An honest discussion: what happened to Greg McDermott at ISU?

[joefrog]

You have to be a miserable person.

Quite happy honestly.

Probably the happiest I have been in life, all things considered.

I had courtside seats for a couple of the McDermott ISU years.

I was routinely underwhelmed with his coaching, especially when he had 2 first round NBA draft picks on the same team.

His kid turned into an All-American, and he wasn't even going to play at ISU.

Gotta admit something was amiss.............

 

[Rogue52]

IIRC McDermott's years at ISU happened to coincide with his son's high school career.

My best bet is he was far more concerned about developing his son's game than he was about winning ISU games.

I have coached ISU to as many postseason victories as Greg McDermott.

You have coached ISU to as many postseason victories as my dog. Congrats.

 

[jmb]

JFC. How many different threads are you gonna post about this is in? Let it go.

Whom you are responding is trash human.

 

[ClonerJams]

In the end, it worked out in a weird way. He brought in TJ as an assistant and Hoiberg revived the program after he left, and the rest is history.

 

[UnCytely]

Hiring McDermott was not a complete mistake. Fact is, Otz would not be coaching here if we hadn't hired McDermott. The big mistake was in not hiring Otz to replace Hoiberg, but that is a different discussion.

 

[IASTATE07]

Yep that era ended as good as it could have for both parties. He got out, we didn't pay a buy out and everyone ended up better off.

If I remember right, Creighton paid us a buyout.

 

[DarkStar]

If I remember right, Creighton paid us a buyout.

Indirectly, Oregon paid the buyout. Oregon paid Creighton Altman's buyout which they used to pay McDermott's buyout. Pollard got lucky. We didn't have the money to fire him or Mr. "Firmly Entrenched." Creighton/Oregon and Auburn rescued us from bad coaching hires in our two major revenue sports.

 

[chuckd4735]

Indirectly, Oregon paid the buyout. Oregon paid Creighton Altman's buyout which they used to pay McDermott's buyout. Pollard got lucky. We didn't have the money to fire him or Mr. "Firmly Entrenched." Creighton/Oregon and Auburn rescued us from bad coaching hires in our two major revenue sports.

Chizik was not a bad hire. He's is the only reason CPR had any success.

 

[MushroomPinball]

Hiring McDermott was not a complete mistake. Fact is, Otz would not be coaching here if we hadn't hired McDermott. The big mistake was in not hiring Otz to replace Hoiberg, but that is a different discussion.

Even that's a what if, maybe Otz wasn't ready to be a head coach at that point. He certainly is now so that's all that matters.

 

[Cyched]

Even that's a what if, maybe Otz wasn't ready to be a head coach at that point. He certainly is now so that's all that matters.

As much as the end of SP sucked…funny enough it was so bad that when TJ got here he was able to remake the program as he saw fit immediately. In only year 3 we’re reaping the rewards in a big way.

The mandate for whoever followed Fred was to not rock the boat.

 

[TheCampanile]

He did have this ISU related Tweet today:

 

[alarson]

Does anyone find it a bit weird that McDermott has never once said anything publicly about Iowa State or his time there? I scoured the internet, there's no interviews where he reflects or any quotes like “when I was at Iowa State,” nothing. I understand being ashamed of your performance, but it’s still a bit weird to me. I’d personally pay money to hear him spill the beans in a tell all.

Honestly enough years have passed it might make for a good summer interview with Williams and Blum someday. Any ill-will that may have carried over from things not working out back then has mostly faded, and I think most ISU fans wish him well. It might be interesting to hear both Gmac and TJ talk about that era of ISU basketball in retrospective, and it might be informative towards how they are today.

 

[Spam]

Honestly enough years have passed it might make for a good summer interview with Williams and Blum someday. Any ill-will that may have carried over from things not working out back then has mostly faded, and I think most ISU fans wish him well. It might be interesting to hear both Gmac and TJ talk about that era of ISU basketball in retrospective, and it might be informative towards how they are today.

Not sure that will happen while MxDermott is still coaching somewhere

 

[Cyforce]

I know his wife was sick during his time here. Had a coworker would tell me when he saw him in church in Carlisle. I believe her parents lived there. He'd often attend without her.

 

[cycloneworld]

You have to be a miserable person.

If you have ill will towards Greg McDermott, who by ALL accounts is a great human being, because you are stuck that he didn’t win games at Iowa State FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, yeah you are probably a miserable person.

The really odd thing about his tenure was everyone knew he could coached but could he recruit? He recruited great but couldn’t coach the talent.

It was a good hire at the time, it just didn’t work out. It happens a lot.

 

[Pope]

If you have ill will towards Greg McDermott, who by ALL accounts is a great human being, because you are stuck that he didn’t win games at Iowa State FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, yeah you are probably a miserable person.

The really odd thing about his tenure was everyone knew he could coached but could he recruit? He recruited great but couldn’t coach the talent.

It was a good hire at the time, it just didn’t work out. It happens a lot.

Totally agree. McDermott, and his assistants too, were absolutely wonderful people to work with.

It's really unfortunate things didn't work out for him at Iowa State, but in the end both McDermott and Iowa State's basketball program ended up just fine!

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Wrong coach, at the wrong school, at the wrong time. Coach Mac came to ISU after the AD thought we needed direction in the program, under Morgan, it seemed like the players were running the program, and Morgan had trouble with the recruiting and scheduling scandal, that turned out to be nothing.

McDermott really struggled moving up from the MVC to the B12, he was great at recruiting, but horrible at getting them to stay, we were always losing players at the end of the season. I am just not sure he was ready for a job at a high conference when he took it. Not signing Barnes was the end of the line for him, if he could have signed him, then he might have been able to survive. When Barnes decided to go to UNC, McDermott knew he was finished at ISU and no sense having his son play one year for him and move on, so he sent him to UNI. Remember his son really blew up at Creigton, no one thought he would be nearly as good a player as he was. Glad to see him have the success he had; I just wish it had been at ISU.

 

[rosshm16]

I thought he was a great hire at the time. The story I remember hearing to explain the struggle was that he wasn't a great recruiter by Big 12 standards. Craig Brackins is the only guy I remember from that era who was a highly regarded recruit. Diante was good of course but can't remember if he was a highly regarded recruit or not. Wes Johnson I think was a holdover from Morgan's recruiting although not sure of that.

Would have been nice if he brought Doug McBuckets to ISU.

It turned out good for us in the end and McD always seemed like a good guy despite the ~.500 record while here. If he has ever said anything bad about ISU, I haven't seen it.

 

[Cyforce]

I thought he was a great hire at the time. The story I remember hearing to explain the struggle was that he wasn't a great recruiter by Big 12 standards. Craig Brackins is the only guy I remember from that era who was a highly regarded recruit. Diante was good of course but can't remember if he was a highly regarded recruit or not. Wes Johnson I think was a holdover from Morgan's recruiting although not sure of that.

Would have been nice if he brought Doug McBuckets to ISU.

It turned out good for us in the end and McD always seemed like a good guy despite the ~.500 record while here. If he has ever said anything bad about ISU, I haven't seen it.

If Barnes had committed it would of been a different story I'm sure. When Roy's face popped up on the screen it was over in Ames.

 

[Pope]

If Barnes had committed it would of been a different story I'm sure. When Roy's face popped up on the screen it was over in Ames.

I remember going to the assembly at Ames HS for his big announcement. Talk about a massive let down for 90% of those in attendance...