Doug Schwab

University of Northern Iowa Director of Athletics David Harris has announced a three-year contract extension for UNI wrestling head coach Doug Schwab. Schwab’s contract will be extended through March 31, 2024.

“Doug has done a tremendous job with the UNI Panther wrestling program,” Harris said. “His passion for Panther wrestling is unmatched. He cares deeply about each student-athlete in the wrestling room. We look forward to the continued success of the program on so many levels – in the classroom, in citizenship and on the competition mat.”

Schwab recently completed his eighth season as the Panther head coach. During his tenure at UNI, Schwab has posted 41 NCAA qualifiers and crowned nine All-Americans. The Panthers have registered a 71-47 dual mark over the past eight campaigns.

“I love coaching at the University of Northern Iowa,” Schwab said. “My family and I couldn’t be more excited to know that for at least the next six years it will be spent in the Cedar Valley. I know that the type of support we get from our administration, alumni and fans is special. We want them to know we are truly grateful for what they do for the program and these men that represent it on and off the mat. I have such an incredible group of coaches and student-athletes to work with. They challenge me and demand the best of me every day and I thank them for that. I cannot wait to lead this program and group of men into the future.”

Schwab guided the Panthers to a second-place finish in UNI’s inaugural appearance at the Big 12 Championships in 2018. UNI crowned its first two Big 12 champions in Taylor Lujan (174 lbs.) and Drew Foster (184 lbs.) at the meet in Tulsa, Oklahoma, this spring.

The Panthers ranked No. 15 in the nation in wrestling attendance in 2017-18 with an average of 1,724 per home dual meet in the West Gym.

Joey Woody

The University of Iowa men’s track and field team won the Drake Relays Hy-Vee Cup in 2017 and director of track and field Joey Woody isn’t content with stopping there.

Woody is not only positioning the Hawkeye men for a Hy-Vee Cup repeat from April 26-28 on Des Moines’s Jim Duncan Track, but he wants the women to join the celebration as well.

“One of our goals on both sides is to win the Hy-Vee Cup,” Woody said. “I feel good about what we’re doing. We have some great relays, so it is going to be a fun weekend.”

Started in 2013, the Hy-Vee Cup champion is the program that scores the most points in the 4×100, 4×400, 4×800, sprint medley, and distance medley relays. The Iowa men won the Hy-Vee Cup for the first time last year with a total of 39 points. The Hawkeyes won three relays: 4×800, 4×400 and sprint medley relay.

“It showed our overall team ability and being able to cover a lot of events; that was great to recognize our program last year,” Woody said. “It has been our goal the last few years to go in and win the Drake Relays Hy-Vee Cup. That was something we planned on doing; it was a battle, but our kids showed up.”

Nicole Newman

For the fifth consecutive week, Drake University softball redshirt junior Nicole Newman has been selected the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week, the MVC office announced Monday, April 23. Newman has won a league-best seven MVC Pitcher of the Week awards this season and 12 in her career.

In three starts last week, Newman went 3-0 with three shutouts for Drake, which went 5-0. She pitched 20.0 innings, scattered 12 hits and finished with 23 strikeouts to just one walk. Newman, who has thrown a pair of no-hitters this season, tossed her fifth one-hitter of the season in the team’s first win over Illinois State.

Newman, who holds an impressive 16-2 record in the circle this year, lowered her earned run average to 0.44, a mark that leads the country. She has yet to allow a run by an MVC opponent, holds a 9-0 record against league opponents and has 109 strikeouts with just eight walks in MVC play.

Newman and her teammates welcome UNI Tuesday night to Buel Field.

Former Iowa State head football coach Earle Bruce, who led the Cyclones to three-straight eight-win seasons and two Bowl games, died early this morning at the age of 87.

Bruce was hired as the head football coach at Iowa State in 1973, replacing Johnny Majors, who left for Pittsburgh after the 1972 season.

Bruce, who arrived at Iowa State after directing Tampa to the 1972 Tangerine Bowl, led the Cyclones during one of their most prosperous periods in school history from 1973-78. He tallied a career 36-32 mark as the Cyclone mentor, but in his last three seasons (1976-78), the Cyclones went 24-11 and earned bowl bids in 1977 (Peach Bowl) and 1978 (Hall of Fame Bowl).

His 1976 Cyclone squad was perhaps his best team and is still considered one of the finest in school history despite being snubbed by the bowl scouts. Iowa State ended the regular season with an 8-3 record and a No. 19 ranking in the final Associated Press poll.

ISU ranked second nationally in total offense by averaging 439.6 yards per game in 1976, a school record which still stands today. A 37-28 win over No. 9 Nebraska highlighted the year and was the first-ever victory over a ranked team in Jack Trice Stadium.

