Hawkeye Report Podcast

A lot of topics to cover in early April on the Hawkeye Report Podcast. In this edition it's Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann with plenty of news on several very important fronts.  We open with some Iowa baseball talk. The Hawkeyes host rival Nebraska this weekend for a huge three game series. We dive into the matchup and look at how Rick Heller's club has gotten off to such a great start in Big Ten play and what it could mean for the Big Ten Tournament and Iowa's NCAA Tournament chances.  Then we move over to Iowa football. Several Iowa players, including Mark Gronowski, met with the media on Thursday afternoon in Iowa City. What did the Hawkeyes new signal caller have to say about his recovery from surgery and his building relationship with offensive coordinator Tim Lester? We also have notes on several other Hawkeye players and insights on the new running backs coach in Iowa City.  Then we head to the transfer portal. We start first with the Iowa women's basketball team and if there are any point guard targets

The news just keeps on coming on the Iowa basketball front and we have plenty to cover in our latest podcast. Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo break down all the latest roster news. Iowa continues to add players from the Drake roster that played for Ben McCollum.  Meanwhile, the rumor mill is churning out plenty of talk about the potential portal destinations for Josh Dix and Pryce Sandfort. Is there a chance that one or both players will end up returning to Iowa? What do we make of the wild rumors regarding Josh Dix and where he might land? In the last three days we have seen him rumored to be headed back to Iowa or transferring to Indiana or Illinois. Why is all of that simply a guessing game. We also discuss a recent prediction for what Sandfort will do coming out of the transfer portal.  Then we move over to Iowa football. First we open with some comments about what we think will generally be a busier than normal transfer portal for football this spring. Then we discuss what we saw at Iowa football practice f

The edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast is a jam packed one. Tom Kakert, Tanner Lafever, and Kyle Huesmann are talking hoops, wrestling, football, and baseball for the Hawkeyes on this show.  We open by updating the latest on Iowa basketball and what is happening in the transfer portal with new head coach Ben McCollum. A couple of Drake players entered the portal today and we assess where things stand with Iowa players who could be considering staying with the Hawkeyes. Plus, we react to Owen Freeman to Creighton news.  Then a brief update on the start of spring football in Iowa City and a few thoughts on what Kirk Ferentz had to say about his team.  Next we move on to getting the assessement from Kyle about the end of the Iowa women's basketball season. What went wrong for the Hawkeyes against Oklahoma in the season ending loss? Then we look ahead to the next season. What will the starting lineup look like at this point in time? Does Jan Jensen need to get into the portal to find help for next year and wha

The Iowa Hawkeyes have a new men's basketball coach. His name is Ben McCollum and he was actually born in Iowa City and grew up worshiping Iowa basketball. Tuesday afternoon was his introductory press conference at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and Tom Kakert was there for full coverage.  He and Matt Randazzo break down everything we learned in the press conference from Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz and the new head coach, Ben McCollum. We get the details on the contract and some basic ideas on the state of the name, image, and likeness commitment that Iowa is making to the program.  We look at his potential staff decisions that he has made. Which coaches are coming from Drake? Will there be more players from Drake headed to Iowa City. What is the impact of getting Drake star guard Bennett Stirtz to Iowa to play?  Also, will there be any Iowa players who are in the transfer portal think about returning? Who might those players be and how important is it to get one or two back? Also, McCollum seems to be on a missi

It's an NCAA Wrestling and basketball coaching search extravaganza . Tom Kakert and Tanner Lafever for an extra long podcast!  We open the podcast with Tanner breaking down the entire NCAA Wrestling Tournament that starts on Thursday morning. We start at 125 pounds and work our way to 285 pound. We break down each class and discuss the path for all the Iowa wrestlers this weekend in Philly.  Which Hawkeyes have the best chance to get to the finals and win an individual championship? Could we see Iowa get their first individual title since 2021? Will they be able to place three wrestlers in a title match? Which Iowa wrestlers might be able to finish higher than their seed heading into the tournament? What about the team race? Everyone is chasing Penn State and no one will catch them, but can the Hawkeyes finish in second place? Then we turn our attention to what turned out to be a long discussion on the Iowa basketball coaching search and the state of Iowa basketball in general. Who is the top choice now for I

