Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Iowa Basketball falls at Indiana, Tim Lester is officially the football offensive coordinator

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Trent Condon returns with the latest Locked on Hawkeyes Podcast.A look at the loss last night to Indiana for the men's basketball team and what it means going forward and a lament at what could have been in the transfer portal. Then it became official with the hiring of Tim Lester as the new offensive coordinator. And the women's basketball team and Caitlin Clark get ready for a road trip to Northwestern tonight and then Maryland over the weekend. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.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

Well, it looks to be over. Iowa basketball falls at Indiana, and the path to an NCAA tournament bid appears to be off the board. Plus, it's official. Tim Lester is your offensive coordinator. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in.

I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts, and you can find us on YouTube. Make sure you hit the subscribe button while you're there. It gets us in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. New customers join today.

You'll get $200 in bonus bets. If your first bet of $5 or more wins, visit FanDuel.com slash locked on to get started well that one stunk last night didn't it as iowa falls at the hands of indiana oh boy an opportunity there iowa comes roaring back after being down 17 points in the first half they get back into it down to 11 at the half come out start of the second half showed signs of life and you know there are still building blocks there are positives of this but the frustrating aspects of this team just continue to pile up and you saw many of those things happen again last night and night where Peyton Sanford was hitting from the outside he was knocking down three some tough ones including the one late in the game that looked to give Iowa three-pointpoint lead. They looked at it. They looked at a bunch of different angles. No good vantage points there at Assembly Hall and couldn't get a

good view if his foot was on the line. A great pass from Patrick McCaffrey. They've run that play before, that staggered screen and going cross court on an inbound play. Another reason Fran McCaffrey offensively is one of the top people you're going to find out there. He is just an outstanding offensive coach. And you saw that show up once again on that play call, something that you see run a lot in the NBA. He runs great sets. He runs great things out of timeouts.

I wish he would use more timeouts to set up those kinds of plays, but that's aside for another day. They get it set up, but down the stretch, it's many of the same woes. It is a inability to get a rebound. Josh Dix had the ball falling out of bounds, tried to get it to, I believe, Freeman on the play. It's stolen away. They get a dunk out of it. A wide-open three-pointer before that.

A guy that came in with, what, 14 points all season long. And Leal, he has 13 in the game against Iowa. And Cupps hits the three and proves to be the dagger in this one. Frustrating, no doubt, even with the positivity of the play of Peyton Sanford. What we saw, obviously, out of Tony Perkins playing in his home state, maybe for the final time, he had that aspect and just the high level that Tony Perkins is playing at. Those two guys over the last two games has carried this team. Unfortunately, nobody else has showed up. And we saw it again.

Bench scoring four points last night. All of them came from Brock Harding, who had a bucket on that runner and a couple of free throws outside of that. That's all the bench put up. Nothing from Patrick McCaffrey offensively. Had the assist on the nice play, but that was basically it. Ben Crickey was awful. And, you know was basically it. Ben Crickey was awful. And, you know, we knew with Ben Crickey coming in that he was an offensive player.

And with Fran McCaffrey's style, you can understand that. You know, going back to time, I, as last night was unfolding, and flipping around watching some other college basketball and getting caught up, watching the highlights for the Tennessee-South Carolina game. And I see B.J. Mack showing up a couple of different times. And you see B.J. Mack. So if you remember back to the summer and the portal season, that's who Iowa was most heavily involved with before they got involved

with the two MVC players, Ben Crickey and Rick Mast, who's now at Nebraska. And B.J. Mack was at the top of their wish list. If they would have landed B.J. Mack, B.J. Mack was at the top of their wish list. If they would have landed B.J. Mack, I truly believe we'd be talking about a team that isn't a lot for the NCAA tournament, but would be in a lot better shape than they are right now. Because not only is B.J. Mack a very talented offensive player, I think him and Owen Freeman would play incredibly well together. He could actually give you something on the defensive end of the floor,

and he could rebound, and something you're certainly not seeing with Ben Crickey. When Ben Crickey's not hitting shots, and over the last couple of games, he is not. After the 1-9 performance that he had last night, the struggles that he had the game before on the road against Michigan, where he goes 2-8 from the floor, Maryland 3-11. Even against Purdue, he was 4-9. And when you're bigs and shooting at that level, he's almost unplayable because he's a negative for you defensively.

At best, he's a blow average rebounder. And when you're playing a guy like that and he's not knocking down shots and he's not doing things offensively, it's a net negative. It's unfortunate. You wish the NIL money would be there. Donate to the swarm. That's how these things are going to happen. And that's how eventually you're going to get those guys. But that's where we are. And definitely frustrating last night. It was another end game situation. And we went into the stretch over the last three games. You're thinking going back to the game against Maryland and these two roadies against Michigan and against Maryland.

