Hawkeye Report Podcast

We continue our summer podcasts and go off the beaten path a bit as we are joined by fantasy analyst for Yahoo Sports and Iowa alumni Andy Behrens. We talk about the Chicago area native landing at the University of Iowa and what attracted him to the Hawkeyes. What was his college experience like from a sports perspective going Iowa football and basketball games and some of the special games that he attended.

Behrens is also a women's basketball fan even before Caitlin Clark arrived. He talks about being a season ticket holder and making the journey to their NCAA Tournament run this year, including being at the iconic win over LSU to clinch a trip to the Final Four. He's also a Chicago Sky season ticket holder, so how is he approaching the conflict between Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.

Then we discuss how he got involved as a fantasy sports writer and turned it into a career. We dive into the Iowa tight ends in fantasy football and how he was telling anyone who would listen heading into last season that they should draft Sam LaPorta. We wrap up talking about why we think college fantasy football has never taken off and what it would take for it to get going.

We continue our coaches series for the summer podcasts by visiting with the Director of Player Development and Assistant Coach for Iowa Basketball Tristan Spurlock. His daily job involves helping to develop the Hawkeyes players on the court and also now he is getting involved on the recruiting side as well with several prospects.

We open discussing Spurlock and his early life in basketball as a player and the journey that it took him on around the world. Then that journey somehow ends up in Iowa City at the gym ran by a former Iowa player and during Covid, a place where Hawkeye players began playing pickup basketball. That evolved into working out players like Patrick McCaffery and then being offered an opportunity by Fran McCaffery.

We talk about his job in player development and what that is like on a day to day basis. How he developed the way he works with players each and every day. Also, does that conflict with players who have their own workout coaches?

Then we discuss the current Iowa roster of players, starting with the new freshmen Cooper Koch and Chris Tadjo, who just arrived on campus and what Spurlock thinks of them thus far. Then we discuss the transfers and go over the rest of the returning players and how they have been performing in workouts so far this summer.

Our week of podcasts continue with a turn to Iowa Football. We are thrilled to have Iowa defensive line coach Kelvin Bell on the podcast today. We open talking about growing up in Olive Branch, Mississippi and making his way to Iowa City, IA to play for the Hawkeyes.

Bell talks about his coaching journey, which began at Iowa City Regina High School and included stops at Cornell College, Wayne State, and Trinity International coaching offensive line, before landing a GA role at Iowa.

We discuss the coaches along the way that were important to Bell and his development and then we turn the discussion to playing defensive line and the current roster of players. We discuss the four likely starters and the key reserves who could play a role this season along the defensive line and the potential of some true freshmen who just arrived on campus.

Finally we wrap up talk about the state of college football recruiting and the role of NIL in sports. How is it impacting recruiting and what parents and prospects want to learn about a program when they visit. Then we get a few book recommendations for Coach Bell for your summer reading.

Our summer of podcasts continues, this time with another great one featuring an Iowa women's basketball player. We are joined by a new member of the Hawkeye squad, transfer Lucy Olsen, who speaks about her reaction to the retirement of Lisa Bluder in great detail and how she got a call from her and Jan Jensen before the news was released.

We talk to Olsen about arriving in Iowa City and getting right into the gym to get shots up and that gym rat mentality that she has to her game. What have practices been like for her so far in Iowa City? Does she have a strong relationship with Taylor McCabe so far and how has Abby Stamp been to work with from a coaching perspective?

We also discuss Iowa fans and the reception she has gotten so far since arriving in Iowa City and the type of player that Hawkeye fans should expect to see this winter. Also how excited is Olsen to play in front of big crowds in Iowa City?

We continue our summer of fun interviews this week on the podcast. We are joined by Iowa women's basketball shooting guard Taylor McCabe. The sharp shooting guard is very honest and open about her career at Iowa and how she may have thought about leaving after this past season.

McCabe also talks about what it was like the day that she and her teammates found out on a Zoom since they are all at home that Lisa Bluder was retiring as Iowa's head coach and that Jan Jensen was going to replace her. She also talks about how much she will miss Coach Fitz, who also retired with Bluder.

Then we dive into the first few workouts with the new team and how things are different without Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, and Gabbie Marshall. What does she think of her new roomate Lucy Olsen and how they are both gym rats. She also has praise for one of the new freshman players early on in practice.

We have a very interesting podcast for you today. Joining us is Bailey Turner, who is the Assistant Director of Strategic Communications for Iowa athletics. His job the last two years has been being the sports information director for Iowa women's basketball.

In the last two years, Turner, who is a native of Boone and Iowa graduate, has had a front row seat for the historic Iowa women's basketball team and the play of Caitlin Clark. When did he realize that this team would become as iconic as it did in the last two years?

What was it like working with Caitlin Clark from his perspective the last two years and how impressive has it been the way that she handles the media? Did she come to Iowa pretty much completely fully formed in dealing with the media.

