It's Not Plagiarism If You Link to It Fights for Equality
by Patrick Vint on Mar 1, 2010 10:00 AM CST
in Iowa Hawkeyes News
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It Was the Best of Times... After starting the season by losing to every team with a pulse (including a 19-point loss to Iowa State) and dropping six of their first seven in Big Ten play, the Iowa women's basketball team (17-12; 10-8 BXI) won 9 of its last 11 games, including an overtime victory over the hated Wisconsin Badgers yesterday, to take third in Big Ten regular season play and earn a first-round bye in next week's conference tournament.
The Hawkeyes are led by guard Kachine Alexander, who is scoring 15.4 points per game, and leads the Big Ten in rebounding with 11.1 boards per game. This is even more impressive when you realize that she's 5'9". Earlier this season, she set a Big Ten record by making 17 free throws in a game, which is absurd. She is an honest-to-God All-American candidate for a team that looked dead and buried just one month ago. So we've got that going for us.
Photo courtesy of Brian Ray/The Gazette
It Was the Worst of Times... Gazette basketball reporter, and Friend of the Pants, Scott Dochterman is set to bring the lumber to Iowa hoops all week, with a five-part series on the decade-long decline of Hawkeye basketball. In yesterday's first installment, Doc takes in the view from 50,000 feet and gets Gary Barta to state the obvious:
Iowa fans may wonder how one of the nation’s best and most profitable basketball programs sunk from sellout games and annual postseason competitions to record-setting losses and drops in attendance and profit margin. Athletics Director Gary Barta ponders those questions daily.
"There’s several layers to it," Barta said, "but right at the top, obviously, I’m not at all happy with where we are right now competitively, not at all happy with where we are in attendance and just the feel of the all-around program....
"Patience is hard," Barta said. "I hate losing. Our coaches hate it, our fans hate it, our student-athletes hate it. I don’t have a switch somewhere in this office, nor does Todd, where we can just flip it and all of a sudden have it going the way we want it."
There have been no serious calls from anywhere of consequence for Lickliter's ouster ("My support of Todd hasn't waivered," Bowlsby says in the column), so I have a hard time swallowing the company line on patience; the fan base has been more than patient throughout, though they have decided to watch games at home more often than not. This isn't Notre Dame football or Kentucky basketball, where Lickliter would have been fired last month. In fact, the only time in recent history where the basketball program (and, indeed, the athletic department in general) lost patience is to be chronicled today, when one of the program's most successful coaches was cast aside for a guy who yells obscenities at opposing players in the handshake line. There was some frustration with Tom Davis at that time, to be sure, but few outside Bob Bowlsby were ready to burn the place down over it, and that frustration pales in comparison to what we've seen since.
Meet the New Stadium, Just Like the Old Stadium. Via Storminspank, Iowa fans own the series of tubes:
That's not all. The reviews section is starting to look like Three Wolf Moon:
With the move from Metrodome, Hawkeye football has new, outdoor digs. Though smaller than Metrodome, Kinnick North has ample seating for fans traveling from all over Iowa as well as Hawkeye followers living in the Twin Cities area. The stadium features a unique "open-ended" bowl shape. This cutting-edge design allows for quick exit by Gopher fans during embarrassing blowouts, and provides generous clearance for spontaneous goal post removal...an added courtesy for "visiting" fans. The prime location features a return to the college campus, as Minnesota strives to get closer to a Big Ten feel on Saturday afternoons. Iowa will share the facility with the Wisconsin Badgers on an alternating year schedule.
I would like to add that with the new stadium and outdoor design, the planners and architects thought everything out very well. They were considerate enough to add leather couches in the restrooms and had the foresight to install extra-wide entrances and gates, all the better for visiting Iowans to take home an occasional souvenir such as a set of goalposts. Overall, a great new addition to the Big Ten.
We know that some of you are behind this, and your efforts do not go without notice. Well played, people. Well played.
We're rich! The Big Ten Network made $66M more last year than it did in 2008, upping the Big Ten's per-school share of television to a staggering $22M. (T/F/J on the column to mGoBlog.) Oddly enough, the insane Barbasol and Rotel ad money-making machine might make expansion more difficult. As has been discussed pretty much everywhere, any potential expansion candidate has to bring in enough to offset the increased dilution of the pot of gold. Finding a school that can contribute $24-26M in revenue necessary to offset a twelfth share is borderline impossible. With that kind of money at issue, the list of potential candidates narrows to two.
The other possibility is one explored by Barry Alvarez in the above-linked post: That a newly-minted Big Ten institution would have to take a less-than-equal share in its first few years. Telling a potential Big East candidate that they would be a second-tier institution to start might not be a deal-breaker, but the non-Texas Big 12 candidates could very well decide it's just another example of the tyranny of Texas that they are attempting to escape and pass. Then again, even a reduced share would be a huge jump in revenue for any of the Big 12 North candidates, so Missouri might well hold its nose and take the deal regardless.
Or this could all be a clever ruse by Jim Delaney and Barry Alvarez to give us poor bloggers something to yodel about during the offseason. Don't discount that possibility.
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A Minor Disagreement
As someone who was a season ticket holder every year of the Dr. Tom years and into the first couple of Alford years, I think you’re understating the extent of fan/media dissatisfaction with Davis. Getting rid of him was an idiotic move, but it was an incredibly popular move at the time. The feeling among fans was that he would never get us to the next level, and that being competitive and never losing a first-round tournament game were not enough. There were also fans – more than few – who disparaged the uptempo play. Again, it was an idiotic move – the man more than earned the right to retire on his own terms – but it wasn’t just some frustration on the part of fans.
You’re spot on in saying that it’s nothing compared to the frustration felt now. But it’s annoying to hear some of the voices calling for Lick to go and know that a: some of them are the same people who wanted Dr. Tom gone and b: they would adamantly deny they wanted Dr. Tom gone.
I remember it well...
…mostly because I spent the mid-90’s listening to my dad scream about the incessant pressing.
