Kinda got sucked into reading about/watching Hawkeye teams in the 80s. Men's basketball with Tom Davis coaching George Raveling recruits, football going to a few Rose Bowls, Vivian Stringer winning big 10 championships, wrestling.
Man, the 80s must have fun
- Thread starter General Tso
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10 NCAA basketball appearances in 11 years. Four sweet sixteens. Easily could have been 4-5 more sweet sixteen spots.
Was an awesome time indeed ..
The thought of Rodney Monroe and Chris Corchiani made me post this.
I was on top of the world. A Final Four in 1980, the number 1 rated football team in 1985, and the most colorful football coach in America. How many Hayden's are out there now?
I feel sorry for the Hawkeye fans that missed that decade. Go Hawks!!!
It was an awesome time to be on campus (82-86). My biggest regret is that I spent too much time in the library and not enough in the stands.
Throw in no social media during this time.
The 80's were a ton of fun.
But, as with any good times there were sad times - losing two Rose Bowls, (getting shut out in one, and losing another one thanks to cheater Ronnie), missing the FF after being ahead of UNLV by 20. Losing to OSU in a rain storm when the Hawks were #1,
But, on balance, it was a pretty awesome time to be a Hawk fan.
But, as with any good times there were sad times - losing two Rose Bowls, (getting shut out in one, and losing another one thanks to cheater Ronnie), missing the FF after being ahead of UNLV by 20. Losing to OSU in a rain storm when the Hawks were #1,
But, on balance, it was a pretty awesome time to be a Hawk fan.
It was awesome, my brother who is 12 years younger than me teases me all the time because I talk about the 80’s.
I think now he understands that it was a special time to be a Iowa fan!
Yes it was, all six years as an undergrad striving to maintain Iowa as the #1 Playboy party school in the nation. Basketball, Football and Wrestling can certainly make a fan proud.
Awe yes, the 80s...on so many levels
. One of the greatest moments in Hawkeye lore: The return to the Fieldhouse (gym not the bar) of the national champion Iowa Wrestling team and then the arrival of the Final Four bound men's basketball team. It was pretty late by the time the bball team got there and the place was packed with fans that were pretty well lubricated and hyped. Moments that you never forget...although the memory is a little fuzzy as it was the 80's.
. One of the greatest moments in Hawkeye lore: The return to the Fieldhouse (gym not the bar) of the national champion Iowa Wrestling team and then the arrival of the Final Four bound men's basketball team. It was pretty late by the time the bball team got there and the place was packed with fans that were pretty well lubricated and hyped. Moments that you never forget...although the memory is a little fuzzy as it was the 80's.
I grew up in Iowa City in the eighties and because of Iowa's success, I'm borderline obsessed with Iowa BB and FB even though I haven't lived in Iowa for 20 years. The eighties were magical as a Hawkeye fan.
My grade school principal making the announcement we were getting out early due to an ice storm the day of the Iowa/Rutgers first round in 1989 was one of the finest moments of my childhood.
Graduated West High in 1980. Left town right after and spent 7 of the next 10 years in San Diego. Big Hawk fan base out there and was a lot of fun watching the Hawks play football in SoCal many times and basketball on tv, when you could get it.
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Thanks to Bump Elliot the 80s were the best decade ever for Iowa athletics. Football, basketball, wrestling were all great (of course wrestling winning 10 Big Ten and 7 national championships led the way). Throw in women's basketball (who else attended the OSU game in 1985 with 22,000 in attendance?), men's swimming with two Big Ten championships, and women's field hockey with 6 Big Ten championships, four final fours and a national championship. It was a great decade.
Yup. Not only a good time to be an Iowa fan, but that's when some of us were young, healthy and having fun. "The good old days", so to speak.
Iowa mens basketball 80's.
| 1979–80 | Iowa | Lute Olson | 23–10 | 10–8 | 4th | NCAA Final Four |
| 1980–81 | Iowa | Lute Olson | 21–7 | 13–5 | 4th | NCAA First Round |
| 1981–82 | Iowa | Lute Olson | 21–8 | 12–6 | 2nd | NCAA Second Round |
| 1982–83 | Iowa | Lute Olson | 21–10 | 10–8 | T-2nd | NCAA Sweet Sixteen |
| 1983–84 | Iowa | George Raveling | 13–15 | 6–12 | T-7th | |
| 1984–85 | Iowa | George Raveling | 21–11 | 10–8 | 5th | NCAA First Round |
| 1985–86 | Iowa | George Raveling | 20–12 | 10–8 | 6th | NCAA First Round |
| 1986–87 | Iowa | Tom Davis | 30–5 | 14–4 | 3rd | NCAA Elite Eight |
| 1987–88 | Iowa | Tom Davis | 24–10 | 12–6 | 3rd | NCAA Sweet Sixteen |
| 1988–89 | Iowa | Tom Davis | 23–10 | 10–8 | 4th | NCAA Second Round |
Stringer was hired by Iowa in 1983.
