Hawkeye Report Podcast

This week on the podcast, Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann start by diving into the sports gambling news from the week. We are starting to see more names surfacing. What’s next? When will potential suspensions be handed out? Then we talk conference realignment. The Big Ten has their eyes on Washington and Oregon. Is that a good idea? How should Iowa view the continued growth of the conference? Finally we preview the overseas trip for the Iowa women’s and men’s basketball teams. They leave this weekend and what should we expect from Caitlin Clark and company? What about the men’s team and who could be a breakout performer?

It’s a special edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast as we are joined by the CEO of the Iowa Swarm, Brad Heinrichs. We look back at what the Iowa Swarm has accomplished and what they have planned for year two in terms of goals. We discuss his relationships with players and how they have made an impact in the Iowa City community by taking part in charity work. Then we talk some football. How we are both bullish on the impact Cade McNamara will have this fall and the jump we expect to see from Logan Jones. Plus we talk some Iowa basketball and what we saw at a recent practice prior to their trip to Europe.

It’s a rare solo podcast this week, but there is plenty of ground to cover. First we discuss Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis. What did Kirk Ferentz have to say about his team and the gambling investigation that continues to drag on. Will there be a resolution soon? Also, Ferentz seems to be very high on his offensive line? Why is that? Then we talk about the Iowa players who were in Indy and we breakdown the newly released two deeps and if there were any surprises. We move on to discussing our visit with the Iowa women’s basketball team, who is headed overseas for three games late next week. Finally, we talk men’s hoops recruiting with the focus on the Class of 2024.

Plenty of news to cover this week on the podcast. We start with a review of the situation at Northwestern and the firing of Pat Fitzgerald. Then we move on to talk about Iowa football recruiting and their current run of picking up commitments in the Class of 2024 and their first commitment in the Class of 2025. We then move on to a long discussion about this year’s Iowa hoops team as they prepare for their trip overseas in a few weeks.

Something a little different this week on the podcast. We are joined by 2024 Iowa quarterback commit James Resar to discuss his recent official visit. We talk about his time in Iowa City and what he learned that weekend. We also discuss his interaction with the other quarterbacks, bonding with the incoming offensive linemen, and if he did any recruiting of the wide receivers and tight ends who were visiting. He talks about his commitment to Iowa, his work with a quarterback coach, and how Iowa might use his speed once he gets to campus.

It’s a special edition of the podcast. As is tradition, Tom Kakert published his fearless forecast for the upcoming Iowa football season. He is joined by good friend Jon Miller to discuss the Hawkeye season and share our predictions for each game. We look at the overall view of the Hawkeyes and their transfer portal additions and how they will help improve the Iowa offense. Plus, we discuss some bold individual predictions for Iowa players.

A special edition of the Hawkeye Report podcast. Our friend John Bohnenkamp joins us to remember our great friend Steve Batterson, who passed away earlier this week. We look back at his amazing life and work ethic during his time at the Quad City Times and the fun times we had together. Then we jump over to Iowa Basketball and discuss what we learned from meeting with several Hawkeye players earlier in the day. Finally, I wrap up the podcast discussing the red hot Hawkeye football team on the recruiting trail.

It continues to be a busy summer for Hawkeye news that we need to discuss on the podcast. Tom Kakert and Matt Randazzo discuss Iowa football players speaking to the media on Wednesday. We discuss meeting linebacker Nick Jackson and QB Cade McNamara talking about taking a group of players to California for training. We then dive into a big week of football recruiting for the Class of 2024 and 2025 and a commitment coming for the Hawkeyes? Then we talk some Iowa hoops and recruiting for the Class of 2024 and 2025 for Fran McCaffery.

A lot of ground to cover on the podcast this week. Kyle Huesmann joins the show and we take a look back at the Iowa baseball season. We also look at the recent roster movement with additions and subtractions via the transfer portal and what might be ahead. Then we dive into Kyle’s summer check-in on Iowa women’s hoops. We also look at Tom’s summer check-in on Fran McCaffery’s team. Finally we rundown all the latest recruiting news on the football front.

Back to back big guests on the podcast! This time around we are honored to have one of the greatest players in Iowa basketball history join us. Luka Garza comes on the podcast to promote his upcoming basketball camps taking place this month in Urbandale, Iowa. We discuss what the camps will be like for the kids and adding a Father/Son Camp this year on Father’s Day weekend. You can sign up for the camp at LukaGarzaAcademy.com. We also discuss his NBA journey the last two years and much more.

