Iowa Wrestling Big Ten Opponents Set for 2026-27 as Urgency Looms

Things in Iowa City have a lingering sense of urgency hanging around the Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling program.

Last season saw the Hawkeyes finish the year with a 12-6 overall record and a 5-3 mark in Big Ten meets, both below the standard that has come to be expected from a program like Iowa.

The losses were embarrassing, too. Penn State walked into Iowa and beat them 32-2, Minnesota came to town and won 21-16, and the Hawkeyes went to Ohio State only to get beaten 24-9.

Things have to change this year, and that starts with Big Ten meets, which have been announced for the 2026-27 season.

Iowa Hawkeyes Wrestling Big Ten Opponents for 2026-27 Season

The Hawkeyes will have eight meets in Big Ten conference action, with four at home in Carver-Hawkeye Arena and four on the road.

Home: Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State
Away: Illinois, Penn State, Rutgers, Wisconsin

The road meets are headlined by a trip to Penn State, which is going to be no easy task for the Hawkeyes. The Nittany Lions ended last year as the No. 1 team in the country with an unblemished 15-0 record.

Ohio State (No. 2), Nebraska (No. 5), Minnesota (No. 9), and Illinois (No. 10) all finished inside the top 10 as well. Iowa ended the year at No. 7 in the final NCAA NWCA Coaches Poll.

B1G opponents are set 🔒 pic.twitter.com/WvlO4OV5Ck
— Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling (@Hawks_Wrestling) June 18, 2026

What's next for Iowa Wrestling?

Iowa head coach Tom Brands watches a 125-pound match between Iowa’s Keyan Hernandez and Wisconsin’s Nicolar Rivera Jan. 9, 2026 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tom Brands has been Iowa's head coach since the 2006 season. In that time, he has turned the Hawkeyes into one of the country's top wrestling programs. You don't go 140-15 (his record at Iowa) by accident.

Brands has led Iowa to four national titles and six Big Ten championships. He has also churned out 14 individual national champions and 109 All-Americans.

Despite this success, the recent shortcomings have sparked discourse of potential change at the top of the Hawkeyes' wrestling program. That noise will only get louder if Iowa wrestling continues to struggle against the top competition again this year.

Moving on from a coach who has done as much for a program as Tom Brands has done for the Iowa Hawkeyes, but change is inevitable. The only question is when that change comes.

With Brands' history, time poured into the program, and the past success, Brands is afforded this year to turn things around. He has earned that, but if the 2025-26 blip on the radar becomes a trend, athletic director Beth Goetz will be presented with a decision to make.

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