Will Iowa ever return to focusing on a homegrown roster?

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

In recent years Bob's big NIL bucks have resulted in Iowa fielding rosters that are approximately 50% transfers.  While they have had some success with transfers (e.g. Stephen Buchanan) it seems more often than not these transfers don't actually turn into national champions.  Meanwhile Iowa has managed to stay on the podium, but in the 3rd or 4th place spot instead of contending for 1st or 2nd.

I'm wondering if Iowa fans think they should return to the tried and true method of building a roster through developing recruits from high school rather than relying heavily on the transfer portal?

[ionel]

I'm wondering why they don't portal in complete lineup of 10 split bird flippers just so jimmybon's user image has relevance again.  Maybe Mr. No has an opinion?  

[Gene Mills Fan]

Yes they need to have a meeting and decide this portal stuff is however easy is only 50/50. They need to only accept Iowa native residents the Hawkeyes need a greater challenge. With the new success and then we can brag we build better!!.  All the recruits will then head straight to IOWA!

[Greenwave]

I don’t want to say other states have passed them by, but caught up to them at the HS level.  This opens the pool of participants from other states to recruit. That along with the new age digital networks have given exposure to Colleges and Universities outside of Iowa and are drawing HS wrestlers out of the state.

[TexRef]

1 hour ago, Gene Mills Fan said:

Yes they need to have a meeting and decide this portal stuff is however easy is only 50/50. They need to only accept Iowa native residents the Hawkeyes need a greater challenge. With the new success and then we can brag we build better!!.  All the recruits will then head straight to IOWA!

The roster has never been 100% Iowa. There were several who made Iowa look good, but there were some stars who were not from Iowa. It has been the same way at Okie State for a long time as well. The real competition between those 2 was who can recruit PA & Cali the best. 

[mr.nonothingatall]

Sadly the state of Iowa has been falling behind in wrestling. If you want to know what an all Iowa squad would look like, you can look at UNI, those are mostly Iowa kids. There simply is not enough talent in the state for all three schools and also the top end talent wouldn't be enough to field a competitive d1 roster at nationals. But there isn't a state out there right now that is fielding a top 4 program with a roster of kids from just one state so...... Not only can the state of Iowa not produce a top d1 squad but there isn't any state that if you recruited from solely, would be able to compete against a team that has spread there recruiting out nationally. 

[Jimmy Cinnabon]

To note, I'm not saying Iowa should be 100% Iowa guys....I'm just saying focusing on recruits you get out of high school rather than through the portal.

 

I think they would be well served to have a roster that's at least 75% of their original recruits (even if they are from states other than Iowa).

[cl415]

Barring some unexpected transfers (assuming they get a 165) it looks like Iowa will be “homegrown” at 125, 149, 157, 174, 184, 197 and 285. 

That is in line with most other power schools in this era. Even PSU and Nebraska will only be slightly better with 8 non transfers. 

[Gene Mills Fan]

2 hours ago, TexRef said:

The roster has never been 100% Iowa. There were several who made Iowa look good, but there were some stars who were not from Iowa. It has been the same way at Okie State for a long time as well. The real competition between those 2 was who can recruit PA & Cali the best. 

i think you need to tell Jimmy.  Maybe I needed the wink emoji

[Dogbone]

I don't understand the fascination with home grown. 

PSU had 2 starters from PA on the NCAA lineup, 3 if you count Luke who was from MO but spent his last 2 years at a prep school in PA.  

If we are taking HS recruits, then I think most teams are still recruiting HS and use the portal to fill holes.   PSU being the exception but they still will use the portal when they can upgrade (see Rocco over Ryder), they just don't have as many holes.  Ono isn't a typical transfer but they didn't turn him down because they recruited someone out of HS instead.  

It would be malpractice for Iowa to avoid getting transfers to fill their roster for the sake of saying but we use to do this way.  

[Gene Mills Fan]

12 minutes ago, Dogbone said:

I don't understand the fascination with home grown. 

 

It would be malpractice for Iowa to avoid getting transfers to fill their roster for the sake of saying but we use to do this way.  

Tomatoes were planted a month ago inside. four inches high waiting for Memorial day.   

Of course! this Jimmy thread is whack.

[pcostilow]

Why did this thread turn toward interpreting homegrown as Iowa natives? Pop tart clearly referenced recruits developed in house.

[Gene Mills Fan]

19 minutes ago, pcostilow said:

Why did this thread turn toward interpreting homegrown as Iowa natives? Pop tart clearly referenced recruits developed in house.

the word is in the OP     How else do you interpret it?    he changed after some replies.

[Spencerlee]

6/7 of Iowas AAs were “homegrown”. Plus longtime Hawkeye Caliendo.

Edited April 15 by Spencerlee

[Winners Circle]

1 minute ago, Spencerlee said:

All 7 of Iowas AAs were “homegrown”.

So this ain't Michael Caliendo? 

