Check out the full article here:
ESPN - Iowa wrestlers complete long journey to the top - College Sports
I know that I read this with Cardinal and Gold colored glasses, but it seems awfully arrogant.
Still, the overwhelming perception was that VT was punishing the athletes for what the school viewed as Brands' transgressions.
"It turned into a pissing contest," Leet said, "and we got hurt."
When subsequent appeals by their families failed, the athletes were faced with a choice: follow their coach and sit out a year, or remain at Virginia Tech and compete for a new coaching staff. It was no contest -- all five wrestlers transferred to Iowa without much of a second thought -- but the price was steep. For most competitors, wrestling ends in college. Borschel, Metcalf and the others had just willingly given away one of their few remaining years of competition.
"But, you know, they weren't Virginia Tech boys. They were Tom Brands' boys," said Gable, who returned to the Hawkeyes' wrestling room full time upon Brands' return to Iowa. "They were really three Iowa kids and a Michigan kid, plus Leet from Georgia. And even though the rules say that you attend a school for the school and not for the specific coach, that's not really the case a lot of the time in our sport -- and it wasn't the case here."
Even if open transfers are typically granted in the "Olympic sports" I don't blame VT for making these guys sit out a year. Just because wrestling isn't a "revenue" sport doesn't mean that there shouldn't be penalties for transferring.
