Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg. Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Iowa formally apologizes to Nebraska HC Fred Hoiberg after incident

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Feb 19, 2026 8:01 AM ET

It's not often the Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers play nice with each other. They're huge rivals.

It's a rivalry perhaps not as big as the one between Iowa and the Iowa State Cyclones, but it's still up there in the pantheon of college sports rivalries.

That's why it's notable that the Hawkeyes have issued a formal apology to Nebraska head basketball coach Fred Hoiberg.

Following Tuesday's game, a 57-52 win for Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a fan got into Hoiberg's face while he was still in the handshake line. Iowa's fans were, of course, storming the court after the big win.

The fan came up to Hoiberg with his phone drawn, and the 53-year-old head coach swatted it away.

That moment made the rounds. Here's Jim Rome talking about it, for instance:

The phone swipe was bad. The kid bum-rushing Fred Hoiberg was worse. pic.twitter.com/OwIFQ4d59b
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) February 18, 2026

There were certainly critics coming after Hoiberg for "swatting" the phone away. Admittedly, it looked worse from the point of view of the student whose phone was swiped:

Wow! Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg Punches an Iowa Fan. pic.twitter.com/IiZwrxIkvc
— Vic Monte (@TheVicMonte) February 18, 2026

Iowa Hawkeyes apologize to Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg after court-storming incident

Perhaps surprisingly, Iowa decided not to fan the flames the next day.

In fact, the Hawkeyes came out and apologized to the rival head coach.

"The University of Iowa Athletics Department implemented its court‑intrusion guidelines following last evening’s Iowa vs. Nebraska men’s basketball game,” the statement read. “Unfortunately, an individual gained access to the court through a restricted area, directly confronting Coach Hoiberg and putting Nebraska players, coaches, and staff in a reactive situation. We apologize for this incident and will conduct a review of our procedures and security measures to determine what adjustments may be needed to further strengthen our protocols and help prevent similar incidents in the future.”

The Hawkeyes were all about showing the rest of the postgame brouhaha, though. It was all over their social media after the game.