Official Announcement of TJ as the New Iowa State Mens BBall Coach

[Clyde4cy]

Why do people hate him so much they want him forever unemployed? Wouldn’t another coaching job save us $ to give TJ more?

I think the buyout may have been a lump sum. Not sure we can claw any of it back.

 

[Cydkar]

Where is Jennifer Love Hewitt when you need her?

On my lap. I'll post about it later.
OK, I'm done.

 

[qwerty]

Interesting selection of all-teammate team from Conditt. Great players all (Haliburton, Brockington, Horton-Tucker, Shayok, Weiler-Babb).

CFTV: Conditt and Brockington preview Senior Night in Ames

Iowa State men's basketball seniors Izaiah Brockington and George Conditt preview the Cyclones' match-up with Oklahoma State and their Senior Night in Ames on Wednesday in this video from ISU Athletics. https://youtu.be/D564UbyT-rE

cyclonefanatic.com

 

[rochclone]

There was just something about Prohm that pissed people off. I never understood it.

Speculating as to why...

(1.) They're projecting their anger at Fred leaving onto the next guy. They're not really over "the one who got away," so they're subconsciously litigating that by proxy with their next partner.

Never be the one to follow a legend.

(2.) Unrealistic expectations for what the late Niang/Morris teams could do. Good teams, sure, but college basketball has lots of good teams, and you need to play defense to win in March.

(3.) A soft-spoken and religious southerner was just never going to jibe with some people, even if he won.

Sig you are a good poster and I know you are trying to be level
headed about this but I think it’s okay to acknowledge that a window for high level success existed for Iowa State from 2014-18 based upon the players we were recruiting in the transfer portal and the high school players we were recruiting.

Outside of 99-00 those rosters had the most talent that I have seen since following Iowa State. CSP had a unique opportunity, as did Fred if he had stayed, to continue growing the program. We were very well situated to take the next step.
He really failed to take the next step which sucks. But the problem I have is that we reverted to something very similar to the McDermott/Morgan years. It was unacceptable and he was fired.
CSP had some special moments here but that group of guys was special as well. Those weren’t just above average college basketball teams but rather they had the potential to beat anyone in the country on any given night.

 

[rochclone]

No one is saying Prohm is better than TJ

Give it time. We were close to that point a few weeks ago.

 

[madguy30]

There was just something about Prohm that pissed people off. I never understood it.

Speculating as to why...

(1.) They're projecting their anger at Fred leaving onto the next guy. They're not really over "the one who got away," so they're subconsciously litigating that by proxy with their next partner.

Never be the one to follow a legend.

(2.) Unrealistic expectations for what the late Niang/Morris teams could do. Good teams, sure, but college basketball has lots of good teams, and you need to play defense to win in March.

(3.) A soft-spoken and religious southerner was just never going to jibe with some people, even if he won.

Bolded nails it. 'But they were NBA players!' like it was the Kentucky platoon teams.

They were good but I see 'elite' thrown out about teams that were realistically top 15-20ish at their best and that got proven each time they crept into the Top Ten.

There's a whole bunch of people out there that know next to nothing about ISU basketball or Fred Hoiberg...they might remember them being 'decent' in that time frame.

 

[CascadeClone]

There was just something about Prohm that pissed people off. I never understood it.

Speculating as to why...

(1.) They're projecting their anger at Fred leaving onto the next guy. They're not really over "the one who got away," so they're subconsciously litigating that by proxy with their next partner.

Never be the one to follow a legend.

(2.) Unrealistic expectations for what the late Niang/Morris teams could do. Good teams, sure, but college basketball has lots of good teams, and you need to play defense to win in March.

(3.) A soft-spoken and religious southerner was just never going to jibe with some people, even if he won.

For me it's none of that; its just the coaching ineptitude. And I don't mean wins/losses. Just things like teams that didn't seem to know what to do with themselves. Him clearly having no answers for in game X&O issues. Calling timeouts to stop OUR momentum. Mismanaging players psyches. Incoherent roster composition. He was just so far in over his head.

I don't spend any of my own time fretting about it anymore, but when it comes up on here then I usually throw a rock or two. Trauma therapy I guess.

 

[cytor]

So, let me know if I have this right: This thread started out as introducing our new coach TJ. Now it is a Prohm - McDermott bitchfest?

 

[Sigmapolis]

Sig you are a good poster and I know you are trying to be level
headed about this but I think it’s okay to acknowledge that a window for high level success existed for Iowa State from 2014-18 based upon the players we were recruiting in the transfer portal and the high school players we were recruiting.

Outside of 99-00 those rosters had the most talent that I have seen since following Iowa State. CSP had a unique opportunity, as did Fred if he had stayed, to continue growing the program. We were very well situated to take the next step.
He really failed to take the next step which sucks. But the problem I have is that we reverted to something very similar to the McDermott/Morgan years. It was unacceptable and he was fired.
CSP had some special moments here but that group of guys was special as well. Those weren’t just above average college basketball teams but rather they had the potential to beat anyone in the country on any given night.

I actually think the Hoiberg era had kind of maxed out where it was at the end of Fred's tenure and the beginning of Prohm's stewardship. Good or even great teams by Iowa State standards, sure, but we don't have the august history in college basketball we like to think we do sometimes, and as good as those teams could be, they could go out and lose to just anybody as easily as they could win big matchups.

Take the last Fred team. It had some absolute WTF losses.

-- 60-64 against a crappy South Carolina team in Brooklyn... a game I went to, where they shot 1/18 from three and the only make was Naz very late in the game after it was practically over

The team seemed and looked hungover -- and not in the metaphorical sense.

