Official Announcement of TJ as the New Iowa State Mens BBall Coach

[Sigmapolis]

@Sigmapolis
You never answered my question. I know you were still a toddler in 2001, but would you consider the Big 12 title we won with Tinsley that year a colossal **** up because we lost to Hampton?

Yes.

That Hampton loss defined that season and indeed the program for a very long time. It wasn’t until the “Hoiball” “Transfer U” chic that we moved on from it.

Iowa State was the most recent #2 seed to lose to a #15 seed for a long time after that. We were always featured if not the finale of any montage CBS played about March Madness upsets. I had to turn those off for many years because I knew the haymaker was coming.

Somebody brought up #1 Virginia losing to #16 UMBC and if that “defined” that season despite its many wins and its ACC championship. And yep, sure does, UVA is always going to be “that team” to be the first #1 to lose to a #16. I work with a lot of UVA grads, and I’ll forever use “UMBC” to rile them. The program was only redeemed when much of the same roster won a national title the next season.

As others have pointed out, I find it hilarious you say the Tinsley team losing to a #15 or the last Fred team losing to a #14 were just “meh, March happens” events while the Shayok team losing to a *much* better #11 Ohio State team (with its flaws but at least with peer talent from the Big Ten) than either Hampton or UAB as somehow damning of every moment of Prohm’s tenure in Ames.

Pick one. Either “March happens” or judge those losses on their individual merits. I know defining a team by how it plays in March is irrational at some level, but that is how this sport works. Perform in the clutch of a single-elimination tournament and become a legend or **** it up and be know for it forever.

 

[CyLyte2]

Prohms starting point was as good as we’ve ever had, but was set to be short-lived. Fred had basically stopped recruiting and the transfer well has dried up for him. Here were Fred’s last two classes.

2015 - Nick Noskowiak, Brady Ernst, Simeon Carter
2014 - Giorgis Tsalmpouris and Clayton Custer (who signed very early)

People get really fixated on the two classes Fred left for Steve (Thomas/Morris and Niang/Long) but there was literally nothing after that.

Steve did a decent job with recruiting, but a few did not pan out to be what we thought (see Terrence Lewis) or left early (Wiggington, Lard, THT, Haliburton). 2019 was what killed him with class of Grill, Leech, Anderson, Jackson. Did not have enough to make up for all the other departures. Keeping in mind our starting 5 that year could have included Haliburton, Wiggington, and THT to go along with some serviceable bigs (young, Lard, Condit, etc). That team would have been really really good.

I am not defending Steve. What happened happened and he obviously had a huge hand in it as leader of the program. But people overstate what Fred left him if you look past the first year. There was literally no frosh/Soph talent on that roster and some of our worst recruiting classes ever.

Yeah, there’s now way to get guys here in short order.

 

[CYEATHAWK]

As others have pointed out, I find it hilarious you say the Tinsley team losing to a #15 or the last Fred team losing to a #14 as just “meh, March happens” events while the Shayok team losing to a *much* better #11 Ohio State team (with its flaws but at least with peer talent from the Big Ten) than either Hampton or UAB as somehow damning of every moment of Prohm’s tenure in Ames.

Exhibit A:

Beat Iona and Little Rock. Not exactly a huge accomplishment

And to make your point with the almost the exact same roster (minus Naz Long/injury) that lost to UAB under Fred the year before.

Yeah.......UAB happens....but a sweet 16 is no big accomplishment.

Can you imagine in a few years ISU is fortunate enough to draw a Iona in the first round and have a Little Rock under the next Chris Beard upset Purdue to be ISU's opponent the second round? You think anyone here would down play a sweet 16 under those conditions with TJ?

Can you imagine any one at any time doing that with any coach here at ISU other than Steve Prohm? Well, maybe Wayne Morgan. Fricking cyclonefanatic..........never disappoint.

It's madness.

 

[Lexclone]

Iowa State is having an ahead of schedule great year, so TJ’s hiring thread gets resurrected in celebration = cool.

Then it devolves into an argument over worst Iowa State MBB’s worst coach of this century = peak Cyclone Fanatic.

Just so we don’t lose the vibe: it is McDoormat by a nose over Morgan who just edges out CSP.

 

[madguy30]

Yes.

That Hampton loss defined that season and indeed the program for a very long time. It wasn’t until the “Hoiball” “Transfer U” chic that we moved on from it.

Iowa State was the most recent #2 seed to lose to a #15 seed for a long time after that. We were always featured if not the finale of any montage CBS played about March Madness upsets. I had to turn those off for many years because I know the haymaker was coming.

Somebody brought up #1 Virginia losing to #16 UMBC and if that “defined” that season despite its many wins and its ACC championship. And yep, sure does, UVA is always going to be “that team” to be the first #1 to lose to a #16. I work with a lot of UVA grads, and I’ll forever use “UMBC” to rile them. The program was only redeemed when much of the same roster won a national title the next season.

