Sub Titles

Now that Kirk Fernentz makes more than all the ISU head coaches combined- and he should- will the Register reopen its policy of reminding readers of who is the State of Iowa's highest paid employee?

Fat chance.

It seemed that every article about LE in the Paper that Polk County Depends On featured at least one use of ".... Larry Eustachy, the State of Iowa's Highest Paid Employee......". Now a regular reader of the sports page would have a hard time knowing that little tidbit.

As I recall, LE's extra tag didn't begin with his off-court shenanigans but early in his tenure, after on-court success was rewarded with cash. Suddenly, his salary was his most important stat.

Why won't KF get the same treatment? Two thoughts: One, as long as he keeps winning, he's untouchable. If a 7-5 season or two shows up, The Tag will be the first sign that KF has lost the press. Two, he's in Iowa City. If he were in Ames, or if DMac was the one making $3M, the tag would be in full use.

What good is a double standard if you don't apply it?

Peterclone

Headline Accuracy

The Register really nailed a headline Sunday. Above an article about graduation in Iowa City:

"U of I Students Listen, Graduate".

So perfect, they used it twice.

Peterclone

Warning to caterers

If you happen to be catering one the Cylone Outings for a Cyclone Club somewhere this summer, a word of warning- you had better be on top of your game. If the entree is lousy, Jamie will have someone else bringing out the desert if you know what I mean.

Peterclone

Get out your checkbook

Two items for everyone's calendar:

1. Send $25 to every school you consider a recruiting rival of Iowa State;
2. Start buying dinner for every athletically talented kid you know that isn't interested in ISU. Take pictures. Keep your recipts.

The rest will take care of itself.

Peterclone

Outside View: GMac gets an A

Gregg Doyel of CBS Sportsline passes grades on many of the recent basketball hires.

While he uses a friendly curve (12 of 23 were given some form of A) it is an interesting read on who did well and who hasn't.

Grading the hires

Peterclone

Code Words

I hear certain descriptions being used for the Wayne Morgan era of ISU basketball:

Street Ball
Unstructured
Lazy
Unmotivated
Father Figure
Defenseless
Great recruiter, lousy coach

Some of the talk-radio types using these terms seem to be talking in code- the same code I heard about George Raveling. It's subtle, almost unconcious racism. Nobody's dropping the N Word when describing coaches or players, but its there.

When was the last time a white coach was hung with the "Great recruiter, lousy coach" label? Who was the last black coach to be a great "X and O man"?

Are either descriptions really accurate?

Peterclone

Catching up

A few things have happened since I was last able to post:

Cael Sanderson was elevated to Head Wrestling Coach aka "The Move That Had To Be Done". Like Cael's ankle pick, everyone knew it was coming, but this arrived sooner than expected. I believe Cael will be a solid coach, but he certainly has almost unreasonable expectations to meet as "The Next Gable", who ironically has come out of retirement in Iowa City.

Cael's quiet, soft spoken demeanor belies the fierce competitor inside. I don't see Cael being much of a screamer, and he certainly won't be as animated at the mat as Tom Brands or Mark Manning. But I expect he will learn exactly what to softly say to a wrestler as they head out onto the mat.

The starters dominated the backups in the spring game, as it should be.

A new feature at Cyclone Stadium has arrived: One of the brick pillars from old Clyde Williams Field has been installed at the bottom of the ramp the players use to enter Jack Trice. The last thing the players will see will be the weatherbeaten plaque that states: "Honor Before Victory". That is an appropriate motto for a program that is dismissing players for being unable to stay out of trouble (Berryman) or monitor what they ingest (Robertson). A cynic would point out that placing honor before victory has kept ISU football lousy over the years. Both are correct- and ISU should be proud to place that motto front and center.

Greg McDermott continues to look like a great hire. While half the team has weighed options outside ISU, and a couple of recruits have decided they don't fit into a more regimented scheme, others are choosing to come in. I'm not sure if a two-for-one with Iowa will be equal in the end, especially with the baggage some of the players bring with them.

Tasheed Carr, according to my source, doesn't look like a player who is transferring by the effort he is giving in workouts.

Steve Alford remains in Iowa City, his personal Elba, and he cut loose two assistants as he signed a contract extension. Odd. The new help should come cheap since, as Jim Rome joked, "they need not have experience in the second round of the NCAA's". Ouch.

My source in IC says Steve was deeply hurt by not getting an interview in Bloomington. So much for using Iowa as a stepping stone.

I'm on the road for many of the coming weeks. Set your RSS reader to pick up posts as I make them.

Peterclone

Genius

The breeze that is carrying new coaches into ISU is blowing through the marketing department, too.

I cannot recall football tickets being sold in a smarter way in the spring. Rather than focusing on selling full and split season tickets at the maximum price, Pollard and crew are doing their best to make all of the hardest to sell seats disappear first at a discount price. Jaime grasps some economics that has escaped earlier staffs.

The biggest drag on season ticket sales, after frustrating product on the field, is the ease of buying a walkup ticket. At four or five games each fall actual seats are available the day of the game, which keeps Cyclone Football an option to many fans. They can wait until Saturday morning to decide to go or not. Weather, opponent, the games on TV, the mood of the spouse, and any other variable can scrub a fan from going to the Jack when they haven't made the cash outlay. By selling those normal "walkup" tickets in April, buying anything but an SRO on Saturday will become a crap shoot, which will convince many to just commit and buy a season ticket next spring.

This could be an excellent year to be a scalper, as thousands may learn the hard way that supply has dropped, hopefully dramatically.

With the $99 end zone ticket gone, ISU is now pushing two other brilliant options: Season Hillside for $125 ($17.85 per game) and "Cy's Pack", actual seats in slow-selling sections for $150 ($21.42). An actual seat and a better view for only an extra $3.50? That should be a quick seller.

The most important thing is that come August, when people really get football on the brain, the only thing left will be full-price season and single game tickets, and hopefully a sellout for a game other than Nebraska. Get people in the habit of planning their weekends around Cyclone Football, rather than going to Ames only if it is convenient. Iowa fans view football that way, even when they sunk. Nebraska fans do, even as they have slid to merely being good. The sooner ISU fans change their thinking, the better.

The extra cash will come in handy with all the buyouts going on.

Peterclone

Shazam!

When Pollard moves, he moves! He has now hired and fired two coaches in the time it takes most schools just to form a hiring committee. Jaime has already matched the number of important hires some ADs make in a tenure.

If the new AD is anything he is decisive. He has a plan and we are headed in his direction. Whether that plan bears fruit we can only wait to see, but the man in charge certainly isn't shy about jerking the ship away from icebergs.

May Cael have the Gable touch.

Peterclone

Another new start

First of all, I think the McDermott hire was the best case scenario given the circumstances. I shake my head at the naysayers who complain that GM doesn't have "national recruiting experience". It's a chicken/egg situation. It's hard to recruit nationally at any mid-major, because you're a mid-major, and at the same time, you don't necessarily have to. UNI had three players who would have started at either ISU or Iowa this year, and all were from the Midwest. Iowa's five best players are natives.

GM will be fine, both in coaching and recruiting. He has an eye for talent, and runs a system that fits the talent he has. Most ISU fans prefer a team that may be a notch down athletically, but overachieves on the court- the opposite of what we had this past season.

The '05-06 Cyclones were much like a buddy's 60's-era British sports car: A real hoot to ride when it's tuned up up and tearing down a curvy road, but the downside is that it only performs that way about 20% of the time. The majority of the trips are frustrating slogs of misfiring pistons, a grumpy clutch and lousy acceleration.

The Morgan Cyclones were devastatingly good when focused and motivated. They could drop a 20-2 run on you at any time. But those times were few and far between, and the norm was undisciplined offense and half-assed defense, which was devastatingly bad to watch. If your scheme gives up six dunks and a dozen layups each game, you had better be filling it up on the other end Grinnell-style.

I was looking forward to the development of an all-out "40 minutes of Hell" style in Hilton, because it can be so much fun to watch. But in the end, winning at all is more fun than losing with style, so Morgan had to go. I was one of the last to admit that the inconsistency of the Cyclones should be laid at the feet of the coaches and not the players. I'm old school in thinking that a player should arrive ready to commit maximum effort towards whatever the coach draws up; that thinking has gone out of style. So it goes.

Here's hoping that a new scheme and 40 minutes of effort lead to more wins for the Cyclones.

Peterclone

Ten minutes

Wayne Morgan's tenure at Iowa State died in a ten-minute span.

Wayne was watching DSM Hoover play at the Iowa Boy's State Tournament Wednesday when his cell phone rang.

Stinson was on the line. He told Coach he was going pro. Coach was not pleased. Curtis then passed his phone to Blalock, so that Will could chime in with a "Me too".

Wayne, agitated, went to the hallway to finish the call.

Ten minutes later, again watching the game, he took another call. This one was about his non-confrence schedule. Again, he left the arena, not to return.

I saw Wayne in Hilton Thursday night. He was walking alone, slowly, looking tired. I realize now he had the body language of a defeated man, one who had accepted his fate.

This was a humane dismissal, unlike the last basketball firing at Hilton. No circus. No dueling press confrences. Nobody twisting in the wind. It's done.

Ten minutes is all it took.

Peterclone

Do Something Different

Another ISU sports blog has appeared, and it's full of intrigue, behind the scenes rumors and cloak-and-dagger speculation. It will be an entertaining read one way or another.

Cyclone Fanatic's March 1st post laments a lack of fieriness out of Coach Morgan, and then his March 6th post sites unnamed sources as being stressed out over choosing sides within athletics over the status of Morgan's program. Next year is being called "The Year" for Morgan, due to solid veterans and a solid recruiting class. But the same complaints about Wayne from Season 1 still haven't been put to bed, and they all about how perception changes depending on the number of wins and losses.

