Hawkeye Lose Three Historic Giants During Last Nine Months
- Thread starter RobHowe
- Start date
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Now John Thompson has passed away. He was instrumental in helping put the Big East on the map and in teaching physical defense with waves of bodies. In his prime he was sort of a cross between Bob Knight and Dean Smith and his star player (and current Hoya coach) Patrick Ewing had one of the greatest collegiate and Olympic careers ever.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
$28,000 to be head basketball coach in a major conference.
Nowadays its not unheard of for a high school kid to make that in two summers of working. If he or she is willing to work.
More on John Thompson. He became a terrific analyst in his post coaching days, mostly on national radio. He could really diagnose post play. both offense and defense, and had that unmistakable booming James Earl Jones baritone.
Another former coach who became a terrific radio analyst was former Michigan coach Bill Frieder. He was good at breaking down X's and O's for a listening audience e. He's come a long way from the whiney, paranoid, Iowa hating, big nosed parakeet that used to prowl the wolverine sidelines (and who almost became Iowa State head coach in 1980).
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Two coaches not mentioned in the article:
Vivian Stringer hired by Bump in 1983. Took the womens hoops program to a final four in 1993. Won 78% of her games at Iowa over 12 years.
Gayle Blevins was hired in 1987. 16 NCAA tourneys, 4 CWS appearances, 5 B1G championships, 2 B1G tourney titles. One of the most accomplished softball coaches in conference history.
If you total Fry's 3 Rose Bowls, Gables countless national titles, Olson's Final Four, Stringer's final four, and Blevins' titles as softball coach, you would be hard pressed to find someone who has made a collection of hires who had a bigger impact on the trajectory of their athletic department than Bump Elliot's in the 70's and 80's.
Vivian Stringer hired by Bump in 1983. Took the womens hoops program to a final four in 1993. Won 78% of her games at Iowa over 12 years.
Gayle Blevins was hired in 1987. 16 NCAA tourneys, 4 CWS appearances, 5 B1G championships, 2 B1G tourney titles. One of the most accomplished softball coaches in conference history.
If you total Fry's 3 Rose Bowls, Gables countless national titles, Olson's Final Four, Stringer's final four, and Blevins' titles as softball coach, you would be hard pressed to find someone who has made a collection of hires who had a bigger impact on the trajectory of their athletic department than Bump Elliot's in the 70's and 80's.
Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
Stringer set the tone in her second year, 1984-85. She turned down an NIT invitation after narrowly missing the NCAA's. She wasn't concerned, at least openly, about the seniors missing out or the windfall that might have been generated from hosting a potential NIT game. She said (paraphrase) "We're going to the NCAA's, simple as that. We're not accepting consolation prizes. We're taking bigger prizes. That's a lesson learned right there."
I don't know if Iowa ever failed to qualify for the Dance again on Stringer's watch.
One interesting thing about Stringer was she recruited heavily from her east coast roots. She wanted players who played defense, and the quaint six on six game was still being played in iowa high schools (albeit being phased out) She didn't know if someone like Lynne Lorenzen could play defense, because Lynne never had to. So Stringer didn't recruit her.
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Northside Hawk
Well-Known Member
We also lost Don Shula, and the 1970's era Dolphins were the team of my youth.
After the season you referred to Iowa went 9 straight years winning 20+, 9 straight dances, 2 elite eights, and 1 final four. I'd say she set the tone! Stringers last season was her only losing season at Iowa.
