BLUM: Paul Rhoads deserves another climb

[Al_4_State]

Honest question:

If you felt that Rhoads should go, would you even really be able to publicly take that stance without risking your career?

I'm not doubting the sincerity of the piece, but I think the reality of the situation is that you simply couldn't take a different public stance.

Full disclosure, I think Rhoads has had ample opportunity to show what his program is, and we're seeing it. Next year looks to be more of the same. I'm also not optimistic that Pollard will do anything next year. He'll say the same **** he said this year, because at the end of the day, he doesn't fire his buddies.

 

[brentblum]

Honest question:

If you felt that Rhoads should go, would you even really be able to publicly take that stance without risking your career?

I'm not doubting the sincerity of the piece, but I think the reality of the situation is that you simply couldn't take a different public stance.

I totally understand the question. But I could only hope Jamie Pollard and Paul Rhoads and whoever else would respect an opinion if I did feel differently.

 

[ISUBrew]

Point taken. But any Power 5 team that won 6 games has gone to a bowl for the past 15 years.

Late 2000's Iowa would like to have a word with you.

 

[awd4cy]

Point taken. But any Power 5 team that won 6 games has gone to a bowl for the past 15 years.

Not true at all. Iowa and Northwestern failed to make a bowl in 07, Washington in 03, Washington State in 06, Arizona in 06, Pittsburgh in 06, Clemson in 04, Kentucky in 02, Texas A&M in 02, UConn in 02, Louisville in 07, and those a just a few examples I found.

 

[QCCyclone]

This thread is exactly the reason why reasonable people who don't feel the need to call for heads seem like the minority around here. Blum posts a very well thought out article about why he believes Rhoads deserves another shot (while acknowledging that opposing opinions are completely valid) and he's absolutely blasted for it.

 

[awd4cy]

This thread is exactly the reason why reasonable people who don't feel the need to call for heads seem like the minority around here. Blum posts a very well thought out article about why he believes Rhoads deserves another shot (while acknowledging that opposing opinions are completely valid) and he's absolutely blasted for it.

I think the responses have been pretty polite and people are acknowledging that they respect his opinion, but disagree. Some of you seem like you have skin that is thinner than paper..

 

[jbindm]

Cyclone Fanatic certainly isn't going to publish an article calling for Rhoads to be fired. Especially not when Pollard just got behind him and it has become pretty clear he isn't going anywhere. That would be bad business. If you had to eat all of your meals at the same restaurant for the next year and you didn't really like it would you tell the chef he needs to be fired? Of course not. He or she could either stop feeding you or pee in your cheerios.

What kind of freak orders Cheerios at a restaurant?

 

[CyCy]

We're still scapegoating Messingham? Messingham (evidently the worst decision ever) averaged 25.2 and 24.8 in 2 years. Brilliant hire Mangino averaged 25.0 so far this year. And I'm not buying the "new system" excuse.

 

[jbindm]

Maybe this should have been a debate type of setup with Blum as the keep CPR side and CW as the fire CPR and start over side. Rob Gray could have moderated. Missed opportunity, guys.

 

[awd4cy]

We're still scapegoating Messingham? Messingham (evidently the worst decision ever) averaged 25.2 and 24.8 in 2 years. Brilliant hire Mangino averaged 25.0 so far this year. And I'm not buying the "new system" excuse.

That really should be out the window at this point. I can understand it in September of a new year, but not November.

 

[istater7]

We're still scapegoating Messingham? Messingham (evidently the worst decision ever) averaged 25.2 and 24.8 in 2 years. Brilliant hire Mangino averaged 25.0 so far this year. And I'm not buying the "new system" excuse.

Yes because one sample size is a great thing to base an idea off of.

 

[CycloneErik]

This thread is exactly the reason why reasonable people who don't feel the need to call for heads seem like the minority around here. Blum posts a very well thought out article about why he believes Rhoads deserves another shot (while acknowledging that opposing opinions are completely valid) and he's absolutely blasted for it.