Jeremy's money quote:

"If Morgan would simply show emotion on the sideline, he would be cut more slack than any coach at any other school. ISU fans want to love their coach, but they have to be able to relate to them."

That speaks to the feelings of many that I have had conversations with. When Wayne stares out at the court after something bad happens, people don't think he's doing anything. Fans must want a coach who is screaming and yelling at the players and refs the same way they are, whether the fans are in Hilton or their living rooms. But it was exactly that kind of ranting and raving that fans loved about Tim and Larry when they were winning and hated when they were losing. Johnny Orr was beloved for such behavior, but cursed when his teams collapsed on the road. LE "shamed himself and the program" when he melted down at the end of that infamous game against Michigan State.

The same goes with football. I read multiple posts in the early Ferentz years wishing Kirk would "show some of the fire Dan shows"; now the conventional wisdom is that Kirk is "professional" and "even keeled", while Dan is a "one-trick pony who's act gets old quickly". Fans adjust their perception to fit their feelings of the program.

John Wooden was famous for going entire games and only standing for time outs. I imagine modern fans would blame the occasional Wooden UCLA loss on a "lack of emotion".

If Wayne wins 20+ games next year, the lack of emotion complaint is out the window. 15 wins and Wayne is out the window. Personally, I hope its the former.

Peterclone

Tourney Coach

Bill has done it again.

The other 11 coaches in the league have to hate seeing ISU anywhere in their bracket come tourney time: ISU owns the best winning percentage in the history of the B12 tourney. And with a 72-68 win over Texas, that percentage is now .682 (15-7).

Granted, having two titles will help the average, but c'mon! They don't have the leagues best talent, percentage wise, so 15-7 is worth saluting.

But now comes the other side of the winning percentage coin: #1 seed OU. While OU is 11-7 all-time, they carry with them the 23-3 (.885%) record of the #1 seed in the tourney. Ouch. A #9 seed like ISU has never made it past the second round. Double Ouch. But even if they lose in that second round, they will have exceeded the #9 average of .400.

Here's to being slightly above average.

Peterclone

A Win is a Win is a Win

From here on out, every win ISU can get is a good one- whether the victim has fired its coach or not. I'm not picky.

And with Stinson returning, it's never too early to play the "Next Year Starts Now" card. What the heck?

I want to be optimistic about Wayne's program because he, like Dan, seem to be genuinely decent fellows- the kind of guys you would want living next door to you. Not some slimey, smiling, looking to hop to the next job willing to pay him another $50 kind of coach.

So any wins ISU can earn, even without an NCAA bid, will help make this season less forgettable. If a nice finish can springboard into '06-07, all the better.

Now watch them get smoked in Boulder on "Everyone Is A Senior Night", and we will all be back to figuring out how much a buyout of Wayne's contract would be. We're a fickle, fickle bunch.

Peterclone

Disinterested

If the Cyclones insist on being disinterested ( CrossCyed's excellent choice of words) when they play a team with only 13 games under its belt on the road, I suppose it is fair to be equally disinterested in writing about it.

The basketball season has become an even bigger disappointment than the football season. Alas, it appears that the only good memory is dumping Iowa in December - and the same can be said of football.

Anyone of the Black and Gold persuasion still clinging to the myth that a win over Iowa makes the season for ISU fan should closely examine the dour expression on our collective faces.

A tough start to the Pollard regime- one that will make the rubber chicken circuit an interesting one. Better toss the Cy-Hawk trophy in your trunk for those road trips; it's all you have to hang your hat on this summer.

Peterclone

A Sprint to the NIT?

As strange as that sounds, that's what Cyclone basketball now must do.

At 14-11, and with a sure loss at some point of the Big 12 tourney, ISU must go 2-2 in the last four to avoid a must-win situation in the first round in Dallas. That first round game will probably come against a team that ISU might have beaten (NU, KSU) but will definitely come against a team that has beaten ISU (NU, KSU, a$m, Tech). Perhaps everything would come together in the Must Win, but given the knack for Finding A Way To Lose this bunch exhibits, I'm not holding my breath.

At this point, the NIT is the best thing for the team. Imagine if ISU somehow rips off the last four games, then gets to the semi's in Dallas. What then? A 12 or 13 or 14 seed against a team that knows how to exploit an opponent's flaws? Aside from a banner in the rafters of Hilton, would that first-round thumping really achieve anything? I'm not sure.

Since ISU can't open a Big Man's Camp during the off week, three or four winnable games in the NIT might be better than a sure loss in the NCAA in the long term. An NIT run seemed to serve ISU well last year- perhaps the same can set up next season.

Peterclone

Football adjusts to the market

What was mentioned last week is official this week: New start times for the three football non-conference games in Ames.

Toledo will play on the Thursday before Labor Day, and games against UNLV and UNI have been pushed back to 6 PM. All three moves make sense.

Cyclone Football has to walk before it can run. In order to build a fan base that schedules its collective life around home games (like in Lincoln and Iowa City) you have to get a fan base in the habit of coming in the first place. Given Cyclone Football's nasty habit of breaking fan's hearts , making the product as accessible as possible is a smart move.

By shifting to a "family friendly" schedule, ISU can continue to push tickets to the half-million who live within an hour's drive of Jack Trice. Granted, an evening game is a hardship for those making a long drive in (my extended family included) but Pollard will gladly trade 4 lost tickets from Dubuque or Sioux City in exchange for 24 tickets sold to Clive or Fort Dodge or Altoona. The point is getting butts in seats, and then hopefully delivering a win.

Athletics is on the right path for the former. The latter needs some work.

Peterclone

Self Perception

Compentency is hard to define. Strangely, those who are most competent at what they do usually judge their skills as only above average; conversely, those who are terrible think they are great. Self-analysis appears to be the problem. The inability to properly judge one's work against the whole leads to both lousy work and an overinflated self-worth.

Which leads us to Rashon Clark's comments in Sean Keeler's Sunday column. Clark gave Saturday's defensive performance in Lawrence a "B". They gave up 88 points on 50 percent shooting.

"B"?

Try a "D".

Granted, KU has scouted ISU's defensive schemes perfectly, and knows exactly how to slice and dice them. KU's stregnths match perfectly with ISU's weaknesses. But on effort alone, it was not a "B" day.

CrossCyed has a breakdown of the day, "breakdown" being the primary word. ISU now needs to win virtually every game, and a couple in Dallas to avoid the NIT. I don't think they have either the horses or the heart. May they prove me wrong.

Peterclone

Laughable Optimism

Well, this was a ridiculous bit of optimism in my morning paper.

Money quote:

"Win six of the remaining seven regular-season games, and the Cyclones have a 93 percent chance of being among the 65 NCAA Tournament teams, according to history of the 10-season Big 12 Conference. Finish with an RPI of 63 or higher while having at least a .500 conference record, and there is a 92.6 percent chance."

This team winning six of seven, which includes roadies to Lawrence, Norman and Boulder, is as likely as Coach Morgan sprouting a Mod Squad 'fro. Considering this Cyclone squad has yet to win consecutive conference games, barring a miracle in Dallas, Pollard may as well call the NIT folks today and cook up another double header that went over so well two seasons ago.

Randy Peterson spent last season reporting from Iowa City, and this article shows it. While the Black and Gold crowd eats up any Glass Half Full mullarky that appears in print, ISU fans have BS detectors that are much more sensitive. Nice try, Randy.

Peterclone

Little things, II

Good teams rebound. Good teams make their free throws down the stretch.

Good teams win.

Peterclone

Pollard on KXNO

I came in late, but a summary of what I heard:

A big push is needed on deferred maintenance on all of the athletic facilities, especially Hilton. Included in the long term plan:

Suites- New center scoreboard- ring of lit signage around the balcony (like all the new buildings)- basketball practice and volleyball practice and game facility somehow attached to Hilton- More office space at Jacobsen and Hilton- bowling in the south end of Jack Trice- eventual upgrades for swimming and tennis when men's teams return.

Also mentioned:

The Marching Band is moving to their own set of bleachers in the north end zone to interact better with the students.

The south end zone will be sold as a $99 season ticket. 600 tickets have already been sold, and there has been only a whisper marketing campaign.

The non-conference games will probably move to night games to accommodate family life. The Toledo game on Labor Day weekend may move to the Thursday before.

In the big picture, baseball, men's swimming and men's tennis won't be brought back until all the sports programs are performing at a higher level.

All of the above will require serious cash, and Pollard is challenging ISU fans to "get out of their comfort zone". Translation: Get ready to donate more to keep the football and basketball tickets you have, and to donate more in general.

All of the things mentioned need to be done, but brace yourself for the whining that will erupt when change happens.

Peterclone

Back in the saddle

Sometimes it's fun just to open a Can Of Whup on somebody. CrossCyed has a nice breakdown.

Clearly, the week off was a major factor in ISU's win over CU: the players seemed focused on their individual roles, the effort was tremendous, especially inside, and the team kept the pedal to the floor with Bufflao blood in the water early in the second half. The killer instinct is a nice addition to the game plan.

But coaching won this game. Morgan and crew clearly tweaked what ISU had been doing on defense, from guard harrassment of the ball in the back court, to new wrinkles in the zone, to sending all 5 players to the defensive boards. Granted, tweaks like that work against CU, which seems to rely on athletisism and streaky shooting to win ballgames. But the tweaks were made, they players bought in, and CU had no response.

