Is Iowa still a Football school?

[ChiHawk21]

Football is ranked #16. Long history of middling success, but no major bowl wins since the Orange Bowl.

Basketball is now ranked #3, with tons of momentum, the likely National POY, and young depth that indicates longer term sustained success.

Is the tide changing, toward an even mix of “football / Basketball”, or do we still largely consider ourselves a football school?

Nothing short of incredible what Fran has done since joining Iowa, and one can easily argue he might be the best and most impactful Iowa HC hire in history.

Curious of everyone’s thoughts.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

Jack of all trades schools

 

[Script_IOWA]

We have a very well rounded athletic program. Florida, Stanford, Ohio State, and others have that sort of reputation and I think that is the model that Barta is pursuing.

 

[FranklinHawk]

Nope, it's a Wrasslin School.

 

[TooTall25]

Ask Steve Alford. We all know he had trouble succeeding at Iowa because it was a football school. 🤮

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Nope, it's a Wrasslin School.

This.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

Nope, it's a Wrasslin School.

I refuse to accept that.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

The BS about us being a football school is only recent since the Alford/Lick tenures. Alford is the one that famously complained about it, but he was a significant reason for the cause of it We actually have a better history as a whole in basketball than in football. But the two sports do have a lot of similarities

Football= 11 Big Ten Titles, 33 bowl games (many of these are recent when a barely above .500 record gets you into a bowl game)
Basketball 8 Big Ten Titles, 26 tourney appearances

1920's 2 undefeated teams and conference champions / 2 conference championships
1950's 2 Rose Bowls / 2 Final Fours
1980's 2 Rose Bowls, some time as #1 in the country / 1 Final Four, 1 Elite Eight, some time as #1 in the country
1990's Fairly regular bowl appearances and a conference championship / fairly regular tourney appearances and what should be a conference championship after Minny vacated their season

The difference is that football has a contested title in 1960 and basketball had some very successful seasons in the '40s, '60s, and '70s that football didn't have. The last 20 years is really the only time period where Iowa has had really dang good seasons for football that didn't have complementary seasons for basketball. Prior to that time, the basketball team almost never bottomed out as bad as the football team did for long stretches.

 

[Roy L Fuchs]

Football is ranked #16. Long history of middling success, but no major bowl wins since the Orange Bowl.

Basketball is now ranked #3, with tons of momentum, the likely National POY, and young depth that indicates longer term sustained success.

Is the tide changing, toward an even mix of “football / Basketball”, or do we still largely consider ourselves a football school?

Nothing short of incredible what Fran has done since joining Iowa, and one can easily argue he might be the best and most impactful Iowa HC hire in history.

Curious of everyone’s thoughts.

One good season out of 30 does not a basketball school make.

 

[FranklinHawk]

I refuse to accept that.

Just laying out the facts. With some obvious gaps in both, Iowa has generally had respectable football/basketball programs. But, there's only 1 sport where Iowa is considered a blue blood.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

One good season out of 30 does not a basketball school make.

Right. This is the first time Iowa has had a legitimate Top 10 basketball team since '92.

 

[gojojo]

We haven't been to a regional final in 22 years. We need to put on a nice run to get back to where Iowa BBALL once was.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

We haven't been to a regional final in 22 years. We need to put on a nice run to get back to where Iowa BBALL once was.

We're closing in on 34 years since our last regional final(elite eight). Since then we've had 3 or 4 teams that should have been good enough to get there, but didn't. I'm thinking '88, '89, '99, and '06. '93 could have too with the right matchups. Hopefully this season changes all of that.

 

[OutbackBowl2017]

Alford was the captain of creating excuses such the “it’s a football school” as he threw his players under the bus over and over again. “Not my fault.”

 

[fezzador]

We're closing in on 34 years since our last regional final(elite eight). Since then we've had 3 or 4 teams that should have been good enough to get there, but didn't. I'm thinking '88, '89, '99, and '06. '93 could have too with the right matchups. Hopefully this season changes all of that.

I just hope that Iowa doesn't go in as a 1 seed and get bounced in the first round by an Oral Roberts or whatever low-major team that plays slow and at least pretends to play some D.

If it can happen to Virginia, it can sure as hell happen to us.

 

[perryhawk]

As a fan I see it as a football, basketball, wrestling, and baseball school.

 

[H4wkfan4life]

Just laying out the facts. With some obvious gaps in both, Iowa has generally had respectable football/basketball programs. But, there's only 1 sport where Iowa is considered a blue blood.