Now, if you can go two and one, you got a little bit of hope. Well, they went one and two and hope is off the board now. This team really needs to show something before I'm ready to even entertain the idea that they can get back into the mix. It's a down year in the Big Ten. The ability to pick up a bunch of quad one victories is just not there. Iowa's only going to have four opportunities the rest of the season as it's currently constructed.

That's a home game against Wisconsin, road tilts with Illinois and Northwestern at the end of the year, and also a home game against Illinois. Those will be the only opportunities to get quad one victories. Iowa has zero right now. Sitting at 12-9, sitting in 10th place in the Big Ten, in a down Big Ten with a record under.500 at 4-6, it's just not likely. And that's okay.

Fran McCaffrey has built enough equity of what he's done five consecutive NCAA tournaments that it should be fine. But because of the failures coming NCAA tournament time, one year with the number two seed, another year with the five seed, and the inability in those years to get to the second weekend, what should have built up a lot of equity in the fan base is completely gone. What should have built up a lot of equity in the fan base is completely gone. And you see it at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. And you wonder Friday night against Ohio State when the Buckeyes come to town, another program that is reeling right now, what's the attendance going to look like? Last week against Maryland, it was dreadful.

I listed it at 8,500, and there might have been two grand off of that. Talked to some friends that were at the game, said it was approaching maybe in the 6,000 range, something like that. It's bad. It's rough. And with that happening, and with the fan base checking out, what does that mean? You see wrestling sold out. You see women's basketball sold out. You see football sold out. You see good crowds for all kinds of different events, even programs that aren't really successful, at least relatively.

They're able to put people in the stands, and people are staying away from Iowa basketball. I believe it's short-sighted. I believe that Fran McCaffrey, given time, can continue to build up this program and can eventually get there. But I understand the fan base that doesn't want to wait. We've waited now for going on two decades to see a turn, not two decades, 25 years, a quarter century now, since the last appearance in the Sweet 16. And Dr. Tom's last season is lame duck year. That was the last time they got there. And I understand, patience, you're over it. And I get it. I can

completely understand. This is one where you can play both sides. And I definitely do play both sides. I like Fran. There are things about the way that he coaches that frustrates me. That just goes with the territory. This one definitely stings. Ohio State coming up on Friday. Iowa's got to continue to build up wins. Put on the resume after that.

Next week on Thursday, they go to Penn State, followed up by a Sunday trip on Super Bowl Sunday, as they will take on Minnesota. Then after that, at Maryland, before they come home for Wisconsin. And then that gauntlet down the stretch that we mentioned, Wisconsin at Michigan State, at Illinois, home for Penn State. There's your layup. And then at Northwestern, Illinois, to wrap things up. That is a gauntlet. Until they start winning games, though, let's not make paths. Let's not talk about what if because they have not shown that they can be a team that you can play the what if game at this point in time.

We continue here on Locked On Hawkeyes as we talk some football. The new OC is official. It's Tim Lester. How much money is coming Tim Lester's way? The details of his contract coming up here as we continue on today's edition of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel and the FanDuel Sportsbook. Well, it is approaching Super Bowl Sunday, and happy Super Bowl to all that celebrate from FanDuel.

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You'll get $200 in bonus bets if your first bet of $5 or more wins. Just visit FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to sign up. That's FanDuel.com slash LockedOn for you to have your opportunity in a big, big Super Bowl. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sportsbook of the NFL. moment more with FanDuel, official sportsbook of the NFL. Try counting back with you again here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. As always, thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So as we make our way through the offseason of football and saw the guys working out,

there are some pictures up on social media. They're playing a little dodgeball today. Having a good time doing the work. The opportunity is there for this Iowa football team to build on what they were a season ago. A division champion, though divisions will not be a part of it. But the schedule, even with the new look Big Ten, is not overly daunting next year.

A defense that returns nine, ten starters from a year ago, that gets you excited. That gets you fired up. But as we all know, it's all about the offense. And Tim Lester became official today. The press release came down from the University of Iowa. Now, it was a little bit odd as the news came out on Sunday. We're waiting through Sunday night, Monday, Tuesday, still no press release. Well, finally, that did come and we did get the press release here on Wednesday.

