2-16

[MikeDog70]

In my not-so-professional opinion, I think the knock on Davis was more a philosophical one. I'm not trying to slam him as I think his years at the helm were full of some great memories. But wasn't his style of play somewhat unique in that he played a long bench? And I always felt that was the reason we couldn't land the blue chippers be cause they wanted the playing time and exposure. Sure, he landed his few (some mentioned already). And I think this also transferred to his success in the tournament or input of conference games because the unique style was a little more challenging to prepare for? Again, I don't attest to be the most knowledgeable, it's just part of what I remember.

 

[HawkeyeTech]

Do you realize that in Davis' last eleven seasons he had only one season as good as Fran had this year. Further, in his last twelve season Davis won fewer games after the first round than Lute did in '80.

Do you realize you have no idea what you're talking about? You might want to do a little research before making an ambiguous statement like that. Mr. Davis had at least three seasons as good as this year.

And how many first round games did Lute lose to inferior teams? Davis won 7 first round and one second round game (never lost a first rounder). Unfortunately his teams kept getting screwed on seeding and had to play a Final Four team in the second round just about every year.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

You're a real piece of work. You've done nothing with your 1,500+ posts but bag on Mr. Davis. I never understand people that feel the need to denigrate one person in order to lift someone else up.

Ruined the program? That's hilarious. He brought us 13 NCAA tourney wins, 3 Sweet 16's and an Elite 8. He finished in the Top half of the conference 10 out of his 13 years during a time that saw the Big 10 at the toughest its been in the history of the conference. And frankly, none of that holds a candle to how he brought the program forward thru it's darkest time when Chris Street died.

Did he have flaws? Absolutely. But you're a flat out loser to come onto a message board and besmirch a class guy and an excellent representative of the university just to make someone else look better.

Do us all a favor and go crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out from.

In his last ten years at Iowa Davis was two games over five-hundred in the conference. If you add in in his two BTT loses he was exactly at five-hundred. That is mediocrity.

Sure he never lost a game in the first round. But like I said, in his last twelve years Davis won fewer games after the first round than Lute did in '80. You want me to crawl back in my hole because I speak the cold hard truth. I've got so many stats to ruin your false perception of Davis, it is ridiculous.

 

[PCHawk]

If Fran has the exact same resume as Davis after 13 years, then Fran will be the better coach. Since they both took the program over under extreme circumstances (Fran's team was really bad and Davis's team was really good) it's only right to eliminate the first 2 years when comparing.

 

[ColumbusHawk]

If Fran has the exact same resume as Davis after 13 years, then Fran will be the better coach. Since they both took the program over under extreme circumstances (Fran's team was really bad and Davis's team was really good) it's only right to eliminate the first 2 years when comparing.

Davis took over a program that had six future NBA players. I'm not including Jepsen because he didn't play in Davis' first year.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

In his last ten years at Iowa Davis was two games over five-hundred in the conference. If you add in in his two BTT loses he was exactly at five-hundred. That is mediocrity.

Sure he never lost a game in the first round. But like I said, in his last twelve years Davis won fewer games after the first round than Lute did in '80. You want me to crawl back in my hole because I speak the cold hard truth. I've got so many stats to ruin your false perception of Davis, it is ridiculous.

Not sure what your point is. Nobody is saying Davis was as good as Lute....no one.

Your issue with Mr. Davis is a little weird.

Davis was a good coach, Fran is a good coach, Lute is a Hawkeye legend.

what exactly is our "false perception " of Davis? He was a good coach, not a great one, and he had some very good teams. Get over it.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

That is a joke. The Chris Street incident is a very tragic. But to think that Iowa was a "great team" with Street is delusional. It is a very tragic event, I feel sorry for his parents. Not to dismiss the incident, but Lester's knee injury was far more significant in terms of basketball.

You sir are Completely clueless!!! WTF did I just read??

 

[BigD]

Why knock Mr. Davis?
13 years at Iowa.
9 NCAA Tournaments
6 round of 32 finishes
2 sweet 16 finishes
1 Elite 8 finish

McCaffery has been at Iowa 5 years. He took over a program in the tank. He has done a good job, but the reality is he has an NCAA tournament win over Davidson to show for his 5 years. NIT was nice but who the hell cares about the NIT?

