Who Was Around When Haydon Started Coaching Iowa?

My earliest memories of Fry (I was born in '81) was him running up the score on teams like Northwestern. He had a attitude of "score and score some more" from what I remember.

I do remember the Peach. I had completely forgotten about that. My dad used to read that thing cover to cover. I would just look at the pictures.

We are spoiled living in this era. Every Iowa game is on national tv or streaming on the internet. Thank you Al Gore.
 
My first year at Iowa was 1979, Hayden's first year. I wasn't there for the Commings years, so don't really have anything to compare it to, but Hayden definitely brought some excitement along with him. Nothing like catching a basketball game coached by Lute Olsen at the Fieldhouse one day, a wrestling match coached by Dan Gable the next, and a football game in Kinnick coached by Hayden Fry the next. I feel lucky to have been there during those years.
 
MelroseHawkins said:
This past week we all awaited the announcement of the alternate jersey and all anticipated what we were going to see. This made me think how it went down or what it was like when Fry came to Iowa to resurrect the program. There wasn't the social media and internet back in the late 1970's so I'm sure was a bit different with word of mouth and the newspapers.

I was only about 7 when Fry came so don't really remember, but can any of you older folks kind of explain the feel or how it happen when Fry overhauled the uniforms & what the buzz was like with the new Hawk logo. This past week & Saturday made me wonder what it was like when Fry arrived and made some drastic changes.
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I was there. It was around the time Jesos Christ was alive.
 
I was at the Indiana game. I remember it being a close game and disappointed when we lost but it was a good game to watch. I was actually surprised that we had a chance to win and was encouraged for the future as the last 10 years had sucked. I didn't know anything about Hayden Fry at that time. Went downtown with friends and had a great time being in Iowa City.
 
Went to my first game in 80-81 cuz my dad got tickets through somebody, (they were Tony Wancket's tickets) I figured that out cause his girlfriend yelled "Toooneyyy!" through the entire game. It was against Nebraska and I had never seen an Iowa game before. Fry's third year I believe and before the game (I was 16) two old fans who we were riding with asked me who was gonna win? In my naive ignorance I said Iowa. This brought loads of laughter from the guys as I heard them declare Iowa was like a 40 point underdog. They loved the "new" uniforms and liked Fry's attitude, but his brashness was a little unsettling for some Iowans. I believe we beat Nebraska and UCLA that year on the way to the Rose Bowl.
 
I was in my 2nd year @ Iowa when they fired Commings. I sat through his rather pathetic attempts to convince everyone he should be allowed to stay. I listened to the press conference introducing Hayden. To be honest, we were all so numb from losing it really didn't make much of an impact on most of us.

Kinnick at that time was party central. You could take in bota's of wine/mixed-drinks, smoke anything you wanted in the stadium, leave Kinnick and come back in, etc. Kegs were allowed in the park areas outside the stadium.

The product on the field was so bad the powers-to-be didn't want to do anything to keep people away. A basketball ticket was 100x more difficult to get than a FB ticket.

We went 5-6 in Hayden's first year, then 4-7. Hayden was actually on the hot seat after the 4-7 2nd season. His Rose Bowl birth erased all of that.
 
I was in my late teens when HF came to Iowa.

To say he was a breath of fresh air for college football in general would be an understatement.

The games he coached were fun to attend, especially thru the 80's.
 
ATLHawkeye said:
My first year at Iowa was 1979, Hayden's first year. I wasn't there for the Commings years, so don't really have anything to compare it to, but Hayden definitely brought some excitement along with him. Nothing like catching a basketball game coached by Lute Olsen at the Fieldhouse one day, a wrestling match coached by Dan Gable the next, and a football game in Kinnick coached by Hayden Fry the next. I feel lucky to have been there during those years.
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I was a freshman in '79 also and remember that first game. How the crowd roared on Iowa's first play from scrimmage as I believe they lined up with an empty backfield. The buzz and positive feelings about the season is what I remember. Looking back it was a truly a great time in sports for Iowa....Lute, Gable and Hayden. Remember that year year ('79 - '80) the Hawks went to the Final Four in Indy. I went to that as well.......Never been to a Rose Bowl but this might be the year.....if not the National Championship!
 
