Bill Fennelly

[kingcy]

I think Billy has helped get some good players to come to ISU. I also think he needs to have head coaching experience before he becomes head coach here. As long as Jamie is AD I feel when Bill retires we will see someone who is NOT part of this current staff.

If Billy really wants the job he needs to go and coach for someone else for a few years. Maybe get a head coaching job also. He needs 5 years (give or take) away from his dad. The lack of recent outside experience should disqualify him from getting the job. Just like Mouser with football.

 

[NorthCyd]

Fennelly will never get fired but boy does he seem to have a hard ceiling as a head coach.

 

[GT25Ump]

I'm guessing Bill leaves in some kind of Bruce Pearl like manner so Billy gets a shot at it.

That popped in my mind last night. He'll never get "fired", he would be allowed to "retire" and part of me thinks he would/has been continuing to coach because of course he loves it, but also it keeps his kid, along with Jodi & Jamie Steyer, employed. None of us think that Billy would inherit the job unless he would have gone someplace and gained some head coaching experience to prove he could handle the position. BUT to force Pollard's hand and give Billy an opportunity here, Bill would have to do exactly what Bruce Pearl did.

P.S. I don't think he'll do that, I think he'll grind thru the season and retire after THIS season. He may have wanted to hang on until Brown and Crooks are graduated, but I'm not convinced they would be here at this time next year (Brown in particular). Nevertheless, we're all guessing and speculating, NONE OF US KNOW anymore then the next guy, we'll just wait and see as we watch this season take a dump, partially due to injuries, but not totally.

 

[psycln11]

Similar to FB, Pollard already has a shortlist.

Alison Lacey Otzelberger.

She has more head coaching experience than any of our current assistant coaches. Although her MCC team finished 11-20 in her only season.

 

[rosshm16]

Alison Lacey Otzelberger.

She has more head coaching experience than any of our current assistant coaches. Although her MCC team finished 11-20 in her only season.

They can join the MBB soccer field workouts, will fix our S&C shortcomings right quick!

 

[throwittoblythe]

I'm as fed up as anyone, but also realistic to know there will be no change until either: 1) fans stop showing up or 2) Bill retires.

Right now, Jamie is getting better revenue from WBB than most schools. Bill keeps the team competitive enough that people keep showing up. Given the current landscape of college athletics, we can't invest heavily in WBB. So, getting 10K tickets per game (or whatever it is) is good enough for JP with what he has. It's certainly not worth the pain of changing.

Bill will be the coach until he decides he doesn't want to be anymore.

 

[TrulyCyclone]

Fennelly will never get fired but boy does he seem to have a hard ceiling as a head coach.

Seems like more of a University problen.

 

[DGC]

They can join the MBB soccer field workouts, will fix our S&C shortcomings right quick!

I thought while the men do their MMA training maybe the ladies could do some roller derby training?

 

[BoxsterCy]

Similar to FB, Pollard already has a shortlist.

Not if he is just going to hand it over to Billy which is seeming more and more likely.

 

[LurkingClone]

Not if he is just going to hand it over to Billy which is seeming more and more likely.

The shortest of the short lists.

 

[bluestarcyclone]

I'm as fed up as anyone, but also realistic to know there will be no change until either: 1) fans stop showing up or 2) Bill retires.

Right now, Jamie is getting better revenue from WBB than most schools. Bill keeps the team competitive enough that people keep showing up. Given the current landscape of college athletics, we can't invest heavily in WBB. So, getting 10K tickets per game (or whatever it is) is good enough for JP with what he has. It's certainly not worth the pain of changing.

Bill will be the coach until he decides he doesn't want to be anymore.

I mean, why do we act like someone else couldn't do the same thing?

I mean, if his contract only goes through 2027 at this point it sounds like there's going to be change either this year or next year. Usually it seems like you'd see a contract extended by now for recruiting purposes if they were truly going to let him be the coach until he didn't want to be.

 

[ruxCYtable]

Alison Lacey Otzelberger.

She has more head coaching experience than any of our current assistant coaches. Although her MCC team finished 11-20 in her only season.

I would think that would be awfully tough on marriage and family. With the travel by both teams, they'd hardly see each other.

I'd encourage people not to discount Ezell just based on this year's record. She, and Wyoming, is in a very tough spot. They hardly have any money, the Mountain West is in decline, and all their good players leave every year, no matter the sport. It's probably not the same job she thought she was getting into when she took it.

