Tiring of Iowa Being Dismissed for 2011

[trj]

Well well well...

After perpetuating the idea that we are little ole Iowa for the past year and that we should get really excited about 7 and 8 win seasons, you are now upset that Iowa isn't getting enough respect.

Iowa allows this to happen and it hurts the program.

They continually poop in the bed when they have any kind of expectations at all.

They seemingly do everything they can to hype up the idea that dismiss Iowa and they'll sneak up and get you.

Lastly, we have a fanbase that tells us to appreciate all we have because in 1979, Iowa football stunk.

As soon as we have people calling within the program calling seasons like last year a severe disappointment and not apologizing for it and correcting the culture that allows the above three traits to continue , we will be a program that the pundits don't dismiss in any year.

This is not an indictment of our coaching staff in anyway, it is an indictment of the culture around the program.

I'm guilty as charged I want to be a realistic fan not a delusional one, with that said I have no counter argument to this....You are right the culture around the program allows Iowa to crap their pants when they have high expectations without repercussions or ramifications......I guess I am debating on whether that culture should change. I understand your point, but I also get Jon's point and those who think that way. It's a tough call.

 

[BSpringsteen]

Realistic shoots both ways...

Realistic is realizing that you aren't going to win the Big 10 every year because you're not as good as Ohio State.

Realistic is realizing that sometimes the opposition just flat out makes a play, regardless of how well we executed.

But realistic is also that with the history, resources and external factors of this program, that we are a program that has underachieved since 2005 and that there is no good reason why.

We are a fanbase that has been told over and over again how good 8 wins is and how lucky we are to have those wins. That being invited to a bowl game is something that is not to be taken for granted.

Realistic is recognizing that a program that creates as much NFL talent as we do that has the results we do has a disconnect somewhere. And as we saw last year, it is in game management.

Realistic is expecting a coaching staff to not make potentially game losing clock management mistakes, and seemingly not learn from past mistakes.

Realistic is understanding that while you can love the coach as a coach, and love the coach as a person, and love the coach as an ambassador for your program and school, that you can want that person to remain as the coach, but that you can call the results of the past 5 years mediocre given the importance of the program on the campus.

I call BS.

I don't know any fan outside of Columbus or Tuscaloosa that expects perfection every year.

What I expect is to win a minimum of 8 regular season games a year. That should be the bottom with what we have as an investment in the program and what we have to sell... yes Iowa is cornfields, but Iowa City is one of the great college towns in this country.

Once every 3 or 4 years, I expect 2009. Once every 5 or 6, I expect last year or worse.

But since 2005 - we've only won 8 or regular season games twice.

I don't know why anyone thinks that we should be anything other than dismissed in the preseason given our history since 2005.

 

[trj]

Realistic shoots both ways...

Realistic is realizing that you aren't going to win the Big 10 every year because you're not as good as Ohio State.

Realistic is realizing that sometimes the opposition just flat out makes a play, regardless of how well we executed.

But realistic is also that with the history, resources and external factors of this program, that we are a program that has underachieved since 2005 and that there is no good reason why.

We are a fanbase that has been told over and over again how good 8 wins is and how lucky we are to have those wins. That being invited to a bowl game is something that is not to be taken for granted.

Realistic is recognizing that a program that creates as much NFL talent as we do that has the results we do has a disconnect somewhere. And as we saw last year, it is in game management.

Realistic is expecting a coaching staff to not make potentially game losing clock management mistakes, and seemingly not learn from past mistakes.

Realistic is understanding that while you can love the coach as a coach, and love the coach as a person, and love the coach as an ambassador for your program and school, that you can want that person to remain as the coach, but that you can call the results of the past 5 years mediocre given the importance of the program on the campus.

I call BS.

I don't know any fan outside of Columbus or Tuscaloosa that expects perfection every year.

What I expect is to win a minimum of 8 regular season games a year. That should be the bottom with what we have as an investment in the program and what we have to sell... yes Iowa is cornfields, but Iowa City is one of the great college towns in this country.

Once every 3 or 4 years, I expect 2009. Once every 5 or 6, I expect last year or worse.

