Last time we were good?

That 05-06 team was definitely good. Better than good.

Here's a question:
When was the last time Iowa was competitive?

I think Iowa was pretty solid Lick's second year before Cyrus Tate got injured. They started the season 10-2 (or something close) and Tate was a force. Remember that ISU game? He embarrassed Brackens? Iowa had an inside presence and decent guard play.

When Tate went down, so did Iowa.
 
Sirhouseman said:
That 05-06 team was definitely good. Better than good.

Here's a question:
When was the last time Iowa was competitive?

I think Iowa was pretty solid Lick's second year before Cyrus Tate got injured. They started the season 10-2 (or something close) and Tate was a force. Remember that ISU game? He embarrassed Brackens? Iowa had an inside presence and decent guard play.

When Tate went down, so did Iowa.
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Losing Tate hurt alot that year, plus he was nowhere near 100% the rest of the year even when he did play. If not that year, then the last competetive team was Alford's last. Without looking it up, I think they finished 17-14 overall, but were definitely 9-7 in conference. Lick's 2nd team would probably have had a similiar overall record (instead of 15-17), albeit probably a worse in-conference record, if Tate hadn't been injured.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
Losing Tate hurt alot that year, plus he was nowhere near 100% the rest of the year even when he did play. If not that year, then the last competetive team was Alford's last. Without looking it up, I think they finished 17-14 overall, but were definitely 9-7 in conference. Lick's 2nd team would probably have had a similiar overall record (instead of 15-17), albeit probably a worse in-conference record, if Tate hadn't been injured.
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Alford's last season was a great coaching job. Really, his last two years were both really solid coaching jobs. This is why I didn't want to see Alford go, I felt he was on the verge of becoming a truly outstanding coach. But I do think the fanbase was too fractured by the point for it to ever work out for him at Iowa.
 
Sirhouseman said:
That 05-06 team was definitely good. Better than good.

Here's a question:
When was the last time Iowa was competitive?

I think Iowa was pretty solid Lick's second year before Cyrus Tate got injured. They started the season 10-2 (or something close) and Tate was a force. Remember that ISU game? He embarrassed Brackens? Iowa had an inside presence and decent guard play.

When Tate went down, so did Iowa.
Click to expand...

yeah, I remember that game...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXhQuW6Ll94]YouTube - IOWA - IOWA STATE 2008 - ISU BLOOPERS[/ame]
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
Alford's last season was a great coaching job. Really, his last two years were both really solid coaching jobs. This is why I didn't want to see Alford go, I felt he was on the verge of becoming a truly outstanding coach. But I do think the fanbase was too fractured by the point for it to ever work out for him at Iowa.
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Agree... Iowa won 23 Big Ten games those last two years...but the bridges were burnt for some fans...too bad.
 
kuhntz said:
Never won the Reg season B10....and we really weren't that good. The B10 was just down during Alford's years.

Andre Woolridge senior year would be my bet for last truly good Iowa team. Although Mr. Davis's last season run to the sweet 16 had a solid team...just needed Ricky Davis to have stuck around so we had the go to guy/playmaker for the tournament.
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During Wooridge's senior year, Iowa went something like 19-10...not that great. That was also during a stretch when the Big Ten was just as bad or worse than Alford's years.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
Alford's last season was a great coaching job. Really, his last two years were both really solid coaching jobs. This is why I didn't want to see Alford go, I felt he was on the verge of becoming a truly outstanding coach. But I do think the fanbase was too fractured by the point for it to ever work out for him at Iowa.
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I believe you are correct. The fan base (myself included) was so anti-Alford by his last year that it was probably too late. I still am not sure how things would have turned out for us if Alford stuck around, and am not convinced things would have gone much differently, but recruiting did seem to be picking up a little, and the last couple years were pretty much his best at Iowa.

The 05-06 season was terrific, but unfortunately the NWST left a bitter taste. I know that first round upsets can happen (it's happened to Bill Self at KU, too), but by that point in the Alford era, it was a bit too much for me to swallow after the way the previous few years had been going.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
I believe you are correct. The fan base (myself included) was so anti-Alford by his last year that it was probably too late. I still am not sure how things would have turned out for us if Alford stuck around, and am not convinced things would have gone much differently, but recruiting did seem to be picking up a little, and the last couple years were pretty much his best at Iowa.

The 05-06 season was terrific, but unfortunately the NWST left a bitter taste. I know that first round upsets can happen (it's happened to Bill Self at KU, too), but by that point in the Alford era, it was a bit too much for me to swallow after the way the previous few years had been going.
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The first round upset sealed Alford's fate. The Hawkeyes drew a lot of fans that year and there were some games (the MSU game) where Carver was really rocking but I think a lot of fans were there because they were rooting for Horner and Brunner and they were just tolerating Alford. He was slowly winning some of the Anti-Alford fans back, but the NW St game combined with losing two home grown four year starters to graduation caused the program to lose a lot of momentum with the fans on the fence about Alford.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
The first round upset sealed Alford's fate. The Hawkeyes drew a lot of fans that year and there were some games (the MSU game) where Carver was really rocking but I think a lot of fans were there because they were rooting for Horner and Brunner and they were just tolerating Alford. He was slowly winning some of the Anti-Alford fans back, but the NW St game combined with losing two home grown four year starters to graduation caused the program to lose a lot of momentum with the fans on the fence about Alford.
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Yep, CHA was selling out for our conference home games at least the 2nd part of that 05-06 season, and the excitement was back. I remember on Jon's show one day, he commented on how it was nice that there wasn't a single call about football because people were interested in the hoops program again. Our team was flat-out nasty in Carver that year. I was even starting to be a bit tempted to drink the Alford kool-aid a little bit again after a few years of disgust, but the NWST game wiped all that out. It was the last straw. To me, that NWST game was a microcosm of the Alford era - blowing a pair of 17 point leads and getting beat on a last second 3 by a team we really had no business losing to.

But I think that season also shows that if we just start winning again, the fans will come back.
 
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