Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Hawkeye Football reload, offensive coordinator concerns, Hawkeye Hoops talk

Episode Date: January 10, 2024

Trent Condon is joined by his buddy Biz in the latest edition of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast.The show opens with some thoughts on the potential of the Hawkeye defense even being better in 2024 and what the returns of so many players can mean.Then a conversation on the offensive coordinator position including rumors that Paul Chryst may have turned the job down and that Iowa may be going cheap on the search. And what does a competent offense mean going forward.Finally some thoughts on men's and women's basketball in the upcoming week.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInThese days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That’s why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.Jase MedicalEmpower yourself when you purchase a Jase Case, providing you with a personal supply of 5 antibiotics that treat 50+ infections. Get yours today at jasemedical.com and use code LOCKEDON to get $20 off your order. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Hawkeye defense has reloaded for another outstanding season coming up in 2024. The offense, well, they're still searching for a coordinator and some concerns there. We talk Iowa hoops as Biz stops by today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes. Your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team, every day.

Welcome in. I'm Trent Condon. That's Biz. And this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit the subscribe button while you're there.

Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high-stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team faster and for free. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege. Terms and conditions apply.

Biz, good to see you again. Happy New Year. What's happening? Not much. Digging out from a legit foot of snow over here in Eastern Iowa. I don't know what you guys got, but usually when you hear them say you're going to get 6 to 12 inches of snow,

they end up getting 4 inches. This time, we may have gotten more than they anticipated over here, at least. We got nailed. We got the same thing in central Iowa. It's been a battle and got everything cleared off, all looking good. Two sweeps of the driveway, and then, of course, the plow came by about an hour later, and then digging out of that one. Need to get a a snowblower that's what i'm learning here as i get older starting to get you've had some back pain in your in your past and yeah i think a snowblower is going to be in my future for next winter yeah even better than having a snowblower is having a uh a crazy neighbor who who loves uh who loves the snow we're're very lucky. We have a neighbor across the street who has a four-wheeler, and he

loves to just go around and just clear everybody's off. Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. I bought him plenty of beer over the years to keep bribing him to come back. Well, speaking about coming back, the Iowa defense reloading with a bunch of guys coming back. And as this has played out, it started with Jay Higgins we're excited about that Jay not just what a football player that he is but getting Roy his dad back for another season the excitement there that was really cool and then we just see the dominoes continue to fall eight of the 11 starters going to be back next season Nick Jackson was one that felt like maybe it was going to be a little bit

more difficult he He comes back. There was talk about Jamari Harris. He's back. You couple that with Quinn Schulte and what he does on the back end of the defense. It's incredibly exciting what Phil Parker is going to be able to do. And as we talked about throughout the course of the season, the defense for their standards got off to a little bit of a slow start when you go back to September. There were some run game issues that they struggled with more than we're used to. But by the end of the season,

they were playing at an elite level once again, and they're ready made. I mean, they're ready to go as we gear up towards next season. And they're going to be, you would anticipate, hitting the ground running with that defense. But it shows you the power of the swarm and the ability to bring these guys back for another year. Many of them would have been drafted.

It might have been fifth, sixth, seventh round, something like that. But they would have had an opportunity at the camp. But to come back for another year. Many of them would have been drafted. It might have been fifth, sixth, seventh round, something like that. But they would have had an opportunity at the camp. But to come back to another year, make a little bit of money doing it, and then forego the NFL for one season shows you what the swarm can do and good for a program like Iowa. Yeah, I really, really love what we're doing and what our strategy has been this offseason.

Because, like you said, for a program like Iowa developmental program, you know, why not? If you're going to spend, you're going to spend the Swarm's money. You might as well spend it on people that are known commodities and people that have already been developed, you know, people that you've already, you know, taught the Iowa way because, you know, the transfer portal is great. I mean, but for every Nick Jackson, the transfer portal, there's two or three other people that don't hit or that just aren't good fits. I think Nick Jackson is a perfect example of a guy that it took him

a month to really understand the Iowa system and what to do, and then once it clicked, he was a different football player in the second half of the year. I just think having him another year will be great. I just think it's a great strategy, and it's a strategy that – not to compare us to Washington because, obviously, we don't have nearly the offensive weapons that Washington had, but that's part of the reason Washington got to where they were this week was they had a lot of fifth, sixth-year players that were –