But the fact is that, even though there was grumbling about Davis’ inability to land big-name in-state recruits like LaFrentz and Collison and his increasing inability to make the Big Dance (Iowa only had 3 NCAA appearances in his final 6 seasons, which at the time felt like the apocalypse), the seats were still full and the team was — for the most part — still a top-half Big Ten program. And the grumbling was far surpassed by the “I told you so” folks when his final team made a run to the Sweet 16 and almost knocked off the nation’s #1 team there.
The talk of “taking Iowa to the next level” with the same small recruiting base and a coach who would clearly have one foot out the door from his first day on campus always struck me as absurd. The idea among Bowlsby’s minions that Alford could recruit Indiana based on name recognition (and that recruiting Indiana was the salve for all our problems) was even worse; I was a freshman at Iowa during Alford’s first year, and what little I remembered of him as a player wouldn’t change my perception of him as a coach.
The great irony of the entire Alford-Davis soap opera is the rumor that Bowlsby made the move in large part to save his own ass; campus was up in arms over Iowa’s love of bureaucracy forcing Stoops to Oklahoma and eventually leading to the hiring of an NFL offensive line coach who nobody had ever heard of. Bowlsby needed a name to feed the masses, and he didn’t wait for a committee to weigh in before naming Alford (who had just gone to the Sweet 16 himself with SMSU). In retrospect, it was idiotic, but that’s hindsight.
Before you respond, let me remind you: Brian Cook called me smug, which makes me the Obama of smugness. I'm basically Smugbama.
by Patrick Vint on Mar 1, 2010 10:55 AM CST up reply actions
I was a freshman
for Davis’ last season. After a really good Big Ten campaign, a (fickle) groundswell of support grew for Dr. Tom. After the Stoops/Ferentz debacle, the on-campus sentiment was that Bob Bowlsby was running Iowa athletics into the ground (we were still a year away from the decline of the wrestling program, though). At that final home game, the entire student body began the chant of “Fire Bowlsby, Fire Bowlsby.”
To this day, I remain a Dr. Tom loyalist, but I also remember the things that made him frustrating; inflexibility in style, inability to land “the big fish” (although I actually loved his personnel most years) and failure to advance out of the second round of the NCAA’s. Much of the support that grew for Davis that season was based on a memorable win at Phog Allen (over what ended up being a mediocre KU team) and his first good tourney since ‘88. I’m not saying that not renewing Davis’ contract was right (I don’t think it was), but I think Bowlsby was justified in his thinking, even if I disagreed.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 11:50 AM CST up reply actions
Agreed
Dr. Tom had shown us what he could do. Good teams, but never great. The mistake was in hiring Alford. The question as far as Bowlsby is concerned…… did he overlook or gloss over information that pointed at Alford being such a poor choice?
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
I think he chose
to go with limited information hoping that his hunch would prove correct. I also believe, and I can’t stress this enough, that there was a greatness by association quality to the Alford hire. Indiana high school basketball legend, Hoosier great, Bob Knight acolyte, etc. I sincerely think Bowlsby felt Alford was as close to a can’t-miss as it gets.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 12:09 PM CST up reply actions
He wasn't alone.
I remember flying out to Las Vega$ for March Madness in 2000, I was sitting next to some Badger fans who told me they were scared of what they thought [name redacted] could do at Iowa. In retrospect, it was was the long extension after 2001 that was the bigger mistake.
by telepathetic on Mar 1, 2010 12:17 PM CST up reply actions
Blaming the Stoops thing
as Bowlsby always struck me as stupid. Stoops knew what life as the head coach of Iowa would be like, he either wanted to come here or he didn’t. There was very, very little that Bowlsby could have done to persuade him.
Bowlsby handled the aftermath poorly. He should have just said “we contacted him, he was not interested”. It’s not like everybody in the fucking world didn’t know that Ferentz wasn’t the first choice.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
He was interested
The athletic department was committed to going through its search using its committee. Stoops had an offer on the table from Oklahoma, and came to Iowa to see if they would also make him an offer. Iowa said “we have to go through our process first, Bob.” So he called up the folks in Norman. Stoops very well might have been the coach that the selection committee decided on, but he wasn’t willing to wait around and pass up a great opportunity at Oklahoma to find out.
Anyway, I think both programs ended up with a good coach. In retrospect, I think Ferentz is as good a fit as any.
Brunettes not fighter jets
Stoops was never that interested
I had a friend who was working in Bowlsby’s office at the time (grad student getting a masters in sports marketing/management) who provided inside dirt to me on the whole Stoops saga. In, a nutshell Stoops would never publicly say he wasn’t interested in the job, and would (and did) say all the right things publicly, but behind the scenes he basically told Bowlsby not to offer him the job because he didn’t want to have to turn it down. The whole Stoops-to-Iowa meme got blown out of proportion by fans, especially in light of Stoops’ winning the national title in 2000, he was never going to come here.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
From the same time period ...
I heard a rumor that Terry Allen was Bowlsby’s first non-Stoops choice. Just a rumor.
Excuse me for my bellicosity. And spelling. Bellicosity and spelling.
by Blackheartnopants on Mar 1, 2010 12:37 PM CST up reply actions
Wasn't he
the UNI coach (too lazy to look it up). Cause I heard that there were several prominent boosters who threatened to cut off funds if he were hired.
I suspect the whole truth of that search would make an interesting read. I also suspect we will never, ever know even 10% of it.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
UNI coach he was...
The rumor I heard, again this only a rumor, is that Bowlsby was set to make it happen but was stopped by Pres. Coleman. Again, just a rumor.
I used to work with a guy whose dad knew folks in the admin offices. But then again, can’t every Iowan say that? This state is one big small town.
Excuse me for my bellicosity. And spelling. Bellicosity and spelling.
by Blackheartnopants on Mar 1, 2010 12:46 PM CST up reply actions
Did Allen
flame out at Kansas before or after he was the UNI coach?
BTW, what is it with UNI coaches being the dark-horse candidates for the Iowa job. Seem to recall reading a number of rumors in the past year or so indicating that, if Ferentz did leave for the NFL, whatshisname at UNI would be the favorite for the job. Think he pretty much ended that, however, with his less than amazing display of sportsmanship after the UNI-Iowa game last fall.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
After.