As others have pointed out, I find it hilarious you say the Tinsley team losing to a #15 or the last Fred team losing to a #14 as just “meh, March happens” events while the Shayok team losing to a *much* better #11 Ohio State team (with its flaws but at least with peer talent from the Big Ten) than either Hampton or UAB as somehow damning of every moment of Prohm’s tenure in Ames.

Pick one. Either “March happens” or judge those losses on their individual merits. I know defining a team by how it plays in March is irrational at some level, but that is how this sport works. Perform in the clutch of a single-elimination tournament and become a legend or **** it up and be know for it forever.

That ****ton loss was the culmination of a team that had unraveled toward the end of the season and they probably overachieved overall.

Got lit up at Texas, then straggled through the finish line of the B12 regular season title, then Baylor, then Boise.

I remember mostly how they just didn't look right after Texas, and then the nightmare happened.

UAB was par for the course for that season; as soon as you could think ISU had figured it out...that happened, just at the worst time.

Personally imo a great season is still great even if things end early in the tourney.

There were some great wins on the 00-01 and 14-15 seasons.

The 18-19 team did too but the dysfunction on full display could not be ignored.

 

[davegilbertson]

I guess 2018 when Bruce Weber and the unranked wildcats had a cake walk to the elite 8 with games vs the 8, 16 and 5 seed before losing to 11 seed Loyola was a better season than anything Iowa State has had in 20 seasons then

In some ways yes.

 

[davegilbertson]

@Sigmapolis
You never answered my question. I know you were still a toddler in 2001, but would you consider the Big 12 title we won with Tinsley that year a colossal **** up because we lost to Hampton?

Kind of.

 

[trevn]

Well this is fun.

 

[rochclone]

We were only 1 year removed from making the NCAA tournament comparing that to the dumpster fire that was our football program prior to Campbell is disingenuous.

When McDermott originally took over we had been to a single NCAA tournament in the last five years and he had only Rashon Clark returning. When Campbell took over we were three years removed from a bowl game but Rhoads had taken them to a bowl game in three of his 7 years. Campbell took over a difficult situation but I’m not really sure it was that much more difficult then the situation for Greg. Regardless I think we can all agree that 2-22 and 0-18 is the ultimate dumpster fire and I’m glad we have the program headed in the proper direction.

 

[BCClone]

So.........will future TJ threads be more like the Fred threads since he left at bad timing or will they be more like the Prohm ones since we had a few bad seasons and fans get restless. I'm unsure at this point.

 

[Al_4_State]

05-09 masochist checking in. That game against Virginia is still one of my favorite Hilton atmospheres

I was there. That was a great game.

Big 12/P5 games in the Morgan era where routinely madhouses. His last year was worthless in Big 12 play, but even that season had the epic Haluska return and us running Iowa out of the gym.

 

[NoCreativity]

People get really fixated on the two classes Fred left for Steve (Thomas/Morris and Niang/Long) but there was literally nothing after that.

Prohm was hired in June of 2015, Montes class graduated in March of 2017, then the next year didn't start until November of 2017. That's a whole 2.5 years that Prohm had to recruit some players.
TJ just put together a team in about 2 months and Prohm couldn't find suitable replacements in 29 months.

 

[mjhavlo76]

There is no question that TJ has had a season that exceeded expectations thus far. However, I wouldn’t anoint him king just yet. We’ll see how March plays out as well as how we do with the recruiting front for next year. There definitely has been some lapses of inefficiency on both sides of the ball this season. I hope he continues to build on success.

 

[BryceC]

Only winning 10 conference games total that year was a colossal **** up.

I guess I'd rather go 10-8 and make the sweet 16 than 12-6 like the prior year and lose in the first round. You won the same number of games either way, it's just that two of them are in the best event in American sports, which seems like a big deal to me.

I guess unlike you I enjoy watching basktball from early November through late March. UAB sucked and it put me in a bad mood that entire weekend but 1 game doesn't ruin an entire year.
I suppose the Big 12 championship team Tinsley's Senior year was a colossal **** up also?

I didn't watch a single basketball game after the UAB game that season. Broke me. I was 1 and done for the NCAA tourney considering that game started at like 10:45. Left a black mark on the year for me.

Losing to Hampton was a colossal **** up. The season was a success but losing in the first round as a 2 or 3 seed leaves a bad mark on the season IMO, like it or not.

 

[carvers4math]

I guess I'd rather go 10-8 and make the sweet 16 than 12-6 like the prior year and lose in the first round. You won the same number of games either way, it's just that two of them are in the best event in American sports, which seems like a big deal to me.



I didn't watch a single basketball game after the UAB game that season. Broke me. I was 1 and done for the NCAA tourney considering that game started at like 10:45. Left a black mark on the year for me.

Losing to Hampton was a colossal **** up. The season was a success but losing in the first round as a 2 or 3 seed leaves a bad mark on the season IMO, like it or not.

Yep. Could not stand to watch another game after UAB, knew it would be mentioned every game. It took the whole tournament away from me.