-- 73-78 against a horrible Texas Tech team in Lubbock (#133 on Torvik, 3-15 in the Big 12)

-- pissed away an 8-point lead against Baylor at home with 8:00 left because Baylor kept drilling threes and Fred refused to call a timeout and when he finally did Baylor was up six and never looked back

-- threw away a win in Manhattan against a crappy Kansas State team when they couldn't inbound the ball from the sideline successfully and they gave up a steal/dunk to give KSU a lead

Imagine the Brockington steal against West Virginia only if went the other direction.

Win any 2/3 of those Big 12 games and they win the Big 12 regular season.

Win any 1/3 and they tie Kansas for the title.

And I didn't even bring up UAB yet.

Elite teams that win regular season conference champions and make deep runs in March don't drop fiddly games like that. They take care of business. That era had a high ceiling but also a low floor given their dependence on outside shots falling, their weakness on the boards, and their bad defense. I don't see any evidence those would have improved had Fred stayed longer, and Fred running a "loose ship" in terms of practice habits and discipline had its benefits (e.g., the team seemed to be having fun and that style of coaching worked for some head cases like Royce White) but it could also backfire on occasion (see the "frosted tips" experience and then just the whole tenure of Bryce Dejean-Jones in Ames). It all caught up with them against the Blazers.

So they were good teams, but their inconsistencies held them back.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Where is Jennifer Love Hewitt when you need her?

 

[ISUChippewa]

@Sigmapolis
@ISUChippewa
So I was flipping back and forth between the Wisconsin and Boise State ending last night. Seemed weird to me, there was a huge amount of excitement from both fanbases, complete with a frenzied court storming when they won respective Big 10 and MWC titles.
I thought only 1 game in late March mattered and the rest of the season was irrelevant?

You might have a point if I had ever written anywhere on this site that the rest of the season outside of March was irrelevant, but since I've never written anything even close to that this silly little jibe of yours is completely non-sensical. Almost as ridiculous as you claiming that Juwan Howard was justified in his actions simply because of your deep hatred for Greg Gard/Wisconsin/Brad Davison.

 

[madguy30]

I actually think the Hoiberg era had kind of maxed out where it was at the end of Fred's tenure and the beginning of Prohm's stewardship. Good or even great teams by Iowa State standards, sure, but we don't have the august history in college basketball we like to think we do sometimes, and as good as those teams could be, they could go out and lose to just anybody as easily as they could win big matchups.

Take the last Fred team. It had some absolute WTF losses.

-- 60-64 against a crappy South Carolina team in Brooklyn... a game I went to, where they shot 1/18 from three and the only make was Naz very late in the game after it was practically over

The team seemed and looked hungover -- and not in the metaphorical sense.

-- 73-78 against a horrible Texas Tech team in Lubbock (#133 on Torvik, 3-15 in the Big 12)

-- pissed away an 8-point lead against Baylor at home with 8:00 left because Baylor kept drilling threes and Fred refused to call a timeout and when he finally did Baylor was up six and never looked back

-- threw away a win in Manhattan against a crappy Kansas State team when they couldn't inbound the ball from the sideline successfully and they gave up a steal/dunk to give KSU a lead

Imagine the Brockington steal against West Virginia only if went the other direction.

Win any 2/3 of those Big 12 games and they win the Big 12 regular season.

Win any 1/3 and they tie Kansas for the title.

And I didn't even bring up UAB yet.

Elite teams that win regular season conference champions and make deep runs in March don't drop fiddly games like that. They take care of business. That era had a high ceiling but also a low floor given their dependence on outside shots falling, their weakness on the boards, and their bad defense. I don't see any evidence those would have improved had Fred stayed longer, and Fred running a "loose ship" in terms of practice habits and discipline had its benefits (e.g., the team seemed to be having fun and that style of coaching worked for some head cases like Royce White) but it could also backfire on occasion (see the "frosted tips" experience and then just the whole tenure of Bryce Dejean-Jones in Ames). It all caught up with them against the Blazers.

So they were good teams, but their inconsistencies held them back.

Great teams may have a WTF loss or two but when it's a thing throughout the season, it's who that team is.

There were plenty of wins with them too that you could tell things just weren't quite right.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

Creighton chose McDermott to be their next coach while he was the Iowa State Coach. What job was Steve Prohm offered after being FIRED from Iowa State? No one wants him.

What did he achieve at Iowa State that is better than Prohm's achievements?

Not requiring a massive buyout to have him move on. Not having the worst basketball season in Cyclone History. McDermott sucked.

Considering how bad the last two years were, when someone asks you directly what did another coach achieve better than Prohm, and the best you have is not requiring a massive buyout........then maybe that other coach was worse than bad and you need to let go of your hatred for the man.

 

[CyLyte2]

Considering how bad the last two years were, when someone asks you directly what did another coach achieve better than Prohm, and the best you have is not requiring a massive buyout........then maybe that other coach was worse than bad and you need to let go of your hatred for the man.

McDermott never went o’fer in conference or only won 2 games. Prohm was a historically bad coach.

 

[Stormin]

Considering how bad the last two years were, when someone asks you directly what did another coach achieve better than Prohm, and the best you have is not requiring a massive buyout........then maybe that other coach was worse than bad and you need to let go of your hatred for the man.

McDermott sucked. Prohm sucked. Both belong on the bottom. Prohm inherited a potential National Championship team. Players won games in spite of Prohm. Not because of Prohm.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

 

[IASTATE07]

Prohm inherited a potential National Championship team.

Good Lord almighty.

 

[Sigmapolis]

I prefer Ms. Johansson to be honest.

 

[IASTATE07]

We can now close the thread. A lot of stupid things were said, but delusion officially won.

 

[CyTwister]

Good Lord almighty.

Top 10 team to start the season. If that’s not a national championship contender idk what to tell ya