After Iowa hired Ferentz, KU hired Allen, and then the Fat Man Cameth.
Black and Gold Blood: Cubbie Blue Heart
Follow me on Twitter: @MattLaCasse
I thought Allen went to KSU, not KU.
If not, then I have over liquored my brains over the years.
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Mar 1, 2010 1:19 PM CST up reply actions
Wikipedia for the win.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Allen_(football_coach)
I WIN THE INTERNET!! HUZZAH!
No worries though, I mean, let’s be honest. If it ain’t KC Metro, who gives a shit about that state?
Black and Gold Blood: Cubbie Blue Heart
Follow me on Twitter: @MattLaCasse
I was too lazy to search the interwebs.
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Mar 1, 2010 2:02 PM CST up reply actions
I have no idea about that
Only that I asked my friend after the fact about why we didn’t get Stoops. I really had no idea, was living out in DC at the time and was kind of cut off from Iowa football, it being the pre-excussive coverage of every minutea on blogs days.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Not to be a jerk but,
prove it.
I’ve heard all kinds of rumors over the years. There is a poster on here who claims to have been working in the AD’s office at the time. They say Stoops was never interested. (at least that’s the way I read the post)
Unless Bowlsby or Stoops come out with the story someday, how do any of us know who to believe.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
looks like
hoyagoon beat me to it. And it was his friend.
Again, I’m not calling anybody a liar. Just saying I’ve been on the internet long enough to doubt.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
Straw-man arguments are for losers, you get steak knives for second place,
and coffee is for closers.
Look, I would like to know which human said to Gary Barta, “Where is the ‘switch’, to convert ineptitude and drudgery, to Tom Davis B+ basketball? Or even Steve Alford B- basketball?”
No, Barta trots out the straw man, in order to rhetorically diminish if not ridicule anyone who might ask WTF is going on with a major program that the rest of Iowa athletics depends upon for funding, that has collapsed into smoking rubble under his administration:
“I don’t have a switch somewhere in this office, nor does Todd, where we can just flip it and all of a sudden have it going the way we want it.”
Uh-huh. People are demanding that they flip the switch, having given TL three years to show that he can put dudes on the floor who want to play his “system.” I can’t imagine a more patient major D-I school than Iowa.
And by the way, Hayden walked into a truly destitute situation and scared the shit out of Nebraska year one. It wasn’t year three with Bump saying, “Hey, we’re all in the same boat here I don’t know what to do maybe your expectations are unreasonable there’s no magic switch for me to trip.”
I’m sure they’re all walking around their offices talking about how Ferentz had a tough time years one and two. Here’s the difference. Ferentz didn’t lose 30% of his roster to transfers after year one and two. And Ferentz beat some people up in year three.
Straw-man arguments are for losers.
This better not cause Iowa to drop baseball, simply because TL can’t recruit slow Catholic League guys who can shoot threes, so prized in his ‘system’.
Man, graduated bureaucrats get on my nerves. Have you noticed? No one is responsible or accountable for this program. No one says, “We are behind plan and I’m disappointed.” “I was hired to do something that I am not doing.” Grown men blaming the weather, I guess. This is pathetic. It sounds like a high school AD and his high school coach, yakking. Iowa is a great school at which to play basketball and to coach, and I fail to understand why no one wants to own his own record here — except that I do understand: they want credit for the upside, and no accountability for the downside.
But coffee is for closers. These two guys are closing exactly nothing.
Mr. Boh Knows ...
by Bellanca on Mar 1, 2010 10:38 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
That's unfair
That’s like saying that RichRod (I have a point, just sad that it includes an analogy to that jackass) doesn’t deserve a chance because he hasn’t turned things around, despite installing a completely new offense at Michigan.
Seriously, look at what RR did: came in, had a slew of people leave because they didn’t’ like his conditioning program and his style, and only now (after two HUGELY disappointing years) is he starting to get his guys on campus.
As for TL? Lo and behold, he’s had a slew of guys transfer because they don’t’ like how he runs things. Only this time, because there aren’t 30 other schollies to go around, he runs out of players. Fast forward through two offseasons, and suddenly, the entire team has been morphed into a squad that he wanted initially. Do we kick him out before he gets a chance to coach his own players into his own brand of basketball? Should Michigan kick RR out before giving him a chance to do the same?
If you think so, then we’ll have to agree to disagree because I think your proposition is a joke. Don’t pin the failings of a team, when the team is made up of guys you never wanted in the first place, entirely on the shoulders of one guy. Sometimes shit happens and it’s nobody’s fault. TL should be allowed to coach his guys, and we’re in year 1 of that.
by imadirtyoldman on Mar 1, 2010 2:21 PM CST up reply actions
Don’t presume to speak for Bellanca, but his take seems to be Barta and Lick are unwilling to accept responsibility for results through year 3. And, Tucker was a guy he recruited. Lickliter is allegedly the adult in the room. It’s on him to make this thing work, through 2 recruiting classes that could have brought in 8 players that were “his”. I simply don’t believe he earned $1.3 million per for the first 3 years of his contract only to be able to say he had nothing to do with any results of those years.
I'll give most coaches
a pass for the first year. Especially when they inherit a mess.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
I don't think you read my post, but let me try this out on you.
You’re interviewing for a job. It could be any job. But let’s call it a headcoaching basketball job at a premier school in the second-most prosperous D-I conference in the country.
You are asked to project your performance.
You say, “Yes, I believe that by year four I will have reduced revenue by 60% and lost 30% of the team to unexpected transfers, while playing my son and setting records for offensive ineptitude. But by year four we’ll have a fighting chance at winning half of our games, and we’ll probably only shoot 3/21 once in a while. I think we can stabilize attendance, after a few years, at one-third of capacity. I believe in managing expectations, so there you go. It’s not like you can just flip a switch and take an 19-win team back up to 18-20 wins in less than four or five years.”
Do you get the job?
