NYD

The good news about the Goblas playing the early game Thursday is that the game will be over in plenty of time to take a nap. I mean it will be over by halftime.

The Carolina offense is atrocious. SUI's second score will be the winning score. Yes it will be that ugly.

I say 24-7, but it will feel like 44-7. Gobla fan will act like they won the NC.

Peterclone

Indy

Since the bottom half of both the B12 and SEC stunk, Shreveport got to host two teams who actually appreciate a trip there: La Tech and N. Illinois. Good for everybody.

Honestly, I would rather watch two good teams from mid-majors than a #6 vs. a #7 from BCS leagues.

Peterclone

Crazy

Just when you are ready to mentally prepare yourself for another Sucktastic hoops season, our Clonies pull this rabbit out of their hat.

Then again, when one guy busts loose for 38, you should probably win, but still.

Unfortunately, this win may only perpetuate the "Wait for Steiger or Brackins to make a play" syndrome. Remember how Alford built a team around Luke Recker
that was never as good as its parts? They stood around waiting for Luke
to make the stud play, and often lost because of it. We might have the
same situation on our hands.

Whatever was in your Gatorade today, boys, keep drinking it.

Peterclone

Stationary

Well, if a loss to SDSU doesn't suck all of the momentum out of your program, I don't know what will.

To sasy there's a bit of work to do between now and the B12 openere would be an understatement.

Peterclone

Rhodes

My initial reaction to Paul is positive- not overwhelming, but positive. His biggest stregnth is that he knows what he is getting himself into in every respect- facilities, talent, expectatioins, budget, weather.

Keeler hits an important point: PR has to hire really solid guys in the OC and DC department. Gene messed those up, and it showed. KF nailed them, and it shows.

In a way, the next couple of weeks will go a long way towards determining if PR succeeds or fails.

Peterclone

News

I've been off the grid the last 36 hours. Did I miss anything?

Peterclone

Interviews

Various sites are reporting Gill isn't interested. I'm not surprised- ISU isn't much of a step up from where his Buffalo program is now.

Sagarin has UB #55, ISU #113. Why should he start over from (percieved) scratch?

Granted, ISU probably has more "upside", but Gill doesn't have to take the first bus out of Buffalo, unlike Gene.

Besides, we shoudl probably accept that perhaps Gene is just one of those rare people who kills interviews, and then crashes at whatever he gets hired to do. A friend of mine just fired someone who 6 months ago gave the best interview he had ever witnessed.

It happens. Perhaps Gene pulled another brilliant performance out of his visor.


Peterclone

Thanks, Ron

Ron Maly thinks ISU football is so pathetic we should just hire a High School coach.

Why would anyone have ever given Ron flak about being an Gobla fan when he was employed?

Peterclone

Stepping Stone

Keeler wonders if we would be happy being a stepping stone, or if we will insist on a "I-want-to-retire-here" guy.

I see nothing wrong being a stepping stone. It would be better than what we have now.

Keeler does raise a good point: ISU is one of the toughest public university gigs among the BCS schools. The meek need not apply.

Peterclone

Chizik/Auburn nuggets

The Wizard of Odds has several http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifinteresting links surrounding Chizik, Gill, ISU and Auburn.

Good post here, too.

Gill would be a great match, and not in a token way.

Peterclone

ISU Post Chizik

An excellent post by Hlas.

He has a pretty good grasp on the pre-Chizik scene, and how it plays out now.

I don't keep tabs on how many open jobs we are competing with, but it doesn't feel like too many.

Peterclone

Another Upgrade

I don't know my aircraft, but I'm confident that Auburn owns at least one more jet than Iowa State.

Peterclone

Upgrade

I can't emphasize enough that being considered a stepping stone job would be an upgrade for ISU football.

Peterclone

Trust

I'm having a hard time swallowing all the complains about Gene "abusing our trust". We all abuse everyone's trust.

We fired Dan with four years left on his contract, and plenty of folks wanted him gone before that. Where was the trust?

Suppose Gene had a breakout year this year: We pull out the tight ones against SUI, UNLV and KU, are 5-0 and are the talk of the league. Not only would Gene have left anyway, but you can bet that Jamie would have been shopping his resume, too. Where's the trust there?

As far as players leaving, we all have only one thing to trust: that athletes are at ISU for their sport and nothing else. Average athletes will look at academics, campus life, etc. when making a school choice; great athletes will look at their sport and their sport only when choosing. The fact we have guys thinking about leaving tells me Gene and crew were on the right track in recruiting.

Finally, any booster who was withholding donations until football improved but is taking Gene's departure personally is a hypocrite, and should understand why.

Peterclone

Stepping Stone

Ten years from now, if ISU Football isn't being described as "regional power", my next hope would be "Stepping stone for coaches".

I wouldn't view that as a slam. Traditionally, your coach gets hired away only after you win a bunch of games. If you lose two or three coaches in a row to better gigs, it means you have won a pile of football games.

The fact that Gene lost 3.75 games for every one he won wasn't a deal breaker for Auburn makes this an anomaly, an outlier.

From here, I have a hard time seeing how becoming a stepping stone wouldn't be an improvement.

Peterclone

Bright Side

The coaching search will distract us from lousy basketball for a few weeks.

Peterclone

Why Not This Guy?

Short track record, but this guy certainly knows how to win without 4-star talent.

Think outside the box, folks.

Peterclone

Awesome Wikipedia Snark

I'll assume it will be changed soon, so here's the quote:

On December 13, 2008, the Iowa State Director of Athletics confirmed the un-official reports that Chizik had accepted the vacant head coaching position at Auburn University. During Chizik's interview with Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs, he wore a tie with football prints on it. Jacobs was so impressed with this tie that he offered Chizik the head coaching job immediately. On the day that he was hired Chizik announced that the tie will become the official tie of Auburn University Athletics. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Coach_Gene_Chizik_-_Iowa_State_University.jpg

That's quality snark.

Peterclone

Prediciable

I can guarantee that Gene will be a huge, raging success at Auburn.

Accepting the football gig in Ames has two outcomes: you either get hired by a better college gig and win a mess of games, or you are fired and never take another college head coaching job:

Johnny Majors: National Champs at Pitt, nice run at Tennessee
Earle Bruce: Won or shared 4 Big 10 titles, went 81-26.
Donnie Duncan: eventually became "Director of Football Championship" for the B12
Jim Criner: found success in the minor professional leagues where you can be up front about paying players
Jim Walden: Color for Washington State radio
Dan McCarney: assistant for Florida; young enough to take another head coaching job

Since Gene got hired, he therefore will find success like Majors and Bruce. Congrats, Tigers!

Peterclone

Farewell

Since it is a Cyclone football tradition that each new coach gets new uniforms, I wish to state that I will miss these unis. Best ever, period.

Oh, and that sweatshirt you just bought with the new logo on it? Collector's item, since a new logo is part of the new uniform clause.

Artists, start your PhotoShops.

Peterclone