Hawk Central

Iowa wrestling: Volunteer coach Kurt Backes leaves Hawkeyes

Andy Hamilton — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:06:32 +0000

Kurt Backes spent recent years carving his career path from lessons he learned on the mat. Beginning next month, he’ll utilize the education he received in the classroom. The Iowa volunteer assistant wrestling coach said Tuesday that he is leaving the Hawkeyes for a job at Wells Fargo in Des Moines. “I’m going to use [...]

Andrew Logue: My nominee for new college football committee is…

Andrew Logue — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:58:35 +0000

I hereby nominate Barry Alvarez to college football’s playoff selection committee. Some of the details are still being worked out. The people in charge of putting together a four-team tournament following the 2014 season have yet to establish a clear criteria for the job. In fact, there’s some debate about who would even want to [...]

Should college football have 2 signing periods?

Randy Peterson — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:41:10 +0000

If Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads had his way, he’d only sweat out the rest of the summer and early fall while his top recruit, already verbally committed to the Cyclones, plays footsie with other programs. He’d have an opportunity to lock up Urbandale receiver Allen Lazard and other high school seniors-to-be who accepted [...]

Hawkeyes looking for second rowing coach in 10 months

Associated Press — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:44:29 +0000

The University of Iowa will be looking for its second women’s rowing coach in just 10 months. The school announced Monday that coach Steve Pritzker is leaving to become the chief financial officer for the athletic department at the University of Virginia. Pritzker spent nine seasons at Virginia before taking over at Iowa in July. [...]

Iowa basketball programs boast two Parade All-Americans

Hawk Central — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:59:27 +0000

It was a good weekend to be one of Iowa’s best high school basketball players. Iowa women’s signee Ally Disterhoft, this year’s Miss Basketball, and men’s signee Peter Jok, the state’s Mr. Basketball, were both named to the 2013 Parade All-America teams. Disterhoft, of Iowa City, and Jok, from West Des Moines Valley, were among [...]

Iowa football recruit ranked No. 80 in latest Rivals list

Hawk Central — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:52:07 +0000

Iowa State recruit Allen Lazard, a receiver from Urbandale, is No. 25 on Rivals.com’s list of the top 100 high school football players in the Class of 2014. The 6-foot-5, 204-pounder is the top-ranked receiver in the country, according to Rivals. The list, released on Monday, also had Iowa recruit Ross Pierschbacher of Cedar Falls [...]

Los Angeles Times: New UCLA basketball Coach Steve Alford’s honeymoon was very short

Lauren Sieben — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:00:22 +0000

What seemed like a perfect match got mired in controversy the very day Steve Alford was introduced at UCLA. Now fans are skeptical, and he has his work cut out. Read the full story from the Los Angeles Times.

Iowa men can stand tall with a beefed-up basketball schedule

Rick Brown — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:45:32 +0000

No more baby steps. Iowa’s 2013-14 basketball schedule will be a man-sized challenge. “Substantially tougher,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “But that was by design.” McCaffery took a cautious approach to scheduling last season, knowing he’d have two freshmen in his starting lineup. And two — Mike Gesell and Adam Woodbury — turned into three [...]

Analysis: Where do non-revenue sports fit in?

Mark Emmert — Sun, 19 May 2013 01:59:35 +0000

Money has always had a significant influence over major-college sports. It just used to be impolite to talk about it so openly. But the cash is pouring into the coffers at big schools like never before, and the conversation has become more honest. Every fan knows the salary of the multimillion-dollar football coaches, follows along [...]

EXCLUSIVE: Kirk Ferentz opens up to the Register’s Bryce Miller

Bryce Miller — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:57:12 +0000

IOWA CITY, Ia. – The list of BCS-level football coaches who have led the same programs since at least 1999 is short, which probably isn’t surprising in a game long on win-or-else demands, financial pressures and leadership erosion because of hiring sprees and NCAA storm clouds. Frank Beamer accepted the job at Virginia Tech in 1987. [...]