I know, I just dont care for wrasslin

 

[H4wkfan4life]

I just hope that Iowa doesn't go in as a 1 seed and get bounced in the first round by an Oral Roberts or whatever low-major team that plays slow and at least pretends to play some D.

If it can happen to Virginia, it can sure as hell happen to us.

Lol, you must have a lot of fun

 

[bansheexyz]

I am 100% in the camp that Iowa is not a basketball school despite fielding good teams on occasion. Carver is notoriously quiet compared to Kinnick and it took a long time just get students closer to court. There was also a brand new rec facility built in 2010 on Madison. Half of it is a freaking swimming pool and it only has 3 basketball courts. 2 of those 3 courts get shut down for soccer and volleyball on weeknights. I have gone to play pickup ball there and waited an hour and a half between games. 50 guys will be crammed on one court fighting with each other over who has next. All it takes is 6 soccer/vball players to knock 20 bball players off a court.

So basically, if you're a Matt Gatens walk-on type who needs scrimmages to get better, get the hell out of Iowa City. I'm not sure any other school's with new facilities have built that few courts, let alone timeshared them during prime evening hours with peasant sports. Bball lovers who aren't literally on the team are treated like dog excrement.

 

[moondog24]

Football is ranked #16. Long history of middling success, but no major bowl wins since the Orange Bowl.

Basketball is now ranked #3, with tons of momentum, the likely National POY, and young depth that indicates longer term sustained success.

Is the tide changing, toward an even mix of “football / Basketball”, or do we still largely consider ourselves a football school?

Nothing short of incredible what Fran has done since joining Iowa, and one can easily argue he might be the best and most impactful Iowa HC hire in history.

Curious of everyone’s thoughts.

Four impactful Iowa HC hires that far exceed Fran -- Hayden Fry, Dan Gable, Lute Olson and C. Vivian Stringer -- in each case their programs were much worse for longer period of time and each achieved much more than Fran has (Rose Bowls, National Championships, Final Fours) not to mention Big Ten Championships. Not even close.

 

[Kinnick.At.Night]

Nope, it's a Wrasslin School.

Always has been. Always will be.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

I am 100% in the camp that Iowa is not a basketball school despite fielding good teams on occasion. Carver is notoriously quiet compared to Kinnick and it took a long time just get students closer to court. There was also a brand new rec facility built in 2010 on Madison. Half of it is a freaking swimming pool and it only has 3 basketball courts. 2 of those 3 courts get shut down for soccer and volleyball on weeknights. I have gone to play pickup ball there and waited an hour and a half between games. 50 guys will be crammed on one court fighting with each other over who has next. All it takes is 6 soccer/vball players to knock 20 bball players off a court.

So basically, if you're a Matt Gatens walk-on type who needs scrimmages to get better, get the hell out of Iowa City. I'm not sure any other school's with new facilities have built that few courts, let alone timeshared them during prime evening hours with peasant sports. Bball lovers who aren't literally on the team are treated like dog excrement.

Is the Fieldhouse not the spot for games anymore? 6 full courts in the south gym where most of the games are played, the two on the main deck got used at times, and sometimes the 1 in the north gym had people playing too. The best pickup games in the entire state were played in the south gym when I was in school. As a 2 year resident of Rienow my floor mates and I spent a lot of time over there.

 

[IAFB2021Champs]

Just laying out the facts. With some obvious gaps in both, Iowa has generally had respectable football/basketball programs. But, there's only 1 sport where Iowa is considered a blue blood.

men’s and women’s swimming and diving? Oh to soon! My bad.

 

[Muscles1989]

Who considers Iowa a football or bball school? Iowa is THE wrestling school in the country. No sport will ever overtake that title from the university.

 

[aurorabimmer]

Is the Fieldhouse not the spot for games anymore? 6 full courts in the south gym where most of the games are played, the two on the main deck got used at times, and sometimes the 1 in the north gym had people playing too. The best pickup games in the entire state were played in the south gym when I was in school. As a 2 year resident of Rienow my floor mates and I spent a lot of time over there.

I actually played an intramural game on the main BB floor in the Fieldhouse. I remember it being large, larger than the floors I played on in HS.

 

[Raptorpeeps]

We haven't been to a regional final in 22 years.

A regional final is the Elite Eight. Ronald Reagan was in the White House the last time Iowa was in a regional final -- 1987.

How long has it been since Iowa was in a regional final?
So long that some of their fans literally don't know what a regional final is.

That's a long time...

 

[bansheexyz]

Is the Fieldhouse not the spot for games anymore? 6 full courts in the south gym where most of the games are played, the two on the main deck got used at times, and sometimes the 1 in the north gym had people playing too. The best pickup games in the entire state were played in the south gym when I was in school. As a 2 year resident of Rienow my floor mates and I spent a lot of time over there.

