ISU Coaching Search

It depends who you talk and what they fear most in hiring a new coach.  Some same avoid another hot assistant who will jump ship after a few successful seasons (or none).  Others say we need a young coach to keep the young players.  Others yet say we need a proven head coach with experience.  Well what about a black head coach?  Midwest ties?  Florida or Texas ties?  O negative or AB positive?

Goodness gracious people, we need a coach who will win games.  End of story.  And AD Jamie Pollard knows this.  And more important he could give a rip about the color, or age of the coach, he wants wins. 

So who will it be you may ask?

My Short list:

Turner Gill - Buffalo HC

It's too bad he's holding out for a very top tier school to offer him a job (Auburn?)  He's day will come (think Nebraska in a few years, you know after a 9-3 season)  And I firmly believe he's holding out for a big name school.  

Brent Venables - Oklahoma DC and Assistant HC

The Oklahoma D-coordinator has midwest ties, is young, and ready for a HC job.  So what if he wants to jump ship in a few year for a bigger school.  He won't do it without some success here first.  And that's what Iowa State needs right now.  Success, not more excitment without results.  Don't think he can coach?  Look at the OU-Tech final score.  Or better, see how many yards TTU didn't throw for in that game.  He can coach.  And our defense needs it.

Charlie Strong - Florida DC and Assistant HC

Has strong ties to FL and TX, a top assistant at Florida with Coach Mac.  If you don't think Strong is asking Dan about this job, you're crazy.  And I would trust Dan would say something like this - "Great program, fans love you even at 7-5, just get out if they hire a new AD"  All kidding aside, if Strong is looking to make a name for himself, this would be the place.

Todd Graham - Tulsa HC

The guy knows how to score points.  About the only team to score more points than Oklahoma and TTU is Tulsa.  He knows the South (TX and OK) to recruit.  Has HC experience.  Not a bad pick overall.

Others mentioned - Mike Stoops (Arizona HC), Chris Peterson (Boise State HC), Gary Patterson (TCU HC), Gary Barnett (Colorado HC, former), Phil Fulmer (Tennessee HC, former)

My pick was Turner Gill, but his contract extension at Buffalo makes this a no go. 

With that, either Venables or Strong should get the nod based their experience on the Defensive side of the ball, their connections to recruiting, and experience.  

Right now, I lean towards Venables because of his Midwest ties.

ISU Blues

What an exciting, wait, shitty weekend, to be a Cyclone.  Not only do we lose a FB coach but we also get owned in Iowa City in Men's Basketball.

Rumor is the new coach could be announced as early as tomorrow.  Hopefully not, so I can write about the possible replacements.  

Until then, I'm studying over 1000 drugs for my last final tomorrow. 

Go State.

Beat Iowa. 

Chizik Departs

Disclaimer: I've been 1000+ miles removed from Ames for the past four years, so my impressions have been gathered only sporadically. I was at the Iowa State-Army game in '05 when Jamie Pollard was announced as the new AD and I was certainly excited, impressed, and hopeful that he would ensure the 'clones could put together a Big XII North title. When McCarney was shown the door, my impression was that the "Cyclone nation" would be eternally grateful for Coach Dan's leading the program out of the wilderness and, especially in the absence of the previously-smothering Nebraska and Colorado programs, this new rising star would take us to the next level.

Chizik's lackluster first year was more than understandable. Unlike any other team in the Big XII North, we play Texas and Oklahoma (and TX Tech) on the same rotation. 2007's opponents were the hardest we would ever have, but the upside is the 2-year hiatus where we can strike the soft underbelly (?) of the south (with no disrespect to OKie State, who would have played in the conference championship or won any other conf. outright this year).

But we got worse.

Deep in the heart of SEC territory, the only game I was able to watch was the Iowa matchup. We held up well enough in the first half, but we didn't make a single clean tackle the whole game. I would have loved to see the 'yards gained after contact' stat, it probably accounted for 75% of Iowa's total offense.

I only heard about the close UNLV OT loss, gripping defeat from the jaws of a victory over Kansas, and the embarrassing meltdown against whipping-boy-no-more Baylor. I'm assuming this is the first time ever (I hope) that we've gone winless in the conference, and the "rising star but needs time" coach narrative isn't fitting very well.

