Tom Davis vs. Johnny Orr

[1977Hawkeye]

Why'd we fire him again? Oh yeah, he only got us to the Sweet 16 his last year. That was pathetic.

That decision was made before the Sweet 16 season. At the time, we were coming off a season that ended in a 1st round NIT loss. But yeah, Mr. Davis shoulda been allowed to stay until he retired. Dang shame he was run out the way he was. Excellent coach.

As for Davis vs. Orr - I'm going to guess that although Davis had his share of success, he was preceded by other coaches that had just as much, if not more, success. I'm not an expert on ISU hoops lore, but I'm not sure what kind of tradition they had before Johnny Orr was their coach. I don't recall ever hearing much about any pre-Johnny ISU hoops stories. So I suppose it's a matter of perspective.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Wait a minute, Iowa State has a statue of Johnny Orr??? LOL

 

[HaydenHawk56]

Wait a minute, Iowa State has a statue of Johnny Orr??? LOL

Statues, bill boards, letting you know about how 4 star recruits stayed the course with them in press conferences, so proud........Oh little brother.

 

[xXxHerkyxXx]

Wait a minute, Iowa State has a statue of Johnny Orr??? LOL

And a sports bar named after him in Hilton.

 

[uihawk82]

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.

Really, Johnny Orr was really good if you add in his Mich years. But Johnny at ISU was average+ and nowhere close to what Lute Olson or Ralph Miller did.

Miller won championships in a tough Missouri Valley at Wich St before coming to Iowa and then he had a couple of #1 teams at Oregon St. He took the same uptempo play out west and did great except in tourney time.

Of course Lute has a final four with Iowa and many ncaa appearances plus he won a natty title so way better than Orr, and Lute owned the Pac 10

Your clown fan work mate is deluded.

 

[99topdawg]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/0...t-two-colleges-dies-at-86.html?_r=0&referrer=
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.

So you're saying that ISU won't support bad teams, only mediocre ones. Gotcha.

 

[99topdawg]

That decision was made before the Sweet 16 season. At the time, we were coming off a season that ended in a 1st round NIT loss. But yeah, Mr. Davis shoulda been allowed to stay until he retired. Dang shame he was run out the way he was. Excellent coach.

As for Davis vs. Orr - I'm going to guess that although Davis had his share of success, he was preceded by other coaches that had just as much, if not more, success. I'm not an expert on ISU hoops lore, but I'm not sure what kind of tradition they had before Johnny Orr was their coach. I don't recall ever hearing much about any pre-Johnny ISU hoops stories. So I suppose it's a matter of perspective.

There were 2 coaches before him that lasted 6 years that won about 40% of their games. The guy before them won 55%. The 4 before him combined to win about 50%, basically the same as Orr. So he took them back to the same attendance and same .500 record they had 6 years earlier. Woo wee.

 

[99topdawg]

Wait a minute, Iowa State has a statue of Johnny Orr??? LOL

Yes. It's in Hilton. Here's a picture. The statue is the one on the right.

 

[CyChamp]

So you're saying that ISU won't support bad teams, only mediocre ones. Gotcha.

Have you forgotten the free pizza Lickliter era already? You can't be saying that Iowa fans support their bad teams, can you?

Look, I readily admit that Johnny's win/loss isn't stellar, but there just isn't any denying what he did for the program, university, and community.

 

[MisterLucky]

I'm not going to knock Orr. He was highly successful at Michigan. Less so at ISU. But it does seem to me that Clone fans put more currency in having coaches with "personality," than expecting positive results from said coaches. Rhoads is a perfect example. Done nothing....Highly revered.

 

[xXxHerkyxXx]

Orr could've been the biggest personality in the state. Of course he was always in the personality shadow of the great Hayden Fry.

 

[99topdawg]

Have you forgotten the free pizza Lickliter era already? You can't be saying that Iowa fans support their bad teams, can you?

Look, I readily admit that Johnny's win/loss isn't stellar, but there just isn't any denying what he did for the program, university, and community.

Never mentioned Iowa in my post.

What Johnny did was got a fan base to accept mediocrity and we still see that today.

 

[CyChamp]

Never mentioned Iowa in my post.

What Johnny did was got a fan base to accept mediocrity and we still see that today.

I guess I see it that he kickstarted Hilton Magic. That and the program now is far from mediocre.

And my Lickliter point stands...how many fanbases support bad teams in great numbers? ISU didn't then and Iowa didn't with Lick.

 

[Ranger620]

Apparently, mediocre beat Iowa's azz this year. I get a kick out of the fact that some of these posters who are bemoaning Mr. Davis's unceremonious departure from Iowa were also calling for Kirk's head this year.

 

[bws258]

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.

Maybe some of you guys didn't appreciate Mr. Davis while he was here, but I sure did, and I wasn't alone. I was an undergrad during Davis's last seasons and Alford's first, and I can tell you that there was a lot people there that first-guessed the move to not re-sign Mr. Davis and thought Bowlsby was a fvcking idiot for doing what he did. I've never thought of Orr as in the same category as Davis. Davis was a consistent winner. Orr was a showman. I'll take Davis every time.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

When's Rhoads statue going up?

 

[xXxHerkyxXx]

When's Rhoads statue going up?

When the school collects all the chiz coins back to melt them down.

 

[528646]

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.

Hilarious! I sort of glossed over this statement on first read, but on closer reflection this is hilarious! Classic even!

Too bad the ISU AD didn't have YouTube back in the day - could have made some GREAT Johnny videos!

 

[gordonearl]

Best Iowa coaches in my lifetime. #1 Bucky O'Conner, #2 Ralph Miller, # 3 Lute , # 4 Mr. Davis.

 

[Xerxes]

Apparently, mediocre beat Iowa's azz this year. I get a kick out of the fact that some of these posters who are bemoaning Mr. Davis's unceremonious departure from Iowa were also calling for Kirk's head this year.

And they were also probably very happy about Alford coming to town back in 1999. A lot of revisionist history with the TD situation. Alford was on fire in March 1999, taking SWMS to the Sweet 16, young coach that everybody wanted but Iowa had the deal done that January. He was on CBS Final Four show talking about his Iowa job, everything was great.

I'll admit I was totally on board with the decision to let Davis go. The program had been stuck in neutral for 10 years, Davis' best years were in the 1980s, and I bought into the fact that Iowa should be better. Fact is TD was a good coach, who has been made to look a lot better by the 2 clowns who followed him.