ISU Coaches

[Aclone]

I’ve found it interesting to see the way that some of you disparage some of our former coaches as bad coaches. I’ve seen lots of them come and go, and I’d have to disagree on some points.

For example, as a coach, Donnie Duncan was a...great administrator. Jim Walden was a good coach with a charismatic personality. Unfortunately, his predecessor left the program in pretty much the diametric opposite position it was in when Earle Bruce departed. The task proved too much for him.

Ames is a tough place to build something from scratch. Especially at that juncture in time. About like Lawrence is now.

Dan McCarney was a good coach. Paul Rhoads was a good coach. Matter of fact, each moved the program forward, at least incrementally.

Then there’s Matt Campbell. CMC, in his third season in Ames, certainly appears right now to be a great coach.

And that’s the difference, right there. A great coach, as opposed to merely a good one, is what it takes to turn things around at Iowa State.

Now then, where was I? Oh yeah...

GO CYCLONES!

 

[clonedude]

I’ve found it interesting to see the way that some of you disparage some of our former coaches as bad coaches. I’ve seen lots of them come and go, and I’d have to disagree on some points.

For example, as a coach, Donnie Duncan was a...great administrator. Jim Walden was a good coach with a charismatic personality. Unfortunately, his predecessor left the program in pretty much the diametric opposite position it was in when Earle Bruce departed. The task proved too much for him.

Ames is a tough place to build something from scratch. Especially at that juncture in time. About like Lawrence is now.

Dan McCarney was a good coach. Paul Rhoads was a good coach. Matter of fact, each moved the program forward, at least incrementally.

Then there’s Matt Campbell. CMC, in his third season in Ames, certainly appears right now to be a great coach.

And that’s the difference, right there. A great coach, as opposed to merely a good one, is what it takes to turn things around at Iowa State.

Now then, where was I? Oh yeah...

GO CYCLONES!

I think the program might have been in a bit worse shape after Rhoads left than it was when he got it.

And I loved Rhoads and wanted him to succeed here so bad. It just wasn't going in the right direction, and that K-State loss was the last straw.

 

[CyCrazy]

CPR was not a good coach or recruiter

 

[clonedude]

CPR was not a good coach or recruiter

He made some really bad hires for assistants too. That didn't help him much.

 

[burn587]

He made some really bad hires for assistants too. That didn't help him much.

That was Macs downfall as well, with a large dash of playing not to lose thrown in.

 

[knowlesjam]

Chizik left us in a lurch, but he did pretty good at recruiting.

 

[nhwdmcy]

I agree, Paul Rhoads was a good coach.

I disagree Paul left program in worse shape than he started it.

He grew the fan base. He won games that Coach Mac never could. Road wins against top 25 teams. A win over a NC contender.

I agree he never could find the right OC after Mensa. I don't think that makes him a bad coach.

Over time this will shine through. 3 years into CPR regime, people would say CPR was better than Mac. Recency bias.

My opinion .

 

[CyCloned]

I think the problem is that none of those other guys was as good as CMC in all areas of coaching. Mac was a great motivator, but really missed a lot on recruiting towards the end. Walden was a great X and O guy, great personality, but he did not like to recruit. CPR was a great guy, and motivator, but he had a lot of trouble keeping guys in the program long enough to develop. He also lost some very good assistants and replaced them with some not so good ones. Donnie, well, he was just not a good coach. I never understood what the heck he was doing.

Two final thoughts:

1. I like the hire of Campbell because he was a head coach and he brought his guys and his brand to ISU. Mac was a pretty solid coach after a few years, but he made several bone head moves in games in his first few years.

2. Time will tell if Campbell will be able to continue to be a great coach as more and more of his asst coaches get hired away. I really like the new RB coach. Not quite sold on the new, very young OL coach. We will see how he is doing very soon.

 

[CycloneErik]

If CPR were really a great motivator, his teams wouldn't come out flat as often as they did.
He got big wins early and fans think of him as their drinking buddy, so people are stuck on him as a good coach.

He failed at winning over the long haul, recruiting, and all aspects of management. Some fun moments, but not a good coach.

Now to kick myself for participating in this thread tradition.

 

[FinalFourCy]

Rhoads did some good things, but he wasn’t a good (enough) head coach, in particular at the CEO side of being a head coach.

A good position coach and coordinator? Maybe. A good head coach? Not in his time at ISU.

 

[CYphyllis]

Rhoads had an attrition rate of nearly 50% - that's a mark of bad coaching and even worse recruiting.

 

[madguy30]

I can't think of anything CPR's teams did consistently that other teams had to prepare for besides trick specials teams plays.

 

[Cyclonepride]

It definitely helps to have been there in the 80’s, as you have some perspective on where we came from. You shouldn’t underestimate what Mac was able to do.

 

[jdcyclone19]

CPR was not a good coach or recruiter

I disagree. CPR was a poor head coach, however, he's a really good DB coach.

 

[CyCrazy]

I disagree. CPR was a poor head coach, however, he's a really good DB coach.

Ok jfc

 

[Rabbuk]

I disagree. CPR was a poor head coach, however, he's a really good DB coach.

Since that's what this thread is about

 

[norcalcy]

It definitely helps to have been there in the 80’s, as you have some perspective on where we came from. You shouldn’t underestimate what Mac was able to do.

Agree, Mac brought the program back from the dead. The problem since the resurection of the program has been stabilizing and achieving something close to consistent success. Here's a 20 year graph of wins and losses. The closest thing to consistency was 2000-2002 and 2009-2012 (no wonder so many have positive memories of these unique periods).

The frequency of 8, 9 and 10 loss seasons is just brutal (45% of the seasons shown). We may not ever get the higher highs of 11 and 12 win seasons, but it would be nice to reduce the frequency of lower lows. Hopefully "The Process" continues to produce more green than red.

 

[JM4CY]

The brand CMC has is SIGNIFICANTLY more sustainable over time than anything remotely close to what Mac or Paul built.

 

[CyCloned]

Agree, Mac brought the program back from the dead. The problem since the resurection of the program has been stabilizing and achieving something close to consistent success. Here's a 20 year graph of wins and losses. The closest thing to consistency was 2000-2002 and 2009-2012 (no wonder so many have positive memories of these unique periods).

The frequency of 8, 9 and 10 loss seasons is just brutal (45% of the seasons shown). We may not ever get the higher highs of 11 and 12 win seasons, but it would be nice to reduce the frequency of lower lows. Hopefully "The Process" continues to produce more green than red.

View attachment 57355

that is one ugly/depressing chart

 

[deadeyededric]

CPR was awful. He should have been fired 2 years before that.