Internet introductions are awkward...

[slappy4428]

padder

 

[Care Bear]

If you ever have car repair or maintenance questions, smallpotatoes is an invaluable resource.

 

[Ace]

Jordan,

Good luck. Congrats. You'll do great here.

Have you interned at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, by the way?

I need a reference for my latest application.

Cheers.

 

[holy bull]

Welcome, young sir.

Curious to know what the general feel at Iowa is about the direction of the basketball program. I know it's overwhelmingly going to be a football school, always. What's the vibe after McCaffery's first year? Honeymoon over? Or does nobody care?

 

[JordanGarretson]

Welcome, young sir.

Curious to know what the general feel at Iowa is about the direction of the basketball program. I know it's overwhelmingly going to be a football school, always. What's the vibe after McCaffery's first year? Honeymoon over? Or does nobody care?

You're right about football. It's been king for a while and will stay that way.

Vibes are good about men's basketball although if you chatted fans up over the last week you may have not gotten that feeling. Anthony Hubbard decided he's leaving Iowa before playing a single game with the program, which is a tough hit for a program with a 2nd year coach, and a team that was probably relying/expecting Hubbard to contribute quite a bit, probably start or be a sixth man. If you aren't familiar with Hubbard's story, he spent a few years in prison when he was convicted as an accomplice in a robbery at the age of 18, then went to junior college upon his release, and decided to come to Iowa. Of course that didn't last long. Here's his full story though:

Anyways, there is a lot of excitement around the men's basketball team. I'm not old enough to remember when there was just as much excitement behind basketball as there was football (I only hear stories) but I think the support for Fran is unwavering and deserved. Guy seems like he's got it figured out, has done a fairly good job of recruiting thus far considering the scrap heaps Lickliter left him with, and he brouht Basabe with him from Siena who is probably a future NBA bench player.

He is a class guy who coaches the type of system that Iowa is desperately in need of, one of excitement. I think people are looking forward to this season and expecting a decent jump from last year. With a down Big Ten even some optimists are pegging them as being on the verge of the bubble next March. More realistically, they feel like an NIT-bound team at least this year, but fans should be happy with that and I think they would be. Hubbard's departure hurts big time, though.

Overall, people are just as excited as when he got here, if not moreso. Though I would contend the excitement when he was initially hired mostly was stemmed from excitement that Lickliter was gone, but it's grown into a more genuine feeling. Lick wasn't a bad coach but he WAS a terrible fit for the Iowa program, a guy who was in over his head and was not the type of guy the Hawkeyes needed.

 

[holy bull]

I had a sneaky feeling that would be the answer, but didn't want to assume.

Looks like you neglected to supply a link to the Hubbard story. I'd be interested to read it. I guess he was already with the program before McCaffery got there, right?

Thanks for the detailed response.

I haven't been here long enough to demand that anyone get me a beer, so get yourself one (I already have one, anyway, big shocker).

 

[JordanGarretson]

Must have gotten so wrapped up into my response I completely spaced off the links. D'oh.

Here's two
1) A story on his signing with Iowa http://www.dailyiowan.com/2011/04/25/Sports/23067.html
2) Last week's story on his leaving http://www.dailyiowanmedia.com/live/2011/07/14/anthony-hubbard-leaving-iowa-basketball-program/

He was not with the program when McCaffery got here. This upcoming season was going to be Hubbard's first with Iowa, so he was committed for a couple months. Really tough pill for Iowa fans to swallow as he had been really impressing people in the local summer league here too.

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Welcome. DiSaronno and OJ, please.

 

[Lieslntx]

Welcome. DiSaronno and OJ, please.

^^Like^^

 

[Boom_70]

Welcome - One thing you can talk about is what really happened to the Iowa Football players that got sick. Seems like they were able to put the clamps on that story pretty quickly.

Oh - We're all pretty much sick of Brian Wilson here so stay away from him.

I actually covered it last year for the college paper. In my limited experience and years, probably the most bizarre and challenging story I've covered (Actually the entire Iowa off-season was between that, high-profile drug arrests (DJK, Adam Robinson), and transfers).

I'm not sure how the national following of the story went, but to hear that they 'put the clamps' on it quick, from my point of view at least, is surprising. It was about all anyone talked about, cared about, wanted to know about in this state for about a month, maybe more. Then again, that is the nature of Iowa football - it's pretty much the only show in the state and is essentially a pro team to the people that live here. So I can see how it probably fell out of the spotlight nationally.

To tell you the truth, I still don't have any thorough explanation for what happened, and I'm not sure anyone does. I've come to conclude that it was a freak incident, as unlikely as that may seem. Talking to players, coaches, it seems like it was just a weird, yet innocent event. It's well-documented how Ferentz and the program treats its players. It's a tough program to play for, but no one is going to try to kill you, especially considering some of the guys who ended up in the hospital (ex: Shaun Prater, one of the best cornerbacks in the Big Ten and probably the country).

Was the workout maybe a little over ambitious? Probably. I'm no expert on athletic training, but I think putting players through such a vigorous workout that quickly after a decently long layoff is a little risky. But again, the program had done this same workout before three or four times under Ferentz, and obviously this didn't happen.

Of course, there's always the possibility that it was an extremely well-executed cover up. Maybe this was the first time they did the workout, or they altered it drastically, leading to the cases of rhabdomyolysis. I'm not buying that though. Someone would have cracked by now, be it a current or former player (many former Iowa players were extremely outspoken in their defense of Ferentz and the program, defending it almost religiously). For it to be a cover up, there were too many people that had to be on the same page for it not to get out.

Personally, I had a couple sources within the program who I trust a lot who were just as clueless and curious as everyone else.

So, to conclude my probably overly long-winded response, I think it was a total freak thing. It definitely warranted the coverage it got - 13 players winding up in the hospital is a story, no matter what - but I don't think there was any malicious intent or scandal behind it all.

Fetch me a beer, newbie!

Then get the heck out of the business! It's dying! Start a BLOG!!!!!

Just kidding. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com!

Funny you should say that. I do have a blog where I produce posts on random topics around sports, at my personal site (link in my signature). But I'm currently working on a much more niched blog that I'm hopeful will be somewhat attractive as my job search goes into full-force during my senior year here. Before you stop me, no I'm not planning on getting hired because of my blog - that's stupid - but I'm hopeful it could at the very least be another selling point if I'm able to successfully run it and build a decent following while also heading the football coverage for a pretty respected college paper. That's if I can get my foot in the door anywhere for any interview, of course

You live pretty close to Wisconsin. Where do you stand on the issue of deer forking?

Pft, you defer to Wisconsin for a region-based joke? Why not use my home state? Ask me about meth, corn, or...well that's about all we have here.

Jordan - thanks for your well reasoned explanation. I am still a bit skeptical but less so now.

Welcome. Any Brandon Wegher sightings?

 

[JordanGarretson]

Sorry for the late response, I missed your post. But no Brandon Wegher sightings, that I'm aware of, at least. Kind of a sad story at this point actually.