Allow me to ask a dumb question....

CrimsonTide77

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Dec 14, 2008
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First of all, I know nothing about this sport...

I watched ESPN Sportscentury on Dan Gable. It was impressive. I got a few questions:

Do both Iowa and Iowa State claim him as a great sports figure?

Is he looked down upon for coaching for Iowa?

Did Iowa State offer him a job?

Thanks.
 

dundermifflin

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Nov 14, 2007
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I don't think ISU offered Gable because they had a very successful coach when he wrestled for ISU. A few years ago Iowa was struggling a little and Cael Sanderson just finished an undefeated college career (1 win better than gable). We promptly fired a successful coach and hired Cael. Can't speak for anyone else but I am glad gable wrestled for ISU.
 

Jonecy

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Dec 5, 2006
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First of all, I know nothing about this sport...

I watched ESPN Sportscentury on Dan Gable. It was impressive. I got a few questions:

Do both Iowa and Iowa State claim him as a great sports figure?

Is he looked down upon for coaching for Iowa?

Did Iowa State offer him a job?

Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Gable

We absolutely claim Gable as a great ISU sports figure because of all he did in college. The guy only lost 1 match (his last), brought home 2 NCAA Championships, was a world champion and won a Gold medal in the Olympics........his career accomplishments as an amateur and a coach have been incredible.

Unfortunately, Iowa State dropped the ball on hiring Gable so the Hawkeyes snatched him away, he had great success (of course) it's always kind of been a sore subject.

All is well that ends well; however, because now we have Cael Sanderson and he has an equally impressive if not more impressive amateur record (undefeated in college).

Bottom line__Dan Gable was a stud and how can you not consider him a cyclone when he wrestled at ISU?....regardless of where he ended up coaching.
 

theshadow

Well-Known Member
Apr 19, 2006
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First of all, I know nothing about this sport...
I watched ESPN Sportscentury on Dan Gable. It was impressive. I got a few questions:
Do both Iowa and Iowa State claim him as a great sports figure?
Is he looked down upon for coaching for Iowa?
Did Iowa State offer him a job?
Thanks.

To people outside of Iowa, Gable is associated with UI because of all the national titles he won as their head coach. Most people in Iowa equate Gable with UI for the same reason. Only wrestling fans could tell you that Gable lost just once while competing for ISU, in the 1970 NCAA finals (as a senior).

Iowa State claims him as an Olympic gold medalist (Munich 1972), since that occurred before he became an assistant at UI.

ISU had a legend (Harold Nichols) as head coach from 1954-85. Gable wanted a head coaching job in the mid-70s, after finishing his competitive career, but Nichols wasn't ready to retire. I don't believe ISU even offered him an assistant coach position (may be wrong there...fuzzy memory). Iowa did, however, and Gable spent 3-4 years as an assistant under Kurdelmeier before taking over the UI program. Call it a case of the one that got away, I guess. But you can't replace a man who had several national titles while he's still more or less in his prime.

It's been only recently -- in the last 2 years -- that Gable finally stopped referring to UI as "us" and "we" when doing color analysis for wrestling broadcasts. I don't blame him for that, though. He spent over two decades in the wrestling room over there.

Hope that answers your questions.
 

joefrog

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Apr 29, 2008
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ISU sort of claims him, but his coaching style leaves much to be desired. Think win at all costs. He is still a Cyclone, deep down, and still wears his letter jacket and attends some events. I think most of us, as Cyclones, think he went to Iowa City and allowed himself to be corrupted. His teams usually displayed poor sportsmanship on the mat, and worse manners off it. You don't have to dig very deep to see that some of his wrestlers were not all that classy.

ISU still had Harold Nichols as coach in 1976 when Gable got the Iowa job. He stayed on at ISU until 85. He is to ISU wrestling as Pat Dye is to Auburn football. A really classy guy who symbolizes that which is best of our university. While ISU regrets letting Gable get away, there was no way of guessing he would have so much success so soon, and we would have had to push out a legend to give him the job.

All that being said, our current coach is one of the classiest and humble people I have ever met. He bleeds cardinal and gold, and I could not be more proud of any athlete or coach at ISU.
 
