Bio
Two-time World Champion and 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Terry Brands is in his 26th season on the University of Iowa staff. Brands was promoted to associate head coach in 2011 after serving two stints (2008-10 and 1992-2000) as an assistant coach at Iowa.
During the last 16 seasons, Brands has helped Iowa win three NCAA and five Big Ten team titles, crowning 10 NCAA champions, 94 All-Americans, 24 Big Ten champions and 166 Academic All-Big Ten honorees. Iowa owns a 231-21-1 dual record since Brands returned to the staff in 2008-09.
Since returning to campus, Iowa set school records for longest dual unbeaten (84) and winning streaks (69), longest dual road unbeaten (51) and winning streaks (44), most Carver-Hawkeye Arena victories (11) and most dual shutouts (8). Iowa also made another entry in the record books, setting the national collegiate dual meet attendance record of 42,287 when it defeated top-ranked Oklahoma State on Nov. 14, 2015, at Kinnick Stadium in the Grapple on the Gridiron.
Brands rejoined the Hawkeye staff in 2008 after a three-year stint (2005-08) as USA Wrestling’s National Freestyle Resident Coach in Colorado Springs, Colorado. During his tenure, Brands worked with 2008 U.S. Olympic freestyle gold medalist Henry Cejudo and 2006 World champion Bill Zadick.
He has coached the Hawkeye Wrestling Club since returning to campus, and in 2014, he was named USA Wrestling’s Terry McCann Freestyle Coach of the Year.
His previous collegiate coaching experience includes three years as head coach at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (2002-05) and as an assistant coach at Montana State-Northern (2001-02), Nebraska (2000-01) and Iowa (1992-2000). At Chattanooga, Brands led the Mocs to the 2005 Southern Conference title, crowning three conference champions and two All-Americans. At Iowa, he helped the Hawkeyes win seven NCAA and Big Ten titles, crowning 19 NCAA and 26 Big Ten champions. Iowa’s dual record of 115-12-1 during his tenure included three undefeated seasons (14-0 in 1995, 17-0 in 1996 and 18-0 in 2000).
Brands was one of the nation’s greatest freestyle wrestlers, winning World titles in 1993 in Toronto, Canada, and in 1995 in Atlanta, Georgia, at 125.5 pounds (57 kg). He won World Team titles as a member of the 1993 and 1995 U.S. World Teams. In 1993, he won a world title the same year his brother, Tom, was a World champion at 136.5 pounds (62 kg). They became the first U.S. brothers to win World titles during the same year. Terry was named 1993 USA Wrestling Athlete of the Year, 1993 John Smith Freestyle Wrestler of the Year and 1993 Amateur Wrestling News Man of the Year.
Brands placed second at the 1996 U.S. Nationals and 1996 Olympic Team Trials, falling just short of making the U.S. Olympic Team. He qualified for the 1997 and 1999 U.S. World Teams, but did not compete. In 2000, he made a comeback and won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at 127.75 pounds (58 kg). He earned a bronze medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
A two-time World Cup champion (1994, 1995), Brands won a gold medal at the 1995 Pan American Games. He was a two-time silver medalist at the respected Yarygin Tournament in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Brands won three U.S. Nationals titles and was runner-up three times. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.
Brands was a two-time NCAA champion, three-time All-American and three-time Big Ten champion for the Hawkeyes (1989-92) at 126 pounds. He ended his career at Iowa with a 137-7 record. He ranks fourth in single-season victories (43 – 1990-91), and fifth in career winning percentage (.951) and career wins (137). He ranks sixth in career pins (48) and 10th in single-season pins (18 – 1990-91). He is one of 19 Hawkeyes in program history to post an undefeated season record, going 35-0 in 1991-92.
The Sheldon, Iowa, native was born April 9, 1968. He earned a bachelor of science degree in human development from the University of Iowa in 1992. He and his wife, Michelle, have a son, Nelson, and a daughter, Sydney.