 

[BryceC]

Disagree and further evidence. Where's your evidence?

Put those last four seasons together (Prohm's guys) and he was 18-54 (.250) in the big 12. McDermott was 18-46 (.281).

You can't credit the shayok season successes while also discounting 2-22/0-18 ending.

He won <15 games three times. No coach post Johnny Orr did that more than once.

Using that 15 game mark is honestly ridiculous because McD never won more than 15. He topped out there.

2-22 was as bad as it gets, but to be honest I'd rather have a season like that if I get the Big 12 tourney season and successful season like the Shayok year.

There was nothing good about McD's tenure at any point. Prohm gave us some fun with his own players. That outweighs the bad IMO.

 

[8bitnes]

McDoormat never finished above 2nd to last in the Big 12. Please list McDermott's achievements that equal Prohms while at ISU.

McDermott didn't set school records for most conference losses, biggest loss in Hilton, longest stretch without a conference win, longest stretch for a road conference win, and least wins in a season. Those all belong to prohm.

McDermott also inherited a school coming out of a recruiting violation infraction and the departure of several key players

I was a season ticket holder during both. I was ready to drop to one seat before prohm's last year to keep my priority points and was bailed out by covid restrictions. I never considered reducing seats during McDermott's years.

We will have to agree to disagree

 

[NoCreativity]

Yes.

That Hampton loss defined that season and indeed the program for a very long time. It wasn’t until the “Hoiball” “Transfer U” chic that we moved on from it.

Iowa State was the most recent #2 seed to lose to a #15 seed for a long time after that. We were always featured if not the finale of any montage CBS played about March Madness upsets. I had to turn those off for many years because I know the haymaker was coming.

Somebody brought up #1 Virginia losing to #16 UMBC and if that “defined” that season despite its many wins and its ACC championship. And yep, sure does, UVA is always going to be “that team” to be the first #1 to lose to a #16. I work with a lot of UVA grads, and I’ll forever use “UMBC” to rile them. The program was only redeemed when much of the same roster won a national title the next season.

As others have pointed out, I find it hilarious you say the Tinsley team losing to a #15 or the last Fred team losing to a #14 as just “meh, March happens” events while the Shayok team losing to a *much* better #11 Ohio State team (with its flaws but at least with peer talent from the Big Ten) than either Hampton or UAB as somehow damning of every moment of Prohm’s tenure in Ames.

Pick one. Either “March happens” or judge those losses on their individual merits. I know defining a team by how it plays in March is irrational at some level, but that is how this sport works. Perform in the clutch of a single-elimination tournament and become a legend or **** it up and be know for it forever.

We both need to man up and stop dumbing each other's posts. You're smart enough to know neither one of us is right and it all depends on personal opinion on what we think it's more important.
Like I already said, I enjoy watching basketball 5 months, not for a weekend in March. Upsets happen in March, it doesn't diminish the fact that the 2001 team won the Big 12 championship.

 

[BryceC]

Prohms starting point was as good as we’ve ever had, but was set to be short-lived. Fred had basically stopped recruiting and the transfer well has dried up for him. Here were Fred’s last two classes.

2015 - Nick Noskowiak, Brady Ernst, Simeon Carter
2014 - Giorgis Tsalmpouris and Clayton Custer (who signed very early)

People get really fixated on the two classes Fred left for Steve (Thomas/Morris and Niang/Long) but there was literally nothing after that.

Steve did a decent job with recruiting, but a few did not pan out to be what we thought (see Terrence Lewis) or left early (Wiggington, Lard, THT, Haliburton). 2019 was what killed him with class of Grill, Leech, Anderson, Jackson. Did not have enough to make up for all the other departures. Keeping in mind our starting 5 that year could have included Haliburton, Wiggington, and THT to go along with some serviceable bigs (young, Lard, Condit, etc). That team would have been really really good.

I am not defending Steve. What happened happened and he obviously had a huge hand in it as leader of the program. But people overstate what Fred left him if you look past the first year. There was literally no frosh/Soph talent on that roster and some of our worst recruiting classes ever.

I have defended Prohm many times on here. But this defense is trash, absolute trash considering we're watching a huge 1 year turnaround right now. He had a full 2 years to rebuild the roster. He didn't do it and he got justifiably fired for it and what he took over was better than any coach ever has at ISU. I'm absolutely sick and tired of reading this crap on here.

 

[ISUChippewa]

Beat Iona and Little Rock. Not exactly a huge accomplishment and doesn’t erase the fact we finished #22 with a loaded roster. Major head scratcher how we were squeaking into the top 25 with Burton coming off the bench

We both need to man up and stop dumbing each other's posts. You're smart enough to know neither one of us is right and it all depends on personal opinion on what we think it's more important.
Like I already said, I enjoy watching basketball 5 months, not for a weekend in March. Upsets happen in March, it doesn't diminish the fact that the 2001 team won the Big 12 championship.

Sooo....you did not enjoy watching us beat #1 Oklahoma in Hilton that season then? Because that did happen during the regular season.