I think the Wallace role goes beyond just ceremonial. I mentioned in another thread that I noticed during a timeout on defense with no commercial break Wallace did all the talking with Phil by his side. Think he has likely emerged as the right hand man to Phil especially with Parker on the mend from his accident.
I’m sorry but if you think Kirk is in the same stratosphere as Bo Ryan in terms of success then I don’t know what to tell you.
Fatigue mostly. I, like a lot of people, are ready for something different. Sure they might take a step back but guess what? You can just hire someone else if that guy isn’t working out. KF has definitely had some great moments and seasons and I’m not taking that away from him but I’m just tired of “Kirkball”.
You are absolutely fooling yourself if you think the entire staff is going to stick together. Even if the new coach is an internal hire.
And Wisky BB fans complained about “Bo Ball” too…. But a coach’s #1 priority is to win games. Period.
This has been beaten to death but you’re using hindsight to judge those decisions. Alford and Lickliter were both considered great hires at the time.
Those are basketball coaches, and with the exception of Dr. Tom, who had a decent run, the others were hired to run a program that had long been neglected. They didn’t even have a practice facility.
No way in hell Beth is firing KF. Just get it out of your mind now. McCaffrey is a different story. KF isn’t going anywhere.
Bo had numerous conference titles and a national runner-up banner to back him up. Ferentz has nothing remotely similar.
Dr. Tom was a very good hire. Provably the best BB hire UIowa ever made was getting Ralph Miller to leave Wichita for Iowa City. Best BB coach Iowa ever had..
That’s the only way a hire should be judged! There aren’t participation trophies for good effort.
What if I told you that virtually anyone that could have realistically been Iowas coach, Dr Tom included, would have failed to do much at Iowa from mid 90s to 2010s based on lack of investment in the program?
So the lesson is never get rid of a coach because there’s a chance the team could be worse? That’s ludicrous.
I think you are missing the point people are trying to make. The point is fans will complain regardless of how good a coach is. Saban and coach K had detractors. When we have a successful program that’s top 10 in wins the pat 5 years and people are bored or tired with the coach - that’s just silly. We are extremely fortunate to win as much as we do and to have a classy guy like Ferentz in charge.
Good grief, dude. Now you’re going off the deep end. Nobody is saying that.
Because he brought “Bo ball” to the B10. Remember, Bo had to beg for the UW job and he had been passed over by Barry more than once. Barry was finally placed in a position to hire Bo because he couldn’t find anyone he wanted to take the job. Bo could coach. He had some personal shortcomings but Bo could coach winning basketball.
Butler went to two national title games. And many mid-majors have made sweet 16’s, elite 8’s, and even final 4’s. Investment isn’t the issue.
Kirk figured out a long time ago that winning at UIowa was based on defense, special teams, field position and taking care of the ball. He was hired at UIowa to win football games. By any means of measurement, his time at UIowa has to be regarded as highly successful.
Ah, let’s pick a monster outlier who had a crazy run with a generational local player who ended up making over $300MM in the NBA and aim for that!
This is the point I was trying to make in my earlier post. Alford wasn’t some scrub that Iowa took a flyer on. He was a hot commodity at the time and even though it didn’t work out in the end that doesn’t make him a “bad hire”.
That is my point. At the time many of the same Never Ferentz Bitter Enders were down talking a program that has not reached the same level after 3 coaches and 25 years.
He was great. Lute was pretty close. But Bucky O’Connor probably was the best. 2 Final Fours back to back.
Not entirely sure keeping Worley was a successful move. Kind of the poster boy of everything wrong with Alford as a coach and a person.
Maybe at the high school level, but this is big time collegeball
Worley was a blue chip recruit that didn’t pan out. He had lots of options coming out of HS. Options much better than Iowa.
Sorry Charlie…Big Time football demands WINS! Don’t ever fool yourself otherwise. Once “winning” is no longer central to competition, their is no purpose fire these competitions.
Bucky was Iowa’s own. Ralph was a nationally eeknown coach coaching in America’s most competitive abd rugourous confeence (the Mo Calley)
Bucky was Iowa’s own…Ralph was brought in from outside. Back in the early 60’s the Mo Valley was Americas premier BB conference and Evy to bring Ralph from Wichita was a huge coup. Ralph’s success at Iowa was immediate and included 2 titles in his time here.
The program regressed badly under Alford. Don't forget that 1st tourney champ was a miracle for a bad team that had no other road to the NCAAs. First three seasons, losing Big Ten records. Season 4 was his first winning record, good for an NIT bid. The utter collapse to an inferior team was the Alford legacy.
So was Burns. So was Nagel. So was Lauterbur. So was Commings.
Commings went from high school straight to the Big Ten. Can’t imagine that happening today.
He's done ok against the big boys. Beat some mediocre Michigan teams. Penn State isn't Ohio State for sure.
