If you are willing to get rid of a coach after the next season, there is no reason to keep them on now. What is one more season going to do for Fran? Nothing except see too many empry seats in CHA. It’s time to make a change after 15 seasons.
State of U of Iowa Athletics
- Thread starter ICWestfan
- Start date
Stop drinking, old man.
Light years? They lost a couple Big ten champ games. In those years and bowl games. Last year they did not make the big 10 champ game and they lost their bowl game. The only way to make strides is to have 10, 11 wins every year and being in the national championship. to be Georgia or Alabama. Iowa is not Georgia or Alabama. And I kind of like it that they are not. I would like Iowa to be Iowa... So I'm not complaining about all the bowl losses but I also think people need to be realistic.
The elite girls play high level club volleyball once the high school season ends.
The big exception was the Meester girl from Mt Vernon.
It is my belief that all it would take is 2-3 girls deciding they want to be the start of a resurgence in IC.
Having it actually happen is another thing.
This was my thought during the Brian fiasco... Also during the doyle fiasco
Explain what?
Explain why Gonzaga has good basketball? Explain why back in the day Houston had great college golf and their coach could barely swing a golf club but knew how to drive a station wagon and read a road map.
Who cares?
Sometimes it’s coaches as human beings.
Explain this to me? Are you saying she doesn't play club volleyball, because I can assure you that she does. Her team won the national title last year.
Do Beth and Kirk get along ?
If they do then I believe the Brian firing came for the president of the university and not Beth.
If they do then I believe the Brian firing came for the president of the university and not Beth.
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I’m speaking Iowa kids in general… are we specifically speaking a certain group of kids? Volleyball girls? What. About field hockey…I bet Illinois thinks we are raping them!
Maybe it all equals out?
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You replied to a post about Iowa volleyball not being able to keep Iowa girls, placing much blame on the bad winter weather.
Yet the girls referenced are primarily going to Iowa's regional rivals - Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin - which have as bad or worse weather than Iowa and in Nebraska's case, an even worse "stagnant lifestyle" than Iowa.
The reasons you cite are definitely among the reasons Iowa struggles to keep young people in the state. It does not appear to be one of the major reasons Iowa volleyball is failing to retain in-state prospects, however.
Yes, the comment that you responded to was about volleyball players, and a lot of our best volleyball players have ended up at Nebraska or Wisconsin, or even Ames and Cedar Falls:
What I'm saying is her club season doesn't get into full swing because she also plays basketball.
I realize they can do both, but as I learned with my granddaughters, sometimes these big volleyball tourneys start on Friday, so basketball season can conflict.
Sorry, I didn't clarify my original post regarding her specifically.
BTW...since you know her, is she still going to Louisville after the HC left?
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Iowa imports MORE female field hockey players though than they export women volleyball era…crew team members, too. I can live with the trade-off, I guess.
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Not me.Iowa imports MORE female field hockey players though than they export women volleyball era…crew team members, too. I can live with the trade-off, I guess.
I enjoy watching college volleyball.
Field hockey is boring as hell and crew isn't even worth observing.
You never watched “Boris and Natasha” back in the Bullwinkle and Rocky days? Crew is good!
90% of money comes from 10% of donors. $200 gifts shouldn't be the focus.
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I’ve had season wrestling tickets for about 20 years. I love the Brands brothers. But I think this new era of college wrestling has passed them by, and I don’t see them ever getting back to winning championships. At this moment though, there aren’t any candidates out there they could be replaced with that would do any better. They missed the boat on David Taylor, as he went and is now coaching Oklahoma State. Best case scenario is 5-6 more years of mediocrity and naming Spencer coach when he’s done competing.
The days of taking unheralded recruits and turning them into hammers are over. With the youth wrestling, national and world tournaments, it’s a lot more predictive who the elite wrestlers are, and PSU is gobbling them up.
The days of taking unheralded recruits and turning them into hammers are over. With the youth wrestling, national and world tournaments, it’s a lot more predictive who the elite wrestlers are, and PSU is gobbling them up.
PSU has a huge $$$ advantage over the field. They’ve seized the moment 10-15 years ago. $$, coaching, athletes…
The goal is 10,000 members. You think all additional members would be at the $200 level? Adding more support even at the $200 level increases funds along with increasing awareness. I would imagine if we doubled or tripled our numbers we would land a few more bigger fish. Even the $200 members more than likely will increase their wealth in their lifetime and jump levels. I'm moved up a level and also signed up my wife (no pic) just to help do my part to increase numbers.
Swarm reminds of society in general. Everyone always expecting others to pick up the slack while they spend all of their time on a message board or social media complaining about the results.
