Say what you will, but the Big Ten is a volleyball conference. Thanks to last year’s realignment, this year’s 64-team field featured nine squads from the Midwest’s premier athletic conference, with multiple schools holding top seeds in several regions.

Because of this, many Big Ten volleyball supporters are heavily invested in this year’s postseason tournament, while some, like many Hawkeye enthusiasts, are again left quiet and discouraged after Iowa’s most recent volleyball campaign.

After the conclusion of this past season, Iowa volleyball sported an unimpressive 10-22 overall record with a 4-16 conference record, leaving many die-hard fans shaking their heads in disbelief and embarrassment.

Despite this being a very poor showing by the Hawkeye state’s very own, what makes this statistic even more concerning is that this hasn’t even been their worst season in the last four years. Since 2021, the Hawks have an overall record of 34-91 with a combined conference record of 12-80, coupled with a winless 2023 conference season.

At this point, three years into head coach Jim Barnes’ tenure at Iowa, there needs to be some major changes if the Hawks ever wish to compete with their regional neighbors at a high level.

In 2020, the Iowa women’s volleyball team moved from its home in Carver-Hawkeye arena to the newly built Xtream Arena in the Coralville River Landing.

The move was made to provide the team with its own independent space, where it didn’t have to fight for court time with other major sports like women’s basketball and men’s wrestling.

Although the initial decision was seen as a smart move, providing the team a state-of-the-art facility that didn’t feel empty when the volleyball team took the court, the choice to shift the team to Coralville has backfired. By further distancing the team from campus, the athletics department has made Iowa volleyball more irrelevant than ever.

The issue is that, from a student point of view, the arena is far from campus and was built for a minor league hockey team instead of a Division I volleyball program. Volleyball rarely draws a large contingent of students to games, and a large reason for this is that Xtream Arena sits over 3.5 miles away from the east side residence halls and downtown Iowa City, where many students live.

To help enact change and build a competent and exciting team, Iowa volleyball should cease playing at its current home in Coralville and move back to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Hosting games at their old stomping grounds would not only allow Iowa to attract more adept and impressive recruits but also create a culture of winning through a more active and passionate student and alumni fan base.

If the current athletic and university administration agreed to move the team back to Carver, a jump in attendance could be expected.

Universities like Penn State, Wisconsin, and Purdue all have on-campus facilities that accommodate smaller yet rowdy crowds, helping provide a much-needed edge in close matches. These schools also have dedicated student sections that add another element to a small and intimate setting.

Many athletes in the Big Ten have been outspoken about how their home arenas are a major factor in their team’s continued success.

According to Penn State graduate student Camryn Hannah, Rec Hall — home to the 2024 co-Big Ten champion Nittany Lion women’s volleyball team — is “always a special place,” and the team feeds off the crowd in Happy Valley thanks to its student section and dedicated fan base.

Similarly, Wisconsin’s 7,000-seat arena, simply named the Field House, is a campus staple that has helped secure multiple big wins in recent years for the Badgers.

As NBC Sports noted, “The Field House is home to all types of fans, all coming together to sit in on a great team playing in a historic arena, something that makes it a unique atmosphere … The Field House’s level of intimacy was consistently tossed around when describing its iconic atmosphere.”

Although some may argue that Xtream is a brand-new facility that provides a similar level of intimacy, something about the venue just feels off. Because of the distance and layout, it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s part of the campus culture or Hawkeye sporting community.

Additionally, some believe newer facilities are better at enticing major recruits to attend universities. However, in the diverse sphere of college volleyball, many of the nation’s best players are choosing to attend schools that feature older venues rather than newer facilities.

For instance, Minnesota’s Maturi Pavilion was built in 1993, Purdue’s Holloway Gym was erected in 1982, and Huff Hall, home to the Fighting Illini volleyball team, was constructed way back in 1925.

All three of these teams made the 2024 tournament, with both Minnesota and Purdue having participated in postseason play for the past three years, further illustrating that newer isn’t always what recruits want.

Putting a team that barely has a fan contingent in a 15,000-seat arena will be troublesome if the fans and students continue to fail to show up. However, by moving games back on campus, there would be a larger likelihood of more students and fans wanting to attend, especially since a majority of visiting teams would most likely come in ranked within the top 25.