The future of Iowa BB

[tm3308]

I say ultimately on the same level as them as far as we field teams but there's a contentment with poor results. Yes I think that's a real possibility.

Iowa tennis has a coach whose been here around 25 years and I believe Iowa has never finished better than 4th in his entire career. Coach W has been at the helm for close to 15 years now in track and what's the best Iowa has ever finished there?

Those results are accepted and tolerated. Yes I can see the same thing happening in basketball here.

Is there more fan interest in basketball than those sports? Are the stakes higher in basketball? Yes and yes.

But I'm talking about what's considered acceptable performance -wise. I don't think Iowa has the bar placed high when it comes to expected performance with their basketball program.

You disagree with that? And if you do, what evidence do you have over the past 11 years?

Iowa fans don't put the bar high enough for the basketball team's performance? Where have you been for the last 27 years? We run Lute off for not "taking us to the next level" (even while we were fielding consistently good teams). Then we run Mr. Davis off for the same reason. Then Alford. Now Lick. If anything, Iowa fans have spent a considerable amount of time putting the bar TOO high. Now while I don't have a problem with shooting for NCAA championships, running off a coach like Lute Olson because he can't get you past the Final Four is just insane. Especially since he turned Arizona into a perennial powerhouse, when they had one of the worst programs in the country at the time he arrived.

I am an optimistic fan. I won't propose that being negative from time to time disqualifies you from the title of "fan". But don't mistake my optimism for placing the bar too low. I don't want this kind of performance on a consistent basis. The question is not if we're satisfied with what we have right now. The answer to that is the same for everyone: NO! The real question is whether or not you think Lick can get us back to where we want to be. I think he can. I'm willing to suffer through some rough times if I believe it will pay off down the road. What I can tell you is this: if you fire Lick after this year, it is only going to get worse. It may be better in the long run, but there's no guarantee of that. But it is a guarantee that it will get worse in the short term. Keeping Lick one more year is not going to set the program back as much as a coaching change will.