Excuse time is over after 5 years. He has had plenty of time to build a successful program so in the next 8 seasons, he will have to get to the sweet 16 twice, the elite 8 once and get to the round of 32, 5 more times to equal what Mr. Davis did. I hope it happens but I would bet a lot of money it will not.

Mr. Davis was a good man and does not deserve any sarcasm regarding his coaching record.

HERE HERE!!!!! I second this motion. I wish Fran the best but the things just listed on this post show that Fran has a long way to go before he is in Tom Davis's realm. I am hoping like hell it happens, but let's not get delusional at this point as we are not there yet.

I like Tom and Fran both and am grateful that they are associated with the University of Iowa.

 

[docholihawk]

I guess you havent heard about the difference between the two men. I lived in and around Iowa City from 1973 to 1985. I had a ton of friends who were big hawk fans, big donors, who worked at the U and I heard them talk about both men. The comparison isnt even close.

Alford was known around Iowa City as someone who wanted everything free and comped from haircuts to clothes to whatever and he was probably one of the top paid people in Johnson County let alone the state. We all know how Alford threw his players under the bus and never took any blame. he also chased away some really good players. Sommerville was a senior at Bradley when Alfords team was the 3 seed and lost to NW Lousiana. Sommerville on that team and they might have been a 1 seed because he was better than Bruner.

I heard from people that Tom Davis was just a very nice man, period. I barely met Tom Davis playing at Finkbine in that there were a lot of people around. I was playing in a tournament and Mr. Davis was trying to qualify for some amateur tourney. Just listening to him talk a little that day to others I came away thinking he was as genuinely nice as he seemed doing interviews, etc.

In response to your comment about Alford wanting things for free, when he first got here he went to buy new furniture and he told the owner/manager that he expected a 50% discount at least.
His opinion of himself is rivaled only by cyfans opinion of their team.

 

[HawgEyeState]

But the message boards love Davis & hate Alford. At least Alford won something!

Sort of agree with this. Some folks need to get-over the Alford thing.
He got quite a lot out some squads, at Iowa, with little depth.
The Reggie Evans/Brody Boyd BTT championship was Great times at Iowa
Pierre Pearce was a derelict, who would have been trouble for anyone.

Just let it go............

 

[homes]

Why knock Mr. Davis?
13 years at Iowa.
9 NCAA Tournaments
6 round of 32 finishes
2 sweet 16 finishes
1 Elite 8 finish

McCaffery has been at Iowa 5 years. He took over a program in the tank. He has done a good job, but the reality is he has an NCAA tournament win over Davidson to show for his 5 years. NIT was nice but who the hell cares about the NIT?

Excuse time is over after 5 years. He has had plenty of time to build a successful program so in the next 8 seasons, he will have to get to the sweet 16 twice, the elite 8 once and get to the round of 32, 5 more times to equal what Mr. Davis did. I hope it happens but I would bet a lot of money it will not.

Mr. Davis was a good man and does not deserve any sarcasm regarding his coaching record.

It's not a zero sum game when discussing Davis and McCaffery. Both have been good for the Iowa program. But, to be factually accurate, the team Davis took over was loaded, thanks to Raveling, while the team McCaffery took over was a disaster. Their starting places were completely different. Davis's Elite 8 and one of his Sweet 16 teams came in the first 2 years, filled with very good players that were already at Iowa.

 

[blubberhawk]

If Fran has the exact same resume as Davis after 13 years, then Fran will be the better coach. Since they both took the program over under extreme circumstances (Fran's team was really bad and Davis's team was really good) it's only right to eliminate the first 2 years when comparing.

That is a helluva big IF.

 

[blubberhawk]

It's not a zero sum game when discussing Davis and McCaffery. Both have been good for the Iowa program. But, to be factually accurate, the team Davis took over was loaded, thanks to Raveling, while the team McCaffery took over was a disaster. Their starting places were completely different. Davis's Elite 8 and one of his Sweet 16 teams came in the first 2 years, filled with very good players that were already at Iowa.

I'll give you that but even with that, Fran will have to win a first round game 5 times and get to the sweet 16 once in the next 8 years. We shall see.

