Video: Iowa's Norm Parker and Tom Brands cut it up on the I-Club circuit

BURLINGTON - Norm Parker and Tom Brands are as different as they are similar.

Yes, both coach at the University of Iowa and are considered by their peers among the best in their respective profession. Both light up the I-Club circuit with an engaging style of humor, completely opposite yet achieving the same result.

Take last Thursday's I-Club outing in Burlington. Parker, Iowa's football defensive coordinator, was the second of four coaches to speak at the banquet. He brought the crowd to laughter when he compared graduating college football players to his children. But it was his playful jesting with Brands had the banquet hall in stitches.

"We work for absolutely the best head coach in college football. I don't know a better person than Kirk (Ferentz)," Parker told the crowd, which replied with cheers. "I really don't know a better person than Kirk. I know this, it's not (associate athletics director Mark) Jennings. It's not (broadcaster Gary) Dolphin. It's not (UI Foundation's Matt) Henderson. And it sure as hell ain't Brands. I know that."

Parker's anthem is simple -- "be honest, be direct and be seated." He referred to himself as a lead-off act with "the main acts are about to follow." When making that remark, Parker turned and looked directly at Brands, drawing laughter.

The wrestling coach gained a measure of revenge for Parker in his opening remarks that followed a moment later. Brands referred to a conversation the pair had about warming up the crowd for keynote speaker, men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery.

"That's not exactly how (Parker) told it," Brands said. "He told me we were like the (little) horse that go in the stall to get mare ready for the big horse. That's what he told me."

The coaches participate on the I-Club's "Gold" team which includes McCaffery and assistant women's basketball coach Jenni Fitzgerald. Parker and Brands have a routine down pat with back-and-forth banter.

Parker, 60-something, flexes dry humor with a dose of self-deprecation into every conversation and incorporates it all into speaking engagements. Brands, 42, never is afraid to say what's on his mind, no matter how far it falls outside the tree of political correctness.

But what's evident even among the jokes is their relationship is built on mutual respect. Parker masks his true feelings for Brands but says everything with a smile.

"Brands ... the man is crazy," Parker said before the banquet. "The man is crazy. I think that he should be the point guard on the basketball team. I'm going to nominate Brands as the point guard on the basketball team. Could you imagine that ball coming off the backboard? Boing … the whole thing would shake."

Brands is a little more open with his thoughts on Parker.

“He's one of my favorite people," Brands said. "First of all, he's a coach's coach, or I should say, he's a player's coach. He's about performance, so I think I relate to that. And he's old-school, and I think I relate to that. I have tremendous respect for him for a lot of reasons. So it's kind of a natural. It's not something you have to work very hard at, that's for sure. He's top-notch all the way."

Yes, the differences are stark: football to wrestling; older man to coach in his prime; 'aw shucks' personality to intense wildcat. But the laughter's the same, as is the respect. Neither one can fake that.