Even national champions are not guaranteed a starting spot on the No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling team. 

Patrick Kennedy — a U23 National Champion at the 2024 World Team Trials at Spire Academy in Ohio with a career record of 41-14 at Iowa — has found himself battling for time on the mat on a national-championship-contending team this season.

At 174 pounds, teammate Nelson Brands has secured both the starting role and a national ranking, dropping Kennedy to a back-up role despite qualifying for the NCAA championships in the last two seasons. That’s a role Kennedy almost surely would not be in if he were with another program.

No spot is ever guaranteed at the high level of Division I wrestling, and this is especially prevalent at the University of Iowa. With over 27 NCAA championships and 34 Big Ten championships, Hawkeye wrestling has constantly brought in top-tier talent from each weight class year after year.

So, it’s no surprise Kennedy is constantly battling and duking it out with top-ranked wrestlers every day of practice. But it would have been very easy for Kennedy to enter the transfer portal to find an easier opportunity to wrestle or make an exorbitant amount of money taking advantage of newly passed NIL regulations.

“I think a lot of people nowadays, they chase the money,” Kennedy said. “They chase getting a bag.”

However, for Kennedy, wrestling for the Hawkeyes was never about the money. It was always about loyalty and the experience of participating in the sport he loves with his best friends. 

“But for me, I love it here, and I love the people around,” he said. “Even when we’re not wrestling, we’re out cutting wood and bow fishing with the teammates. I love it here, and this is a place that I believe is the best fit for me. And it makes no sense in my head to go somewhere and hate it but get paid.”

That loyalty stems from his upbringing in Kasson-Mantorville, Minnesota, a small town whose high school enrolls just 650 students. Kennedy said he doesn’t come from the wealthiest family, but that motivates him.

“If I finished wrestling, I go put my work boots on for the rest my life — I don’t care because I love being here,” he said. “It is my choice. It’s how the world works sometimes, but you can’t freaking cry and be a baby about it. You put your boots on, and you go to work.”

The four-time Minnesota high school champion is undoubtedly a solid catch in his craft, and he showed this on the biggest stage as he won the 2024 World Team Trials and freestyle national championship at the 2022 World Team Trials, both at the U23 level.

Kennedy qualified for the world team, joining the U.S. team at the 2024 World Wrestling Championships in Tirana, Albania, where he continued to be a student of the game.

“I wanted to definitely do a better job of finishing over there, getting my hand raised when it really mattered,” he said. “But I learned a lot … I feel like I was in the best shape I’ve ever been in. I was wrestling the best, so I think that if I do it correctly, it’s going to carry over into the season. So, it was a fun offseason, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”

Even after the summer success, Kennedy has fought for time on the mat behind Nelson Brands’ starting role, patiently waiting for his opportunity to come. And it came during one of the most heated and intense rivalries in all of college wrestling — the annual Cy-Hawk duel with Iowa State.

Iowa head coach Tom Brands found it most fitting for the team to start Kennedy in the 174-pound bout, some much-needed energy after a slow start and injury to top-ranked 157-pounder Jacori Teemer.

“Just shaking it up,” Tom Brands said bluntly after the meet of the change at 174. “It was too quiet upstairs, and [coach Terry Brands] was up there breathing fire. We had a bad thing happen at the break. ‘Hey, we’ve got to get ready to go.’

“‘It’s not a morgue,” he added of what he told his team after Teemer’s injury. “‘Here, guys, we’ve got five matches. We’ve got to get ready to go.’”

This move by Tom Brands showcased just how deep the second-ranked Hawkeyes are in their ability to sit the No. 6 wrestler in the country for Kennedy — who came into his first match of the year unranked. 

“He is a guy that does it right,” Tom Brands said. “Lifestyle is intact, and he knows where his improvements have to come. And he addresses them every day.

“We love him,” he added. “He’s the epitome of what you want out of a stablemate. He’s loyal. He’s driven. He sticks up for his teammates, and he holds [himself] accountable. [He has] great leadership characteristics, and you could probably classify him as a player-coach.” 

Fans were stunned at first when Kennedy, not Nelson Brands, walked out of the tunnel with flames and smoke intensifying the atmosphere in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. But the atmosphere only exploded from there.

But Kennedy, like so many times before, blocked out the roaring crowd and focused solely on one thing: his opponent, Hawkeye-turned-Cyclone Aiden Riggins.

Locked in and internalizing that tunnel vision, Kennedy took the mat with confidence. And he came out firing on all fronts, recording three takedowns against former teammate Riggins and taking an early 9-2 lead after the first period. 

Riggins recorded an early escape to start the second period and bring the score to 9-3, but shortly after, Kennedy recorded another takedown to bring the score to 12-3. With a monstrous lead entering the third period, Hawkeye fans cheered loudly for Kennedy to continue his dominant performance, which he did by a 19-4 technical fall.

The victory added bonus points to Iowa’s team total and helped lead the Hawkeyes to a 20th-consecutive victory over the Cyclones.

“I have this image in my head of how I want my wrestling to look,” Kennedy said. “Make it how it looks in your head. And I think that will give me the best chance of sitting atop the podium. 

“I just want my wrestling to look like a guy who’s out there who’s free-flowing and really chasing the points,” he added. “You want to see the scoreboard exhausted and tired … You just get your freaking hand raised.”

Kennedy’s experience and mindset on the mat have translated into that player-coach leadership role in the wrestling room.

“When we all have the same goal in mind, you have to lift each other up and lift yourself up,” he said. “You see something that doesn’t sit well with you, just say it. Or you really try to lead by example.”

Even if he trades the wrestling shoes in for the work boots when it’s all said and done, Kennedy’s career in the Black and Gold singlet has personified who he really is. 

And that’s something money can’t buy.