Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell believes changes on his coaching staff will help return the program to its winning ways. Campbell fired offensive coordinator Tom Manning and strength coach Dave Andrews after a 4-8 season, their worst since 2016.

Campbell says it is about finding ways to win the close games.

Despite the frustrating season Campbell believes things are in place to get better.

Campbell promoted Nate Scheelhaase to offensive coordinator.

(Radio Iowa) – A federal agency called the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority is set to take over the over the regulation of drug testing for thoroughbred horses in January. Iowa Racing and Gaming Administrator, Brian Ohorilkoh  says that will impact Iowa’s only horse track at in Altoona.

“The intent is for uniformity across the country. It’s something that some states view it favorably — many states do not — but what we do know is that there will definitely be some changes in terms of how racing is regulated,” he says, “not only at Prairie Meadows, but at every racetrack throughout the country. ” The federal government has assessed Iowa a fee of more than one million dollars for these services. If the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission picks up and conduct the tasks outlined in the different federal regulations, the state will receive a credit of approximately 400-thousand dollars. That leaves around 650-thousand dollar that the race track and horse industry have to figure out a way to pay.

“And that, you know, at this point is really kind of the major factor in terms of how those fees will be paid, who will pay for them and how that those payments will trickle down and impact the rest of the industry in terms of number of people that are able to continue to participate number of starters per race,” Ohorilkoh says. He says Prairie Meadows already pays the state a fee — but it includes more than horse racing.

“The regulatory fees currently for Prairie Meadows are just north of a million dollars. And that includes the regulation of casino gambling, sports betting, thoroughbred racing and quarter horse racing,” Ohorilkoh says. Regulators and the groups involved in horse racing have has some discussion on the issue, and Ohorilkoh says that will continue.

“We’re working towards compliance and in trying to determine what will everyone will play and how it will be paid for,” he says. The I-R-G-C has hired a company that is conducting a study of the horse racing industry. Ohorilkoh says the potential impact of the federal regulation is one of the things included in the study. It will also look at things like the scheduling of races and the marketing of the track and how to maximize its benefits.

Eastern Illinois outscored Iowa 31-14 to start the second half and handed the Hawkeyes an embarrassing 92-83 loss in Iowa City, a game the Hawkeyes led by 14 in the opening half.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. Eastern Illinois made 21 of 29 shots in the second half as the Hawkeyes fall to 8-4.

Filip Rebraca led Iowa with 24 points and eight rebounds but says he needed to be better with Kris Murray and Connor McCaffery out with injury.

The Iowa women’s basketball team picked up a 92-54 win over Dartmouth on Wednesday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Catlin Clark led the way with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.

The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 34-19 lead by the end of the first quarter and balloned the lead to 54-24 by halftime. The Hawkeyes had 42 points in the paint and scored 24 on fast breaks.

Clark eclipsed the 2,000 career point plateau in her 75th career game, which ties her for the fastest NCAA Division I women’s player to do so with Elena Delle Donne.

Clark is the first Iowa men’s or women’s basketball player to eclipse more than 2,000 points, 550 assists, 520 rebounds, 110 steals, and 40 blocks in a career.

The Hawkeyes improved to 10-3 on the season and will next up host Purdue on December 29th at 8:00 p.m.

The results are in for the Coach’s Christmas outfit fundraiser that was contested this past Saturday during the Atlantic vs Nodaway Valley basketball doubleheader. The Atlantic coaches won by a vote of 596-404. $400 was raised between the Fareway donation & the money raised at the game. The money will be donated to the Atlantic PD for the Family Dreams Christmas program.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell announced today that Reid Kagy (KEG-ee) will join the Cyclone staff as Director of Football Strength and Conditioning.

Kagy, a former Iowa State assistant strength coach, spent the last two seasons as Boise State’s Director of Sports Performance.

“Reid and I have a phenomenal relationship, having recruited him out of high school to college and watched his transition and journey to being a head strength coach,” Campbell said. “He knows what the core values and tenets of being a football program that has the ability to transform. I think he’ll have a huge impact on our program, not just on the field, but in a multitude of different ways.”

