The Alford Stuff

Xerxes said:
Davis said publicly after Iowa didn't renew his contract that he wanted to continue coaching. He didn't retire from coaching until 2007, nearly 10 years after leaving Iowa. Either he didn't want to leave the state of Iowa or Drake was simply the best offer he could get.
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There was a four year break in the time line. Mr. Davis left Iowa after the 1998-1999 season and didn't start at Drake until 2003-2004 season. My guess is he didn't want to leave the state; he did continue to live in Iowa City after he was let go in 1999.
 
Life goes on right, but I have to admit Boy Wonder is the only former coach in Iowa history I root against. Alford knew he was about to be canned at Iowa and that is why he took the New Mexico gig. But Alford spun it to make it sound like he was making an upward career move. No Boy Wonder, Iowa was going to fire you. He saw the writing on the wall. Iowa gave Boy Wonder every chance in the world to prove he can coach on the big stage and he simply could not do it. Boy Wonder can excel in his current league because the competition night in and night out is mediocre, with the exception of a couple of programs. So to New Mexico fans, boy Wonder looks like God. He will continue to notch 25 wins a season and then tank when he gets on the big stage.
 
okeefe4prez said:
Davis's early years he had credibility built up with Raveling's players to rely on. Davis's assistant, Pearl, absolutely destroyed our recruiting in Chicagoland and it was a freaking miracle Alford got Pierce. Alford scored some studs, but they either didn't qualify or transferred (Sommerville) or got kicked out of school. Dude recruited pretty dang well, but he had qualification and retention issues. You can tell yourself he didn't recruit well because you hate him, but he actually did and that legacy reputation hit we took in Illinois with the Thomas incident will hurt our program for freaking decades.
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Looking back on it, maybe it wasn't such a miracle.
 
imported_blkngldFRO said:
It's not shocking that Alford would talk out the side of his neck. He did it at Iowa. It's funny because I have seen the same thing's from Alford that we saw in Iowa City. It's only a matter of time before you see some "shocking" news come out of New Mexico.

Someone should pick up Craig Neal, because he is the one that got the lobos where they are.

I wonder what % of Alford's check goes into Neal's account to keep him happy and not looking.
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+1
 
JonDMiller said:
Whew. That blew up here and everywhere Hawkeye related. I've mostly moved on from it all. The only times it flares up is when I see things like this from people outside the Iowa program;

"yo Iowa fans relax. It was an Iowa problem. Alford always makes the tourney"

That came from Dan Dakich, who I am certain has had ample convo's with Steve on the Iowa days from Alford's perspective.

Did Iowa let their facilities fall behind? Yes. Was it at the expense of the football program who was getting the funds at the time? Yes.

But was Big Ten hoops also at a 30 year low point during most of the Alford era? Heck yes it was.

Also, Iowa didn't turn a corner until Alford hired Craig Neal who began to do a lot of the in game grease boarding. It also helped to be at Iowa at the time where three of the top 20 players in program history happened to graduate in the same HS class.

I think Iowa paidw Alford a lot of money to learn on the job. Things were looking up towards the end but Alford wanted to go somewhere where basketball was a bigger priority. I get that.

But some out there who only have Alford's view of it tick me off from time to time.
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Good perspective, Jon.

Much as I came to my current feelings on Alford, another thing is nudging at my brain, and maybe you can shed some light.

In the 2006 NCAA debacle, many pundits, post-game, came forth with the, This-isn't-the-shock-many-think-Iowa-was-seeded-too-high/overrated type of reaction.

What were the thoughts of a Dakich or Seth Davis type of Alford supporter at that time? Do you remember/recall if ANYone was saying, "Just a temporary setback, Steve Alford is The Man and the Hawkeyes will be a fixture in the NCAA Tournament for years to come"? Sure, those guys support him NOW, and all but blame the whole State of Iowa for his failure to gain any real traction and his decision to head for New Mexico.

