Biggest Dumpster Fire

[Al_4_State]

Tied with Iowa late too.

You are who you are which is why they won 3 games but it wasn't like they were getting 50'd every time out.

Yeah, and my whole point was that this team wasn't a total uncompetitive trainwreck when Campbell got here.

Even Campbell's first year you can argue they SHOULD have gone to a bowl. Blew significant late leads against Baylor, OK State and really screwed the pooch against UNI.

 

[ISUKyro]

While all 3 are impressive to me, TJ wins this simply due to the speed in which he rebuilt the program. In 20-21 season we won 2 games all year and no conference wins. Now we are redshirting 4 star players and have a MacDonalds AA coming of the bench.

Agree. The talent TJ is now bringing into the program is great to see.

 

[wxman1]

Wrestling, Football, Basketball. Very glad we have the three in charge that we do now.

 

[chadly82]

In my opinion its definitely CMC and football. To be able to come into that situation, recruit, build the program and culture and to be able to recruit in this state with Iowa and the midwest etc while building the depth with young men while winning and putting guys into the NFL.......def CMC.

 

[Clonefan32]

This is alot harder than I anticipate the more I thought about it.

I don't think it was TJ. While the year prior was obviously awful, we were also coming off the best 4-5 year run we'd ever had. I also think with the smaller rosters an overhaul job is easier in basketball than other sports.

Campbell was my first thought. But the cupboard wasn't completely bare, and he came in around a time of transition in the Big 12. The conference took a bit of a dip competitively around the time he took over with several schools going through changes. It was a right guy/right time situation. But at the same time, I think football is the hardest to overhaul just do to the sheer number of quality players you need to compete. It's much more difficult to overhaul a roster than basketball or wrestling.

So while I don't know much about wrestling, I'll defer to those of you who do in saying the program was a disaster when he took over. So I'll go with him.

 

[JohnPrineforCy]

Its just refreshing that we can talk about past dumpster fires, and not the dumpster fires that are currently going on. Cyclones have great coaches all across the board.

 

[CychiatricWard]

We lost the Toledo game by a short missed FG and blew significant 4th quarter leads against OK State and KSU. We should have won all of those games and gone to a bowl.

But that’s who that team was, so to say inches is what I disagree with.

 

[MJ271]

My gut says Dresser, though Campbell is close. But in Kevin Jackson's final year, Iowa State's dual record was 1-12, and they got 1 team point at the NCAA championships for a finish of 57th place. I don't know a ton about wrestling, but I'm pretty sure that's bad and a historic fall off a cliff considering the program he inherited. (By the way, the ISU wrestling Wikipedia page needs a big update, if there's anyone here who enjoys doing that kind of thing.)

That being said, that's to answer the question of who inherited the biggest dumpster fire. I don't think Otz and basketball qualify there because of the smaller, more fluid, roster and the fact that Hunter was signed already (yes, ISU would've let him out of the LOI and Otz had to re-recruit him, but he only had that opportunity since Hunter was already signed). However, for the most impressive turnaround a few years in, I think that might be Otz. Even with the transfer portal and small roster, to get to the point where this roster's ceiling is practically limitless in just his 3rd year is pretty crazy.

 

[LincolnSwinger]

Worst roster of the three - basketball, with wrestling barely behind it
Worst program of the three - football, but resources/facilities had been improved so wrestling comes in a close second

All 3 coaches inherited a mess and have been miracle workers (thanks JP!)

 

[Urbandale2013]

Biggest dumpster fire was TJ. The program had gone off a cliff from a regular top 25 team to one of the worst in the country. With that said the turnaround there wasn’t overly difficult even though it wasn’t easy.

Biggest drop from historical expectations was Dresser. It was bad but there were plenty of outside impacts that affected that too. We also had some minor individual success.

The toughest while furthest from a dumpster fire was Campbell. There was talent on that team and we finally had the facilities and resources behind the program.

 

[BACyclone]

While all 3 are impressive to me, TJ wins this simply due to the speed in which he rebuilt the program. In 20-21 season we won 2 games all year and no conference wins. Now we are redshirting 4 star players and have a MacDonalds AA coming of the bench.

Yes. By January of that season, I couldn't even watch MBB. When you say "we won 2 games all year" it might sound crazy, but that almost underestimates how bad it was.

 

[BACyclone]

Yeah, and my whole point was that this team wasn't a total uncompetitive trainwreck when Campbell got here.

Even Campbell's first year you can argue they SHOULD have gone to a bowl. Blew significant late leads against Baylor, OK State and really screwed the pooch against UNI.

I think this misses the point. When CMC was hired, we had "some good players" but both the OL and DL were indeed absolute dumpster-fire quality. It was embarrassingly bad. We had narrowly lost a few games in 2015, but that was about the best it was ever going to be for Iowa State. Our commitment list when CPR was fired was frightening. Sure, the "cupboard was not bare" but I don't think it was anything to be proud about. It was not going to be competitive without a significant change.

The Cyclones lost to Iowa, Texas Tech, TCU, and Baylor by an average margin of 47-24; these teams were pretty good that season, except getting beat 66-31 by mid-pack Texas Tech.

For the most part the 2015 Cyclones were not day-in day-out competitive with anyone with a pulse.

We would not have been nearly-bowl-eligible in 2016 without the players that CMC and his new coaching staff brought in on a very short timeframe.

