Join a gameday thread and you'll find out how awful TJ is
T J
- Thread starter FallOf81
- Start date
It is CF or "firewaynemorgan.com"
It's been that way with every coach since then. I remember Fred getting pounded on this site when ISU would lose. And people loved him.
I've made it very clear over the years - I have had a major man crush on TJ since my first phone call with him in 2006. I remember where I was standing and what we talked about. The dude is amazing and he's our's for a long time to come.
In a world with barely any role models I'd actually want my kids to look up to, TJ and Brock are a very rare breed.
In a world with barely any role models I'd actually want my kids to look up to, TJ and Brock are a very rare breed.
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To be clear - it has always been CF. I only bought FWM to drive a little extra traffic - and actually most of the time I had it forwarding to Cyclones.com, not CF.
If Otz can maintain the success that we think is possible, Greg McDermott might end up having a significant net positive effect on Iowa State basketball in the long term simply for bringing Otz on staff.
I don't think so. FF every 4 years, yeah, that's a LOT to ask. You have to be really good AND have some luck.
But E8 once every 4-5 years is not unrealistic, though I would call it aspirational - it's what we should be trying to achieve.
Looking at couple comparable successful programs, not blue bloods, over last 15 years-
Baylor: 11 appearances, made E8 three times, S16 two other times
K State: 10 appearances, three E8s, no S16
Wisconsin: 13 appearances, two E8 and five S16
In the same time period, ISU has made S16 three times in 9 appearances. So not that far off over the last 15 years, even with half of it being Mac & CSP!
Well.....okay.
My response was only making the point that being critical of a coach, any coach has been the flavor of the day since the beginning of CF.
Elite Eight appearances are the bar for a title contender to me. So much beyond that boils down to luck in a single elimination sport like that, as Cyclone fans are painfully aware.
A Sweet 16 is a real accomplishment, but there are too many soft ways to get there. But I'm always happy when we win two.
This is probably a better way to look at it - regular season conference championship competitiveness.
IIRC Fred said something like "we are going to compete for Big12 regular season championships, and if we are good enough to be right there for that, then we will have success in the NCAA tourney".
And he was right. Be that good, consistently - and I don't mean win it every year a la Kansas, but be right there at the top within a game or 2 - and then you're certainly good enough to make deep runs when things line up.
And they won't line up every year. You run into the wrong matchup with a 12 seed, your guys have an off night shooting, you play someone practically in their own backyard (e.g. UConn, Ohio St, UK, and of course Auburn Hills). But other years you get some luck and then its a special memory.
Maybe this isn’t a new thing but I have noticed in the past couple of games that TJ will be casually leaning back against the scorers table with his crossed like he’s relaxing watching a middle school game. Just the complete opposite of how 99% of coaches act.
I can’t remember him doing that in previous years. Probably means nothing or maybe he knows this team is ******* good. Idk but it was jarring when I first noticed it, I think against k state? And then saw replays of Milan’s near game winner at Baylor and he’s freaking leaning back relaxed while we are inbounding a game deciding play with 1.2 seconds left and then he was doing it against Texas.
Cold blooded.
I can’t remember him doing that in previous years. Probably means nothing or maybe he knows this team is ******* good. Idk but it was jarring when I first noticed it, I think against k state? And then saw replays of Milan’s near game winner at Baylor and he’s freaking leaning back relaxed while we are inbounding a game deciding play with 1.2 seconds left and then he was doing it against Texas.
Cold blooded.
Stumbled? The only ones who stumbled were those that insisted we couldn’t hire Otz the first time. Which led us to the hiring of Prohm. Prohm is back at Murray State. Proving that he is a poor coach.
What I find interesting about TJ is how different his coach style/mentality was than what I expected. I did not expect him to play such a tough-nosed, defensively sound brand of basketball as what we've seen. I knew he had quite the recruiting prowess, but I didn't think his teams at SDSU and UNLV were exactly known for their toughness. I guess I had him pegged kind of more as a Wayne Morgan type (boy was I wrong...), as someone who could get the guys here but may struggle to get them playing together and maximizing their potential.
I might broaden this out in terms of placement in the conference\conference winning % instead of just winning the regular season. Especially given there's a long stretch where KU dominated everyone in that regard. Finishing in the top 1/3 of the conference is an accomplishment as well and is probably the regular season equivalent of a sweet 16.
Eustachy finished in the top 1/3 twice, and the bottom 1/3 3x
Morgan: middle third once, bottom third twice.
Mcdermott: middle third once, bottom third 3x.
Hoiberg: bottom third once (1st year), top third 4x
Prohm: top third 1x, middle third 2x, bottom third 3x.
TJ: middle third 2x, may be headed for a top third finish this year though.
TJ had growing to do as a coach at that point with no head coaching experience. Far better to let him go out and get experience and bring him back than to have him fail and be run off. It was relatively clear he wanted to be back here. Both wise to not hire him in 15 and to hire him in 21.
The Big 12 is quite a bit different now, it's always been a good league of course but it hasn't always had its current status of #1 by far, 10+ teams who could/should make the tourney, etc.
In Eustachy's best years the league was really top-heavy. ISU, KU, Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State were all really good those years, and Missouri wasn't far behind (Kareem Rush / Clarence Gilbert teams), but then the bottom half of the league was pretty far behind the top. Colorado could be tough at home but the rest of the league was pretty bad.
In Eustachy's best years the league was really top-heavy. ISU, KU, Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State were all really good those years, and Missouri wasn't far behind (Kareem Rush / Clarence Gilbert teams), but then the bottom half of the league was pretty far behind the top. Colorado could be tough at home but the rest of the league was pretty bad.
TJ tried sitting McDermott up for success bringing in guys like Brackins and Gilstrap, Garrett.
It's utterly depressing. People here could win the Powerball, then complain that they didn't buy 2 tickets. Or be on fire, outside, during a downpour and complain that it wasn't a flood.
Seriously, try to find happiness! Life is just too short.