Whenever Tom Brands appeared on the sideline cheering for the Iowa Hawkeyes or taking a stand for his wrestling protégés, the coach never kept silent. So when it came to facing the no. 1 seeded Penn State, the 55-year-old wrestler-turned-coach indicated the learning curve. However, the result in the Carver-Hawkeye arena was nothing to please Tom Brands. It was Penn State’s HC Cael Sanderson’s night of earning 200th victory as a coach. So the PSU wrestlers went all guns blazing to gift the evening to their coach. So, the result was 29-6. This scoreline looked more enormous as certain Hawkeyes’ wrestlers missed out on the Friday night feud. 

Gabe Arnold was one of them. Tom Brands pulled him out at the last minute. Now, when the questions were asked on that, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ HC pulled himself out in the same manner. 

The Iowa Hawkeyes’ unfeigned situation in the silence of HC 

After the Friday night decimation, a visual could have been Iowa Hawkeyes’ HC Tom Brands taking his wrestlers’ side. So on that estimate, the aftermath press conference was going in the same direction. Expectedly, on the question of do’s, the former wrestler said, “We have to score more takedowns. We have to get off the bottom at five weights.” But when the reporters queried about Gabe Arnold’s absence on that night, he kept his mum. The ever-defiant HC could only squirt, “We’re looking forward to having him back in the lineup when the time comes”. The Flo Wrestling’s X-handle posted that question-answer moment of Tom Brands. 

But after further inquiry, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ head coach added, “He’s awesome and we’re looking forward to having him in the lineup.” That repeated defense prompted a slew of questions. Such speculation is natural given Gabe Arnold and Carter Starocci’s ongoing verbal spat in the past, making Friday night as the ripe occasion for their bout. However, Carter Starocci appeared in the 174-pound category and defeated Iowa Hawkeyes’ Patrick Kennedy. But Gabe Arnold was nowhere to be found, not even in Brands’s preferred 184-category. Despite his coach’s repeated evasion, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ redshirt provided a vague reason for his absence.

The late blow-out from the horse’s mouth 

Gabe Arnold wanted to end his fiasco with Carter Starocci on the wrestling mat. In January, he even announced to wait for the February 9 match to have a simple result. But at the last moment, the Albany native faltered. As a reason, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ 2023 recruit posted, “Health comes first, but I love my team, coaches, and the family that I have built here.” That X-post came yesterday when the Hawkeyes were already at the receiving end from Penn State. But giving no extra thought, Gabe Arnold could only add, “Go Hawks til the day I die”. 

Read more: Penn State Wrestling’s Braeden Davis Emerges as a Standout Making Use of NLWC’s Injury Prone Season

However, it could only indicate the wrestler’s injury to be the reason for his absence. But, in the press conference, Tom Brands didn’t raise such issues. That could only deepen further questions about the dissatisfaction in the Iowa Hawkeyes’ camp. What do you think about it? 

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