Really CID - do you troll around boards looking for "recruiting" key words?
Lol. Sorry if I responded to a post. Jim has been one of the better recruiters around. Vroom, do you go around following what I post?
Hawkeye softball
- Thread starter hawkaholic
- Start date
Lol. Sorry if I responded to a post. Jim has been one of the better recruiters around. Vroom, do you go around following what I post?
Jim White would be the best coach Iowa would be able to hire at this time if Looper is let go. I am not sure what his interest is in that job now that his sons are getting older and playing sports. He said several years ago he would switch back to coaching baseball when his sons were old enough to play. I believe that time is after this coming HS season.
I will never, ever understand the obsession with Jim White.
Yes, he's a really good high school coach.
Guess what, there are tons of great softball coaches in the state of Iowa, at all different levels.
Why not go for actual, experienced college coaches instead of starting completely from scratch with a high school guy? It's like hiring Bob Commings when Hayden Fry is sitting in your backyard.
Lets throw a ton of money at Jacobs from UNI. Yes, he's a man. Fine. How about Rene Hartle up at Luther? Extremely successful DIII coach (and not bad to look at, either). How about Shane Baumann or George Wares? Joe Yegge is probably the best recruiter in the state of Iowa, outside of Jacobs. He also has D1 experience as an assistant.
I will never, ever get the fetishistic thinking that says Jim White is a better coach than any of these people. He dominates at the Class 2A and 3A level in Iowa high school. Wow, impressive. He has also come up short in many different seasons when he clearly had the best team. Many of these other people that I have mentioned have national championship or near-championship experience at the collegiate level.
It's time to start thinking outside the box here like what they finally did with Shymansky in volleyball. There are tremendous resources and talented people in this state, both on the player and the coaching side, let's start actually using these things to our advantage instead of trying to fight them at every step of the way (because they are male or don't have high-level D1 experience or whatever the stupid excuse du jour is for that particular day).
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If you can land those coaches I say go for it, the current hire is a disaster and has torn down a program. Not sure if White would be the answer but his methods are more college style then they are high school style. A proven college coach would carry more panache. For a Bob Commings there is a Todd Lickliter.
I think your wrong when you say White is the best Iowa can get.. This is a Big Ten D1 program. Lots of the successful lower D1 coaches would love this job. The ones named in Cools post are good starts.. Jacobs would be a really good hire, he knows Iowa HS coaches, he is successful at UNI, I think Yegge could do a great job too. He has over 400 wins.. Thats alot at any level. Plus he coaches HS so he sees and knows the HS kids. I think Iowa really needs to think out of the box. Maybe try for a big time assistant coach who is at a dominate D1. I dont know.. but I do know Looper is not the answer. Gotta do something soon. its getting pretty sad to watch.
Spin much, I see you jumping all over anyone in the HS forums about recruiting trying to deflect the Private vs Public and it seems whenever you get a chance you throw your .02 in to protect your sacred school. Bravo.
You obviously have some sort of axe to grind with White. I doubt any of it makes any difference as I seriously doubt he would be interested in the job.
For those of you CCA supporters. How has it worked out since the school board ran him off? Couple of people with personal grudges got their way and your program has been mediocre at best since he left and Solon has excelled. Great move.
I am not pathetic enough to be emotionally invested in the outcome of high school sports since I do not have any children participating, but I am very familiar with the high school and college softball scene in Iowa and I just find it hilarious that Jim White is considered the Knute Rockne of softball coaches by people who's entire exposure to the sport is a couple of high school games each year and maybe watching ESPN during the CWS.
Why on earth is a career high school coach a better choice to lead a D1 college program than an extremely successful coach at a lower level of college? And if he is this can't-miss collegiate coaching prospect, why hasn't he jumped up to some seriously high-level job before now? You realize that for the vast majority of his time at Creek, they were a 1A and 2A school, right? Seems like a huge waste of talent for one of the great coaching minds of our time.
When Ferentz finally retires, would you rather have the best high school coach in America, or a great FCS or MAC coach, and why? How many people would be in favor of hiring Gary Swenson or Tom Wilson to take over the Hawkeye football program?
Yet you are pathetic enough to piss and moan about his credentials.
Let me spell it out for you. I doubt he'll be interested in the job if he was approached. What he has achieved coaching at both schools is hall of fame credentials. Belittle that all you want. Makes you look like more the fool every time you post. Have a great day "cooldude" lol.
Hall of Fame high school in Iowa, dipshit.
That's a far cry from the real Hall of Fame that Blevins is in.
You'll probably be on here pimping Marv Cook to take over when Kirk retires. He's a Hall of Famer too, right?
Might as well give Jim Eekhoff the basketball job when Fran leaves while we're at it. He has more state titles than ANYBODY!
