Coach Steve Prohm stepping away from Murray St.

[Cloneon]

Well it didn’t work out well for Iowa State fans. 3 out of 6 years, SP finished DEAD LAST in the Big 12 conference. (Edit: One of those years, he finished 9th, not 10th - my bad [insert massive sarcastic eye roll here]). Freddy’s program had elevated Iowa State’s men’s basketball like it had never been elevated before. Nationally relevant basketball, even more so than Johnny, Floyd, or Larry due to the style of play, charisma, etc. Back to back 3 seeds. Rosters with NBA players. And the Prohm decision nearly squandered ALL of that momentum. It’s actually insane to think back how horribly that momentum was lost. SP was handed 2 years of top 10/20 basketball roster and did nothing but underperform with it. And then recruited a really good one in year 4! Annnnnd vastly underperformed.

Given the context of the situation and the trajectory/status of the program at the time (vs. where the program was at in the mid-80’s or early 2000’s), it might be the worst/most disappointing era of Cyclone basketball. Thank God we were able to get TJ back when we did.

I'm a big believer in timelines.

The alignment of coaches over the past few decades goes like this:
Orr: The pivotal point in the program with average defense, but a fun fast break style offense. A slightly above average performance, but the timing of some of their big wins and his off-brand entertainment they were just plain fun to watch.
Floyd: A tough nosed defensive coach who surprised most everyone.
Eustachy: I'm pretty sure most would agree, he was good, but haunted with questionable choices
Morgan: Couldn't capitalize on the talent he had.
McDermott: His identity at the time didn't quite mesh and he had some unexpected departures which really hurt.
Hoiberg: With his new vision on transfers put together mature competitive and successful teams, but now that everyone is doing the same doesn't have the same margins to work with.
Prohm: A Hoiberg recommendation with very erratic performance.
Otz: A home run hire.

Would you trade all of the above for Coach K who was on the short list at the time Orr was hired? Or, for that matter Otz after Prohm? Or Hoiberg after McDermott?

My point is why the hell is everyone complaining about some of the coaches? We're here now BECAUSE of this timeline. Enjoy it.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Well it didn’t work out well for Iowa State fans. 3 out of 6 years, SP finished DEAD LAST in the Big 12 conference. (Edit: One of those years, he finished 9th, not 10th - my bad [insert massive sarcastic eye roll here]). Freddy’s program had elevated Iowa State’s men’s basketball like it had never been elevated before. Nationally relevant basketball, even more so than Johnny, Floyd, or Larry due to the style of play, charisma, etc. Back to back 3 seeds. Rosters with NBA players. And the Prohm decision nearly squandered ALL of that momentum. It’s actually insane to think back how horribly that momentum was lost. SP was handed 2 years of top 10/20 basketball roster and did nothing but underperform with it. And then recruited a really good one in year 4! Annnnnd vastly underperformed.

Given the context of the situation and the trajectory/status of the program at the time (vs. where the program was at in the mid-80’s or early 2000’s), it might be the worst/most disappointing era of Cyclone basketball. Thank God we were able to get TJ back when we did.

With enough time removed now to take recency bias out of the equation, I think the McDermott era was much worse than the Prohm era.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

I thought he did ok with Hoibergs players. He was also hamstrung by having so many players returning that he couldn’t recruit. People forget that the portal wasn’t there and players had to sit out a year when they transferred. I thought he did a really good job of bringing in the TH, THT, Conditt class. But, he got burned with the THT declaring and for some reason he decided to recruit the south and not keep hitting Chicago and Milwaukee. That was never going to work at ISU.

I feel like he had trouble managing personalities and egos. But I also feel like if he would have stayed at Murray the whole time, he’d be running that league right now with the momentum he had.

Zion Griffin was also in that class and came in with a lot of hype, which was mostly undeserved. He was a bad miss, one of many in the Prohm recruiting classes

 

[RedlineSi]

Not sure he's as nice as ya'll think...

 

[1UNI2ISU]

I'm a big believer in timelines.