With a double roadie to KSU and KU this week, ISU's fourtunes may become cemented. Get a split (we won't even think about a sweep) and remain on the NCAA bubble. Lose both, and a Dallas miracle may be required.

Peterclone

Waste

This author has made boatloads of bad decisions in his life. Fortunately, none were in the public eye, and none were as costly as Jason Berrman's.

When a student does not do what is required to retain a full scholarship, that is a waste. When an athlete with professional talent does not do what is required to continue playing his sport, that is also a waste. Jason failed both ways.

For being unwilling to wait the three weeks until he was 21 to go to the bars, Jason now gets to start over in another town, with another team, in another league. I suspect his cell phone has been ringing non-stop in the last 48 hours with a fresh round of recruiting calls. He will play college football again, for someone, but he will again be on a short leash.

I was skeptical about Jason's return to ISU football, and took it as a sign that ISU was suddenly willing to play by the same weak rules that Big Time Football powers play by. It appears my reading of the tea leaves was in error. Cyclone football appears content to place its integrity before winning, which in the long run, gets coaches fired.

that will be a waste, too.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Perhaps the most disconcerting part of ISU's recent troubles at Hilton is how the Cyclone Basketball World has been seemingly turned upsode down. Water flows uphill. The sky is yellow, not blue. Hawkeye fans are decent to be around. No of it makes sense.

So far in league play, ISU has 2 wins on the road, yet 3 losses at home. They are 3-0 at neutral sites- all three wins coming in Hawaii. They won at Drake, which always gives them trouble. They lost 2 non-conference games at home, which is especially unheard of to anybody other than Iowa. It's the Orr years, but backwards.

During Johnny's run, ISU was a tough out in Ames and a walkover on the road. They seemed to always find some pathetic way to lose when wearing the red suits, whether it be a close loss at the end, or a blowout from the get-go. It was maddening, but at least you got to see the good show in person- the horror flick was always on TV, and you could just walk away.

Perhaps that is what exlemplified Hilton Magic the most- the fact that for no apparrent reason, a team that was lousy to average for some reason could rise above it all and dump the big boys at home. It made no sense. There was no logic to it. It just happened. It was Magic.

Until the scene normalizes, and ISU returns to it's routine of home wins and road struggles, I will try to enjoy the scenery here in the Rabbit Hole: Road success, home failures, friendly bumblebees, and free beer.

Peterclone

Turning point

ISU now has no margin for error.

After another humbling loss in Hilton, the Cyclones are in essentially do-or-die mode for the rest of the season. With a stunningly bad Donut Defense (nothing in the middle) ISU will earn an NCAA bid the hardest of hard ways- having a winning record on the road to compensate for a losing one at home.

That means at least four wins out from games at:

KSU
KU
OU
Baylor
CU

Despite recent success on the road, I think three is pretty optimistic.

A sweep of the remaining home games goes without saying:

NU
MU
OSU
CU

But without Marston or gaining another year of eligibility for Jared Homan, what can change? I doubt the scheme will, and that will be the noisiest part of the remainder of the season. The Zone Haters will be at full roar.

And they are wrong, unfortunately. I don't see ISU's soft interior defense being any better in a man scheme than what they are doing now- all the same issues apply. But anytime one tries to live outside the norm- be vegetarian, not wear a tie at the office, live without a car- you become a magnet for criticism. I suspect the fans at Tech are complaining about a lack of talent, which is exactly what ISU fans should be complaining about, too. We are still experiencing the LE Hangover.

Bitch about talent and effort- both are valid. But I don't think the scheme is at fault, yet.

Peterclone

Just go red

Clearly, the Cyclones want to wear the road jerseys home and away, so let them!

Peterclone

It's the little things

A turnover here, a turnover there, and the other team shoots 50%+ and becomes hard to beat.

Miss a freethrow here, miss a freethrow there, and a team can hit a late 3 to send it into OT.

Bad D on the press here and there gives the opponents 10 easy points- points you struggle to make up out of your offense.

Small things add up to be big losses, losses that may send you to the NIT if you aren't careful.

Peterclone

Viva la Hilton West!

Check the note at the bottom of the Omaha World Herald story.

Peterclone

Surprise, No Surprise

Tuesday's win in Lincoln will be a benchmark for the remainder of the season.

On offense, ISU was composed, efficient, and usually made the extra pass to find the player ready to shoot. Granted, you always look better when the ball goes in the hole, but ISU generally took makeable shots, and converted Husker turnovers into at least 25 points.

On defense, Nebraska never got into the flow. For every time they broke the press and scored a layup they twice turned it over, or otherwise looked nervous when running the offense. Both teams tried to surprise the other with shifting defensive looks; only Nebraska was rattled by it.

There will be several nights over the next two months that we will collectively ask: "Why can't they play the way they did in Lincoln?" I expect every team in the XII will have a near-perfect night, and some horrid nights as well. While the league is even (but for Texas), each team has a major weakness. When teams hide the weakness, they win; when opponents expose the weakness, the team loses.

I was surprised that KU choked a 9 point lead in 90 seconds; I was surprised that ISU didn't just win in Lincoln, they were in control for most of the game. When surprises become the norm, they are no longer surprises.

Normalcy ahead!

Peterclone

Iowa fans can be a soft bunch

Kinnick Stadium is in the middle of a (well-deserved) $100 million dollar renovation. Part of that renovation will increasing the width of the seats- or rather, repainting the numbers on the bleachers from 16 1/4 inches to a whole 18.

As a result, every single ticket holder in the stadium is being reseated, according to the Paper Iowa Used To Depend On:

"Fans earn the right to select earlier based on a system that factors in longevity of season-ticket purchases, every $100 of giving from records dating back to 1973, membership in groups such as the Kinnick Society, being a U of I graduate and being a male or female letterwinner."

A high score will be a bad reward, because when you visit the "select my seats" area of the special Kinnick Renovation website, you learn that to earn the right to a seat along the sideline- known among fans as "A Seat That Doesn't Suck" you must contribute anywhere from $50 to $600 per seat, per year.

Per Seat, Per Year. That will pay off a $100 million dollar debt in a hurry. They are officially Big Time.

Thanks for all the years of support and cash. Your reward? The privilege of writing an even bigger check.

There is one big downside of fans throwing that kind of cash at a football program: When things start to turn south, the crowd will turn ugly in a big, big hurry. If fans thought the grousing about Kirk was loud after losses to Michigan and Iowa State, imagine the roar when the bottom falls out of a season and 4-8 is the result. $600 per seat will generate a pile of indignation.

My favorite quote was this:

Ross, a student season-ticket holder the past six years, said those who were attending games when Iowa's team was struggling in the late 1990s should be rewarded.

"I know it's a big deal for the athletic department to make money, but it kind of stings when you're put in the cheap seats," Ross said. "You feel your loyalty is not rewarded."

Yeah, those three non-bowl season you had to endure were just brutal: 3-8, 1-10, 3-9. If you get points for suffering through that "drought", the then ticket holders who endured the 20 Consecutive Losing Seasons get seven fold the points the recent "sufferers" get. It's only fair, isn't it?

I can just imagine the requests for extra considerations for ticket holders who have to sit through the next losing season, whenever it happens. Call them Suffering Rewards.

Peterclone

KU lost in its own Phog

For the Jayhawks, it doesn't get much worse than this.

15 games in, and KU still doesn't know who they are.

Jan. 16th, and an NCAA bid may be on the line?

That's Must-See-TV .

Peterclone

Old coach shows us a new way to beat ISU

For most of this season, the MO to beat ISU has been along the lines of this: Pack your defenders into a zone, limit the penetration by the guards, and force ISU to beat you with the three. For the better teams, this has worked.

But not for Bobby Knight and Tech. They went the other way, using their man defense to shut down Stinson, rolling the dice that the rest of the team couldn't do it without him. Blaylock tried, but after he got the same faceguard treatment Stinson was recieving, ISU's offense ground to a halt. Tech's offensive rebounding didn't hurt anything, either. It seemed that for most of the second half, every possesion by Tech resulted in either a bucket, a foul, or a 3 rebound garbage bucket by some big man.

The number of one missed shot possesions by Tech in the second half could be counted on one hand, and that may be the biggest liability for ISU the rest of the season.

Until the big men collectively learn to rebound and play defense, ISU will have to be very efficient on offense. They have no margin for error.

Now they face a Nebraska team that should be feeling good about itself. With wins over KSU and OU, they have the momentum that ISU lacks. I'll let Ryan at Crosscyed give you the nitty gritty breakdown, but this is already a crossroads game for ISU. NU's power ratings are in the 90's- like Tech's- so while ISU has dropped to around 50, this is still a winnable game. But with a whole slew of teams in the 70-115 range ahead, if ISU can't right the ship and start beating teams the are "better than", an NIT invite will be their only postseason hope.

Peterclone

UT too tough

Texas killed ISU in every way: 3 point shooting, offensive rebounding, breaking the press, free throws, disrupting ISU's flow on offense, eliminating the ISU crowd.

Sometimes you play bad, and sometimes you just get beat. Tonight, ISU just got beat. So it goes.

Hope the long roadie to Lubbock goes better.

Peterclone

Storm cloud ahead

Texas claims the Big 12's two best rebounders.

ISU's biggest weakness: rebounding.

Uh-oh.

Peterclone

An improvement over last year

1-0.

That has a nice ring to it.


ISU's win over K State sure beats last season's 0-5 conference start. It was the classic half-empty, half full game for fan's.

