UCLA is just weeks away from joining the Big Ten. After 96 years and 123 national championships in the Pac-12, the Bruins are at the forefront of the Big Ten’s West Coast expansion. Prior to UCLA’s official move, Daily Bruin Sports will preview the football, men’s basketball and other top programs of each school.

Football
2023 record: 10-4, 7-2 Big Ten
Coach: Kirk Ferentz

Kirk Ferentz – who is four years away from three decades as a Hawkeye – brought two new faces to the coaching staff.

Seth Wallace, who started his career with the Hawkeyes in 2016 as a linebacker coach and served as the assistant defensive coordinator for the past seven seasons, will be Ferentz’s first assistant coach at Iowa next season. Likewise, Tim Lester will join the Hawkeye coaching staff as offensive coordinator, after a year of serving as the NFL’s Green Bay Packers’ senior analyst.

Cade McNamara will utilize his final year of eligibility as quarterback for the Hawkeyes. The rising graduate student totaled 505 passing yards before tearing his ACL five games into the 2023 season. Deacon Hill later stepped in for McNamara, lighting up the field with 1,152 passing yards through the remainder of the season.

Iowa’s veteran duo will feature McNamara alongside linebacker Jay Higgins – who was recently named a 2024 Walter Camp Preseason First-Team All-American, a Preseason First-Team All-American and Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. His 171 tackles last season earned him First-Team All-American honors from FWAA, Phil Steele and Sports Illustrated.

The Hawkeyes will feature a freshly-minted coaching staff and recovered quarterback in their voyage to the Rose Bowl on Nov. 8.

Men’s basketball
2023-2024 record: 19-15, 10-10 Big Ten
Coach: Fran McCaffery

Fran McCaffery was inducted into the Siena Athletics Hall of Fame as one of five Division I coaches to lead their respective teams to conference tournament titles in four or more different leagues. In 2022, McCaffery led the Hawkeyes to a Big Ten tournament win, the first under his coaching.

With the dissolving of the Big Ten West and the entrance of previous Pac-12 teams such as UCLA and USC, McCaffery will have the chance to add another title to his collection.

56 days after declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft, Payton Sandfort withdrew his name to remain in Iowa City, Iowa, for his senior season as the program’s 6-foot-7 forward.

Sandfort posted the program’s first triple-double to make Iowa the only Division I team in 25 years with both a women’s basketball player, Caitlin Clark, and a men’s basketball player recording a 25-point triple-double. The rising senior forward will play alongside forward Owen Freeman – the second Hawkeye in program history to earn Freshman of the Year honors – in the team’s starting frontcourt.

While the Hawkeyes will lose forward Ben Krikke – who led the team in field goals made in the 2023-2024 season – and guard Tony Perkins, who played the most minutes of the team last year, they will welcome Drew Thelwell from Morehead State.

The guard will spend his final year of eligibility at Iowa after averaging 7.1 points and shooting 43% from the field throughout his career.

The upcoming season will be McCaffery’s 15th as a Hawkeye, but his 43rd as a collegiate coach and his 29th as a head coach. He has coached a total of six collegiate teams, becoming the youngest head coach in the US at age 26 when he led Lehigh University from 1985-88. With a 59.1% winning percentage, McCaffery will continue to lead the Hawkeyes as new teams enter Big Ten territory.

Now 65 years old, McCaffrey is nearing four decades in his role. The legacy – or lack thereof – of his enduring career will be written on the basketball court.

Women’s basketball
2023-2024 record: 34-5, 15-3 Big Ten, NCAA Tournament finals appearance
Coach: Lisa Bluder

The 2023-2024 NCAA women’s basketball season etched the once-dismissed sport into the hearts of sports fans worldwide.

The season’s pinnacle – the NCAA Tournament finals – drew 24 million fans at its peak viewing, becoming the most watched women’s basketball game of all time and the most watched collegiate or professional basketball game since 2019.

And at the center of the record-setting media frenzy was Iowa’s Caitlin Clark.

Earning more than 35 eminent awards and distinctions, Clark became the NCAA’s leading scorer and made the most three-pointers in a single season among both men and women.

With Clark having been selected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, the Hawkeyes will be devoid of a generational sensation and their 2023-2024 leading scorer – forcing an overhaul of a team that can no longer center around Clark.

Head coach Lisa Bluder, who coached at Iowa for 24 years, announced her retirement following the team’s loss in the national championship game. Jan Jensen, who has worked as an assistant coach under Bluder for the last 20 years, will step into head coaching duties.

In April, the Hawkeyes signed guard Lucy Olsen, the fifth-best player in the transfer portal according to ESPN. Olsen averaged 23.3 points per game at Villanova and achieved a career-high 40 points against Temple University in November 2023.

The championship contenders’ 2024-2025 roster will also include five signees, four of which rank in ESPN’s top 100 players. Looking forward, Iowa has also signed a pair of top-40 recruits in the class of 2025, including five-star guard Addie Deal.

Amid roster reconfigurations and coaching restructuring, Iowa will still return a key duo to its lineup – guard Sydney Affolter and forward Hannah Stuelke. Both players shot above a 50% field goal percentage last season, at 62.7% and 55.2% respectively. Stuelke also averaged 14 points per game, with a career-high 47 against Penn State.

As USC and UCLA – both of which boast promising women’s basketball programs – join Iowa in the Big Ten, the buzz around women’s basketball could reach another fever pitch.

Email Messiha at [email protected] or tweet @DBsabrinam.