It was Selection Sunday in college basketball.and for one Hawkeye team it was a night to celebrate. For the other, it was a day to continue a search for a new leader of the program. We cover both of them on the podcast tonight.  First, Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann discuss the big news of the night and that is the Iowa women's basketball team is a six seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Hawkeyes won't be at home this time around. They will be headed to Norman, Oklahoma to face Murray State in the first round and then potentially they will face Oklahoma for a possible trip to the Sweet 16. We take an early look at the first round match-up with the Murray State, who shoots the three ball more than just about any team in the country.  Then there was some interesting news in the Iowa men's basketball search. West Virginia was left out of the NCAA Tournament. What could that mean for Iowa potentially pursuing their head coach Darian DeVries? Could it mean that Iowa will have a new head coach sooner than expected or ar

A rare Friday edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. Probably term it an emergency edition as well with the University of Iowa parting ways with Hawkeye men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery on Friday afternoon.  Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo discuss the departure of McCaffery from every angle possible. What led to his dismissal as Iowa's head coach? What was the tick tok of how things went down today in Iowa City following the Hawkeyes loss in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday night to Illinois? Would McCaffery have likely survived for one more year if not for a steep decline in attendance at home games? We also look back at McCaffery's tenure in Iowa City and the success that he enjoyed leading the program.  Then we move on to the next step which is who the next head coach for the Hawkeyes will be? We look at what are thought to be the top two candidates for the job and how they compare to each other? Should a buyout number for one coach impact the hiring process? Who else is on the list of coaches that Bet

It's a post season podcast coming your way in this episode of the podcast. First, we are joined by Tanner Lafever, who takes us around the world of Iowa men's and women's wrestling, who had two very different results in their post season events.  We open with a look at the Iowa men's wrestling team and their performance at the Big Ten championships. It was a third place performance for Iowa and zero individual titles once again this year for the Hawkeyes. What happened in their three title matches, including two top seeds that lost? Which Iowa wrestlers had stronger than expected performances? Which wrestlers are we concerned about heading into the NCAA championships.  Meanwhile the Iowa women's wrestling team won their second straight national title over the weekend in Coralville. Iowa won the team title and crowned three individual champions. While Iowa didn't have as many titles it was still an impressive performance. We discuss the Hawkeyes struggled on Saturday in the semifinals, but came back strong in

It's a massive wrestling weekend for the Iowa Hawkeyes men's and women's squads and we have your full preview of the action coming up on the mat. But, before we start talking about wrestling, we have some Hawkeye football news.  We have a new Iowa football commit to discuss. As we started to record, Iowa picked up a 2026 wide receiver commitment. We discussed the new addition. Then we talk about an interesting offensive analyst hire for Iowa and what that could mean for the offense. Plus, we give you a name to watch for the Iowa running back coach.  Then we dive into Iowa women's wrestling. They are competing for their second straight title this weekend in Coralville and Tanner Lafever has your full and complete preview of what to expect. Will the Hawkeyes roll to a second straight title? Which weight classes will be the most interesting to watch?  Lastly, we turn our attention to the Iowa men's wrestling team and their battle to win the Big Ten title this weekend in Evanston. What do we expect to see from th

Welcome to March and that can mean only one thing, conference tournament season for the Big Ten. We open the month with the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament coming up this week in Indianapolis.  Kyle Huesmann and Tom Kakert open the podcast looking back at the Iowa women pulling away in the second half for a comfortable win over Wisconsin. By the way, they will play the Badgers in their first game in Indy and we discuss that angle of the game. But, we breakdown what we learned from Sunday's regular season final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. What have we seen in the last month plus in terms of growth from this Iowa team? What were our takeaways from the victory on Sunday? We look at the Big Ten Tournament bracket and Iowa's path to a potential fourth straight title. We discuss not only Wisconsin, but what happened in the Hawkeyes only meeting this year with Michigan State, who they could potentially face on Wednesday. Which team is the favorite to win the crown this year? What about Iowa's seed in the NCA