ISU beat a team with a good record/KSU had played a lousy schedule.
22 KSU turnovers were converted into 24 ISU points/KSU shot 57% thanks to layups after beating the press
ISU won a close game late/ISU blew a 12 point lead with 6:50 to play
KSU only made 3 three pointers/all three came inthe last 5 minutes, helping to make it close
ISU was 15-19 from the line/ISU missed the front end of TWO one-and-ones late
The 9-day layoff put rust on the Cyclones, but they overcame it/A better opponent would have buried ISU early
ISU's offense improved as the game wore on/ISU offense dissapeared late
ISU beat KSU's zone after making some 3's/ISU shot way too many threes

Visiting the various message boards, I suspect there are too many fans who weight style points too highly. There are those who seem frustrated that ISU can't pitch a shutout defensively and score 100 every night. Granted, this Cyclone club has serious flaws, but so does almost every team in the conference. This year, given no clear favorite, there should be only one goal for each game:

Just win, baby. I'll be half full.

Peterclone

Now ISU has a slight chance

So long, Vince.

Peterclone

More stats than you can shake a stick at

Ryan over at Crosscyed posted some fascinating stats concerning the ISU basketball team. My favorite are the ones that put into numbers the basketball equivalent of slugging percentage. Points per weighted shot, effective field goal percentage, and O and D rating should become common vernacular of basketball broadcast and reporting.

The conclusion? Rashon Clark is a stud who is blossoming before our eyes, and Stinson and Blaylock need to improve their free throw shooting and overall shot selection.

I don't understand all of the methodology behind the stats, (my math and verbal ACT scores were mirror opposites) but I love the resulting analysis they provide. Give them a look.

Peterclone

Hook 'Em Horns!

It's good to see UT win The Big One, getting a giant monkey off of Mack Brown's shoulders- a monkey whose perch I've helped maintain with lines like "No coach has done less with more".

Sometimes all you need is One Great Player to push you over the top. Without Vince Young, Texas is still a very good team.

With him, they are Champs.

Now, Vince, go pro. ISU goes to Austin September 23rd. We will need all they help we can get.

Peterclone

Tipping Point?

Longtime ISU viewers can't help but wonder if the loss to TCU may come be a turning point in the McCarney administration.

The last 5 seasons have been building to the '05 season. Talent has been building. The schedule was favorable. Ticket sales were at an all-time high. But all 5 losses had common themes: second half leads that were blown, opportunities to win late, a lack of kicking game becoming an fatal liability. And those issues are nothing new.

But ISU's inability to win the tight games the last two seasons, and the games that really matter, may be rapidly burning the good will that McCarney has earned with his constant enthusiasm, wins over Iowa and Nebraska, and bowl trips to sometimes desirable destinations. Once that capital is used, it will be extremely hard to win back with the casual fan ISU needs to push the ticket average from 35K to 50K+.

Clearly, Dan and staff must evaluate how they manage close game situations. Some are tagging Dan as a choker, and we can't argue that point with the results of late. Unless football fortunes shift, and that label is shed, Cyclone Nation may drift into the same kind of program killing indifference that afflicts the basketball program in Iowa City. And that is quickly followed by pink slips.

Peterclone

Nice road trip guys

Get on a plane, return with a trophy.

ISU found a way to win three games in Hawai'i against three decent teams.

If they can convert that can-do attitude to the XII schedule, things could get interesting.

I look forward to seeing the men play on TV again, though. Each game was too late for even this hard-core to listen- the mini-Clones in the house get up far too early for midnight radio!

Peterclone

Bad news for ISU

Colorado made a great hire in Dan Hawkins.

He only won 3 titles in 5 years as head coach in Boise. His team clubbed ISU in the Blue Turf Bowl in 2002. His offensive philosophy will further push the wishbone/triple option days of the 80's Big 8 even further into the recesses of our memories, and continue the evolution of the B12 into the second coming of the 80's WAC.

One has to wonder, though, if he will be coaching under the Walden Clause: We don't care whether you win, but you have to be clean. After the scandals that have rolled through that football program the last 15 years, a clean coach will be a breath of fresh air.

Then again, as the only survivor of CU's 2004 round of firings, Barnett only got canned after the product on the field went bad. So perhaps all is acceptible, as long as one wins.

We will know in a few years. Snyder's rep at KSU didn't take long to ferment, and I suspect Hawkin's rep will solidify quickly.

Peterclone

Early Guess: ISU's in!

One of the favorite winter activities of the basketball writer is predicting the Field of 65. Fox Sports has an early one.

Two things jump out: ISU is "one of the last in", and the XII only gets 4 teams in. Clearly, TEXTI'm not the only one who has noticed that the league isn't very strong this year.

I expect that either one team will rise up and roar through the league with less than two losses (OU is a likely suspect), or it will be a wild any-team-on-any-night that will drive fans and bettors nuts, and produce a champ with 4, 5 or even 6 losses and needing tiebreakers to get the #1 seed in Dallas.

Hang on for a crazy ride.

Peterclone

Opportunity Ahead

Just when one is getting down in the mouth about ISU dropping a game they shouldn't have, some possible sun on the horizon:

The Big XII is, shall we say, in transition. There isn't a single standout team yet.

A quick look at the Sagarin rankings has Colorado- yes, a team coached by Ricardo Patton- at the top of the heap in the XII. When your best win is over #125 St. Mary's, we don't know much about you yet.

Look down the schedule at the start of ISU's B12 run:

KSU (#35, SOS 269) and suddenly struggling Texas (#17, 191) at home, roadies to Tech (#171, 295) and Nebraska (#133, 307), a$m (#87, 333- weakest in the league) at home, at Mizzou (#114, 170), then home for KU (#93, 68) and CU (#10, 125). I'm not going to predict a 8-0 start, but there are plenty of winable games there. If ISU can get its offense into a flow, a strong start is there for the taking.

The next two weeks will be the key.

Peterclone




TEXT

Two Trick Pony

My rough count of the last 5 minutes for the ISU offense against Ohio State:

7 possessions
2 turnovers
1/7 shooting (including an airball 3)
1 missed 1/1 front end
2 made free throws
7 points

That isn't going to do it, friends. It seems the ISU offense is too often a Two Trick Pony: create fast break points off defense and rebounds, or points off dribble penetration. The last 5 minutes had too much standing around waiting for someone else (read: Curtis or Will) to get things going, and not enough cohesion to know what play to run to give them a high-percentage shot.

With the number of new faces, this is to be expected. Ohio State is a pretty good team, and has a whole fistfull of seniors who know how to get things done. Hopefully ISU can work out those end of game issues before any more losses that kill their RPI, and B12 games in general.

Peterclone

Excellent Iowa Analysis

Visit Crosscyed for a nice player breakdown of the win over Iowa, plus some notes.

From the other side, check out the Pat Hardy's column in the IC PC: Alford says the right things. Alford says the right things.

Wha? Could this be the SA we know and love may be maturing as a coach? Where's the fun in that?

Peterclone

When will this end?

At what point does SUI again stop scheduling in-state schools in athletics? It's just embarrassing for them.

They earn nothing from the games. When they win, they will be criticized for not winning by enough. If they lose, the sports world reacts with "What is wrong?" horror. 2005 is another perfect example. Football got dumped by an ISU team that peaked in September and needed 6 weeks to get back on stride. Basketball looked to be Top 10 worthy until UNI and ISU appeared on the schedule. Now a cloud of questions surround the team, as it has 3 of the last 4 years.

Steve Alford has shown during his career that he can focus his team on the big goals- like Big 10 Championships- but they stumble over the pesky teams that don't understand their place in the basketball universe: UNI, ISU, Northwestern, and St. Louis come to mind. Second rate programs daring to battle with Top Tier programs like Iowa. Don't they know who they are?

The simple solution is to just stop scheduling teams that are beneath Iowa's abilities. UNI and ISU are not worthy a date with Iowa. The don't have the fan base, the money, the stadium size or the coaching talent that Iowa has.

In fact, the whole Cy-Hawk trophy concept should be scrapped. It simply brings Iowa down to the level of trade schools like ISU. We stated flat out last spring that the Cy-Hawk Trophy is an award that ISU should never win. If you are Iowa, why would you make a big deal out of something that should never happen? Why not have a trophy competition with Wartburg? It is just as likely Wartburg would win the series as would ISU.

The sooner Iowa realizes how damaging their scheduling of in-state schools is to their Championship prospects, the better.

Peterclone

This will be a maddening bunch

Basketball will be a wild ride all winter.

ISU lays an egg against Fresno State, then dominates Drake in Des Moines. Go figure.

Each game will be a question of "Which team will show up?" Monday, it was Good Cyclones. Friday it could be Bad Cyclones, or at least, Cyclones Who Are Trying Too Hard, which is easily mistaken for Bad Cyclones.

This bunch could easily beat KU twice and Texas at home, and yet get swept by CU and lose at Baylor.

If I was Steve Alford, my plan would be to have Brunner touch the ball on every possesion at least once. The old "Shoot it up and crash the boards" strategy will work well on two fronts: SUI will get lots of garbage buckets, and will decimate the ISU front line with foul trouble. It's a perfect plan.

Peterclone

Upon further review

I got a chance to watch the KU debacle on tape. Some thoughts:

1) It's concerning how easily ISU can be made one-dimentional. Stack 8 in the box and it's all on Meyer's shoulders.

2) KU's 2nd TD wasn't.

3) ISU gets little pressure with the 4 man rush, and needs 6+ to really put heat on. Rushing 5 only ensures a pass completion for a first down.

4) The players and coaches clearly got "tight helmet" down the stretch and choked. Just like MU '04. Just like NU and MU '05.

5) Game plan for TCU: allow ISU to jump out by 14, insert the backup QB they don't have tape on, and watch said QB shred ISU's prevent D. TCU wins. It worked for MU and KU, (and almost CU) why not TCU too?

