Doug Schwab was introduced as the new wrestling coach at the University of Northern Iowa. The former Iowa assistant coach and Hawkeye national champion takes over for Brad Penrith, who was fired last month after ten years on the job.
U.N.I. Athletic Director Troy Dannen says he wants the Panthers to become credible on a national scale, again. Dannen says wrestling is important in the state and at an institution where 90% of the students are Iowans, it’s important to the university.
The Osage native is familiar with the program. He had two older brothers wrestle for the Panthers. He says it’s a homecoming he looks forward to and is excited about the opportunity and the future of the program to get support and have alumni excited again.
Schwab says he intends to hold his team accountable, as he says he doesn’t “want men of talk, I want men of action.” He says they want to develop national champions.
Schwab wants immediate success, as he says he will be patient up to a point with his team, but he wants success now. Schwab says it will not be easy and will not be handed to them.
Schwab intends to bring with him an aggressive style that has led Iowa to three consecutive national titles. “I’ll never go another way,” Schwab says. He says you have to be aggressive and attack, as he says “it’s not about winning 2-1, getting your hand raised and running off the mat.”
By Elwin Huffman KOEL Oelwein