Hawkeye Report Podcast

Hawkeye Report Podcast 752

The transfer portal is open and the Iowa Hawkeye Football team has been busy shopping for players, and yes, losing a few on the way. We discuss that and more on the Hawkeye Report Podcast.  First, we talk some Hawkeye Basketball. We open discussing the Iowa men's team having a shot to tie the game at Minnesota, only to miss three shots and lose by three to the Gophers. Tom Kakert was in Minneapolis for the game and discusses what he saw and the conversations he had with Ben McCollum and the players after the game, including the Hawkeyes dealing with illness among several team members.  Then we preview the huge game on Sunday against the Fighting Illini. They are the biggest team in all of college basketball and Iowa will have to deal with those size issues. We also talk about the rivalry between the two schools and how important this game is with Iowa having to travel to Purdue and Indiana next week.  Finally, we dive into the transfer portal talk. We discuss the players who have left the Hawkeyes, including the surprising departure of Koen Entringer and Brian Allen. Then we discuss the players who will be joining the Iowa program later this month and equally as important, we have a list of potential targets that are still out there and we break all those down, plus how much room is still left on the roster.

Hawkeye Report Podcast 751

It's a post bowl game edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo join up to talk about the Iowa football team beating Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl, 34-27 on New Year's Eve. It was a strong performance for the Iowa offense, led by Mark Gronowski and featuring huge plays in the passing game from DJ Vonnahme and others along the way. We talk about the fast start, led by a huge run by Gronowski and the huge trick play early in the second half to put points on the board.  Plus we discuss the defensive effort of the Hawkeyes, who did a pretty solid job against Diego Pavia and in the first half in particular, Iowa put plenty of pressure on the Heisman Trophy runner-up in the game. We also discuss the game changing strange play on a Vanderbilt punt along with one poor decision that we think Iowa made that took possible points off the board.  Finally we look ahead to the portal and the next season also gets a quick look at the end of the podcast. 

Hawkeye Report Podcast 750

It's a very special edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast as we record from Tampa prior to the ReliaQuest Bowl. We are pleased to be joined by the two gentlemen who will be calling the game agianst Vanderbilt, Gary Dolphin and Pat Angerer.  It's a wide ranging conversation talking a lot of Iowa football, starting with our memories from this bowl game with Dolphin ready to call his seventh bowl game from Tampa and Angerer having played and won the 2009 then Outback Bowl over South Carolina. We walk down memory lane discussing this bowl game.  We talk about the state of the Iowa program under the leadership of Kirk Ferentz and why the program continues to have success year after year and we look back at this season of Iowa football. We look at the culture in the Hawkeye program and why that is such a key to the success of the team and the program under Ferentz.  Then we preview the keys to the game against Vanderbilt and what they have to do to slow down their quarterback Diego Pavia. Also, what does Iowa have to do on offense to have success in this game.  Finally, we share some great Norm Parker stories and the link that he created between Kirk Ferentz and Tom Izzo. 

Hawkeye Report Podcast 749

It's our year end wrap-up Hawkeye Report Podcast. Of course we will probably do one or two more before the end of the year, but this is our wrap on the entire season for all the various sports that we cover.  We are joined by Tom Kakert, Kyle Huesmann, and Tanner LaFever to discuss the various sports and beats that we cover. We start with Iowa football and earning the Joe Moore Award on Monday and why it's a special award for this group and for Kirk Ferentz since Moore was his former high school coach and mentor.  We then highlight some of the top stories from the Iowa football season, including LeVar Woods moving on, the close losses this season and other storylines this year. After that we move on to Iowa men's basketball and the stories of this past year, including the firing of Fran McCaffery and the hiring of Ben McCollum, along with a massive roster change.  After that we move on to women's basketball and the stories from last season, which was the first for Jan Jensen leading the program. Plus, Kyle gives us an update on Emely Rodriguez and her status with the team. Kyle also talks about his other beats and the stories of Iowa baseball, women's soccer and field hockey.  Finally, Tanner discusses the top stories for Iowa men's wrestling, including an individual title for a Hawkeye wrestler. He also gives us the top stories for the Iowa women's wrestling team, who won a national title for the second time. Plus what's ahead for both wrestling squads. 

Hawkeye Report Podcast 748

It's a semi-emergency edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. We have some breaking news today that long time special teams coordinator for the Iowa football program, LeVar Woods, will be departing the program after the bowl game. Woods will be headed to Michigan State to be their special teams coordinator and also assistant head coach.  Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo discuss this surprising news and the impact it will have on the Iowa program. We look back at the great success that Woods had in this role and the challenge that Kirk Ferentz will have to fill this role. What are some potential options for the Iowa head coach? Are there some internal options that he could look at to fill the role? We also talk some portal news. Yes, the portal isn't open quite yet, but the is plenty of chatter. We look at some of the positions of need for the Hawkeyes this year and wonder if Iowa will start a youth movement at linebacker this season.  Then we move to basketball and discuss the suspension of guard Emely Rodriguez, who did not make the trip to NYC where the Hawkeyes will face #1 UCONN on Saturday afternoon. What are Iowa's chances in that game? Finally we discuss some of Ben McCollum's comments on Thursday regarding what he will be looking to add in recruiting this spring and his thoughts on fouling if you are up three late in a game.