FB: American Rivers Conference

[coocooforcoekohawk]

You heard it here first:

Rick Willis next Iowa State Head Football Coach

[footballdaddy]

I would think that no one would take that train wreck unless you were repeatedly hit in the head with a large hammer.

[Alfredeneumann]

You heard it here first:

Rick Willis next Iowa State Head Football Coach

YOU WISH HE WOULD LEAVE WARTBURG.

[sportsknight]

You heard it here first:

Rick Willis next Iowa State Head Football Coach

And you probably won't hear it second.

[sportsknight]

Sounds like UD has their man:

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=226290

[Klopenhiemer]

As far as the Chizek thing I think Pollard will be soon leaving.  He has not improved the athletics at all.  IMO getting rid of Coach Mc was a huge mistake.  He truly loved Iowa State and did wonderful things there.  Lets face it ISU is not a real gem to go coach at.  They had a coach that was successful by anyones standards at ISU.  I believe Chizek and take him at face value when he says that he wasn't looking to leave.  The real question is not how Auburn will do with Chizek the real question is who will they get to replace him and how bad will he be?  If Auburn can not get a "hot" coach to go there who will ISU get?  Not that Coach Mc was such a hot commodity when he was hired and he was successful.  I venture a guess here and say that ISU is in the cellar for the foreseeable future.  

This is the part that a lot of people that don't follow ISU sports don't realize. Most ISU sports are much better off now than they were under VandeVelde. The "visible" sports of football and MBB are not, although season ticket sales and attendance are at or near all-time highs and fundraising is the highest ever at ISU. I'd say as an AD, he's doing a hell of a job. Do I agree with the way he goes about doing it? No, but I can't argue with his results. Pollard had a job to do to get ISU caught up budget-wise to the rest of the Big 12. He couldn't sell football season tickets to fans with McCarney going into his 13th season and only having 3 wins. He had to go. At the time, Pretty much everyone in the nation thought that Chizik was the hottest thing going, and ISU got him. We knew that Chizik would not be at ISU for maybe 5 years, but expected that him leaving would be because of success, not after 5 wins total would anyone ever imagined that Auburn would have hired him. What ISU fans are most upset about right now is that only 1 person came out ahead in everything--Chizik gets a couple million dollars and ISU fans get 5 wins over 2 years.
Most people that think getting rid of McCarney was a mistake are hawk fans that feel a "presence" at ISU with McCarney there and know as long as he was around, they could always play the "ISU's Super Bowl" card.
I liked Dan just as much as anyone, and he was good for ISU, but his time was up and anyone remotely interested in the program knew what had to be done.
[/quote]

For as much as you say that the above post was spoken like an Iowa fan, your post sings the tride and true ISU faithful.  If Chiz was the hottest thing in the world two years ago, why did he go to ISU in the first place?  There were more lucrative jobs and more exciting possibilities open two years ago than the ISU program.  I am not trying to turn this into an Iowa vs. ISU debate because I am rare Hawkeye fan.  I am totally peeved that ISU's football team continues to stink.  If ISU could make some waves in the Big 12 then it would help the state as a whole.  

Saying that Mac had to go after a 3 win season because of lack of season ticket sales says nothing more than the lack of moral that ISU fans have towards their team.  When Iowa was terrible people still came out in droves to the came to see and support their team, even if they were just coming to see the marching band at half time.  

Mac did thing at ISU that no coach has done in the last 50 years of the program's history and it was a damn shame the way tha that he was escorted out the doors.  

The two sports that ISU is always decent at, womens basketball and wrestling were fine with Vany and are fine with Pollard.  Your money makers have taken a nose dive in recent memory.  For the ISU faithful I hope that McD can get the basketball team turned around and you can find a coach who is committed to your program for more than 5 wins.  

[Walston Hoover]

[Saying that Mac had to go after a 3 win season because of lack of season ticket sales says nothing more than the lack of moral that ISU fans have towards their team.  When Iowa was terrible people still came out in droves to the came to see and support their team, even if they were just coming to see the marching band at half time.   
The two sports that ISU is always decent at, womens basketball and wrestling were fine with Vany and are fine with Pollard.  Your money makers have taken a nose dive in recent memory.  For the ISU faithful I hope that McD can get the basketball team turned around and you can find a coach who is committed to your program for more than 5 wins.  

There's 3 to 4 times as many hawk fans in this state. No one is arguing they have more fans. ISU doesn't have the monetary resources they do. There's a hard core group of 30k Cyclone fans that are at every game, just like there is the hard core group of 60k hawk fans that are at every game. Those people are going to be there regardless of how bad the team is.
Again AT THE TIME the Chizik hire looked great. Now, Pollard has a chance to get it right. The record of FB and MBB have gone down, but they are selling more season tickets and getting more donations than ever before. If an AD can find ways to make more money off losing teams, he is doing a good job.
I know very few Cyclone fans that want McCarney around again or were unhappy to see him go. I know a TON of hawkeye fans that are exactly the opposite.

