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Iowa Volleyball

mr12182

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Jan 14, 2009
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Was pleasantly shocked they swept ISU yesterday. Anyone have any insights on the victories ? TIA
 
No insights here, I was expecting an ISU sweep instead. Very happy to have been wrong.
 
Very tough schedule so far. Syracuse and Ball St. both came into the weekend unbeaten. Looks like they are still experimenting with lineups. Having Amiya Jones in the lineup helped against Iowa St. She didn't play Thurs or Fri.

A 5'9" setter is going to hurt when she's in the front row. Any team with good hitters is going to hit over her with ease.
 
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No way to sugarcoat it, they are terrible. They are 2-14, 0-6 this year so far. How they swept ISU I’ll never know. It’s actually disappointing because because Shymansky had them competing. Yes, what he did was wrong but man we are back to levels of just not even competing that they were prior to his arrival. Would what he did even be illegal now under NIL or I’m sure there would be a way to skirt it with NIL.
 
Boyer to Wisconsin was a huge loss. But that's part of a coach's job - to keep your good players from transferring. Best three players on the team are seniors. I'm afraid it could get worse before it gets better.
 
Boyer to Wisconsin was a huge loss. But that's part of a coach's job - to keep your good players from transferring. Best three players on the team are seniors. I'm afraid it could get worse before it gets better.
If it gets worse then you need a coaching staff overhaul IMO. I’m not sure the athletic department or university would do that though.
 
I suspect coach Brown is safe as long as she keeps the program clean.

One thing, of the bottom 5 teams, we've only played one (MSU) so far. Upcoming are two games with Northwestern, two with Indiana, one with Rutgers and a return game at MSU.

And we do have some talent. Buzzerio made All-Big Ten last spring, and while the setter Ortega isn't tall, she can generally deliver a good set given a halfway decent pass. Slagle seems competent at libero. The freshman VanderWeide has had some good games.

On the other hand, even finishing as high as tenth looks like a tough assignment at this point.

ETA: Well, after I said nice things about Ortega and Slagle, they were replaced by Splitt and Hinkle respectively. We had 3 close sets against Northwestern, but still lost 3-0. That's now 7 straight 3-0 losses :(
 
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Ortega's still in - they're just running a 6-2. That was the right move. They are both too short and non-offensive to be a 5-1 setter in the B1G. Slagle needed to be replaced at libero. She's still playing DS some. Onabanjo played right side. She's only a freshman, so hopefully she'll improve. But right now she's in over her head - not a good blocker and swings too low. Gets blocked way too much, so then starts tipping. Not good.

Annoying to me...Vicky Brown stands right near the floor and coaches after every point. Just let them play! Only so much difference you're going to make in-game.
 
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Vicki Brown has just been fired as the volleyball coach. The UI athletics website doesn't have an article on it yet, but it's posted on the Hawkeye Sports app. The dismissal is without cause, meaning the firing was purely for performance reasons.

This was right at midseason. Does it mean Iowa's now actually trying to turn around the volleyball program? Seeing the success in other women's programs like field hockey, basketball, soccer, tennis, track and field, and rowing probably contributed.
 
I don’t see any basis for a lawsuit. Iowa volleyball sucked under Brown with no signs of improvement. This is the least competitive I remember in quite some time.
I think it's more than won/loss record. Only a couple years into the job normally a coach would be given more time to develop her team. My bet her players (and maybe assistant coaches) were letting it be known she doesn't have what it takes.
 
I think it's more than won/loss record. Only a couple years into the job normally a coach would be given more time to develop her team. My bet her players (and maybe assistant coaches) were letting it be known she doesn't have what it takes.
You are what your record says. Iowa is 3-19, and they have been swept A LOT. It was definitely time to move in a new direction. Make no mistake that the task is tall to say the least given the teams in the B1G. However, to not even compete is another thing.
 
I think it's more than won/loss record. Only a couple years into the job normally a coach would be given more time to develop her team. My bet her players (and maybe assistant coaches) were letting it be known she doesn't have what it takes.
She was an assistant under the previous coach. She wasn't new when she took over the program. Went straight backwards under her leadership.
 
She was an assistant under the previous coach. She wasn't new when she took over the program. Went straight backwards under her leadership.

She told her seniors last year during the COVID season that they didn't need to stay with the program. Curious move that didn't seem to help at all.
 
I didn't follow it really closely, but the impression I had was that many if not most schools were offering their seniors the choice to opt out last spring, and still retain their scholarships. I do know that happened at UNI, and now they are fighting to stay out of their conference basement, like us.
 
As a Wisconsin fan, I don’t follow the Hawks closely but it appears to me that they played better yesterday than a month ago. Buzzerio was a killer!
Go Hawks - beat Minny!
 
As a Wisconsin fan, I don’t follow the Hawks closely but it appears to me that they played better yesterday than a month ago. Buzzerio was a killer!
Go Hawks - beat Minny!
I don’t know many on here that follow Iowa volleyball close, please say if you do. I just know that most of us feel Iowa can put a much better product out there.
 
As a Wisconsin fan, I don’t follow the Hawks closely but it appears to me that they played better yesterday than a month ago. Buzzerio was a killer!
Go Hawks - beat Minny!
What is Wisconsin's history in volleyball? Does it have a history of success? Big Ten teams have really been coming on in terms on national prominence. I didn't pay much attention in the past but thought Big Ten hadn't always been this good in Volleyball.
 
Team played well down the stretch. Cupboard isn't completely bare, but assuming none of the seniors come back for a Covid year, there's a lot of work to do for whomever takes over. Any chance Barta had a new coach in mind when Brown was fired?
 
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Iowa needs to go all in on a Head Coach with proven experience winning in a power 5 conference.
No messing around with cheap assistants.
You see the huge crowds in the Big 10 conference and in the Final Four tonight? This sport is exploding.
Big 10 finals with Wisconsin vs Nebraska.
 
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Iowa needs to go all in on a Head Coach with proven experience winning in a power 5 conference.
No messing around with cheap assistants.
You see the huge crowds in the Big 10 conference and in the Final Four tonight? This sport is exploding.
Big 10 finals with Wisconsin vs Nebraska.
Iowa did that when hiring Bond. Barta isn’t adverse to hiring a proven coach in volleyball.
 
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Iowa did that when hiring Bond. Barta isn’t adverse to hiring a proven coach in volleyball.
But that was a special case, with Bond being an IC native coming home. Any established VB HC will look at Iowa's history in the sport, and most recently Brown's quick termination under difficult circumstances, and think twice, then think again.

Not really a direct comparison, but rumor was that when Looper was hired for softball, she was Iowa's eighth choice. I suspect the VB situation will be as difficult.
 
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But that was a special case, with Bond being an IC native coming home. Any established VB HC will look at Iowa's history in the sport, and most recently Brown's quick termination under difficult circumstances, and think twice, then think again.

Not really a direct comparison, but rumor was that when Looper was hired for softball, she was Iowa's eighth choice. I suspect the VB situation will be as difficult.
Who is the most successful high school coach in Iowa with connections? Take a chance. Nothing to lose.
 
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