Bill Fennelly

For the Fire BF people out there, how many of our recruits and starters hit the portal if we do. I have seen people say we need a new coach for these players, but no one knows if or how many would actually stay if BF is gone. Which is the way things are now.

I can argue this on both sides and have no really strong feelings on it either way.

But I do think BF has earned the chance to go out when he chooses and on his own terms.

And I know there are a lot of programs out there that would kill for our record over the last 30 years. A lot more than would believe the opposite.

There is a huge risk to moving on to a new coach, players all hit the portal, we dont have the cash to go hire a proven winner, and would go hire a hopeful up and comer, that may or may not work out. If we hit lighting in a bottle, theres a good chance that person wont have the loyalty to our program.

I also know sometimes the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, but when you jump over you land in a pile of ****.

But I also wasnt one of those that wanted to fire Campbell at the first sign of adversity either.
I’ll start by saying I don’t believe BF will leave after this year.

I generally agree that we would lose most of our players if Bill left, but my concern is the trend we are on. We’ve been getting further from competing for a Big 12 title (regular season and tournament) for the last 3 seasons. All in a weaker Big 12 than before. 20+ wins matter less when our noncon outside of Iowa was very weak.

What if we have the same result next season? It would be massive disappointment and it would feel like Addy, Audi, and AJ’s talents were wasted.

Unlike others I believe our offense is mostly fine, we are 9th in Torvik’s offense rankings.

Our defense is horrible. I would have like Bill to seek out someone who can coach a defense, because it is the thing holding our team back. We actually massively outperform how bad our defense is because of Bill’s offensive coaching and our talent.
 
I’ll start by saying I don’t believe BF will leave after this year.

I generally agree that we would lose most of our players if Bill left, but my concern is the trend we are on. We’ve been getting further from competing for a Big 12 title (regular season and tournament) for the last 3 seasons. All in a weaker Big 12 than before. 20+ wins matter less when our noncon outside of Iowa was very weak.

What if we have the same result next season? It would be massive disappointment and it would feel like Addy, Audi, and AJ’s talents were wasted.

Unlike others I believe our offense is mostly fine, we are 9th in Torvik’s offense rankings.

Our defense is horrible. I would have like Bill to seek out someone who can coach a defense, because it is the thing holding our team back. We actually massively outperform how bad our defense is because of Bill’s offensive coaching and our talent.
I dont believe he will leave either. He is going to want to finish with Audi and Addy I think at least for sure.

But saying those players would be wasted if he is coaching next year, well they might be wasted if he isnt coaching too, they could leave and then we are without, or we could hire someone that is much worse and they are wasted too, especially in a new coach transition year.

Not every hire is going to work out like the TJ hire, and I think the history of not very good coaches in sports at ISU at least proves that the chance we hire someone better is not great. For every good coach we hire we hire 10 terrible ones, if not more.
 
I think he coaches one more year to finish with the then seniors. My hope is we stay healthy next year as the mid season injuries killed any chance for the conference championship and we were not at full strength in the tourney. Stay heathy and play to their potential and they have a good chance at being at the top next year.
 
I dont believe he will leave either. He is going to want to finish with Audi and Addy I think at least for sure.

But saying those players would be wasted if he is coaching next year, well they might be wasted if he isnt coaching too, they could leave and then we are without, or we could hire someone that is much worse and they are wasted too, especially in a new coach transition year.

Not every hire is going to work out like the TJ hire, and I think the history of not very good coaches in sports at ISU at least proves that the chance we hire someone better is not great. For every good coach we hire we hire 10 terrible ones, if not more.
I don’t think Bill will leave after this season, and I don’t think he should be fired. All indications seem to point at next season being his last, so let him go out with Audi, Addy and AJ and enjoy the farewell tour. My biggest thing is I want an actual search for his successor, not just a coronation of who Bill says should take over.

I also don’t think their talents are being wasted, but it will be a disappointment if those seniors go four years without it hosting a NCAA game. I do think their talents are being done a disservice by the coaching staff seemingly not making changes mid game and putting the players into situations where they can win.
 
Things are kind of a mess. The transition to Bill’s retirement hasn’t gone as planned. I don’t see any way Bill is going to retire after this season. We have to hope that all the key players choose to stay for next season and that Bill can add a compliment or two from the portal. We then have to hope Bill and the staff do an honest evaluation of this year and last. We can’t just run it back without some significant changes in philosophy. After next year, the program is going to be in a total reset. We then have to hope for a home run hire as a head coach who can build a roster from pretty much scratch.
 
