Tuesday March 16th Local Sports

TODAY:
AM-1300 KGLO — Twins spring training vs. Pittsburgh — 12:00

 

MASON CITY — The Mason City School Board Monday night without discussion unanimously approved leaving the Central Iowa Metropolitan League at the end of the 2021-22 school year and forming a new athletic conference that would include Mason City High School. Ten schools in the conference say that the CIML lacks parity among its current member schools and results in contests between teams that are competitively mismatched. They say that leads to an effect of discouraging participation of students from those schools including Mason City The resolution requests that the Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union form a new conference that would also include Marshalltown, Fort Dodge, Ames, Ottumwa, and the five Des Moines Independent School District high schools as soon as possible that takes into consideration those factors to ensure a competitive environment for all member schools and participants.

 

AMES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa State and men’s basketball coach Steve Prohm have agreed to part ways after one of the worst seasons in the history of the program, athletic director Jamie Pollard announced.

The school said in a statement that Pollard and Prohm met in person Monday night and that Pollard would have additional comment Tuesday.

The Cyclones were 2-22 overall, 0-18 in the Big 12. They lost their last 18 games.

Iowa State hadn’t won so few games since 1924-25 and hadn’t gone winless in conference play since 1936-37.

Iowa State hired Prohm away from Murray State after the popular Fred Hoiberg left to coach the Chicago Bulls. Prohm had a school-record .782 winning percentage in four years with the Racers and won two Ohio Valley Conference titles.

Prohm continued the momentum Hoiberg created, winning 23 games and reaching No. 4 in the AP poll in his first season. Players such as Georges Niang, Monte Morris and Tyrese Haliburton kept Hilton Coliseum rocking.

But after winning the 2019 Big 12 Tournament, the program’s fortunes turned. Iowa State went 12-20 last season, and the bottom fell out this season with a run of injuries.

Iowa State’s only wins were against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Jackson State. The Cyclones didn’t win a game after Dec. 20.

 

 

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa coach Fran McCaffery on Monday signed a four-year contract extension through 2027-28 after leading the eighth-ranked Hawkeyes to the Big Ten semifinals and their highest NCAA Tournament seeding since 1987. The team is a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will play Grand Canyon on Friday in Indianapolis. McCaffery’s annual base salary of $2.3 million for the next two seasons will remain unchanged. He is on track to receive longevity bonuses at the end of the next two seasons. His annual salary will increase each of the last five years.

 

 

IOWA CITY — The Iowa Hawkeye women are a five seed in the NCAA Tournament and open Sunday morning in San Antonio against Central Michigan. The Hawkeyes improved their seeding by making a run to the championship game at the Big Ten Tournament.

Hawkeye coach Lisa Bluder. Iowa made it to the Elite Eight in 2019 but last year’s tournament was cancelled.

If Iowa wins on Sunday, they’d face either 4th-seed Kentucky or 13th-seed Idaho State in the second round of the “River Walk” region that has UConn as the top seed.

 

 

AMES — The Iowa State women’s basketball team has earned a seventh seed in the NCAA Tournament and opens in San Antonio next Monday against 10th seeded Michigan State. It is Iowa State’s 12th trip to the tournament in 15 years.

Cyclone coach Bill Fennelly says it is a great accomplishment with such a young team that had to handle a pandemic.

If Iowa State would win their first game, they’d face either second-seed Texas A&M or 15th-seed Troy in the “Mercado” regional bracket.

 

 

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Ladell Betts will return to Iowa to coach running backs and George Barnett has been hired as the Hawkeyes’ offensive line coach. Betts starred for the Hawkeyes from 1998 to 2001 and is the only running back in program history to lead the team in rushing four straight years. Betts went on to play nine seasons in the NFL. The 41-year-old was head coach the last two years at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Barnett had been named offensive line coach at Tulane three months ago. He previously was on the staff at Miami (Ohio) for seven seasons.