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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 20, 2015Tom BrandsST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We welcome Iowa head coach, Tom Brand. First an opening statement. COACH BRANDS: Opening statement would be we're 13.5 or 14 out and those matches are big. We've got big matches tomorrow. Been saying that for two days now and it continues into the third day. Got some big matches right out of the gate. Gilman's going to be going right away. He'll be on that mat at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Q. Can we just start with Gilman and say what happened to him? Obviously he was ready, but anything that surprised you about that? COACH BRANDS: Well, you're ready, but you've got to be ready for what they brought. You give them credit. But the first take down, that's really got to‑‑ that really raises your awareness as a competitor. Then he was right in on us again, and we're in positions like that against guys like that, I'm not going to be whizzering with my head close to my knee. Those are situations where I get my legs as far away as possible. That's number two. Number one is when he jump started us in the first one and we come out right away, you've got to be ready because he's coming again. He's coming again. That's what high‑level competitors do. High‑level competitors feel that coming, and then you have opportunities yourself. We kind of maybe wanted it to slow down after that. I think it's a good lesson. Q. The decision to start Evans neutral in the third, was that a spur of the moment thing or something you decided ahead of time? COACH BRANDS: Well, we've had two matches with Matt Brown that have been basically gone the same way. He looked at me and said he wanted it to be my call, and I told him I wanted it to be your call. That is the situation where if you go now, you've got to come out. It didn't work out the last two times. That doesn't mean we can't escape from him, but we hadn't proved it until this point. So the right decision will never be known. We lost the match. We gave ourselves some opportunities. We snagged that ankle, and that is as close as we've come to taking him down a couple different times in that third period in three matches. So maybe it wasn't the right call, maybe it was. We have to do more early. I think we have Kokesh tomorrow and, again, another big match for Evans. Q. Coach, 2009 Ohio State melted down. You guys picked up the pieces. You won the national title. How much are you going to stress 2009 to your guys? I know it's in the past, but are you going to talk about that at all? COACH BRANDS: I don't think you talk about 2009 specifically. I think you talk about what can happen and what we have to do to control what we can control. I think a lot of times in tournaments like this, programs look for help, and we don't operate that way. The philosophy of our program is our guys have work to do and let's go out and do our work and do it the way that we are capable of doing it. When that happens, points add up. Next thing you know you're knocking on the door again. But there's been kind of a‑‑ when we're close and then it gets away a little bit. Then we close the gap and it gets away a little bit. Like I said yesterday, points are hard to get. They're hard to get. So when you can get them, get them. Q. Could you talk about what it's taken for Cory to get to this point? COACH BRANDS: Here's the thing. He's a super competitor. He's a super talent. There are just some things and I say this not as a knock on him, but he's a scatter brain a little bit. He's a dumb blonde. I don't think he minds me saying that, because I'm not being stereotypical or chauvinistic. I'm just saying that's how he is. But when he tunes into the task at hand, he's pretty good. When I mean tune in, I don't just mean tune in for that day. I'm talking about the lifestyle type thing. He's done that. That's been the difference. He likes to kind of stray sometimes, and that's okay. He likes to have fun maybe a little bit different than maybe I would, and that's great. He's able to still have that. But the things that are important in your life, nutrition, rest, those sorts of things have to stay on the forefront of your priority list, and he's done that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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