ISU Coaching Poll

Who would be the best person to be ISU’s HC?


  • Total voters
    420
  • Poll closed .
‘Ties to the Midwest’ is the most overrated reason to hire a guy IMO. Floyd, Larry, and Fred are the 3 best coaches we’ve ever had. Tim and Larry had no ties to the Midwest. Look at all the guys they got. Cato, Willoughby, Fizer, Tinsley, Horton, Nurse, etc...even Fred had all kinds of success recruiting players from all over (Niang, Ejim, Kane, etc..)

Even our coaches that failed (Prohm, Morgan, and McDermott) have brought in talent from all over (Shayok, Wigginton, Brackins, Hamilton, Gilstrap, Blalock, Stinson)...

Whoever our next coach is will bring in talent, probably even from the Midwest whether they have ‘ties’ here or not...will they be able to coach it up? Will they be able to retain it?
 
Also a big part of getting some of the best players in program history to Ames. Funny enough, we still have a TJ recruit on the team in Young.

I don’t know why so many people are so eager to do the “random mid-major coach” thing after Prohm. Ties to Iowa State are important for me and I think it’s important to a lot of people.
 
Agreed! There is a lot to like about TJ outside of the fact that he was an asst here! He is not a Hoiberg clone...
TJ is not my first choice. I like Craig Smith from USU. I like his midwest background and see a lot of toughness and intensity from his teams.

So what is there to like about TJ as a basketball coach? I don't think another P6 school would consider TJ after this season.

So when I see the support from ISU fans, IMO it is because many of those people have a prior relationship with TJ during his stints as an assistant under McDermott and Hoiberg.

My main misgivings about TJ are the same issue we saw with Prohm. Once Fred's recruits were gone, Steve couldn't recruit a solid roster of 8 players. TJ jumped ship at SD before the impact of his recruiting classes could be realized AND he's at the same point at UNLV. This year about half his core group are the prior coaches recruits and half are TJ's. If UNLV wins out, they are a .500 team in MW play this year.

I am not a TJ hater and he could be a great coach at ISU- coaching success is a hard thing to project. It's why Jamie makes the big bucks.
 
TJ is not my first choice. I like Craig Smith from USU. I like his midwest background and see a lot of toughness and intensity from his teams.

So what is there to like about TJ as a basketball coach? I don't think another P6 school would consider TJ after this season.

So when I see the support from ISU fans, IMO it is because many of those people have a prior relationship with TJ during his stints as an assistant under McDermott and Hoiberg.

My main misgivings about TJ are the same issue we saw with Prohm. Once Fred's recruits were gone, Steve couldn't recruit a solid roster of 8 players. TJ jumped ship at SD before the impact of his recruiting classes could be realized AND he's at the same point at UNLV. This year about half his core group are the prior coaches recruits and half are TJ's. If UNLV wins out, they are a .500 team in MW play this year.

I am not a TJ hater and he could be a great coach at ISU- coaching success is a hard thing to project. It's why Jamie makes the big bucks.
Are you saying TJ can’t recruit? You realize most of Fred’s recruits were TJ guys right?
 
I don’t know why so many people are so eager to do the “random mid-major coach” thing after Prohm. Ties to Iowa State are important for me and I think it’s important to a lot of people.

No guarantee hiring another mid-major guy
works..no doubt TJ would not be worse than Steve...but when hiring for a job, more often than not the better resume will be the better hire..doesn’t make it a certain.
 
Devries or Smith defense and desire show up every night. Really sick of seeing players lacking effort. That ten second call walking the ball up against no pressure is something I will ever forget.
 
Devries or Smith defense and desire show up every night. Really sick of seeing players lacking effort. That ten second call walking the ball up against no pressure is something I will ever forget.
To me that was more about zero awareness. I can the guys giving effort but a lot of it is unfocused effort or wasted effort.
 
‘Ties to the Midwest’ is the most overrated reason to hire a guy IMO. Floyd, Larry, and Fred are the 3 best coaches we’ve ever had. Tim and Larry had no ties to the Midwest. Look at all the guys they got. Cato, Willoughby, Fizer, Tinsley, Horton, Nurse, etc...even Fred had all kinds of success recruiting players from all over (Niang, Ejim, Kane, etc..)

Even our coaches that failed (Prohm, Morgan, and McDermott) have brought in talent from all over (Shayok, Wigginton, Brackins, Hamilton, Gilstrap, Blalock, Stinson)...

Whoever our next coach is will bring in talent, probably even from the Midwest whether they have ‘ties’ here or not...will they be able to coach it up? Will they be able to retain it?
Having a coach from the Midwest isn't required, but IMO it improves our chances for success. Especially if that coach recruits the Midwest hard. IMO there is a greater chance of roster stability by recruiting Midwest kids. Just look at football. Campbell isn't and Iowa guy, but his staff does a great job of recruiting upper midwest kids to ISU. He also has great kids from FL, TX, CA, AZ.

Look at McCarney and Rhoades, both Iowa guys, but outside Iowa they focused big time on FL & TX. AND we ended up with a lot of roster turnover.

If we want long term success at ISU, then IMO the coach need to recruit the states bordering ISU hard. Johnny Orr always had a good blend local kids and Chicago/Michigan players . Floyd and Larry did great over a short window, but their roster stability was always a battle and it caught up with Larry after Tinsley left.
 
Having a coach from the Midwest isn't required, but IMO it improves our chances for success. Especially if that coach recruits the Midwest hard. IMO there is a greater chance of roster stability by recruiting Midwest kids. Just look at football. Campbell isn't and Iowa guy, but his staff does a great job of recruiting upper midwest kids to ISU. He also has great kids from FL, TX, CA, AZ.

Look at McCarney and Rhoades, both Iowa guys, but outside Iowa they focused big time on FL & TX. AND we ended up with a lot of roster turnover.

If we want long term success at ISU, then IMO the coach need to recruit the states bordering ISU hard. Johnny Orr always had a good blend local kids and Chicago/Michigan players . Floyd and Larry did great over a short window, but their roster stability was always a battle and it caught up with Larry after Tinsley left.

Floyd had Hinrich committed and Collison was close to hopping on board. He also landed Shirley. Larry brought in Haluska and Sullivan. Prohm got Horton-Tucker, Haliburton, and Foster...nobody’s name will be as popular as Fred around here for helping our cause but kids from Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, etc, don’t care if our coach has ties to Iowa State..they care about the relationship they build with our staff, improving as a player, and getting to the league.

Give me the best coach..I don’t care if he’s from Alaska or our own back yard..he’ll get players...what clearly has shown to matter is coaching them up and retaining them.
 
Are you saying TJ can’t recruit? You realize most of Fred’s recruits were TJ guys right?

Being a solid head coach is more than recruiting. In fact being a great recruiter is pretty far down on the list. Being a great leader is far more important. Any head coach can hire great recruiters as assistant coaches.

Your example if Fred is spot on. He provided the leadership and vision and hired his assistant coaches like TJ and Cornell to recruit.
 

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