CJL?
- Thread starter Cyfan1965
- Start date
Admittedly I don't follow volleyball... but she deserved a very a long string.
I worked on the student sports show when I was in college in the early 2000s and sometimes we'd cover Volleyball... let me tell you that was as bad of a program as you can imagine. Hopefully CJL can get the eye of the tiger back.
I worked on the student sports show when I was in college in the early 2000s and sometimes we'd cover Volleyball... let me tell you that was as bad of a program as you can imagine. Hopefully CJL can get the eye of the tiger back.
She isn't getting the recruits needed to compete at the top level, especially setting.
That could all change with the incoming freshman setter but there is a clear talent gap when watching the good Big 10 teams and Iowa State.
That could all change with the incoming freshman setter but there is a clear talent gap when watching the good Big 10 teams and Iowa State.
I think olympic sports, as long as the coach is being a good person, running a clean program, and they aren't abjectly terrible... they are fine. You only get fired from VB coaching if you MAKE JP fire you by being terrible in some way.
Never in my wildest imagination would I have thought her to be subject of a CF hot seat forum.
I'm a WBB fan but also love our VB program. I think our VB program is following our WBB's footsteps in a similar way, which is after an early glorious period, the program became a little stagnant and the recruiting game has suffered. I believe Coach CJL is a great one just like Coach Fen. If they both have great talents to work with, they will do wonders for the sports. Now Coach Fen has a great recruiting class coming in and the WBB program's future looks very bright. I hope Coach CJL can find more high-level recruits to play for us. Maybe looking for more international players if she has the right connections because there are a lot of talents out there.
I don’t think her seat is hot it might be slightly warm but far from hot. We were middle of the pack in conference, which is down from a decade or so ago but not where softball or wrestling was a few years ago. Think JP is working to bring the least productive sports up and get to where volleyball is now. If our poorer teams are middle of the conference, we have a pretty good stable of coaches. CJL has a couple years to work to overtake a couple teams and get back to that top 3 area IMO.
ISU was non-competitive last fall against UT and BU (0-12 in sets played) as the gap between ISU and those two programs has significantly widened. Recruiting has obviously slipped and I think there are conditioning issues with the team as well compared to other top programs in the conference. Have posted this before, but I think the recruiting issues will persist until ISU commits to a new VB/Wrestling competition venue that all of the other top MW programs now all have or will have (NU, Minny, Wisconsin, Marquette, Illinois, Mizzou, KU, KSU). TOE also now has one. That new venue needs to be part of the planned Entertainment District and can be utilized year-end for youth BB/VB/Wrestling tournaments and ISU summer camps.
I doubt that is true - ISU needs the three sports that lose tons of money but charge admission: women's basketball, wrestling, and volleyball - to be successful, if only to attract attendance numbers to at least "lose less money."
Those others that are free to attend: softball, soccer, tennis, swimming, etc - yeah I don't think winning is as important. We don't even have decent P5 facilities for swimming or tennis.
I'll have to admit to not following much the last couple of years as they dropped off. Haven't watched a match in person since the NCAA here in Mpls in 2019 when they weren't that competitive versus Creighton.
I'll have to admit to not following much the last couple of years as they dropped off. Haven't watched a match in person since the NCAA here in Mpls in 2019 when they weren't that competitive versus Creighton.
Same, I haven't watched much the past two years.
As others have said, I don't feel she's on the hot seat at all. I do think she's a very good coach and I think she's capable of "righting the ship". I'm actually not too worried about volleyball
You both should be ashamed.I'll have to admit to not following much the last couple of years as they dropped off. Haven't watched a match in person since the NCAA here in Mpls in 2019 when they weren't that competitive versus Creighton.
FYI
This was not a conversation taking place at an Iowa tournament but a national tournament with non ISU fans.
I still watch every match I can. Home or away. I just haven't posted for a long time. I got tired of being deemed too negative, and I had to step back. I was, and I had to remember that these are amateur kids. But, I was wanting the program to take the next step. We've done it in football, and had done it in men's bball. Fennelly seems to have righted the ship from being middle of the pack, even though we were finishing in the top half of the conference most years. Recruiting is really good for Bill right now, sans a big time center. Wrestling is moving in the right direction. Tennis is getting better. Our softball team is ranked. Cross country is back, nationally. That's going to put pressure on volleyball, when it's moving down.
I really like and respect CJL. She's been recognized by her peers, nationally. She's built a PROGRAM, and had us in national prominence. But that prominence has been a bit. Setting has been an issue for a while, and recruiting hasn't followed. Landweir (sp) has been the last really good setter, and we had good teams then. We were known as "libero U" for a long time, and that has fallen off.
We just haven't sniffed a conference championship in a while. Finishing 3rd is not what fans want to shoot for, imo. We're not rising up and beating the top teams anymore. I just hope we can get some kids that want to play here, that they're talented, and then still fit the culture.
I really like and respect CJL. She's been recognized by her peers, nationally. She's built a PROGRAM, and had us in national prominence. But that prominence has been a bit. Setting has been an issue for a while, and recruiting hasn't followed. Landweir (sp) has been the last really good setter, and we had good teams then. We were known as "libero U" for a long time, and that has fallen off.
We just haven't sniffed a conference championship in a while. Finishing 3rd is not what fans want to shoot for, imo. We're not rising up and beating the top teams anymore. I just hope we can get some kids that want to play here, that they're talented, and then still fit the culture.
I do think CJL does still have what it takes to coach more good teams. What she needs to do is recruit better. I agree with Cykadelic in that it probably won't happen unless we make an upgrade to the volleyball practice facility and preferably add a new smaller venue to play at like you're seeing around the Midwest.