The alignment of coaches over the past few decades goes like this:
Orr: The pivotal point in the program with average defense, but a fun fast break style offense. A slightly above average performance, but the timing of some of their big wins and his off-brand entertainment they were just plain fun to watch.
Floyd: A tough nosed defensive coach who surprised most everyone.
Eustachy: I'm pretty sure most would agree, he was good, but haunted with questionable choices
Morgan: Couldn't capitalize on the talent he had.
McDermott: His identity at the time didn't quite mesh and he had some unexpected departures which really hurt.
Hoiberg: With his new vision on transfers put together mature competitive and successful teams, but now that everyone is doing the same doesn't have the same margins to work with.
Prohm: A Hoiberg recommendation with very erratic performance.
Otz: A home run hire.

Would you trade all of the above for Coach K who was on the short list at the time Orr was hired? Or, for that matter Otz after Prohm? Or Hoiberg after McDermott?

My point is why the hell is everyone complaining about some of the coaches? We're here now BECAUSE of this timeline. Enjoy it.

I still think McDermott works long term had his wife not been sick. When you're told your wife is dying and you've got 3 kids under 16, that'll really mess with your work life.

 

[Cyched]

Zion Griffin was also in that class and came in with a lot of hype, which was mostly undeserved. He was a bad miss, one of many in the Prohm recruiting classes

That was an odd flameout. Self/KU recruited Zion and wanted him.

Maybe he does better with a more skilled developmental coach, but sometimes guys are just misses.

 

[NENick]

I still can't believe he went 2-25 his last year in Ames. How do you not accidentally win more non-conference games than that?

Certainly not excusing that horrible season, but they didn't get the benefit of a normal noncon.

I don’t get all the love for Prohm. He inherited a roster that had six guys make the nba and massively underperformed since the day he became head coach. He completely crashed and burned and took ISU to the saddest year in ISU basketball history. Prohm wasn’t a very good coach and because of Payne and Canaan he looked a thousand times better than he really was as a coach.

I'm not seeing much "love" expressed. Certainly not for his coaching.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Sad to see this for him. Coaching aside, he's a good man. Was hoping he'd return to success back at Muray St.

I agree, I wished him no ill will after he left. It was a blessing for both parties, and the disaster which was the 2020-2021 season was aided by a lot of covid weirdness. He knew he was a dead man walking into that season and the program had no momentum going for it so he wasn't able to grab any decent transfers. Too many negative elements going at once created the perfect storm. He just wasn't the right man to guide the program through the storm, the storm which he helped to create. You could tell by the end he was just in over his head, so in a way I felt bad for him. Never had hate.

 

[4cy16]

High school? Unless he takes over a team with a great roster he clearly isn't a good coach. I never could figure out what he was trying to do as a coach. His teams were so inconsistent. Absolutely zero identity. He's a career assistant. If you can't win at Murray in that league it's time to move on. They are THE PROGRAM in that league.

They were the program in the Ohio Valley conference but nothing special since they moved to the Missouri Valley.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

That was an odd flameout. Self/KU recruited Zion and wanted him.

Maybe he does better with a more skilled developmental coach, but sometimes guys are just misses.

He never really did much anywhere else he went after ISU. I think it was more just him being a bust sadly.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

Not sure he's as nice as ya'll think...

To get to where he's been, you likely do have to have some degree of a- hole inside of you. My opinion though is he wasn't very good at being a hc that he probably didn't have enough a- hole.

 

[Thomasrickj]

That team made it to a sweet 16 correct? Do you think Fred was bad coach because he had a team with 6 NBA players not make it out of the first round?

I personally don’t think either are that great TBH.

Wow! A sweet 16 appearance with six NBA guys that were literally gifted to him! That’s incredible! He was put in the perfect situation and that team was so bad for how talented they were. That roster was one of the most talented in the nation that year, add in another year of experience of a team that finished top 10 the season before, yet they still couldn’t be any better than they were. That first year of Prohm’s was a massive letdown. Prohm then finished dead last in the conference 3 of the next 5 years. That guy is one of the lousiest coaches this school has seen.

As far as Hoiberg, I think he was a great recruiter but ever since his name started getting brought up for NBA gigs he basically had one foot out the door his last two seasons. Now that he’s at Nebraska and the buzz around him getting an NBA coaching gig is over with, he’s doing well, but not tremendous and seems to have hit his ceiling.

