IT'S NOT PLAGIARISM IF YOU LINK TO IT ISN'T HOLDING ITS BREATH FOR BETTER WI-FI

Wi-fi blues. Bad wi-fi access is right up there with long lines at the restrooms and lousy concession fare among cherished traditions at Kinnick Stadium and Carver-Hawkeye Arena -- and that probably won't be changing anytime soon, per an article by the AP's Ryan J. Foley:

A subsidiary of the American Tower Corp., or ATC, filed a lawsuit against the school earlier this month that jeopardizes a goal of improving fans' mobile experience at Kinnick Stadium before the football season begins this fall.

Facing longstanding complaints about a lack of reliable cell service from Hawkeyes fans, Iowa signed two contracts with ATC in December 2013 to build wireless networks at Kinnick Stadium and Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Once constructed, the company would obtain the exclusive rights to operate those networks and market their use to wireless services providers through 2025. The Boston-based company would pay the university a portion of the pass-through and other usage fees it would collect from carriers.

But newly released records show the university terminated its contracts with ATC in August, saying the company hadn't started construction, completed agreements with carriers or finished designing the networks after 19 months. The contract envisioned that the system would be in place before the 2014 season at Kinnick, which seats 70,000 fans.

As you might have noticed, the 2014 season came and went -- and the wi-fi still sucked.  It also still sucked during the 2015 season.  And it looks like it's going to suck for the 2016 season and for the forseeable future while this lawsuit get sorted out and Iowa tries to find someone -- either ATC or another company -- who can actually build and operate the necessary networks and obtain agreements with carriers.  In the meantime, you might have to take extreme measures -- like talking to the person sitting beside you at the game.  I know, I know -- scary stuff.  But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Direction needed. Iowa's still working on filling out their football staff for 2016, particularly when it comes to recruiting. They announced a new position, Director of Recruiting, in a listing posted a few weeks ago, per The Gazette's Marc Morehouse:

The school posted the full-time job late last week. The job description reads: "Perform duties as Director of Recruiting supporting the Head Football Coach, Recruiting Coordinator, and Director of Player Personnel in all aspects of the recruiting process. Individual will be responsible for preparing and contributing to all on-campus recruiting functions and events."

The job sounds like a beefed-up version of the job that Kelvin Bell had as "director of on-campus recruiting" before he was promoted to Recruiting Coordinator when Seth Wallace moved from that role to Linebackers Coach earlier this offseason. The new role would encompass Bell's previous duties regarding on-campus recruiting efforts (i.e., when recruits make visits to Iowa City) as well as various other random recruiting activities.

Roxy Music. Speaking of recruiting tidbits, Eno Benjamin, a 4* RB in the Class of 2017 and one of Iowa's top targets plans to make a decision soon:

I will officially be committing on April 18th!

— April 13ths Very Own (@eno_benjamin5) April 4, 2016

Benjamin has offers from a bevy of Power 5 programs across the country (Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Utah, West Virginia, Cal, and Miami to name some) but has consistently listed Iowa at or near the top of his list.  Hopefully that stays true for the next few weeks (and beyond that, since Benjamin can't sign a binding Letter of Intent until February 2017).

In sadder recruiting news, West Des Moines Valley QB Rocky Lombardi verbally committed to Michigan State over the weekend. It always hurts to lose a talented in-state prospect; it hurts even more to lose a prospect with an incredible name like that. (And of course it also stings to lose an in-state guy to the Fightin' Dantonios.)

Swishin' 'N Dishin' Meanwhile, in hoops 'crooting news, future Iowa commits Patrick McCaffery (Class of 2017) and Joe Wieskamp (Class of 2018) impressed at the NY2LA Sports Swish 'N Dish event:

There's the coach's son, Patrick McCaffery. A 6-foot-5 freshman small forward at Iowa City (Iowa) West 2019, McCaffery is one that will definitely be on the radar. He didn't score a ton of points but is a smooth athlete with ball skills and terrific size for a young prospect. The son of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery, hoops runs in the family for Patrick. His older brother, Connor McCaffery, is a class of 2017 four-star prospect and already committed to play for dad at Iowa.

Don't make the mistake of labeling Iowa commit Joe Wieskamp from Muscatine (Iowa) High as a jump shooter. The No. 43 ranked player in the class of 2018, Wieskamp can certainly knock down some shots but he's more scorer than pure shooter. The rare prospect who actually looks bigger than the 6-foot-3 that the Iowa Barnstormers list him at, Wieskamp is a fine athlete who plays with some edge and is dangerous driving to the cup.

Shouldering the load. One of the things that softened the blow of the departure of point guard Whitney Jennings was that Iowa was returning Tania Davis in 2016. Davis, a 4* recruit and the crown jewel in Iowa's 2015 recruiting class, gradually carved out a bigger role on last year's Hawkeye team and was the team's starting point guard by year's end. But her development in 2016-17 is going to be delayed by an injury:

IOWA CITY -- University of Iowa freshman point guard Tania Davis underwent surgery on her left (non-shooting) shoulder this morning, the university said in a release Monday.

Davis is expected to miss 5-6 months.

A 5-6 month absence would put her back in September or October.  That's before the 2016-17 season gets underway, but it may still take her a bit to get back into the groove.  Shoulder injuries can linger and cause problems as well, although at least this one is in her non-shooting shoulder.

Hawkeyes on parade. Iowa is phasing out the I-Club circuit with the Hawkeye State Tour, starting next week in Des Moines and then hitting 11 other cities in Iowa over the next few months:

1) Here are dates for the 2016 Hawkeye State Tour: pic.twitter.com/QekPyL2iUa

— marcmorehouse (@marcmorehouse) March 28, 2016

More info here (courtesy @marcmorehouse):

POP FLYZ

* BT Powerhouse wrote a nice farewell to Iowa's decorated (and very successful) senior class.

* Iowa gymnastics hosted an NCAA Regional this past weekend, but home mat advantage wasn't enough to get them the top-two finish they needed to advance in the NCAA Tournament; they finished fourth. Iowa's Mollie Drenth qualified for the next round of the NCAA Tournament by finishing with the third-best all-around score in the event.

* Iowa softball hit three home runs and beat Purdue 10-3 to win their first Big Ten game of the season on Sunday.