CBS Dennis Dodd "ISU can't do better than Mac's success"

[CycloneWarrior]

After losing being so close to being big 12 north champions 2 years in a row its hard to j
keep him. He couldnt get to the next level. Especially when we had Seneca and we only won tanked it at the end of that season. Oh well. That's what happens when you dont have a good kicker. You lose back to back big 12 north clinching games

[Phaedrus]

and will not be any more of a leader than Mac was.

"Leaders" don't take over a department that is two levels down from their level of responsibility and run it personally (And do a crappy job of it) See Danny Mac's inability to EVER develop special teams, besides being his own special teams coach.

"Leaders" develop subordinates; and their subordinates develop subordinates. If Danny Mac was such a great "leader", why is it we only developed ONE competent Offensive Line in 14 years???

"Leaders" recognize their teams' strengths and adapt their "system" to exploit those strengths. If Danny Mac was such a great "leader", how come we spent so much time developing "power football" in the early years, independent of the proper personnel to actually execute? Having a umpteen bazillion yard a year rusher may sound great, but if it doesn't help you win....

"Leaders" tend to understand how to take risks. And they understand that managing risk is important, but know to the bottom of their soul that risk aversity is a losing proposition. So if Danny Mac was such a "great leader", how come he (reportedly) dialed back the strength program when his talent level was thin, to avoid injuries? This also begs the question of his misunderstanding of strength/conditioning training and its relationship to injuries, which is a competence issue.

"Leaders" don't put the program on the back of a slow, *****-footing running back who had like one good game in his 4 year career, (Stevie Hicks) while ignoring a succession of potentially talented Tight Ends (WTF is a TE screen?) and bruising Full-backs (See Ryan Kock).

It's too bad you love Danny Mac. He wasn't a very good football coach, and he was an awful leader. I bit my tongue for the first 10 years, (even when he had his "great" seasons I didn't care for him) because tenure has value. Don't tell me to bite my tongue, now, when the votes are in.

[CYEATHAWK]

I will never miss the "inspirational loss" or the "best third quarter" post game speeches after getting molly-womped by someone we should have beat.

[CarolinaCy]

Do not try to alter the facts by creating misperceptions. Fact is Dan McCarney lead the ISU football program to 5 bowl games in 6 years, defeated Iowa 5 consecutive years and achieved a national ranking in 2002 that had ISU #9 in the country. Where is the program now?

Independence Bowl twice, Houston Bowl, Smurf Turf Bowl - whoopee. Iowa was pretty terrible for 3 of those 5 wins, he should have beaten them. How did Mac do with that #9 national ranking, BTW? I'll tell you, he went on to win a whopping 3 games out of his next 19 (.158), including a 10 game losing streak in 2003. IMO, that's when the axe should have been lowered, instead BVDV gave him an extension.

Our football budget was tiny when Mac came, about $3 mil, by far the smallest in the conference. We had no facilties - terrible weight room, no indoor field, etc.

So Walden had nothing, and Mac got all of these things, and their records were roughly the same throughout their careers. How does that make Mac the better coach? I guess I missed something in there.

[bmuff]

IMO Mac was a great hire and great guy for the ISU job when he came to Ames. He did what very few could in taking ISU from horrible to mediocre. He took ISU about as far as he could. It was time for new blood. IMO his conservative nature, so bad OL evaluations, terrible special teams and poor JUCO choices doomed him.