kg). Terry and Tom were named 1993 USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year, 1993 John Smith Freestyle Wrestler of the Year and 1993 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year. The Brands brothers became the first U.S. brothers to win a World title during the same year.
Brands placed second at in the 1996 U.S. Nationals and the 1996 Olympic Team Trials, falling just short of making the U.S. Olympic Team. He qualified for the 1997 and 1999 U.S. World Teams, but did not compete due to injury. In 2000, he made a comeback and won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at 127.75 pounds (58 kg). He earned a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
A two-time World Cup Champion (1994, 1995), Brands won a gold medal at the 1995 Pan American Games. He was a two-time silver medalist at the respected Yarygin Tournament in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Brands won three U.S. Nationals titles, and was runner-up three times. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006. Terry and Tom (who was inducted in 2001) were the first set of twins to earn hall of fame spots.
Brands was a two-time NCAA champion, three-time All-American and three-time Big Ten champion for the Hawkeyes (1989-92) at 126 pounds. He ended his career at Iowa with a 137-7 record. He still ranks fourth in season wins (43 - 1990-91) and career record, fifth in career wins (137), sixth in career pins (48) and ninth in season pins (18 - 1990-91). He is one of 18 Hawkeyes to post an undefeated season record, going 35-0 in 1991-92.
The Sheldon, Iowa, native was born April 9, 1968. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development from the University of Iowa in 1992. He and his wife, Michelle, have a son, Nelson, and a daughter, Sydney.
COACH DENNIS HALL
* Dennis Hall is one of few wrestlers to hold the title of a Three-Time Olympian.
In 1992, Dennis Hall won the Olympic Team Trials and entered into his first Olympic Games competition in Barcelona, Spain. At Barcelona, he finished eighth.
Again, in 1996 he claimed the championship at the Olympic Team Trials. Hall continued to wrestle to success at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta where he took home the silver medal.
Hall made a third trip to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 2004.
Halls prominent achievements include:
* Two-Time Champion at the 1995 and 1999 Pan American Games
* 2000 Pan American Champion
which qualified for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney
* 2nd in the 1999 Nordvest Cup in Norway
* Seven-Time World Team Trials Championships (1990, 1993-95, 1997-99)
* Ten-Time U.S. National Champion (1992-2001)
* Greco-Roman World Champion (1995),
(Hall is the second U.S. wrestler ever to win a Greco-Roman World Championship,
having to beat five former World Champions to claim that title.)
* Two-Time Champion of the Sunkist International Tournament in 2001 and 2002
* Outstanding Wrestler of the 2001 Sunkist International Tournament
Dennis is married to Chrissy and they have four children together; Tyler, Brandon, Jake and Alyssa.
Dennis is the Head Greco-Roman Wrestling Coach for United States Olympic Education Center at the University of Northern Michigan.
Dennis also speaks to youth about the life-threatening issues of drinking and driving.
COACH JON McGOVERN
Jon McGovern is currently the Head Wrestling Coach at the University of Dubuque, Iowa.
In 2002, he began his head coaching career with only 4 wrestlers and a lot of enthusiasm.
In just 3 years, he took the team to national prominence.
The team placed 2nd (2005) and 5th (2006) as NCAA Academic Scholar Teams.
* In 2006 McGovern was awarded the NWCA Division III National Coach of the Year.
In 2009, Coach McGovern brought UD to an 11th place team finish at the NCAA's Div III National Championships, finishing with 2 NCAA All-Americans and an NCAA National Champion.
In 2010 the team finished 8th in the Nation (Highest national finish in college history) with three NCAA Qualifiers and two NCAA All-Americans.
In 2011 the team finished 3rd in the IIAC's (highest IIAC finish in college history) and 11th in the nation with 3 NCAA Qualifiers, two NCAA-All-Americans, and one NCAA Champion.
The team finished 2011 #2 in the Nation as an NCAA Academic Scholar Team.
Jon McGovern was a 3X IIAC Champion, 3X NCAA All-American, and 2X NCAA Champion as a collegiate wrestler.
He competed with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club under Coach Dan Gable, placing 2nd @ the Sunkist International Open, 3rd at the Cerro Pelado Tournament and the Henri Deglane Cup twice each event, 2nd at the US World Team Trials in 1998 and 4th at the US final Olympic Trials in 2000.
He was a member of the USA 1998 World Team Duals Team and was a USA National Freestyle Team member in 1998 and placed 5th @ the 1997 US Nationals, 3rd in the 1998 US Nationals, and 2nd at the US World Team Trials. Posting wins over NCAA Champions Marcus Mollica, Chris Barnes, Matt Demaray, Joe Williams, Barry Weldon, Tim Hartung, and Olympic Gold Medalist Kevin Jackson;
McGovern completed his wrestling career posting a win over Olympic Gold Medalist Kevin Jackson in the final match of his career and finished 4th at the Final 2000 US Olympic Trials in Dallas Texas. He trained full time as the US Olympic Training Center Resident Athlete during the 2000 Olympic Games.
Coach McGovern's coaching background prior to the University of Dubuque includes:
* full time US Olympic Training Center Resident
* University of Pennsylvania Head Assistant Wresting Coach (1998-1999)
helping the team with the 1st unbeaten dual season since 1969 and
an 11th NCAA Team finish (the teams highest finish since 1942 and
the school's first EIWA & Ivy League Team Title, producing
3 NCAA All-Americans-Andre Rodzianko, Adeniyi-Bada, and Yoshi Nakamura)
* Head Assistant Coach at George Mason University (1997-1998)
* Head Assistant Coach at the University of Virginia (1996-1997),
helping the school send a record 7 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.
Jon is married to Lis McGovern, developer of the National Wrestling Advancement Association (NWAA) www.wre-nwaa.org
