It's that time of year: College coach carousel!

Iowa fans always try to scapegoat Alford for their basketball woes, yet can't help but notice that Alford has been very successful and popular everywhere else he's been, whereas Iowa has been consistently wallowing in sub-mediocrity for nearly two decades now, regardless of the coach.

Perhaps the problem is the Iowa job itself, not the coach.

 

Yep, interesting the way those unintended consequences work.

If IU doesn't have the 02 final four run, then Davis doesn't get the fat contract extension, which likely means Matta (who was deeply connected into Indiana's recruiting scene) ends up at IU instead of OSU, which means those in-state studs like Greg Oden, Michael Conley and god knows how many others don't flee the state, which means IU never lays eyes on Kelvin Sampson and his fucking cell phone.

Has a final four run ever backfired so badly?

 

Could be.

But it doesn't change the fact he's a dick.

 

Except nobody in New Mexico, Missouri and Indiana seems to agree. He's very popular everywhere else he's been. Alford-hating seems to be a distinctly Iowa thing. Not sure what the hell all happened there, but it obviously was not a happy marriage.

 

When someone leaves a Big 10 school for New Mexico, you know things at that school are fucked up.

 

What ever happened to the Lute fellow after he left Iowa for the freaking desert?

 

They were. There was far more to that situation than "Alford was a dick."

Also, Iowa has not been sub-mediocre for two decades.

Seriously? That was 25 years ago.

 

Fab. Five.

 

Except, in the Fab 5 case, the final four runs weren't the actual cause of the backfiring. Presumably the Ed Martin scandal would've eventually happened regardless.

But, in IU's case, it appears likely that the run itself triggered the program-wrecking chain reaction. The contract extension awarded because of that run is the difference between Davis being replaced in 04 (or earlier) and 06. 04 replacement probably would've meant Matta, 06 replacement meant Sampson--and all the difference in the world years later.

 

Iowa's expectations have been unreasonably raised by the success of Ralph Miller and Lute Olson, two Hal of Fame coaches who bolted that state as soon as viable West Coast jobs opened. Hawkeye fans expect H of F results from a series of coaches who are not H of F caliber. Even Tom Davis, while a decent coach, regularly got his ass kicked in the Pac-10 by Miller and Olson before having success at Iowa.

Of the 12 programs in the Big 10, Iowa might be better than three of them: Northwestern, Penn State and Nebraska. It is not a better job than Michigan, MSU, Indiana, Purdue, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Illinois, or even Minnesota. They are delusional to expect to be among the elite in a very good basketball conference.

 

In the last 25 years, Iowa has made the Tournament 13 times. Just my opinion, but that's a long way from being "sub-mediocre"

Alford definitely has to be laughing his ass off at what the program became after he left.

 

Fresno State hires Texas assistant Rodney Terry: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/04/07/2341753/former-texas-assistant-terry-brings.html

If he thinks that Fresno State can be competitive for the "same guys that UCLA, USC wants" outside of the Central Valley, I think he'll be disappointed. If he can keep the best local players there plus poach a few good Bay Area players from Cal/Stanford, he'd be doing a good job. (Then again, Fresno State's had some decent talent over the last few years.)

Anyone know anything about Terry?