This may be the season the wheels fall off the program.
Yeah, while there's certainly reason for hope with the right amount of reserved expectations sprinkled in, I don't think people realize just how much most of our sports are teetering on falling off the map within the next few years if things don't change..................
I won't speak to sports like track and golf, etc, as they have pretty much been what they are for decades.
The only sports that are really in a healthy place right now are the big 4
women's sports at Iowa:
Basketball, wrestling, field hockey and soccer
All 4 are competitive and have won numerous championships or made deep runs in the NCAA Tournament in recent years and show no signs of slowing down.
Wrestling- just won the national championship and are only getting started
Basketball- will take a step back this year because apparently nobody wants to transfer to play for Iowa
@shikreto who I am certain has me on ignore at this point......
But we have already seen and will continue to see the effects of Caitlin Clark bringing an uptick in recruiting for Iowa. It's just gonna take some time for these next few classes to arrive and develop.
Field hockey- consistently among the tops in the B10 and any given year, if things fall together, they can make a run to the Final Four.
Soccer- have seen a massive uptick in recent years and will continue to be competitive in the Big Ten for the next several years.
@Menace Sockeyes would have to speak more to that, though.
As for the men's sports, most of them will still be competitive for their respective place within the hierarchy of each sport, but for most fans at this point, it's no different than perpetually circling the drains.
Football is in a more precarious position than people realize. 2024 is gonna be a challenging schedule, and while we have a very good, veteran group returning, staying healthy is a massive key to prevent the wheels from completely falling off.
But after this year is when things could get scary. We lose a F**K ton of seniors from 2024 and Kirk (and consequently Phil) aren't gonna be around for much longer. So we will be going through the growing pains of a coaching change in the garbage new landscape of the expanded B10 and CFB sooner than later.............
Men's basketball is becoming about as much of a punchline as Brian Ferentz's offense were. No young black men who are high level D1 basketball players want to come play for Iowa, at least while Fran McCaffrey is still here, and that's a problem. Fran is not long for staying in Iowa City though, so we could be seeing changes again sooner than later.
In keeping with the changes theme, Tom Brands' time at Iowa may be coming to a close as well if Iowa continues to spin its tires on the national scene, being a perennial second fiddle to Penn State with the occasional face plant like this past year...........
While on the surface, finishing 2nd every year seems nice.......wrestling fans are getting more and more fed up with it each year, and the ones making excuses for Tom are getting fewer and far between.
I also had a nice write-up on baseball and the sh** show that's going to ensue once the Pac 12 schools arrive in the Fall, but for whatever reason the post decided to not go through and cut out everything I had written about baseball, so I say f*** it, this will be good enough for now........... 🫠