I hope I get proven wrong.

Peterclone

Hang on, this could be rough

You can't say you weren't warned.

I called Iona as a possible loss for ISU. While they responded with a win over a feisty UNI club,win over they then followed that with a home loss to a Fresno State team that few think much of. Witnesses (like the excellent Lone Clone) blame a lack of effort on defense for the FSU loss.

Now come Drake and SUI, two clubs who circle their date with ISU as soon as the schedules are announced (although SUI would deny that). Defensive intensity may be the only chance ISU has in these games. I now expect ISU to lose both games, especially SUI, given their strength inside. Brunner should score 30+.

Until the five new bodies on the interior figure out where they are headed, this could be rough going. Hang on tight.

Peterclone

Charlie Brown

There is no other way to describe ISU football other than as the Charlie Brown of the Big XII.

Given their performance with titles on the line (MU '04, at KU '05) and in OT (see previous, plus NU and MU '05) Cyclone fans have no choice but to know, deep down in their hearts, that when ISU has the chance to achieve greatness, they will find the way to lose in the most agonizing of fashions.

They never got blown out in '05, which is a vast improvement over the past, but they gave each of their 4 losses away, and to arguably inferior teams.

Their Bowl prize? A genuinely good TCU team that could easily kick their butt if helmets aren't screwed on correctly.

We will give a more detailed analysis in the coming weeks, but we can only assume that somehow, some way, Lucy will pull the football away.

Peterclone

Blackout notice

Due to work commitments, this site will most likely be dark until December 4th at the earliest. I'll be traveling with unknown access to internet and time to blog.

If you are not already subscribing to this blog with an RSS reader, I would highly recommend it. My sporadic blog style is not well suited to regular scheduled reading.

I thank you for your patience. With any luck we will have mucho good news to discuss when I return.

Peterclone

Quick Hoops thoughts

Saw the Portland State game in person, and some thoughts about the next few weeks:

-This team is a work in progress, and will be very interesting in 6 or 8 weeks. Unfortunately, losses to any of the following are possible, or even probable: Iona, UNI, SUI, Drake, and Ohio State. Simply too much confusion on offense to develop much flow, and uncertainty on D leads to the occational breakdown and hurts rebounding. They had better have things squared away before this brutal trifecta: Texas, Lubbock and Lincoln in 8 days. Ouch.

-I really like the way Taggert keeps the ball way above his head down low on offense, which allows him to shoot easily, not have the shot blocked or ripped away by shorter players, or make the quick pass to another shooter. It's a skill too few big men possess these days.

-Cyclone Alley has sold around 30,000 tickets (my estimate). When those kids get hopping, there may not be a tougher venue in college basketball outside the ACC. Hopefully they will have reason to hop.

Peterclone

Retrun the favor

If ISU were to win Saturday in Lawrence, it would return the favor of a demoralizing loss to the Jayhawks back in '99.

The '99 season saw ISU finish 4-7, but with narrow losses to 11-1 KSU (35-28; ISU wasted a huge lead), 7-5 CU (16-12), and 9-5 Texas (44-41; winning kick as time expired). Entering the KU game with a 4-6 record still gave ISU hope of a momentum building win to end the year with, and help gear up to what would be a breakthrough 9-3 campaign.

Instead, Terry Allen (now an assistant in Ames) led the Jayhawks to a come from behind win to raise their season record to 5-7, and as close as he got to 6 wins after his rookie 5-6 campaign. It was a classic McCarney "Play not to lose" ending, and it really brought out the dogs, making 2000 a definate Do Or Die season for him. Fortunately he Did, and has continued to steadily upgrade the program.

A win for ISU would improve their record- but likely not their bowl position- and severly damage the outlook for Coach Mangino. At 5-5, it's "Win or Stay Home" for the Jayhawks: a trip to sunny Orlando or unsunny Ft. Worth would be their bowl prize. Since the '03 KU team used a freefalling Cyclone squad to earn their 6th win and a trip to Florida, it would only be appropriate to deny KU a similar trip this year.

Here's hoping.

Peterclone

Hopefully, a turn for the worse

Now that Bill Snyder has decided to retire, the KSU adminestration will somehow find a knucklehead to drive the program back to it's pre-Bill days.

You have to admit, it is much harder to find the guy who lifts a program up than it is to find the guy who brings it down.

Exhibit A: the Gibbs/Schnellenberger/Blake period at OU
Exhibit B: Franchione at a$m
Exhibit C: Allen/Mangino at KU
Exhibit D: Solich/Calahan at NU
Exhibit E: Everyone who has coached Michigan State since George Pearle
Exhibit F: Duncan/Criner/Walden at ISU

While some of these programs now have a coach who will lead them to better things, one never knows when the hire is made. Personally, I thought Terry Allen had a better chance of success at KU than Glen Mason did at Minnesota. I couldn't have been more wrong with that one. It's a crap shoot, really. Who would have thought Gary Pinkel would have struggled this long with Brad Smith as his QB?

Here's hoping KSU hires the wrong person. The North Division needs a patsy to replace ISU.

Peterclone

Progress, progress

ISU's win over Colorado was yet another step forward in the maturation process of Cyclone Football. ISU beat another ranked team. They beat a team that had consistently won over the Cyclones. ISU won despite not having an effective running game. They beat another team that will be bowling. ISU held onto narrow leads, and made the big plays that would decide the game.

All are good news. The season finale at KU will be a bear, with KU having the XII's best defense, home field, Senior emotion, a bowl trip on the line, and a coach on the hotseat. Traditionally, all those factors would have meant a sure Cyclone loss.

This year, I'm not so sure. The poise ISU has displayed, the tenacity on defense and resourcefulness on offense gives me hope that an eighth win, and a better bowl bit, may be in the offing.

Peterclone

Turnaround

While on a long drive today, I was struck with the differnce in "physicality" the Cyclones have presented this season as compared to last.

It is an imperfect comparison, but in general, ISU has dished out this season what it recieved last season from:

Iowa
Okie State
a$m
KSU

One can rightfully argue that Baylor and Nebraska both had a huge turnaround compared to their '04 games against ISU, and I say fine, that will happen. ISU is ahead, at this moment, 4-2.

Folks who witnessed the meltdown at Mizzou say that ISU was in control for about 52 minutes. Half a star, then.

But those four games are a complete turnaround from '04. Iowa and a$m toyed with ISU, and could have won by far more than they did. KSU was in control until the fourth. OSU, while helped by early turnovers, kept the Cyclones in check.

Each were dominated by ISU from gun to gun. It's been a long, long time since ISU put down four opponents in that fashion.

The next two games will separate ISU from Just Another Season and Season To Remember. ISU was essentially even against both CU and KU last year, splitting the games. This observer was quite nervous at how well the Jayhawk Motionless Offense was moving in '04 before the QB got hurt, which became the turning point in both the game and KU's season. KU coulda-woulda-shoulda won their last 4 including ISU, and with their starter at QB would have done better than the 1-4 finish that did them in.

Hopefully the newfound muscle can finish the job the next 2 games, and ISU can create a bit of national buzz they lost during the 3 game slide.

Peterclone

Fun with numbers

I found myself in a library this week, so I did some research.

Peterson's 4-year Colleges is an interesting but hard to carry read. It lists information about every college in the US and Canada, from the smallest trade school to the snootiest Ivy League. I scribbled some numbers that make for very surprising comparisons.

What follows is the name of a school, it's enrollment, and the percentage of the freshman class that has an SAT score, verbal and math, above 500, 600 and 700. ( I was unable to find a source for the percentage of test takers scoring in each threshold.) I have grouped them by conference, alphabetically, along with some other schools for comparison.

Baylor 11.5 89/92 46/50 10/11
Colorado 26.1 87/91 40/50 6/9
Iowa State 21.3 82/89 47/62 13/23
Kansas 21.3 18/96 24/57 30/11 #
Kansas State 19.1 18/93 24/48 30/9 #
Missouri 22.1 89/87 51/54 12/11
Nebraska 17.1 79/86 43/51 13/16
Oklahoma 20.3 18/98 24/75 30/18 #
Okie State 18.8 70/76 23/33 3/5
Texas 37.4 88/92 55/66 15/23
Texas A&M 35.7 82/88 43/57 8/13
Texas Tech 23.3 78/86 27/36 4/5

Illinois 29.6 90/97 63/82 18/45
Indiana 29.5 71/77 27/33 4/7
Iowa 20.1 87/91 50/54 16/16
Michigan 24.8 95/98 70/85 20/41
Michigan State 35.4 74/82 35/44 7/10
Minnesota 32.7 86/90 50/60 20/13
Northwestern 8.0 99/100 91/94 51/63
Ohio State 37.5 85/91 42/54 9/14
Penn State 34.8 88/93 43/61 8/16
Purdue 30.7 77/84 30/43 5/10
Wisconsin 29.7 91/97 60/77 16/28

Dartmouth 4.1 100/99 93/94 65/70
Drake 2.9 86/90 47/60 13/13
Grinnell 1.5 99/99 86/91 48/46
Luther 2.6 89/93 60/63 14/16
Northern Iowa 11.3 55/66 29/27 6/8
Notre Dame 8.3 98/99 86/91 44/54



# only ACT scores reported- percentage of students scoring an 18, 24 and 30

Some notes:

First of all, sorry about the formatting. I didn't want to muck things up with frames.
This is NOT a scientific comparison, just a snapshot. My logic is that the higher the percentage of students in the right hand column, the tougher the acaddemics. Stat is not my day job, I'm sure someone will point out all the things I've done wrong.

