Going to bowl games is not an acurate predictor of success in college football, but it is better than not going. Half the teams in Div.I go to bowl games. That was McCarney's proudest achievement. Getting to average in going to bowl games.
Heavy Handed?
- Thread starter BKLYNCyclone
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If WM was so ineffective, why does McD still have a job? Wayne had 3 seasons better than any of Mac's two. I mean it goes both ways. I also liked Wayne's defense, he just had trouble retaining players who could play in the post. Something else that hasn't really improved.
I loved what WM did for us, but I never thought he was the long term solution at the HC position.
I don't think anybody really did - but I don't see the need to tear him down over that fact. He did a pretty good job while he was here and there is no reason to diminish that.
Absolutely agree. A great job, under the circumstances.
I also think it was the right time for him to go, though, as we needed to start building stability in the program. I don't think WM was the man for that, and we're seeing the growing pains now with the program. We need someone to stick around a while and graduate some senior classes.
The reason Bobby Douglas was let go was because ISU did not want Cael to pull a Dan Gable.
Wayne Morgan apparently had not control over the team and that did not sit well with JP. There might have been other things that went on that nobody else knows.
Also, Pollard has given this school excitement for their athletics. There is now a direction to our sports programs.
Wayne Morgan apparently had not control over the team and that did not sit well with JP. There might have been other things that went on that nobody else knows.
Also, Pollard has given this school excitement for their athletics. There is now a direction to our sports programs.
The answer is YES it can get worse and has. When Pollard took over the men's basketball team was in the NCAA Tournament and the football team was on the way to their 5th bowl game in six years. Where are both program snow? In the tank.
I would say we were more confused at times this year than a lack of effort. Sure there were times where we didn't play with the intensity that it takes to win but I thought it was minimal. As for the Nebraska game, we came out flat, corrected it at half time and won. I don't see the problem? I don't have anything against Wayne Morgan and I appreciate what he did for the program I just think McDermott is a better man for the job.
It takes time for new coaches to rebuild. The men's basketball team wasn't in the NCAA tournament and I'm not convinced we would have made a bowl game.
So how come it's "confusion" when it's a McD coached team and not "lack of effort". I'm sorry, Drake then, when we were completely outclassed and there was no effort on any level.
I just think McD gets a pass on a lot of things that Morgan continually gets raked over the coals about.
I'm sure our guys were a little confused at times...GMac is not even close to running as many sets as he was at UNI...They get a lot of stuff thrown at them, I know, I would struggle to retain what they are being asked to retain on top of school. Things will start clicking...
If Wayne's teams were so "much fun"...How come "The Hilton Coliseum" was half empty??
Waiting for an answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:yes:
this is the bottom line boys re Pollard...If Iowa State doesnt win championships in both mens football and mens and womens basketball...Pollard will either be "FIRED"...or JP will just move on down the road and the new athletic director will try to clean up whatever mess is left behind!!
The attendance averages under Morgan were in general just below 12k - 11,700, 11,800, etc.
The year ISU went to the Elite 8, our attendance was 10,500.
http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/attendance/2000_basketball_attend.pdf
The year ISU won it's second championship in a row, attendance was 12,300.
The fact is that Wayne's teams didn't have any worse attendance that what had been going on in Hilton for several years. In fact the attendance under Wayne INCREASED in comparison to Eustachy's last year.
McD has the benefit of an athletic department that knows how to market and 100$ tickets.
NCAA Men's Basketball Attendance
U-B-RITE!!!....Usually the guy that hires you will let you get by with a whole lot for quite sometime....But next year if its no better than this year with another loss to uni and drake the wolves will be at the door and barking loudly..On mart and mill the other day this subject was brought up and mart sez that jp will let mcderm do whatever and mill wasnt quite so sure its gonna work out that way!!!