When I heard Chizik was interviewing at Auburn, I told my roommate there's no way they'd hire him and all this will do is leave a bad taste in Cyclones' mouths, much worse than Tim Floyd. But the worst part is he'd still be our coach.

Now the news that he's gone (I bet Auburn's getting a helluva deal, Chizik might get paid in Applebees gift certificates), I'm not reading any Cyclone fans distraught about losing some great talent and waving goodbye to future success, I'm reading elation at a chance for a do-over. After this especially damning account, we should be thanking Auburn for giving us a fresh start *and* a $750K infusion into our athletic budget.

G. Harrell Gets Hosed...

Not only did his team get the a bad rap after a bad loss to Oklahoma (they did come back and beat a very good Texas team...short memory I guess), but now G. Harrell is not even invited to the Heisman Ceremony. 

Like I mentioned, I do not think he deserved to win, but regardless, he deserved to be recognized.

Tim Griffin sums it up nicely here.

Also - check out this x-ray for his hand against Baylor.  

Iowa State Sports

At this current juncture, there is a lot concern over the state of Iowa State Athletics.  The basketball team lost a game they had won last night and the football team appeared to take a step backwards from a promising 1st season under Coach Chizik.

My opinion, get over it.

The state of college athletics is very competitive right now.  Money can equal victories.  Pay Nick Saban enough and he'll get you a 11-1 season.  But the danger of such success is people expect that at every school.  But that would be a grave mistake to assume such a thing.

Iowa State is building a two great programs.  The football team took a step back because they lost a strong senior class (See A. Bowen, A. Rubin) that keep the defense competitive.  The offense has the playmakers to be great as does the defense.  But success in the trenches takes time to build with a poor program like Iowa State.  We're not nationally known and nor do we command national respect like Alabama.  You'd be dumb not to play there if you were an incoming freshman.  But Iowa State is building the framework for long term success.  It takes time (see Mizzou, Kansas) and they'll get there. 

As far as the basketball team, I'd like to find a team with more turnover in the first few years as McD has had the past 3.  Again though, the program is building the right way.  Young talent that plays hard and disciplined.  Young teams make mistakes though.  The reason W. Morgan was let go was that his veteran teams made silly mistakes.  So I expect the basketball team to be 1-2 years away from a great season, but we'll have many more successful years (and continued success).

So Cyclone Fans, be patient.  Our time is coming...

Heisman Thoughts

To put off Pharmacology studying a bit longer, I thought I would way in on the Heisman race.

As I see it, it comes down to 4 QB's.  And unless you're a delusional Hawkeye fan (which is most Hawk fans), Shonn Greene.

Sam Bradford - Oklahoma

Colt McCoy - Texas

Tim Tebow - Florida

Graham Harrell - Texas Tech

Unlike the BCS, the Heisman should be awarded for your body of work through the whole season.  To be the best player in college football (which is kind of joke anymore with the Heisman), you've got to bring it week in and week out.  So Colt McCoy, relax, you won't get snubbed on this one.

So now how do you pick?  Is it based on huge numbers, because Bradford and Harrell can give you those, but McCoy also had great stats while leading his team in rushing.  Tebow took a team on his back and willed them to BCS title game after they lost to Ole Miss.  Tebow played well when it counted down the stretch, but McCoy didn't get an opportunity to prove himself on a big stage the last few weeks.  (Minus the A&M game)  

If I were picking right now, I'm going to ignore Tebow because we saw how great he can be last year and he fell off a bit from then.  Harrell produced astronomical numbers, but part of that is the system (though mostly his gun and play making ability).

So to me, it comes down to McCoy and Bradford.  And because of the BCS, we saw Bradford showcase his talent in bigger games down the stretch.  So I got to go with Sam Bradford.  His numbers were great, and he played best when the games mattered most.  I don't always buy the head-to-head arguments because the season is an ebb and flow process.  You can judge a team by the first few weeks because the games changes.  But Bradford knew against Tech he needed to produce and boy did he.  

So the Heisman goes to Bradford.  The media should eat this up if he wins.  Native American, Heisman vs. Heisman in the Title game?  Sounds pretty great.

Plus McCoy will be back next year, so I give him the edge next year.

I hope this sparks a lively debate because I think any of these 4 players deserve the award and I will probably change my mind by tomorrow.

You bet!