Blake Dowson
Sitting in the press box of TD Ameritrade Park in May, watching the Iowa baseball team make its way through the field during the Big Ten Tournament, I realized something: The Hawkeyes need to be taken seriously.
For a very long time, that just wasn’t true. Losing seasons piled on top of losing seasons, top recruits in the state left Iowa to head south to play, and the field the Hawkeyes played on continued to deteriorate.
Enter Rick Heller, the savior of the Iowa baseball program.
The program has received a face-lift in every way since Heller was hired before the 2014 season.
Beginning in 2014, Heller and the Hawkeyes have won 101 games and lost 67 for a .601 winning percentage. In the three seasons prior to Heller’s coming to campus, the Hawkeyes “sported” a record of 65-86 — a .430 winning percentage.
That’s an immediate turnaround just not seen at major programs.
In Heller’s second season at Iowa, the team finished 41-18. The Hawkeyes finished second in the Big Ten, 29th in RPI, qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1990, and ended the year with the second-most number of victories in program history.
This past season, the Hawkeyes qualified for the Big Ten Tournament during the last week of the regular season and wound up 1 run shy of winning the championship in Omaha and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for a second year in a row.
Iowa has qualified and won a game in the Big Ten Tournament in each of Heller’s seasons at the helm. The three years prior? No tournament appearances.
And it’s not just the product on the field that makes Heller the man who will lead Iowa to national prominence in the future, because I am not the only one who recognizes how special he can be for this university.
The Athletics Department is starting to put more and more money into the program, a huge step toward legitimacy on a national scale.
In 2014, the infield dirt was replaced with turf. In 2015, the outfield was replaced with the same. Doing so made it possible for the team to practice outside in the early spring and late fall — absolutely vital for college baseball teams.
2015 also saw a state-of-the-art video board placed beyond the left-field wall, enhancing the experience at Banks Field. The university’s plans include expanded seating and renovating the press box.
School officials also announced in October that Iowa would represent the United States at the World University Games in Taipei in August 2017. The Hawkeyes were chosen over other schools that had expressed interest.
But possibly the biggest acknowledgment that this program is being taken seriously is the trip to the Dominican Republic the team just returned from — a foray that Heller thought up during his first year at Iowa.
The financial commitment Gary Barta and the Athletics Department have shown for Heller’s program is proof they believe in what is happening in Hawkeye baseball.
As criticized as Barta would be for locking up another Iowa coach long-term, he would be wise to do the same with Heller.
The progress the program has made in these past three years is unlike anything previously, and it is directly correlated with the arrival of Heller on campus.