Hayden also said coming in that we might throw 75 passes a game, so when he predicted a 1000 yard rusher also, I wasn't sure what to think. After 3 years of Commings trying to bring back the Wing-T, I thought it was pretty cool that Fry made a converted safety his QB (Phil Suess) and we now had a respectable passing game. But yeah, there was a buzz after that first game. A lot of people listened to the game on radio, and it was in all of the papers.

Commings was bitter the rest of his life, complaining that Fry got everything that was denied him, and said Fry won the B10 with his players.
 
All I know is that the rest of the Big Ten not named Michigan and OSU owes Hayden a debt of gratitude. In the 13 years prior to Iowa going to it's first Rose Bowl under Hayden (the 1982 Rose Bowl), Michigan and OSU had been to a combined 13 Rose Bowls and the rest of the league had been to none.

Beginning with the 1982 Rose Bowl and continuing until last year, every B1G team, except for Minnesota and Indiana, has been to at least one Rose Bowl. Hayden came in and laid the foundation for other "also rans" to follow. While it eventually had the effect of making the B1G a much tougher conference than when Hayden came into the league, it still was great for the conference as a whole.

Hayden was a true pioneer!
 
SpiderRico said:
All I know is that the rest of the Big Ten not named Michigan and OSU owes Hayden a debt of gratitude. In the 13 years prior to Iowa going to it's first Rose Bowl under Hayden (the 1982 Rose Bowl), Michigan and OSU had been to a combined 13 Rose Bowls and the rest of the league had been to none.

Beginning with the 1982 Rose Bowl and continuing until last year, every B1G team, except for Minnesota and Indiana, has been to at least one Rose Bowl. Hayden came in and laid the foundation for other "also rans" to follow. While it eventually had the effect of making the B1G a much tougher conference than when Hayden came into the league, it still was great for the conference as a whole.

Hayden was a true pioneer!
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Good post. Spot on. I had a college buddy flying home to Ohio for winter break 1981. We had clinched our spot in the Rose Bowl. On board that plane were several Ohio St fans. He said to a person they let him know how really awful it was that a team/school like Iowa would be representing the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl.

@#$%&! Arrogant Buckeye fans.

So that Rose Bowl didn't turn out well for us, but Hayden sent the message to the rest of the league that there was a new gunslinger in town. The locals weren't gonna keep having their way...
 
Of course we tied Ohio St for first place in the Big Ten that year. We didn't play them so we were the Rose Bowl representative because they had been there more recently.

That didn't sit well with Buckeye fans either. LOL
 
skinnykilmer17 said:
Of course we tied Ohio St for first place in the Big Ten that year. We didn't play them so we were the Rose Bowl representative because they had been there more recently.

That didn't sit well with Buckeye fans either. LOL
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In '81 every B1G team except for Iowa & OSU played nine conference games. The Hawks & Bucks only played eight conference games. Does anyone know why?
 
I was a freshman in college during Hayden's first year. Finished 5-6. People couldn't wait for the next season. Iowa went 4-7. Then the Rose bowl season. The first QB I first remember playing for Iowa was Roy Bash.
 
Sorry all. When typing I inadvertently transposed the "o" for the "e". I obviously know how to spell Hayden. I will try to fix. Ugh! :eek:
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Sorry all. When typing I inadvertently transposed the "o" for the "e". I obviously know how to spell Hayden. I will try to fix. Ugh! :eek:
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Don't sweat it, I for one am just happy you started the thread!!! It brought back some great memories. I was a freshman at Iowa in Hayden's first year as well. I remember we'd walk over from Slater across the field that is now the ramp and part of the hospital. Previous posters were right, you could do whatever you wanted tailgating. We used to bring pony kegs in through the back door on the first floor as Slater before the games. That first year in the student section was a blast. I had no idea what to expect but we all loved the jerseys, the new logo, and this crazy guy they hired:) As said before, it was during the Hayden, Lute, and Gable era. Pretty fun being a Hawkeye during those times!!!

And still great being a Hawkeye today!!!
 
1979 was a very fun season. My father had an RV back in those days, and we went to the Illinois and NW games on the road. We destroyed NW (I recall 56-14) and then defeated Illinois 13-7 by holding them on the very last play of the game on the Iowa 2 yard line. Great memories
 
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