Beth Goetz was formally introduced as the new director of athletics at Iowa. Goetz had been interim AD since the retirement of Gary Barta last August.

Goetz takes over at a time of rapid change in college athletics, including the addition of four more schools to the Big Ten in July.

Goetz is the first woman to lead the entire athletic department and is the only female AD in the current Big Ten Conference.

As interim AD Goetz made the decision to move on from Hawkeye offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz in late October.

With the N-I-L, rising coaches’ salaries and increased travel there will be challenges ahead.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says the Hawkeyes need to bounce back in a hurry when they host Maryland Wednesday night. The Hawkeyes had their three-game winning streak snapped over the weekend with a loss at home to second ranked Purdue. The Terrapins are 3-5 in the Big 10.

That’s Iowa coach Fran McCaffery who says Maryland guard Jahmir will be difficult to defend. He ranks second in conference play by averaging just over 23 and-a-half points per game.

McCaffery says the Hawkeyes will be without freshman forward Ladji Dembele Wednesday night. He has been injured in the game against Purdue and has given the Hawkeyes a boost on defense and the glass.

With Dembele out center Even Brauns could see his most significant action this season. The transfer from Belmont has appeared in 13 games and scored six points this season. He says the coaches have prepared him for this opportunity.

Brauns says his main focus will helping out with rebounding.

The Hawkeyes are 3-4 in the Big Ten.

The Drake men take a share of the Missouri Valley Conference lead on the road Wednesday night to Missouri State. The Bulldogs have won 10 of the last 15 games in the series and topped the Bears 74-57 in Des Moines back in early December.

That’s Drake coach Darian DeVries. The Bulldogs have dropped their last two games in Springfield.

Drake is riding a four-game win streak and is 6-1 in the Valley and 16-3 overall.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State freshman Noelle Adams has been named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.

Adams, a Mesa, Ariz., native, recorded a pair of 9.9 scores on both vault and floor, as well as a 9.875 on beam to help lead Iowa State over BYU in its first win of the Ashley Miles Greig Era as well as first Big 12 win of the year.

She becomes the first Iowa State gymnast since Addy De Jesus (3/17/21) to earn Newcomer of the Week honors. Overall, she’s the eighth Cyclone gymnast to receive the award, joining Michelle Shealy (2011), Camille Santerre-Gervais (2011), Haylee Young (2015), Makayla Maxwell (2020), Andrea Maldonado (2020), Jade Vella-Wright (2020) and De Jesus.

On the season, Adams has a team-high of four 9.9 scores. She’d notched a 9.9 in the season-opener against Nebraska on floor and another 9.9 at Penn State on the vault before earning her pair of 9.9 marks against BYU.

Noelle has claimed five event titles this season, including two this past week. She took both the beam and floor crown against Nebraska, the vault title at PSU and both vault and floor high-marks against BYU.

Iowa State will be back in action this Friday, Jan. 26, in its penultimate home meet as it welcomes Illinois State to town. Friday’s action is set to begin at 6:30 and will be streamed on ESPN+.

Big 12 Weekly Award Winners (1/23) 

Gymnast: Jordan Bowers (OU)

Event Specialist: Hannah Scheible (OU)

Newcomer: Noelle Adams

DES MOINES, Iowa – Graduate forward Grace Berg collected her second MVC Player of the Week award after posting a career weekend for the Bulldogs, the league announced this morning. Berg led the way as Drake defended its home arena and swept a pair of games over Des Moines’ Hometown Team Weekend.

Berg averaged 23.0 points on shooting rates of 50.0 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three-point range, and 80.0 percent from the free throw line. The forward also added four rebounds and 1.5 assists per contest.

Berg began the weekend with a solid 16 points and three rebounds in a nail-biting 69-65 win over Belmont (1/19). She followed that up with an electric outing vs. Murray State (1/21) with a career-high 30 points on 53.8 percent field goal shooting and 55.6 percent three-point shooting. Berg added five boards and two assists as Drake downed the Racers in a fast-paced shootout, 107-98. Berg’s season scoring average jumped up to 17.4 ppg to go along with 4.9 rpg and 2.8 apg.

The Bulldogs’ two wins vaulted them into sole possession of first place in the MVC, and Des Moines’ Hometown Team could not have done that without Berg.

Drake will be back in action this weekend when they hit the road and visit rivals Bradley on Thursday, Jan. 25 and Illinois State on Saturday, Jan. 27.

