Iowa wrestling used to be the gold standard in college wrestling, but the gap has closed over recent years.
The Hawkeyes have a whopping 24 National Championships, including winning nine straight under legendary former head coach Dan Gable from 1978 to 1986. If you were the cream of the crop, you went to Iowa, but since 2021, they have been largely pushed aside by Penn State. The Nittany Lions have won every Big Ten and national championship since 2021, and with multiple programs emerging, Iowa has fallen behind. The talent pool has widened, and with expanded NIL opportunities, Iowa is no longer the recruiting powerhouse it once was.
Iowa still attracts some of the best prospects, but have recently struggled to maintain them.
Top-10 2027 prospect Sonny Amato has decommitted from Iowa Wrestling
The program is looking to bounce back after a subpar season by Iowa standards, and everything seemed to be headed in the right direction until the Bo Bassett fiasco. It is still unclear what exactly happened, but Brands and the Hawkeyes made a huge signing when 2026 No. 2 overall wrestling prospect Bo Bassett committed to the program. Bassett claims that Iowa simply turned out to be the wrong fit, while reports surfaced that the Bassett family was asking for a bunch of extra accommodations for him and his brother, Melvin Miller.
Shortly after Bassett decommitted from the program, Miller, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2027 class removed Iowa from his top choices list, and it hasn't gotten better for the program since then.
BREAKING: Top NJ prospect Sonny Amato, ranked No. 6 in the country at 150 lbs., has decommitted from Iowa ...@On3 | @HawkeyeReport https://t.co/a5sJQlIm1e
— Nick Kosko (@nickkosko59) August 8, 2026
Sonny Amato, the top New Jersey prospect and the No. 6 overall prospect at 150 pounds, announced on Instagram that he has re-opened his commitment after initially committing to Iowa in October 2025. Amato's initial commitment to the program took the sting out of Bassett's decommitment, but now the program is once again searching for answers. Amato is coming off another state championship, notching his second in three years, and his recent announcement is a big blow to the program.
According to MatScouts recent 2027 Big Board, the Hawkeyes still boast two of the top 10 wrestlers in the class, including Paul Kenney (No. 8, 133 pounds) and Joe Bachmann (No. 9, 165 pounds), but losing out on Miller and now Amato really hurts. If the name of the game is knocking off Penn State, the program has to earn more victories on the recruiting trail, and that just hasn't happened recently. Penn State boasts four of the top ten recruits in the 2027 class as they continue their attempt to widen the gap over Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, and Ohio State.
It is unclear why so many prospects are choosing other programs, given Iowa's rich wrestling history, but more parity and more opportunities for higher NIL contracts could easily be contributing factors. Iowa has taken multiple gut punches on the recruiting trail, and they must respond if they want to get out of this recent funk and get back to being national title contenders.
Add us as a preferred source on Google