Tom Davis vs. Johnny Orr

99topdawg

99topdawg

Well-Known Member
If you compare the way the two coaches are viewed by their respective schools, you'd think Johnny was head and shoulders better than Tom. Johnny is a legend in their eyes, while Mr. Davis seems to be "a good/great coach that we enjoyed, but didn't appreciate until he was gone". You decide.

CoachMr. Davis DavisJohnny Orr
Years1314
Overall Record269-140 (66%)218-200 (52%)
Conference Record125-105 (54%)79-117 (40%)
Top Half Finishes105
Winning Conference Records92
Top 3 Finishes in Conference53
20 Win Seasons105
Losing Records Overall26
NCAA Wins133
Sweet 16 Appearances31
Elite 8 Appearances10
1st Round Losses04
Statues01
 
99topdawg said:
If you compare the way the two coaches are viewed by their respective schools, you'd think Johnny was head and shoulders better than Tom. Johnny is a legend in their eyes, while Mr. Davis seems to be "a good/great coach that we enjoyed, but didn't appreciate until he was gone". You decide.

CoachMr. Davis DavisJohnny Orr
Years1314
Overall Record269-140 (66%)218-200 (52%)
Conference Record125-105 (54%)79-117 (40%)
Top Half Finishes105
Winning Conference Records92
Top 3 Finishes in Conference53
20 Win Seasons105
Losing Records Overall26
NCAA Wins133
Sweet 16 Appearances31
Elite 8 Appearances10
1st Round Losses04
Statues01
Click to expand...

You have to look at what was going on before they were hired. Besides, why would you care how ISU fans feel about Orr? Especially now, decades later.
 
Yeah, I think mediORRcre was so ridiculously overrated. The overwhelming Clown love for him would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
 
Cydkar said:
You have to look at what was going on before they were hired. Besides, why would you care how ISU fans feel about Orr? Especially now, decades later.
Click to expand...

Clown fan at work told me today that Johnny's better than anything that Iowa's ever had. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say that Mr. Davis's the best coach Iowa's ever had.
 
Also, the dude before Orr was 32-40 in his last 3 seasons and had a better overall winning percentage than Todd Lickliter, and we saw how long it took to turn that around.
 
had isu been in the big time under Orr, the stats would be much different. big ten championships, ncaa runs, etc.

isu will always have the handicap of being in the toughest conference in any given sport.
 
imported_ankle23 said:
had isu been in the big time under Orr, the stats would be much different. big ten championships, ncaa runs, etc.

isu will always have the handicap of being in the toughest conference in any given sport.
Click to expand...

I don't understand your post.

The most surprising part to me is that Orr only finished in the top half of the conference 5 times in 14 years. In other words, 2 out of 3 seasons Iowa State was in the bottom half of the Big 8 under Orr. It wasn't exactly a killer conference. Kansas was awesome. Oklahoma had some nice teams. Missouri was always competitive. But still. Kansas State, Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma State...I would have guessed ISU would have finished in the top 4 more often during that span.
 
Cydkar said:
You have to look at what was going on before they were hired.
Click to expand...
Good point. Eliminate the first few years from consideration. For the last 10 years for each coach:

TD has 63% winning record, JO is at 55%

Both had 6 NCAA appearances and 1 Sweet 16 in their last 10 years
TD never lost a first round NCAA game, Orr's NCAA record is not nearly that good

TD still looks better

However, I will give JO a fair amount of credit for creating the Hilton magic atmosphere
 
You can't put a percentage on personality, but Johnny's was off the charts. He revived a long dormant program. I think I remember reading somewhere that home game attendance was somewhere around 5000 before he arrived.
 
Mr. Davis Davis>Johnny Orr

Mr. Davis deserved better. Big mistake to let him go like the University did. He probably should have been able to retire at Iowa. When Davis got the boot he only had his last team in the Sweet 16 after all. :( Of course, that was not good enough for some........
 
Maybe Iowa fans should have appreciated Davis more? I wont apologize for having reverence for Orr. How Hawk fans feel about Davis is out of my control and certainly not a concern.
 
CyChamp said:
You can't put a percentage on personality, but Johnny's was off the charts. He revived a long dormant program. I think I remember reading somewhere that home game attendance was somewhere around 5000 before he arrived.
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Maury John left 6 years before Orr came and had a winning percentage of .551. I would call that "long dormant".
 
Cydkar said:
Maybe Iowa fans should have appreciated Davis more? I wont apologize for having reverence for Orr. How Hawk fans feel about Davis is out of my control and certainly not a concern.
Click to expand...

Is it as a person or as a coach? He was a dynamic person, but had mediocre results. He'd be fired with those results today.
 
Advantage Mr. Davis (and it's not even close). I actually noticed this right after Johnny passed - I looked up his Wiki page out of curiosity, saw his record and was like "whoa, really not that great of a coach" (which came to a surprise to me, because Clone fans are always pimping him like he is the 2nd coming of Dean Smith). I didn't say anything cuz he had just passed away and from all accounts was a pretty nice guy (unlike Berryman) so I didn't want to start a fuss.

By the way, to cite how bad the program was before he arrived is laughable - he was there 14 frickin' years!!!
 
CyChamp said:
You can't put a percentage on personality, but Johnny's was off the charts. He revived a long dormant program. I think I remember reading somewhere that home game attendance was somewhere around 5000 before he arrived.
Click to expand...

He arrived in 1980. In 1972, ISU was 2nd nationally averaging over 15,500 per game. In 1973, they were 5th nationally averaging over 13,500. It was more of a matter of getting the fans to come back than it was building a fan base. Way overblown.
 
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/0...t-two-colleges-dies-at-86.html?_r=0&referrer=
99topdawg said:
He arrived in 1980. In 1972, ISU was 2nd nationally averaging over 15,500 per game. In 1973, they were 5th nationally averaging over 13,500. It was more of a matter of getting the fans to come back than it was building a fan base. Way overblown.
Click to expand...
Here's what I was referencing...not 1972.

Teams coached by Orr won a remarkable 76.7 percent of their games at the arena, including 20 victories over teams ranked in the top 25. “Hilton magic,” it began to be called. According to the university, the average attendance at home games the season before Orr arrived was 6,470. In the 1985-86 season, the average was 14,024.


 
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