My own personal comparison of how the ACT and SAT compare: the ACT has a higher percentage of students at 18 and 24 compared to the SAT 500 and 600, but the 30 and 700 are in the ballpark of each other.

I was surprised by how similar the Big XII schools are, and how big the spread is in the Big 10.

As always, this is for entertainment purposes only. No wagering.

Peterclone

Cyclone hitting stride at right time.

First of all, K State isn't very good.

Their offense is downright anemic, and if not for the tight end and monsterous fullback, would be non-existant. The Cyclone D was easily able to shut down the running game and harras the QB, leading ISU to a 45-17 drubbing.

Take the last 4 games as a unit, and the D is making games winnable: they contained two talented running QB's, and demolished two subpar offenses. Turnovers are leading to short fields, easy scores, and a demoralized opposition. The fact that a healthy Stevie Hicks has perked up the offense is a bonus.

And while this winning streak is unprecidented (the first time ISU has scored 37+ points against three straight conference oponents) it gets much steeper the rest of the way: Colorado in Ames and at Kansas. CU is probably the best team ISU will play this year, and KU will most likely be 5-5 and needing a win to go bowling and save their coach's job. (KU had only scored 46 points in their previous 5 games before today's 40-15 win over Nebraska. A blocked punt and an INT were both returned for TDs, and a safety helped pad the final.) Those will be tough nuts to crack.

But now is not the time to doubt the Cyclones. When on a roll, you bet the roll continues. Three straight breathers is a heck of a roll.

Peterclone

My football view has changed

I had always been a bit skeptical of the Great Back School of football. I always looked at the talented offensive linesin front of the marquee backs and assumed they were at least half of the equation. All it takes is a team that throws in #2 after #1 gets hurt and nothing changes to question the Great Back. How many All-Pro backs did Denver produce that later found little success after moving to another team?

But Saturday's ISU thumping of a$m made one thing clear: ISU is a very different team with a mostly healthy Stevie Hicks carrying the rock. When the running game has to be respected, Meyer is free to shred bad pass coverage. It was a pleasant change of scenery for the Cyclones- dumping a perrenial power on their field, and going away to boot.

All Hail the Great Back Theory!

Peterclone

An interesting experiment

My day job is in television, and I do a bit of freelance work running camera for ESPN and Fox Sports. I often get funny looks when I respond to the question "How was the game?" with "I don't know; I didn't really see it." I now have a way for people to understand how uninteresting the view sometimes is.

TBS airs a game in prime time each Saturday night. On Dish Network, 5 cameras are fed live to the satellite with no editing, or graphics to get in the way: all you have is that camera and whatever the audio mix the main game is receiving. You can hear what is going on, but you only see whatever that camera is shooting. Trust me, it's much less interesting than you think. IN the case of TBS, Saturday's game between Texas and Okie State featured 5 camera feeds: two at field level, one on the goal post, one higher from a corner, and the end zone shot.

If you bounce around the feeds, you discover one constant: one or both coaches is on one camera or another almost every single moment of the game. The director only takes about one sixth of the potential coach shots he could take. You only have to watch a close-up of a receiver blocking a defensive back on a running play two or three times before the charm of "watching the camera you want" wears off. I would like to line up six monitors, put the "Game" in one and these other 5 options in the others and use it as a class for the casual fan. To have the headset traffic from the truck going out would be even better.

That would be true entertainment.

Peterclone

A$m AWOL?

As I drove back home after a weekend out of town, I contemplated what dimissive headline the Register would conceive to minimize ISU's thrashing of a$m in College Station. "A&M AWOL" was the best I could arrive at.

It is sport among Cyclone fans to dream up Register headlines that pick out any downside of ISU success. Perhaps "ISU survives big plays" would have been apt for Saturday, with one Aggie TD scored on a long run, and another called back by a holding penalty. The Rag often finds a way to downplay the big moments in Cyclone Nation while pumping up every tiny glimmer of hope from Iowa City. A win over a last place team by Iowa is a "Crushing"; the same win in Ames is "workmanlike". A close loss to a better team "Valiant" for one; "Horrific" the other.

So imagine my surprise at the positive spin Saturday's win received. "Historic" read the headline, the copy even more glowing, accurately reflecting the dismantling of a team some had thought was a darkhorse in the league. How fun to read about the same game you watched on TV.

Perhaps a play on "Silent Killers" would have been appropriate given the way normally boisterous Kyle Field fell silent as the margin grew bigger. Most of the fans left late in the third quarter. When your fans are making more noise than the home team, you know you have done your job.

The win does make one wonder just how good this team can be, since we have witness how bad- most of Illinois State, the first half against Army, the second half against Baylor, the last 10 minutes versus Mizzou- the team is capable of playing. But we should all step back and enjoy the moment: 8 solid quarters of football against two South teams that dominated ISU on both sides of the ball just last season. Two complete games with little to turn the nose up at. A team on a losing streak coming to Ames this week, and the North leader on the horizon. Potential abounds, still. One can even contemplate a bowl trip to a town other than Shreveport. Happy day, happy day.

Peterclone

For once, a fourth quarter breather

It has been a tough few weeks for Cyclone fan. Saturday's 37-10 win over Okie State at least gave ISU fans a relaxed fourth quarter for a change.

Most of it came from OSU's five turnovers, but who is to quibble? They won a game they had to and should have won. They flexed some defensive muscle. They passed the ball well. It was all a bit of a relief, even after some early nervousness when OSU took a 10-7 lead. But when you have found a way to lose your last three, any win is a good win.

So now ISU starts another frantic run towards bowl eligibility, but none of the four remaining games are gimmies. A road trip to a$m is a likely loss given history, and home games against KSU and CU will be challenges. On paper, the best matchup for ISU, at KU to end the season, could be a trap. The Cylones could win all four. They could also lose all four, and I would be surprised by neither circumstance.

The sooner they get two, the better we will all feel.

Peterclone

Bad teams, take 3

Everything I stated in my last post still holds true. Bad teams find a way to lose. Iowa State fans have been witness to the maxim for more than 100 football seasons.

The only bright spot to come from the three losses is the chance to chant the Cyclone Classic Cheer: "Wait 'till basketball! Wait 'till basketball!" (like Nebraska cares).

One glimmer of hope: ISU has left on it's schedule three teams that rank below it on the current Sagarin rankings: OSU this week, K State and Kansas, who has an amazingly motionless offense and will probably fire their coach at the end of the year. Win all three, and they get another bowl trip, and opponent the can beat and the three weeks of practice to work on next season. That's the goal now. Anything more is gravy.

It was ironic that during the loss to Baylor the ISU marketing department began running their TV ads for the coming hoops season. The men's team has a great slogan: "I Will". Taken to heart, it should encourage each player to play his role, do his job, win some games. When a team has some filthy talent like Stinson, it is natural to begin to stand around and wait for him to make the play to save the day. There were moments during Jamaal Tinsley's senior year that this happened. Hopefully Wayne can get his crew to avoid these lapses at critical moments.

It is that slogan that seems to be lacking in the football team at the moment. When the key opportunity presents itself, the football player just can't catch the pass, grab the fumble cleanly, or score without fumbling. One play in each loss would have resulted in a probable win, and ISU is getting BCS buzz. Instead, they are hanging on for dear life.

A game of inches indeed.

Peterclone

Bad teams find a way to lose

It was appropriate that the worst and third worst B12 teams (from the perspective of all time conference records) met in Ames, both coming off OT road losses to their nearest conference rival. Each team had plenty of chances to win last week, both each found the way to lose. The Baylor-Iowa State matchup resulted in less one team winning, more the other team finding a way to lose.

Each program has historically struggled to win games in the league. Near misses were always punctuated by the blown play, the dropped pass, the defensive stop gone aray. ISU had the opportunity to put Baylor on the ropes, but fumbled. A fine scoring drive died on another fumble. Baylor eventually sealed the game by converting late first downs on bad defensive assignments.

Like last week at Nebraska, ISU had chances to win late, and failed on every opportunity. Today, the Cyclones again failed when opportunity knocked. ISU, despite easily moving the ball most of the day, found the way to lose.

Which means the Cyclones are now at a crossroads. Each of their remaining games is winnable, on paper. Each game is also, on paper, loseable. Three wins gets a bowl bid, more a nicer bowl bid. But this team's lack of playmakers makes even three wins a reach. The season is at a crossroads, with no gimmies in sight.

ISU was Baylor's fist B12 win back in '96. They are now BU's first conference road win. The Bears appear willing to toss the designation of "Doormat" on someone else. Hopefully the Cyclones make the plays to avoid that tag.

Peterclone

Perspective is a funny thing

I was in the stands for the ISU-Nebraska game in 2004, and the differences in the two teams was stark. ISU looked skilled, polished, strong. Nebraska looked small, slow and confused. It was a complete flip of what we are used to seeing in the series.

Fast forward a year, and read the quotes coming out of Lincoln.

“I think it’s been on all of our minds. It was a bad loss. They were a beatable team, and we should’ve beaten them.”

What game was he watching?

ISU outplayed the Huskers in every phase of the game until the last 10 minutes. Only when the ISU staff went to the soft prevent zone to prevent the big play did the Nebraska offense find any life. The 7 point margin was as close as the game got at any point.

ISU was beatable? Well, so were the Huskers. Even more so.

I suppose it's the only good face the Nebraska staff and crew can put on the game. A loss to ISU is not easy to swallow for the Big Red crowd. Coach Calahan can't start the post game presser with "They've passed us in both talent and scheme. It's going to take a while for us to catch up in both." The earth would open up and swallow him whole the moment he crossed the Missouri. So the loss is couched as "We should have won. A break here, a play there, we win."