 

[deanvogs]

But the message boards love Davis & hate Alford. At least Alford won something!

We need a Ralph or a Lute. It was obvious that Davis couldn't even come close to maintaining Lute's level of success after about two seasons. It was obvious by then that Davis had ruined the program. Do you realize that in Davis' last eleven seasons he had only one season as good as Fran had this year. Further, in his last twelve season Davis won fewer games after the first round than Lute did in '80.

So you are saying that a coach isn't as good as HOF coach? Big shock there, and I'll let you in on a little hint......no coach is gonna do at Iowa what Lute did.

What we don't want is a scumbag like AlFraud who protects/defends rapists running the program. Oh yeah, and he had crappier NCAA results (both getting there, and winning there) than the guy you are ripping on (Davis).

 

[WindsorHawk]

If Fran has the exact same resume as Davis after 13 years, then Fran will be the better coach. Since they both took the program over under extreme circumstances (Fran's team was really bad and Davis's team was really good) it's only right to eliminate the first 2 years when comparing.

I don't feel the need to compare coaches. The past is the past and we're in the here and now. But this post seems fair...if some feel compelled to make a comparison.

 

[WindsorHawk]

WTF did I just read??

Thumbs up from me.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

We need a Ralph or a Lute. It was obvious that Davis couldn't even come close to maintaining Lute's level of success after about two seasons. It was obvious by then that Davis had ruined the program. Do you realize that in Davis' last eleven seasons he had only one season as good as Fran had this year. Further, in his last twelve season Davis won fewer games after the first round than Lute did in '80.

Huh?

Davis's last 11 seasons:

1988-89: 4 seed, NCAA 2nd round
1989-90: No post-season
1990-91: 7 seed, NCAA 2nd round
1991-92: 9 seed, NCAA 2nd round
1992-93: 4 seed, NCAA 2nd round
1993-94: No post-season
1994-95: NIT
1995-96: 6 seed, NCAA 2nd round
1996-97: 8 seed, NCAA 2nd round
1997-98: NIT
1998-99: 5 seed, Sweet 16

I count five seasons in his last 11 (which was most of his tenure) that were as good or better as this season. Four if you only count teams made up of his own recruits.

Just not sure I get the Tom Davis hate, guy was a heckuva coach, but just didn't/couldn't maintain the level of talent he inherited from Lute/Raveling.

No, Tom Davis is no Lute Olson, but Lute is a HOF coach. Come on. It took 15 years after he was shown the door for this program to even sniff the amount of success he had.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

That is a joke. The Chris Street incident is a very tragic. But to think that Iowa was a "great team" with Street is delusional. It is a very tragic event, I feel sorry for his parents. Not to dismiss the incident, but Lester's knee injury was far more significant in terms of basketball.

That team was ranked in the Top 10-12 when Street was killed, and they beat the Fab Five WITHOUT him. Just sayin'.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

HERE HERE!!!!! I second this motion. I wish Fran the best but the things just listed on this post show that Fran has a long way to go before he is in Tom Davis's realm. I am hoping like hell it happens, but let's not get delusional at this point as we are not there yet.

I like Tom and Fran both and am grateful that they are associated with the University of Iowa.

Agreed 100%. Although I think Fran is at least as good a coach as Davis, and could potentially be better depending on how he can recruit in the coming years, Fran certainly has a ways to go in terms of repeating the success Davis had - 9 NCAA bids, etc. etc. Hopefully that's just a matter of time until Fran starts piling up his own coaching stats on our sidelines.

I wish we could see what Fran could have done with this program if he'd inherited the team Tom Davis did, instead of the mess Lick left behind. You would think that recruiting would have been far better those first few years.

 

[Tkingpin]

ColumbusHawk - you clearly don't remember that George Raveling was the coach in between Lute and Mr. Davis. Mr. Davis took the same players that George Raveling had (Raveling was never really above .500 IIRC) and went 30 - 5 the next year.

In a perfect world, we would have Mr. Davis as the Head coach teaching the full court pressure and offense and George Raveling as the Asst Head Coach whose main responsibility was recruiting and teaching rebounding.

That would be a perennial Top 10 tandem.

Or somehow just kept Lute for all those years...