I sort of like the term ‘Hawkapalooza’ better than ‘Hawkeye Potpurri’…feels less 1970′s…less Alec Trebec…more 1990′s grunge concert style…we’ll stick with that until we have a better idea for these ‘grab bag’ style offerings that are more prevalent in the spring and summer than they are in the winter.  If you have any other suggestions, post them below and we’ll give them some thought.

Todd Brommelkamp of Voice of the Hawkeyes tweeted that Jeff Horner has been added to the Iowa coaching staff as a graduate assistant.  (UPDATE: Horner has denied this, CLICK HERE)

Having spoken with Jeff a couple times since Fran McCaffery was hired, I know this is something he was extremely interested in.  I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but he was certainly aware of the interest in a coaching staff position by several former Hawkeyes and realized he was the youngest and possibly one of the least experienced.  That being said, he also felt that his age and inexperience should not be held against him, because he didn’t feel anyone would bring any more passion to the job than he could…

And I agree with him.

That’s not to say that Ryan Bowen, Andre Woolridge, Jess Settles or any of the former Hawkeyes that expressed interest in the job wouldn’t bring passion to it.  Bowen and Settles displayed as much passsion on the court in their Hawkeye playing days as any Iowa players I can ever recall.  But so did Horner, and he wants to make coaching his career.  He has been doing some coaching at Valley High School and Grandview College, both in the Des Moines Metro area.  This, after playing a bit overseas as well as with the Iowa Energy of the NBADL.

I also believe that Horner’s name will resonate more with today’s high school basketball players in the state of Iowa as well as in the Big Ten footprint than former Hawkeyes from decades gone by.  If you are a teenager in the Big Ten footprint and you are a hoops junkie, chances are you will have seen Horner play on television and/or in person.  He played a ton of minutes for four years at Iowa.  It goes without saying that if you are a teenager in the state of Iowa, you remember Horner.

Now, that window will only last another four or five years, but these are very important years for the Iowa basketball program as they try to rebuild.  Keeping the best players in the state has to be priority one for McCaffery, and I think Horner can lend a hand in that area.  He also a gym rat and the son of an Iowa High School Hall of Fame coach.

Put all of those things together, and I think Horner would be an excellent addition, and having him as a graduate assistant would be a steal for Iowa…and I know he doesn’t mind that either.  The kid will work his tail off for the Hawkeyes, just like he did during the four years he was playing for them…I hope this turns out to be something that happens.

More on the hoops front, where Rivals is reporting that Melsahn Basabe, a 6-7 wing player and former commit to Siena has been granted his release from his scholarship.  Iowa is going to be a strong player for his services, as he formed a solid relationship with McCaffery and recently announced Iowa assistant coach Andrew Francis, who followed McCaffery from Siena.  If Iowa can get his commitment it would help to stem the tide of bad news the program has been dealt in recent weeks…and while I think Cody Larson will not wind up at Iowa, I am still hopeful that Ben Brust might…even though he has received a barrel full of scholarship offers from schools in every major conference in the nation…

On to football, where an email was sent out to I-Club members on Wednesday and was reported by Marc Morehouse of The Gazette that Iowa and Penn State’s football game this fall will be a night contest televised on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.  Morehouse also said that this would be the only conference night game for Iowa, but that their road game at Arizona was likely to be a 9pm or 9:30pm kick, Iowa time, which is 7:00 or 7:30 Pacific.

The last time Iowa played a game like this was in 2004, when they played at Arizona State.   Iowa won the Big Ten that year, but they left Sun Devil Stadium blistered after a 44-7 loss.  They scored their only points on a Walner Belleus punt return in the game’s final seconds…they had just six first downs and were held to under 100 total yards after sack yardage was taken away.  Iowa came into the game ranked 12th, it was their first loss of the year and they would lose the next week at Michigan to even their record at 2-2, but they would not lose again.

That game started late, too…and was delayed a bit by a rain storm if my memory serves me correctly…I recall Kirk Ferentz saying some things after that game that led me to believe it would be a cold day in Pheonix before Iowa would play a Pacific time zone night game again…well, here we are, six years later.  Iowa should go into this game 2-0 and ranked inside the Top Ten…but they will have a senior starting quarterback as opposed to a player making just his third career start.  Their defense will be one of the best in the nation, but it was back in 2004 as well…hopefully they don’t have a receiver like Derek Hagen that will be covered by a linebacker, even if that was the great Chad Greenway; Hagen had 8 catches for 112 yards and two scores.

Back to the Penn State night game; it’s October 2nd and Iowa hosts Ball State the week before and has a bye the week after.  The Nits should be 3-1 going into that game, ranked in the Top 25…they will have likely lost to Alabama in week two.  Iowa has a decent chance to be 4-0 for that game, and possibly ranked inside the Top Five…so a game under the lights at Kinnick is just what the doctor ordered…

Tags: Hawkeye Basketball, hawkeye football, Hawkeye Nation, hawkeyenation.com, Iowa football