Hawkeye royalty at the game

[DMLadyhawk]

It was great to see so many members of Hawkeye royalty at the game yesterday. Past coaches from 1983 staff - biggest cheer for Dan McCarney I think. Game captain was Julian VanderVelde who I always liked and was very articulate in his interview. Hall of Fame inductees Jared DeVries and huge ovation for Bob Sanders. NFL visitors James Daniels, Josh Jackson and Desmond King. Just great to see them and know that they will always be Hawks.

And the motivation film at the beginning was narrated by Brad Banks. GO HAWKS!!!!

 

[Northside Hawk]

McCarney's connections with the Hawkeyes predate even Hayden Fry's, Bob Commings' for that matter. He played during the brutal Frank Lauterbur era, and was one of the leftovers on Commings' staff that Fry hired. He also made another huge contribution. He knew Barry Alvarez from recruiting Barry's territory in Northern Iowa/Twin Cities when Barry was a high school coach in Mason City and was the person who recommended Alvarez as an assistant coach when Fry needed one more to fill out the staff.

Sad to see that Hayden couldn't make it. Defensive Coordinator Bill Brashier, who is a lifelong friend and the same age as Hayden, was showing the years as well.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I have to say it...it's frustrating when all the attention goes to the guys who went on to win at other programs...Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Barry Alvarez & Dan McCarney. Bill Brashier may have been the most important member of Hayden's staff during the 80s and was responsible for really changing the mindset for Iowa defensively. Those early Hayden Fry teams didn't win with incredible offense, they won with incredible defense and he was the architect for that defense. I really wish he got more attention and recognition. I was there, and I watched the turnaround in Iowa's program...and it was the defense that led the way.

Honestly, it was tough to see him moving like he was yesterday.

 

[DMLadyhawk]

McCarney's connections with the Hawkeyes predate even Hayden Fry's, Bob Commings' for that matter. He played during the brutal Frank Lauterbur era, and was one of the leftovers on Commings' staff that Fry hired. He also made another huge contribution. He knew Barry Alvarez from recruiting Barry's territory in Northern Iowa/Twin Cities when Barry was a high school coach in Mason City and was the person who recommended Alvarez as an assistant coach when Fry needed one more to fill out the staff.

Sad to see that Hayden couldn't make it. Defensive Coordinator Bill Brashier, who is a lifelong friend and the same age as Hayden, was showing the years as well.

Yes, he was but stood proudly with the others and it was great to see him

 

[Northside Hawk]

I have to say it...it's frustrating when all the attention goes to the guys who went on to win at other programs...Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Barry Alvarez & Dan McCarney. Bill Brashier may have been the most important member of Hayden's staff during the 80s and was responsible for really changing the mindset for Iowa defensively. Those early Hayden Fry teams didn't win with incredible offense, they won with incredible defense and he was the architect for that defense. I really wish he got more attention and recognition. I was there, and I watched the turnaround in Iowa's program...and it was the defense that led the way.

Honestly, it was tough to see him moving like he was yesterday.

Barry Alvarez has called it a travesty that Brashier never became a college head coach.

He talks at length in his book about how Hayden wanted his assistants to have head coaching aspirations but didn't go out of his way to advertise them for openings.

Snyder, for one, probably deserved a HC job long before he was offered one.

Barry had to make a lateral move to Notre Dame, at Hayden's initial behest, to get out of the web because Brashier was blocking his (and McCarney's) chances of a DC position at Iowa.

There's a story about Barry accept the Notre Dame assistant position at the same time the coaches were about to go on their annual cruise and Hayden temporarily taking Barry's tickets away.

I've often wondered if then Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz had to intervene to smooth things out.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I have to say it...it's frustrating when all the attention goes to the guys who went on to win at other programs...Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Barry Alvarez & Dan McCarney. Bill Brashier may have been the most important member of Hayden's staff during the 80s and was responsible for really changing the mindset for Iowa defensively. Those early Hayden Fry teams didn't win with incredible offense, they won with incredible defense and he was the architect for that defense. I really wish he got more attention and recognition. I was there, and I watched the turnaround in Iowa's program...and it was the defense that led the way.

Honestly, it was tough to see him moving like he was yesterday.

Don't forget Bernie Wyatt, arguably our best recruiter. He had the New York/New Jersey connection and brought in too many impact recruits to mention.

He moved on to Wisconsin when Alvarez started and brought in many impact recruits up there with those same connections.

Brashier deserves accolades, and deserved to be a head coach, but I think he was comfortable playing the Ed McMahon role. He was the yang to Hayden's ying. But you're correct in that his defenses during the Andre Tippett years were critical in getting the program off the ground. Even when we lost we were seldom blown out. An after a couple years the offensive talent started arriving.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

McCarney's connections with the Hawkeyes predate even Hayden Fry's, Bob Commings' for that matter. He played during the brutal Frank Lauterbur era, and was one of the leftovers on Commings' staff that Fry hired. He also made another huge contribution. He knew Barry Alvarez from recruiting Barry's territory in Northern Iowa/Twin Cities when Barry was a high school coach in Mason City and was the person who recommended Alvarez as an assistant coach when Fry needed one more to fill out the staff.

Sad to see that Hayden couldn't make it. Defensive Coordinator Bill Brashier, who is a lifelong friend and the same age as Hayden, was showing the years as well.

FYI, they don't predate Commings, who played under Evy...

 

[Northside Hawk]

FYI, they don't predate Commings, who played under Evy...

I was talking about coaching connections but you are absolutely right about Commings playing for Evy. And that fact completely slipped my mind when I posted. Did you know that among others, Bill Happel's dad played for Evy, as did Bill's high school coach, longtime Cedar Rapids Washington Wally Sheets?

Who knows, maybe McCarney, an Iowa City native, was a ballboy or something before Commings got there.

 

[DMLadyhawk]

I was talking about coaching connections but you are absolutely right about Commings playing for Evy. And that fact completely slipped my mind when I posted. Did you know that among others, Bill Happel's dad played for Evy, as did Bill's high school coach, longtime Cedar Rapids Washington Wally Sheets?

Who knows, maybe McCarney, an Iowa City native, was a ballboy or something before Commings got there.

Good point to make is the generational loyalty in this program. And I think of that as a good thing. Relationships outlast jobs. Take a look at the article about Albert Young - he tells you the bonds are for life.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Good point to make is the generational loyalty in this program. And I think of that as a good thing. Relationships outlast jobs. Take a look at the article about Albert Young - he tells you the bonds are for life.

Relationships definitely outlast jobs. Want proof? Since 1995 I've had one wife-and seven jobs.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I was talking about coaching connections but you are absolutely right about Commings playing for Evy. And that fact completely slipped my mind when I posted. Did you know that among others, Bill Happel's dad played for Evy, as did Bill's high school coach, longtime Cedar Rapids Washington Wally Sheets?

Who knows, maybe McCarney, an Iowa City native, was a ballboy or something before Commings got there.

Entirely possible. McCarney. Having been born in 1953, he would have made a hell of a ball boy during the Evy era