Blasted would be a whole different kind of response than Blum is getting, with rudeness, maybe a whole ton of asterisks, something calling him ignorant, maybe bringing height into it for no real reason.

In this case, it's just people saying they disagree with his assessment that someone with the failures he listed deserves a chance to make things right, or is even capable of getting things right.

 

[EnhancedFujita]

So if part of my job entails hiring competent staff and recruiting solid players, and I've had multiple failures at this over the course of my career, I should get one more year because we had bad staff and under-qualified players. To do what? More of the same?

I guess I'm in the "I don't get it crowd."

 

[GWad]

Or yours are way too high. Rhoads has 25% of ISU's bowl appearances.

With players he did not recruit in an era where mediocre gets you a crappy bowl.

 

[Luth4Cy]

With players he did not recruit in an era where mediocre gets you a crappy bowl.

By 2012, his best season, he had only a small percentage of Chizik recruits. On top of that, it's not like Chizik's recruits were anything special compared to what we've got now.

 

[GWad]

Are you delusional? We will never land big name head coach. We all love ISU and Ames Iowa because we grew up ISU fans, and have connections/ties to Ames. But if you think we can land a big name coach, that will come to Ames, and out recruit our big 12 opponents that are located within the states the majority of recruits come from you are a complete fool.

Can we go into Texas and take recruits from Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor and TCU, not likely. Yes we get guys from Texas but we don’t get 4 and 5 star recruits from there. We live in Iowa folks, sadly, our state as a whole only produces 2 or 3, 4 and 5 star recruits every year. We also have to compete against the freaking Hawkeyes and for some reason UNI to get those recruits.

Coaching Football in Ames Iowa is one of, if not the hardest places in the country to be successful. I am not saying we as a fan base need to be ok with 2 atrocious seasons, but we are NOT Nebraska, Michigan, Alabama.

When CPR started we were in the gutter, and had been there many times before, and we will be there again regardless of who our head coach is.

And for the love of GOD, stop comparing CPR to Hoiberg. Basketball and Football are sports at opposite end of the spectrum. In basketball 1 or 2 badass players can change your entire season. Whereas is football 1 or 2 guys won’t likely impact the game that much.

I fully support Pollard, CPR and the entire Cyclone coaching family. Give CPR your support for one more season, if not for CPR then do it for the players, they don’t deserve to read all this negative smack talk. They work very hard to entertain our fan base, and deserve better from all of you.

I don’t know about you guys, but I remember growing up and watching ISU Football, and expecting to lose every game, because Nebraska, OU, Iowa, Texas, Texas A&M would just embarrass us every year. Remember when we lost to Iowa 16 years in a row? I sure as hell do. It was hard to remain a Cyclone fan when ALL of your friends were Hawkeye fans and throw the losing streak in your face all the time.

Have faith, CPR has given ISU hope. We might not have a winning record, but we are in most games, which is something we never used to be able to say.

#OneMoreSeason #StopThrowingCPRUnderTheBus #SupportOurUniversity

Bob Stitt

And I have never compared CPR to Hoiberg. I'm not even sure you replied to the right post.

 

[awd4cy]

Yes because one sample size is a great thing to base an idea off of.

I agree that it's bad to use one sample size, but considering how low it is, many thought we would see a little improvement in the first year. Next year could be different though, who knows.

 

[Luth4Cy]

Bob Stitt

I would approve of this. He'd have to hire a perfect staff, but he'd be cheap and knows how to do something different.

 

[urb1]

Blum wrote a good article. But the title good have just as easily read, "Why Paul Rhoads doesn't deserve another climb". At some point, the man at the top has to claim responsibility for all of the mishaps along the way.

It all starts this spring and summer. If I hear that there won't be a starting quarterback decision until late summer and then begin hearing what a young team we have in the fall, I'll have a pretty good idea nothing has changed.

 

[Clonefan94]

Great article, ca't say I agree, but hope you are right. I do think you are spot on with your final analogy. We certainly won't be climging out of the valley with Rhoads, just digging a deeper hole.