May 24, 2013

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Iowa AD says he’s commited to playing UNI

May 22, 2013 By

With the addition of Rutgers and Maryland next year, the Big Ten conference will be moving to a nine-game league football schedule. With one less non-conference game available, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has said that he wants conference schools to stop scheduling games against FCS opponents. That means that Iowa may no longer be playing UNI.

But Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta says he’s told UNI A-D Troy Dannen that Iowa is committed to honoring their current contract with the Panthers. “For those who don’t know my history, I have been at UNI for 7 years, my wife graduated from UNI — and so set that aside, that’s personal affection and feelings — but you know it’s good for the state…and it looks pretty good that we’ll be able to keep the two games that are on our contract and we’ll see after that,” Barta says.

In addition to games against UNI in 2014 and 2018, Iowa is also scheduled to host Illinois State and North Dakota State in the coming seasons. Barta says that Iowa will need to schedule seven home games per season going forward, making it sound like he will try to keep some FCS games on Iowa’s schedule.

He says they have always played Iowa State and one other BCS level school and now they will add another Big 10 school and will play ISU and add some other opponents who are willing to come to Kinnick Stadium without a home and home series.

From a financial standpoint, Iowa would pay an FCS team like UNI somewhere around $500,000 for a game, whereas the Hawkeyes would need to shell out closer to a million dollars to bring in a team from a low-level FBS conference, like Tennessee Tech or Louisiana-Monroe.

Barta says the financial aspect is just one benefit of continuing the series with UNI as he says it’s a good financial deal for both when you can play an instate school. And he says with UNI as a the top team in FCS, it makes for an exciting matchup.

Iowa and UNI have faced off five times since their series resumed in 1995. Prior to that, the schools had not met on the football field in 81 years.

By Jesse Gavin KCNZ Cedar Falls

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Iowa football schedule for 2014 announced

May 16, 2013 By

Iowa’s 2014 football schedule will include Big Ten newcomer Maryland. The conference released the schedule today for 2014 and the Hawkeyes will visit the Terrapins on October 18.

The 2014 schedule will consist of eight games for each of the Big Ten’s 14 teams, feature a new division alignment. The Iowa schedule that season does not include Michigan or Ohio State as both will be part of the East Division that season.

The conference division alignments will feature Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers. In the East Division and Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin in the West Division.

Each school will play the other six schools in its division plus two teams from the other division in 2014 and 2015, which will serve as transitional years in which the schools will still be playing eight-game schedules. Beginning in 2016, each school will play three teams from the other division as part of its nine-game schedule.

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Joan Becker talks about improving mental health treatment

May 3, 2013 By

The mother of the man who killed Aplington-Parkersburg football coach and athletic director, Ed Thomas, says the mental health system failed their family for many years. Joan Becker, the mother of Mark Becker, spoke this week about mental health at a celebration for the United Way.

“There was a whole lot that we had done and we had experienced with our son Mark with what we now know was paranoid schizophrenia — which we did not have the diagnosis at the time. But what I’ve found speaking out throughout the state at various entities, is when we share our story, it becomes very apparent where gaps where in our particular family situation in the whole mental health system as it stands today.” Becker said.

Becker said we need to find a way to change people’s attitudes that mental health issues must be kept behind closed doors and shouldn’t be openly talked about. “Because we ran into that same situation ourselves. Because you have a child or a loved one that is attempting to live in a world that doesn’t understand and doesn’t maybe even want to accept that mental illness exists,” Becker explained.

“When this happened, it was that very night that my husband and I were holding and crying together and God convicted me that we need to share our family story in the hopes of helping others. Because they maybe can’t speak out, we can.” Becker says they’re trying to encourage individuals to contact the organizations that provide support for those with mental illness.

“They need to seek that help. I also want to open up the doors to the professionals, to the legal system to the judicial system, to everyone — and this is so huge, mental health is so huge– because there’s got to be communication between all of these entities,” Becker said.

“There’s gaps that can be closed up if we can get them to work together and get a good system in place to get a continuity and a quicker diagnosis.” Becker says the legal system has better addressed mental health issues since what’s happened with her son.

“The regionalizaton is coming to pass, and I have gone to some of those meetings, I am aware of some of the things they’re going to try and implement.. One of my biggest concerns with it is who is going to make it accountable and who is going to follow it up to make sure it’s being done, and that people are getting access to the services they need,” Becker said.

Becker spoke at the United Way of North-Central Iowa’s 90th anniversary celebration in Clear Lake, which also served as a kickoff for Mental Health Awareness Month.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

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Change in Big 10 schedule could end UNI-Iowa football matchups

April 30, 2013 By

With the addition of Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten, the conference has announced that it will be moving to a nine-game league schedule each season. The conference will also go away from the practice of scheduling FCS teams in their non-conference schedules.

