Fans are partly to blame...
- Thread starter Hawkfan_08
- Start date
I wonder why? Those 2 left for the cash. Period.
That tells me their focus wasn't on basketball like it should have been. Mentally weak...but then again, that was Fran coached teams.
The fanbase absolutely quit on the team, except for taking the time to bitch about them.
Yep 15 years of the same story doesn’t warrant a 16th.
And they won't acknowledge it. Fans take zero accountability.
I'm really starting to think that this board is bad for Iowa sports. I hear stuff in public almost verbatim from this board all the time.
And it's not like people are going out of their way to come on here and praise and promote these Hawkeyes and their coaches. But rest assured the board catches all of the venters and complainers
Easy to blame others when you bolt for money.
First alluding to the coach in the thread.
It had already taken on a life before the coach was mentioned
Never understood any coach letting his team see the stuff that is said on these boards, without having a serious talk with them about why they shouldn't. I don't think what is said on here is any different than other boards across the country. Their's always going to be second guessing. It's human nature. But with the money now in it, and it being out in the open, they need to develop thick skins. If they didn't like the fans support, that's not going to get any better anywhere else. Unless all you do is win baby win! You can't have your cake, and eat it to.
This board is gross but it’s nothing compared to actual social media. Message boards are not a thing for the younger generation by and large. Other than Reddit.
And Hawkeye fans can be bad but they’re nothing compared to some fan bases.
Fans quit on the team because sports is an entertainment product and the show wasn’t entertaining anymore.
Mac wasn’t just talking about the fans. He was talking about the overall experience of the past few seasons, including some poor finishes, and that the experience wasn’t particularly enjoyable for the players.
Here’s the full quote:
Not that anybody should let that get in the way of their usual talking points.
Here’s the full quote:
Not that anybody should let that get in the way of their usual talking points.
Vs saying they were a couple of weak-minded crybabies?
After praising Beth and the for the enormous increase in NIL? I don't buy it for one second lol.
Good point.
I think it seems worse cause Iowa doesn’t have a pro sports team to vent about.
College is all we have and the only chance to see a winner. Years of underachieving takes its toll, and now you add in players making coin it’s not going to go away. It’s going to get worse.
Players wanted to get paid well they better expect fans to demand they get a return for their investment.
No. Iowa basketball can't compete with Creighton, monetarily.
Iowa's money goes to football, women's basketball, wrestling, men's basketball.
Creighton's money goes to basketball
problem with these boards is you have no idea who is writing this stuff and putting it out there--is everyone on here really an Iowa fan?
Plus the press, particularly Leis....his weekly articles most of the time seem to give voice to what is being thrown around on these boards and not in a positive tone.
SO I for one do not get overly concerned with the black cloud group and their non sense--case in point now is the asst coaches--most on here were like color me non impressed--but you have to admit that after this last hire Iowa has got themselves a good , young , energetic staff that i think will do some good things.
So Like my game day buddy says if., when I bitch--just shut up and buy the tickets and have fun....you are never going to win them all anyway....
If "quitting on the team" means choosing not to spend time and money on a shitty product, then...yeah...many fans finally "quit" wasting time and money on a product that brought them nothing but frustration.
Fran walks away tens of millions of dollars richer. Players walk away hundreds of thousands of dollars richer. Fans walk away poorer but they're the bad guys. lol
Fan blaming is what happens when organizations lose the plot. I'm sad to see Mac start out on a bad foot.
Fran walks away tens of millions of dollars richer. Players walk away hundreds of thousands of dollars richer. Fans walk away poorer but they're the bad guys. lol
Fan blaming is what happens when organizations lose the plot. I'm sad to see Mac start out on a bad foot.
Yeah, I get it. Everyone everywhere wants to do better.
Still don't think "underachieving" fits Iowa's performance. Iowa was last in the conference in NIL funding. Literally have been outbid on talent since the inception of NIL
Well, Ben has said the best fanbases show up no matter what.
He expects fans to help build this BEFORE seeing results.
So I'm guessing he would characterize the fans as "quitting" last season as well.