But since 2005 - we've only won 8 or regular season games twice.

I don't know why anyone thinks that we should be anything other than dismissed in the preseason given our history since 2005.

Yeah and the program is one bad and/or wrong HC hire from being ISU. You have seen this with the basketball program. Despite some of the attributes you described above I do think the football program is that vulnerable so the "culture" that you described has to be careful of what they wish for.

I've got no beef with you, your expectations of the program are reasonable, your points are valid it is just a very slippery slope.

 

[BSpringsteen]

Yeah and the program is one bad and/or wrong HC hire from being ISU.

I'm not sure whether or not I agree with that statement, but I do agree that removing our current head coach would be a big mistake.

This isn't a rant against our coaching staff.

But people tend to meet expectations. If a large contingent of Iowa fans think 7-5 is meeting expectations, that's what we'll get.

If suddenly expectations went higher, I feel that our coaching staff is plenty good enough to take us there.

I also realize that we had an unfortunate three year run in the last 5-6 years, but like the football captain that still wears his lettermans jacket in his 30's, we have to stop thinking that 2002-04 is uber recent history, and stop using that three year run as a justification for the 6 that followed.

 

[sportstalent]

Why do people care about PREDICTIONS? They are worhtless. Care about RESULTS and your life will be much easier. Granted, that can be difficult as well during disappointing seasons.

In the grand scheme of things Predictions mean nothing, however, being in the Preseason Top 25 year in and year out doesn't hurt anything.

Being there and getting talked about and having more space in magazines for three or four months can't hurt in recruiting either.

In the end results matter, but is sneaking up on people every couple of seasons with low expectations nationally better than being ranked in the preseason and higher expectations every year?

Honestly, I would rather be preseason ranked year in and year out and set the bar higher and higher, rather than surprising people on the national scence. Maybe that is the problem with Iowa, not used to the spotlight when they should be good and cannot handle it. Look at the really good teams that lost in the 80's...get to that point where they are 1 or 2 and have to just beat OSU and can't.
How many National Championships should they have today that they don't?

 

[BigD]

"In the grand scheme of things Predictions mean nothing, however, being in the Preseason Top 25 year in and year out doesn't hurt anything."

Lol, I guess in the world of college football this may be true. However in the truest sense of the "grand scheme of things" unless it's your sense of revenue it's pretty
meaningless ...........but damn do I love it!!!

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

This thread got me thinking...with the fan support, the willingness to spend the money on the coaching staff, and facilities...the expectations should be higher.

If you were to take the last 5 or 8 years and stacked up the offensive rankings at the end of each year and then do the same with the defensive rankings.

Which side of the ball would you say has consistently underperformed? I understand KF's offensive philosophy around ball control so we won't lead the country in scoring, but is it unrealistic to expect to be one of the 30 best offenses in the country?

My point, and I don't have the number, it that we have consistently had solid defenses and if one area has shown to be a weakness, it's the offense putting points on the board.

Do you hold O'Keefe responsible?

 

[PJHawk]

My biggest gripe with football is our Lickliteresque offensive coordinator. I am convinced you could give KOK an NFL all star team and he would figure out a way to make them predictable, ineffecient and incapable of scoring 21 points.

How many damn times do some of you people need to be told the offense and the type of play that goes with it is the offense Kirk Ferentz wants. Contrary to that KOK ran a spread offense when he had his own program Do you actually believe Ferentz would have kept KOK on his staff all these years if he wasn't running the offense the way Kirk wanted?

 

[jacknicholson]

What do you want? A National Championship....

Better move to the SouthEast or Southwest if that is a top priority.

Conference Championships Schools BCS Championship Game Record SEC 7 Tennessee (1998), LSU (2003, 2007), Florida (2006, 2008), Alabama (2009), Auburn (2010) 7–0 (1.000) Big 12 2 Oklahoma (2000), Texas (2005) 2–5 (0.286) ACC 1 Florida State (1999) 1–2 (0.333)[98] (2–4 current alignment) Big Ten 1 Ohio State (2002) 1–2 (0.333) Big East 1 Miami (2001) 1–2 (0.333)[98] (0–0 current alignment) Pac-10 1 USC (2004) 1–2 (0.333)

 

[jacknicholson]

What do you want? A National Championship....

