Ben Jacobsen is 10 times the coach that McD or Lickliter is

[Rawkhawk73]

for the following reasons:

1. His in-game coaching is much better than either of those two. It's obvious he knows the right buttons to push and how to handle match-ups and mismatches.

2. He is a much more "player friendly" coach. His players love him, he obviously knows how to assemble a TEAM of players that like each other and want to play for him and their teammates. He is definitely more of a "Leader of Men", than either of those two put together.

3. His OFFENSIVE style is not as deliberate as some might think. Sure, he's a defense first coach (because defense wins championships), but he knows how to mix it up offensively. I like how he uses big men (as opposed to having them 25 feet from the basket setting screens), I like how he'll spread the court and allow the point guard to dribble drive and then dish. He'll give the players freedom to fast break when it's there, but not to push it at all costs.

4. He actually understands how to break a press.....I'm still convinced Lickliter is incapable of figuring out how to do that.

Having said all that, though, I don't think there's any way he gets hired unless all the other "splash" hires turn us down. Between McD, Lickliter and Alford, I think Barta would get run out of town on a rail if he hired Ben. However, I do get tired of people just spouting off and dismissing him (Jon, this includes you) because of pre-conceived notions you might have about the man. And please, stop with the "If Jacobsen's the best we can do, we should have kept Lickliter". Lickliter would have had a player mutiny on his hands had we kept him.

Bottom line is that there's more to being a good coach than just knowing basketball.....I have no doubt that Todd and Greg have forgotten more about basketball than I'll ever know, but I still think Ben is 10 times the COACH than either of them are.

 

[HawkI101]

You may be right but tell me what he did in last nights game that any other coach wouldn't have done. Heck the last shot they got was a 25 foot shot, you would think a good coach would get his team a better shot than that at the end of the game.

Also, you do realize everything he has learned he learned from McDermott as his assistant for for like 10 years.

He has done a great job at UNI but so did McDermott and when McDermott was there the MVC was a much better conference getting multiple bids to the tourney each year. The MVC has only been able to get one in each of the last 3 years, that conference isn't as tough right now which has benefited Jacobsen in the win / loss column.

I think he is a good coach too but don't like it when people proclaim he is better than anyone else.

 

[Rawkhawk73]

You may be right but tell me what he did in last nights game that any other coach wouldn't have done. Heck the last shot they got was a 25 foot shot, you would think a good coach would get his team a better shot than that at the end of the game.

Also, you do realize everything he has learned he learned from McDermott as his assistant for for like 10 years.

He has done a great job at UNI but so did McDermott and when McDermott was there the MVC was a much better conference getting multiple bids to the tourney each year. The MVC has only been able to get one in each of the last 3 years, that conference isn't as tough right now which has benefited Jacobsen in the win / loss column.

I think he is a good coach too but don't like it when people proclaim he is better than anyone else.

A couple of things:

1. What happens in a single game is not indicative of how good a coach someone is. A coach earns his money in practice and preparation and Jacobsen obviously had his team prepared against a much more athletic opponent.

2. I don't care if he learned under Mac or not. Pearl learned under Davis and I'd say that right now Pearl is a better coach than Davis. He took all the good things he learned from Davis and discarded the bad. Same with Jacobsen.

 

[burky247]

I disagree with the "10 times better" analysis. But I will assume you were being overly dramatic.

He may be better. But it's not by much(if at all). Mac and Lick seemed they were the real deal at their mid major schools as well.

 

[HawkI101]

Pearl is a good coach but what makes you say he is better than Davis. Now, I am not saying he is not I just want to know why you think he is. I will go with the assumption that you think he is because he has been winning a lot of game and gone deep in the tourney??? Pearl has much better talent to work with than Davis ever did. I would definitely say that Pearl is a much better recruiter than Davis ever was but don't think you could ever prove one is a better coach. Heck, I could say based on that that Davis was a better coach because he was successful with far less talent but I couldn't prove that.

 

[Clonehomer]

You could have said the same thing about McDermott when he was at UNI. The fact is that mid-major coaches are a crap shoot. You have some guys that can come in and succeed right away. But then you also have a lot of coaches that cant adjust their system to the BCS conferences.

If you think that his system would be successful in the big10 then you are kidding yourself. More athletic teams will eat them alive. Im not saying that he couldnt succeed in time, but be prepared for several years of frustration.

 

[HawkeyeShane]

You could have said the same thing about McDermott when he was at UNI. The fact is that mid-major coaches are a crap shoot. You have some guys that can come in and succeed right away. But then you also have a lot of coaches that cant adjust their system to the BCS conferences.

If you think that his system would be successful in the big10 then you are kidding yourself. More athletic teams will eat them alive. Im not saying that he couldnt succeed in time, but be prepared for several years of frustration.

