Ron Maly says McCarney's firing proves that ISU is a "coaching graveyard"

CyinCo · 11-10-2006, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by EatemupISU

Trav is right. Ron is a Hawk fan, but he's a courteous guy, and he doesn't hate ISU. He's not afraid to criticize the Hawks or give praise to the Clones from time to time either. And even though he worked for the Rag, he bashes them *hard* on his blog, which is highly entertaining.

No need to drag his career and character through the mud here, and that wasn't my intention with starting this thread.

He may be the bestest friend a guy ever had. But I don't care. He wrote an article that is terribly off base. He, along with several other "media" sources have written articles like this. They think the best ISU will ever do is Dan McCarney. Get with the times people. We gave a guy 12 freaking years to get this program to a consistently winning state. While things have improved, they never quite got to where fans expectations are. So were supposed to just say, well were ISU and thats good enough. Not anymore buddy. We demand as much success here at ISU as at Iowa or any other school. We can do better than DM. We now have facilites and $$$ to offer and a hungry fanbase just waiting for the right guy. Coaching graveyard is 1990. It's 2006. Dan is leaving here a marketable coach. He will coach elsewhere. So, please remind me how ISU is a coaching graveyard?

travman23 · 11-10-2006, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by Lastplace

Oh Travman..you have just opened a can my friend.

First off...Press Box "Wall of Fame" how about you go sit on a bike with no bike seat.

Second...I am sure he is a great guy. Most people are great. Can you answer a question for me and maybe his son can answer it for you.

WHY DID RON MALY LEAVE THE DES MOINES REGISTER?

He retired dude. The guy is 70 something and retired back in 2002 and now has grandchildren. He just does his Blog on the side now. And if you ever read any of his blogs he doesn't even like who is at the register today on top of it.

Again, another example of how some of you jump the gun here before you know all the facts...

Lastplace · 11-10-2006, 02:21 PM

Oh he retired...or he was asked to leave because he comitted plagerism like someone posted earlier? I guess I would like that clarified...sorry dude.

The real question now...Travman, are you a cyclone fan?

travman23 · 11-10-2006, 02:22 PM

In response to some of the criticism on his blog post, it's called OPINIONATED WRITING my friends! He's not bashing ISU, he's stating his OPINION on the whole Mac mess and you don't have to agree with it if you don't want to. I don't agree with what some of you folks post and I'm sure you don't always agree with mine but to drag him through the mud over 1 blog post without ever reading some of the great things he has written about ISU in the past is just plain ignorant.

travman23 · 11-10-2006, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Lastplace

Oh he retired...or he was asked to leave because he comitted plagerism like someone posted earlier? I guess I would like that clarified...sorry dude.

The real question now...Travman, are you a cyclone fan?

Yes I am a Cyclone fan. Geez dude, do you not read my posts here? I'm not happy with the Mac "resignation" but I'm a season ticket holder to both football and basketball, graduated from ISU, and am as diehard as they come. I'm just not as narrow-minded as some here and tend to look at the big picture more than putting bits and pieces of certain things under the microscope and going overboard on them.

Lastplace · 11-10-2006, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by travman23

In response to some of the criticism on his blog post, it's called OPINIONATED WRITING my friends! He's not bashing ISU, he's stating his OPINION on the whole Mac mess and you don't have to agree with it if you don't want to. I don't agree with what some of you folks post and I'm sure you don't always agree with mine but to drag him through the mud over 1 blog post without ever reading some of the great things he has written about ISU in the past is just plain ignorant.

Trav I think others will agree we will let you have the last word on this one. Ron Maly is not worth our time today...us die-hard clone fans are excited about our newdirection in football and we dont think ISU is a coaching graveyard. Have a great day, and tell Ron the good people in IC thank him for his "objective" reporting.

Cyclonepride · 11-10-2006, 02:36 PM

I wouldn't give any register writer or (former?) register writer a second thought. They pass off opinions as jounalism.

Clonefan94 · 11-10-2006, 02:45 PM

We are discussing the article he wrote. No matter what he did in the past, he wrote this article on his blog. This is what he is discussing. Amazing you want us to know all the facts, yet, it's OK for Ron to call ISU a "Coaching Graveyard" while only using part of the coaching staffs as an example. This is opinionated drivel and that is what we are attacking, not his career. You are fueling that fire traveman23. As I said before, I bet I could call most of the football programs in the country Coaching Graveyards if I only pick a select part of their History. Hell, look at Frank Solich. He took a step down from Nebraska, isn't it a Coaching graveyard then? Calahan hasn't proved he's necissarily going anywhere yet.

darts180 · 11-11-2006, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by travman23

In defense of Ron I think you guys are totally off-base with your comments. I email back and forth with Ron from time to time as well as work with his son and he's been nothing but insightful and curtious to me every time wether I agree with him or not. If he was such a bad journalist then explain to me why he's on the Kninnick Press Box "Wall of Fame?" Only select people were given plaques on that wall and none of them got there without establishing credibility and a great journalist reputation. Yes Ron is a Hawk fan but he doesn't hate the Cyclones. In fact if you would ever read his blog on a consistent basis he writes a lot of good and insightful things about ISU quite often. While his heart may be with the Hawks I'm positive he is not a Cyclone hater like some of you think he may be.

I encourage you to shoot him an email with your thoughts then tell me how bad you think he is. I garuntee you he will listen and give you a reply and if you are lucky enough he will ask your permission to post your email on his blog for discussion.

This thread is just another example of how narrow-minded and stupid some of you can sound without knowing all the facts. To bash a guy and downgrade his 4-time sports writer of the year credentials is just ignorant. I don't see anyone here winning that award for their writing so until you do win some journalism awards you have no right to be questioning his credibility and accomplishments.

