U of I Half-Pregnant mentality

[Crossfirehawk]

I have been a Hawkeye fan all my life and have been on these boards for years though I rarely post. The time has come to post. The University of Iowa as a whole has a half pregnant mentality. For years the powers that be have thought that making a hire or adding /updating facilities was what it would take to create programs. They were right but what they didn't create were Winning programs. Sure we have had some good years and fun years in sports but where are the Championships? Loyal fans and Boosters have been wooed and seduced for most of my life with the promise of giving birth to a championship driven athletic department that would compete every year for titles. Jon Miller states that since 2008 the U of I boasts 5 championship teams. That is at the bottom of the Big Ten. The next closest is Purdue and they boast 10 champions. The wooing and seduction has led to occasional moments of pleasure and an impregnation of the Sports Department but the offspring is yet to be born. Long seasons of the promises of birth pangs have been found to be just another false labor. Fans have been relegated to the role of expectant father in a never ending pregnancy. Get us to the delivery room we hear. It's time we hear. NO MORE I say. I am waiting along with other Hawkeye fans and saying, It is time to see the water break. If it won't break the we insist that a competent AD induce the labor. We are waiting to see the child we have invested in and are longing to see. The only thing more frustrating than sticking with the long term OBGYN (KF in football) is the continual parade of "physicians (Alford, Lick, McCaffery in Basketball). Is anyone capable of delivering this child? Perhaps the problem rests with the Administrator. If Barta will not hold his coaches accountable then it is time for those funding his operation to hold him accountable. It is time for this unending pregnancy to come to term and our beloved to bring forth this child of promise.

 

[ChosenChildren]

I agree with much of this, but I think the real problem is that the Iowa administration (Mason) and the Board of Regents really aren't committed to winning. I offer this as proof:

Iowa has higher academic standards than many of its opponents. Ohio State, Michigan State and Iowa State will accept the marginal student or the transfer who is a great athlete. IOWA WILL NOT. Gary DiNardo has commented on this numerous times on the Big Ten Network. People on this board do not discuss this topic nearly enough. Ferentz has one hand tied behind his back because he can't bring in marginal students or transfers. So does McCaffrey. Until Iowa loosens it entrance standards, nothing will change.

 

[Thawki]

I have been a Hawkeye fan all my life and have been on these boards for years though I rarely post. The time has come to post. The University of Iowa as a whole has a half pregnant mentality. For years the powers that be have thought that making a hire or adding /updating facilities was what it would take to create programs. They were right but what they didn't create were Winning programs. Sure we have had some good years and fun years in sports but where are the Championships? Loyal fans and Boosters have been wooed and seduced for most of my life with the promise of giving birth to a championship driven athletic department that would compete every year for titles. Jon Miller states that since 2008 the U of I boasts 5 championship teams. That is at the bottom of the Big Ten. The next closest is Purdue and they boast 10 champions. The wooing and seduction has led to occasional moments of pleasure and an impregnation of the Sports Department but the offspring is yet to be born. Long seasons of the promises of birth pangs have been found to be just another false labor. Fans have been relegated to the role of expectant father in a never ending pregnancy. Get us to the delivery room we hear. It's time we hear. NO MORE I say. I am waiting along with other Hawkeye fans and saying, It is time to see the water break. If it won't break the we insist that a competent AD induce the labor. We are waiting to see the child we have invested in and are longing to see. The only thing more frustrating than sticking with the long term OBGYN (KF in football) is the continual parade of "physicians (Alford, Lick, McCaffery in Basketball). Is anyone capable of delivering this child? Perhaps the problem rests with the Administrator. If Barta will not hold his coaches accountable then it is time for those funding his operation to hold him accountable. It is time for this unending pregnancy to come to term and our beloved to bring forth this child of promise.

I am betting you wanted SA gone and Lick gone, since you want coaches held accountable. Holding Fran accountable would be saying thank you for moving our program from the worst three year span in its history to a spot that is at least where SA had, for uniting a splintered fan base and for getting the talent level to a fairly decent place when you consider where it was. I don't really. See how you can whine about the basketball coaching situation since they have been held accountable the way you ask and the current coach is doing what I described.

As far as five championships goes, I agree with you.

Regarding football, well I think there needs to be more accountability there than there seems to be currently.

