Lot of Forbes talk this coming week?

[JonDMiller]

UNI will be in St Louis, along with the Des Moines Register, Cedar Rapids Gazette and maybe Burlington Hawk Eye and others, covering the Panthers story

Tennessee will also be there, which means Pearl and Forbes. Pearl will get asked the Iowa question ten more times and say not interested. Forbes will then have eyeballs and microphones on him would be my guess. So if there is anything there, probly gonna be some light shed on it

 

[IowaSS]

How does Pearl handle this knowing Forbes is a candidate for the Iowa job? Does he just dismiss any rumor he is interested and then knowingly push for his right hand man to get the Iowa job? It will be interesting to see what happens as it would hurt Tennessee basketball to lose Forbes. Maybe he takes a page from Hayden Fry who's assistants took jobs across the country with KState, Wisconsin, etc? Most of them turned out pretty good.

 

[Corbin09]

Jon is right on here..we will know alot more by friday...Pearl will not push for Forbes, but will not get in his way either.

 

[iowahawkeyes89]

So I take it its safe to assume Pearl is a no go?

 

[vbeachawk]

Then there is Tony Jones, Pearl's #1 assistant and where does he fit in the equation, if at all. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out as there are still some who believe Forbes is a smoke screen for Pearl coming to Iowa.

 

[JonDMiller]

Then there is Tony Jones, Pearl's #1 assistant and where does he fit in the equation, if at all. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out as there are still some who believe Forbes is a smoke screen for Pearl coming to Iowa.

If that were the case, the person most surprised by this would be Steve Forbes

 

[FreddyBrown]

I think Forbes is a smoke screen for someone other than Pearl or Forbes coming to Iowa.

Don't ask me what that means--I'm just weary of the Forbes hype.

 

[Hawkeye1690]

Maybe if Xavier knocks off Pitt, St. Louis could be a smoke screen for Jamie Dixon...I know, I know it could never happen, but I can always hope.

 

[swanssy]

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but Barta sure seemed to emphasize at the press conference that he wants a head coach or at least someone with head coaching experience(I don't count SWCC). He seemed to only leave the door open as an afterthought.

 

[KJ22]

I think we'll see a lot more action this week, don't you Jon?

1. The players are back in town so we'll have some reaction from them I would assume.

2. Dixon and Barbee are done with their seasons, so maybe we'll find out if they are legit candidates.

3. Like you said, Tennessee will be at the same venue as UNI and all of their media.


I would be VERY shocked if we knew our new coach this time next week, but we might have some good insight as to the future of the program. Do you have any expectations for the week ahead of us Jon?

 

[JonDMiller]

I think we'll see a lot more action this week, don't you Jon?

1. The players are back in town so we'll have some reaction from them I would assume.

2. Dixon and Barbee are done with their seasons, so maybe we'll find out if they are legit candidates.

3. Like you said, Tennessee will be at the same venue as UNI and all of their media.


I would be VERY shocked if we knew our new coach this time next week, but we might have some good insight as to the future of the program. Do you have any expectations for the week ahead of us Jon?

I would be very surprised if Iowa named a new coach this week...if they did, it would mean that Barta had his sights set on someone at some point last week, IMO.

 

[MoHawk]

Don't discount the SWCC experience. This is where Coach Forbes started his long list of JUCO connections . . . somthing we're going to need to find a player or two. Coach Forbes knows everyone and will always have a JUCO or two in his pocket. Count on it.

 

[HAWKEY3]

Jon, is it typical to not contact prospective candidates during the NCAA Tournament if they are still in it? If so, I would say the longer it takes for someone to be named, the higher the chance we might be striking at a successful candidate still in the dance.

 

[edgyhawk]

You make a point Jon when you talk about Barta having some conversations prior to this week. If you think that Barta wasn't working on this prior to Monday, we're all a little naive'! First, he had to have someone sign off on this. He just doesn't commit $2.4M to a buyout without someone's approval. Secondly, he had to have made a lot of calls to some people with deep pockets to orchestrate the money fro the buyout. In addition to the money for the buyout, he needs to have a monetary commitment to the incoming coach. All of that said, before he fired Lick, he probably had already reached out to some people to not only come up with a list of coaches, but also a game plan on how all of this should be put in place. He can't afford as a program, but also personally to screw this up.

Whoever is coming in will have some guidelines that they will have to follow. It will probably be along the lines of who is the X and O guru. Then there will be the issue of who is the recruiting coordinator. How do you deal with the players that we already have and how do you address our immediate needs. We at least need a point guard and a big man and where do they come from?

There has to have been, and needs to be going forward a huge reorganizational plan. That's pretty obvious, but it's much more in depth than just hiring a new head coach.

 

[SCHAWKDOG]

Doesn't all of the buyout $ and the $ for new coach come from Bartas budget which he is in charge of? I do not believe it is a case where he has to go out and fundraise to fire and rehire. Now that being said I could see a situation where deep pockets fill that budget, but those would be some very very deep pockets. Fortunately the Football program can bankroll the entire department, I think.