EXACTLY! We've learned that lesson the hard way already! If the Hawks were going to settle on Jacobsen they may as well held onto Lickliter one more year to see what happens.

 

[GhostofBTT]

Jacobesn is having a good season because he has a good, experienced, senior lead team this season. That doesn't nessecarily mean he is ready to blow up on the next level. Although he undoubtedly had a part of recruiting the seniors on this team, he has yet to recruit a big playmaker as HC of UNI.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

You could have said the same thing about McDermott when he was at UNI. The fact is that mid-major coaches are a crap shoot. You have some guys that can come in and succeed right away. But then you also have a lot of coaches that cant adjust their system to the BCS conferences.

If you think that his system would be successful in the big10 then you are kidding yourself. More athletic teams will eat them alive. Im not saying that he couldnt succeed in time, but be prepared for several years of frustration.

You don't think he would be able to recruit more athletic guys to the big ten? People here are so hung up on "systems" its 90% talent in college basketball. If he has good players in his system, it will work, no matter what conference he's in.

 

[HawkeyeShane]

You don't think he would be able to recruit more athletic guys to the big ten? People here are so hung up on "systems" its 90% talent in college basketball. If he has good players in his system, it will work, no matter what conference he's in.

But Mike, you could've asked the same question of Lickliter and watching Butler, Iowa's gotten the short end of the stick in that department since he got here.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

But Mike, you could've asked the same question of Lickliter and watching Butler, Iowa's gotten the short end of the stick in that department since he got here.

Yeah and I'm not saying he would bring in talent for sure, but look at the post I was responding to, to say there's no way the system would work, is wrong. IF he was able to bring in quality players then it would work, that's all I was saying. It comes down to talent not the system.

 

[Rawkhawk73]

You could have said the same thing about McDermott when he was at UNI. The fact is that mid-major coaches are a crap shoot. You have some guys that can come in and succeed right away. But then you also have a lot of coaches that cant adjust their system to the BCS conferences.

If you think that his system would be successful in the big10 then you are kidding yourself. More athletic teams will eat them alive. Im not saying that he couldnt succeed in time, but be prepared for several years of frustration.

You mean how UNLV ate them alive?

I understand your point about Mac, but the difference between Mac and Jacobsen is that Jacobsen is much more willing to adjust his "system" to A)the talent on the team and B)the talent on the other team. Mac is so damn stubborn, always has been. It's easy to see that Jacobsen allows much more freedom, offensively, to his players than Mac ever has or will.

 

[Clonehomer]

You mean how UNLV ate them alive?

I understand your point about Mac, but the difference between Mac and Jacobsen is that Jacobsen is much more willing to adjust his "system" to A)the talent on the team and B)the talent on the other team. Mac is so damn stubborn, always has been. It's easy to see that Jacobsen allows much more freedom, offensively, to his players than Mac ever has or will.

I guess I don't consider UNLV to the same talent as the upper half of the Big10. If UNI can keep it within 20 today then maybe I'll bite. Jacobsen's running the same system that Mac ran at UNI. He just has players that can run that system to perfection. He's not adjusting the way he plays, he just gets guys that fit the way he coaches. Mac tried to do that early in his time at ISU and we ended up getting owned by the athletes in the conference. Then he tried to adjust his system by bringing in guys like Gilstrap and Brackins. That obviously didn't work either.

UNI is full of seniors this year and this is the best team they've had since Mac left. Yet, do you really think that this team would have made the tournament in the Big10 or Big12? They needed a last minute shot and idiot moves by Dendy to even beat ISU, a team that finished 11th in the Big12. ISU also blew out Bradley, a team that UNI lost to.

 

[Rawkhawk73]

I guess I don't consider UNLV to the same talent as the upper half of the Big10. If UNI can keep it within 20 today then maybe I'll bite. Jacobsen's running the same system that Mac ran at UNI. He just has players that can run that system to perfection. He's not adjusting the way he plays, he just gets guys that fit the way he coaches. Mac tried to do that early in his time at ISU and we ended up getting owned by the athletes in the conference. Then he tried to adjust his system by bringing in guys like Gilstrap and Brackins. That obviously didn't work either.

UNI is full of seniors this year and this is the best team they've had since Mac left. Yet, do you really think that this team would have made the tournament in the Big10 or Big12? They needed a last minute shot and idiot moves by Dendy to even beat ISU, a team that finished 11th in the Big12. ISU also blew out Bradley, a team that UNI lost to.

I'm sorry, but what UNI is running today against Kansas is nothing that I've seen ISU run. That isolation dribble drive with Ahelegbe is just killing Kansas as he can either draw a foul or kick out to a shooter (Ali). Maybe Mac can't run stuff like that because Garrett is a turnover waiting to happen, but I'm seeing a lot of good things, offensively, from UNI.

