Tom Butters

F

FreddyBrown

Moderator
Once upon a time there was an embattled athletic director named Tom Butters with an even more embattled head coach, unproven at the level of his new job and having done little in his first few years in the job to inspire confidence that he would get things turned around. The coach himself was not the most charismatic guy and a lot of people were wondering what Butters was thinking when he gave the coach a shot at the big time after a stint at a lesser school.

When he could have cut his losses and moved on, Butters stuck with the embattled coach and some hope generated by the coach's first fairly well-regarded recruiting class.

Butters' patience paid off. The school was Duke. The coach was a Polish guy from Chicago.

+++++++++

Please don't spend any time explaining all the distinctions one can identify between Coach K's emergence from early struggles and our current situation. I understand them. And I'm not saying anything remotely comparable is going to happen here.

It's just a true story, and maybe cause to allow yourself to daydream. :)
 
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Nice story, sounds like something for the Paul Harvey "rest of the story" I've got news for ya, this story ain't gonna be nothing like it.
 
30 years ago that could have happened in basketball.

In 2010, too much has changed.

You are not going to pay a guy $1.3 million a year (anymore) and let him fail for a couple years, or even three.

Wait a second....
 
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It can happen...however Duke went to the NIT in the first 3 years of his tenure...they were 38-47 also during those first 3 years, compared to Lick at 36-50 and still counting...and no sniffs of post season
 
Duke went to the NIT in K's first year when he had Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard left from the 1978 team that went to the NC game. They had losing seasons the next two years. If anything, there was more pressure on Butters after year three than there is on Barta because Iowa fans have nowhere near the expectations Duke fans did at that time. Also, Duke wasn't exactly swimming in football revenue...

As I said there are a lot of distinctions, and IMO what Barta is doing in giving Lick another year doesn't take the courage it took for Butters to do what he did. The only relevance of the story is that it can happen.
 
I can't wait till Iowa becomes the power of the midwest and Big 10, is a perennial number, someone like Dick Vitale goes bonkers over Iowa every weekend, Iowa is a perennial elite 8 and final 4 team, and wins national championships.

I'm assuming Iowa's fortunes will begin to turn and Lickliter will make his first run at an elite 8 at Iowa in about 2 years, a final 4 in about 3 years, and a NC in about 4 or 5 years?

Thanks for making me feel better Fred. :0)
 
I wonder if, in the 'Tom Butters Theory', there is a preamble that includes the following:

We know that by hiring Todd Lickliter we will have the worst winning % in the history of the school within the first three seasons.

We also know that our former coach, Steve Alford, will take New Mexico to the opposite end of the spectrum. He will have the best winning % in the history of Lobo basketball in his first 3 seasons.


I doubt we accounted for that.
 
I'm guessing coach K was reeling in much better talent than we have seen Lickliter bring in at Iowa though, so far. So while the first few years for K weren't good at all, the personnel was what it needed to be to have success beyond that year 3. The jury is still very much out on our current level of talent, but let's just say I have my doubts.
 
I suspect for every CoachK story, there are more than a few of coaches who had 3 tough years, then continued to struggle,and were fired,only to be replaced by a guy that brought the program back.

Like UNC...Dean Smiths replacement struggled, then was replaced by Dougherty,who did ok, then Roy williams was brought in. ....so Smith is Mr. Davis, SA is Bill whatshisname, Lick is Dougherty,and ?
 
JHHawk said:
I suspect for every CoachK story, there are more than a few of coaches who had 3 tough years, then continued to struggle,and were fired,only to be replaced by a guy that brought the program back.
Click to expand...


You "suspect" that's the case? No kidding? ;) Obviously, that scenario is far more common than anything resembling the Tom Butters/Coach K story.

It's not hard to find reasons to feel hopeless about Iowa basketball. I posted this just in case there's someone here who might be looking for a reason to feel otherwise--particularly in light of the fact that barring an unforeseen disaster there isn't going to be a change here this year in any event.
 
FreddyBrown said:
Once upon a time there was an embattled athletic director named Tom Butters with an even more embattled head coach, unproven at the level of his new job and having done little in his first few years in the job to inspire confidence that he would get things turned around. The coach himself was not the most charismatic guy and a lot of people were wondering what Butters was thinking when he gave the coach a shot at the big time after a stint at a lesser school.

When he could have cut his losses and moved on, Butters stuck with the embattled coach and some hope generated by the coach's first fairly well-regarded recruiting class.

Butters' patience paid off. The school was Duke. The coach was a Polish guy from Chicago.

+++++++++

Please don't spend any time explaining all the distinctions one can identify between Coach K's emergence from early struggles and our current situation. I understand them. And I'm not saying anything remotely comparable is going to happen here.

It's just a true story, and maybe cause to allow yourself to daydream. :)
Click to expand...


So you're saying now all we have to do is hire an AD whose last name is related to food then we'll win multiple NCAA Championships? :)
 
tubahawk said:
So you're saying now all we have to do is hire an AD whose last name is related to food then we'll win multiple NCAA Championships? :)
Click to expand...

At last--someone who understands me! ;) But that rule only applies to the AD--I mean, we don't want to be stuck with a coach like Tom Cream.
 
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