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Iowa

Hawkeye Report Podcast

On3 imageby: Tom Kakert05/13/25HawkeyeReport
Luke Barnwell(1)
We visit with Iowa basketball assistant coach Luke Barnwell.

We continue our series of interviews with the new Iowa men’s basketball assistant coaches by visiting with Luke Barnwell. He’s one of the assistant coaches that was not with Ben McCollum when was at Drake, but they have a long history together, going back to when Barnwell was coached by him when he was in college.

First we open by talking about how he came to Iowa from Texas Tech and the decision that Barnwell had to make to join McCollum’s staff after the Red Raiders had ended their season in the NCAA Tournament. Barnwell also had the scout for the second round game against Drake. What did he see from the Drake game and what stood out to him about their squad?

We talk about his journey had a coach, starting with coaching at Sunrise Christian and also coaching in the MoKan AAU program as well and what those experiences taught him. As the son of a pair of coaches, basketball was always going to be in his future, as was coaching. We discuss his coaching career as a whole and eventually moving to the college level at Texas Tech.

Then we look at how the AAU and prep school level has somewhat prepared him for recruiting in this environment in the college game where so much of it is transactional today due to the transfer portal. We also discuss what he looks for in a player when he goes out to an AAU event or camp to evaluate a prospect. What are characteristics that he thinks are important in a player that will work well in the Iowa program? 

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE!

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