well, they have nine sixth-year players on that team. And, you know, fortunately, they were way, way more healthy than we were this year. But, you know, I just – watching that game between Washington and Michigan, you know, I commented to our Facebook group. That was the first national championship I can remember in at least a decade where I watched it and felt, you know, we're not that terribly far off from those two teams. I'm not pretending that we were anywhere remotely close. I mean, we proved that we're not that close to Michigan on the field, but, you know,

from a developmental standpoint and strategy standpoint, I love what we're doing, and obviously we have to unbelievably fix the offense, and we've got to make the offense 10 times better than it is right now. But this has a chance to be historically great defense next year. And that's saying something when you're talking about Phil Parker. This defense could be legendarily good with what they've got coming back. The linebacker crew has said defensive backfield. You know, Quinn Schulte is an interesting one because so many people were excited to see Cohen Entringer

and what he was going to be coming into next season. But Schulte, and you listen to Phil Parker talk about the defense and talking about safeties like him, just getting anybody in the right spot. I remember hearing Jay Higgins talk a little bit about that. He's the one, though, you think a middle linebacker is kind of that quarterback. It's Quinn Schulte and what Iowa does and getting everybody in the right spot, get those run fits right, and those little things that are very difficult to measure. You just look at the stat sheet already.

He's had one interception each of the last two years. He's got 60, 70 tackles, but there's so much more. And Phil Parker, he does put a ton on the plate of the free safety of what you're going to do and getting everybody right. I just think that's, that's one that's very difficult to measure compared to some of the others. Well, to me, it's simple, Trent. If Phil Parker wants Quinn Schulte back, then we should all want Quinn Schulte back. I mean, if he, if he is trusted by Phil and, you know, he's basically the captain of the defense,

is he the most athletic, dynamic defender of all time? No, but he's, like you said, he gets us in the right situations. The other thing that I haven't seen people talk about, but I've heard rumors that Entrager's knee injury is pretty bad from the bowl game. He got hurt during the bowl game, and I've heard rumors that it may be a serious knee injury. So I get it. People want to see more of him because he's kind of internet famous

because of the hustle during the department term. But, you know, I don't know. To me, I don't know how people can complain about Clint Schulte coming back. To me, across the board, you couldn't have asked for anything better. I mean, in a dream scenario, Cooper comes back as well, but I think we all thought realistically he was gone. So getting six out of seven is pretty much the ideal scenario. Well, one of the guys back, the only one offensively is Luke Lachey. He's got a chance to put together a good

season, but it's about fixing the offense, and we will talk about that coming up. The offensive coordinator search continues. Some r the offense, and we will talk about that coming up. The offensive coordinator search continues. Some rumblings, and we'll pass those along to you as Iowa continues to search for what's going to happen at the offensive coordinator spot. We'll do that as we continue here. This is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs.

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Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege. Again, that's linkedin.com slash lockdowncollege to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. on college to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Trenton Biz back with you again on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

Offensively, Biz, mentioned a couple of rumblings to you talking about it here. There's talk out there that there's some candidates, guys I think that would excite both of us, that didn't quite get the offer. The amount of money that I was willing to spend for the OC is not at the level needed to compete at the highest levels of college football anymore. And if that is true, and I don't know the, obviously the actual truth behind that,

but if it is i was going cheap on this hire they're not willing to spend the two and a half three million dollars it takes to get a big time offensive coordinator that part is disappointing to me because money's there i mean money is shouldn't be an object at this point in time with what i will football revenue comes in every single year, the increase in the TV. This should not be a time that you go cheap on the OC search. Yeah, I have no idea what's true or not true on the OC search. At this point, I just want it over with. It's time to make a decision and move on at this point.

I think we're all assuming the worst when it comes to the OC search. I mean, I've talked about it before. I would love, love, love for Paul Chris to be our offensive coordinator, but it sounds like that may not be happening. And, you know, it's my whole hope. All I've wanted all along is somebody from outside the coaching tree. I just think there needs to be some fresh opinions and fresh ideas and some of that. But my guess is it'll end up being someone within the coaching tree. I just think there needs to be some fresh opinions and fresh ideas and some of that. But my guess is it'll end up being someone within the coaching tree. And

we'll be right back where we were before. People will be angry and have something to complain about because it wouldn't be Iowa football if you didn't have something to complain about. Right now, things are going just too smooth with all the guys coming back and all the positivity in the program. We need something to complain about during the winter. So get ready. I'm sure we'll be angry at the final decision. Well, we will, yeah. I mean, that's a likely scenario how it's going to play out.

