Prep Basketball: Mount Pleasant Alum Magnani Set to Take Over at Van Buren:
For the first time in over 50 years, the Van Buren County boys’ basketball team will be coached by someone other than Fred Parsons.
Parsons, who has been the lead man in Keosauqua since the 1962-63 school year, officially announced his retirement before the Van Buren County School Board.
Taking over will be former Mount Pleasant student athlete Trey Magnani.
Magnani will look to fill the gaping shoes left by Parsons, who who is second in all-time wins with 742, trailing only Bob Hilmer of North Linn, who retired in May of 2020.
Magnani is currently a teacher in the Van Buren County School District and was the middle school basketball coach for the previous two seasons.
Trey’s father Alan was the long-time head coach of the Iowa Wesleyan men’s basketball team also serving as an assistant on Caleb Akey’s staff last year at Mount Pleasant High School.
Van Buren County finished last year winless, the first time in school history.
Women’s College Basketball: Mount Pleasant native Williamson Steps Down from William Penn:
Mount Pleasant native and former Iowa Wesleyan women’s basketball coach Steve Williamson has announced his resignation from the head coaching position at William Penn University, the school announced.
Williamson led the program for the past four years, accruing an 88-28 record.
He was 66-20 in conference play.
A two-time Heart of America Conference Coach of the Year, Williamson headed 13 all-Heart performers, one Heart Player of the Year, and three NAIA All-Americans.
Academically, he had seven Heart Scholar-Athletes and five NAIA Scholar-Athlete under his tutelage.
He also led the Statesmen to their first regular season title since 1988 and orchestrated their first Heart of America Conference Tournament title in program history.
William Penn finished 10-9 this year and 10-7 in conference play.
College Wrestling: Iowa Leads after Day One of NCAA’s:
The Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team is in first place in the team standings with 33.5 points after Day One of the NCAA Division I wrestling championships.
The Hawkeyes have eight quarterfinalists:
- Spencer Lee
- Austin DeSanto
- Jaydin Eierman
- Max Murin
- Alex Marinelli
- Michael Kemerer
- Jacob Warner
- Tony Cassioppi
Iowa State has two quarterfinalists in David Carr and Gannon Gremmel, while UNI is headlined by Brody Teske and Parker Keckeisen in the round of eight.
Penn State is in second in the team race, while Missouri is third.
Men’s College Basketball: T.J. Otzelberger Named Head Coach at Iowa State:
Iowa State Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard has officially announced that T.J. Otzelberger will be the next head coach of the Iowa State men’s basketball team.
This will be Otzelberger’s third stint in Ames, but his first as head coach. Previously, he was lead recruiter and bench coach for Greg McDermott, Fred Hoiberg and Steve Prohm.
The last three Cyclone teams Otzelberger worked with registered a 69-35 (.663) overall record with NCAA Tournament appearances every season.
Since his last stint at Iowa State, Otzelberger spent time leading South Dakota State to 70 wins over three years including three postseason appearances.
Most recently, Otzelberger was at UNLV where he helped re-energize a program that had not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2013.
The 43-year-old native of Milwaukee, Otzelberger was a two-year captain at UW-Whitewater.
The Cyclones finished this year 2-22.
Men’s College Basketball: Drake Escapes With Win:
The Drake Bulldog men’s basketball team escaped with a 53-52 win behind 21 points from Joseph Yesufu in their First Four matchup against Wichita State, last night.
The win advances them to Saturday’s First Round where they will meet up with sixth-seeded USC.
Tremell Murphy added 11 points and four boards in the win.
Morris Udeze had 22 points to lead Wichita State.
The win improved Drake to 26-4.