What about when Iowa football was ranked #2 in the country, and fans flooded out of Kinnick early in the 4th quarter vs Purdue? Did they quit that day?
So they left for a payday, just like I said. Thanks for proving my point.
Shitty Basketball
Shitty Coach
Poor results
and finally, no hope that it was going to get better. Fans stopped spending their money on a poor product, Surprise, surprise, surprise.
This isn’t 30 years ago. The economy isn’t great, so people put their money where they think the most value comes from and that isn’t buying tickets for a middling basketball team. Fans in general support winners, and that has become more prevalent in the past 20 years as everyone has HDTVs and almost every game is on television. The winning programs still put butts in seats, the ones below those have a lot of people that just save their money and watch from home, then there was last year’s team that played so poorly that the fans didn’t even watch from home. Also, let’s not forget that we’ve had players quit on the team too, including a pretty big name this past season. If there’s players that don’t want to play, they why would the fans want to watch?
The Iowa fans are passionate and will show up for teams that they feel are achieving. Iowa Wrestling is pretty much always at the top of national attendance. Iowa WBB will be top 2 in the country for home attendance this year. Iowa Football is well attended. All three of those teams have had national-level success.
MBB needs some success, especially in the tourney. And needs to not fall flat on their face when they have an opportunity, like has happened every opportunity for the past quarter century. I’m hoping Ben is the guy to do that.
The Iowa fans are passionate and will show up for teams that they feel are achieving. Iowa Wrestling is pretty much always at the top of national attendance. Iowa WBB will be top 2 in the country for home attendance this year. Iowa Football is well attended. All three of those teams have had national-level success.
MBB needs some success, especially in the tourney. And needs to not fall flat on their face when they have an opportunity, like has happened every opportunity for the past quarter century. I’m hoping Ben is the guy to do that.
Again, I think you are mischaracterizing what Mac said in order to get to your regular narrative.
Mac has repeatedly said that the team needs to earn fans back. Bennett has said the same thing. They’ve talked about how last year at Drake, the fans weren’t there at first, but eventually they earned them back.
Mac then invited fans to come along for the ride. Here’s the quote from the Leistikow interview:
Perhaps it’s semantics, but I think it’s a completely different nuance than what you are describing. He’s not “calling out fans” or blaming them in any way. He’s inviting them along to help build something together. It’s a nuance that we ought to be able to comprehend.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a MBB coach who took an inviting tone toward fans. For much of the past 15 years, the relationship has almost been adversarial. I think the change in approach can make a big difference in fan decisions.
How is that an uncomfortable truth? The team wasn't fun to watch, so people didn't. An uncomfortable truth would be selling out for a sub par performance game in and game out and expecting anything to change.
I 110% agree with everything you said, but the starting out on a bad foot part. I don't think he blamed "us" as much as pointed out that it can't be fun to play in front of a bunch of chairs. No, that's not on us and is a bit of a "chicken and the egg", but as someone said; win or at least be entertaining, and there will be more people.
Sickkkk, my #FireFran hashtag worked. Glad those bottom dwelling bums saw it.
many fans everywhere in the country leave an event when the victor has been decided. Hell a lot left the Ohio State beatdown in the 4th qtr.
this is not an Iowa fan issue--get real
You have to admit the product on the court was lackluster. It is easy to run up and down the court and chuck up threes. If your knocking them down, the game is close. If not, it gets ugly quickly.
It takes effort to rebound and it takes grit to play defense. I'm looking forward to an offense that runs offensive sets, attacks the rim and values their possessions.
To compound issues, Fran and the team did not embrace the fan base, especially the last few years.
Lots of overreaction to one comment IMO.
There is a difference between "blaming" and "explaining". I think Ben sees getting the fans back as a challenge he's ready to accept.
As far as Dix and Freeman go, this might have been on the list somewhere, but I doubt it wasn't a primary reason.
There is a difference between "blaming" and "explaining". I think Ben sees getting the fans back as a challenge he's ready to accept.
As far as Dix and Freeman go, this might have been on the list somewhere, but I doubt it wasn't a primary reason.
Did fans quit on the team, or did they quit on Fran? Attendance has been dwindling for years.
