Wednesday May 20th Local Sports

CLEAR LAKE — A couple of high school coaching changes to tell you about today. In Clear Lake, Evan Johnson has been hired to be the new head wrestling coach. He was an assistant for the Lions this past season. Johnson takes over for Doug Munn, who was a longtime assistant coach and was the Clear Lake head coach for the 2019-and-20 season. West Hancock has hired Jay Hiscocks to be the new head boys basketball coach. Hiscocks was an assistant coach for 11 years for the Eagles under Brian Peterson. In April, the West Hancock School Board unanimously approved reopening the head boys basketball position that Peterson had held since 2008, allowing him to reapply for the job, but the board recently approved the appointment of Hiscocks to the position.

IOWA CITY — Iowa baseball coach Rick Heller is concerned about the effects budgetary concerns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic are having on his sport. In the last few days Bowling Green and Furman have announced they are cutting their baseball programs.

The loss of the NCAA basketball tournament has affected all athletic departments but especially those outside of the power five conferences.

Heller says it is critical for all non-revenue sports that football is played this fall.

Heller’s team this spring was 10-5 and was two weeks away from starting Big Ten Conference play before all spring sports were shut down by the NCAA

UNDATED (AP) — The Power Five conferences spent $350,000 lobbying Congress in the first three months of 2020. That’s more than they had previously spent in any full year, according to lobbying disclosure forms reviewed by The Associated Press. The spending is part of a coordinated effort by the conferences to influence Congress on legislation affecting the ability of college athletes to earn endorsement money. The Power Five have joined the NCAA in pushing for a federal law to avoid multiple state laws on the topic. Records show the Southeastern Conference was the biggest spender.

NEW YORK (AP) — WNBA teams including the Minnesota Lynx will have to get their rosters down to 12 by May 26 so that players can get paid starting June 1. That’s according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the roster deadline hadn’t been officially announced. The league and the players’ union are still working out details of how often players will get paid and how much. The person said players who are waived over the next week won’t get paid, but they will receive benefits through June 30. June 1 was the date players would have gotten paid had the season not been postponed by the coronavirus pandemic.