 

[Crossfirehawk]

I agree with much of this, but I think the real problem is that the Iowa administration (Mason) and the Board of Regents really aren't committed to winning. I offer this as proof:

Iowa has higher academic standards than many of its opponents. Ohio State, Michigan State and Iowa State will accept the marginal student or the transfer who is a great athlete. IOWA WILL NOT. Gary DiNardo has commented on this numerous times on the Big Ten Network. People on this board do not discuss this topic nearly enough. Ferentz has one hand tied behind his back because he can't bring in marginal students or transfers. So does McCaffrey. Until Iowa loosens it entrance standards, nothing will change.

I agree with your statement. The playing field needs to be made even and I believe that would greatly benefit The U of I. That is why we need an AD with the guts to do his job. The Athletic program brings in HUGE revenues. The higher powers at U of I shamelessly stand with the bag wide open to get this revenue. A strong AD will remind the President and the Board that 70,000 people will never line up on Saturday afternoon to view the new computer lab, engineering building, children's hospital or even the new Sports complex much less pay $50 for the privilege of doing so. These projects are in fact made possible in large part because of a populace desiring to pay to see Winning Sports teams.

 

[Crossfirehawk]

I am betting you wanted SA gone and Lick gone, since you want coaches held accountable. Holding Fran accountable would be saying thank you for moving our program from the worst three year span in its history to a spot that is at least where SA had, for uniting a splintered fan base and for getting the talent level to a fairly decent place when you consider where it was. I don't really. See how you can whine about the basketball coaching situation since they have been held accountable the way you ask and the current coach is doing what I described.

As far as five championships goes, I agree with you.

Regarding football, well I think there needs to be more accountability there than there seems to be currently.

I am not whining about it. I just feel that spending 15 years and going through 3 coaches to get to a level that Tom Davis teams would have considered mediocrity is insane. As I have said previously, making a hire does nothing but change the name of a coach unless the AD is committed to winning at the BIG10 level. The AD must remember...You can delegate authority but not responsibility. Barta needs to hold himself accountable.

 

[doclee]

I agree with much of this, but I think the real problem is that the Iowa administration (Mason) and the Board of Regents really aren't committed to winning. I offer this as proof:

Iowa has higher academic standards than many of its opponents. Ohio State, Michigan State and Iowa State will accept the marginal student or the transfer who is a great athlete. IOWA WILL NOT. Gary DiNardo has commented on this numerous times on the Big Ten Network. People on this board do not discuss this topic nearly enough. Ferentz has one hand tied behind his back because he can't bring in marginal students or transfers. So does McCaffrey. Until Iowa loosens it entrance standards, nothing will change.

I do not think this is true. I think BT schools are all pretty close on their entrance requirements. I don't specifically know about transfers, but OSU and MSU don't seem to need to find transfers or Juco's, since they typically successfully recruit a lot of 4 and 5 star athletes. I have not heard everything DiNardo has said on the BT Network, but I have never heard this comment. I mean no offense to you, but document your statement if you are going to go this far with your criticism.

 

[gohawkz]

I have been a Hawkeye fan all my life and have been on these boards for years though I rarely post. The time has come to post. The University of Iowa as a whole has a half pregnant mentality. For years the powers that be have thought that making a hire or adding /updating facilities was what it would take to create programs. They were right but what they didn't create were Winning programs. Sure we have had some good years and fun years in sports but where are the Championships? Loyal fans and Boosters have been wooed and seduced for most of my life with the promise of giving birth to a championship driven athletic department that would compete every year for titles. Jon Miller states that since 2008 the U of I boasts 5 championship teams. That is at the bottom of the Big Ten. The next closest is Purdue and they boast 10 champions. The wooing and seduction has led to occasional moments of pleasure and an impregnation of the Sports Department but the offspring is yet to be born. Long seasons of the promises of birth pangs have been found to be just another false labor. Fans have been relegated to the role of expectant father in a never ending pregnancy. Get us to the delivery room we hear. It's time we hear. NO MORE I say. I am waiting along with other Hawkeye fans and saying, It is time to see the water break. If it won't break the we insist that a competent AD induce the labor. We are waiting to see the child we have invested in and are longing to see. The only thing more frustrating than sticking with the long term OBGYN (KF in football) is the continual parade of "physicians (Alford, Lick, McCaffery in Basketball). Is anyone capable of delivering this child? Perhaps the problem rests with the Administrator. If Barta will not hold his coaches accountable then it is time for those funding his operation to hold him accountable. It is time for this unending pregnancy to come to term and our beloved to bring forth this child of promise.

Ferentz is holding a bloody coat hanger..

 

[NEIChawk]

All I have a sense of is "false" labor, and the contractions are years apart......We're never going to deliver this baby.....