Miller: Barta Prepared to Make Most Important Hoops Hire in Iowa History?
- Thread starter JonDMiller
- Start date
HaydenHawk56
Well-Known Member
Great write up Jon! Can't wait to read about more of your ideas about what you are looking for in the next coach in your second write up.
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DDThompson
Guest
The idea that this hire, if it goes bad, could send Iowa on a long, winding road to the ash heap and could set the stage for decades of a coaching dungeon is just a wee-bit hyperbole.
Herkyalert
Banned
This next hire will make or break Barta at Iowa I think. He has little room for error.
DwayneTwill
Well-Known Member
Wondering about this line:
BSpringsteen
Well-Known Member
This was the right move...
But if Baylor can overcome, and TAMU can become a basketball school, then this coaching decision while hugely important does not have the potential to kill the program...
But if Baylor can overcome, and TAMU can become a basketball school, then this coaching decision while hugely important does not have the potential to kill the program...
trj
Well-Known Member
+1
Don't get me wrong, its a huge hire....but the Deace-like hyperbole is a little over the top.
JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
I guess I look at being 11 years down the road from the first bad hire that got the train off the tracks. That is one year into the second decade of below our standards basketball and we don't have the built in advantages that other schools have to get out of hock so easily.
I have said for years and years this is one of the more challenging jobs from a basketball perspective, in the big six leagues.
This is DEFINITELY a very important hire, but I don't think it is as dire a situation as Jon paints it. I agree with the "hyperbole" crowd.
Even if we do have another bad hire, the university of Iowa has some aces in the hole that will prevent the worst case scenario Jon alludes to:
#1 We have better facilities than 2/3 of Division I schools. Carver-Hawkeye has a capacity of 15,500, much bigger than most schools, and it is being refurbished. A practice facility is in the process of being built.
#2 We are in the Big Ten. The prestige and $$$ of being in one of the (if not the) elite conferences will keep Iowa from falling too far.
#3 Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa football team - they keep the Hawks brand name in the national lime light, and they bring in enough money to more than make up for what the basketball team might lose.
#4 The biggest ace in the hole - The extremely intense and loyal army of Iowa Hawkeye faithful, most of whom remember very fondly how great it can be to have a winning basketball team. Iowa fans desperately want to have a basketball team that they can get behind and believe in again. Whichever coach builts it, the hoards of Hawk fans WILL come. As far as the "lost generation" of younger Iowans who have not experienced winning Iowa basketball, well, they are experiencing winning and thrilling Iowa football. The young 'uns might not necessarily be Hawkeye basketball fans now, but they ARE Hawkeye football fans now, and I believe they will make the transition once the basketball team turns around.
Yes, the Alford and Lickliter eras were huge disappointments and even embarrassing at times, and it may seem to us that the basketball program has lost its luster to coaches nationally. I will admit it certainly is not what it once was, but the basketball program has a lot of built in greatness that a good coach could tap into quickly and use to turn the program around quickly. I think it would be very hard for the "hyperbole" scenario from beoming a reality.
Even if we do have another bad hire, the university of Iowa has some aces in the hole that will prevent the worst case scenario Jon alludes to:
#1 We have better facilities than 2/3 of Division I schools. Carver-Hawkeye has a capacity of 15,500, much bigger than most schools, and it is being refurbished. A practice facility is in the process of being built.
#2 We are in the Big Ten. The prestige and $$$ of being in one of the (if not the) elite conferences will keep Iowa from falling too far.
#3 Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa football team - they keep the Hawks brand name in the national lime light, and they bring in enough money to more than make up for what the basketball team might lose.
#4 The biggest ace in the hole - The extremely intense and loyal army of Iowa Hawkeye faithful, most of whom remember very fondly how great it can be to have a winning basketball team. Iowa fans desperately want to have a basketball team that they can get behind and believe in again. Whichever coach builts it, the hoards of Hawk fans WILL come. As far as the "lost generation" of younger Iowans who have not experienced winning Iowa basketball, well, they are experiencing winning and thrilling Iowa football. The young 'uns might not necessarily be Hawkeye basketball fans now, but they ARE Hawkeye football fans now, and I believe they will make the transition once the basketball team turns around.
Yes, the Alford and Lickliter eras were huge disappointments and even embarrassing at times, and it may seem to us that the basketball program has lost its luster to coaches nationally. I will admit it certainly is not what it once was, but the basketball program has a lot of built in greatness that a good coach could tap into quickly and use to turn the program around quickly. I think it would be very hard for the "hyperbole" scenario from beoming a reality.
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imported_ankle23
Well-Known Member
Loyal? They follow a winner well, but loyal?
D
DDThompson
Guest
All that is true. But if this isn't a hire that works out that does not equate to 20-30 more years of what we've seen this decade. And even in this past decade there were a couple of rays of brightness . . . which is why some of us stayed on the Alford-Hype-Alford Bandwagon (yes, I was one of those, too) for so long. Which is why I jumped off the Lick Wagon after only 3 years.
And while we're all crying in our bowl about the last ten years (not saracasm, I am crying, too), let me cry further . . . I was still on the Tom Davis NCAA Tournament 3-of-4 years Bandwagon when he got canned.
Billso
Well-Known Member
"Probably the 7th or 8th best job in the Big Ten"
I don't buy it, and my gold-tinted glasses are off. From a prospective coach's POV, the "best job in the Big Ten" is the one that's available. The wins/losses immediately prior are not relevant compared to the resources and support the school brings to bear: finances, arena, facilities, fan support, TV exposure, etc. In fact, Iowa's losing record may be a positive, or at worst a wash, as it tempers expectations. There are some quality players to build on; not All-Big-Ten just yet, but they never are when a coach has just been fired.
