Hawkeye Report Podcast 791

It's a special edition of the Hawkeye Report Podcast! We are joined by newly retired Big Ten official and Iowa City native, DJ Carstensen. We have a lot to discuss, beginning with how the former hoops standout and college player ended up being a high level basketball official. 

We talk about his time in Iowa City growing up during the 70's and early 80's when the Hawkeyes were flying high and attending basketball games in The Fieldhouse. How he worked camps at Iowa when the Hawkeyes were coached by greats like Lute Olsen, George Raveling, and Tom Davis. 

We look back at his time with officiating and how he rose up the ranks from working D2 and D3 games to calling high profile games in the Big Ten on a weekly basis before retiring at the end of this last season. We learn about his time calling games, how he was able work with coaches like Fran McCaffery, who could be colorful on the sidelines. We also discuss his work with Coaches vs. Cancer in upstate New York and how McCaffery and many other coahes he has met over the years have donated to the cause. 

We discuss the court decision today on allowing a player who bet on his own team to play college football and gambling in general on college sports and the feedback he got as a official. We talk about makeup calls and other falsehoods that fans might believe. Finally we discuss the shortage of officials and training the next group for the future of the games we love to see being played.