TAMPA — Over 1,800 Hawkeye fans flooded The Sail Plaza next to the Tampa Convention Center for the Hawkeye Huddle on Tuesday. The event included music, food trucks, and a performance by the Hawkeye Marching Band and Spirit Squads.
The Hawkeye Huddle typically takes place at select Iowa road game locations – including every bowl game – each year.
The Hawkeye Huddle is organized by employees of the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. Nici Bontrager, who works for the alumni engagement office, helps plan for each Hawkeye Huddle.
“We are here to welcome fans, friends, and family members of the players and band, and really just encourage people to engage with each other and meet other Hawkeyes from all over the country,” Bontrager said. “So we’re just here to be excited about the Hawks.”
Planning for the bowl game Hawkeye Huddles begins well in advance, where somebody from the alumni office travels to the host city to find a venue to hold the event.
After locating a venue, they organize food vendors, merchandise shops, a live DJ, and coordinate with Hawkeye Athletics to bring in radio broadcaster Gary Dolphin, athletics director Beth Goetz, and University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson.
The entire goal of the Hawkeye Huddle is simply to connect Iowa fans with each other. That goal was certainly met in Tampa.
“The energy is unmatched,” Bontrager said. “That’s my favorite part, to see it finally happen after we’ve been talking about it and driving in a van for 20 hours to get here and finally say, ‘yes, this is why we came.’”
Several family members of current Hawkeyes were introduced on stage during the event, including former Iowa defensive lineman Eppy Epenesa, who has built a legacy of Hawkeyes.
Eppy played for Iowa from 1996 to 1998, and has sent three sons through the Hawkeye football program — AJ from 2017 to 2019, Eric from 2021-2024, and most recently Iose, who is currently in his freshman season.
Epenesa enjoys the Hawkeye Huddle events because he gets to see the people who cared for him at Iowa after moving far from his home of American Samoa.
“Things like this means a lot to me because I get to see a lot of good people who took care of me when I was there back in the day,” Epenesa said.
Epenesa added that he was happy to be at the event and give back to the community that embraced him, and never turns down a request for an autograph or a picture.
“It’s because of who gave me the chance to be here and the chance to be on the big stages,” Epenesa said. “That’s why I’m here.”
Also in attendance was the family of Iowa receiver Kaden Wetjen, including his girlfriend Rachel Bierman, who said the atmosphere of die hard Hawkeye fans makes for a supportive and fun environment.
“Everyone is just here for a good time,” Bierman said. “And it’s really cool that everyone travels so far.”
Chance Wetjen, a cousin of Kaden, also said the Hawkeye Huddle creates an opportunity to connect with old and new friends.
“You can always find someone you know,” Chance said. “They all travel from eastern Iowa, western Iowa, wherever. It’s fun to see people and make connections.”