Coaching or reputation?

[DaddyMac]

I guess, in a nutshell, my plea is for ISU fans to be reasonable. Long term, we know Texas and Oklahoma will most likely dominate the South. And if past history is any indicator, probably Nebraska and maybe Colorado will be the powers that be in the North. If Paul Rhoads can produce nothing worse than .500 seasons, and then if everything falls right (or another Seneca Wallace appears) and a few upsets occur along the way, who knows 10 wins, a North title, and a January bowl game are not out of the question from time-to-time.

I don't think 85% of ISU fans would be upset with that scenario.

I know I won't. And I think it's a given CPR will be given alot more leash than one would expect fans at Tex, OU or even NU to give their coaches.

 

[RotatingColumn]

Two words...Hayden Fry.

Without him, I don't see the EIU football team being any different than ISU. There was about a 20 year span where EIU didn't do much in football at all, until raisin face arrived. He is the one who turned the team around and they have been "successful" ever since. He was able to recruit TX very well and bring some pretty good recruits to IA.

I believe that if Johnny Majors would have stayed at ISU, the same thing could have happened here.

Danny Mac was almost there, but being so close and not winning the North title really killed any momentum that we had.

Absolutely. I’ve run into older Hock fans from time to time that admit to me they were Cyclone fans in the 70’s. But after Majors and Bruce left they jumped ship. Basically on the notion - how do you expect us to support your football program when you, the University, does not. And I don’t blame them.

It’s just interesting to think ISU had the pieces in place to take over the state and compete with NU for big dog in the region. Then just let it slip away.

 

[Wingback]

Absolutely. I’ve run into older Hock fans from time to time that admit to me they were Cyclone fans in the 70’s. But after Majors and Bruce left they jumped ship. Basically on the notion - how do you expect us to support your football program when you, the University, does not. And I don’t blame them.

It’s just interesting to think ISU had the pieces in place to take over the state and compete with NU for big dog in the region. Then just let it slip away.

Your final statement probably isn't very far from the truth, Rotating. Majors had his ups-and-downs, in spite of two bowl appearances (in an era when it was truly difficult to get to a bowl game), but the biggest shame is that ISU couldn't hang onto Earle Bruce. During his final three seasons, he went 8-3, 8-3, and 8-4 and went to two bowl games (and probably should have been three). In Bruce's first three seasons in Ames, he went 12-21, but in his final three, he went 24-11. He truly had the ship headed in the right direction and who knows what might have happened had ISU been able to keep him around.

 

[Cyrocks]

...but the biggest shame is that ISU couldn't hang onto Earle Bruce. During his final three seasons, he went 8-3, 8-3, and 8-4 and went to two bowl games (and probably should have been three). In Bruce's first three seasons in Ames, he went 12-21, but in his final three, he went 24-11. He truly had the ship headed in the right direction and who knows what might have happened had ISU been able to keep him around.

You can thank ol Woody Hayes for punching that Clemson player on the sidelines for Bruce leaving ISU.

I don't blame Bruce -- that was his dream job. I don't think ISU could pay Bruce enough money to stay. I blame ISU's AD at the time for hiring Donnie Duncan instead of John Cooper. Talk about a missed opportunity.

 

[cyclone13]

My observations

• Mac was a good coach. I respect him so much but it was time for him to go. He changed the losing ways but couldn’t take it to the next level. The failure to win Big 12 North several years ago really hurt the program.
• We failed to build a tradition after the 2000-2001 successful seasons. That costs us a lot in terms of development. We became stagnant after 2005 season. That’s why Mac had to go.
• We lacked signature wins e.g against Kansas State (except in Snyder’s 2 last seasons and that was when the wildcats were really bad), Nebraska (we beat them when everyone else beat them, so our victories were sharply devalued).
• Lack of signature wins prevent us to get significant exposure
• Without Signature wins, continuous tradition and exposure hurt us significantly. Look at EIU: even when they were down during Ferentz’ first couple of seasons they were still on TV and players still wanted to go and play there because of the “traditionsâ€
• We need to find a niche to market the team to players. Look at Texas Tech and Boise State. They’re a gimmick program (esp TTU) but they can sell their game plans to the players. We need to find a gimmick or something else like “if you go to let’s say Florida, you might end up as one of the starts, but if you come here, you’ll be the MAN†(like Ron Zook’s method when hiring good players to Illinois. Another way is to build the program that gravitates toward NFL: we will make sure that you’re fundamentally sound and ready to go to the next level. Mac initially was successful in defining ISU as a running team with 2000-yard rushers, but it then disappeared.
• Continue Mac’s actions in attracting fans. Or follow Bill Fennelly’s way to build a fan base. CPR has a good chance to do so especially considering that people were really upset at Chizik.
• Be competitive: I think a lot of fans got tired by Mac’s inability to beat the Wildcats or even play competitively against them. The fans don’t really mind losing as long as they can see the team played hard and played a good game.
• ISU fans generally know that it takes time to build a program. Most fans gave Chizik a reprieve in his first 2 seasons because they bought Chizik’s visions and were willing to wait. Improvement will be the key. As long as fans can see that the team is improving, they’ll be willing to wait.
• Last but not least: we need money to improve facilities, salaries as well as other functions. I know sometimes this is a question of "which one comes first, chicken or egg ?"

 

[hoosman]

I am really tired of the top 10 including USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, etc.. every single year. We need to somehow level the playing field - more TV revenue sharing, increased rules investigation/enforcement, coaching staff salary caps, longer spring training allowance for non-bowl teams, team TV limits, etc..

I realize that the NCAA is about maximizing revenue, and unfortunatly that means that the rich will continue to get richer.