Back by popular demand, Matt Randazzo returns to the podcast. Tom Kakert and Randazzo open the pod talking about the topic that Iowa fans are itching to hear their thoughts on and that's Iowa basketball and Brock Harding.  We look back at the loss at Illinois and also Harding's tweet from over the weekend calling out the social media comments that have been made towards the Iowa point guard. We assess his sophomore season so far and what's gone well and where he has struggled this season.  Also, we assess the overall season and the fact that Beth Goetz went to Champaign with the Iowa men's basketball team. Does that mean anything about the future? What could the next few weeks look like for the Iowa basketball team and what are their chances to even make the Big Ten Tournament at this point? What has to happen for them to make it to any post season play?  Then we discuss the surprising news from earlier this week that Ladell Betts has left the program to become the running backs coach for the New York Giants.

A very special edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. We are joined by our great friend Scott Dochterman from The Athletic to discuss a wide variety of topics dealing with Iowa athletics and the future of college sports.  We open the pod with a brief discussion of the Iowa women's basketball team dropping a game to UCLA on Sunday and how impressed we have been with their play in the last month.  Then we move to Iowa men's basketball and the Fran McCaffery era. Scott and Tom Kakert have covered the entire McCaffery era in Iowa City and discuss the state of the program and the complicated history of Hawkeye men's basketball overall dating back to the days of Dr. Tom Davis. It's a lot to unpack as we look at what might be next for the Iowa basketball program and why it needs to be stronger in the coming years.  From there we move on to the state of college athletics and the House Settlement that is expected to be officially coming in a few months. Scott was in New Orleans last week for Big Ten and SEC meetings a

It's another jam packed edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast this week. We open previewing the Hawkeye women's basketball team and Kyle Huesmann guiding us through that discussion. This weekend, Iowa hosts UCLA. Can Iowa pull off another upset against a national ranked team from Southern California? After that we discuss some Iowa baseball and preview their series starting Friday down at Stetson, which includes a contest against Notre Dame. What needs to go well for Iowa to emerge with at least a 2-1 record this weekend? Then we move on to Iowa men's basketball coming off a hard fought loss to Oregon on Wednesday night. Tom Kakert gives his thoughts on the loss and the missed opportunity. More importantly moving forward it looks like the Hawkeye path to even make it to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament is becoming even more complicated. We dive into that discussion and explain why it's challenging.  Finally we wrap up on the wrestling mat with Tanner Lafever discussing a huge weekend for the Iowa men a

It's a Monday podcast that's jam packed with Iowa Hawkeye news and commentary. Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann open the podcast dicussing the overtime loss by the Iowa women's hoops team on the road at Ohio State.  We look back at the game and how Iowa fought back late to tie the game and send it into extra time before the Buckeyes pull away for the victory. What did we see from the Hawkeyes as they saw their winning streak come to an end? How did they battle back after being down by double figures in the first half and again at times in the second half? How have we seen Lucy Olsen really grow in the player many expected her to be this year? How important were Syd Affolter and Kylie Feuerbach in today's game and how well have they been playing in the last few weeks? We also dive into where Iowa might be seeded in the NCAA and Big Ten Tournament and what their path might look like.  Then we move over the Iowa men's basketball team and their loss to Maryland on Sunday afternoon. Why was that game a tale of two hal

A huge road win for the Iowa men's basketball team means it's time to fire up the podcast machine and get things rolling. Tom Kakert, Matt Randazzo and Kyle Huesmann break down the huge win over Rutgers and how the Hawkeyes were able to go on the road and beat the Scarlet Knights.  We discuss the great performance by Josh Dix, who led the way. We talk about the huge shot down the stretch by Payton Sandfort and the strong play from Brock Harding and Pryce Sandfort, plus a huge contribution from Ladji Dembele.  After that we dive into the world of Iowa women's basketball. The Hawkeyes have gone from losing five straight to winning five in a row heading into their game against Rutgers. What has changed with the Iowa women's team? How much of an impact has the lineup change had on this recent success? What about the really strong play from Lucy Olsen and Syd Affolter in the last two weeks? Iowa is now in the NCAA Tournament, but could they rise to as high as a six seed? Finally we have our mega baseball preview.

