A Happy Hawkeye Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Hawkeye fans! Hopefully everyone is able to share some time away from work or school with friends, family and those they care most about.

While we stuff our faces and wait for the Hawkeyes to take to the hardwood and the gridiron, the staff here at The Pants is sharing what they’re most thankful for in the world of Iowa Hawkeyes athletics this year (that is, aside from you, dear reader!).

JPinIC

When I first started thinking about this pre-Michigan State debacle, I was feeling a bit more thankful for Tim Lester. I’m feeling less so after we watched the Hawkeyes struggle immensely on offense against an 0-8 in the Big Ten opponent, but I will start by just saying regardless of the game-to-game volatility, I’m thankful to have a professional OC in the booth game planning, calling and sequencing plays every week. The passing game is not where we want it and the total offensive numbers could certainly be better, but efficiency has improved, we’re no longer a national punch line and there’s reason to believe things will continue to improve as Lester gets more and more of his guys on the depth chart. For that hope, I’m thankful.

Speaking of being hopeful, the early signs under new basketball coach Ben McCollum should have every Hawkeye fan hopeful for what’s to come. I was a fan of Fran McCaffery and was certainly slow to the “Fire Fran” party, but it’s so abundantly clear that it was the right move and that McCollum was the perfect fit for Iowa from a cultural standpoint. He has a system that seems like it works everywhere and having hope and excitement around the hoops program is something to truly be thankful for.

That brings me to my last and most important thing I’m thankful for. It’s the thread between both of those two individuals already mentioned and the reason both are here: Beth Goetz. Gary Barta I’m sure did some things well behind the scenes that those of us not contributing seven figures to the athletic department could see, but Goetz has been a complete home run thus far. She’s had the guts to force Kirk’s hand on Brian, paving the way for Lester, and ditto on the choice to move on from Fran. Perhaps more than anything in the world of Hawkeye athletics, I find myself this year very thankful to have a true leader in the role of AD.

Matt Reisener

How about Iowa becoming a basketball school again?! Ben McCollum has the Hawkeye men rolling at at 6-0 (editor’s note: this was written before Iowa’s late-night tip-off against Grand Canyon on Wednesday), and Iowa’s win against a tough Ole Miss team that made the Sweet Sixteen last season after stomping Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament has fans feeling good after the past few years of McCaffery malaise. The Hawkeyes are noticeably more physical and dialed in on the defensive end, but the team’s ball movement and precision passing on offense has been a welcome surprise and has helped Iowa look like a legitimate postseason contender in the first month of play. Meanwhile, Jan Jensen’s squad is ranked 11th in the country and boasts impressive neutral site wins against both Miami and #7 Baylor. After several years of offensive fireworks, the Hawkeye women currently have one of the top 20 scoring defenses in college basketball and are holding opponents to only 34% shooting on two-point attempts. With Ava Heiden playing like one of the best posts in the Big Ten and all-world recruit McKenna Woliczko set to join the team next year, both Hawkeye basketball teams appear poised for a sustained run of success in the months and years to come.

Greg Hollingsworth

It has been hard for me to be thankful for the end of football season for a while, as it generally meant that I wouldn’t have much in the way of Hawkeye sports to think about until spring camp started up. Sure, I watched CC’s final season in stops and starts (that’s more on me than anything else, I had just gotten out of the habit of watching Iowa basketball during the Alford/Lickliter years and never really picked back up), and certainly both tournament runs, but it wasn’t something I reveled in like a lot of fans. I will admit that I was (and still am) a tad resentful over the way that Tom Davis’s exit was handled, and as much as Fran did to bring this program back to relevance, he never felt like the guy. Enter Ben McCollum. There’s nothing I love more than seeing a coach that just feels like an Iowa guy prowling the sidelines again, and as far as I’m concerned, he is the natural successor to Dr. Tom, and for that I am incredibly thankful.

As for the gridiron, this season has been difficult to be sure, but Iowa football is (last Saturday aside), dare I say, exciting again? Gone are the sicko football games (for the most part at least) where most of my time was spent hoping for a defensive or special teams score to shore up a tenuous lead. Iowa is no longer the poster program for bad offense, and while Lester has been far from perfect, you can see where they can continue to grow as more of his preferred types of players see the field. On paper (and sometimes in practice) it may not feel like an improvement over last year, but you can see it’s there every time the ball goes Reese Van der Zee’s direction, or every time Kaden goes in motion that uses halo action. Change was never going to come overnight, but little by little Tim Lester is dragging this offense into the 21st century and I’m excited to see what is in the offing when our starting QB doesn’t spend his spring rehabbing.

Lastly, I’m thankful for Jan Jansen and the incredible continuation of success in the Women’s program. Have I been a regular watcher if the Iowa women in the past, no. Was I a big watcher during the Bluder days? No again, save for the end of CC’s run. But the success that Lisa Bluder had over her final 4 years won me over and I know watch as much, if not more, Iowa Women’s BBall as I do the men, which probably says more about me than anything else, but watching Jan have her team ready to play hard every night and do things the right way (while winning more than not) has made a convert of this lapsed basketball fan.

That’s what the staff is thankful for this holiday season. What about you, Hawk fans? Let us know what you’re most thankful for in the world of Iowa Hawkeyes athletics in the comments below!