[Spencerlee]

1 minute ago, Winners Circle said:

So this ain't Michael Caliendo? 

6 of 7 my bad. Caliendos been here so long.

[CHROMEBIRD]

Jimmy brings this topic up very frequently, but I don't really see why it matters. Modern D1 roster management at most schools has been from the bottom-up with some patching in the middle and top. You do your best at recruiting and bring in young guys, and, since not every recruit is a home run, you turn to the portal to fill in gaps with proven talent from elsewhere. And though wrestling is a little different, you still want at least 1-2 stars to build your program around for the next few years, then repeat.

The obvious downside to Iowa or any program (esp at smaller programs or non-P4 schools) of developing a roster 100% is you risk your talent getting poached. It's ridiculous, but at the end of the season, coaches hit the recruiting trail for incoming freshmen AND they have to re-recruit their existing roster of athletes and convince them to stay.

Actually, it would be pretty funny if a coach did ZERO hs/first year recruiting and used that budget to shop the portal 100%. Recruiting is hard, thankless work. Portal is kind of the ecommerce version of recruiting: login, shop around, click the ones you want.

[Husker_Du]

didn't read a word in this thread but: no. no they won't.

ok now I'll read it.

[Husker_Du]

first things first, OP is not talking about the lineup being from the state.

he's talking about it being heavy on the portal.

[Southend]

4 hours ago, TexRef said:

The roster has never been 100% Iowa. There were several who made Iowa look good, but there were some stars who were not from Iowa. It has been the same way at Okie State for a long time as well. The real competition between those 2 was who can recruit PA & Cali the best. 

I think Illinois wrestlers was a big contributor of Iowas past success. 

[alex1fly]

I'm usually for Jimmy threads but this is a head-scratcher. Jimmy probably knows that Iowa's 2027 class is pretty righteous, and that 2026 would be righteous too if Bassett's family hadn't gotten FOMO and pulled him out when they didn't get the extra perks they wanted and that Iowa likely never agreed to. Jimmy probably also knows that there aren't many Iowa fans here, but this would be a good way to get people to bag on Iowa for the zillionth time because he didn't post the thread on Iowa's forum, where the Iowa fans tend to congregate.

[AgaveMaria]

11 hours ago, Jimmy Cinnabon said:

In recent years Bob's big NIL bucks have resulted in Iowa fielding rosters that are approximately 50% transfers.  While they have had some success with transfers (e.g. Stephen Buchanan) it seems more often than not these transfers don't actually turn into national champions.  Meanwhile Iowa has managed to stay on the podium, but in the 3rd or 4th place spot instead of contending for 1st or 2nd.

I'm wondering if Iowa fans think they should return to the tried and true method of building a roster through developing recruits from high school rather than relying heavily on the transfer portal?

First, you have to have a coaching staff capable of Building, not just pushing and prodding.

Iowa does not have that. They push & prod & punish in the room and few of their wrestlers really show improvement year to year. They do show a lot of wearing down. 

Wrestle hard is fine, but not if you aren't wrestling smart.

Getting few takedowns against top opponents shows the failings. Then they hit Crabtree Corners teachers college of Black Dealing & suddenly they get some takedowns. 

Then they hit the tournaments. Look good & then look tired. Then injured and quit.

Unless Tom gets someone in the room who can work more individually and push kids to be the best version while adding to their arsenal we will see the same old stuff every year. Tough, but not 1st place tough - mainly due to mental roadblocks.

[Southend]

On 4/15/2026 at 9:45 PM, AgaveMaria said:

First, you have to have a coaching staff capable of Building, not just pushing and prodding.

Iowa does not have that. They push & prod & punish in the room and few of their wrestlers really show improvement year to year. They do show a lot of wearing down. 

Wrestle hard is fine, but not if you aren't wrestling smart.

Getting few takedowns against top opponents shows the failings. Then they hit Crabtree Corners teachers college of Black Dealing & suddenly they get some takedowns. 

Then they hit the tournaments. Look good & then look tired. Then injured and quit.

Unless Tom gets someone in the room who can work more individually and push kids to be the best version while adding to their arsenal we will see the same old stuff every year. Tough, but not 1st place tough - mainly due to mental roadblocks.

Mental roadblocks,What is that? You are getting to sound like Hawkeyes don’t have a chance. I’m here to say T&T have the ability to develop and deliver another championship before they retire. 

[ionel]

1 minute ago, Southend said:

Mental roadblocks,What is that? You are getting to sound like Hawkeyes don’t have a chance. I’m here to say T&T have the ability to develop and deliver another championship before they retire. 

That there sounds like a bold bet.  What are you willing to stake?  

[Le duke]

Mental roadblocks,What is that? You are getting to sound like Hawkeyes don’t have a chance. I’m here to say T&T have the ability to develop and deliver another championship before they retire. 

I don’t envision a scenario in which both PSU and OSU have bad enough tournaments that Iowa beats them.


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