Iowa Hawkeyes Fran McCaffery makes changes to coaching staff

The Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has made a change to his coaching staff. After losing one of his top assistant coaches, Billy Taylor, who left to become the head coach at Elon, McCaffery has promoted Courtney Eldridge from within the program. According to John Rothstein, the Hawkeyes’ head coach announced the move on Monday afternoon.

Eldridge was previously in an administrative role with the Iowa men’s basketball program. He has been a member of the Hawkeye staff for six seasons. His most recent title is director of recruiting and player development. Eldridge was appointed to that position in 2019 after working as the Hawkeyes’ video coordinator the two seasons prior.

Eldridge had a front-row seat to the program’s growth as of recent. Since 2019 Iowa has won 20 or more games in each season and appeared in the NCAA tournament. And before Iowa entered into the men’s NCAA tournament, the Hawkeyes captured their third Big Ten tournament championship in school history.

Iowa State transfer Tyrese Hunter names final schools

Iowa State transfer Tyrese Hunter tells On3 he’s down to six schools: Tennessee, Kansas, Louisville, Gonzaga, Texas, and Purdue.

The 6-foot point guard is currently one of the best available players in the portal. He averaged 11 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists as a freshman for the Cyclones this season.

Hunter, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, visited Purdue over the weekend. He tells On3 he plans to visit Tennessee this upcoming weekend, and Gonzaga the weekend after.

The Wisconsin native entered the transfer portal earlier this month.

“First of all, I’d like to thank the Good Lord for blessing me with the ability and talent to play this game that I love so much,” Hunter wrote on social media. “Secondly, to Cyclone Nation I wanna thank you all for the support and undying enthusiasm that you give Cyclone basketball every game at Hilton Coliseum or on the road. I’ll always appreciate it. Thanks to my coaches and staff as well as all the players for embracing me as I started my collegiate career here at Iowa State.

“After praying, speaking with my family, and giving myself time to carefully consider my next steps on this journey, I’ve decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal.”

Coming out of high school, Hunter was rated as a four-star prospect, ranking 39th nationally in the class of 2021. He chose the Iowa State Cyclones over scholarship offers from Marquette, Louisville, Minnesota, Miami, Texas A&M, Creighton, UConn, and others.