The (8-6) Riverside Bulldogs basketball team has had a mixed year for the program with the third spot at the top of the Western Iowa Conference. Riverside started off the year 3-0 with wins against AHSTW, IKM-Manning, and Griswold. Senior Grady Jeppesen looked as sharp as ever and the Bulldogs were building up to be the top team in the WIC. Their next four games saw them go 1-3 in conference play and it was time for Riverside to take a step back and revaluate. Head Coach Nick Kroon decided he would have his team to focus on shooting with the lack of size on this year’s roster.  Coach Kroon explained that the Bulldog’s need to bring their best game every night considering how competitive the WIC has shaped up to be this year.

A key focal point for the Riverside offense has been the stellar play from Grady Jeppesen who’s averaging over 26 points a game and leading the team in assists at 46 and rebounds with 98. The progress and improvement for Jeppesen comes from the time spent in the weight room.

Second in points behind Grady Jeppesen is senior Mason McCready at 11.5 points per game. For his senior year McCready wanted to focus and taking better shots and having a larger role in the offense. McCready’s refinement is something Coach Kroon is well aware of.

Another player that has impressed Bulldog fans and the rest of his team is the only freshman starter for Riverside Cole Jeppesen. In critical situations Cole Jeppesen is normally assigned the most talented offensive player for the other team and his job is to lock them down. It is not an easy role, but one Jeppesen excels at.

The WIC is especially competitive this year for the Bulldogs and still coach Kroon believes his team can win every team they face. They just have to be aware of the margin of error and play at their best.

Riverside is gearing up for a road game Thursday against the (0-1) Iowa School For The Deaf.

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(Iowa DNR News) – The paddlefish snagging season on the Missouri and Big Sioux rivers opens Feb. 1 and goes through April 30 (sunrise to sunset). The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says anglers fishing for paddlefish must have a valid Iowa fishing license, along with a special paddlefish license and unused transportation tag(s).

Please keep track of your catch and effort and complete the electronic survey after the paddlefish season whether you harvested a fish or not. The information collected will help the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) evaluate the success of the season and determine what potential changes/modifications may be needed.

Paddlefish-DNR photo

If you catch a jaw-tagged fish (numbered band in the lower jaw), call the phone number on the tag and report the tag number, date of capture, capture location and eye-to-fork length. The Iowa DNR and other state fisheries agencies tag paddlefish to better understand and manage populations. Tagging provides valuable information to estimate population size, fish movement and growth.

Ongoing drought conditions and low river levels might affect Missouri River boat ramp access. For more information about Iowa’s special paddlefish season regulations, visit the DNR website at www.iowadnr.gov/paddlefish.

Sites and assignments for wrestling’s 2024 regional dual team tournaments are now available for all three classifications.

Regional duals for all three classes are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30. The top eight teams in each class qualify for the State Dual Team Tournament, set for Saturday, Feb. 3 at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

Update in 2024: The top 24 ranked teams in each class according to the latest IHSAA rankings will compete at eight regional duals with the highest-ranked teams hosting, if possible and practical within geographic areas.

The top-ranked team at each site receives a bye during the first round. The winner of the first round dual wrestles the top-ranked team in the final. Finals matchups are listed as to-be-determined (TBD) below.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State defensive back Beau Freyler has been named a 2023 College Sports Communicators First-Team Academic All-American.

Freyler, who owns a 3.90 GPA while majoring in kinesiology, is the sixth player in school history to earn first-team honors (eight times). The Cyclone football program has earned All-America accolades six times during head coach Matt Campbell’s tenure.

A junior from Colorado Springs, Colorado, Freyler had another impressive season on the field. He earned Associated Press First-Team All-Big 12 honors after starting all 13 games for the Cyclones and finishing fourth in the conference with 107 tackles, while also making two interceptions. He is the first Cyclone since 2017 to record 100 or more tackles.

He is a two-time academic all-district selection and was named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team in 2022, with the 2023 list still to be announced.

Freyler was one of five Big 12 Conference student-athletes named to the first team, while three others received second-team honors.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa football senior Quinn Schulte has been named to the Academic All-America second team. The announcement was made on Tuesday by College Sports Communicators, formerly the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

A member of Iowa’s Leadership Group last season, Schulte is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. The native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was also recognized on the Dean’s List six times between 2019-22.

Schulte (6-foot-1, 209 pounds) started all 14 games at free safety in 2023. He ranked fourth on the squad in tackles (65), tied for third with four pass break-ups, to go along with an interception (39-yard return versus Rutgers). After the season, Schulte was named an honorable mention all-conference selection and was a Brett Greenwood Award recipient.

Schulte holds a 3.72 grade point average and graduated with a degree in interdepartmental studies (health science-multidisciplinary science) with a minor in human physiology last spring. He plans on starting the dentistry DDS program this fall.

Last month, Schulte announced that he would return in 2024 for a sixth season. He has started all 27 Hawkeye games played the last two seasons.

In 25 seasons under Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, 11 Iowa football student-athletes have combined on 15 occasions to earn Academic All-America recognition.