But it just it struck me as odd. Now, there could be a lot that went on. Right. There's so many different things that can happen there. So many different angles to this that would make a whole lot of sense. You got to go through the red tape and the bureaucracy, university environment, background checks, all those different things. And before it became officially official, you had to go through all of that. That aside, though, this is what you have. And Tim Lester, what we will find out next week is what this is going to look like,

or at least have a better idea of what this is going to be. Look, if Tim Lester is just coming in and he's going to do what Iowa has done over the last decade, we're in deep trouble here. Iowa needs to evolve offensively and certainly in the passing game. As we've talked about with Brian Ferentz, it was a scheme that just rarely worked. Outside of a couple of blips, outside of a great game against an uninterested USC team in the Holiday Bowl, against Ohio State, one of the most remarkable games in Kinnick Stadium history, 55-24 Woodshed. Shout out Mark Morehouse for that headline.

Short of those games, though, it was a rarity. And after watching it for seven years, I still don't know what his philosophy was outside of getting the ball to tight ends in the passing game. You know what the run game is. We don't balance complementary football. These are all buzz terms that Kirk Ferentz likes to talk about. And if Tim Lester was just hired to continue more of the same, this Iowa offense is in deep trouble. You look at some of the analytical websites that measure what you're doing based on the opponents that you're playing, based on the pace that you're playing at.

The metric is still incredibly bad. I mean, it's just not as simple as yards per game, points per game, because as we know with the Iowa style and the way they play and the way that they want to play and helping out the defense and playing that complementing football, that they're not going to be a team that's going to stack up huge numbers. But when you take a look at things like yards per play, when it's based on opponent strength, the numbers aren't very good. In fact, when you look

at those numbers, the last time that Iowa's even been considered above average offensively, you got to go all the way back to 2010. And the 2015 team was good. 12-0 in the regular season. Really good team. Decent numbers. But when you look at it from those factors and the analytical factors and efficiency numbers, it's still brutal. Iowa has to evolve in a big time way. And I am so interested to hear from Tim Lester and from Kirk Ferentz if that's actually going to happen. If we're going to see an offense that is based on RPO. If we're going to see an offense that has an ability to make plays down the field. If we're going to see an offense that does things that they haven't done for the last decade. I'm not very confident that we're going to see those changes.

And they very well could say all the right things and i don't think any of us would be surprised if that's the way that it is but that's also interesting notes here and here is uh look this is from chad leistikow of the devoyen register from a FOIA request that he put in, Tim Lester will earn $1.1 million in 2024 and $1.3 million in 2025. So certainly north of what Brian Ferentz earned or didn't earn, received last season. That's a better term for it. Didn't earn it. Worst offense in the country.

Received that money a season ago. So they went up, but not significantly. And I think everybody understands that you're not going to pay a new offensive coordinator more than Phil Parker. Phil Parker got the raise up to $1.9 million and certainly gave you an ability to swim in some deeper waters, to contact some candidates that are higher, candidates that are maybe even sitting coordinators in the power structure. So Iowa had that ability. Finances were there, candidates that are maybe even sitting coordinators in the power structure. So Iowa had that ability.

Finances were there, and that's good to know that they could have spent and probably even spent more if it came to that. That's good to see. They were not handcuffed, it doesn't look like, on the surface by finances because that was out there now was it you had say going back to paul chris and he was looking more in the two million dollar range and that's where the step off is i don't know that could be a consideration that the finances eventually are happening same thing with kevin johns that he was seeking more money or wanted to be as

compensated at the same level as even a Phil Parker at 1.9. And that was untenable. Again, this is just speculation, but at least gives you a baseline of where Tim Lester is going to be. A little bit from the press release, Ference said, I am excited to welcome Tim to our coaching staff as our offensive coordinator. His experience as both a head coach and a coordinator at several different levels of football gives him an excellent perspective.

I believe his expertise and personality made him a perfect fit for this position. All right. Tim Lester. This is what he had to say in the press release. Again, next week is hopefully early in the week when we'll hear from Tim Lester. This is from Lester again, quote, when you have coached at every level of football like I have, you have a true appreciation for an opportunity like this at the University of Iowa. I know the tradition and history of the Hawkeye program, and I'm excited to get to work with the outstanding

players and coaches, unquote. All right. A lot of gobbledygook. Got to see it on the field. An offensive line that should be, at minimum, solid next year. Is that an okay term to use? They should be solid. Caden Proctor, absolutely. Starting tackle for a team to play in the college football playoff, an SEC champion at Alabama, good. A guy that improved immensely as the season went on.