On the flipside, what they are doing defensively against Kansas is a thing of beauty. Any time it comes to the post, they are doing an automatic double-team and Kansas is completely befuddled. Neither Lick or Mac would have the ingenuity to come up with something like that. Lick would just play straight up man, switch all screens, and end up with Bawinkle on Collins and get burned all night.

 

[HawkI101]

I'm sorry, but what UNI is running today against Kansas is nothing that I've seen ISU run. That isolation dribble drive with Ahelegbe is just killing Kansas as he can either draw a foul or kick out to a shooter (Ali). Maybe Mac can't run stuff like that because Garrett is a turnover waiting to happen, but I'm seeing a lot of good things, offensively, from UNI.

On the flipside, what they are doing defensively against Kansas is a thing of beauty. Any time it comes to the post, they are doing an automatic double-team and Kansas is completely befuddled. Neither Lick or Mac would have the ingenuity to come up with something like that. Lick would just play straight up man, switch all screens, and end up with Bawinkle on Collins and get burned all night.

Jacobsen is a genius. No other coach in America would have even thought to double the post. Where did he come up with that.

 

[ibahawkeye]

Did anybody catch during the UNLV game, the announcer talking about Jake's playbook? They said it contains over 100 plays and most other coachs have less than half as many plays. I thought that was an interesting fact.

I'm not trying to say this is what makes him a good coach but he must have a creative mind to come up with this many plays.

 

[woodyk1]

Did anybody catch during the UNLV game, the announcer talking about Jake's playbook? They said it contains over 100 plays and most other coachs have less than half as many plays. I thought that was an interesting fact.

I'm not trying to say this is what makes him a good coach but he must have a creative mind to come up with this many plays.

He got that from McDermott. I think Greg has 500 plays in his playbook. Well, he has a lot too.

 

[jsmhawk]

for the following reasons:

1. His in-game coaching is much better than either of those two. It's obvious he knows the right buttons to push and how to handle match-ups and mismatches.

2. He is a much more "player friendly" coach. His players love him, he obviously knows how to assemble a TEAM of players that like each other and want to play for him and their teammates. He is definitely more of a "Leader of Men", than either of those two put together.

3. His OFFENSIVE style is not as deliberate as some might think. Sure, he's a defense first coach (because defense wins championships), but he knows how to mix it up offensively. I like how he uses big men (as opposed to having them 25 feet from the basket setting screens), I like how he'll spread the court and allow the point guard to dribble drive and then dish. He'll give the players freedom to fast break when it's there, but not to push it at all costs.

4. He actually understands how to break a press.....I'm still convinced Lickliter is incapable of figuring out how to do that.

Having said all that, though, I don't think there's any way he gets hired unless all the other "splash" hires turn us down. Between McD, Lickliter and Alford, I think Barta would get run out of town on a rail if he hired Ben. However, I do get tired of people just spouting off and dismissing him (Jon, this includes you) because of pre-conceived notions you might have about the man. And please, stop with the "If Jacobsen's the best we can do, we should have kept Lickliter". Lickliter would have had a player mutiny on his hands had we kept him.

Bottom line is that there's more to being a good coach than just knowing basketball.....I have no doubt that Todd and Greg have forgotten more about basketball than I'll ever know, but I still think Ben is 10 times the COACH than either of them are.

RECRUITING is the name of the game for Iowa right now. Jacobsen would need some serious upgrades on his staff for him to recruit the type of talent to compete night in and night out in the big ten. Sure they beat kansas in this one game tournament, but we need athletes to compete with Mich St, Ohio St, etc every night in the Big ten. He is a great coach and a great fit at UNI. Hope he stays there and away from Iowa.

 

[tmurph2643]

RECRUITING is the name of the game for Iowa right now. Jacobsen would need some serious upgrades on his staff for him to recruit the type of talent to compete night in and night out in the big ten. Sure they beat kansas in this one game tournament, but we need athletes to compete with Mich St, Ohio St, etc every night in the Big ten. He is a great coach and a great fit at UNI. Hope he stays there and away from Iowa.

Iowa competed with those teams at home. This UNI team would have finished middle of the pack in the b10... probably 4-6 and probably made the tourney. Jake can recruit, and I think he would bring in some good recruiters with him. I have a feeling that there are some former hawkeyes he would reach out to. HE IS A VERY GOOD IN-GAME COACH.. MUCH BETTER THAN HIS PREDECESSOR.

He is still not in my top 3... but I think he would bring some excitement to Carver for me.

 

[glidinghawk]

Jacobsen is a genius. No other coach in America would have even thought to double the post. Where did he come up with that.

His sub patterns are also right on the money.

I'd like to see him at Iowa with a couple guys who have strong Chicago and AAU connections.

GlidingHawk