| 1983–84 | Iowa | 17–10 | 11–7 | T–3rd | |
| 1984–85 | Iowa | 20–8 | 14–4 | 2nd | |
| 1985–86 | Iowa | 22–7 | 15–3 | 3rd | NCAA Division I Second Round |
| 1986–87 | Iowa | 26–5 | 17–1 | T–1st | NCAA Division I Elite Eight |
| 1987–88 | Iowa | 29–2 | 17–1 | 1st | NCAA Division I Elite Eight |
| 1988–89 | Iowa | 27–5 | 16–2 | T–1st | NCAA Division I Sweet 16 |
Iowa wrestling 80's
| 1979-1980 | 17-1 | Natty | ||
| 1980-1981 | 21-1 | Natty | ||
| 1981-1982 | 16-0-1 | Natty | ||
| 1982-1983 | 17-1 | Natty | ||
| 1983-1984 | 16-1 | Natty | ||
| 1984-1985 | 18-0 | Natty | ||
| 1985-1986 | 16-1 | Natty | ||
| 1986-1987 | 19-2 | |||
| 1987-1988 | 16-3 | |||
| 1988-1989 | 17-2 |
Oh my, almost all the fun I had in the 80s was illegal. I'd have been in prison if there had been camera phones and social media in the 80s. Anyone who would have pulled out a camera back then would have gotten their ass kicked and had their camera destroyed.
Ive often thought about how the 80s were definitely glory days for the athletic department. If March goes well it could be the start of the 20s being another golden era for iowa sports.
It was the golden age of Iowa hoops. Likely not to ever be repeated again. From 1979-80, mad the tournament 10 of 11 years. 1 Big ten regular season title, 1 Final 4, another Elite 8, two other Sweet 16's. It was insane. With all the success, with even a bit of luck could have had more. The big 10 title team in 1979 lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Toledo on a fluke shot at the buzzer. The Final 4 team had to endure Lester's injury, then him going down in the Final 4 game against Louisville when he scored the first 10 points and got hurt. And 87 had the huge halftime lead and then loss to UNLV in the. Elite 8.
The 1983 team lost in the Sweet 16 by a single point to Villanova. Iowa was unlikely to beat the great Houston team in that region with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon, but still a gut wrenching loss. That doesn't even get into the infamous Jim Bain game in 1982.
And that was just basketball. Women's hoops, football and wrestling were also great.
Hawkeye baseball games were also a blast in the 80's. On a sunny spring day you could go to the ballpark, no charge, and bring your own cooler of beer. Things would get rowdy, and head coach Duane Banks loved it.
Was just a golden era of college campus life as well. Could come and go from the stands, kegs in the dorms, etc... Sure the music was cheesy but it was also a blast.
Best part was no phones, truly felt like you were in your own world and didn’t have to worry about mistakes getting plastered over Twitter/Facebook. Once you were out for the night never knew where it would lead you.
Best part was no phones, truly felt like you were in your own world and didn’t have to worry about mistakes getting plastered over Twitter/Facebook. Once you were out for the night never knew where it would lead you.
I was sitting in the dugout when all of a sudden a body came slamming down face first onto the rock track directly in front of me. I jumped up and ran to the guy, he was not moving a muscle. Without budging he just kept saying “I’m okay, I’m okay”. Apparently he was dancing on top of the dugout leading a cheer and shouted to his buddy to toss him a beer from the cooler. His buddy threw too high and this guy reached to catch the beer and face planted. Yes, loved the wild drunken fans but as player you didn’t want to f’up or they would let you know! Good times, played 80-83. Duane loved it too until they would start getting on him about weight. Duane Banks the Bobby Knight of Big 10 baseball.
I heard recently the Iowa basketball games on TV pulled a 93 rating which is really crazy even though we had only a four five channels. Football and basketball dominated every Monday morning conversations at work. My wife cried when it was reported Chris Street had died and the next game they came from behind to beat MichSt in the next game. Those kids were almost like family.
My biggest regret is that I spent to much time in the stands and not in the library. That said, they were heady times indeed, particularly wrestling.
Hayden Fry restoring the football program coupled with all the success on and the court and the mat made us Hawkeye fans very giddy. Add to that the music and the anything goes atmosphere made the 80s a decade we will never forget.
Yup. Ah, glory. The idea that someone would try to punish you for your "mistakes" later was completely foreign. People who did that shit back then were called narcs and once identified they were ostracized--no one invited those pricks to parties and if you saw one of them there everyone would bail or, occasionally, there would be a glorious ass-beating.
It's horrific that the no-fun douchebags took over this country. Evangelical Christians were like Jehovah freaks back then. Not only did you not associate with those freaks, but you'd be considered a pariah if you were a God nut back then. I don't know what the **** happened, but somehow half the country thought that the Christian nuts were the heroes in Footloose.
Wow, that's a lot of hatred there buddy. You think the "Jesus Freaks" run the U of Iowa or ever did? Who do you think runs the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and Johnson County. All of the shit about which you are complaining has been done by the most left wing people in the state of Iowa.
