Rank our 5 current head coaches

99topdawg

99topdawg

Well-Known Member
Put the following in order of best coach to 5th best coach:

Bluder
Brands
Ferentz
Heller
McCaffery


I've got:

Heller-- Most fans of Iowa sports don’t understand what we’ve got here.

Brands--I’ll admit I know nothing about wrestling so I’m just throwing him in here. His record speaks for itself.

Ferentz--I know he gets bashed a lot, but the dude develops players, surrounds himself with great coaches, and wins.

Bluder--Bad timing to put her this low. More of an overall assessment. Kudos to her for developing players lately and using their abilities to win.

McCaffery--To have him 5th of 5 with how much he wins is saying a lot about our coaches.
 
99topdawg said:
Put the following in order of best coach to 5th best coach:

Bluder
Brands
Ferentz
Heller
McCaffery


I've got:

Heller-- Most fans of Iowa sports don’t understand what we’ve got here.

Brands--I’ll admit I know nothing about wrestling so I’m just throwing him in here. His record speaks for itself.

Ferentz--I know he gets bashed a lot, but the dude develops players, surrounds himself with great coaches, and wins.

Bluder--Bad timing to put her this low. More of an overall assessment. Kudos to her for developing players lately and using their abilities to win.

McCaffery--To have him 5th of 5 with how much he wins is saying a lot about our coaches.
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Yeah. I like all of them, though I know little about wrestling and have not followed baseball or the women in detail. Wrestling, Baseball, and Women’s Basketball are to be admired just on winning alone. But everything I read says these coaches are top shelf. Probably lots of fans like me are more focused on KF and McC. And, they get the most heat from fans and the media.
 
99topdawg said:
Put the following in order of best coach to 5th best coach:

Bluder
Brands
Ferentz
Heller
McCaffery


I've got:

Heller-- Most fans of Iowa sports don’t understand what we’ve got here.

Brands--I’ll admit I know nothing about wrestling so I’m just throwing him in here. His record speaks for itself.

Ferentz--I know he gets bashed a lot, but the dude develops players, surrounds himself with great coaches, and wins.

Bluder--Bad timing to put her this low. More of an overall assessment. Kudos to her for developing players lately and using their abilities to win.

McCaffery--To have him 5th of 5 with how much he wins is saying a lot about our coaches.
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1) Heller definitely
2) Brands
3) Bluder
3) Ferentz
4) McCaffery

Bluder and Ferentz are tied for 3rd place
 
Bluder first.

Brands and Heller coach regional/niche sports.

Ferentz coaches mostly against the less competitive side of the conference. Apples to oranges with McCaffery.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
Bluder first.

Brands and Heller coach regional/niche sports.

Ferentz coaches mostly against the less competitive side of the conference. Apples to oranges with McCaffery.
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Lol. Womens' basketball is definitely a "niche sport" and less popular than wrestling.

And what does being a so-called niche sport have to do with being the best coach?
 
Fryowa said:
Lol. Womens' basketball is definitely a "niche sport" and less popular than wrestling.

And what does being a so-called niche sport have to do with being the best coach?
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Lol. There are like 350 D1 women's basketball teams vs. 75 men's wrestling programs. If somebody starts breaking down hockey coaches too I am outta here.
 
1.Bluder (Final Four (and counting) another Elite 8, 2 Sweet 16s, 21 NCAA appearances in all stops, lots of in-conference success)
2. Brands (4 National Titles and tons of success in-conference) Only reason I don't have Brands number 1.....Iowa is an old money blue blood and finishing 1 or 2 is almost a given most years.
3. Ferentz (Couple of Co-Big Ten Titles, Orange Bowl win, 10 Bowl wins at Iowa)
4. Heller (made Iowa baseball relevant)


5. McCaffery (breathed life into the damage done by Bowlsby/Barta/Alfraud/Lackluster...Big Ten Tournament Title, Nice NIT run, middle of the pack finishes in conference, 12 NCAA appearance in all stops, never has got out of the first weekend anywhere....biggest under-achiever on this list).
 
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SwirlinLingerie said:
Lol. There are like 350 D1 women's basketball teams vs. 75 men's wrestling programs. If somebody starts breaking down hockey coaches too I am outta here.
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Okie doke. Now explain how wrestling has sold out every season ticket for two years straight, and women’s basketball has to have curtains come down half the time from the ceiling covering seats. How about TV ratings? Revenue? All higher with wrestling, but at Iowa it’s just a “niche,” right?
 
