... and deteriorate, as Jay Bilas suggests? If that is the case, one possibility that my layman's uninformed opinion might possibly pose would be: Iowa football.
As Iowa was going through its recent years of mediocrity, missing bowls, hovering around .500, etc. the Iowa athletics department was also busy renovating Kinnick Stadium. Could it be that Gary Barta was much more focused on shoring up the football program than building the basketball program? We all know that it is football that pays the bills and "allowing" the football program to flounder and deteriorate is a cardinal sin that no AD could ever survive.
So, maybe Barta figured that, hey, I only have so much time and so much energy and the donors only have so much patience for me begging them for money. Let's let the basketball program go on cruise control for a while until we get football back to its elite status.
Maybe that is why it took so long to get the BB practice facility and Carver-Hawkeye renovation. I think he took for granted that the BB program would never sink as low as it has and that the fans wouldn't ever become as discouraged and apathetic about it as we have. Could you have EVER imagined a 2/3 empty Carver-Hawkeye? I never would have, until I saw it this year.
This is not necessarily what I believe, but it is a theory that I will throw out there for discussion.
As Iowa was going through its recent years of mediocrity, missing bowls, hovering around .500, etc. the Iowa athletics department was also busy renovating Kinnick Stadium. Could it be that Gary Barta was much more focused on shoring up the football program than building the basketball program? We all know that it is football that pays the bills and "allowing" the football program to flounder and deteriorate is a cardinal sin that no AD could ever survive.
So, maybe Barta figured that, hey, I only have so much time and so much energy and the donors only have so much patience for me begging them for money. Let's let the basketball program go on cruise control for a while until we get football back to its elite status.
Maybe that is why it took so long to get the BB practice facility and Carver-Hawkeye renovation. I think he took for granted that the BB program would never sink as low as it has and that the fans wouldn't ever become as discouraged and apathetic about it as we have. Could you have EVER imagined a 2/3 empty Carver-Hawkeye? I never would have, until I saw it this year.
This is not necessarily what I believe, but it is a theory that I will throw out there for discussion.