You know, the interesting component, you mentioned the defense, special teams, they've got to figure out kicker. They've got to figure out punter with a new punter coming in for Torrey Taylor. But you feel confident that at minimum they're going to be okay on, on that aspect of it. And offensively, I, there's a part of me.

That's almost like my, our brains have been broken over what we've seen over the last two and a half seasons and how bad it's been. We're not asking for shooting for the moon here. I mean, just get it back to a competent level in and regardless of who the OC is. And even if it is somebody, you know,

quote unquote from the coaching tree and somebody with the background this thing has just got so bad the last two seasons and quarterback play has just been so brutal it doesn't take a ton to get them back to at least being okay right being a top 80 offense nationally I mean that's that's what Brian was able to do early in his career are they that far away that even that kind of possibility even if it's not an exciting hire that they can at least get back to that kind of level well I mean if we stay healthy this year I think we're probably a top 80 offense this year when Kate McNamara was there they were not great but they were I mean they showed signs but if everybody if we'd have been had perfect health on the offensive side and you

had lachey all mcnamara all those guys i mean i think you'd have seen a at least not embarrassing offense this year so so the answer to your question is i mean no i don't think it's that hard to to get back to 80 or 90 but as we saw saw this year, I mean, Kay McNamara better stay healthy because the drop-off from him to what's behind him is incredible. And, you know, same with Lachey and, you know, without all there. I mean, Osterlinger was fine, but he's not Luke Lachey, and he's not – I mean, and the wide receivers are laughably bad. So I still think we'll see at least one more wide receiver come in in the spring.

But they got to figure out right now is we're way over the scholarship limit. So they got to figure out tough decisions on who's going before they can determine who's coming in. And so I don't think you'll see us bring anybody in the portal now in the next week or so. But once we make the decision on the offensive coordinator, those types of things, I would assume we're going to try to bring in one or two offensive guys in the spring. So,

so yes, to get, to get to 80 or 90 somewhere in there. Yes. I mean, we should be able to do that, but that's a, that's sad that that's the bar we're talking about.

It is. And it's not a real high one, but obviously we're not able to clear it this year. Mack DeMera remains a question mark because he's coming off another major knee injury after having one at Michigan the year previous. There's a lot of talk about what to do this spring. Do they need to be continuing to shop? Ty Thompson was the flavor of the day last week, and he ends up committing to Tulane, and that didn't come to fruition. But, you know, you're looking at the backup spot. Deacon Hill, he's just, he's not good at all. I mean, it's as simple as that.

When you go into spring, knowing that maybe you're still shopping around, I believe, and I don't, I know I'm not alone on this one. You got to give Marco Lyon as the reins here. I mean, he's going to be the guy I believe that you have to give most of the number one reps to and see at minimum if he can be your backup. And if he's not your backup, then, yeah, you've got to hit that portal. You've got to find at least somebody confident backing up. Because we do know we had eight games of it.

It's certainly not Deacon Hill. Yeah, the thing with Deacon Hill, I actually thought after the Rutgers game, I saw some glimmer of hope i thought he was uh improving and might be a serviceable at least backup quarterback but uh as we saw i mean i was there in person in florida and uh fortunately it was nice weather it was very nice very nice day to watch it embarrassing that was embarrassing i mean he he looked terrible i mean it, it was bad football all around. But, you know, if we just turn it on handoff,

every play of that entire game is probably a 14-0 game. So, I mean, he single-handedly handed them 14 to 21 points. And so he's not the solution. And I guess if there's a silver lining to how bad that bowl game was, hopefully everybody understands that now that he's he can't be your option at backup this year he just can't and so but knowing knowing the stubbornness of kirk ferentz he probably will be yeah very very true is anything else on football before we get into a little hoop stock here? No, I'm just ready for the

offense coordinator hire to be made and move on and just pull that band-aid off because it's the longer it hangs over our head, the more frustrated it gets. They have to know at this point what the decision is. I'm

hoping here in the next week or so we'll get some finality on it. We can start, like I said, start complaining about that instead of whatever else we're complaining about today. Well, speaking of complaints, we got a little men's basketball talk coming up. We'll talk about the women as well as they prepare tonight for the road trip over to Purdue, setting up a huge matchup on Saturday against Indiana. Should be a fun one inside of Carver Hawkeye Arena.