10,000 members isn't going to happen. Cultivating relationships through meaningful engagement is the way to major gifts supporting NIL.
It appears you are right. But with Hawkeye fans self proclaiming themselves as die hard I don't think that was an out of line goal.
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Iowa men's basketball fans are the most fairweather in the entire conference.
hawkeyetraveler
HB Heisman
Fair weather fans is part of it, but I don’t think it’s the main driver. It’s more like many of us are simply tired of the same ol’ schtick. Great offense, limited defense, underperforming expectations regularly. I suspect with a new coach and new energy we would be much more engaged even if the record was worse next year.
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Look, I'm not discounting the problems or the frustration.
But here is something I also know - when I was growing up in Madison, the UW Badgers were TOTAL ASS in basketball, like always bottom of conference, lucky to sniff .500, etc. And they PACKED out the Fieldhouse most nights during Big 10 play.
But Torbee, you are saying, that was THEN and this is NOW and there are a lot more things compelling our attention spans.
To that I say you are correct, HOWEVER, look at Nebraska - I believe has never won an NCAA game and often doesn't make the tournament, won't even play in Big 10 tournament this season - and their last home game against Iowa was a SELL OUT.
Crap-ass Northwestern has a full student section for Big 10 games despite having a shittier record and less NCAA success than Iowa. Iowa is lucky to get 1,000 students in against a ranked opponent.
Both things are true - Iowa has underachieved lately AND our men's basketball fanbase is fairweather and fickle. You can't sugarcoat it.
hawkeyetraveler
HB Heisman
I don’t disagree with how you characterize it. I didn’t bother to turn on the TV myself this past Sunday. It wasn’t because I don’t support them win or lose - which is my definition of fair weather. I watched them consistently through many losses and poor seasons over the years. This feels different - it is almost more boredom watching the same mediocre result play out over and over again. Like it doesn’t matter because Fran doesn’t seem invested in changing his defensive approach (although I will credit him that his court behavior has moderated a bit). At least with Ferentz we saw Kirk 2.0, the Lester era, etc. I still support the players, donate to swarm, etc. but I struggle to keep my attention on the games.
As for the students - not sure what to do. I suppose it’s one part location of Carver, one part winter is cold and maybe a much larger part there is no party aspect to the games like football. You want students there maybe they need to have a somewhat warm area for students to pregame.
or have CC22 play every game, guys or girls. even play tennis and wrestle.
Sure it could, implement an NIL license fee for every season ticket sold for Football, WBB and Wrestling. 60,000+ members instantly.
Where are the Iowa programs at athletically?
WBB in great shape and poised for future success
MBB, fading and Fran fatigue is real. The attendance trend needs to turn around soon or the program is in real trouble. NIL support for the program is beyond pathetic. That being said, Fran doesn't deserve to be fired, at least not yet.
Football, steady and above average. Future is uncertain though because a HC change will come sooner rather than later.
W Wrestling is the best in the country and will likely remain there for a long time. NIL support needs to grow though.
M Wrestling, I have TnT fatigue myself and question if improvement can actually be achieved where we realistically challenge for a Natty again. Not likely until CS leaves PSU IMO. Iowa youth wrestling pales in comparison to other states now.
Baseball, currently struggling but Heller is a great coach and the program should be steady as long as he's here. NIL issue here too.
Unless Iowa can organically grow NIL most programs will just be average. How revenue sharing is allocated might be the most impactful decision of the Iowa AD in a generation or more.
been hearing this for years. about KF. it's got to happen sometime , just dunno when
The NIL is always going to be a problem with an ever growing divide between the haves and have-nots. Until the NCAA decides to grow a pair and put a cap on NIL spending, schools like Iowa, in spite of their great fan base, are going to be at a disadvantage.
this is true 100%. I hate the NIL, but I don't trust the NCAA. maybe a new organization gets created?
Good point, but I'd argue that's different than expecting 10,000 voluntary members of a collective. Additionally, I doubt there are 60,000 unique season ticket holders.
My greater point was to expect 10,000 donors at $200. I work in fundraising, and resources are often better used when finding individuals who can make larger gifts.
I'm not keen on that idea to be honest, but it could provide a reliable new revenue source for that purpose. I also understand the challenges with fundraising, an often thankless and time consuming task.
Fund raising ain’t pleasurable. A couple of the biggest pricks I ever knew were fund-raisers….and damn good ones, too. It’s a tough gig to ask folks to give you money… and then ask them for more money again…..and again and again… A good fund raiser could have been a bad politician, too!