Anyway, this isn’t about canning either of the guys, because neither event is going to happen. That’s just another flippant criticism that changes the subject. This is about Barta’s response to the program’s critics, which was to say that they were impatient know-nothings who don’t understand that you can’t just flip a switch and be a good team. Well, I haven’t heard anyone express anything but patience and tolerance for this downward spiral, and I sure haven’t heard anyone pound the table and tell TL to flip the switch and be a great program again, so I thought that was a punk response.
Being accountable for what you’re responsible for is rule one for anyone in any senior position anywhere. My two cents. These two guys need to man up and provide some indication that they have a plan.
Mr. Boh Knows ...
by Bellanca on Mar 1, 2010 4:08 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I misread the intent, not the message
I didn’t read it as “Barta’s response to the program’s critics,” I read it as “TL needs to go because he’s choking the life out of the program.” And, as my response to most of those beliefs has been, is “wait.”
I hear what you’re saying Bellanca, and you make valid points. But again, I think 95% of this problem is at the feet of Alford, not TL, and I see too many fans forgetting (not seeing?) how much damage Hair Gel Steve did to the program.
I’m not trying to argue with you, I’m just tired of the pitchforks being brought out on a guy who was given nothing and had to spend the first 2 years in Iowa City siphoning out the shit left behind. That’s all.
by imadirtyoldman on Mar 1, 2010 4:46 PM CST up reply actions
The same Steve Alford that went 23-13 his last two years?
Geez, I’m sure Jeff Peterson and Tony Freeman would appreciate you calling them shit.
USA #1
by Anonymous Hero on Mar 1, 2010 5:58 PM CST up reply actions
Le's be civil...but I have to say
I think we have taken the Alford story to the extreme. He left talent, but it turns out that for various reasons it left or didn’t mesh with Lickliter. That was to some extent Lickliter’s call. He maybe could not have done anything about some of those Alford guys, or perhaps he made it crystal clear that they were chopped liver. We will never know. But I would never hire a guy who would need five years to get a program back to square. That is like 15 in football years.
I think Lickliter made some calculated moves that backfired horribly. Now he is at the mercy of the court. And, there just isn’t much mercy out there. And the coaching ranks are filled with guys who suffered bad luck, guys who squandered good luck, and guys who just flat out hit the lottery (Steve Fisher). This is a bottom line business, and the pay reflects that.
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
You're SAD we lost Peterson and Freeman?!?
Wow. I have no defense to that. Zero. Miss them all you want as they (Freeman) struggle to do DICK at a lesser school.
SMA, you’re at least partially correct. 5 years is a long time. Part of that is TL making some choices that have indeed backfired. But to bring back my RR analogy, you think RR would actively choose to have his starting LT leave the program and go on to start for Ohio State? (see: Boren, Justin — and that’s just one example)
Likewise, I don’t think TL wanted those guys to leave. But he was left with guys who weren’t a part of the way he wanted to build the program, and while he left the door open for them, he made it pretty clear that things were going to change.
So take what you want from it, I suppose. As I’ve said again and again, I’m willing to be patient until he actually gets some of his players in. He has year 1 of that, next year will be year 2. If there isn’t marked improvement by next season (read: 8-10 wins), then I’ll be angry.
by imadirtyoldman on Mar 1, 2010 10:13 PM CST up reply actions
The more I think about it
I like the Lickliter/Rodriguez comparison more and more but for slightly different reasons. In both cases, it was more than introducing a completely different system (which was also true) but an entirely different culture. And perhaps “introducing” is too passive a word as “forcing” seems to be more accurate in both cases. Rather than adapting to what was in place or at least making it fit contextually into broader ideas they may have had, both men chose to believe what had worked for them before would work regardless of situation in their new locations. I actually believe that both men have what it takes to be successful (at a very high level, even) but only if put into a situation that immediately favors their basic strengths. In either case, I’m afraid, we will likely see an unwillingness to change or an inability to change in time undo at least one of them.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 2, 2010 1:50 AM CST up reply actions
TL's a coach, a manager,
and if you’re going to take over a program and discard your assets, you’d better be really, really good — and lucky.
Coaches and managers assemble their assets, figure out how to get value from them, and introduce their own elements over time.
Hayden had far less to work with TL, and was immediately competitive with Commings’ recruits.
I hope TL is a Rodriguez. It will be ugly if he’s Mangino. Comments like that snark about Cougill remind me overmuch of Mangino — a successful cog in a great system who has shown zero leadership since getting the keys to his own programs.
Mr. Boh Knows ...
Bellanca
Most of that shit would have happened if John Wooden was the coach. These guys simply aren’t a good team. What can Lick do with a good team? We’ve yet to see. If he can’t build one in 4-5 years, then we can start talking about his performance. He needs to clean up the mess that was left for him, he’s about done doing that.
Same thing happened to Ferentz when he came here. Remember all the defections? Remember the kid that stole the playbook? Difference is Ferentz had a buffer of a 85-scholarship team, and was able to build it back up in a couple years. Same thing happens to pretty much every coach that inherits a team in a rebuilding phase.
Brands and Ferentz and Barta all say Lick’s doing things the right way. I’m inclined to believe them.
Brunettes not fighter jets
Sounds like someone we know well
Can’t remember his name. Coach at some big time football program in a state shaped like a mitten.
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
BTW, implied in your first graf
is the straw man argument, perhaps, that I think he should or might be canned now.
He won’t be, and he shouldn’t be, and I never said anything about that.
It would be great to see some learning on the job, a little happiness on the faces of his players, and a plan.
Your argument is banking on an extraordinary reversal of fortune next year — which might get us back to where Alford had the program, in respect of w’s and l’s.
Just speaking as a professional manager, I am alarmed at the attrition/churn, lack of spirit, lack of flexibility and adaptability, and selfishness (Barta with WHO and his idiotic ‘flip the switch’ comment; TL with his colossal dark karma, record, failure to bond with athletes, snide remarks about a freshman who is supposed to function normally while an adolescent from Sioux City living in the public eye).
You’ll never get a D-I coach to do anything but defend his peers, so I discount all that.