Cooldude and others posting above, I agree that if a successful D1 assistant or successful lower level D1 head coach was interested in the Iowa job that would probably be the way to go. My point is I am not sure how many of those people would be interested in the Iowa job given the state of the program and the athletic department lawsuit. Jim White may be the best you can get and I am not sure he would be interested. For those of you comparing him to Marv Cook taking over the football program I understand Marv Cook could not take over a D1 football program jumping from HS. Softball is a different story. Those that actually know and follow softball at the HS and college level and know how Jim White runs his practices, scouting and total program (including recruiting) know Jim White could handle coaching softball at a D1 school.
PS - I am not saying this as Jim White's publicist or campaign manager. I am saying this as a person that played mens' fast pitch for 20+ years and coached HS softball for 30+ years and have knowledge of the situations involved.
PS #2 - We hired an up and coming assistant when we hired Looper. See how that turned out.
PS - I am not saying this as Jim White's publicist or campaign manager. I am saying this as a person that played mens' fast pitch for 20+ years and coached HS softball for 30+ years and have knowledge of the situations involved.
PS #2 - We hired an up and coming assistant when we hired Looper. See how that turned out.
Ummm, Hawkeye message board vs. a high school message. One of the differences is that on the high school board the majority of the people speaking about it are spreading things that are untrue, uneducated and are disingenuous. But that is another forum, thanks for bringing it here, keep up the good work.
recruit much -
The final piece of a potential state-championship puzzle is now in place for the Iowa City Regina girls’ basketball team.
As far as "bringing it here", you would be the one that brought that to the table.
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Wow, you are a relentless person aren't you? Suggesting a coach that I thought would be a good fit at Iowa is bringing it here? Just a touch of a reach on your part. As far as the other part goes maybe you should take that to Iowa Preps where it belongs. I believe it is even posted there. We can discuss that there if you like.
Keep cracking me up on this one. It is in a topic on Iowa Preps(where it belongs) If you want to discuss it there. Heck there may be another one joining the fray. And do share what I did to 'run around it'
I am not sure what bridges he burned but the 2nd hand info I got was that he was backstabbing Blevins her last year in taking the side of a disgruntled player. The disgruntled player situation and Barta not giving Blevins the support she wanted is what caused her resignation. I am a Blevins fan and would not support him as a coach at Iowa.
Me as well. His Indiana St. team is awful anyway so I can't imagine he would be a candidate.
Serious question though. How is Iowa softball this bad? It seems like they have regressed each season under Looper.
1) Hitting has been generally weak since the last couple of Blevin's seasons, putting pressure on the pitching and defense, even though we've had some good hitters here and there (e.g. Blank, Liz Watkins, etc). 2) Pitching has been average to weak, putting pressure on the offense. Kayla Massey was good at times, IIRC she had one season where she finished with a sub-3.00 ERA, and had some pop with the bat, but was highly regarded coming in and IMHO did not live up to her billing. Aside from her, Looper has not been able to recruit high-level pitching, despite that being her forte at Texas.
This season, in the non-conference our hitting was awful but pitching was bolstered by the addition of Wiegand. Then in the B10 the bats found some pop (we are currently tied for 3rd in HR's with 16!) but the pitching has been getting shelled. At the time we got swept by Indiana, we were 14th in the B10 in batting avg and runs scored. Guess who was 13th at that time? Indiana.
So it's ironic that UNI comes in and leaves with a loss, especially with them pitching their #1 Ross. We needed the W more than they did, obviously. Drake game tonight will be interesting - their stats don't match UNI's but they have been much more consistent. They popped ISU pretty good last week.
This season, in the non-conference our hitting was awful but pitching was bolstered by the addition of Wiegand. Then in the B10 the bats found some pop (we are currently tied for 3rd in HR's with 16!) but the pitching has been getting shelled. At the time we got swept by Indiana, we were 14th in the B10 in batting avg and runs scored. Guess who was 13th at that time? Indiana.
So it's ironic that UNI comes in and leaves with a loss, especially with them pitching their #1 Ross. We needed the W more than they did, obviously. Drake game tonight will be interesting - their stats don't match UNI's but they have been much more consistent. They popped ISU pretty good last week.
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Massey was a Blevins recruit. Not a Looper recruit. I wonder how good Massey would have been with a better pitching coach. She may have lived up to her billing under Blevins.
Ross came in in relief after their starter got roughed up.
I stand corrected.
On Ross, saw some video of her pitching and assumed she started. So Lange must have been the starter (who is the current MVC pitcher of the week).Yeah, Lange got pulled in the 4th inning after a couple hits and HBP.
I've often wondered if Massey would have been more impactful with a different coach. I've heard Blevins is why she came to Iowa.
I've often wondered if Massey would have been more impactful with a different coach. I've heard Blevins is why she came to Iowa.
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