Kagy joined the staff at Boise State in January of 2021 and helped the Broncos to a pair of bowl games in his two seasons, including a spot in the Frisco Bowl in 2022.

The 2022 Broncos went 10-4 this season and won the Frisco Bowl, while also earning a spot in the Mountain West Championship game. Boise State outgained their opponents by more than 1,200 yards (102.2 ypg) and dominated the line of scrimmage with 27 sacks and just 14 allowed.

Prior to Boise State, Kagy spent two seasons at Oregon. In his role as assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Ducks, Kagy helped the team win back-to-back Pac-12 titles and the 2020 Rose Bowl, in addition to an appearance in the 2021 Fiesta Bowl where they faced Iowa State.

The Bloomville, Ohio, native, was an assistant for the Iowa State strength and conditioning program from 2016-18. The Cyclones won eight games in each of his final two seasons, winning the 2017 Liberty Bowl and reaching the 2018 Alamo Bowl.

Kagy spent two years as an assistant strength and conditioning coach and one as a graduate assistant coach at Cincinnati. He worked with baseball, football, women’s golf, men’s soccer, swimming and track and field.

He was also a strength and conditioning intern at Toledo (2013) and UAB (2012) prior to his arrival at Cincinnati.

Kagy is a 2012 Ohio State graduate. He transferred to Ohio State after playing football at Mount Union for two seasons (2007 and 2008). He was a member of Mount Union’s 2008 Division III national championship team.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State head football coach Matt Campbell announced the addition of 21 early signees from the high school ranks, as well as two four-year transfer student-athletes and 13 preferred walk-ons during the 2023 early signing period on Wednesday.

The high school class ranks 35th nationally according to Rivals, the second-highest ranking ever by the outlet, and features 10 offensive players and 11 defensive players joining Iowa State from 10 different states.

“We are very excited about this outstanding group of young men that will be joining our program,” Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell said. “This class is excited about joining this University and is a group that we believe will impact our program positively in many ways over the course of the next five years. It is important to our program to recruit high-character young men that take great pride in their academics and in playing the game of football. This class embraces our values and we look forward to the future with them.”

With a priority on recruiting players that come from winning programs, Campbell and his staff signed eight players that have competed in state championship games and another six that reached the quarterfinals in their high school careers. 

The class features seven signees from the State of Iowa, including four-star quarterback and Cyclone legacy JJ Kohl. The Ankeny, Iowa, native, is the second-highest ranked recruit in the internet rankings era according to 247sports.com. Kohl, whose father Jamie was a kicker for the Cyclones in the 90s, is the ninth-ranked quarterback in Rivals rankings after passing for 42 touchdowns the last two seasons at Ankeny High School.

Kohl’s senior year teammate Jamison Patton, a three-star safety and a top-50 athlete nationally by Rivals, is the highest-rated defensive player in the class. 

Another Iowan, Southeast Polk’s Abu Sama III was the Des Moines Register’s All-Iowa Player of the Year after helping the Rams to their second consecutive Class 5A title. Sama was the talk of the state after breaking the title game record with 372 rushing yards and six touchdowns. He rushed for 1,408 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior.

The Cyclones added two four-year college transfers in this class. Former four-star running back Arlen Harris Jr. (Stanford), who joins the Cyclones as a redshirt freshman transfer, and redshirt sophomore linebacker Zach Lovett (Missouri).

The spring Signing Day will be February 1.

Iowa announced their 2023 football signing class on Wednesday amid National Signing Day nationwide.

Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown High School
Erick All TE 6-5 255 Sr. Fairfield, Ohio Fairfield/Michigan
Maddux Borcherding-Johnson DL 6-3 285 Fr. Norwalk, Iowa Norwalk
Chase Brackney DL 6-4 270 Fr. Greenwood Village, Colo. Cherry Creek
Jarriett Buie WR 6-3 185 Fr. Tampa. Fla. Jesuit
JAIR-ee-it BUOY
Teegan Davis DB 6-2 175 Fr. Princeton, Ill. Princeton
Aidan Hall LB 6-1 210 Fr. Harlan, Iowa Harlan
Dayton Howard WR 6-4 190 Fr. Kansas City, Mo. Park Hill
Leighton Jones OL 6-2 275 Fr. Brownsburg, Ind. Brownsburg
Ben Kueter (KEY-tur) LB 6-4 225 Fr. Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City
Marco Lainez (LIE-nez) QB 6-3 230 Fr. Princeton, N.J. The Hun School
Trevor Lauck (LAWCK) OL 6-5 295 Fr. Indianapolis, Ind. Roncalli
Cannon Leonard OL 6-8 270 Fr. Gilman, Ill. Iroquois West
Zach Lutmer (LUT-mur) DB 6-0 195 Fr. Rock Rapids, Iowa Central Lyon/GLR
Cade McNamara QB 6-1 206 Sr. Reno, Nev. Damonte Ranch/Michigan
Kenneth Merrieweather DL 6-4 240 Fr. Detroit, Mich. M.L. King
Alex Mota WR 6-1 175 Fr. Marion, Iowa Marion
Kamari Moulton RB 5-11 185 Fr. Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Cardinal Gibbons
John Nestor DB 6-0 190 Fr. Chicago, Ill. Marist
Zach Ortwerth TE 6-4 225 Fr. St. Louis, Mo. University
Kade Pieper (PEEP-ur) OL 6-3 250 Fr. Norfolk, Neb. Catholic
Kahlil Tate DB 6-1 185 Fr. Chicago, Ill. Kenwood Academy
Anterio Thompson DL 6-3 290 So. Dubuque, Iowa Hempstead/Iowa Western
An-TAIR-ee-o
Terrell Washington, Jr. RB 5-11 195 Fr. Wylie, Texas Wylie East
Tuh-RELL

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State Head Coach Jamie Pinkerton announced the 2023 Cyclone softball schedule Tuesday. The Cyclones’ 2023 slate includes nine opponents that made an NCAA Regional last season. Iowa State will play 12 games against five teams that finished 2022 ranked inside the NFCA Coaches Poll Top 25 in No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Arkansas and No. 25 Oregon.

Iowa State opens the year with 26 consecutive road games, including five tournaments on the road. The Cyclones will open the season at the Doc Halverson UNI-Dome Classic (Feb. 10-12) in Cedar Falls.

ISU will then travel to the west coast for a tournament in Fresno, Calif. for five games at the Fresno State Kickoff Classic (Feb. 17-19) before playing in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic (Feb. 24-26) in Palm Springs, Calif. Iowa State will then take part in the Wooo Pig Classic (March 3-5), hosted by Arkansas, followed by a trip to Hawaii for the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu (March 10-12).

The Cyclones will play at the Cyclone Sports Complex for the first time on March 17. The Cyclones will play a doubleheader against BYU on Friday (March 17) followed by a doubleheader with Omaha on Sunday (March 19).

Iowa State will travel to Lincoln to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Wednesday, March 22 before Big 12 competition begins. ISU hosts defending national champion Oklahoma (March 24-26) and will then travel to Texas Tech for its first road Big 12 series (March 31 – April 2). The Cyclones will step back out of conference play for their midweek contest at Northern Iowa on Tuesday, April 4.

Following the midweek matchup against UNI, Iowa State hosts four-straight home games against defending national runner-up Texas (April 6-8) and South Dakota State (April 11) before a weekend series against Oklahoma State in Stillwater (April 14-16), a team that advanced to the 2022 College World Series.

After the Oklahoma State series, Iowa State will have a week off before it hosts Colorado State at the Cyclone Sports Complex (April 21-22). The Cyclones will then travel to Iowa City to face off against in-state rival Iowa in the annual Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series on April 26.

Iowa State closes the month of April with a home series against Baylor (April 28-30) and hosts Drake in its final midweek contest of the season (May 3). The Cyclones conclude the regular season on the road against Kansas (May 5-7).

The Big 12 Softball Championship will take place from May 11-13 in Oklahoma City.