In other words, are we hearing, from pro-Alford media/pundits, a "Pro-Alford vs. anti-Iowa" slant? Or is it more just an "anti-Iowa" stance in general? I ask because I sincerely don't recall any type of the-ship-is-heading-in-the-right-direction-for-years-to-come. But I also don't remember non-Iowa folks calling out Alford's coaching, either.

I take a mild "delight" in New Mexico losing last night, but I also, oddly enough (in spite of some of my posts on the subject), feel a sense of sympathy for Steve Alford. He and that team have gotten some good seedings during his time there. It's hard to argue they didn't "earn" them, just as it was hard to argue against Drake getting a good seed before going down to Davidson in round one. It's kind of sad that so many of us delight in a 3-seed going out like that just because he used to coach here. (Yes, I love it when a Duke or Kansas falls flat on their face, but New Mexico isn't a "power" program that enjoys the universal adulation of Dukie V or other ESPN cognoscenti).

I guess I am sensing a disconnect between the post-Alford-Iowa views from guys like Dakich and Davis and what those guys were saying WHILE he was here.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
Good perspective, Jon.

Much as I came to my current feelings on Alford, another thing is nudging at my brain, and maybe you can shed some light.

In the 2006 NCAA debacle, many pundits, post-game, came forth with the, This-isn't-the-shock-many-think-Iowa-was-seeded-too-high/overrated type of reaction.

What were the thoughts of a Dakich or Seth Davis type of Alford supporter at that time? Do you remember/recall if ANYone was saying, "Just a temporary setback, Steve Alford is The Man and the Hawkeyes will be a fixture in the NCAA Tournament for years to come"? Sure, those guys support him NOW, and all but blame the whole State of Iowa for his failure to gain any real traction and his decision to head for New Mexico.

In other words, are we hearing, from pro-Alford media/pundits, a "Pro-Alford vs. anti-Iowa" slant? Or is it more just an "anti-Iowa" stance in general? I ask because I sincerely don't recall any type of the-ship-is-heading-in-the-right-direction-for-years-to-come. But I also don't remember non-Iowa folks calling out Alford's coaching, either.

I take a mild "delight" in New Mexico losing last night, but I also, oddly enough (in spite of some of my posts on the subject), feel a sense of sympathy for Steve Alford. He and that team have gotten some good seedings during his time there. It's hard to argue they didn't "earn" them, just as it was hard to argue against Drake getting a good seed before going down to Davidson in round one. It's kind of sad that so many of us delight in a 3-seed going out like that just because he used to coach here. (Yes, I love it when a Duke or Kansas falls flat on their face, but New Mexico isn't a "power" program that enjoys the universal adulation of Dukie V or other ESPN cognoscenti).

I guess I am sensing a disconnect between the post-Alford-Iowa views from guys like Dakich and Davis and what those guys were saying WHILE he was here.
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Well, to be fair to Dakich, wasn't he still coaching when Alford was here? He wasn't an analyst/pundit at that time.
 
tm3308 said:
Well, to be fair to Dakich, wasn't he still coaching when Alford was here? He wasn't an analyst/pundit at that time.
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Good point. And Seth Davis was probably not an "expert" yet!

I just don't remember anyone outside of Iowa saying, "Just a temporary blip, Alford and Iowa will be a factor for years to come".
 
ssckelley said:
I could have swore I read an article on Collison where he discussed his decision to go to Kansas instead of coming to Iowa involving Davis not having his contract renewed.
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You may have but it was just a way out if you did. Trust me. I am absolutely certain with zero doubts on this one. Nick was going to Kansas.
 
clicheusername3 said:
Damn, should have put that in to pilot before submission and read it again. He'll be back.
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Depends, man. If he's moving, he might never go again. There was this dude named Scorpion who used to post here and he lives in NC and he kind of hates the football coach and I don't think he'll ever be back at an Iowa football game again so long as that coach is there.
 