I’ll drop it now and we’ll see what happens. However, one thing that I expect to happen, in the event Cougill and anyone else transfers, is crazy, crazy sturm und drang. It’s a business, Rockyh — that’s why the guy is knocking down $1mm/year. Businesses keep score.
Mr. Boh Knows ...
I think this is a case where
the guy may just not internalize that being a head coach is not ONLY coaching. Lickliter is running a major D-1 basketball program, of which there are about 40 like it—maybe fewer. We have a gym, built primarily because of and for his sport, that is one of the 15 largest university-owned facilities in the nation. So, yes, he is a manager, a CEO, head honcho, use whatever title you want as an analogy.
He accepted a job to run a complex business (and cultural) enterprise that impacts many corners of the University, which even impacts the state of Iowa. He doesn’t get to play around until everything is just perfect and to his liking. He took over a program. Iowa had a history before Todd Lickliter, and it was a well-established history. If he thought all of that history was not worth preserving, then he fucked up. He is not starting something from scratch here. It is not as if Iowa had never had a basketball program in its history and Barta got a wild idea to include basketball in the offerings. When TL came there were players, scholarships, even an established team logo, and a schedule, a whole athletic department…I mean come on.
He isn’t some high school coach making $15K while teaching Algebra during the weekday. This guy is sitting in control of probably one of the four or five greatest assets that The University of Iowa owns. Of course there is a high bar. No softies need fucking apply.
If ALL he can do is coach, he needs to be fired today. Immediately. Or, at the very least, if all he can do is coach, he needs to be paid no more than $100K a year and Barta needs to be fired today for hiring a bozo that cannot run a program.
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
"But coffee is for closers. "
If anyone needs a stern talking-to from Alec Baldwin, it’s Gary Barta.
Baldwin : Do you think I’m fucking with you? I am not fucking with you. I’m here from Des Moines. I’m here from the Board of Regents. And I’m here on a mission of mercy. Your name’s Barta?
Barta: Yeah.
Baldwin: You call yourself a athletic director, you son of a bitch?
Barta: I don’t have to listen to this shit.
Baldwin: You certainly don’t pal. ‘Cause the good news is — you’re fired. The bad news is you’ve got, all you got, just one week to regain your jobs, starting tonight. Starting with tonight’s game. Oh, have I got your attention now?
Sure, but that goes for so many schools.
We nearly fired Joe Paterno.
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 11:06 AM CST up reply actions
Exactly
Fans are fickle, overly demanding, and generally pants-on-head retarded, and know next to nothing about running a major college athletic department or coaching a major college sports team. Yet they keen and wail constantly if the program isn’t winning as often and in the manner they want it to.
Fans were dissatisfied with Tom Davis. Fans were dissatisfied with Steve Alford. Fans were dissatisfied with Kirk Ferentz. It wasn’t the wins and losses, it was a critical mass of bitching and moaning, where it explodes from a few whiny jerks who want to fire the bum after every loss. Those few whiny jerks now have the internets to broadcast their jerkness, and it starts to spread like a disease.
The reason fans don’t show up to games is in part the state of the team, but it’s also to be laid squarely at a gamble taken by Barta. When the team was winning, he started upping ticket prices, moving people around and pushing out longtime season ticket holders, and changing things to be most profitable given the maximum attendance. Many stopped buying season tickets because they’d been treated like commodities, not like the longtime supporters of the program they were.
Barta did this exact same thing with football! He upped ticket prices, moved people around, required larger donations for more of the “good” seats, changed parking (making fewer lots public, and more lots donation-required), etc. The place my friends and I had tailgated at since 1994 suddenly required a $1000 donation per vehicle to enter. The difference? Iowa kept winning at L-HKS, while they petered out a bit at CHA. Enough that people weren’t willing to take it up the ass from the AD.
Brunettes not fighter jets
Interestingly...
When the team was winning, he started upping ticket prices, moving people around and pushing out longtime season ticket holders, and changing things to be most profitable given the maximum attendance. Many stopped buying season tickets because they’d been treated like commodities, not like the longtime supporters of the program they were.
This is almost exactly what Penn State did in the transition from sweaty, filthy, but loud Rec Hall to the Bryce Jordan Center. Especially the part about season ticket holders.
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 11:26 AM CST up reply actions
Actually, Shonn Greene/Ricky Stanzi Adrian Clayborn/ saved Ferentz’s ass.
"You taught me a lesson, I was going to give someone the benefit of doubt, and I almost did, then something said, no don't, don't, its not for you, its not my thing" Larry David,
Boy, Ferentz is lucky somebody else offered those guys scholarships!
I got more rhymes than Wade Lookingbill's got dunks
by Adam Jacobi on Mar 2, 2010 12:57 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Rec'd
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 2, 2010 8:38 AM CST up reply actions
Good thing Ken O'Keefe was on the ball!
"I want to be a cowboy. I don't want to be a panda. Pandas are boring, stupid and boring. Bad panda!"
And Bulaga
and Spievy . We can go back to talk about Banks and Clark and Kaeding and Gallery.
Most really good college football teams are built on the backs of half a dozen great players at a time, so Iowa is no exception there. What has saved Ferentz’s ass is his ability to build and maintain staff that can find and develop all of the non-NFL material players. And he’s done it at a school where at most only 1/3rd of his players will ever come from in-state, In a midwestern college town.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
On the plus side...
Weber State will kick New Mexico’s ass in the first round.
When does Marchifornication start?
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
12 Noon CST, as always.
Before you respond, let me remind you: Brian Cook called me smug, which makes me the Obama of smugness. I'm basically Smugbama.
by Patrick Vint on Mar 1, 2010 11:13 AM CST up reply actions
Attendance, interest, and performance were all starting to dwindle in Dr. Tom's golden years.
If he had been allowed to retire on his own terms, things would have gotten ugly. Iowa should have set up a Heathcote/Keady situation, with Keno or another assistant (but Holy God, not Gary Close) named coach-in-waiting. The succession plan was the mistake, not the succession.
Interest? Eh, maybe.