[sportsknight]

In the CR Gazette today, Mike Hlas compared Chizik leaving to when Alford left Iowa.  At the time that happened, a sportswriter down in New Mexico wondered if NM had done Iowa a favor in taking Alford off their hands so that the Hawks didn't have to decide how to get rid of Alford.  Hlas thinks that Auburn did the same thing for Iowa State by taking away Chizik.  If the Clones went through another crappy season next year, the heat would have really started to turn up on Pollard to make a change.  Now he has a clean slate to go out and find a coach that will be committed to winning at Iowa State for the next few years.

[Walston Hoover]

Sounds like UD has their man:

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=226290

Osterberger decides he wants to coach another IIAC school?

[Klopenhiemer]

In the CR Gazette today, Mike Hlas compared Chizik leaving to when Alford left Iowa.  At the time that happened, a sportswriter down in New Mexico wondered if NM had done Iowa a favor in taking Alford off their hands so that the Hawks didn't have to decide how to get rid of Alford.  Hlas thinks that Auburn did the same thing for Iowa State by taking away Chizik.  If the Clones went through another crappy season next year, the heat would have really started to turn up on Pollard to make a change.  Now he has a clean slate to go out and find a coach that will be committed to winning at Iowa State for the next few years.

Great post.  When Iowa hired Alford he was the hottest thing to hit the open market.  A Bobby Knight deciple and the know how to win in the Big 10 lead us all to believe the second coming of Jesus Christ was coming to Iowa City.  At least Chiz left with some class and did not call Iowa State a wrestling school as Alford left and claimed Iowa was a football school that would never back the basketball program.  Funny how they seem to rally about Lickballer. 

[Willie University]

Sounds like UD has their man:

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=226290

Osterberger decides he wants to coach another IIAC school?

That was funny. I wonder if he was the first head coach to ever coach at 2 IIAC schools?

[dutchfan1]

[Saying that Mac had to go after a 3 win season because of lack of season ticket sales says nothing more than the lack of moral that ISU fans have towards their team.  When Iowa was terrible people still came out in droves to the came to see and support their team, even if they were just coming to see the marching band at half time.   
The two sports that ISU is always decent at, womens basketball and wrestling were fine with Vany and are fine with Pollard.  Your money makers have taken a nose dive in recent memory.  For the ISU faithful I hope that McD can get the basketball team turned around and you can find a coach who is committed to your program for more than 5 wins.  

There's 3 to 4 times as many hawk fans in this state. No one is arguing they have more fans. ISU doesn't have the monetary resources they do. There's a hard core group of 30k Cyclone fans that are at every game, just like there is the hard core group of 60k hawk fans that are at every game. Those people are going to be there regardless of how bad the team is.
Again AT THE TIME the Chizik hire looked great. Now, Pollard has a chance to get it right. The record of FB and MBB have gone down, but they are selling more season tickets and getting more donations than ever before. If an AD can find ways to make more money off losing teams, he is doing a good job.
I know very few Cyclone fans that want McCarney around again or were unhappy to see him go. I know a TON of hawkeye fans that are exactly the opposite.

Interesting....according to former standout Todd Blythe, most of the players would prefer to play for McCarney, and didn't take to Chizik. When I talked to him Sunday morning, he said most players were pretty happy to see Chizik pack up and leave.

[knightlife06]

Probably most on the team would want McCarney because they were recruited by him.  I'm sure most (all) of Chizik's recruits wanted to play for Geno or else they wouldn't be at ISU.  That's what happen when teams get a new coach.  Poll all ISU fans and 85-90% of them would say that it was time for a new coach.  These last two years would have been the same, if not worse, under McCarney.

[Alfredeneumann]

If Pollard hires Tubberville to coach ISU, which school would have the better coach?

Depending on WHO JP hires and HOW he does, will go a long way on HOW LONG Jamie will be around Ames. Do you think he'll be updating his resume as soon as he hires a coach?

[Walston Hoover]

In the CR Gazette today, Mike Hlas compared Chizik leaving to when Alford left Iowa.  At the time that happened, a sportswriter down in New Mexico wondered if NM had done Iowa a favor in taking Alford off their hands so that the Hawks didn't have to decide how to get rid of Alford.  Hlas thinks that Auburn did the same thing for Iowa State by taking away Chizik.  If the Clones went through another crappy season next year, the heat would have really started to turn up on Pollard to make a change.  Now he has a clean slate to go out and find a coach that will be committed to winning at Iowa State for the next few years.

Great post.  When Iowa hired Alford he was the hottest thing to hit the open market.  A Bobby Knight deciple and the know how to win in the Big 10 lead us all to believe the second coming of Jesus Christ was coming to Iowa City.  At least Chiz left with some class and did not call Iowa State a wrestling school as Alford left and claimed Iowa was a football school that would never back the basketball program.  Funny how they seem to rally about Lickballer. 

If you call trying to bring some of your current players at ISU down to Auburn with you class, then yes, Chizik left with class. No one (that is rational at least) is blaming him for leaving to coach Auburn, but several are pissed he talked to 3-4 guys about coming down with him.