No surprise, fans of Iowa wrestling don’t much like Cael Sanderson’s Penn State team that has won three-straight national titles since the Hawkeyes’ last one in 2010.

Sanderson, an ISU icon who became the only wrestler in NCAA history to go undefeated through four seasons from 1999-2002, drew more bad blood with the Hawkeyes in his return to Des Moines for the NCAAs as the Nittany Lions made it three-straight thanks to individual titles by Ed Ruth (184 pounds) and Quentin Wright (197).

But ISU fans can’t help but wonder, would Sanderson have been building his dynasty had he remained the coach at Iowa State?

In no way am I writing this to take shots at current ISU coach Kevin Jackson, he’s managed to build his program with bare shelves and will see more success in the years to come. But the question still persists: How good would Iowa State have been had Sanderson stayed there?

The main thing regarding Sanderson’s departure that grinds the gears of ISU fans is the absence of David Taylor. The former ISU commit followed Sanderson to Penn State.

In his 100 career wins during the span of the past three seasons, Taylor has recorded bonus points in 93 of them. Thanks to falling into a fluke of a cradle in the 157-pound NCAA title match in 2011 and a tooth-and-nail thriller in the 165-pound title match at this year’s NCAAs, Taylor will most likely go down as the greatest wrestler ever to not win at least three NCAA titles.

…

Jake Calhoun is a senior in journalism from Urbandale, Iowa.