There will never be a truce with the cult. Iowa wrestling is a cult when it comes to people leaving. St. John,Metcalf,Gilman,Dresser, and others are going to be attacked and the people they love won't be safe either. A cult can't have people who leave escape with the rest of the cult seeing them as rational people. Anyone who leaves the cult of Hawkeye wrestling is going to be demonized and represented as a bad person. ISU fans watch Austin Gomez leave and still cheer for him. PSU fans brag up guys like Ruth and Frank the tank even though they left. Cenzo is still loved even though he left. This is not ok in Iowa circles. The minute you leave to pursue better opportunities you are labeled as bad in the Cult of Iowa.
I don't think your assessment is too far off, so I would classify it more as an entitled Fanbase. Think Notre Dame in football, what have they done the last how many years?
I think they made the playoffs two or three times but they probably didn't deserve to really make it in there and got creamed.
The Iowa fan base, or at least certain Fox on social media, just think their designated by God to win. They are Mecca, the program with the greatest history , and everyone needs to acknowledge thst or you're a hater.
It's not 1975 now or 1997. It's not even 2010, it's 2023. And the wrestling world has changed .
If you ask me what Iowa could do to get at the top of the intercollegiate, wrestling world and dominate, I will say nothing. Right now can't be done, as long as Sanderson is coaching at Penn State and if I had to guess 5 to 15 years, it's probably going to be how long he's there, if not longer. And if that is true, the machine will keep on chugging away.