Jarryd Cole: Good player, Better person

H

hawkfarmer

Well-Known Member
We all know that Jarryd has been a great Hawkeye, but I had an experience today that Jarryd was involved with that showed me what a great human being he truly is, and may explain a lot why he never bailed on Iowa.

I am a coach for 1st and 2nd grade boys basketball in a league called Upward. It is a basketball league for kindergarten to 6th grade boys and girls to play basketball and hear the gospel. It is just great to see the kids learn basketball and about Jesus. Truly an amazing and humbling experience for me. (I have no kids so all of my players were unknown to me before the season).

Anyway, today was our awards ceremony for 600 players and families. Half way through the presentation, they invite Jarryd Cole up to talk to the kids. He explained to the kids about working hard to play ball but that it isn't everything in his life. He talked about his hardships with injuries and how God got him through it.

This is only about 20 hours after the Purdue game and the celebration. He stayed and talked with all the kids afterwards, shook hands etc. (Oh and this was in Ames, so he drove all the way up here).

Jarryd was always a guy I rooted for, but now I know what kind of person he is and I will always respect him What a great Hawkeye alumni, and great person.
 
Great story and post. He's really one of my favorite Hawkeye's of all time. If his knee injury hadn't robbed him of his athleticism he'd be a completely different player.

His greatest attribute in my mind his his ability find joy and SMILE regardless of how the season is going.
 
I heard some really good character stuff about him today too. Seems like someone like Cole is the type of person you'd have to be to endure all that he has.
 
Good post.......thanks for sharing. I can see why he was a good leader and players looked up to him. Hope he finds lots of success in whatever he does going forward.
 
Cole has been royally scr#wed in his college career with the coaching changes and injuries. I am very happy to have him this year.

This program would never turn itself around without guys like Cole and Gatens. They could have run away with the coaching changes and losing records but they stuck around. Others who come after them will get the mentions but without guys like Cole and Gatens the future would not look as bright.
 
Thanks for the report. Cole has had the patience of Job, and I hope he's rewarded for it in this life. Now I just wonder when we'll be seeing reports like this about Cole, and about Stanzi and Vandervelde and all the other great young men who represent the University of Iowa's sports teams hit the cover of SI?

And I wonder when the SI report will be coming out informing us of the numbers of sports reporters who have been arrested -- with a list broken down by publication and network, of course -- so we know when we're watching and reading the work of criminals?

But again, Mr. Cole and all those scores and scores of Hawkeyes like him, are what we're talking about when we say, "It's Great to be a HAWKEYE!"
 
Thanks for posting this. He's easily one of my favorite Hawkeyes ever.

Done a much better job representing the program then I would have done in the same situation.
 
That's part of why I got so incensed with the commentators during the Purdue game. They would say how Jarryd never reached his potential...then get the ususal interruption "timeout, TV timeout, foul, etc.), and never finish the story, but sort of allude to the fact he dealt with injuries. What they NEVER mentioned is that he STAYED at IOWA. He didn't "bail" like Jake Kelly, Tyler Smith, Anthony Tucker, Aaron Fuller or a host of others.

In other words...you honor commitments, stay through that commitment and deal with whatever happens. You don't flee for greener pastures, use the "family" excuse and then seek waivers for immediate eligibility, etc. etc. etc.

The Jarryd Cole-type is what college sports is about, NOT the Cam Newton whitewashing of his transgressions (at Florida and elsewhere) or Harrison Barnes going halfway across the country and dumping on his hometown team (ISU).
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
That's part of why I got so incensed with the commentators during the Purdue game. They would say how Jarryd never reached his potential...then get the ususal interruption "timeout, TV timeout, foul, etc.), and never finish the story, but sort of allude to the fact he dealt with injuries. What they NEVER mentioned is that he STAYED at IOWA. He didn't "bail" like Jake Kelly, Tyler Smith, Anthony Tucker, Aaron Fuller or a host of others.

In other words...you honor commitments, stay through that commitment and deal with whatever happens. You don't flee for greener pastures, use the "family" excuse and then seek waivers for immediate eligibility, etc. etc. etc.

The Jarryd Cole-type is what college sports is about, NOT the Cam Newton whitewashing of his transgressions (at Florida and elsewhere) or Harrison Barnes going halfway across the country and dumping on his hometown team (ISU).
Click to expand...

What? You realize Cole isn't from Iowa right? How about him turning his back on a UMKC program that could have really used him?

A player trying to better himself by going to the best program he can isn't what sports is about?
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
That's part of why I got so incensed with the commentators during the Purdue game. They would say how Jarryd never reached his potential...then get the ususal interruption "timeout, TV timeout, foul, etc.), and never finish the story, but sort of allude to the fact he dealt with injuries. What they NEVER mentioned is that he STAYED at IOWA. He didn't "bail" like Jake Kelly, Tyler Smith, Anthony Tucker, Aaron Fuller or a host of others.

In other words...you honor commitments, stay through that commitment and deal with whatever happens. You don't flee for greener pastures, use the "family" excuse and then seek waivers for immediate eligibility, etc. etc. etc.

The Jarryd Cole-type is what college sports is about, NOT the Cam Newton whitewashing of his transgressions (at Florida and elsewhere) or Harrison Barnes going halfway across the country and dumping on his hometown team (ISU).
Click to expand...


That's pretty weak if you are talking about Jake Kelly, which I'm assuming you are since you pretty clearly mention his name. Jake Kelly was a great Hawk, and had things not taken a terrible turn for the worst, would more than likely have finished his career at Iowa. Unbelievable you would even call what he has endured an "excuse"...stay classy.
 
Timeout. I would like to stop the thread hijacking. This was not a thread to belittle those that have transferred. It has nothing to do with even Cole staying a hawk, though I do mention it. The idea is that Jarryd is a down to earth Christian that knows basketball is not life, even though some Iowa fans forget this from time to time, and that he was willing to give up his Sunday after a huge win in Iowa City to drive to Ames to talk to 600 kids in a Christian basketball program, not about basketball but about his faith in the Lord. To me that is something special, and I hope Jarryd has a great future in whatever he decides to do.

Also, if you have never heard Jarryd speak, he is a very articulate young man who is extremely humble in everything he does and says. He's a genuinely nice guy.
 
Cole was one of the bright stars over the past years. I loved his attitude and how hard he played every game.
 
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