DodgerHawki said:
I love what Fran is doing, but you do realize that the only decade Iowa has made 8 out of 10 NCAA tournaments is the 1980s? The rise of the MSU, OSU, Wisconsin programs since Iowa's heyday in the 1980s and the favorable skew toward getting mid-majors as at-large teams in the tournament make it extremely difficult for Iowa to have another 10-year run where they make the NCAA tournament 8 times.
Not saying it's impossible, just that making the tournament 80% of the time is a marker I'm not sure can be reasonably reached by a coach at Iowa. I'll be thrilled if Fran coaches at Iowa 10 more years and in that time we make the tourney 6 times. After making it 2 times in the last 10 years and 3 in the last 14 years, just getting there 2 years in a row and actually winning a game will be a huge first step.
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Good post. Iowa basketball, however, is not Chumpville. The Hawks rank #4 in wins and #6 in winning percentage.

All-time wins and win % of B1G schools (excluding this season)
1. Indiana . . . 1695 .639%
2. Illinois . . . . 1667 .650%
3. Purdue . . . . 1660 .637%
4. Iowa . . . . . 1595 .600%
5. Mich St. . . . 1536 .610%
6. Ohio St. . . . 1528 .602%
7. Wisconsin . . 1439 .559%
8. Nebraska . . .1399 .528%
9. Minnesota . . 1384 .569%
10. Penn St. . . 1361 .561%
11. Michigan . . 1317 .590%
12. NW . . . . . . 979 .412%

So making it to the NCAA's every 7 years shouldn't be an unreasonable goal. And making the sweet 16 about half of those 7 is not unreasonable.

It could be that because Iowa went into a hole, Wisky found a toehold in getting to the upper-half, kept the momentum, and stayed there in spite of playing ugly basketball. There is no such thing as ugly basketball if the other adjective of "winning" is used.

But I think Wisconsin is about ready to take a fall like Iowa did at the end of Davis' tenure. Wisky fans are starting to whine about not getting to the next level (for Bo and the Badgers that would be getting out of round one consistently and an occassional Sweet 16). They are going to make the same mistake Iowa did. And Iowa is primed with Fran as HC to take their place. OSU and MSU are established for years to come. Michigan fans could get tired of undisciplined and therefore roller-coaster play. But undisciplined play at BB seems to be the Michigan MO.

We could go over to Wiskynation and start asking when Bo is going to take "us" to the next level to just help keep the ball rolling.

Wisky fan: mine either. I gave them the obligatory 1 win and then had them out
George2k5 wrote: This was always a crapshoot. I wasn't bamboozled by the BTT, and this won't ruin my bracket. Lets put it that way.

I said this team needs more talent, and I meant it. This was a travesty.​
 
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LawVHawk said:
Dakich is getting it big time from Hokk fans on the Twitter-verse, and he finally has had enough:

Dan Dakich ‏@dandakich 13m
Iowa twitter people..judge /argue amongst yourselves for a while I've got a radio show to do..let he who is without sin cast the 1st stone.
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Let me get this straight, so is Alford, Crotch Itch or Davis without sin because it certainly wasn't Iowa or it fans that cast the first stone. Fans react to situations and turns out Iowa fans don't like a self-serving dick. Then react negatively toward Crotch Itch/Davis for their support of the SSD...pretty shocking really.

Why are his cronies, who are professionals, using their profession to cut Iowa down, or throw a tweet out there towards Iowa fans and outwardly glorify a guy who likes rapists?
 
sportstalent said:
Let me get this straight, so is Alford, Crotch Itch or Davis without sin because it certainly wasn't Iowa or it fans that cast the first stone. Fans react to situations and turns out Iowa fans don't like a self-serving dick. Then react negatively toward Crotch Itch/Davis for their support of the SSD...pretty shocking really.

Why are his cronies, who are professionals, using their profession to cut Iowa down, or throw a tweet out there towards Iowa fans and outwardly glorify a guy who likes rapists?
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Because our society doesn't hate rape as much as it should.
 
i had a lot of fun telling and hearing stories from clients today about Alford. one particular client lived in IC during that time. boy, does he have some doozies!

Alford sure could **** people off.
 
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