July 11 is a big anniversary for the WBB program.
30 years ago…
- Thread starter acoustimac
- Start date
Billy and Steven grew up in the seats ahead of me, now their kids are there. That's a lot of hoops watched.
What amazes me is realizing that in his 30 years as coach at Iowa State, Coach Fennelly has averaged more wins per year that the highest number of wins in any year by any coach before he came. Still some complain.
I graduated that year. You have no idea the despair the women's program was before him. Class A school sized crowds at best. Just non-existent. A once in a school history hire.
Not to be harsh, but before Bill there was basically no women's program at ISU.
We had players and coaches and 0 following.
Yeah I don't remember a word about ISU women's basketball before Bill came along.
He did quick work too, getting to the NCAAs in two seasons.
He took a doormat program that maybe 100 people would attend a game when he took it over to one of the best attendance in the country for a long time now. There have been times over the years that the women's games had more Hilton Magic happening than the men's team did. I know some here are tired of him and are quick to throw him under the bus at the first sign of adversity, but he's going to leave big shoes to fill when he does retire that the bar is set high where it's going to take a Final 4 appearance to surpass his success here. He's been a great ambassador for ISU and outlasted multiple football and MBB coaches during his time here which is another testament to just how far he elevated the program from where he took over it.
When Bill retires this is going to be an important hire to keep the success going. If we miss on that hire given the current college athletics environment it could set us back years. This is another reason why I wish Billy would find a head coaching job somewhere by now and prove himself much like TJ had to before we hired him back because I don't want this to be a situation we just hire Billy because of the name. I've said it here many times, I hope we aim big and make calls to Brenda Freese and Jennie Baranczyk even if they say no. This should be a job that a proven power conference coach would like to have so I don't think we should settle for familiarity or some hot mid major hire.
Brenda and Jenny are out of our price range IMO.
But I agree it's going to be a important hire. ISU fans basically expect to make the tourney every yr, though to be fair most yrs we don't expect to get past either 32 or 16.
Addy, Audi and Co the goal before they are done is at least a sweet 16 IMO. I would love to see them make a final 4.
My very uneducated guess is Bill retires when Audi graduates.
I agree I think this junior class of Audi Addy Jackson and I guess you can include Jada in that group now graduates Bill hangs it up.
If Brenda or Jenny would take the ISU job you pay the going rate to get them IMO. They elevate us on a national level which the added revenue would help offset the additional expense. We've been pretty fortunate not to have to pay Bill what he probably should be paid over the years for the results he's had.
Brenda has always been my dream hire. Roots in Iowa. Roots at ISU. Proven track record. I agree the call has to be made, but I wonder how many years she plans to coach.
I mean, to be fair, there's not a lot of years of history there either. NCAA womens basketball was still a fairly young sport- the NCAA women's tournament didn't even expand to 64 until 1994.
In today's NIL world the $$ are more likely to be used for the player payments than the coaches IMO - I do not see ISU spending a lot of money on a new WBB coach after CBF.
Of the two mentioned she would be the one that would take the job. I do wonder how much longer she wants to coach but I could see her wanting to make this her last stop back home. I am not sure JB would ever want to coach am ISU team knowing her history. And as noted the money is the biggest issue.
Will be harder in 2027 than it was 30 years ago, in my opinion. As much as fan love to tout how bad we were before Fennelly they need to remember he inherited a really good roster (Janel Grimm - So., Jayme Olson - So., Tara Gunderson - Jr., Julie Hand - Jr. etc).
And, frankly, what happened 30 years ago is not relevant to today. Different league. Different power teams. Different transfer rules. Different media exposure. Different "amatuer" rules and pay-to-play with guaranteed NIL.
A new coach coming in is likely to have to face mass defections via the portal (assuming we even maintain recruiting into 2027 and it isn't an empty cupboard). New coach will have to try and retain players and recruit the portal into a lesser regarded league. Going to be a very tough task and it's not like we will have a ton of NIL money to try and buy our way back.
And, I am not really convinced at all that Fennelly is going to retire unless there is some agreement to hire his son. He makes no bones about it being the family business and he can stay on as HC and just have Billy run the program.
And, frankly, what happened 30 years ago is not relevant to today. Different league. Different power teams. Different transfer rules. Different media exposure. Different "amatuer" rules and pay-to-play with guaranteed NIL.
A new coach coming in is likely to have to face mass defections via the portal (assuming we even maintain recruiting into 2027 and it isn't an empty cupboard). New coach will have to try and retain players and recruit the portal into a lesser regarded league. Going to be a very tough task and it's not like we will have a ton of NIL money to try and buy our way back.
And, I am not really convinced at all that Fennelly is going to retire unless there is some agreement to hire his son. He makes no bones about it being the family business and he can stay on as HC and just have Billy run the program.
I don’t think any WBB coach raises revenue much
Kim moving over to LSU gave them a bump in attendance but that does not amount to huge revenue. The TV deals and such are from the league. A coach like Kim probably motivates big donors and such and maybe gets the NIL stuff flowing some but only if she wins, and wins a lot. Can't see any coach coming here and the result being a big revenue bump.
I don't think some people here appreciate how much of an issue it is. Brenda makes 1.9 mil. JB's new contract averages 1.6 mil. Bill makes a little under 900k.
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That would be a weak move and not something I see JP doing. We have facilities and fan support that alot of coaches would crave.
I want best person we can get not settling.
