Schwab faces familiar foe

The page has turned in Doug Schwab's career and he's strictly focused on the next chapter.

After serving as an assistant to Tom Brands the previous six seasons, including the last four at the University of Iowa, Schwab was named University of Northern Iowa's ninth head wrestling coach in May. He will face the program that he coached and competed for tonight when his Panthers host the seventh-ranked Hawkeyes at the West Gym, starting at 7 p.m.

Schwab was chosen to help turnaround the UNI program. His focus is solely on that, and his old team is just another team in the Panthers' path.

“Actually there are no mixed emotions,” said Schwab, a three-time All-American and 1999 141-pound NCAA champion for the Hawkeyes, helping coach them to the last three straight NCAA team titles. “I'm not a Hawkeye anymore, I'm a Panther.

“It's important on a lot of levels, but are there mixed emotions? There is not a single mixed emotion.”

Schwab introduced a charged atmosphere to the Panthers practice room. Undoubtedly something he learned from his days as a Hawkeye and learning as an assistant under Tom Brands. It's hard to distinguish with taking on the defending national champions.

“The intensity has been high since he arrived on day one,” UNI senior 157-pounder David Bonin said. “So if it's been higher, I haven't noticed it because it's always pretty up there.”

UNI is 4-3 with wins over Old Dominion and Binghamton. The Panthers also lost close duals to Maryland and Bloomsburg. Brands saw the making of a good head coach from when he first hired Schwab.

“We saw that right away when he came to Virginia Tech,” Brands said. “He's definitely passionate about the sport.”

Schwab has the tools, and owns the desire to be a successful head coach, according to Brands.

“He's motivated,” Brands said. “If you're motivated, work hard and you're smart good things will happen. He's got all those qualities.”

Iowa red-shirt freshman Derek St. John worked out with Schwab a lot during his red-shirt season. He can add a guess as to what the Panthers are experiencing with Schwab in the rooms.

“I'm sure they're taking some butt-whippings. At least I did,” said St. John, adding. “It's a lot of work but you can grow tremendously in your technique and toughness wrestling with Schwab.”

Toughness was missing last year when the Hawks throttled the Panthers, 48-3, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa won nine of 10 bouts, including six falls. The uninspired performance won't likely happen again, according to St. John.

“I don't think you'll see that this time around,” St. John said. “He'll have them fired up (and) ready to go.”

Iowa (6-0) is looking to extend its school-record 67-dual win streak, including a Hawkeye best 43 road wins. Brands expects a fired up Panthers squad led by Schwab.

“They feel good about what they're doing and where they're at,” Brands said. We have to be ready. It's Iowa coming to town. We have to be ready to go. Opponents get up for Iowa.”