Some of the freshman at the dorms closeby might use it still, but it's mostly empty outside organized events. The CRWC has easier parking, way more exercise equipment, televisions everywhere, a snackbar. The fieldhouse is dreary and limited in comparison. If you're going with non-bball friends, a wife, a girlfriend, you're compelled to go to the CRWC so they can do what they want while you ball.

 

[Clownhater]

The ghost of Lickliter still lingers in Carver.

 

[Roy L Fuchs]

Right. This is the first time Iowa has had a legitimate Top 10 basketball team since '92.

That’s a LONG time to be absolutely irrelevant.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

Is the Fieldhouse not the spot for games anymore? 6 full courts in the south gym where most of the games are played, the two on the main deck got used at times, and sometimes the 1 in the north gym had people playing too. The best pickup games in the entire state were played in the south gym when I was in school. As a 2 year resident of Rienow my floor mates and I spent a lot of time over there.

The Fieldhouse died to the rest of the community when they started making you pay $7 or something every time. It honestly shut down the outside community involvement.

When I was in college (2003-07) and few years after when I still played a ton, you better have 5 guys that will battle to hold court or you may have had to wait an hour to play again. Some nights in the dead of winter you would have the 6 courts in the upper gym, one main floor gym and two lower floor all packed. You have the regular students who just played intramural or city leagues, other athletes from different sports (usually football), doctors or other younger university employees, high school basketball players in the area, young professionals and other people from the IC community bringing their game from Chicago. Those nights were so incredibly fun. The competitiveness of those nights made it so fun.

 

[TheCDiggity]

Womens bball might as well be added to the basketball side of things.

 

[HawkRugged17]

I just hope that Iowa doesn't go in as a 1 seed and get bounced in the first round by an Oral Roberts or whatever low-major team that plays slow and at least pretends to play some D.

If it can happen to Virginia, it can sure as hell happen to us.

Virginia won the title the next year ... just sayin'. 😁

 

[CleteyColgate]

Football is ranked #16. Long history of middling success, but no major bowl wins since the Orange Bowl.

Basketball is now ranked #3, with tons of momentum, the likely National POY, and young depth that indicates longer term sustained success.

Is the tide changing, toward an even mix of “football / Basketball”, or do we still largely consider ourselves a football school?

Nothing short of incredible what Fran has done since joining Iowa, and one can easily argue he might be the best and most impactful Iowa HC hire in history.

Curious of everyone’s thoughts.

Don't forget women's sports. Great programs as well.

 

[LetsGoHawks83]

The Fieldhouse died to the rest of the community when they started making you pay $7 or something every time. It honestly shut down the outside community involvement.

When I was in college (2003-07) and few years after when I still played a ton, you better have 5 guys that will battle to hold court or you may have had to wait an hour to play again. Some nights in the dead of winter you would have the 6 courts in the upper gym, one main floor gym and two lower floor all packed. You have the regular students who just played intramural or city leagues, other athletes from different sports (usually football), doctors or other younger university employees, high school basketball players in the area, young professionals and other people from the IC community bringing their game from Chicago. Those nights were so incredibly fun. The competitiveness of those nights made it so fun.

There were some great games going

 

[CO_hawk]

Ask yourself if you are still as passionate about Iowa football as you were from 2000 to 2010? My answer is no.

 

[LaQuintaHawkeye]

I have Iowa program ranked all-time...

football = #26
basketball = #40

MBB has more momentum right now, but it’s not sustainable (top 10 ranking) over the long haul. Could easily be top 25 for the next 5-8 years though.

FB will remain steady, with possible uptick over the next couple years.

Verdict: still a FB school


* Wrestling will always be our bread and butter

 

[jonesy5960]

I was there in the late 70's early 80's with Lute Olson and Hayden Fry. It was both then and it's both now. 😊

 

[Hawkfan_08]

It's certainly both right now. Really enjoy being a Hawk fan.

Men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball, football, wrestling and field hockey are all very strong programs. Track and field has had some great individuals and a good coach as well. Soccer has also been doing much better and even made a few tournaments recently.

 

[Gridiron24]

The ghost of Lickliter still lingers in Carver.

I still get mad when I think about Todd Lickliter.

That he didn't succeed ANYWHERE he went after Butler makes his success there even more mystifying. His cratering of Iowa's program wasn't a one-off, nor a case of wrong place/wrong time/wrong environment.

 

[HawkRugged17]