We'll do that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel. The NFL regular season is wrapped up, but there's still time to get in on the action with FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet. That's $150 in bonus bets. Win or lose, that sounds pretty good to me.

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to make your first bet an easy win. Once again, that is FanDuel.com slash LockedOn. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. Back with you one final time on the LockedOn Hawkeyes podcast. Trenton Viz talking Hawkeyes with you. Time to talk some basketball. Kick things off as the men match up against Nebraska. Looks a little saltier after the Huskers run away from Purdue last night

on Peacock and get the easy victory, 88-72. Looks like Fred Hoiberg finally has the Cornhuskers maybe being an NCAA tournament team. We'll start right there. A week ago, they get the first win on Saturday in Big Ten play against Rutgers. Good game inside. I mean, you're going against a Murray, a really talented big guy. I thought Owen Freeman was excellent.

We saw some good things out of Kricke. Came out both halves, started off incredibly well, and get the victory against Rutgers. Not a great Rutgers team. Certainly not the team we've seen the last couple of seasons. But kind of at this point, a win is a win for the men's side. Yeah, it's a big week coming up for the men because if you're going to get back in or on the bubble, you got to win these next two. You got to beat Nebraska at home and you got to beat Minnesota on the road. I know both those teams are trending in the right direction and playing better basketball but uh if you got

a hope of getting back on the bubble and you know playing meaningful basketball in march you got to beat those types of teams and so yeah get get to three and three and then see what happens i i lost that nebraska purdue most that game last night and nebraska shot lights out they're like what 14 for 23 on threes so you, you know, I like the fact that they have a short turnaround. We have, what, six days to prepare. Nebraska's been a totally different team at home than they have been on the road. So, I mean, I think certainly they're going to have our full attention after how well they played last night. And they beat us twice last year. So I would think we should be plenty motivated to

come out in front of the 2,000 people that will be there on Friday night. There's going to be another snowstorm coming Friday, so there could be an epically low attendance at Carver for that game. Just treat it like the COVID year and pretend you're playing in front of nobody and come out and get a victory.

Friends and family only option on Friday night. 8.30 tip off for that one for the Hawkeyes and Nebraska. Patrick McCaffrey didn't play on Saturday. They said illness and then he showed up on the bench. Mental health issues has been something that has been a big conversation piece with Patrick. But leaving that aside, just talking about him as a basketball player, it has not gone very well for him this season. He's looked disengaged at times. He has just been going through the motions and we haven't seen what we know Patrick McCaffrey can be when things are

clicking. When he does come back, it does sound like it is a possibility on Friday. Is this something where maybe just bring him off the bench, see if that's something that can ignite him, because it's just been a very frustrating year, I think, for Patrick McCaffrey. Yeah, I hope that's the case. I'd like to see him obviously get better from a mental health standpoint. I'd like to see him end his career on a high note. But at this point, I think it's best for everybody. Best for him, best for the program, best for the other players on the team

for him to play a limited role on this team. I mean, have him come in, be a spark off the bench, play 10, 15 minutes a game, and just start there. And hopefully it progresses and he can get back to what we saw a year or two ago. Because you're right. I mean, my dad always mentions the fact that he kept track. There was an 11-game stretch where he didn't get a single offensive rebound. That is almost unfathomable for a 6'9 athletic guy

to not get a single offensive rebound in 11 games. And he's just – he's not – for whatever reason, he's not playing at the level that we've seen in the past. And I don't know what the answer is, but to me, the answer is clearly not throw him back in as a starter. It can't help anybody right now. I hope he's back. I hope he plays. I hope he contributes. More importantly at this point, I hope he's doing okay generally.