TIME WILL TELL BOYS!!!!:yes:
Wanna care to rethink that one? The coaches did it to themselves - not Pollard. I loved McCarney both for who he is and as far as he had taken this team from how bad it was back in the mid '90s, but had a team in 2006 that had so much returning experience, both at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, offensive line, and a fairly decent defense, that this team was supposed to make a run at the Big XII championship game. Instead, he laid one gigantic egg by going 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the Big XII (could have very easily been 0-8 had the refs decided to turn the blind eye to that holding call like Mizzou and the Big XII office had wanted them to). At the same time, Morgan was coming off of a NIT Final Four appearance and an NCAA Tourney appearance. However, the expectations in 2005-2006 were large - the Cyclones were in the Preseason Top 25 (yes, it was a preseason poll, but that indicates there were expectations there). Yes, it was a young team, and yes, there were injuries, but bottom line is this team didn't meet expectations either. There have been a lot of speculations as to what all went on behind the scenes, some true, some maybe not true, but the bottom line is first, as a lot of people have said here, Morgan was never meant to be the permanent solution to this basketball program, and second, something obviously happened behind the scenes that no one is talking about.
The problem that JP has faced since day one is all of our athletic programs, especially when it comes to facilities, are trapped in the late 20th century while the rest of DI has either moved on to the 21st century or is in the process. If JP decided that the status quo was perfectly fine, we were going to get passed up by all 120 D-I programs (and probably quite a few D-I-AA programs) in football and at least half of the D-I basketball programs in America. If something wasn't done Ames was going to turn into an even worse wasteland of D-I athletics than it was in the early to mid '90s. In order to turn this thing around here in Ames he needed to not only be able to sell hope to the current Cyclone fan base, but he needed to be able to grow the fan base. This is something he clearly couldn't do with McCarney and Morgan at their respective helms - so he got rid of them and replaced both of them with two of the brightest up-and-coming coaches in the business (McDermott being considered an excellent hire by ESPN, and Chizik being considered a stunning coup by all sports media - well, except for Dienhart of Sporting News, but we all knew he's an assclown anyway :wink
.Basically, Pollard is in a "damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't" situation with this fan base. Who is he supposed to cater to? The half of the fanbase that is thrilled with the status quo because, although it's mediocre, it's safe and familiar (even though that sticking with the status quo could lead to our ultimate demise)? Or the half that demands that all of our programs take the next step and end up becoming special nationally - schools across the nation are usually somewhat competitive at one of football, mens' basketball, womens' basketball, and wrestling - but how many schools across the nation are competitive at ALL OF THEM? That's what JP wants - championships in all sports. This clearly means he aligns himself with the half of the fan base that expects more. So what happens when that half of the fan base thinks that the current staff of coaches can't get it done and are threatening to quit supporting the program? Hope was being drained out of the fan base - changes HAD to be made.
Obviously when such a drastic change is made backward steps have to be taken before gigantic steps forward can be taken, and that's what's happening right now. And this is where the "status quo" fan becomes extremely vocal, because they were happy with the mediocrity that we were previously under and our programs aren't even at that level any more. The problem with that is they fail to see the BIG PICTURE - that just maybe we should expect more than 6-6 or 7-5 and Independence/Houston/Boise Bowls mixed in with 4-8 and 2-10 seasons, as well as 18-12 and 20-10 seasons with low-seed NCAA tourney bids or NIT bids mixed in with sub-.500 seasons. What's worse is as the rest of college sports passes us by even that kind of mediocrity was going to become fewer and further in between.
So why do I think JP is going to get it done here at ISU? Because of where he's been and the building of success he has seen. IIRC he was at Maryland, and he saw the development of a relevant football program and saw the mens basketball team win the national championship competing in a conference that has tradition such as Duke and North Carolina. At the same time he saw the building of a new basketball arena, something that had greater "recruiting power". He was at Wisconsin, which was once a largely irrelevant athletic program, that although hasn't won any championships yet, has become a program that by and large reloads with talent. There he also saw Wisconsin build a new basketball arena that has "recruiting power." JP knows what it takes to win here, and has taken all of the steps to take this program in the right direction. I just get tired of having to argue with the "status quo" folks every couple of weeks that are just as happily mired in mediocrity as a pig is rolling around in mud. I am excited for where this athletic program is going to be 2, 3, 4, 5 years from now, and because we're going through this necessary painfully difficult time right now it's going to make the fruits of this labor all the sweeter.
Because by the end of the year, when we were actually somewhat competing against the best of the Big XII, we didn't look nearly as confused, and the effort was there, although few people want to give them credit for it. I think it's even more impressive that McD did with the talent level that he had, being competitive against the best of the Big XII. I'd say as McD actually gets his own players into the system and they get a chance to develop that being competitive is going to become "Ws" instead.
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