You are only correct because Maury John passed away and was replaced by Ken Trickey. John coached "belly-button" defense and would have brought ISU a lot of success. He was replaced by a man that didn't give a hoot about defense and wanted to win 120-118. Unfortunately the recruits--including Ivy--were there because of their ability to play defense first and shoot second. Trickey told Ivy to shoot just about every time he touched the ball and scored a lot of points, but the team gave up (a lot) more. Trickey left the Cyclones with this quote "I wasn't fired and I didn't quit." I still have(somewhere, I think) the cassette of that news conference. Don't blame Ivy for the style they played.
Does anyone remember Hercle Ivy?
- Thread starter docholihawk
- Start date
You are only correct because Maury John passed away and was replaced by Ken Trickey. John coached "belly-button" defense and would have brought ISU a lot of success. He was replaced by a man that didn't give a hoot about defense and wanted to win 120-118. Unfortunately the recruits--including Ivy--were there because of their ability to play defense first and shoot second. Trickey told Ivy to shoot just about every time he touched the ball and scored a lot of points, but the team gave up (a lot) more. Trickey left the Cyclones with this quote "I wasn't fired and I didn't quit." I still have(somewhere, I think) the cassette of that news conference. Don't blame Ivy for the style they played.
I'd forgotten about Maury John, had a lot of respect for him. I remember Ken Trickey, respect, not so much.
To me the biggest "what if??" in ISU athletics in my lifetime has always been "what if Maury John had not gotten ill and passed away?" even more that what if Earle Bruce had stayed. He was a very successful coach and had a brand new beautiful building to play in and just seemed to have no downside. If Chris reads this maybe he can do a story and interview Eric Heft about this time period. I think Eric was a senior during the last year Maury John coached just a partial year. I don't think Eric played under Ken Trickey but he might have.
Last edited:
Regarding the what if on Maury John. I was a freshman during his first year, so was three through his entire time up to the sad, but dignified ending. Had he been able to be there to a normal retirement he would have had a major impact on ISU as well as how the game was played in the Big 12. I think the question would be more where the program went after he retired. It would have been following a legend in my opinion. While we would have avoided Ken Trickey and Lynn Nance would they have been able to bring in he right guy. If the timing would have been right for Johnny to still make the jump he did, then "the rest would be history".
Back in 75/76, my best friend played center for the Cyclones. His name is Jim Murphy, and he was a 6'7" player from Treynor Iowa, who had topped the state in both scoring and rebounding his senior year. Murphy was undersized but made up for that with a 38" vertical jump. Also, he was fast up and down the floor, which was perfect for Trickey's style. Far from being the focal point of the offense, Murphy was a good passer whose primary task was to rebound, defend, and get the ball to Hercle. One week, he led the Big 8 in assists; with Hercle being the recipient of those. Unfortunately, the team could score but couldn't defend and the Trickey era was short lived. Murphy didn't fare as well under Lynn Nance, who coached an entirely different style of basketball. Poor Murphy was recruited by Maury John, who died of cancer. He always wondered how different things might have been playing for the legendary coach. Murphy always raved about Hercle's scoring ability which we are still discussing today.
Well they were discussing it 8 years ago. Holy thread resurrection.
Welcome aboard, John.
It is indeed sad that we didn't get to see more of Maury John teams at ISU
He was a scoring machine. Averaged almost thirty points per game as a Junior with a single game high of 43.
After every game he had ice on his shooting shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers. If ISU tried to stall, they had to keep it from Hercle and they would then be playing 4 on 6. Because even Hercle was trying to steal the ball so that he could shoot.
The best pure shooter I have ever seen at Iowa State.
Hey most people would have started a duplicate thread (within a day or 2 of the original thread being created) to discuss virtually the same thing which I think is much worse . Pretty cool he found the old thread
I joked earlier, but you are probably right. If not the best, at least in the top three.
I played in the Pep Band a handful of games during those years. Back then the Pep Band was more or less voluntary, at least for me. The crowds were tiny.
To show you how old I am, I played against Murphy in high school. As good as he was(and he was good), Treynor had some other studs with him.
If you stay at the Sheraton Crown Center during the Big 12 basketball tourney you can meet Mr. Ivy. He generally is lounging around in the atrium. He drives over from STL and stays there.