But in Dr. Tom’s last year, Iowa averaged 15,150 in attendance at an arena that holds 15,500. It was the first non-sellout year since the place opened in the early 80’s. If you want to hold 350 seats per game against Davis, fine.
And performance wasn’t slipping markedly, though there was a slight decline. I think we’d all give useful body parts to return to that “slight decline” now, though.
Before you respond, let me remind you: Brian Cook called me smug, which makes me the Obama of smugness. I'm basically Smugbama.
by Patrick Vint on Mar 1, 2010 11:17 AM CST up reply actions
He had a program in tact
one or two decent players emerge and they are looking past Sweet 16. The place was not broken by ANY stretch of the imagination. Think his through…in his final year Iowa was a 5 seed. A fucking 5 seed. That is far from broken.
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
Not to mention, but
I don’t think Dr. Tom EVER lost a first round NCAA tourney game.
Okay, now I am getting pissed.
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
oh, and this...
"We aspire to play at the top of the college basketball world. What does that mean? It means Final Fours and Big Ten championships. Steve’s task is to take a good tradition and make it better. That’s a tall order."
—Former Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowslby, 1999
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
If the ‘96 Iowa squad (Woolridge, Settles, Kingsbury, Millard, some other guys) hadn’t been so inconsistent (just from looking at their schedule) and won the Big Ten, does Davis stay on? I notice he never won the conference.
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 11:34 AM CST up reply actions
The '95-'96 team
became the first in Big Ten history to win 20 games (21, in fact) and still not make the tournament. During the course of that season, the team lost 4 games by one point, including an absolutely demoralizing run of 3 consecutive one-point defeats. I distinctly remember not speaking to anyone for over a day in the aftermath of that last close loss.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 11:57 AM CST up reply actions
If Wikipedia is right
Iowa was a 6 seed that year and lost to Arizona in the first round.
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 12:00 PM CST up reply actions
Er, second round
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 12:02 PM CST up reply actions
Seriously,
Davis got a lot of mileage from his “never lost a first-round game” status. His most memorable tourney games were losses; a horribly officiated game against UNLV in ’87 (who would lose their next game by one [Syracuse, who in turn lost to IU by 1…5 points removed from greatness!]) and that final season melee against UConn where Jacob Jaacks got into a shoving match at halftime with Kalhid El-Amin & Jake Voskuhl. Good times.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 12:06 PM CST up reply actions
Did you ever see
their movie?
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 2:03 PM CST up reply actions
Sorry
it was the year before (18-11) and my “20 wins” figure stands out in my mind because by winning half of those nail-biters Iowa likely would have received an invite. My bad.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 12:34 PM CST up reply actions
Look at the conference records
He only seriously contended for a Big Ten crown once. One time, in his glorious first year, they finished a game back of Indiana. After that?
12-6 T3
10-8 4
4-14 T8
9-9 T5
10-8 5
11-7 T3
5-13 T9
9-9 T7
11-7 4
12-6 T2 (4 games behind the cheaters, but I’d maybe give you this one)
9-7 T5
9-7 T3
It got real old being out of the conference race every single time the calendar flipped to March. To have had Carver-Hawkeye rocking just once with a championship on the line would have been nice.
by Cattlefeeder on Mar 1, 2010 11:49 AM CST up reply actions
What coach at Iowa has EVER been a serious presence
in winning the Big Ten title?
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
You mean you didn't like
Steve Alford’s plan of underachieving all season only to turn it on at the Big Ten Tourney?
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 12:34 PM CST up reply actions
Aww...
Who didn’t love a patented Steve Alford “March situation”?
If nothing else, he almost always made the Big Ten Tourney must-see viewing for Iowa fans. I fondly remember being out in NYC for the ’00 BTT and watching all those games at various bars, going nuts when they won, and then heading out to Long Island to see them play their R1 game in the NCAA Tourney. In hindsight, that may have been the highpoint of the Alford Era.
"I want to be a cowboy. I don't want to be a panda. Pandas are boring, stupid and boring. Bad panda!"
That would be '01 BTT, I suppose.
"I want to be a cowboy. I don't want to be a panda. Pandas are boring, stupid and boring. Bad panda!"
Yeah, Booooyyyyd!
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 1:56 PM CST up reply actions
Which coaches had Iowa contending for Big Ten titles?
Pops Harrison (one 1st, two 2nds)
Bucky O’Connor (two 1sts, two 2nds)
Sharm Scheuerman (one 2nd)
Ralph Miller (two 1sts)
Lute Olson.(one 1st, three 2nds)
In other words, nearly every coach from the 40s through the 70s. Sure it’s ancient history now, but Tom Davis burned 13 of the 31 (and counting) years we’ve now gone without a title.
I’m attacking Dr. Tom, and I don’t really want to. He represented the program with grace and class, and he certainly produced a decent product. But the good ol’ days weren’t Davis’s years, they were the decades that preceded him.
So I went down memory lane to see the facts
I attended Iowa 1980-84 and was there when Lute was there. And in my memory, other than1981, I don’t recall feeling like we were in the Big Ten race late in the season. But, upon further review here is how Iowa did in Lute’s final five years, followed by the first place team’s record, and Iowa’s finish in NCAA:
1979 – (13-5) tied 1st place in Big Ten, lost in 1st round
1980 – (10-8) 4th place. IU (13-5), lost in Final Four
1981 – (13-5) 2nd place. IU (14-4), lost in 2nd round after a bye
1982 – (12-6) tied 2nd. UMinn (14-4) lost in 2nd round after 1st round win.
1983 – (11-7) tied 2nd. IU (13-5), Lost in Sweet 16 after winning in 1st & 2nd Rd.
In 1981 they swept Indiana and were the last team to beat Indiana as the Hoosiers won the NC that year. I of course recall losing to Purdue in the famous Jim Bain game in 1982 and then later losing in triple overtime at home to UMinn and Trent Tucker which cost us any chance at the title. So, yes, Lute was a greater presence in the title chase than I recalled. I knew we were good, damn good, but I remember feeling it always slipped away at the end and there were several teams right there.
