Hawkeye gear hits the road for Pasadena

IOWA CITY — If 27 years with the University of Iowa have taught Greg Morris one thing, it's that sending an entire football team to an away game is a lot like taking the family on vacation.

A massive family that packs shoulder pads and helmets rather than sunscreen and toothbrushes.

'I always tell people, when you go on the road, think about getting your family ready for vacation and what it takes ... the difference is, normally I have 70 18- to 22-year-olds and then 30-plus staff members,' said Morris, Iowa's football equipment manager. 'At the end of the day, you can't forget a thing.'

With a bowl game, the entire entourage — the team plus 30 coaches, administrative staff members and strength and conditioning officials — travels, meaning Morris and has to coordinate for nearly 150 people.

So with the Hawkeyes on their way to take on Stanford in Iowa's first Rose Bowl appearance in 25 years, Morris has been checking lists and coordinating with staff to make sure every helmet, cleat and piece of office equipment was packed and ready to leave by 5 p.m. Friday for the 1,800-mile trip to Pasadena, Calif.

'We're moving an entire football office,' Morris said. 'By the time we're done, we're probably pretty close to 35,000 to 38,000 pounds of stuff.'

With that much to haul, Morris turns to Muscatine's TanTara Transportation, which has been the University of Iowa's go-to transporter for years for every away football game.

Morris said that with all the hectic planning that goes into preparing for a bowl game, he sleeps easy knowing that the friends he has made at TanTara are behind the wheel.

'At the end of the day, the way that I look at it is the consistency the continuity and obviously the friendships that we've built with those guys makes our job easier,' Morris said.

Jeff Riggan, TanTara operations manager, said the company's Hawk Truck — a black-and-gold eighteen-wheeler emblazoned with Herky, Tigerhawk logos and the words 'It's great to be a Hawkeye' — is used solely for football away games.

But what do you pack for a football game that's five states away?

'When you're watching a football game and you see the Iowa sidelines, everything everyone is wearing and everything out there on the sidelines gets there on the truck,' Riggan said.

Clothing for the coaches, medical equipment for doctors and trainers and the cameras and media equipment are shipped for every one of Iowa's away games.

But on a Jan. 1 Rose Bowl game, Riggan said he also has packed golf clubs for when players aren't at practice, baby strollers for coaches and staff with children and Christmas presents for those spending their holidays in a California hotel this year.

'There's a little bit of everything,' Riggan said.

Riggan said he plans on stopping Sunday in Barstow, Calif., to clean the truck and should reach Pasadena by late Monday morning.

Coaches, players and the rest of the sideline crew will take a flight to California soon after, Morris said.

And as with any family vacation, the anticipation is palpable.

'It's the Rose Bowl, we can't wait to get there,' he said.