On Iowa Daily Briefing 5.31.12 -- New captain to steer Hawkeyes' last-place ship

The Big Ten's seven women's rowing programs combined to spend more than $10.9 million during fiscal year 2011.

Those numbers were provided to The Gazette as part of state open-records laws, as were the combined revenues of those programs. The seven schools "generated" around $1.1 million, which you can imagine was totaled mostly from direct institutional support, student fees and other pocket-shuffling measures. Every coach but one (Indiana) earned at least $105,000 in salary, benefits and bonuses that year.

At Iowa, rowing generated $399,993 in revenue that year, with $376,144 coming from contributions. That money was directed to the $7.5 million Beckwith Boathouse located along the Iowa River.

As the saying goes, to much is given, much is expected. Iowa didn't plan on raising and spending that kind of money for a facility and not expecting results. After a last-place finish at the Big Ten rowing championships less than three weeks ago, when the Hawkeyes finished last in every race but one, it's hardly a surprise Coach Mandi Kowal resigned as coach on Wednesday.

Kowal was the only coach in the program's 18-year-old history. We at The Gazette rarely report on sports like rowing so we're certainly not going to advocate for contract extensions or program changes based on competitions like we might with other high-profile sports. But results are paramount in college athletics and this is a program that finished seventh (last) in each of the last two seasons and no higher than fifth in any of the last five years.

The rowing program had every reason to struggle before 2009 when its facility was located in a makeshift warehouse along the Iowa River without showers or lockers. But when the world-class boathouse opened in 2009, it was time to ramp up the results. Instead the program fizzled.

Along with top-notch training equipment and space, the boathouse features meeting rooms and coaches offices, yet Kowal's primary office was kept at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That's anecdotal but head-scratching, nonetheless.

It's doubtful any change will boost anything more than casual interest in women's rowing, although the annual Head at the Iowa ranks among the most picturesque events in Eastern Iowa every fall. But with a program that offered 17.63 scholarships in fiscal year 2011 - third-most behind football and women's track - and a new facility, Iowa rowing requires a better performance than last place. It also needs a fresh start.

HLINKS

-- The second round of the NCAA Men's Golf Championship at Riviera Country Club in greater Los Angeles wasn't nearly as kind to Iowa as the first round.

The Hawkeyes went 15-over-par Wednesday for a two-round total of +21, dropping them to 18th in the team standings.

-- Hawkeye basketball player Matt Gatens and long-distance runner Betsy Flood were good sports.

Gatens, you surely know. Flood is deserving of acknowledgment. As the linked story tells us, she is a five-time Big Ten Championships runner-up (3k, 3x5k, 10k) and ranks among Iowa's track and field all-time top 10 performers in the 800 indoor, 1,500, mile, 3k indoor, 3k outdoor, 5k indoor, 5k outdoor and 10k outdoor.  She also ranks among Iowa's top 10 cross country performers in the 3k and 6k and is the school record-holder in the 6,400-meter relay.

-- Graham Couch of mlive.com suggests the SEC and Big Ten aren't as far apart in college football playoff scenarios as the media would have you believe.

As someone who enjoys the wealth of material provided by offseason controversies and surprises, I'm hoping Couch is wrong.

-- Jeff Goodman of CBSsports.com provided a mock first-round of the 2012 NBA draft after the NBA's draft lottery was established Wednesday night.

Nine of the 30 players are from the SEC. Five are from Kentucky. Four others are from North Carolina.

Two, Jared Sullinger of Ohio State and Meyers Leonard of Illinois, are from the Big Ten.

I'd say that will change significantly next year, especially since the league is expected to have three of the nation's best teams in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio State. But NBADraft.net projects just two first-rounders from the Big Ten next season in Cody Zeller of Indiana and Trevor Mbakwe of Minnesota.

I'll predict right now there will be at least three. But not nine.

-- New York City plans to place a ban on sales of large-size sugary drinks.

To which Roger Simon of Politico.com tweeted: ?New York to ban all sodas taller than Mayor Bloomberg.

Compiled by Mike Hlas