Bill Fennelly

[mred]

Of note in that link I posted above:

"School Buyout includes a $700,000 retention payment that will be made to Fennelly on Aug. 1, 2027, only if he is employed by Iowa State on June 30, 2027, or if he is fired without cause before June 30, 2027."

If he does retire after the 26-27 season, he'll likely officially stay on as coach until July 1 for that bonus. But that doesn't mean the announcement and coaching search wouldn't start before then.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Our team was undefeated and top 10 before the very key injuries. That's a longer way of saying no.

 

[HeiseRiser]

Bill's earned the right to finish out next year with this team, but it was time for him to retire quite a few years ago.

 

[CYdTracked]

No way Jamie goes for that. Next WBB head coach will be someone with previous head coaching experience, similar to football.

Been saying this for years. Anyone on the current staff including Billy that has aspirations of one day being the head coach here should have found an opportunity elsewhere to get some head coaching experience. This job will generate interest from experienced head coaches when it does eventually become available.

I realize it's a longshot because they have good jobs already and we probably won't pay the price it would cost to get them but you at least shoot for the moon and make calls to Brenda Freese and Jennie Baranczyk just in case either have any interest. After that former ISU player Heather Ezell is in her 4th season as head coach at Wyoming is someone to keep an eye on. Her teams were 63-38 overall and 38-16 in conference play but looks like this year they are in for a rough season as they are 4-12 and 1-6 so far so I am guessing they lost a chunk of their roster?

I am sure there are plenty of other proven head coaches at the D1 level that will be interested in this job when the time comes. The reason I think next year is it for Bill is because he probably wants to see this junior class through graduation and not have the problem we had in FB with Campbell leaving and all the talent on the roster leave as well. The 27-28 season as it stands now regardless of who is coach is going to be a transitional/rebuild season no matter how you look at it. There won't be any star power returning when that class graduates so even more reason why turning it over to Billy or Steyer would make sense because it's not like they would be the glue to keep a loaded roster intact.

 

[TheJackWePack5]

(Assuming Addy is back healthy before then)… if this team doesn’t reach at least the R32 (heck, even S16 for that matter) they need to heavily consider a change.

 

[cykadelic2]

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

Ezell is the only former player I am aware of who might be considered to replace Bill. This is her 4th season at Wyoming and they are currently 4-12 overall, 1-6 in conference play. In the prior 3 seasons, her teams finished 2nd, 3rd and 2nd in the MWC without an NCAA tourney appearance.

JP should and probably will cast a wide net beyond Ezell for Bill's replacement (e.g. Alison Pohlman, Aaron Johnston) but I am assuming Bill will lobby hard for Ezell and Billy (highly unlikely he gets the job IMO with no HC experience).

 

[CYdTracked]

I have said this in another thread. There is a major rebuild coming, either at the end of this year (players jump in the portal) or at the end of next year (players are out of eligibility) Do the coaching change at that time so there is only one rebuild.
If Bill is done at the end of this year my guess is that everyone, minus AJ (maybe) will leave. I would take another 20 win season to see Addy and Audi for one more year and see them graduate as cyclones.
If the juniors all jump in the portal anyways, just rip the band aid off and do the coaching switch.

There is no doubt we have some players that would get a lot of interest if they entered the portal. Most of us probably have no idea what goes on behind the scenes or if any have or would consider leaving as long as Bill is the coach. Audi's dream was to play for ISU so things probably would have to go really sour for her to want to leave IMO. Even this past offseason the only players who left were Hansford and Joens. There were probably 2 or 3 others that didn't play much last year that could of left like Wilson for instance that chose to stay so the culture in the program must not be as bad as some here seem to think it is if the main players have stayed to this point. Yes we has some players leave in previous years but that is the time we live in now with college sports and we've still made the NCAA tournament every season since the 18-19 season so the portal and players that have left during that time hasn't set the program back as a result.

 

[BoxsterCy]

Of note in that link I posted above:

"School Buyout includes a $700,000 retention payment that will be made to Fennelly on Aug. 1, 2027, only if he is employed by Iowa State on June 30, 2027, or if he is fired without cause before June 30, 2027."

If he does retire after the 26-27 season, he'll likely officially stay on as coach until July 1 for that bonus. But that doesn't mean the announcement and coaching search wouldn't start before then.

Damn, that's a poison pill contract clause seemingly designed to make a Billy hiring the only option. Wow, just wow. Can't believe they agreed to that. How would a new coach even try to put together a team in the interim as a "coach in waiting". This seems like a worse case scenario coming to fruition.

 

[BoxsterCy]

As of the 23-24 season, he was #2 in the conference among public schools currently in the Big 12:

Rank	Name	School	Salary
10	Adia Barnes	Arizona	$1,200,000
23	Bill Fennelly	Iowa State	$850,000
31	JR Payne	Colorado	$730,000
34	Lynne Roberts	Utah	$709,500
38	Jeff Mittie	Kansas State	$670,000
45	Natasha Adair	Arizona State	$650,000
42	Sytia Messer	UCF	$650,000
44	Jacie Hoyt	Oklahoma State	$650,000
48	Mark Kellogg	West Virginia	$575,000
52	Krista Gerlich	Texas Tech	$560,100
53	Brandon Schneider	Kansas	$540,000
57	Katrina Merriweather	Cincinnati	$510,000
63	Ronald Hughey	Houston	$330,000

(source: https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/womens-basketball/coach )

Hughey has since been fired and replaced by Matthew Mitchell, who is making over $600k.