What CMC had to do when he got here was change both the players and the literal culture within the program, because we were not truly competitive for anything better than a mid-pack team in the Big 12, hoping for a few upset wins and MAYBE winning 6-7 games in a good year.

And the inherent difficulty of turning over a roster of 90-100 players and developing them into Big 12 caliber players, by default makes this easily the biggest challenge of the three.

With all that said, I think TJ took over the biggest dumpster fire -- he almost turned over the roster 100% from the previous season, because it needed that. However working with a roster of 13 scholarship players in a much different sport is, by nature, a bit less daunting to turn around quickly.

 

[ghyland7]

Football is the hardest to turn around. Too many kids and too many awful years.

BBall and wrestling at least have had recent history of success.

That being said, TJ has recruited at a level that ISU really can be nationally relevant. Elite 8s and Final 4s. Basketball has changed to where kids just don’t go to college, or bench players will be 1-and-done. TJ has done an excellent job of combining the huge talent with the developmental 4-year guys, and getting ALL of the guys to buy in to defense. I really believe TJ can have us in that same conversation over the next few years as the Fizer team.

 

[beentherebefore]

Whichever coach wins the Natty first.

 

[Al_4_State]

I think this misses the point. When CMC was hired, we had "some good players" but both the OL and DL were indeed absolute dumpster-fire quality. It was embarrassingly bad. We had narrowly lost a few games in 2015, but that was about the best it was ever going to be for Iowa State. Our commitment list when CPR was fired was frightening. Sure, the "cupboard was not bare" but I don't think it was anything to be proud about. It was not going to be competitive without a significant change.

The Cyclones lost to Iowa, Texas Tech, TCU, and Baylor by an average margin of 47-24; these teams were pretty good that season, except getting beat 66-31 by mid-pack Texas Tech.

For the most part the 2015 Cyclones were not day-in day-out competitive with anyone with a pulse.

We would not have been nearly-bowl-eligible in 2016 without the players that CMC and his new coaching staff brought in on a very short timeframe.

What CMC had to do when he got here was change both the players and the literal culture within the program, because we were not truly competitive for anything better than a mid-pack team in the Big 12, hoping for a few upset wins and MAYBE winning 6-7 games in a good year.

And the inherent difficulty of turning over a roster of 90-100 players and developing them into Big 12 caliber players, by default makes this easily the biggest challenge of the three.

With all that said, I think TJ took over the biggest dumpster fire -- he almost turned over the roster 100% from the previous season, because it needed that. However working with a roster of 13 scholarship players in a much different sport is, by nature, a bit less daunting to turn around quickly.

I don't disagree with any of that. And what Campbell has done is absolutely remarkable. I just think that the basketball and wrestling programs were in worse spots when their current coaches were hired.

TJ came in after the worst season in school history. 2015 wasn't anywhere close to the worst season in ISU football history.

 

[Bipolarcy]

I was thinking of CMC, TJ, and Dresser. The state of each program was a complete dumpster fire when each coach took over. Which of the 3 inherited the biggest mess? Enough can't be said about these 3 men. The turnaround has been remarkable.

Has Dresser really turned things around? I'm asking. Seems to me like a No. 10 national ranking is not very much progress in year 7, considering the history of the program. I know this year looks promising ... so far ... but we really haven't hit the meat of the schedule yet.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Dresser, Campbell, TJ, in that order. Though TJ did it much faster than expected, but that's a little easier in basketball. Even though his cupboard was really bare

 

[BigTurk]

From what I understand, yes. And he had no clue how to develop kids.

A guy in my neighborhood wrestled at ISU and I asked him about it once. He said Jackson is a really good coach for guys at Olympic level, or guys trying to make an Olympic team (US Training Center types). Guys that are already really good and highly motivated who are just trying to take that next step. Jackson is a terrible college coach and has no idea how to build a team, motivate teenagers, etc. Jackson was the wrong type of coach ISU needed. Anyway, that was his opinion.

 

[Girth]

Has Dresser really turned things around? I'm asking. Seems to me like a No. 10 national ranking is not very much progress in year 7, considering the history of the program. I know this year looks promising ... so far ... but we really haven't hit the meat of the schedule yet.

Early in the season. Two potential AA not in line up yet (149 & 184). Current 149 moving down to 141, has real potential to be a AA. Should be a top 10 team, chance at top 5.

 

[BillyClone]

From what I understand, yes. And he had no clue how to develop kids.

Here are things that I know about the Jackson situation:

1. Mostly out of the blue, Cael Sanderson and staff (and wrestlers) left for Penn St and ISU Wrestling was left scrambling.
2. There was talk about hiring non-ISU alumni to fill the open coaching positions
3. Kevin didn't want to see that happen - wanted the next coach to be a former Cyclone
4. Some boosters were able to talk Kevin into contacting the AD that he was interested
5. Kevin was hesitant as he had no college wrestling coaching experience, but stuck his neck out anyway
6. Jamie hired Kevin and the rest was history

Kevin wasn't ready to take on a head coaching position, but he did so out of a love for his former wrestling program. He coached Jake Varner to his 2nd national title and coached David Zabriskie, Jon Reader, and Kyven Gadson each to their own national titles. He's a good teacher but didn't run the program well. He's a good guy and it's too bad things didn't work out for him at ISU.