 

[casey1973]

Not if he is just going to hand it over to Billy which is seeming more and more likely.

I don't think that'll happen. Atleast I hope not.

 

[ruxCYtable]

Bill has done an incredible job of resurrecting the program from the graveyard and maintaining a consistent level of success. He never got back to the incredible runs he had in the early 2000s, but he has never had a losing record and has 23 tourny apperences with six sweet sixteens and two elite eights. He's a legend and as long as the program remains competative he should be able to hang it up when he is ready.

My dad (RIP) had a lot of friends in media, and took a lot of mid-late-50s basketball photos in the Armory that you may have seen. One of those friends told us in the early 2000s that, among the media, Bill was thought of as a decent recruiter but not a very good coach. He predicted he'd never reach those heights again after that roster filtered through. At the time I thought he was nuts, but it's been pretty accurate.

 

[isufbcurt]

Realistically, who do people think we will get if/when BF is done? We certainly do not have the money to go after proven names in the sport. I see some of you all are always saying call Brenda or Jenny or whoever, but those are not realistic options on our budget.

Pollard (or whoever the AD is for you people who think Pollard should also go) does not have the money to go big on the next WBB hire. There are so many who think the football and MBB teams deserve all the money and we should be diverting more fund to those programs even at the expense of WBB.

It will need to be someone from a lower rank school who wants the opportunity to move up with the knowledge they will be doing it with little money.

It would be interesting to know who is really on Pollards short list for WBB.

We don't need a big hire. We need someone who can COACH and not let our good teams piss away their seasons.

 

[IcSyU]

I'm as fed up as anyone, but also realistic to know there will be no change until either: 1) fans stop showing up or 2) Bill retires.

Right now, Jamie is getting better revenue from WBB than most schools. Bill keeps the team competitive enough that people keep showing up. Given the current landscape of college athletics, we can't invest heavily in WBB. So, getting 10K tickets per game (or whatever it is) is good enough for JP with what he has. It's certainly not worth the pain of changing.

Bill will be the coach until he decides he doesn't want to be anymore.

The revenue doesnt matter. We also spend a lot on WBB. If the revenue is $500k higher than our peers but we spend $1m more we are still $500k in the hole compared to peers.

 

[hoosman]

Our milkman in the 60's in Davenport was Tom Fennelly, who I believe was Bill's uncle, so there is a chance that I and many in my old neighborhood are related to Bill Fennelly.

 

[rosshm16]

Basketball is a sport where just one really good player can (and with a good coach who can recruit good fits around them, should) make for a really good team. We've had an 11-year stretch (and counting) largely of mediocrity while having an all-time great on the roster, conference player-of-the-year / All-American-type players in Carleton, then Joens, then Crooks. In those years we've had average records of 20-12 (10-8), won more than 23 games only twice, have been a Top 4 seed only twice, and advanced past the first weekend of the tourney only once.

I feel like most good coaches would do a lot more with that talent on the roster.

 

[NorthCyd]

Seems like more of a University problen.

Eh, I'm not a women's college basketball expert but I'm guessing there are plenty of examples of coaches that have reached greater heights at schools that have less institutional and fan support than Fennelly has had at ISU.

 

[acoustimac]

We are spending a lot on Bill. He is either the highest or second highest paid coach in the Big 12. So they are investing money in the program.

There is a number of former players who are head coaches at mid majors. Like Heather Ezell From Wyoming.

Since privates aren’t reported, I can’t find Baylor or TCU salaries. Campbell is reportedly getting between 1.5 and 2 million. Can’t find didly on Colleen, but would expect her to be north of 1 million.
Roberts Utah - over 800k
Payne CU - 850k
Fennelly ISU - 850k
Hoyt OSU - 830k
Miller ASU - 750k plus
Mittie KSU - 780k
Whiting BYU - unknown
Burke UA - 675k
Kellogg WVU - 675k
Messer UCF - 650k +
Mitchell Houston - 600k+
Gerlich TTech - 560k
Schneider KU - 550k before his recent extension
Merriweather Cincy - 500k+

What also should be taken into account are assistant packages. Some schools like tech and Baylor have spent big bucks on assistant coaches who have made considerable impact.