Rick Heller, once the coach at Northern Iowa, was named the 20th Iowa head baseball coach by Hawkeye Athletics Director Gary Barta on July 12.

“I am extremely excited to have Rick Heller as part of the Hawkeye family,” Barta said in a release. “Rick has built three programs as a head coach and has led each one to a championship. He has a plan that transfers well to Iowa. Rick knows the state of Iowa, and Iowa knows Rick.

“His roots run deep, and he has earned the trust and respect of the baseball community in the state, as well as across the country.”

Heller comes to Iowa after serving as the head coach at Indiana State for the last four seasons.

The Eldon, Iowa, native first became a head coach at Upper Iowa in 1987. He then became the headman at Northern Iowa in 1999 and stayed through the 2009 season, after which the Panthers dropped the baseball program. Heller then was named the head coach at Indiana State.

Heller led each previous school to NCAA postseason competition. Indiana State won its first outright Missouri Valley championship in 2012 under Heller’s guidance.

Northern Iowa won the 2001 Mississippi Valley title under Heller, who also took the Panthers to their first NCAA Tournament since they became a Division I program in 1981.

Heller’s career record stands at 692-563-4.

“I am extremely proud and honored to be named the head baseball coach at the University of Iowa,” Heller said in the same release. “This is a great day for me and my family. The opportunity to come back to the state and the challenge of turning the Iowa baseball program into a championship-caliber team is something I’ve dreamed about.”

Andrew Carter named Iowa’s rowing coach

Barta also named a new rowing coach just a day after ending the search for Iowa’s baseball team.

Barta named Andrew Carter as the new head coach of the Hawkeye rowing program on July 13. Carter is now the program’s third head coach; he brings 24 years of coaching experience with him.

Carter has spent the last four years as the head women’s rowing coach at the University of Miami. There, Carter helped the Hurricanes rise from the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference into the national polls.

Before his stint with Miami, Carter spent the 2008-09 season at Clemson University as an assistant. Carter coached the Varsity 4+ group there that claimed the 2009 ACC and NCAA titles.

From 2000-08, Carter was the head coach of both the men’s and women’s rowing programs at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Carter led the Bobcats women’s team to back-to-back NCAA Division III Women’s Rowing Championships appearances.

“I’m very excited to be joining the University of Iowa community and am looking forward to becoming a member of a terrific team,” Carter said in a separate release. “I’d like to thank Gary Barta and Paula Jantz for not only their confidence in me but for the work they’ve done to establish such a solid foundation from which to work.”