That means that any future meetings between UNI and Iowa are now in jeopardy. UNI football coach Mark Farley says that’s disappointing.

“That was a great stage and it was a great environment and a great opportunity. I understand the reasoning, but it is disappointing for the fact of going forward in that phase,” Farley says. “Because even the Wisconsin game was a great experience for our players and another opportunity that we went toe-to-toe, but those are decisions that are made above us. It’s too bad for some of the players that will come through in the future that won’t get to experience that.’

UNI did not face the Hawkeyes for 81 years before the series resumed in 1995. Farley says that the last two times the Panthers visited Kinnick Stadium were a pair of very competitive games.

Farley says it took a long time to get the series going. “Throughout the years there’s been some games that got away, but more recently there’s been some games that we had opportunities to win,” Farley says.

The Panthers are currently scheduled to visit Iowa in 2014 and 2018.

By Jesse Gavin KCNZ Cedar Falls

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Hawkeye quarterback job still up for grabs

April 24, 2013 By

Iowa’s quarterback race is still too close to call as the Hawkeyes prepare to close out spring drills with a scrimmage on Saturday. Jake Rudock, Cody Sokol and C.J.  Beatherd are vying to replace James Vandenberg under center. The quarterbacks have been rotating every two snaps in practice this spring.

Iowa offensive coordinator Greg Davis says they did that in individual time Saturday, and then they let the quarterback own the drive if they were moving the team. He says they will probably do the same thing Saturday so the quarterback who is moving the team will stay in for the entire drive.

Davis doubts a starter will be named at the end of spring as he says all of the quarterbacks have done good things, but there has not been any separation yet.

Davis talked about what will allow one of the quarterbacks to emerge as the starter. He says that will be guys who can make a play when things break down, a guy who will take care of the football and make plays.

Davis says it is possible more than one quarterback will need to play when the 2013 season begins to make a decision. “Because some things you can’t evaluate in practice because you can’t get hit,” Davis says. He says for instance, they blow the play dead in practice when the pocket breaks down and they need to see how they do in live action.

Davis says they may make a decision by August, but they may not. Davis says Saturday will be more like a game than practice. It will be four quarters of offense versus defense.

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Wife of slain Aplington-Parkesburg football coach to testify at congressional hearing

April 24, 2013 By

The wife of murdered Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas, will testify before a House subcommittee Friday. Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, invited Jan Thomas to testify.

“And the hearing will examine the very important relationship between our mental health care system and gun violence,” Braley says. The hearing focuses specifically on the law known as HIPPA, which governs the types of health information health care providers can release on patients.

Ed Thomas was shot to death in 2009 by a former player who suffered from mental illness and had been released from the hospital less than 24 hours before he shot Thomas. “I think we owe it to Ed Thomas and his family to seriously and comprehensively look at needed medical health reforms and criminal background checks. Both of those steps may have save Ed Thomas’ life and Jan Thomas is coming to testify so that we can bring a real world example of how these issues relate to one another, and why it’s a critical par of our ongoing efforts to reduce gun violence,” according to Braley.

He says mental health patients are often shuffled around in the legal system and never get the treatment they need. “And I think it’s time for a broader national conversation about our failure to address these problems, because many of these people are people that we don’t like to think about, we would rather push them off of our radar screen and let others worry about them,” Braley says.

“And often times it is our law enforcement officials and jailers who have to deal with them, and that is not the appropriate place to treat their problem.” Jan Thomas, will testify Friday in the hearing before a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

The hearing is set to begin at 8 A.M. Iowa time.

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UNI coach says talent is there to bounce back from 5-6 season

April 24, 2013 By

UNI football coach Mark Farley says the Panthers have the talent needed to bounce back from a disappointing 2012 season. The Panthers finished 5-6 last season and missed out of the FCS national playoffs. It was the first losing season for the program since 2002. UNI conducts its annual spring game Friday night.

“This football team is very committed to doing it the way the coaches are trying to get them lined up, our way, the UNI way,” Farley says. “We’ve made steady progress, sometimes you are high and you are low and you get setback. This team has been moving progressively forward.” Farley says the team has good leaders that are helping them move forward.

Farley says there is a lot of potential in this team. “I think it is a balanced team, both sides of the ball. I think it’s an intelligent team, and for UNI that’s a great thing, because that’s how we play,” Farley says.

Farley says while it is a talented team limiting injuries will be a key. He says they are not as deep as they have been and depth has changed with recruiting and rules and funding over the last three years. Farley says they have to find better ways to use players when the team is not as deep.

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