By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
Iowa’s Doyle Named WBCA All-American:
Iowa’s Kathleen Doyle has been named a Women’s Basketball Coaches Association All-American.
Doyle, a senior this past season, averaged 18.1 points, 6.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game — all career-highs.
Drake’s Becca Hittner and Ashley Joens of Iowa State were also named honorable mentions All-Americans by the WBCA.
Hittner averaged 18.9 points and 6.4 rebounds in her senior season for the Bulldogs while Joens put in 20.5 points and grabbed 10.9 rebounds per contest.
Sabrina Ionescu, of The University of Oregon, was awarded the 2020 Wade Trophy and headlines the 2020 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America team, announced yesterday by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
The prestigious Wade Trophy, regarded as “The Heisman of Women’s Basketball,” is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Player of the Year by the WBCA.
Ionescu, the 2019 Wade Trophy recipient, became the first player in men’s or women’s college basketball history to record 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in her career.
Eligibility Relief for Division III Athletes:
Spring athletes at all levels of college athletics are getting eligibility relief following action by an NCAA Division I council this week.
The move comes after spring seasons were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chuck Yrigoyen is commissioner of the Division III American Rivers Conference and says with no athletic scholarships budgetary considerations are not as much of a factor.
“There’s also a last semester exception where if the only class work that you have to be completed is towards your degree, Division III lets you be a less than full time enrolled student” Yrigoyen explained.
Yrigoyen also says while outdoor track and field is considered a spring sport indoor track and field is not.
“There could be an individual that had exhausted his or her eligibility in the indoor season and could not compete in the indoor season, but the outdoor portion since that’s considered a spring sport that could be lumped in to things going on right now.”
Yrigoyen’s current national service work includes being the President of the Division III Commissioners Association.
Iowa State Announces Cuts in Coaches’ Salaries:
Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard says the loss of the Big 12 basketball tournament and the NCAA Tournament is just the first part of the financial challenges the athletic department faces in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pollard announced a pay cut and the elimination of performance bonuses for coaches and some staff for the next year.
“The Big 12 Basketball Tournament and the NCAA Tournament were cancelled, and those things aren’t coming back. That’s nearly a five million dollar hit to our Athletics Department. That’s money that’s gone.”
Pollard says the financial challenges will continue even when the coronavirus scare is over.
“We are naïve if we don’t think that it’s going to be hard to sell tickets, it’s going to be hard for people to donate, it’s going to be hard for students to come back to school, there’s going to be future financial things we all have to deal with.”
Pollard did explain that cutting coaches’ salaries was clearly a better option — rather than dropping sports in their entirety.