NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and three-time NCAA Div. I national champion wrestler Tom Brands, who is the current head wrestling coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.

Before the 2013-14 regular college wrestling season starts, Coach Brands will be bringing two of his top wrestlers to compete in the 2013 edition of the NWCA All-Star Classic.

This event takes place this Saturday, November 2, at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia, on the campus of George Mason University. It will be streamed live on Flowrestling, and televised in about two weeks on Fox College Sports in the U.S. at a date to be announced.

Representing the Iowa Hawkeyes will be defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Derek St. John, who will be facing Nestor Taffur of Boston University at 157 pounds, and Tony Ramos, who is top-ranked at 133 pounds, but will be wrestling at 141 at this event against Devin Carter of Virginia Tech.

We spoke with Coach Brands by phone Thursday.

"I think it's a good thing when you have guys that are willing to put things on the line where there's probably what I would say, there's a lot of ego at stake and it's not just 'give me the matchup that serves me the best'. These are real matchups, I think four or five of them in the lineup, where it could go to either guy, looking at it on paper," he said.

"When you have that type of event, I think you're going to have the potential to do what maybe the All-Star meet is supposed to do, and that's really bring a lot of attention to it and really fire people up and get people onboard for the season and even internationally. There's going to be some future matchups there as well. So a lot going on."

The complete and loaded lineup for the 2013 NWCA All-Star Classic is:

125: Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma) vs. Nashon Garrett (Cornell)
133: A.J. Schopp (Edinboro) vs. Mason Beckman (Lehigh)
141: Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) vs. Tony Ramos (Iowa)
149: Kendric Maple (Oklahoma) vs. Logan Stieber (Ohio State)
157: Derek St. John (Iowa) vs. Nestor Taffur (Boston U.)
165: David Taylor (Penn State) vs. Michael Moreno (Iowa State)
174: Andrew Howe (Oklahoma) vs. Matt Brown (Penn State)
184: Jimmy Sheptock (Maryland) vs. Jake Swartz (Boise State)
197: Taylor Meeks (Oregon State) vs. Scott Schiller (Minnesota)
HWT: Tony Nelson (Minnesota) vs. Mike McMullan (Northwestern)

There will also be several exhibition feature matches.

We also discussed how he views the Iowa Hawkeyes and their potential to win another national title this season, why wrestling needs to improve the way the sport is promoted and "at least we appear like we're big budget", why wrestling needs "to get the right people in the right place" to promote and market the sport, and much more.

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Labels: college, Eddie Goldman, freestyle, Hawkeyes, Iowa, NCAA, No Holds Barred, NWCA All-Star Classic, Tom Brands, wrestling