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Stumpy

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Apr 10, 2006
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I think both Iowa and Iowa State claim him as a sports great but in different manners. At Iowa he's an icon that built a dynasty and has been the most successful coach in wrestling history, keeping Iowa at the top of the wrestling world throughout his tenure including nine straight titles. At Iowa State, he's acknowledged as one of the Cyclone greats, but I think moreso he's known as the one that got away.

Like dundermifflin said, ISU had an established coach at the time Gable was interested, so they did not offer him the position. He didn't want to wait for the ISU position to open up, so when Iowa offered, he took it. I don't think many look down on him for this, he was simply taking the offer he was given, and Iowa State was already set. Obviously with his success, people started questioning "what if?"

And that was the parallel that people feared once Cael had his success and stated his intentions of coaching. Iowa was going through a coaching change, and while Bobby Douglas was nearing the end of his coaching career at Iowa State, that didn't appear to be an imminent event. Douglas was asked to step down in order to make way for Cael, as Iowa State as a whole feared that he would otherwise become the next Gable and continue the success at Iowa.
 

ISUboi12

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Apr 12, 2006
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First of all, I know nothing about this sport...

I watched ESPN Sportscentury on Dan Gable. It was impressive. I got a few questions:

Do both Iowa and Iowa State claim him as a great sports figure?

Is he looked down upon for coaching for Iowa?

Did Iowa State offer him a job?

Thanks.

Do you claim Forrest Gump?? :wink:

ISU honors Dan Gable, the athlete. ISU fans respect Dan Gable, the coach.

As much as ISU fans hate the Hawkeyes, there is a lot of mutual respect and admiration from each side when it comes to the sport of wrestling (for true fans of the sport).
 

Melvin

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Jul 29, 2008
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ISU has had 5 Olympic Gold Medalist. Gable and Sanderson represent 2 of those 5 medals. Of Course we claim him, just like you claim that Independence Bowl win that we kicked your arse in.

PS. Yelk's FG at the end was good, I wonder how much $$$ that referee made off that call.
 

Cyclonesrule91

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Apr 10, 2006
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I had heard from a friend who wrestled at ISU that Douglas went to the AD and told him he needed to get Cael hired before another great one got away. Read two posts about Douglas being let go before he was ready to go......
Posted via Mobile Device
 

IsUaClone2

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May 12, 2006
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I don't think ISU offered Gable because they had a very successful coach when he wrestled for ISU. A few years ago Iowa was struggling a little and Cael Sanderson just finished an undefeated college career (1 win better than gable). We promptly fired a successful coach and hired Cael. Can't speak for anyone else but I am glad gable wrestled for ISU.

Firstly the two college careers aren't quite comarable because freshmen were not allowed to participate on varsity sports back then which precluded the need to redshirt athletes which is so prevalent now.

Secondly there was a big Iowa booster that wanted Gable to coach at Iowa. I believe this booster personally funded the highest salary for an assistant wrestling coach at that point in history. I think the funding carried over into other funding for the program.
 

Cyclone62

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Feb 1, 2007
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Two bits of advice: Follow wrestling. Greatest sport in the world. It can be borderline torture if the right move gets put into place.

Second: I'm glad you heard about all of this on tv. That surprises me a little bit.
 

CYVADER

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Nov 16, 2006
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bottom line, i don't think gable has claimed isu since graduation, and in listening to his horrible un-biased commentary it sounds as if he has a vendetta against us. just my oppinion.
 

joefrog

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Apr 29, 2008
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bottom line, i don't think gable has claimed isu since graduation, and in listening to his horrible un-biased commentary it sounds as if he has a vendetta against us. just my oppinion.

He still is invited and shows up to some functions at ISU, decked out in ISU garb. He ticks me off at times too, but I have to be fair to him. It seems he favors Iowa over ISU when they wrestle, and probably cheers more for Iowa wrestling, but he is and will always be a Cyclone to some degree.
 

weR138

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Feb 20, 2008
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It's hard for any Iowan who is a wrestling fan to "look down" on Gable. Those of us of a certain age who wrestled as kids (5th grade and up, or down) were drilled that Gable was a god, as a wrestler and as a coach. Since he was a wrestler at ISU and a coach at Iowa that means he is highly respected by the vast majority of wrestling fans in the state of Iowa.