Things are kind of a mess. The transition to Bill’s retirement hasn’t gone as planned. I don’t see any way Bill is going to retire after this season. We have to hope that all the key players choose to stay for next season and that Bill can add a compliment or two from the portal. We then have to hope Bill and the staff do an honest evaluation of this year and last. We can’t just run it back without some significant changes in philosophy. After next year, the program is going to be in a total reset. We then have to hope for a home run hire as a head coach who can build a roster from pretty much scratch.
Honestly in general the offense is not the problem. Defense and rebounding are. Need more Players like EP with hustle, effort and attitude. Her offense was/is not great but you really do not need it to be. Play better defense, tweek a few things on offense, be a better team. Seems easy right.... :)
 
Things are kind of a mess. The transition to Bill’s retirement hasn’t gone as planned. I don’t see any way Bill is going to retire after this season. We have to hope that all the key players choose to stay for next season and that Bill can add a compliment or two from the portal. We then have to hope Bill and the staff do an honest evaluation of this year and last. We can’t just run it back without some significant changes in philosophy. After next year, the program is going to be in a total reset. We then have to hope for a home run hire as a head coach who can build a roster from pretty much scratch.
The team always has player talks at the end of each season. Some leave and those spots get filled via the portal. Will be interesting to see who does leave. It’s usually end of bench or previous transfers that didn’t work out as hoped. Last year it was Hansford and Joens, replaced by Paulk.

It’s anyone’s guess as to who will leave this year, but it’s likely someone will. Then it will be up to the staff to find an affordable transfer (we will never get a Miles type player unless someone wins the lottery) who is more of a Belanger type addition.
 
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It seems to me like we have a plan going into a game and if that plan doesn't work or the other team adjusts to that plan we kinda throw our hands up in the air and say we'll that didn't work. Maybe next time. No in game adjustments at all.
 
I saw Alabama’s breakdown and surprisingly WBB was the biggest loser for them too. They lost around the same amount we do ~$4.5million.

Ticket money doesn’t come close to funding the cost.
I have no idea the cost breakdown but I imagine chartered flights for every road game add up for sure
 
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I agree that Audi is not that mobile on defense and teams have taken advantage many times. The bolded part is the most important, if they are throwing multiple players at her, our other players must be hitting their shots or we are in trouble. This year it seems we are either hot or cold on our outside shooting example last game.
OR. our coaches could I don't know, come up with a different game plan and allow our guards on the wings to actually move even when they don't have the ball. The way we run our offense, we don't put any pressure on the defense to actually do anything.
 
Big agree. To your point we’ve not been above #275th in turning over our opponents in the last 6 years.

This year was actually the best at #278. All the other years our best was #332 at turnover defense.
And when you look at the teams that go far in the NCAA tournament, they all are good defensively and are excellent at forcing turnovers
 
I don’t think Bill will leave after this season, and I don’t think he should be fired. All indications seem to point at next season being his last, so let him go out with Audi, Addy and AJ and enjoy the farewell tour. My biggest thing is I want an actual search for his successor, not just a coronation of who Bill says should take over.

I also don’t think their talents are being wasted, but it will be a disappointment if those seniors go four years without it hosting a NCAA game. I do think their talents are being done a disservice by the coaching staff seemingly not making changes mid game and putting the players into situations where they can win.
This has been my thing....if Addy and Audi go their entire careers without hosting an NCAA tournament game in Hilton, that goes down as a massive failure in my eyes. They are two extremely talented players in our school's history and there have been other less talented squads that have hosted before.
 
The team always has player talks at the end of each season. Some leave and those spots get filled via the portal. Will be interesting to see who does leave. It’s usually end of bench or previous transfers that didn’t work out as hoped. Last year it was Hansford and Joens, replaced by Paulk.

It’s anyone’s guess as to who will leave this year, but it’s likely someone will. Then it will be up to the staff to find an affordable transfer (we will never get a Miles type player unless someone wins the lottery) who is more of a Belanger type addition.
Jada was a pretty big time portal addition. The staff needs to get a long athletic 4 that can help with rebounding and defense. The problem is that this has been a need the last two portal seasons too and we haven’t addressed it. Getting contributors to stay is important too. After a frustrating year like this one there is no guarantee our best players will want to stay. I never thought Lexi would leave, but she did.
 
Jada was a pretty big time portal addition. The staff needs to get a long athletic 4 that can help with rebounding and defense. The problem is that this has been a need the last two portal seasons too and we haven’t addressed it. Getting contributors to stay is important too. After a frustrating year like this one there is no guarantee our best players will want to stay. I never thought Lexi would leave, but she did.
I'm not sure they could have stopped her leaving, but Bristow was exactly the type of player this team needs.
 
Jada was a pretty big time portal addition. The staff needs to get a long athletic 4 that can help with rebounding and defense. The problem is that this has been a need the last two portal seasons too and we haven’t addressed it. Getting contributors to stay is important too. After a frustrating year like this one there is no guarantee our best players will want to stay. I never thought Lexi would leave, but she did.
Gaaaahhh! How in the world did I forget to mention JW as an addition last year?
 
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He’s not staying after next year. Will be a complete rebuild and likely a big down year. I do think the Carlisle gal is a difference maker that will give as a nice change of pace player. Just hope they let her play and not try and over coach her.
LOL. I've read here that this staff doesn't coach at all.
 
Average record of 20-12 over the last 15 years. Take out Poppens' senior year (24-9), Carleton's senior year (26-9), & Joens' true senior year (28-7) that average drops to 19-13 over 12 years.
Ya, take out the good years and it's, well, not as good.

Hawk fans used to say the same type of thing about Troy Davis....if you take out his 60, 45, 70 yard runs, he really wasn't that good.