It's another jam packed edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast. This week Tom Kakert, Kyle Huesmann, and Tanner Lafever break down what turned out to be a very busy and exciting weekend in Iowa athletics.  We open the show discussing the news of the day, which is the season ending injury to starting center Owen Freeman. What does it mean for the Iowa basketball team and the rest of the season? Who will have to step up for the Hawkeyes moving forward at the center position and what might they do with the lineup? What about the rumors that Freeman could enter the transfer portal?  Then we move on to a lengthy conversation about the Iowa women's hoops team and their upset win on Sunday afternoon over USC. We look back at the hot start from the Hawkeyes, the strong finish from Lucy Olsen and Addie O'Grady. We also talk about the way Iowa was able to figure out the pressure from the Trojans on defense. Then we talk about the highly ranked recruits that were at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday and if the Hawkeyes impr

It's a busy weekend coming up for Iowa athletics on a couple of fronts and the most famous women's basketball player in the world will be back in Iowa City. Tom Kakert, Kyle Huesmann, and Tanner LaFever hop on the podcast to discuss the return of Caitlin Clark, Iowa women's hoops playing USC on a huge recruiting weekend and we preview the Iowa wrestlers traveling to Penn State.  Yeah, it's a busy weekend. We open the podcast discussing Clark and her return for her number being retired from Iowa women's basketball. We look back at her amazing career at Iowa and reflect back on when things all changed on their road to the Final Four in her junior year and where it went from there.  Then we discuss one of the biggest recruiting weekends in women's basketball history with several top ten players in the Class of 2026 being on campus for the game against USC. Who are the visitors and what are the Hawkeyes chances with them? We also preview the Hawkeyes and the Trojans on Sunday and if Iowa can pull the massive upse

Following another road loss by double digits, it was time to fire up the podcast machine. Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo are back and discussing the Hawkeyes 82-65 loss to Ohio State on Monday night.  It was different than the previous two losses that saw the Hawkeyes fall behind by huge margins in the first half, but the result was close to the previous three road games. We look at the woes for the Iowa offense, which struggled to score the basketball consistently for most of the game. We examine the fact that for most of the game Iowa had only four players score a point and that didn't include Brock Harding and Josh Dix, who really struggled on Monday night in Columbus.  We look at the road ahead, which continues in about eight days when Iowa hosts Purdue and then they host Wisconsin. Those two games become must win in a lot of ways as the Hawkeyes hope to not be left out of the Big Ten Tournament, which only invites 15 of 18 schools this year.  We then wrap up the quick podcast with a look at very good footb

The struggle is real for the Iowa men's and women's basketball teams, particularly on the road. Both teams are on losing streaks with one team not able to get any stops and the other struggling to score points.  Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann open the podcast talking about the Iowa women's basketball team that has dropped five in a row in conference play. The latest loss was at Oregon in a game where Iowa built a double digit lead in the first half before dropping the game.  What has gone wrong with the Iowa women's team in recent weeks? Is it worth noting that they could have potentially won three of those games? What has gone wrong with the Hawkeyes lack of offense and in particular the struggle from the field by Lucy Olsen shooting the basketball? Are they officially in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament this year? What could their lineup look like next year? Then we move over to the Iowa men's basketball team who continues to struggle stopping opposing teams when they are on the road. Iowa is giving up 9

A lot of ground to cover on a Sunday night Hawkeye Report Podcast. Iowa athletics was busy and so were Tom Kakert, Kyle Huesmann, and Tanner Lafever covering their beats in Iowa City at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and on the wrestling mat in Cedar Falls and Madison. We open the podcast with Tanner talking about his busy weekend and we start with what happened on Sunday in Madison as Iowa men's wrestling dominated Wisconsin on the mat. What were his thoughts on the lineup that Tom Brands put on the mat and could there be some key pieces returning soon? What's the state of the team right now heading into the heart of Big Ten season? After that we move on to Iowa women's wrestling. Last year the Hawkeyes barely won the national dual in their first time at the event. This year they dominated the event, winning it with relative ease on Friday and Saturday. What did Tanner think of the Iowa women's team and their performance and just how dominant were their hammers at the upper weights? Then we move on to a struggling Iow