Learn how to spell, then you can fire away. And you are a Mac supporter who disagrees with him being asked to step down after 12 years of mediocrity. So forgive me if I don't take you seriously Hawk

dmcy · 11-11-2006, 02:08 AM

The thing about Maly is he is and was always quick to point out the bad at ISU. Not so quick to point out the same in Iowa City. Look at Iowa from 1960 - 1978. Talk about a coaching graveyard. Graveyards are places people go and it is their last decent job in the profession. Johnny Majors? No, he didn't die here. Earle Bruce? No, he didn't die here. Donnie Duncan? Yeah, in his only shot at a head coaching job, he died. Jim Criner? No, Criner has been very successful in the European Football League. Jim Walden? Yeah, he died. Heckuva coach, terrible recruiter. Dan McCarney will be successful, too, somewhere. The problem isn't necessarily Iowa State or Ames. Maly trashed both in his blog. Maly is more of the problem. Why are there so many Cub fans, or Braves fans, or St. Lous fans? Its all about what you are fed in the media. When the MN Twins were on WHO every night, there were a lot of Twin fans around. Try to find more than 3 now. My point is Maly has bashed ISU for years with maybe an occassional compliment. Many at the Register have done the same. With all ui games on WHO and KDSM, its hard to develop fans for ISU. Maly's article on his blog was a cheap shot and showed his contempt for ISU. I stopped reading his articles before he was fired. I guess the Register should have let him stay, he was probably the best they could get.

jdoggivjc · 11-11-2006, 08:14 AM

keep in mind i didn't read this article...

12-0? you @#$%ing dolt (to take a line from denis leary). no one in iowa city believed iowa was going to go 12-0. they thought w/ their linebackers and receivers gone they'd be fortunate to win the big 10 championship, much less go 12-0.

by the way, if isu's a coaching graveyard, isn't the rag kind of like a journalists' graveyard?

PlymouthCy · 11-11-2006, 08:37 AM

Originally Posted by travman23

He retired dude. The guy is 70 something and retired back in 2002 and now has grandchildren. He just does his Blog on the side now. And if you ever read any of his blogs he doesn't even like who is at the register today on top of it.

Again, another example of how some of you jump the gun here before you know all the facts...

I'm sure he doesn't like who is at the Register now for reportedly "retiring" after being accused of plagerism.

iccyfan · 11-11-2006, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by DaddyMac

Well, he would know.

Ron Maly
Date of Birth: 09/16/1935
Place of Birth: Cedar Rapids, IA
Education: University of Iowa - Political Science, 1958

Employment: Tribune (Albert Lea, MN) - Sports Editor, 1958-59
Des Moines Register and Tribune - Sports Copy Editor, 1959-65; Sports Reporter, 1965-99

Other: Four-time Iowa Sportswriter of the Year Award Winner

Looks like the guy is the living example of "dead-end"

Speaking of "graveyards", the Des Moines Register for 34 years? Way to reach for the brass ring, Ron.

I've got to throw in that I was born in the early 1960's and grew up in central Iowa. I delivered the afternoon Des Moines Tribune, and after its demise, the morning Des Moines Register. I graduated from ISU in 1986. In summation, Ron Maly was a reporter / editor at the Register & Tribune during my entire life yet I didn't know who he was when I opened this thread. As I'm considered "pretty sharp" by most people, I guess it's evidence that Ron Maly wasn't very memorable! Who cares what he has to say?

Finally, is it better to be considered a "cradle of coaches" (like Miami of Ohio) or a "coaching graveyard"? The former enters into a coaching relationship knowing they're just a stepping-stone to a better job. At least there's the possibility of a "coaching graveyard" changing their reputation...

darts180 · 11-11-2006, 12:46 PM

Dan McCarney, whatever anyone may think of his ability to coach, was a PR machine. He curried favor of reporters locally, and nationally. And the one thing that was consistent was his ability to "sell" that he had really developed a program in Ames (even though it was obvious that there was no REAL stability). If you live in Colorado, and all you hear about is how Dan "turned the program around," that is what you are going to believe. Heck, there are people here on this board that think that Dan was Knute Rockne.

Fact is, the guy PR'd himself to the hilt, and when you look at the actual performance on the field, it just didn't measure up.

But he really seems like a good and nice guy is another statement that kills me. I would rather have the biggest ******* in the world that would win a big game, than a "nice" guy who costs his team a division championship by not having the spine to put a bad Kansas team away.

Now I hear that he is going to Stanford, and turn that program around. Well I hope that he can accomplish that, and the Pac 10 is as bad as the Big 12 is right now, but what evidence did anyone see in 12 years that he will turn a program that has expectations around. One game like the Kansas, or Missouri, or Nebraska games last year will have people calling for his head. He was spoiled at Iowa State because nobody had expectations. Noone asked him to win x number of games, they just wanted him to field a competitive team (which as we have seen this year, he has failed to do). What happens when you have a fanbase that actually has expectations, and you try to sell them the Houston Bowl??? They tell you to leave, and will pack your bags for you.

I know that the pro Mac crowd, who hid from the board because they couldn't defend what they saw on the field, have come back in force, and now want to annoint Dan as some kind of icon, and to a certain extent they are right, he was the face of Cyclone Football for a long time.

But it is time to take the next step, spin and PR is no longer acceptable. We need to be competitive, and that means with our dollars as well. Whoever comes in next, I don't care what they have done, I just want to feel assured that we never again will be outcoached by everyone we play. That they have an agenda when it comes to recruiting, not the desperate stopgap measures that we have seen from this staff. If I can see that, then that is the hope that JP can sell me, and I will be there with my checkbook open.

11-11-2006, 01:07 PM

Don't forget Pete Carroll, Mack Brown and John Fox.