Fry v KF

Thawki said:
I am sorry but it is factually incorrect that there were only 12 bowl games back then. Heck, I can name the following off the top of my head: Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Orange, Astro-Blue Bonnet, Gator, Peach, Freedom, Sun, Independence. And I can guarantee you I didn't just name ten of only twelve bowl games at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1976–77_NCAA_football_bowl_games

The above numbers are from 1976, midway through the decade I was referring to. Be it 12 or 15, the point remains. 4 bowl games in 8 years then...was a bigger deal than now. Thus, ISU had a pretty decent program when Hayden took the job in 1979.


As I ticked these off I decided to look it up. While I am correct that it is factually incorrect to say there were only 12, College Football Reference.com lists only 15 bowl games in 1978. That number surprises me a little. I thought it would have been more around 20 to 25.

There is probably no one that knows more about Iowa football than me from Hayden Fry forward in terms of remembering the history of that time. Starting QBs while I was attending Iowa were Long, Long, Long and Vlasic. I do not recall Fry ever making the comment about bad things happening when the ball is thrown over the middle. And he threw over the middle quite a bit to TEs like Hayes, Flagg, Cook, just to name a few.
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Yep
 
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I wouldn't say it was the departure of Matt Rodgers. It was the loss of top line assistant coaches.

The 95 and 96 Hawks were pretty good and take away a dumb Tulsa loss with wrong shoes, it would have been 9-2. The 97 team lost a lot of close games. End of 98 season the wheels fell off. In some publications, Fry's last 2 recruiting classes were pretty decent...at least on paper.
 
Funny how selective our memories can be.

I can not--and will not--forget running the Statue of Liberty against Illinois in 1980. Twice. In a row.

Nor will I forget the meltdown against NW in 2005.

Frankly, as fans, we've been remarkably lucky with just two coaches from 1979-to-present.

And while KF may "knock" on the state of Iowa in terms of recruiting, Hayden often did the same thing in calls for better recruiting in our track & field program and our "need for speed".

BOTH have taken players that had zero recruiting "love" and turned them into stars.

It's difficult to argue one vs. the other. Different eras, different men, different outlooks. Yet, remarkably similar in their respective approaches in the way that basically gave the impression that every game was winnable.
 
I see it more as Fry and KF, not Fry v. KF.

It is interesting to note that in the 10 years before Fry got to Iowa, it was either OSU or Michigan as champs (with the 1 exception of MSU tying in 1978). In the Fry era, there were 8 different teams that won the conference. There are probably a lot of reasons for that, but certainly Fry challenged the norm early on that it could only be OSU or Michigan.
 
Hayden's ability to recruit really went down hill toward the end. Other coaches cashed in with comments about Fry coming up on retirement. This was an interesting thread...thanks! All in all, I am just very glad we had Hayden and now we have Kirk. I sat through Ray Nagel, Bob Commings, Frank Laturbur, and cheered for first downs. Guess everything is relative.
 
HuckFinn said:
Hayden's ability to recruit really went down hill toward the end. Other coaches cashed in with comments about Fry coming up on retirement. This was an interesting thread...thanks! All in all, I am just very glad we had Hayden and now we have Kirk. I sat through Ray Nagel, Bob Commings, Frank Laturbur, and cheered for first downs. Guess everything is relative.
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That's just not true if you read the article. That class was pretty good and the one before was rated well too.
 
Hey, HawkGold. I remember a number of articles around that time, even some quotations from Iowa coaches, that other schools' recruiters were using Hayden's health issues, as well as his age, as ammunition. I don't disagree with your thought that the recruiting was still good, since I don't really know how to judge that. Just was recalling some things I remember about the end of the Fry era.
 
I remember hearing Fry on a radio broadcast of a game a few years ago in which he came on air for 10 minutes or so. He was critical of Ferentz not throwing more down field. Seemed to get really agitated by it.
 
HawkGold said:
I wouldn't say that about your knowledge of Iowa football in comparison to others. Your not the only one who ate up everything and Fry did say it. Yes, I thought about making an exception for TE's but most passes to the TE's were not beyond the 1st Down Marker so I didn't mention it.
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I didn't say there weren't others that knew just as much. I said no one knows more than me. I am not discounting that others may be as knowledgeable as me at all. I am sorry for any confusion.
 
Thawki said:
I didn't say there weren't others that knew just as much. I said no one knows more than me. I am not discounting that others may be as knowledgeable as me at all. I am sorry for any confusion.
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No problem at all. My memory is sometimes wrong. I do specifically remember being very frustrated at the lack of over the middle/down the middle passes outside of TE's. I was more frustrated with Prevent Defense preventing victories. That said, I sure did love HF as a coach. I've come to accept KF as a coach with warts and all. All one has to do is look at ISU/IL,MN,Purdue,IN and think....that could be Iowa. Actually all of those teams have flirted at times with having decent teams. KF has kept that from happening. All those programs mentioned do in fact look up to Iowa, even if with some disdain.They are total wrecks now. Heck, we could even credit HF with rebuilding KSU and Wisky.
 
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