Now, ask us about Iowa's current coach Tom Brands...
 

GoShow97

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Oct 18, 2006
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First of all, I know nothing about this sport...

I watched ESPN Sportscentury on Dan Gable. It was impressive. I got a few questions:

Do both Iowa and Iowa State claim him as a great sports figure?

Is he looked down upon for coaching for Iowa?

Did Iowa State offer him a job?

Thanks.

YES

Not really

NO
 

Clone83

Well-Known Member
Mar 25, 2006
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First of all, I know nothing about this sport...

I watched ESPN Sportscentury on Dan Gable. It was impressive. I got a few questions:

Do both Iowa and Iowa State claim him as a great sports figure?

Is he looked down upon for coaching for Iowa?

Did Iowa State offer him a job?

Thanks.

These are not dumb questions.

Both claim him. Gable doesn't claim Iowa State so much any more, because he has been at UI so long, but this is understandable. I think some here overstate this.

At the time UI hired Gable, Iowa State was also on top of the wrestling world under Coach Harold Nichols. Although Iowa State has a long tradition at or near the top, Oklahoma State was (and is) historically the best, so the Nichols' years were more an exception (ISU was historically 2nd best). From what I have read, mostly on message boards such as this, there just wasn't a position for Gable at the time he was ready to coach - or at least one that paid well - and again, Nichols wasn't near retirement. Neither was it known or a given that Gable would be as great a coach as he was a wrestler. And Roy Carver at that time had a ton of money to pour into UI. In hindsight it is easy to see that Iowa State should have done everything to keep him, but college athletics in general weren't that focused on money in those days. Given how long Nichols continued to coach, I'm not sure how long Gable would have coached at ISU even if had he stayed. In answer to your question, Iowa State had an excellent assistant at the time, and I don't think Gable was offered paid position as a coach. Moreover, with Carver at UI, especially, the opportunity at UI at the time was there.

I don't think many look down on him for coaching at UI. But legitimately I think many question the behavior and sportsmanship of some of his wrestlers.

And for quite awhile, when UI was on top under Gable, he made demeaning comments about Iowa State. As the UI coach, of course he would have incentive to do this. In part, in large part, his comments related to the way Iowa State wrestled. Whereas Gable (and most of his wrestlers) typically have more of an attacking style, not everyone wrestles best that way. And that style may not be the best against opponents of similar high quality. It helps to be about the best to begin with. Iowa State has always recruited well nationally, but in Gable's best years, it was difficult to recruit instate. A state of Iowa recruit might rather walk-on then at UI, for example, than accept a scholarship at Iowa State. So Gable's comments could be a bit self-reinforcing. My general impression (perhaps incorrect) is that at UI it is best to wrestle the way Gable did, whereas at Iowa State his style was just one of many. Bobby Douglas is also one of the few people to ever beat Gable. Though Douglas was older, and Gable still in college, Douglas defeated Gable 11 to 1 in the 1968 Olympic trials. So there is that aspect also.

In mental preparation, though, Gable was the best. One of my fondest memories at Iowa State was an inside look at ISU assistant (and former UI champion) Ed Banach mentally prepare Iowa State wrestlers all year, the year everyone expected UI to set the NCAA record for consecutive team championships in any sport (11 or something), with techniques surely borrowed directly from Gable himself, and in the same space where Gable himself would have trained. No one thought anyone else would win, except the Iowa State wrestlers, which they did.

With Sanderson at Iowa State and Brands at UI, both Olympic gold medalists, the competition between the two should be interesting. Brands exemplifies Gable's style of wrestling. Sanderson's own style would be difficult to emulate (though it was also attacking). Iowa State has many top wrestlers, but the ISU juniors were recruited when Douglas was still head coach. So Sanderson probably still has yet to put more of his stamp on the program.
 

Clone83

Well-Known Member
Mar 25, 2006
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With all my mention of "attacking style," which wouldn't mean much to anyone unfamiliar with the wrestlers named here, I should mention another effective approach: the counter-attack.

Or let or get your opponent commit to a mistake, and then attack.

To those unfamiliar, you sometimes see it on boards such as this. :wink:
 
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