Another loss this year and they might consider giving up football; if they lose 3 of 4 to the Cyclones, clearly they have forgotten what they are doing. Which way to the baseball field?

The ISU game is critical for Nebraska. A win, and they are in the driver's seat for the North title. A loss, and every team on their schedule is looking at them as a possible benchmark win, bad record or not. With Tech bringing it's wild road show into Lincoln the following Saturday, NU needs some confidence against a quality opponent. Fast.

Peterlone

The Iowa Factor

If the CSJ staff were betting types, money could be made by simply betting on the teams that Iowa avoids in their conference schedule.

Since the Big TenEleven went to the "Miss Two" schedule in 1993, two conference teams are off the schedule of each conference team. Those teams come on and off in pairs, so each team misses a home and home with themissing opponent.

Since that schedule was begun, the teams Iowa has missed have gone to bowl games at a much higher rate than the conference as a whole, 70% to 59%.

According to JHowell's excellent site, since 1993 Big TenEleven teams have made 78 bowl appearances out of a possible 132 seasons (11 teams x 12 seasons) for a 59% appearance rate. Of the 24 teams Iowa hasn't played in that span, 17 have earned bowl bids, or 70%. 2004 was the first year that the streak was broken, as neither Nothwestern or Indiana went bowling- although at 6-6, NW was on the cusp. In fact, in 6 of those seasons both teams Iowa missed went to bowl games ('93- WI OSU; '94 WI OSU; '97 MSU PSU; '99 MI PU; '00 MI PU; '01 IL OSU).

The case can be made that Iowa dodged possible losses due to the luck of the scheduling draw. In several of those years ('93, '97, '01 ) playing one or both bowl-earning teams missing from their schedules could have knocked Iowa from bowl contention.

Interestingly, only the '03 Northwestern squad would have been bounced from a bowl with a loss to an Iowa team they didn't play. The other 16 Iowa-dodgers had wins to spare, meaning Iowa gained more from this schedule anomoly than the teams they missed.

Who to like in 2005? Michigan State and Penn State, both of whom have jumped out 4-0 and 1-0 in the Big TenEleven. iowa dodges two more bullets, while getting Indiana and Northwestern back on their docket. Imagine that.

Peterclone

Good team? Bad team?

Three games in, and the jury is still out on the 2005 Cyclones. Good team with a couple of bad nights? Bad team with one perfect effort against a rival?

Much of ISU's win over Army left the observer wanting more: More effort, more heart, more execution of what ISU wants to do well. ISU was simply outplayed for much of the game, yet pieced together opportunities to eek out a win. They exerted themselves at the right times and the right ways to get the win, just as they did against Illinois State.

Like the win over Iowa, I view this from the "The Glass Is Half Full" section of the stadium. Cyclone teams of the past would have wilted before the cadets and lost going away, tumbling from the ranked to the just rank, and simmering in their own gutless juice to a 4-7 finish. This Cyclone unit overcame an inspired Army team, the pressure of national TV, and their own bad road and halftime-deficit history to win the game. The victory was earned through defensive pressure and opportunistic offensive play.

Good teams overcome bad nights. So far, we have seen the extremes of how ISU can play, and they are 3-0 headed into Lincoln. They have found the way to win. Hopefully the good game/bad game trend follows form and ISU is lights out at Nebraska.

Until proven otherwise, this ISU squad is unlike their predessors: They win even when they shouldn't.

Peterclone

Here lies Trev Albert's career

We mustn't let the football season pass any further without noting the end of Trev Albert's national TV career. It's death was self-inflicted.

Trev felt he wasn't "being respected" internally, so he decided not to show up for work on a football Saturday. They pull Beano Cook from his cyronic chamber every Saturday so he can wax about the glory that was Notre Dame back is '23, but Trev skips out? That's the only day of the week he really HAD to be there- ESPN could cover any of the other six days. Knucklehead.

I'm sure he will get another gig- CBS maybe, or FOX if they decide to spin up a weekly football show, perhaps radio- but he will never again have a pulpit with the reach of the ESPN blowtorch, and the universe it a better place for it. For of all of Albert's stupid opinions- and every talking head is paid to clutch a few tightly to his chest- the most laughable was how he was an unashamed Nebraska apologist.

NU gets thumped by Colorado, then gets a shot at the title? No problem!

NU recruits thugs to win? Why did they wait?

Also-rans like ISU think they are good enough to run with mighty NU? Ph-shaw! Pretenders! I don't care what the score was or how many games they have won the last 5 years. ALL HAIL THE GLORY THAT WAS NEBRASKA!

Because of that, I won't miss him a bit. While I realize that much of televised sports is entertainment first, I still want at least a shred of objectiveness in that entertainment, and that is where Alberts failed most often.

Peterclone

New year, same old excuses

Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of a Cyclone win over the despised Hawkeyes is reading the same old chestnut excuses trotted out to explain just how the mighty Hawks could be beaten by the lowly Clowns:

"ISU wanted it more"
"This game is their Super Bowl"
"McCarny's rah-rah is better in a big game than Ferentz's unemotional apporoach"
"Iowa always drops a non-confernce game they shouldn't"
"Iowa puts all their focus on the conference season"
"The Hawks would have won if it hadn't been for....."

Suppose ISU somehow wins in IC next fall. Simply cue up each of these lines and speak them to the Iowa fan nearest you, before he can get them out of his mouth. It will end the conversation quickly, and you both can get back to your beers.

Peterclone

Another corner turned

In many ways, Saturday's stunning upset of 8th ranked Iowa was new territory. Unlike so many Iowa-Iowa State games over the last 25 years, it was Iowa that looked tight, lacked emotion and effort, and gift wrapped the game for the other team. And unlike other Cy-Hawk clashes from the past, ISU was able and willing to take a game the other team was trying to give away.

Those twin developments should bring much joy to Cyclone fan as we look ahead to the rest of the season. If Iowa is truly good and ISU forced them into mistakes, ISU has a realistic shot at every game left on the schedule. If Iowa was a fraud at #8, they have a season of frustration ahead with 4 or 5 more losses possible. That's a long way from being touted as a possible #1.

But the fact that ISU took the gifts presented to them, and didn't try to level the playing field themselves speaks volumes about the state of the program. Consider all the games during in the recent series that ISU had a chance to win, but didn't: 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, and even 2004. Iowa gave ISU the opportunity, but ISU couldn't capitalize. Not anymore.

For a final summary of Saturday, visit this blog and enjoy the photos. The last one is the best.

Peterclone

The runup begins

And so the hype for Iowa - Iowa State begins, and for the upteenth year the theme is: biggest game ever?

On paper, yes. Which should guarrentee a lousy game.

The best games come in unexpected years. The 1980 10-7 ISU win came between two teams that only managed 10 wins between them. 1990 had a wild 45-35 Iowa win in Iowa City. The 2002 36-31 ISU win mirrored the two teams seasons in reverse: Iowa's first half explosion equalled ISU's 6-1 start, and their second half collapse foreshadowed the Cyclones 1-6 finish. ISU's brilliant 3rd quarter was equal to the miracles Iowa would pull the remainder of the season.

I don't expect such excitement this year, however.

ISU's offense and FG unit still appear to be a serious work in progress. Iowa defense, while potentially not as good as last year, is still stout, and should hold ISU under 20 points.

Iowa's offense looks to be another juggernaut, and given ISU's inability to force pressure rushing 4 and a tendancy to get burnt deep, I expect Iowa to score whenevr they need to.

ISU can't win this game on their own; Iowa will need to lose. Hopefully the Black and Gold crowd get a case of Tight Helmet at inopportune times.

Peterclone

Underwhelming

Iowa State's win over Illinois State was less than impressive.


What we learned:

The defense is good enough to win some games. They are not good enough to carry the team against solid opposition.
Meyer can make great throws when given time.
The OL still can't run block well.
DeAndre Jackson can be beaten deep.
The kicking game is still an adventure.
Special teams, placekicking asside, is a stregnth.

Early prediction: Iowa 35, ISU 14. Just not enough O for ISU to keep up.

More to follow as the week progresses.

Peterclone

Another corner turned

The maturation of the ISU football program and fan base continues.

Ask your average Cyclone fan this: If ISU splits with Iowa and Nebraska, which win would you prefer?

CSJ's highly unscientific polling shows a sea change in the thinking of Cyclonedom: A win in Lincoln is preferred over a beating of the Hawkeyes. This is monumental.

When ISU football was just another program, a win over the Bumblebees would make or break a season. But with 2004's near-miss, Cyclone fan now realizes there are bigger prizes than downing Kirk and Crew. The Iowa game may not be second tier to NU, CU and KSU, but a loss to the former will easily be remedied by wins over the latter.

During the dark days of The Streak, Iowa fan would belittle Cyclone fan with: "The ISU game is less important than every Big 10 game." While I always doubted Iowa fans enjoyed a pummelling of Indiana more than a pummelling of ISU, they had reason to place the Ohio State and Michigan games above their matchup with the Cyclones. They still do.

But now, so do the Cyclones. That is the best sign of football health I can think of.

Peterclone

So long, Bruce; Thanks for all the dollars

Bruce VDV has given notice: I'm jumping from the plane with no apparent parachute.

Which is the best way he could leave, considering the perhaps shabby treatment he has received from the University for being asked to work without a contract.

What did he do in that time? He cemented Mac, Fennelly and Wayne to contract extensions. He hired a potentially competent softball coach. He announced fundraising and ticket sales are at an all-time high.

Given results like that, I would recommend whoever hires him in the future continue the month-to-month standing. He does nice work not knowing where his next paycheck is coming from.