A special edition of the podcast this week. With Caitlin Clark playing in the Pro-Am at the John Deere Classic, we were fortunate to get her playing partner for that day, Zach Johnson, to join us. We are also joined by JDC Tournament Director Andrew Lehman to discuss the event and how you can bring your kids to the course that day for free. Of course, we also talk a lot of Iowa football with some predictions for the upcoming season and Zach talks about being the captain for the USA team in the Ryder Cup this fall.

We get back to our Ready to Report podcast series. This time we are joined by wide receiver Alex Mota. The in-state standout just graduated from high school and is excited to get started this summer in Iowa City. Mota looks back at his recruiting process and how Iowa initially recruited him as a defensive back before flipping him to wide receiver. That decision got him to verbally commit a few hours later. He looks back on that process and his expectation for his first year with the Hawkeyes.

It was a jam packed podcast this week. First Matt Randazzo returns to the show to discuss a pretty cool event happening with the John Deere Classic in early July. Iowa star Caitlin Clark is playing golf at the Pro-Am with Zach Johnson. It’s a pretty cool event and we discuss it. Then Kyle Huesmann joins the pod and we go in-depth on the Iowa baseball team traveling to Indiana State for the NCAA Tournament. We preview the game against North Carolina and more. Finally, we discuss Beth Goetz being named interim athletic director and what that means and Iowa basketball and their chances of landing transfer Grant Nelson from NDSU.

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is retiring. That means we have to do a special emergency podcast. Scott Dochterman from The Athletic joins the pod to discuss the complicated legacy for the long time AD for the Hawkeyes. We look at the positives during the Barta era when it comes to facilities and we discuss the negatives including legal issues that resulted in the financial losses for the Iowa athletic department and the actions during the pandemic taken by Barta to removed several sports and how that resulted in lawsuit. We also discuss potential candidates for the job and the importance of making a solid hire with several high profile coaches in their mid-60’s.

Hawkeye baseball is front and center this week on the podcast. Tom Kakert and Kyle Huesmann, who is in Omaha covering the Iowa baseball team, break down the Hawkeyes come from behind win over Indiana to advance to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. We discuss the start by Brody Brecht and how the Iowa bullpen was strong while the Iowa offense punished the Hoosiers pen. We look ahead to the next game and Iowa’s chances of being a two seed in an NCAA regional. We also talk some Iowa women’s hoops and some college football news.

We continue our Ready to Report series of podcast as we visit with the incoming Iowa football recruits. This time we spend 15 minutes with offensive lineman Cannon Leonard. We discuss how he found his way to football after growing up dreaming of playing D1 basketball. His time playing hoops with two future Hawkeyes and his brother playing football for Illinois. Plus his relationship with Coach Barnett and when he knew he was going to be a Hawkeye.

We continue on with our Ready to Report series in podcast form with another player from Illinois headed to Iowa City. This time it’s defensive back John Nestor. He was a relatively early commitment in this class and we discuss why he picked Iowa over other Big Ten and Big 12 schools. Nestor also talks about his football journey, his hopes in the first year at Iowa, and his excitement for the first time he will be running out of the tunnel at Kinnick.

We continue our Ready to Report series on the podcast by visiting with incoming freshman Teegan Davis. The defensive back talks about the Hawkeyes adding him late in the recruiting process during the month of December and also a knee injury he sustained during the indoor track season this winter. He updates his health and his expectations for the first year on campus.

Something a little different for the next few weeks. As part of our Ready to Report series, we will be catching up with the Iowa recruits to get their thoughts before they arrive in Iowa City. First up in this series is one of the early commits, Leighton Jones. He discusses the recruiting process that brought him to Iowa, the school that gave him pause before his commitment, and how excited Jones is to get to Iowa City in a few weeks.

We are fortunate to have an XFL champion on the podcast this week. Fresh off winning the XFL title with the Arlington Renegades, Chuck Long talks about the title win and doing it with two of his close friends. We also spend a good deal of time discussing the Chuck Long Charity Auction that benefits the Children’s Therapy Center of the Quad Cities that takes place this weekend. Get your bids in here: CTCQC Auction. Then we have a rundown of the latest news, including the White Out game against Penn State, the launch of the Iowa Swarm Beer, and updates on Iowa baseball heading into their final regular season series against Northwestern.