I really miss Mr. Davis

[HaydenHawk56]

and Lute. Iowa looked like a competent, NCAA worthy basketball team most years.

 

[theboat]

I think Tom Davis could walk in today and do more with this team tomorrow.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I'll admit that at the time I was ready for a change, but I was young and stupid. Mr. Davis wasn't perfect but he could coach. Even his worst teams made you think "these guys are gonna be good someday".

 

[BILLYBOBSTEXAS]

Well, some on here miss Ralph Miller. Barney Miller not so much.

 

[lightning1]

I really miss an Athletic Director that gives a shit. That's what I'm missing.

 

[cincyhawk]

I'll admit that at the time I was ready for a change, but I was young and stupid. Mr. Davis wasn't perfect but he could coach. Even his worst teams made you think "these guys are gonna be good someday".

Mr. Davis's curse was that he followed Lute Olsen, and Olsen went to Zona and won ships.

 

[cincyhawk]

I really miss an Athletic Director that gives a shit. That's what I'm missing.

This is the problem. We've had two in a row that are terrible.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Mr. Davis's curse was that he followed Lute Olsen, and Olsen went to Zona and won ships.

That and he inherited such a stacked team and became a victim of his own success. He couldn't maintain that level of overall talent.

But he was a good guy, could coach, and he recruited enough to keep us generally top half of the conference and in the dance most years, and were fun to watch even if his teams weren't usually what you'd call legit contenders.

 

[mrolympia]

Dan Gable for AD.

 

[cincyhawk]

Dan Gable for AD.

He might make a better basketball coach. /s

 

[HaydenHawk56]

If anything, Mr. Davis's teams generally did not lose to the sisters of the poor. Not that it didn't happen because it did, but not like this. And, about 500 or better almost every year with an NCAA tourney birth and first round win. And his teams played with heart.

 

[mrolympia]

He might make a better basketball coach. /s

so would a monkey trained to use a dry eraser board. Said monkey could also be used as offensive coordinator. Think of the cash you'd save since you'd just have to give him bananas to eat.

 

[cincyhawk]

so would a monkey trained to use a dry eraser board. Said monkey could also be used as offensive coordinator. Think of the cash you'd save since you'd just have to give him bananas to eat.

I like it. You could save even more by hiring an elephant to be the A.D. - they work for peanuts!

 

[Xerxes]

I wasn’t a huge fan of Mr. Davis’s halfcourt offense or defense but he always seemed to have a team that could create turnovers with the press and a PG who could lead the team. JB is a SG forced to play PG because of poor recruiting at that position

 

[mopkins]

This thread reeks of member berries.

Memba tom davis? I memba

 

[Robowe]

This thread reeks of member berries.

Memba tom davis? I memba

I was thinking more Chris Farley (SNL).

 

[Shivetts]

Some of the players on the roster were not alive when Mr. Davis was coach here. His last season I remember Michigan State and Purdue running through the Iowa press like it was a 3 on 1 drill. Guard play is way too good to have a defense like that now.

 

[Fryowa]

...I remember Michigan State and Purdue running through the Iowa press like it was a 3 on 1 drill. Guard play is way too good to have a defense like that now.

That’s a great point that I don’t think enough people consider. The game has changed immensely and it isnt as slow and deliberate as it used to be. Also, the way fouls are called now you could never let your guy get behind you and these players aren’t near athletic enough for that. Any bump or tap is called now, and when the ball gets Hail Mary’d down court because of the press, you’d have a mess.

 

[#1DieHardHawk]

I was always a fan of Mr. Davis, but, keeping it real, I think that a large portion of his reverence by Iowa fans is the result of human nature hindsight after the program fell apart with Alford/Lickliter, and, now, (possibly) Fran.

As was pointed out in another thread, he basically had three philosophies that kept the team competitive, but, at the same time, also failed the team at times: the press, the 1:3:1 zone, and the bounce pass to the post. When at least two of the three wasn't working, he couldn't adjust.

His conference record without Raveling recruits was 54%, and he missed the NCAA tournament 3 of his last 6 seasons. Ironically, his career parallels Ferentz's in many respects. The criticisms at the time were eerily similar - same old stale game plans, the program is spinning its wheels, other schools have figured him out, stubborn adherence to philosophy, etc. etc.

Davis was and is a good example of what can happen when fans want to elevate a program from good to great. It's a gamble that may or may not work out. In this case it certainly didn't.

 

[Knight78]

Mr. Davis's curse was that he followed Lute Olsen, and Olsen went to Zona and won ships.

Umm... NO. It was George Raveling that followed Lute. Raveling could recruit at a high level but my grandma was a better game coach. After getting all that talent, George was let go and they brought in Mr. Davis. He won immediately with George's recruits. But after they were gone, he never really attained that level again. Yeah, Mr. Davis never lost a first round NCAA game, but after the first year when he won 30, he never won more than 24 games (and that was his second year). And Mr. Davis did this with pretty much the same number of games during the season and playing the same low-level teams as pre-season.