He's obviously had a roller coaster the last couple of years. Over on the women's side, a matchup against Purdue tonight on the road. And then Saturday, a huge matchup with Indiana coming to town. Of course, the last time the Hoosiers were in the building, Caitlin Clark with a walk-off winner at the end of the regular season, Mackenzie Holmes.

She's a load inside. And it's been very interesting as we've seen those minutes really dissipate for the two, I guess, main post players or centers kind of on this roster. Hannah Stolke is a 4-5 type, but we saw beginning of the year, I think a lot of people thought it was going to be Addison O'Grady that got the start. Not the case. She hasn't played a ton of minutes. Goodman's played a little bit more, but obviously not a ton.

Does the game plan have to change on Saturday night against Holmes and what Indiana does? Or do you think that Coach Bluter and company, hey, this is who we are, and it's going to be a whole lot of Hannah Stolke playing the five? I think you'll see more of Goodman because I think, you know, you saw with like Addie Crooks and things like that. I mean, Goodman's a good post defender. I mean, she, you know, for as big of a, you know, she's what, 6'4", 6'5". She's pretty nimble.

And I think she can cause some issues with Holmes. And so I think you'll see her play, but I don't think you're going to see – I mean, she's not going to play 30 minutes a game. I think you'll see her play 15, 20 minutes a game at most, but I think you'll see her play more just out of necessity because, you know, somebody's got to guard Holmes, and I think Stolke can do it for limited portions of the game, but, you know, they're still slowly working her minutes back

from the knee injury, and you've got to keep her out of foul trouble. So, yeah, I think you'll see more of a committee on Saturday, and, you know, they've got to play better than they did against Michigan State. I mean, the fact that Clark hit the game winner kind of hid the big story of that game, which if we didn't play well at all, they probably deserved to lose that game, and Clark bailed them out. Then Rutgers, you know, Rutgers is a terrible program. So, I mean, I'm not sure you can take anything away.

So it'll be interesting to see in Purdue's another sold-out environment. Interesting week. You know, two games that both winnable, but they could easily lose both as well. And it's wild. You go to the Rutgers game, sell out there, Purdue tonight, sell out there. The Caitlin Clark show just continues on and, and to see this happen in women's basketball biz,

we've followed women's basketball because of our relationships for a really long time. It's really unthinkable that this is happening to Iowa women's basketball, not just sellouts every single night in a season sellout inside a Carver Hawkeye arena, but every single place that they go. Wisconsin's been bad on the women's side for two decades, and they sell out the Kohl Center. That's a big building and they sell that thing out. Mackie's a big arena and it's sold out. It really is unthinkable when you kind of look at a big picture that this is happening to any team, let alone Iowa women's basketball.

Yeah. I mean, it really is amazing. And she has become a true rock star and people show up two or three hours in advance just to get a glimpse of her. And it has to wear on her. I mean, I know it's still open that she may come back next year, but I don't see any chance she's coming back next year. I mean, this has to be just draining on her.

And I'm not saying playing for WWE will be less draining, but at least she won't be the only. It's got to get frustrating because the IW women's team outside of her is what? They're probably a 500 team. Let's be realistic. Without her, they're 500 or slightly

better than the Big Ten. She's got a lot of pressure and a lot of weight on her shoulders. How she continues to handle it the way she does, I mean, sometimes her emotions get the best of her on the court. But how she handles herself after games is just incredible. I mean, the amount of time she spends with fans and, you know, signing autographs and then just how she communicates with the media,

you know, the way that she deals with questions with know, questions with the media, those types of things. I mean, it's pretty impressive. I mean, she hasn't had a single slip up that, you know, she's never said anything that you look at like, well, why'd she say that? I mean, she's just, she's, she's pretty amazing. And we'll probably never, ever, ever see it ever again from an Iowa athletics perspective. Been fun. Enjoy the ride.

And it continues tonight against Purdue biz. Appreciate the time as always good catching up with you. And maybe by the time the next time that we speak, we'll know who the offensive coordinator is and we can complain about that. How's that sound? Sounds good. Well, uh, yeah, I guess, uh, one way or another, we'll find something to complain about next time we're together.

No doubt. No doubt. Biz. We'll talk to you about next time we're together, Chaz. No doubt, no doubt. Biz, we'll talk to you again soon. All right, go Hawks.