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
My God,
you’re older than Paul Kujawa!
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 1:59 PM CST up reply actions
Not a big deal forgetting that long ago.
You could possibly blame it on not fully being recovered from the football season?
Who's leg do I have to hump to get a drink around here?-Brian
Stoops!
You’re older than I am! Did you ride dinosaurs to school?
Excuse me for my bellicosity. And spelling. Bellicosity and spelling.
by Blackheartnopants on Mar 1, 2010 5:52 PM CST up reply actions
Here's some for you....
the Rose Bud (loved it, saw Muddy Waters there), Phil Suess & Pete Gales, Kevin Boyle and of course the Stoops Bros. (saw them play and got drunk with most), took Intro to Astronomy with James Van Allen (awesome, he passed around buckets of sand first day of a class of 300 or more for 1/2 an hour and told everyone to take a small amount and place it in their palm, then did a lecture on time and space relating the sand to your hand, the room, the campus, the state, and Earth to explain the size of the Universe, Milky Way, distance from Earth to Moon, etc. ) and took a Film Theory course with Dudley Andrew his first year at Iowa…oh, and I saw this guy wrestle Lou Banach and get beat (although he avenged that loss at the NCAAs)!
It was a great time to be at Iowa and while I might seem old, I’m not. I have a 2nd grader and still will occasionally wear a Hawkeye jersey around town. ;-)
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
I was introduced
to Dr. Van Allen once by another professor that I was picking up with the Bionic Bus. All I could think to do was shake his hand and say “You sir, are fucking awesome”. Figuring that would be embarrassing to the guy I was picking up. I opted to just nod and say “Hi”.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
Ahh... a fellow graduate (hopefully) of 1984
You know, maybe it was the aftermath of the final four hoopla, but I remember always thinking that we always just fell short under Lute in those years. I’m guessing we were considered contenders or possibly favorites during those years. Just imagine, young whippersnappers, having a seven footer AND a 6’10 guy (Stokes and Payne) on your starting roster, or your roster, period. Thinking back, and yes, its a long time, you jerks, I thought we started slow, won a lot in midseason, then had one or two killer losses at the end.
The other part of the Lute experience was who we lost to. Wichita bleeping State. Ida-bleeping-ho, if I remember correctly. We lost to Villanova in the sweet sixteen game, a game with a good opponent, but it still stung. And all of this was in the context of the stage being overtaken by Hayden Fry. Some guy named Gable was winning all the time, too.
There was something else about Lute’s teams, and it’s that they were usually guard oriented, and more finesse teams than the rest of the Big Ten. Yeah, I know, nothing about Kevin Boyle and to some extent, Vince Brookins was finesse, but overall I didn’t think we were the bangers that the other Big Ten teams were. It was frustrating that other teams could beat up on us a bit. When Lute moved out here to AZ, the system worked better with lots of star guards and finesse big guys like Sean Elliott.
I remember people at the time lamenting Lute’s departure, but by then it was less of a wide-spread sentiment than you might think. That was the product of wild expectations and perspective at the time. At UA, Lute also lost to big underdogs at UA in the tournament from time to time, but what I wouldn’t give for a few of those good years now.
Great recap....
I can’t argue with any of it. I loved Greg Stokes (Michael Payne not so much…way too soft). I loved Kevin Boyle, he lost his confidence on offense but his defense was stunning, and Vince “Federal Express” Brookins (when it absolutely has to be there!). No one plays one on one defense like Boyle did anymore. I always felt Lute was a perfectionist who would needlessly blame players for losses. And you are right, I think people were surprised he left, but they were over it pretty quickly.
George Raveling was a great guy, although a bad fit for Iowa. A single, very big personality, black guy in Iowa City, he was bored silly socially. Anyway, he spoke in a communications course I took as a senior about his owning the original notes of the Martin Luther King “I Have a Dream” speech. Then showed the fucking notes to the class. Amazing. A story that for years went untold nationally and people would not believe me until the internet era (yes, I existed prior to the internet).
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
FUCK Lute Olson...
…may his midnight plane crash into a mountainside of dog-AIDS infested hypodermic needles.
by Eyeheartfreedumb on Mar 9, 2010 12:08 PM CST up reply actions
Nope, never
but he only made it out of the next round three times (and two of those were largely with Raveling’s) players.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 11:37 AM CST up reply actions
The 98-99 Season
had an average of 14,173. Up about 100 from the year before.
That’s still pretty dang strong.
In 100 years, we'll all be dead.
Who's Gary Close?
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 11:24 AM CST up reply actions
Thanks, but that doesn't really tell me anything.
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 11:27 AM CST up reply actions
He stole cattlefeeder's lunch money in highschool and stole his girlfriend?
I don’t know.
Brunettes not fighter jets
He works for Bo Ryan. Eww.
"It’s just that, reading through this thread, it appears you’re getting your ass kicked." -jtothep
by ReadingRambler on Mar 1, 2010 11:33 AM CST up reply actions
Yeah
I have a really hard time seeing LIckliter work out. Forget what year it is. Forget what the record is. And those things should not be forgotten mind you, but I am trying to make a point. If you watched this team play over the last 20 games (and we all have), with these guys, would you think they are one year away from contending for ANYTHING? Seriously? They are AT LEAST two years away at best. And for it to be even two years away, this incoming freshman class has to be special. They have to be productive. And I have no idea how anyone can say that this is a given.
If you look at this year’s freshmen and next year’s incoming freshmen, collectively they are not even near Rutger’s talent haul from last year and this upcoming year. Not even close. And that team is now barely .500, with no history of great crowds or of making the NCAA tournament. And in all likelihood, they are going to shitcan their coach, whose father is a 25 year veteran coach of the basebal team.
So that is where we are. Less talent than Rutgers, worse record, in an easier conference, and lower standards for our coach.
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
Just think how Indiana must feel about their results against us...
…at least we can still look down at the Hoosiers.