Better move to the SouthEast or Southwest if that is a top priority.

Out of the last thirteen years only Ohio State and USC have defied the trend. Eleven teams from the SE and SW, if one considers Oklahoma to be SW, have won the National Championship. The SEC has won seven Championships all by itself.

KOK certainly seems to run Kirk's scheme, why would he be there otherwise. Kirk generally plays it safe and has been successful doing just that. Remember we do not get a boatload of 4 and 5 star elite recruits. We do very well developing the players who decide to be Hawkeyes. There is nothing wrong with an Eight win season.

 

[jacknicholson]

Dreadfully sorry about the double post, happened by accident, sausage fingers and all, but I am trying desperately to get to 100 posts.

 

[BigD]

Maybe Fran speak needs to by Kirk speak. "I didn't come to Iowa to be a fifth place team, I came to Iowa to win Big Ten titles and a national championship." One of the top salaries in college football = ? Hey I lived through the pre-Hayden days and back before Hayden a eight win season would have had fans doing backflips including myself. The highlight of the game was watching the band at halftime and asking what the person next to you was drinking. Let's hope we are on the upswing for the next couple of years. Let's do some math here.....4,000,000 divided by 12 wins is about is about 333,000 for each win. Subtract four loses for an eight win season= $2,668,000 for that year. Sound perfectly fair to me. I even for throwing in an extra $ 1,000,000 for a total of $5,000,000 for an undefeated season and national championship. For a BSC bowl another $500,000 for getting there plus another $250,000 if you win the BCS game. This would be on top of your annual salary subtracting $333,000 for every loss for that season. If Kirk goes 10-2 and gets a BSC game we subtract $666,000 for the two losses but then throw him back $500,000 for getting there and another $250,000 for winning it. I am all for paying for great performances and decreasing pay for poor performances. That is the real world unless you work for the banks that went belly up and got bailed out by the tax payers and then gave big bonuses for going belly up. Awe yes the benefits of owning congress and the majority vote of the supreme scum opps I mean court.

 

[PhoenixHawk]

Iowa blew every opportunity to stay in the national conversation last year, and then lost all of their "name" players to graduation, etc. We had a great opportunity last year to make it 30 wins/3 years by winning 10 games, but....I'd rather not start pointing fingers again. We are what we are until we show something different. Make it to 7-0, and we'll get the recognition we deserve.

John, it'd make for a better conversation if you moved this to the football forum.

 

[JHHawk]

So,how many Big Ten teams have won 8 or more regular season games the last 6 years? I suspect it was only OSU. And so the standard for Iowa football is now that we join only OSU at that level or we are underachieving? And that is realistic? Right.

Iowa is always razor thin. Last year losing Tarp,Davis and Neilsen at LB left us playing frosh at that key position. We lost 5 very close games. Healthy lbs probably make the difference in those games. Boo,fricking hoo.

As for this year,we have a new qb,which always knocks teams down in the preseason. We return fewer starters than every team ahead of us. So,why the shock? None of these national guys know about Lebron Daniel or Dom Alvis or Keenan Davis. Why would they? But we do. And we know that over the last decade,Iowa rarely gets soundly beaten,even in down years. And if you are in the game in the 4th qtr,you have a chance to win,and surprise the pundits.

This year will be the same...Iowa will be in every game,and will win their share.
And,btw,bowl wins do count,and are more important that regular season wins,for prestige,attention and recruiting. So Iowa having the best bowl record in the league over that period is not chopped liver.

 

[MultipleDundieAwardWinner]

What do you want? A National Championship....

Better move to the SouthEast or Southwest if that is a top priority.

Out of the last thirteen years only Ohio State and USC have defied the trend. Eleven teams from the SE and SW, if one considers Oklahoma to be SW, have won the National Championship. The SEC has won seven Championships all by itself.

Exactly. That is where the talent on the field and on the sidelines is. Top players from the north go to the South to experience success, and several prominent coaches have left the north to coach in the south as well.