Iowa Field Hockey Status as Top Program in Doubt

Just two short years ago, the Iowa Hawkeye field hockey team was playing their hearts out on way to a NCAA final four appearance. They were three-time Big Ten Tournament champions; they would end the season with a semi-final loss to eventual National Champion Maryland, in double overtime no less. The program was the glory of the Big Ten and a national anomaly: a damn good field hockey team from Middle America. At home, the team was second only to the championship Hawkeye wrestling squad.

Now, twelve games into the season, the team is 0-3 in the Big Ten, and has only three wins this year. The wins have come over Brown, Ball State, and Central Michigan; not exactly field hockey powerhouses. Out of seven Big Ten schools that play field hockey, the Hawkeyes rank last in scoring, goals allowed, and penalty corners.

They are in the middle of the pack at saves per game, but are second to last in save percentage. In other words, they are making a lot of saves because their opponents are constantly on the attack; the Hawkeyes are also last in shots per game.

Head coach Tracy Griesbaum is quick to shrug off any thoughts that the team is losing because of youth. But if not youth, then what else is the problem? The roster has a grand total of one junior and two seniors. Out of a listed roster of 17 players, seven are sophomores and seven are freshmen.

Griesbaum has swatted away the “youth = losses” argument, but she does talk about lack of competitive fire and lack of on-the-field leadership. To me, these seem like symptoms of youthful teams.

I am not going to claim that the curtain has fallen on the Hawkeye field hockey program, but it is certainly at a low. Even when the wrestling program was down, they were still frequently in the top 10 in the country. (I know, it is not fair to measure any team from any sport against the Iowa wrestling program…BUT, Hawkeye coaches often use the wrestling team as an example, so I will do the same.)

Griesbaum can coach, as her 2008 West Region coach of the year award will show, but I am always interested in seeing how a coach does when the team is down.

Griesbaum probably won’t be winning many coaching awards this year, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t done a good job with what she has to work with. In the end, these last four games of the regular season could be the toughest challenge of Griesbaum’s career.