Not much of a silver lining, but it’s what I’ve got.
by Eyeheartfreedumb on Mar 1, 2010 12:17 PM CST up reply actions
This is how sad MSU fans
feel about Michigan football. Don’t let that become us.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 1, 2010 12:35 PM CST up reply actions
No.
Lickliter will work out.
Last year we were winning until we lost starters to injuries and academics. This year we’re still reeling from two years of people transferring out.
2 more years. Bank on it.
Brunettes not fighter jets
Respectfully,
I have never seen a guy succeed at any difficult task without the loyalty of his subordinates/players. I gather that you believe that the churn has ended.
Mr. Boh Knows ...
The only thing I’m banking on is that Lickliter will get 2 more years, and that at the end the basketball will be mediocre and attendance will be horrific. This isn’t going to work out, and may cost Barta his job, too.
As long as the football and wrestling programs stay at their current level
Barta, while flawed, is safe.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Mar 2, 2010 1:53 AM CST up reply actions
If it continues, rest assured, there will be nobody left to believe that.
I got more rhymes than Wade Lookingbill's got dunks
Freudian slip? All AD's say the same thing anyways.
“There have been no serious calls from anywhere of consequence for Lickliter’s ouster (”My support of Todd hasn’t waivered," Bold phrase Bowlsby says in the column)"
This may not be supported factually...
What should also not be discounted in this debate, and perhaps you can call it shallow on my part, but it’s a reality. I’m not a shame to bring it up because it is the truth: Tom Davis had a pretty significant Dufuss Factor. Like an 8 to 9 on a 10 point scale. And, it’s hard not to notice that most of the elite coaches that win titles – Coach K, Lute, Bill Self, Pitino, Donovan, Roy Williams, Calhoun, Izzo – these guys have very low dufuss ratings, like almost non-existent. Some have – Pitino – very high Prick Factors, but these guys don’t score many Dufuss points.
Now, I wasn’t really good in my day, but Davis did show up to do some clinics in my hometown during the summer, and even at a young age you could tell he was a big time Dufuss, and when he had his little sidekick Gary Close run the program the rest of the week you could tell it wasn’t quite a top flight program. Not quite. Davis looked like your local State Farm agent, not to disparage your local State Farm agent, but they generally aren’t convincing in the role of the Head BBall Coach at a Major School.
So I think in the analysis of Lickliter you also shouldn’t discount the Dufuss Factor? And that is one area where I think he does rival Davis. He is just not believable in the role of someone who is going to take you anywhere. Until Lickliter stops reminding me of Larry Eustachy, I can’t take him seriously.
by Reggie Roby's Wrist Watch on Mar 1, 2010 2:15 PM CST reply actions
Point of clarification:
I do retract the comment about me not being good in my day. I was really good in my day. I dunked once with the help of a slightly bent rim.
by Reggie Roby's Wrist Watch on Mar 1, 2010 2:19 PM CST up reply actions
And a trampoline?
"You don't become a Hawkeye fan, You're born with Black and Gold in your veins." - Me
by BStylin Hawkye on Mar 1, 2010 2:24 PM CST up reply actions
The Truth of the Matter
Let’s go way back to Ralph Miller. He was a great coach, had great players (JJ, Freddie Brown) and coached during a GREAT era for college BB. We were, in 1970, arguably the best team in the nation.
Then a down turn.
Then Lute. Say what you will, but Lute got decent recruits (not great, though—few if any played in the NBA) and molded TEAMS that played well, beat some big boys (especially Indiana and Purdue), and contended many many years for titles. Other than 1980, the underperformed in the NCAA’s.
Raveling was a GREAT recruiter, but a so-so game coach. He was also a slob and rather slovenly (really—sweats on the sidelines during games??) and never “clicked.” I refuse to make his departure a race thing, since I don’t think it was a race thing, just a lack-of-clicking thing.
Davis came in and it was the perfect storm: Raveling’s recruits and team depth, and a guy who could coach. We were #1 for a short time in ‘86 or ’87, and almost—really, should’ve—gone to the Final Four in ’87.
But he never got us back there again. He never contended for the B10 title again. Why? I dunno. But he WAS given every chance to do so, and nice guy and decent coach though he was, everyone knew he could not win the B10 or take us to a Final Four.
Then there was Stevie. Hottest coaching prospect alive after taking SWMS to the Sweet Sixteen. The Aura. The Hair. Ah—there’s the rub.
The ENTIRE decline of Iowa BB starts and ends with Alford NOT being an effective coach. I do not fault us for changing from Dr Tom—the man wasn’t going to elevate the program to anything NEAR elite status.
The problem was that Alford was not who we thought he was. Lick may not be the guy who we think he is.
The problem is that it’s damn HARD to pick a good BB coach, and everytime you do you run the chance of a dud or poor fit. I will never fault the U for changing from Davis to someone else, or even changing to Alford. We got fooled—Alford wasn’t the guy.
Are we getting fooled again? I dunno. But if we want to contend for B10 champs and Final Four berths, we will need “that coach” who, like Miller or Lute, can work this program beyond its innate capacities to succeed.
The Lesson? (and its easy to see when you look also at the ill-fortunes of IU or UM): being a great BB school is fucking hard in these times. We may have to suck for quite some time before we hit the right mix or get the right guy.
"If you want to become a man--come to Iowa" All American IOWA LB PAT ANGERER, whose best friend is a dog.
The problem with the present is
that it could be the second bad hire. One your program can tolerate. The second, and people start to forget what it was like to be good.
I expected nothing in the way of public soul-searching or candid admissions from Barta. I think, based upon the unusual two-year shakeout of players, Lickliter should have one more year to show significant improvement. He’ll probably get two.
While we all lament the (almost stunning) decline of Iowa basketball
I ask if you there isn’t one bright spot the Iowa’s ineptitude: Marchifornication. Would the authors of this site really go to all the trouble of the awesomeness that is Marchifornication if Iowa were a serious threat in the Big Ten Tournament or the Big Dance itself?
I ate the blue ones ... they taste like burning.
Myguess?
yes
"I’m sick of following my dreams. I’m just going to ask them where they’re going and hook up with them later." M.H.
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