2008. They put Barry Stevens' number up there. But instead of him being able to celebrate it, it was right after he passed away. Fred is the most recently played to have his number up. He graduated a quarter of a century ago.
Hang their jerseys
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2008. They put Barry Stevens' number up there. But instead of him being able to celebrate it, it was right after he passed away. Fred is the most recently played to have his number up. He graduated a quarter of a century ago.
IMHO those are dumb criteria. #1 is silly, and #2 outsources ISU’s decision to the decision making of outside parties.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
So, seeing over in Iowa City that time doesn't have to pass in order to give guys the respect they deserve.
I like waiting and bringing the players back to honor them. Give the players two special moments instead of one
We act like we're voting players to the SCOTUS. It's way over the top.
I think them hanging Garza's jersey is incredibly too early.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I like the idea of two special moments. I also like the idea of actually getting them their moment.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
I'm not convinced we'll bother with Ejim, Niang, or Morris, though all 3 easily deserve it. They don't indicate any sense of urgency or bother towards getting there.
You're joking right? Niang and Morris will 100% get their jersey hung. They wait 10 years
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Or after death. I mean, we didn't bother with Barry Stevens until he died.
They make this much longer and more difficult than it needs to be.
Just about every team, pro or college, gives it some time before hanging a jersey / retiring a number. I would much rather wait then do it on a senior night.
Iowa just has not had too much success for the last couple of decades, and the second they do they treat Garza like he is God. It will be hilarious when they get bounced in the second round, and Garza doesn't score over 10 points.
So you think we either don't retire Niang and Morris' jersey or wait until they die to do it?
Agree - don't know for sure, but I'd bet many, many schools do it like Iowa State does.
If a school like North Carolina doesn’t do it that way, Iowa State shouldn’t either.
The issue with ISU is there are no written down criteria for retiring a jersey, at least none I have seen. If there is point me to it and I’ll admit otherwise, but if it’s something Jamie said on a radio show or interview or something I’m not counting that, since that’s probably his criteria and can easily change if he were to ever leave ISU.
North Carolina has well-established criteria for jersey recognition and number retirement. A player has to win certain conference, national, or international awards to be eligible.
That's a far better method than a coach grabbing the microphone and randomly declaring it on Senior Night (Gary Thompson) or a coach making a unilateral decision mostly to spite a rival (Mike Cox).
The larger issue at Iowa State is that there hasn't really been a distinction between honoring a player/jersey and retiring a number.
Nobody has worn #30 in football since Mike Cox. (And we saw how Troy and others reacted when #28 was issued for the first time in 20 years.)
In MBB, Hornacek was the last #14. Grayer was the last #44. There hasn't been a #32 since 1997. There hasn't been a #35 since 1995. Eli Parker wore #20 for awhile, until someone remembered that Bill Strannigan declared it retired almost 30 years earlier. Are all of these numbers retired, or just the jersey? Or, did nobody make the distinction?
In WBB, there have been a half-dozen #42 since Tonya Burns (her uniform was retired, but not the number), one #51 since Megan Taylor (Brittany Wilkins, who was already wearing it when the announcement was made), several #32 since Angie Welle (including three since her ceremony), but no #53 since Jayme Olson (although there was ambiguity as to jersey vs. number).
I always find the Fred vs Ejim debate interesting. Fred did not win POY in the big 8, and his Sr season they even had Co-POY. So in an 8 team league he was not one of the top 2 players in the league. Ejim was POY in a 12 team league that was the best in the country. Fred was HM AA, Ejim was 2nd. Both were great scholar athletes.
Edit - I lost track of the years - Ejim's POY came when the league had 10 teams.
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