- Fred gets ready to leave for the NBA, so he and Pollard bring TJ back intending to set him up as the next coach.
- Leath decides he wants a big name hire, forces Pollard to use a search firm.
- Search firm "contacts" Hornacek, resulting in leak and FUBAR/SNAFU.
- Search firm is the same one used to hire Leath, selected by BoR/Branstead.
- Branstad is known to want to consolidate all state universities into a single system with different campuses. Started with AIB/UofI.
This is all a plot by Branstad to slowly choke out ISU athletics, which will make it easier to combine all three state universities into a singe university system. If ISU athletics are strong, he can't afford politically to blow them up. Football is playing its part, but MBB and the non-revenue sports aren't. If ISU MBB falls, then the rest of the AD quickly follows and ISU athletics can be quickly and quietly pushed into the UofI athletic department where big-revenue football is king.