In my eyes, Bruce only had three black marks, two of which were forced upon him: Dumping baseball and Men's swimming (a gift from Gene Smith), the horrid way that LE's drinking was handled (a situation perhaps directed by the President's office), and his rather vanilla personality. Bruce was never very good on the summer rubber chicken circuit. He wasn't a glad-hander and back-slapper. He didn't buy trays of drinks at Kelly's. He somehow got donors to open their checkbooks and build things without be Mr. Smooth. He was an AD only an accountant could love.

That accountant is leaving ISU athletics in as solid a financial shape as they have been in recent memory, with a solid foundation for future revenue growth. While ISU's budgets still pale in comparison to most of the league, no ground is being lost, and ISU is performing at perhaps the highest win/dollar ratio in the XII.

For that, we thank you, Bruce.

Peterclone

Blogs, rumors and the "working press"

In case you haven't noticed, the internet is rapidly changing how the news media does it's job. News consumers are no longer content to wait for the morning paper to find out how their team did last night. They want the box score, quotes and analysis almost before the game has ended. This is making it tough on all flavors of media, but most dramatically on the print folks.

Sometimes they lash out.

Nancy has one correct point: she has to verify everything she is going to print as fact. This means talking to the parties involved directly, which is the central tenant of good journalism.

Where she wanders astray is in her portrayal of those who post on message boards or write blogs like this one.

The money quote:

"Read the blogs if you want. Read the message boards. But do it for entertainment, not information. Don't accept anything you read on them as truth unless it has been independently verified.

Usual scenario: A loser tries to make himself seem important by posting information that makes him appear to be an insider, "in the know."

Worse case scenario: Gambling interests, bookies, the mob pass off inaccurate information about a player or team as truth to try to influence wagering or the outcome of a contest. They're counting on readers and viewers to be gullible.

Don't be."

While a few may be losers living in their mother's basements, most are not. We have jobs, families, lives. We just happen to be passionate enough about something to write about it. It's a virtual barroom argument.

But what is getting stuck in the craw of Nancy and the "working press" is that despite the vast amounts of smoke generated online, there is a significant amount of fire. Enough fire that sportswriters now cruise the message boards looking for the next one. It's part of their beat now.

In fact, most of the major local sports stories have been first reported, unverified, online: Coach Peterson's child porn, Eustachy's drinking, Jon Beutjer's roommate problems, Pierre Pierce's dating struggles, etc. Some of these floated around in cyberspace for days before the "working press" either noticed, or were able to get anything on the record. Flat out, they are getting beat, especially the Register.

A sports page that was once one of the nation's best is now second banana to papers like the Ames Tribune. They seldom send a staff photographer to away games for either Iowa or ISU, content to work with whatever AP sends them. Their drop in circulation month to month and year to year is way above the industry average, and no improvement is in sight.

So those who do mediocre work, and who are barely able to justify their job at an operation that focuses not on the news, but on maintaining a 20% profit margin, get the most belligerent at those who do better work for free.

Peterclone

And now, for the contrary opinion

In my last post, I played the wet blanket. Now I present an outsider who is willing to toss an damp sleeping bag on ISU football.

This Nebraska columnist holds to the most damning of opinions about ISU: If ISU can win the division, the division must suck. As in, ISU is a constant of football physics: they never improve much above a certain level, so if you lose to them, it says more about how bad you are than how good ISU might be.

He also gets a nice dig in about ISU celebrating a bowl win over Miami OH. I suspect after the year NU had, a bowl win would have been greeted with Gatorade showers all around.

And while he gives a nod to Dan and the rebuilding job he has done, the piece still has an air of "Enjoy it while we're down". Much like what Cyclone fans read and heard during their 5 year run over the Evil Empire. We've heard this record before.

We shouldn't be surprised. It will take a handful of division titles before the rest of the league thinks much of ISU.

This is a damn good time to begin. If winning itself isn't motivation enough, stuffing a trophy down a naysayer's throat should be.

Peterclone

Reel yourselves in, Cyclone fans

The CSJ staff was at a barbeque Saturday night where a circle of Cyclone fans were noisily arguing what the coming football and basketball seasons held. It was an awakening for us.

We have heard rumblings through the summer of bubbling optimism among the Cardinal and Gold crowd, but we could hardly believe our ears at some of the scenarios that were being seriously discussed.

"If the kicking game doesn't kill us, we win the Big XII North"

"If Taggert comes through, we can win the league"

"I think we can sweep Iowa in Football and Basketball"

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Slow down! What the heck has happened to the Cyclone fan of old? The "Just don't embarrass us" school of support? The "Just happy to be here" mentaility?

Yes, there were plenty of happy signs from last season in both football and basketball. Yes, with improvement in some areas both teams could be even more successful. Yes, that optimism has manifested in a record number of season tickets being sold for football, and should be expected in basketball.

But have some restraint. We are Cyclone fans, after all.

How many times have you let optimism carry your spirit away only to have it crushed on the turf of Norman or Lincoln or Iowa City? How many near misses have gone by over the years, dampening our souls for an entire spring and summer? How many season lost to one key injury, one huge turnover, one missed kick?

We want success as much as you, but we know better than to tempt fate and mock karma. Assume the glass is half empty until you get a finger in there to confirm otherwise.

Be hopeful, but keep it to yourself, Cyclone fan. Besides, nobody likes a "told you so".

Peterclone

Perhaps ISU is serious after all

There may be hope on the Olympic sports horizon after all.

ISU made what appears to be a solid hire in Stacy Gemeinhardt, who comes from DII Emporia State.

Unlike her predecessor, Gemeinhardt brings a nice winning percentage to Ames, .688 in four seasons. Her team won conference titles and an NCAA berth. The team's record books were rewritten during her tenure. She won a B12 title as a player at Mizzou. On paper, she knows what she is doing.

Some may view DII success with scorn, that it's not "Big Time". It may have a smidge of merit when it comes to adjusting to recruiting DI talent vs. the DII skills she has been working with. But the staff at CSJ has always believed that winning coaches can win at any level: winning is winning. The strategies may shift a bit, but the skills are the same: developing talent, teaching X's and O's, motivating maximum performance every game.

Best of all, by hiring a quality coach for an Olympic sport, ISU confirms that it wants to compete in not just the revenue sports, but across the board. Hurrah!

Here's hoping the new staff can recreate the success it had at Emporia, and remove softball from it's "token Olympic and Title IX sport" status at ISU.


Peterclone

On a related note

Before Cyclone fan celebrates Football's newfound committment to winning at all costs, consider the recent and distant past for perspective:

Lou Holtz, who quit earlier this year as the coach at South Carolina, now appears to have cheated during his 6 years there. The best part: he cheated and still didn't win, finishing 33-37, 19-29 in the hyper competitive SEC.

Not that any of this should be a surprise. He left scandal behind him after tenures at Arkansas, Minnesota and Notre Dame. The surprising thing is that he didn't get caught cheating at neither William and Mary or NC State.

And in the thankfully distant past, we present Iowa State's own Jim Criner, who went 17-25-2 in four seasons (which his XFL bio describes as "helped the Cyclones become competitive"), got blown out by Iowa in each season, and landed the Cyclones on probation. Nice work, Jim.

While past performance is no guarrantee of future results, past cheating seldom leads to good places.

Hopefully Cyclone football players can avoid their own "Chalupa" episodes.

Peterclone

Welcome to Big Time Football

Nothing says serious college football more than ethical lapses, and ISU has now officially stamped "SERIOUS" across the front of it's media guide.

The return of Jason Berryman to Cyclone football will be viewed as a landmark in the development of McCarney's program. ISU is no longer content to be a program with high ethics and low winning percentages- they are all in emotionally. Jason is probably as high a risk to DM's credibility as any kid ever to pull on a red helmet in Ames, although there are reports that he may have learned his lesson and grown up a bit while in jail.

But the fact remains that DM's track record was simple: get in legal trouble, hit the road. More astute readers can rattle off the list of names who have gone this route. It now appears that ISU has again thrown off the burden of having athletic ethics as is going to be serious about its football.

Here's hoping it works out for everyone involved.

Peterclone

A positive sign

In what I consider one of the most positive signs to come out of the athletic department in months, ISU has decided to not retain the servicesnot retain the services of softball coach Ruth Crowe.

I've considered the softball team the "canary in the coalmine" of Cyclone Sports. They have long been the doormat of the Big8/12, and a lack of interest by the AD in changing the situation told me that softball was just a sport to have to remain in athletic compliance, rather than be competitive. Crowe coached in Ames for nine seasons, and compiled a stunning .377 winning percentage. Most of those wins came in the non-conference schedule, since Crowe's squads only managed a .248 percentage in conference. When your program's high point came during consecutive 6-12 B12 finishes, you are either going to continue with mediocrity, or pretend to be serious and make a change.

Softball, like baseball, is handicapped at ISU. It's tough to develop a quality program in Ames when your league opponents can schedule home games in February. With the paltry budget ISU has for sports, the "Olympic" sports are going to get crumbs compared to Nebraska and Texas. But that can only live as an excuse for so long. There should still be the occasional season where everything falls into place, the breaks go your way, and you get a winning record. Crowe's teams never approached that.

Perhaps Crowe cooked her goose during the 2002 season when she complained about having to endure an invocation before the game at the private Baptist school. Her complaints were legally incorrect, they swung a negative spotlight towards her floundering program, and probably put her on a short leash. When the team's results only went south from there, a change had to be made.

So now the hiring process has begun. I will be curious to see who is the eventual hire: A coach with a winning track record on some level, or someone who will be a good "political" hire, and who will help keep ISU in compliance. It would be nice if the new coach can do both.

Peterclone