Bruce led the Cyclones to back-to-back 8-3 regular-season marks and bowl appearances in his final two seasons. His 1977 team appeared in the national rankings after the Cyclones defeated No. 9 Nebraska (24-21) for the second-straight season, this time in Lincoln, Neb.

He earned Big Eight Conference Coach-of-the-Year honors in both 1976 and 1977.

Bruce left Iowa State after the 1978 season to return to his alma mater Ohio State, replacing the legendary Woody Hayes. He won or shared four Big Ten titles in his nine seasons as the leader of the Buckeyes. He was the AFCA National Coach-of-the-Year in 1979.

A 2002 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Bruce compiled a career 154-90-2 record as a head coach, which also included stops at Northern Iowa and Colorado State. In his 20 years as a head coach at the Division I-A level, he led his teams to 12 bowl appearances, including seven victories.

Bruce graduated from Ohio State in 1953 and earned his master’s degree from Kent State in 1963.

He was inducted into the Iowa State Hall of Fame in 2000.

A group of golfers joined Governor Kim Reynolds to highlight the economic impact of golfing on the Iowa economy. According to a 2015 study, more than 11-thousand people have jobs at Iowa golf courses and golfing has an 800-million dollar impact – either directly or indirectly — on the state’s economy.

“We have the most 9-hole courses of any state and then, per capita, we’re almost always in the top five.” said Chad Pitts, executive director of the Iowa Golf Association.

Pitts says the percentage of Iowans who golf may rise more — inspired by the professional women golfers from the U.S. and Europe who competed in last year’s Solheim Cup at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club.

“Where I would expect to see the change is women playing golf, for sure,” added Pitts . “I know they broke attendance records and TV viewership.”

Pitts and eight other leaders in Iowa’s golfing community posed for a photo with Governor Reynolds in her formal statehouse office Thursday morning.

Des Moines NASCAR driver Michael Annett paid tribute to a junior hockey team in Canada last weekend at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Annett’s car had a sticker to honor the Humboldt Broncos in his Xfinity Series race. Sixteen players and staff lost their lives earlier this month in a bus crash on the way to a playoff game. Annett grew up playing hockey in Des Moines.

“I can remember back when I was a rookie with one team and how they seat the bus”, said Annett. “Veterans in the back get the good seats so they can play cards. Rookies are smashed together in the front then you have the broadcast team, the trainers and the coaches. It is amazing that stuff like that affected who was caught up in the accident.”

Annett is currently 16th in points in the Xfinity Series. His next race in Friday night at Richmond Raceway for the ToyotaCare 250.

story by Steve Richards, Performance Racing Network.

Travis Hergert

College baseball coaches are used to dealing with bad weather but North Iowa Area Community College coach Travis Hergert has never seen it this bad. Hergert has been involved in college coaching since 2004 and nearly two months into the season his NIACC team has yet to play a home game in Mason City.

“We have not even stepped on our field for an outdoor practice”, said Hergert. “Our first scheduled home game is April 24 against Marshalltown Community College and our first conference home game is the following weekend against Iowa Lakes.”

Hergert says spring snow is not all that uncommon and points to a freak storm in May back in 2013. The difference is in past years to snow has rapidly melted.

“It Isn’t so much the precipitation but just how cold it has been. It never warms up.”

Hergert says it is not only the games that have been postponed but also the brutal conditions games have been played in this season and says he can count on one hand how may times they have played a game with a temperature in the 50s.

The Trojans are scheduled to play a doubleheader at Kirkwood Community College on Tuesday. Hergert says the good news is that if they can get a break in the weather they should be able to play their entire schedule.

“The crazy thing is if our schedule plays out we will play our allotted 55 games”, added Hergert. “We are pretty lucky to be able to go south in February and early March and play those games.”

Hergert has led the Trojans to three trips to the NJCAA Division II World Series in the last five years. They are 18-17 overall this season.

Blake Boldon

Grand Blue Mile race officials announced the fields for the 2018 USA Track & Field 1 Mile Road Championships set for Tuesday, April 24, in Des Moines. A world-class group of elite runners will headline the event along with approximately 3,000 participants from across the nation who will compete among the recreational and amateur competitive divisions.

“We’re excited to welcome some of the best milers in the country to the streets of Des Moines to compete for the USATF 1-Mile Road Championship at the Grand Blue Mile,” said Drake Relays Director Blake Boldon. “The field features previous champions, Olympic medalists and inspiring stories that make the Grand Blue Mile a favorite for fans lining the streets.”

This year’s race features a top prize of $5,000 each for the men’s and women’s champions with the potential to earn an additional $2,500 for setting a new course record – currently 4.00.0 (2017) and 4:32.7 (2014), respectively. Overall, $30,000 in prize money will be contested across the men’s and women’s championship divisions.

Vying for the national title and a share of the prize purse are Olympians and world champions, including two-time champion and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Leo Manzano.