Fryowa said:
1) Heller definitely
2) Brands
3) Bluder
3) Ferentz
4) McCaffery

Bluder and Ferentz are tied for 3rd place
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Look at the recruiting pool Heller has available to him vs Brands and that's what might ultimately tip the scales.

I understand the gap has been closed, and probably surpassed, the last decade. But the Iowa Wrestling brand, no pun intended, still wields a big stick.
 
I have a super hot take: are we overrating Bluder based on the Catilin Clark experience? IMO, I think we kinda are.
 
The Brands part of this is tough for me because I'm not part of that world and it is hard to gauge, if you flip Sanderson and Brands...do you get similar results? I have no clue, I just don't know enough.
 
trj said:
The Brands part of this is tough for me because I'm not part of that world and it is hard to gauge, if you flip Sanderson and Brands...do you get similar results? I have no clue, I just don't know enough.
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My guess is Sanderson is a better coach based on where he took Penn State. Brands is just good enough to keep the iowa brand afloat. Which is better than most other coaches could do. It's hard to stay at the top.
 
trj said:
I have a super hot take: are we overrating Bluder based on the Catilin Clark experience? IMO, I think we kinda are.
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Imagine where Fran would be ranked if Keegan stayed all 4 years and was surrounded by experienced starters his whole career. Like if he was two years behind Garza and Garza decided to stay for a covid year. We would have probably gotten 2 really good years out of it. But then again, Fran really messed up not having him start and play 30+ minutes his freshman year.
 
Fryowa said:
Okie doke. Now explain how wrestling has sold out every season ticket for two years straight, and women’s basketball has to have curtains come down half the time from the ceiling covering seats. How about TV ratings? Revenue? All higher with wrestling, but at Iowa it’s just a “niche,” right?
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Because this is Iowa.
 
trj said:
I have a super hot take: are we overrating Bluder based on the Catilin Clark experience? IMO, I think we kinda are.
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She and Ferentz were tough for me too. Early in KF's time at Iowa, nearly a god in some fans' eyes. Now he's seen as above average to a lot (and I think that's dumb). Bluder won avery Fran-esque 7 tournament games in her first 18 years but has won 10 in the last 4 years with Megan and Caitlin. Is it a whole career we're ranking or is a now thing? That's left to the individual poster.

I'll admit that I've never been a Bluder fan because I feel like she's underachieved throughout a big chunk of her career (and for another reason, but it's a personal thing), but I've come around. Her adjustments in the Georgia and Louisville games were masterful.

I had some of the same thoughts but then I realize that I was, to a certain extent, taking away credit from her for having great players...which she deserves credit for coaching. I compared what the team did with Megan and what the men's team did with Luka. She has done what coaches are supposed to do, get good/great players, maximize what their talents, and win with them.

The reason I compared LB and KF is because they are seen as great at a certain part of their careers and pretty good for a majority of their careers. KF is known around the CFB world as they guy that develops players. LB has had a couple of incredible players and I wondered the same thing about overrating her because of Caitlin. I realized that if you took out Caitlin and looked at how she and her staff have developed the other players and put them together as a great team, that she really is a damn good coach.

I think @Fryowa has it right by having them co-#3.
 
Seth53 said:
From 1983...rank the coaches on campus

Fry
Gable
Lute
Patton (swimming, B1G champs)
C. Vivian Stringer
Gene Banks (baseball)

Good luck
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This is a great idea. Should've put in the other coaches as well or had them separate. I'll rank mine when I get the chance.
 
Northside Hawk said:
Look at the recruiting pool Heller has available to him vs Brands and that's what might ultimately tip the scales.

I understand the gap has been closed, and probably surpassed, the last decade. But the Iowa Wrestling brand, no pun intended, still wields a big stick.
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Serious question about the Heller/Brands pool. What kind of pool does he really have? Only school in the state, but several midwest prospects go pro or go south. Does those things cancel each other out? Brands' pool is also affected by the smaller number of HS wrestling programs/wrestlers vs. a smaller number of college programs in the area to compete with. Would it matter? Where else would an elite wrestler go? Definitely food for thought to which I go back and forth on.
 
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