We discuss Wright Thompson contacting him wanting to do a story on Clark and how that process worked. He also talks about how Thompson went about plotting out the story and the time he put into it.

We also discuss some of memorable and amazing moments that he had a front row seat for near Lisa Bluder and how he had to always be on his toes to makes sure halftime and post game TV interviews took place.

Finally, we discuss the last chapter of this two years, which is Lisa Bluder retiring from coaching and Jan Jensen being elevated the head coach of the Iowa women's team and how that was handled.

It was a big day in Iowa athletics. The replacement for Ed Podolak was named it's our good friend Pat Angerer. He will replace Podolak in the radio booth this fall and be paired with Gary Dolphin on Saturday afternoons to call the Hawkeye football games.

We talk to Angerer about his process in getting involved and interested in this job. What was the interview process like for him and he talks about his recent simulated game with Dolphin prior to being offered the job. What does this job mean to him? Will he be nervous once he officially gets started calling games on Saturday's?

Then we move on to discuss Iose Epenesa and his official visit this past weekend. Did Iowa move into a lead position to land the legacy prospect and four star defensive end? What were some of the key parts of Iowa's sales pitch?

Finally we talk about the latest Caitlin Clark drama and being left off the USA Olympic team this year.

Time to get the podcast machine fired up again to start the month of June. Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann get you caught up on the latest news in the world of Iowa athletics. This week there is plenty to cover when it comes to Iowa baseball, Hawkeye men's and women's hoops, an update on Caitlin Clark and the abuse she is taking in the WNBA, and we have a lot of football news as well.

We open the show discuss the news this past week regarding Iowa baseball and Rick Heller is looking for a new pitching coach. What's the latest on that front? Also the portal for baseball opens this week. Which players could be return for the Hawkeyes and what might the starting rotation look like for Iowa next season?

Then we turn our attention to Iowa women's basketball. Jan Jensen could be making the hire of an assistant coach as soon as this week. What do we think that assistant might be like and what skill set do they need? We also talk about Jensen making a couple of new offers and hosting a 2026 visitor and we get a status report on the Class of 2025 recruiting.

We then discuss the ugly play by the Chicago Sky towards Cailtin Clark this past weekend and how that whole situation is getting messy in the WNBA and how petty some of the players are being towards the former Hawkeye.

After that it's Iowa football talk. We discuss the release of start times late last week and how the Hawkeyes now have start times for half their regular season games. We discuss the addition of another walk-on quarterback, Ben Kueter winning a U20 title this past weekend and what that could mean for his football season early on this fall, and a big Iowa Swarm event coming up June 17th at the I-80 Truckstop in Walcott.

Finally we wrap up the pod talking Iowa hoops. Payton Sandfort is back, which is huge news for the Hawkeyes NCAA Tournament chances this season. And we update recruiting in the Class of 2025 after Fran McCaffery handed out a bunch of new offers in the middle of last week.

It's an annual tradition for us on the podcast this time of year. We are joined by former Hawkeye football standout Jake Gervase, who is holding his fourth annual Rally for Reid Football Camp coming up on June 21st.

You can learn more about the camp here at the link: https://www.rallyforreid.org/

It also includes a cheer camp for girls on the same day. Gervase discusses how he became friend with Reid while in college and the impact he had on his life. We also talk about his star studded list of former Hawkeyes serving as coaches for the event.

We also catch up with Gervase about his potentially last football game, which was for Minnesota where he was signed on Thursday for a preseason game and then played over 90 snaps with basically no training camp. We talk about his time with the Rams and the surprising retirement of Aaron Donald and how good he was as a player.

Finally we wrap up discussing Phil Parker winning the Broyles Award and how great of a coach he is for defensive backs at Iowa.

It's another edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast and this time, unfortunately, we are wrapping up a very frustrating Iowa Baseball season. Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann discuss Iowa's controversial loss on Thursday to Illinois. Kyle was in Omaha and was actually the pool reporter who spoke to the Big Ten head umpire about the interference call that essentially ended the Hawkeye comeback in the tenth inning and the Iowa baseball season.

We look back at the missed opportunities in the last two games of the season and go in-depth on the season, which is filled with what if's all over the place. We discuss the season and how the pitching, particularly the bullpen, struggled a good portion of the season and how the team gave up too many walks.

Then we look at the hitters and how two key injuries late were essentially a final blow to the season. Finally, we look ahead to next season, at least as much as we can. Brody Brecht is moving on, but beyond that a whole lot of question marks that we explore.

We wrap up talking about Payton Sandfort, who met with the media earlier on Thursday following a workout at Golden State. With less than a week until he has to make a decision, what did Sandfort have to say about his workouts, his performance at the NBA Combine, and when he might make his decision about the future.