4 years, 36 wins is that good?

[CP87]

I wonder what drills well coached teams run for hanging on to balls that poorly coached teams do not.

If I remember this correctly, analysis that has looked at a team's propensity to fumble shows that it is largely random. That is, a well-coached team my fumble very little one year, and then with the exact same coaches, fumble much more the next year. Likewise, recovering fumbles once they hit the ground is largely random. I believe CAUSING fumbles tends to be more repeatable for a team (if a team causes a lot of fumbles one year, they are more likely to cause a lot of fumbles the next).

 

[ChosenChildren]

Is there an echo in here? Rev,tk, lightning...same old same old. Please go follow Ohio st, or Alabama. Good grief. You guys are getting more repetitive, read boring, as time goes by. You hate our U. President, past U. Presidents, our AD, Our head football coach (and his staff), our head bb coach and his staff, so why do you even hang out here? More recently, even our kids have been targeted by name, which has been out of bounds here until recently. The only real company you seem to have on this site is a clearly identifiable small group who continually bash everything iowa sports.

At Illinois, at Indiana, at Purdue I was sold a ticket that seated me next to the parents of Espy, Nate, Nelson, our punter, our field goal kicker, a couple of our running backs, and many others. I really enjoyed interacting with these folks. They really understand the game!
wish you could have been there. At the same time, I wonder if you would be willing to look these folks in the eye and make some of the comments you have anonymously posted here.

I may very well be looking through rose colored glasses at Iowa sports, of being too willing to have lower expectations, and to be more willing to trust the wisdom of our coaches and the administration than I should. But, I am also willing to admit that as a fan of football and basketball, I am way, way out of my league as a critic of successful Division 1 coaches.
And, so are you. Not knowing what you don’t know is a deep hole.

End rant.

Thank you for writing this. You expressed it so much better than I ever could.

this message board is a lot of fun. The 6 or 7 dudes that dominate it with 100% criticism of all of our coaches and AD (and often players) are interesting and entertaining, but you have to keep it in perspective. A message board is about "hits." It is a business. The "controversial" posters generate hits, so it is good for the business and the moderators love it. This is a free message board, so anything goes, including a bunch of fake posts from fans of opposing teams.

The negative dudes dominate, and by and large most of their posts are well written, even though they tend to be quite critical. The positive dudes are "boring" or "old" or "Kool-Aid" drinkers. Your comments are spot on. These games are played by a bunch of young men who are investing a lot to do it for an education and some memories. The vast majority of them will never get paid at the next level.

One thing to remember in these two sports (football and basketball) is that only one team is truly happy at the end of the season (the crowned national champion). All of the other teams have to accept less than that. Some win division titles; some win conference titles; and some win bowl games. Many of the teams don't even achieve those lesser results. I don't see anything wrong with celebrating a close win over a border rival, particularly after suffering 3 very close losses in a row. I know the Iowa football players felt good about it, as they should. A QB who was being criticized for not being "clutch," made a terrific throw to a tight end to put Iowa in a position to win the game. That play should be celebrated. It was great to see.

I think one thing that is frustrating for the fans is the incredible amount of money these coaches and ADs now are paid. It seems truly absurd to me. To me, the coaches are fair game, as are the ADs. Although I am guilty of it, it does seems unfair to criticize the players. They are not being paid.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I will criticize laziness or poor effort when I see it. Brian Piccolo once said "You can't quit-its a league rule."

Fortunately, compared to other major college programs, this isn't a huge issue at Iowa and I respect that. Our kids will make physical and mental errors, but they seldom quit. I saw signs of it at times with last year's basketball team (as did people who would know it when they saw it like Bobby Hansen) and commented accordingly.

 

[ChosenChildren]

The real question is "why do you even hang out here" if we're all so grating to your sensibilities? Just maybe could it be that you can't resist it? Like a rubbernecker at a bad accident?

The only real company you seem to have on this site is a clearly identifiable small group who continually celebrate mediocrity and what most other fanbases would consider to be failure to meet teams' potential in iowa sports.

Calling out coaches and athletic directors is fair game. You do a very good job of it.

Calling an 8-4 season "mediocrity" and "failure" is a little ridiculous, in my humble opinion. Frustrating? Yes. Mediocrity? No.

And yes, you are a celebrity on this board; always entertaining. Please don't stop. You know what you are doing. It is all in fun. It wouldn't be fun for you if we didn't take you on. Even you can admit that one. What is the point if everyone agrees with you?

And I admit it was an incredibly frustrating season. It sure seemed like we should have won at least 2 additional games.