HOWEVER this does not include TCU, Baylor, or BYU. BYU's new coach is probably toward the bottom of the list (he had been an assistant MBB coach at BYU), but Collen at Baylor and Campbell at TCU (who recently got a new extension) are probably near the top.

The Fennelly salary should really include the $200K his son gets. Family income is north of $1M. He makes no bones about it being the "family business", using his own term.

 

[BoxsterCy]

As of the 23-24 season, he was #2 in the conference among public schools currently in the Big 12:

Rank	Name	School	Salary
10	Adia Barnes	Arizona	$1,200,000
23	Bill Fennelly	Iowa State	$850,000
31	JR Payne	Colorado	$730,000
34	Lynne Roberts	Utah	$709,500
38	Jeff Mittie	Kansas State	$670,000
45	Natasha Adair	Arizona State	$650,000
42	Sytia Messer	UCF	$650,000
44	Jacie Hoyt	Oklahoma State	$650,000
48	Mark Kellogg	West Virginia	$575,000
52	Krista Gerlich	Texas Tech	$560,100
53	Brandon Schneider	Kansas	$540,000
57	Katrina Merriweather	Cincinnati	$510,000
63	Ronald Hughey	Houston	$330,000

(source: https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/womens-basketball/coach )

Hughey has since been fired and replaced by Matthew Mitchell, who is making over $600k.

HOWEVER this does not include TCU, Baylor, or BYU. BYU's new coach is probably toward the bottom of the list (he had been an assistant MBB coach at BYU), but Collen at Baylor and Campbell at TCU (who recently got a new extension) are probably near the top.

The Fennelly salary should really include the $200K his son gets. Family income is north of $1M. He makes no bones about it being the "family business", using his own term.

 

[rosshm16]

think he wants Billy to be the heir apparent?

think Jamie will go for that? (imo no)

No way Jamie goes for that. Next WBB head coach will be someone with previous head coaching experience, similar to football.

Can't remember who, and no idea if credible, but someone on here posted a rumor within the past year that in the recent past, Bill offered to retire if Billy would be named the new coach (or something similar, like if Bill was allowed to name the new coach). JP said no thanks, and here we are.

 

[CYdTracked]

Ezell is the only former player I am aware of who might be considered to replace Bill. This is her 4th season at Wyoming and they are currently 4-12 overall, 1-6 in conference play. In the prior 3 seasons, her teams finished 2nd, 3rd and 2nd in the MWC without an NCAA tourney appearance.

JP should and probably will cast a wide net beyond Ezell for Bill's replacement (e.g. Alison Pohlman, Aaron Johnston) but I am assuming Bill will lobby hard for Ezell and Billy (highly unlikely he gets the job IMO with no HC experience).

Agree with you. If you dig deeper into the Wyoming program they only have NCAA tournament appearances in 2008 and 2021. It's not exactly a storied program but it's a type of program that a young coach that is looking to move up the ranks can get a start at.

Wyoming Cowgirls basketball - Wikipedia

If that information is correct Heather already has the 4th most wins of a head coach in program history in just 3+ seasons. Not saying she would be our main target, but she definitely has done something that Billy has not done which is be an assistant at multiple schools and get a D1 head coaching job. Billy's only other non- ISU experience was 2 years as director of basketball operation at Northwestern and 1 year at Maryland with Freese as assistant recruiting coordinator. You can probably make a case that Dad helped get him both of those jobs too.

This is nothing personal against Billy, I just think that if he really wants to take over for Dad some day he should have spread his wings sooner and gone out and got a head coaching job at another school first. I don't know if he never sought it out or if there never was an opportunity for it but we're entering that time frame that Bill is going to retire soon that Billy's chance to get head coaching experience elsewhere has come and gone.

 

[rosshm16]

Also for anyone pining for Brenda Frese, her current salary is about $2m, at a much more successful program. Unless it's her career dream to coach ISU, no chance.

 

[LurkingClone]

Yeah, Pollard isn't paying the next WBB coach anywhere near what he's paying BF.

BF gets that much for his past service and 30 years. New coach will be more like middle of Big 12 earnings, if that.

 

[Messi]

Can't remember who, and no idea if credible, but someone on here posted a rumor within the past year that in the recent past, Bill offered to retire if Billy would be named the new coach. JP said no thanks, and here we are.

if bill wanted to do that move
he needed to have a final 4 run like Kelvin Sampson did and then build his son as successor into contract when stock was incredibly high

 

[ZorkClone]

Can't remember who, and no idea if credible, but someone on here posted a rumor within the past year that in the recent past, Bill offered to retire if Billy would be named the new coach (or something similar, like if Bill was allowed to name the new coach). JP said no thanks, and here we are.

I have no idea if those rumors are true, but the retention payment thing in 2027 makes it seem like Billy is the successor.

If he is the successor, he’s gonna have to up the recruiting for 2027 if he wants to be successful.

 

[hhunter]

If Bill retires or we move on, my first call would be to Heather Ezell. She has done good things at Wyoming as the Head Coach.

 

[cyputz]

Similar to FB, Pollard already has a shortlist.

 

[Peter]

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.

 

[cykadelic2]

If Bill retires or we move on, my first call would be to Heather Ezell. She has done good things at Wyoming as the Head Coach.

Ezell is probably on JP's short list but I think it would be a mistake to restrict his shortlist to those on Bill's tree if the goal is to legitimately contend for conference championships and Final 4 runs which Bill hasn't done for several years. A clean break from Bill and his tree is justified IMO if recent/current results carry through to 2026-27.