Geography is simply not the recruiting problem it is in football, not nearly to the same degree. Otherwise please explain the success of Kansas, Gonzaga, New Mexico, Wisconsin, etc. Recruits view Iowa geographically as "part of the Big Ten", and the whole Big Ten feasts on Chicagoland recruits (at least the winning teams do). Even so, had Iowa kept its best players in-state the last 10 yrs, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
There will be plenty of interest in the Iowa job.
I don't buy it, and my gold-tinted glasses are off. From a prospective coach's POV, the "best job in the Big Ten" is the one that's available. The wins/losses immediately prior are not relevant compared to the resources and support the school brings to bear: finances, arena, facilities, fan support, TV exposure, etc. In fact, Iowa's losing record may be a positive, or at worst a wash, as it tempers expectations. There are some quality players to build on; not All-Big-Ten just yet, but they never are when a coach has just been fired.
Geography is simply not the recruiting problem it is in football, not nearly to the same degree. Otherwise please explain the success of Kansas, Gonzaga, New Mexico, Wisconsin, etc. Recruits view Iowa geographically as "part of the Big Ten", and the whole Big Ten feasts on Chicagoland recruits (at least the winning teams do). Even so, had Iowa kept its best players in-state the last 10 yrs, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
There will be plenty of interest in the Iowa job.
I guess that goes to your definition of "loyal fan." Do you have to buy tickets to and attend Hawkeye basketball games to be considered a loyal fan?
Is loyalty attending games no matter how bad the product on the court is, on a school night, with a 2 or more hour drive to and from, in a bad economy?
Do you have to attend until it hurts to be considered loyal?
For many Hawk fans, attending a basketball game is a major committment, a very big deal. It is easier if you are in college, or are retired, but for everyone else in between, prudence has to factor in somewhere.
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Plus we have the resources to give any prospective coach a big payday. I think we could pay our basketball coach as much as our football coach, if it was necessary to get the guy we wanted.
HeneryHawk
Well-Known Member
If IOWA can overcome after 19 years in the darkness(the longest non winning season streak in the nation at the time) in football, IOWA can overcome in basketball. There are many more positives than negatives, and BB can be changed around much quicker than football(numbers), plus with all the facility upgrades, it can really move. Get a guy who can sell, who can get a fun style of play and start winning, then recruiting can be somewhat self propagating.
tweeterhawk
Well-Known Member
Great post, Billso, and I totally agree. While I think Jon did a good job of pointing out the importance of making a strong hire this time, I don't think it's generations of coaching hell if the next one turns out to be only a single- or double-hitter instead of a homerun.
It's Iowa; it's the Big Ten. There'll always be interest in the position, and for the foreseeable future the money will be there to fund a strong program.
I am confident one good coach can turn this around pretty quickly.
If nothing else the Lickliter era gave Barta a better idea of what to look for in the next coach.
While the SA years were not great,they were no where near the disaster that lick has been. Last seven years of SA,Iowa had winning records...and won 70 and lost 60 vs Big Ten teams. That is not great,but it is not what I would throw in the bad category. We now know what bad really feels like,and SA era did not feel like this.
But, an average hire,then a bad hire, cannot be followed with a bad or an average hire...must be the right hire.
There is no doubt that Lick had plenty of bad luck and bad timing.
I saw this coming a mile away when those recruiting classes of 06,07 and 08 were being announced around the big ten. Lick came into the league in the wrong year...ie. the year of this much vaunted junior class...they were all good right away at MSU,PU,OSU and Ill. The whole league had pretty good recruiting classes right as Lick came in...tough break,really.
The Tyler transfer hurt a lot.
The Kelly and tyler family issues were bad luck for all.
Cy Tate's injury was crucial.
Fuller this year.
I sense the next guy is going to have better timing. That junior class will be leaving,this year or next. Iowa has some young guys with experience.
Our facility will start to pay off in recruiting from here on in,with the project coming alive.
There are some very good recruits in the Greater Iowa region the next few years.
This could be a great time to get this job...just need the right guy for it to take off.
But, an average hire,then a bad hire, cannot be followed with a bad or an average hire...must be the right hire.
There is no doubt that Lick had plenty of bad luck and bad timing.
I saw this coming a mile away when those recruiting classes of 06,07 and 08 were being announced around the big ten. Lick came into the league in the wrong year...ie. the year of this much vaunted junior class...they were all good right away at MSU,PU,OSU and Ill. The whole league had pretty good recruiting classes right as Lick came in...tough break,really.
The Tyler transfer hurt a lot.
The Kelly and tyler family issues were bad luck for all.
Cy Tate's injury was crucial.
Fuller this year.
I sense the next guy is going to have better timing. That junior class will be leaving,this year or next. Iowa has some young guys with experience.
Our facility will start to pay off in recruiting from here on in,with the project coming alive.
There are some very good recruits in the Greater Iowa region the next few years.
This could be a great time to get this job...just need the right guy for it to take off.
D
DDThompson
Guest
+1
Of course, I remember the story that TL asked JL his thoughts when Barta offered. He said something to the effect, "Well, it is Iowa. And it's the Big10. Why wouldn't you take the job?"
DwayneTwill
Well-Known Member
Big stuff. We can't afford three lousy coaches in a row.
