Long before Tom Brands, Brent Metcalf and Mark Perry, the Iowa Hawkeyes had coach Gary Kurdelmeier, assistant coach Dan Gable, and champs named Yagla and Campbell...
From "The Vault" at the Sports Illustrated website
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...0877/index.htm
March 22, 1976
Making Sure Of A Sure Thing
Heavily favored Iowa, led by 150-pounder Chuck Yagla, who was named the tournament's outstanding wrestler, did even better than predicted in winning its second straight NCAA championship
Douglas S. Looney
Going to the NCAA wrestling championships last week to see which of the 112 teams would win was like sticking a paper clip into a wall socket to learn if the power company is awake and on the job. You are pretty sure of the answer in advance.
Which made it appropriate that the tournament was held at the University of Arizona in predictable Tucson, where sunny weather is almost a certainty (3,800 hours a year, more than any other resort city in the U.S.), where it is very likely that the pancakes will taste a little like tacos, where it is a good bet that mariachi music will fill the air and olive trees will fill the yards and, most of all, where it was nearly a sure thing that the University of Iowa was going to sweep down from the northlands and mop up all those other mat rats who fancy themselves to be quick of move and strong of body.
As it turned out, just about the only unpredictable thing that occurred in Tucson was the way the Hawkeyes won their national title...
(To read on, click on the link above)