Apologies if this has been discussed earlier, but I’ve been driving all day, and am just now catching up on threads and getting a chance to post.
I feel like the McCollum hiring is one of the most exciting Iowa coaching hires that I can remember. I can’t think of many other times when we’ve had a top candidate who was identified by the fan base, who was also coveted by other teams, who we actually ended up landing.
When McCaffery and Lickliter were hired, I think there was generally a positive and optimistic response among fans, but neither had been widely discussed before we learned they were taking the Iowa job. The same is true for George Raveling and Tom Davis back in the 80s, although that was prior to the Internet. The Jan Jenson hire happened so fast there wasn’t time for fans to discuss it. And while it turned out OK, the Kirk Ferentz hire was a massive disappointment at the time, having missed on Bob Stoops.
It seems like Hawkeye fan history has been marked by numerous highly sought coaches who never ended up at Iowa for one reason or another. The aforementioned Stoops is the most obvious example. Bruce Pearl is another. To a lesser degree, you might add Dana Altman to this list … he was there for the taking in 2007, but we went with Lick, and Altman eventually ended having strong success at Oregon.
But this time, we didn’t miss. We got the guy we wanted. You’ve got to be excited about the future of the MBB program.
The only other hire that I think had a similar level of excitement was when we got Steve Alford in 1999. Of course, that ended up not working out so well, but at the time, that hire produced intense excitement. Alford was coming off a successful run at SW Mo St, and was widely considered a rising star in the coaching ranks. In fact, when his name came up for the Iowa job, many dismissed the possibility, assuming Alford would hold out for the Indiana job, which was expected to be open soon with Bobby Knight nearing retirement age.
While I think the initial excitement level is similar for both Alford and McCollum, my confidence is high that McCollum will deliver the results to back up the hype. Unlike Alford, McCollum is a great fit, who understands what it means to be a Hawkeye, and wants to be here. He’s a great coach, AND he’s one of us.
In the coming weeks, some of the national pundits will no doubt give “grades” to the various coaching hires across the country. I can’t believe that any school deserves a better grade than Iowa and McCollum.