This entire message board is irrelevant in the big picture. Most Iowa fans do not care what we think, nor do they read these posts. The entire message board is a clearly identifiable small group. You and your posse are a small group inside that small group. You need the "Kool-Aid" drinkers as a foil. As was said by Russell Crowe in "The Gladiator," are you not entertained?

 

[GoHawks12345]

I love how such a simple question by the OP have seemingly caused so much discomfort by 'fans' who never seem to have a good thing to say about the program.

 

[Fryowa]

Calling an 8-4 season "mediocrity" and "failure" is a little ridiculous, in my humble opinion. Frustrating? Yes. Mediocrity? No.

And I admit it was an incredibly frustrating season. It sure seemed like we should have won at least 2 additional games.

What I actually said was that it was a failure to meet potential. Which it was.

An 8-4 record doesn't really mean anything until you take it into context, which is what I feel a lot of people ignore.

We can say that it was a success, but in reality this Hawkeye team had the best defense in the Big Ten (better statistically than two teams that had/have realistic chances at the CFP). It also has the two best TEs in the country, both of whom could/will play in the NFL right now. At the same time.

And they still never beat a team with a winning record in conference play.

They had multiple chances to win the Big Ten West. Pissed it down their legs each time. Wisconsin offered it to us on a silver platter with a side of fries.

Beating Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, and Maryland who together averaged less than 3 conference wins total isn't a success to me, especially with what we supposedly had to work with.

 

[CP87]

What I actually said was that it was a failure to meet potential. Which it was.

An 8-4 record doesn't really mean anything until you take it into context, which is what I feel a lot of people ignore.

We can say that it was a success, but in reality this Hawkeye team had the best defense in the Big Ten (better statistically than two teams that had/have realistic chances at the CFP). It also has the two best TEs in the country, both of whom could/will play in the NFL right now. At the same time.

And they still never beat a team with a winning record in conference play.

They had multiple chances to win the Big Ten West. Pissed it down their legs each time. Wisconsin offered it to us on a silver platter with a side of fries.

Beating Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, and Maryland who together averaged less than 3 conference wins total isn't a success to me, especially with what we supposedly had to work with.

I think everyone feels the season was an underachievement based upon expectations. But there are really 2 questions:

• How is Iowa performing relative to other P5 programs? To that question, we say better than most, but not at an elite level (I would consider elite to be top 10%). A resounding, "Not bad."
• How is Iowa performing relative to its potential? Here, the coaches must simultaneously receive credit for constructing a team with a lot of potential, as well as receive criticism for not reaching that potential.

Based upon the talent of this team (+14 point per game differential), the schedule, opponent injuries, etc. they should have had at least 10 wins (I predicted 9 before the season, but everything seemingly broke perfect for them this year). They didn't get there, and the ultimate blame falls on the staff. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the staff still crafted a better than average program.

I am going to keep believing, cause why not?, and also because we have seen before that KF-led teams can occasionally break through ('02-'04, '09, '15). I think next year could be one of those years. If next year is again a disappointment (I have almost as long of a leash as Barta), I would be fine with a new Hawkeye era.

 

[okeefe4prez]

If I remember this correctly, analysis that has looked at a team's propensity to fumble shows that it is largely random.

What did the analysis say about the likelihood of fumbling not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times in the Rose Bowl?

 

[okeefe4prez]

An 8-4 record doesn't really mean anything until you take it into context, which is what I feel a lot of people ignore.

For a team like South Carolina, who has protected rivalry games with Texas A&M and Clemson, to go 8-4 ain't too bad (they missed that this year). The SEC East ain't the best, but with those protected games and Georgia, Florida and Tennessee in the division, wins can be tough to come by. Mississippi State is sitting there at 8-4 right now. That ain't bad for the SEC West where you have to play Bama, Auburn, LSU and A&M. A&M is also sitting at 8-4 with a SEC West schedule and a Clemson matchup in week 2 where they likely would have won but for a fumble over the pylon late in the game. Not bad for a first year head coach.

8-4 with a protected out of conference game with Iowa State and games against 8-4 Northwestern (who lost to a non P5 team), 7-5 Wisconsin (who lost to a non P5 team), 6-6 Purdue (who lost to a non P5 team led by a former Hawkeye) and horrible divisional teams like Nebraska, Minnesota and Illinois is actually pretty shitty. And there's simply no way to polish the turd this year. In 2008 there was because the team had a marquis win and was getting better every week despite losing some heartbreakers and changing QBs during the season.