Fan favorite Sydney Affolter joins staff as grad assistant for Iowa women’s basketball

• Former Iowa women’s basketball player Sydney Affolter has been hired as a graduate assistant for the Hawkeyes.
• The move gets Affolter a foot in the door for a potential coaching career.

Sydney Affolter’s college basketball playing days are done, but she’s not finished yet with the University of Iowa.

Affolter, a fan-favorite forward for the Hawkeyes, has accepted a position as a graduate student employee for the 2025-26 women’s basketball season. The news was announced May 19 by the university.

Affolter remaining a Hawkeye will be a popular choice, and it gets her a foot in the door for a potential coaching career. Affolter was invited to the “So You Want To Be a Coach” seminar at the 2025 Final Four in Tampa Bay.

“I’m beyond excited to remain with a program that has given me so much,” Affolter said in a news release. “It’s an honor to give back and support this team in a new role. I can’t wait to get started.”

A 5-foot-11 guard/forward from Chicago, Affolter’s tenacious performances became infectious for Iowa women’s basketball, especially during the 2024 postseason run to the NCAA championship game. Affolter’s driving, tiebreaking layup and three-point play in the final minutes helped Iowa survive West Virginia in the round of 32 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. She was also an all-tournament pick, along with Caitlin Clark, in the Big Ten Tournament and Sweet 16/Elite 8 Regional in 2024.

Affolter finished her Iowa career with 128 games (44 starts), 742 points, 641rebounds, 223 assists and 39.2% accuracy from 3-point range. She notched eight career double-doubles and scored a career-high 24 points in Iowa’s Feb. 25 win at Michigan that was crucial to the Hawkeyes’ late-season run that earned a No. 6 NCAA Tournament seed.

Affolter is a well-rounded addition to the staff. In the ninth annual Golden Herkys awards ceremony put on by the University of Iowa, she recently earned the top honor (“Hawkeye of the Year”) for all women’s athletes, which is given to the Hawkeye who embodies the athletics department mantra of “win, graduate, do it right.”

“We are thrilled to have Sydney join our staff in this capacity,” second-year Iowa coach Jan Jensen said in a release. “Sydney has been a tremendous leader for our program, and I am excited to continue to utilize her skillset as she begins her coaching career. I know our Hawkeye fans will also love continuing to see Syd involved with our program.”

Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 30 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.

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