Good. You have tons of experience now. Experience in tackling starts years under their belt. It's there with Connor Colby, who improved as he moved inside. He was not a tackle, definitely was a guard. Is that the same for Mason Richmond? I think we saw enough on a right tackle from Jennings Dunker this year. And then figure out that center position. Now that's another one where Logan Jones,

he's not Tyler Lindenbaum. He's not Bruce Nelson. He's not Raphael Eubanks. He's not Rob Bruggeman. Tyler Ellsbury showed some things, but you got to figure that out. Maybe a new fresh set of eyes is going to be that. And there is one more that hasn't been out there, and it's been alluded to. We talked about this weeks ago, that the potential of John Budmeier becoming the wide receiver coach.

I have concerns about that. And if we eventually do get that news, I will let you know, and we will have thoughts on that one. Wrapping things up here on a Wednesday edition of Locked On Hawkeyes. We take a look forward to tonight as the women's team takes on Northwestern on the road and some big, big ticket prices. You ought to see Kaitlyn Clark in Chicago.

Woo! Get out your wallet. It's going to be a pricey one. We'll do that as we continue Locked On Hawkeyes. We'll do that as we continue Locked on Hawkeyes. Today's episode of the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by Jace Medical. Well, we go deep into the world of sports right now. You come to talk about sports, escape a little bit of some of the realities in real life.

But for a moment, we're going to talk about real life and preparing for the unexpected. According to the FDA, pharmacies are running out of antibiotics like amoxicillin right in the middle of the worst flu season in over a decade. Incredibly scary. I can't imagine being there, my son or daughter, my wife, somebody in my life got sick and a supply chain issue kept them from the life-saving medication that they needed. Thankfully, we'll be okay because of Jace Medical. The Jace case is a pack of five different antibiotics to treat a long list of bacterial illnesses, including UTIs, respiratory infections, skin infections, among others. The stuff, it can happen to any one of us and you want to be prepared. Visit jacemedical.com and complete your physician encounter. It will be reviewed by a board certified physician

and your medications will be dispensed by a licensed pharmacy at a fraction of regular cost. It's never been more important to be prepared than today. Go to jacemedical.com and use the offer code LOCKDOWN to get $20 off your order. Once again, that's jaceMedical.com. Trent Conant back with you one final time on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day.

So we jump over to the women's side of things, and things certainly a lot sunnier over there than they are on the men's side of the equation. It's Northwestern. Tonight. And Northwestern's not good. Right there. The ticket prices though is maybe the most incredible part of this. This is from Darren Revell

formerly of ESPN at the Action Network. Get in price right now. The cheapest ticket to get into Evanston and watch Kaitlyn Clark, $289. For Northwestern women's basketball, it's unthinkable. And this is a gym that more times than not, you're seeing hundreds of people, a couple thousand at best. Not the case here. This Northwestern team, they are, as we bring it up here, 7-13 on the season. Net ranking of 221.

5-5 at home on the season. RPI, 181. 0-8 record against Quad 1. They're brutal. They are really, really bad. Now they have losses this season to Belmont, Loyola, Georgetown, DePaul, not the DePaul team of the past, certainly on the women's side of things. Their last time out, they went over to Bloomington, took on the Hoosiers and they got beat 159. They gave up 58 points in the paint. If there was ever a game to get the post players going,

get a little confidence growing for O'Grady, get Sharon Goodman going, get Hannah Stolke and have her have a monster performance, the night is here. This is one, get your feet up, make it a laugher, run them out of the gym, and then get ready for the weekend. Because the weekend is incredible. What they have coming up.

Now, this is not the same Maryland team that we've seen in the past. And that's who they face over the weekend. That'll be on Big Fox. But it's a road trip, another sold-out environment. And the way Brenda Fries' teams play, they will be physical. They will clutch. They will grab. They'll have a game plan to try to get Caitlin Clark out of her game. They'll be talking. They'll be John. There'll be all of those different things. It's going to be a big environment. It's going to be a big time game. It's a road trip. Get this one out of the way. Make it the laugher that it should be.

Maybe it's getting Gabby going again from the outside. I mean, there's just so many buttons that you can push. This is the epitome of a get-right game. Get right, run them out of the gym, win it by 40, and then move on and get ready for the weekend. We'll get ready for you

tomorrow. Biz is going to stop by. We will talk with him about everything going on in the world of Hawkeye Athletics, and on Friday, LaShawn Daniels, he will rejoin the show after his official Tim Lester is the OC. We'll get LaShawn's perspective on that. A busy week coming your way. We got you covered. Your team every day. That's what we do here on the Lockdown Network. And that's not all across Lockdown. We have launched the first ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. Locked On Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day

with the local experts of Locked On plus our national shows covering every league. Go to Locked On Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel. Back with you tomorrow with Biz. We will talk everything happening in the world of Hawkeye athletics and get his perspective on things.

Always a different one than mine. That's a good thing. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.