People here rag on McDermott nonstop but he at least has sustained success before and after ISU. People love Prohm but he’s been straight up bad for the talent he had around him that was gifted to him.

 

[deadeyededric]

They were the program in the Ohio Valley conference but nothing special since they moved to the Missouri Valley.

Fair enough but it's not like the Valley is what it used to be. A good coach can win anywhere. What exactly does Drake have in terms of resources that Murray doesn't?

 

[AllInForISU]

Wow! A sweet 16 appearance with six NBA guys that were literally gifted to him! That’s incredible! He was put in the perfect situation and that team was so bad for how talented they were. That roster was one of the most talented in the nation that year, add in another year of experience of a team that finished top 10 the season before, yet they still couldn’t be any better than they were. That first year of Prohm’s was a massive letdown. Prohm then finished dead last in the conference 3 of the next 5 years. That guy is one of the lousiest coaches this school has seen.

As far as Hoiberg, I think he was a great recruiter but ever since his name started getting brought up for NBA gigs he basically had one foot out the door his last two seasons. Now that he’s at Nebraska and the buzz around him getting an NBA coaching gig is over with, he’s doing well, but not tremendous and seems to have hit his ceiling.

People here rag on McDermott nonstop but he at least has sustained success before and after ISU. People love Prohm but he’s been straight up bad for the talent he had around him that was gifted to him.

I like how you ignore the part of Fred having 6 NBA players and flaming out in the first round as a 3 seed in his last year here.

As far as the McDermott thing, Steve did make it to the tourney once with majority of his own players. McDermott never sniffed the tournament, and is the only coach since before Orr to not make the dance one time, even though he had a bunch (relative to Iowa State’s history) of NBA talent on his teams.

Also, Fred has not been good at Nebraska, and was not good with the Bulls. I’m grateful for what he did when he was here, he did things with recruiting transfers that literally changed the way the way rosters are built. But when everyone is on the same playing field, he is mediocre at best.

 

[RedlineSi]

To get to where he's been, you likely do have to have some degree of a- hole inside of you. My opinion though is he wasn't very good at being a hc that he probably didn't have enough a- hole.

I can't say anything else, but yeah, if the idiots who dumbed me knew, they wouldn't be dumbing my post.

 

[Cyched]

I see we’re doing the “cryptic message board post/guy” shtick again

 

[1UNI2ISU]

Fair enough but it's not like the Valley is what it used to be. A good coach can win anywhere. What exactly does Drake have in terms of resources that Murray doesn't?

Triple the NIL, no scholarship football to take resources and a total budget almost a million and a half higher.

 

[MJ271]

Wow! A sweet 16 appearance with six NBA guys that were literally gifted to him! That’s incredible! He was put in the perfect situation and that team was so bad for how talented they were.

That team was very talented, but I think the narrative of "he was gifted 6 NBA guys" is a bit overdone. These were Nader, Thomas, and Burton's stats in the seasons before they played under Prohm.

Nader and Thomas:

Burton:


Obviously all of them had talent, but that talent only started to turn into production in the season that was a "massive letdown." (Also, Naz was out after the non-conference, and Burton wasn't eligible until after Naz was out.)

People here rag on McDermott nonstop but he at least has sustained success before and after ISU. People love Prohm but he’s been straight up bad for the talent he had around him that was gifted to him.

Fun fact: Of Greg McDermott's four Iowa State teams, one had 2 NBA players on it, and three had 3 NBA players on them. Despite that, none of his ISU teams ever went .500, despite playing in a relatively weak Big 12.


Obviously Steve Prohm wasn't a good coach for this level, and perhaps he's primarily lucked into his successful seasons even at Murray. And there's no defending the end of his tenure (though the "2 wins" thing is also a bit overplayed given the fact that they only played 4 non-conference games). Regardless, I don't see any reason to treat him as essentially the devil of Iowa State basketball, especially when his tenure clearly did not forever doom Iowa State's program.

 

[8bitnes]

I still can't believe he went 2-25 his last year in Ames. How do you not accidentally win more non-conference games than that?

It was so bad they apparently accumulated 3 more losses after the season ended

 

[carvers4math]

Katie wouldn't have got that new house built without the ISU gig.

Not sure what she did to get this tired gold digger trope other than be his wife