Eustachy is on KXNO

[Ficklone02]

The "what-ifs" can be anything you want them to be. The "what-weres" are there in black and white. He caught lightening in a bottle for 1 year when we were potential natl champions. The second "great" year showed the wheels spinnning off the bus at an alarming rate (Baylor in conf tourney, Hampton)...

We should all be looking ahead to the future. Dwelling in the past is for folks who've quit trying.

If you call the second year, "wheels spinning off the bus" go ahead...but I'll never blame him for working our team extra hard in the regular season to win the Big 12 conference outright. They seemed to run out of gas at the end, but trying to downplay two regular season conference championships in a league of 12 makes no sense.

 

[CYdTracked]

I'm still amazed about how many people here can trash both Eustachy and McCarney after all they did here. Both had some down moments obviously but Mac brought unprecidented football success while Eustachy had the basketball program 3 minutes away from the final 4, won back to back conference titles, and we are still one of the few teams to take it to Kansas. I'm not up on KU history but how many teams has KU had a 4 game losing streak against or lost back to back games at the Fog against?

Maybe some of you took all that for granted but I'm proud to say that I was attending ISU during the most successful all-around sports period in our history. How many of us can say that ISU went 4-0 or in my case 5-0 against Iowa while they were at ISU or won back to back conference titles in men's basketball or had the men and women's teams win both regular season and tournament conference championships in the same year? How can people still find a way to tear down 2 of the best coaches ISU has ever had after all that? Their ISU endings might have not been glorious but some here seem to come off as they were terrible coaches and we should have never hired them.

 

[jsb]

I think from reading this, we should note a few things:

1. Larry obviously had a problem. I think the Iowa State athetlic department did a bad job handling said problem. But I think that the end result (Larry being terminated) was right for both him and for us.

2. Larry gave the 2 best seasons in Iowa State history. No one can take that away from him or from us. And for those 2 seasons (which happened, as a bonus, to be my junior and senior year in college), we should always be thankful.

3. We are currently in a mess in our basketball program because due to the athletic department's bungling of the firing. We had to settle for a nice guy as a coach who had been fired at his previous stop in a much smaller school. Larry is not responsible for Bruce's inability to hire a coach. I think it is safe to assume that if Jamie Pollard had been the AD, Larry would have still been fired, but we would have ended up with a better caoch.

4. Larry has gone out of his way to do good things for Iowa State since he left. Coming to the Barry Stevens game had to have been a turning point for him. It certainly was for me. It was kind of cathartic to be able to give him the sendoff that he deserved for 2000 and 2001.

 

[SpokaneCY]

If you call the second year, "wheels spinning off the bus" go ahead...but I'll never blame him for working our team extra hard in the regular season to win the Big 12 conference outright. They seemed to run out of gas at the end, but trying to downplay two regular season conference championships in a league of 12 makes no sense.

Not downplaying it at all - but some posters seem to think it happened throughout LE's tenure and that just isn't the case. Like I said, LE caught lightening in a bottle and for schools like us, thats what needs to happen every so often. Hopefully one day GMac or some other coach will get us to the point where we are consistently succesful and are always seen as a threat to go deep in the tourney.

 

[Psyclone]

In hindsight the firing probably was the wakeup call he needed but at the time I was frustrated with ISU just tossing him to the curb and showing no compassion to help him get the help he needed. He didn't violate any NCAA rules or laws.

That's an easy thing for most of us to think, but it's just possible that the law was laid down privately and Larry didn't respond. The events we saw take place, may have been the last straw, not one of the first.

It's also possible, that the AD was too weak to really exert his authority when it was called for, and that it was too easy for Larry to blow him off. At least until the AD was forced into severe action by the President.

 

[joefrog]

Did LE do some great things while at ISU, you bet. Did he think he was bigger than the school and the program? Absolutely. If memory serves, didn't he claim that he would not fly, but would always drive himself? Yet the team would fly? You think maybe he had some drinking to do? BVDV should have ended this right there. You start letting things slide and everything goes to pot. Look over at Iowa City, it is a slippery slope.

I am not into character assassination, but I returned and finished school in 2002 and 2003. Let me say I was not very proud of LE. I would never have let my kid play sports for him. Ever. I was all for him getting fired, not therapy, fired. That is the only way people with problems like he had (has) ever learn.

Don't compare LE to McCarney. Mac was a great guy and a wonderful representative for ISU. He was routinely used to help recruit for other sports, and he gave his time without a thought.

Sorry if I seem like an optimist, but I really am happy with McDermott. Do I want better results? Sure. But I think they are coming, and I also think we will be playing the game the right way and winning with honor and dignity.

 

[tigershoops31]

And he's competing with C-USA talent. You can't make the argument both ways to his detriment....pick a side. Given the talent LE is an outstanding coach.

I was about to make the same point...if he was in the big 12 he'd have better players...you can only judge a guy by the level he's coaching at and who he competes with in his league. Can we say that Coach K isn't a good coach since his Duke teams are just playing ACC teams instead of NBA competition? What I see from those records is that he took over a crappy program and has it on the upswing both in and out of conference...

 

[HILLCYD]

Suggestion:

Go to the top of the page and click "Search".

Then type: Eustachy

Read through the 100s if not 1000s of posts talking about Larry, Wayne, Johnny, coach Mac.

Come back and try to make a point or orginal post that hasn't already been made.

 

[tigershoops31]

That's an easy thing for most of us to think, but it's just possible that the law was laid down privately and Larry didn't respond. The events we saw take place, may have been the last straw, not one of the first.

It's also possible, that the AD was too weak to really exert his authority when it was called for, and that it was too easy for Larry to blow him off. At least until the AD was forced into severe action by the President.

Thats not true and you know it Bruce...you would have been the first to shout it to the mountaintops if you had laid down the law EVER on LE prior to his firing. For crying out loud, you took so much crap for just canning him you'd have been scrambling like a fat spider crab to save a little face (and ultimately your job) if you actually had anything you could have said like this.

 

[Palmer]

Suggestion:

Go to the top of the page and click "Search".

Then type: Eustachy

Read through the 100s if not 1000s of posts talking about Larry, Wayne, Johnny, coach Mac.

Come back and try to make a point or orginal post that hasn't already been made.

holy crap.....nice friendly moderation is good to see.

Old Larry brings out the grumpy folks.

Not much else to chat about until 8/28.

 

[HILLCYD]

holy crap.....nice friendly moderation is good to see. Not much else to chat about until 8/28.

I was planning to go to the zoo and see the monkeys.

 

[cy1225]

That's an easy thing for most of us to think, but it's just possible that the law was laid down privately and Larry didn't respond. The events we saw take place, may have been the last straw, not one of the first.

It's also possible, that the AD was too weak to really exert his authority when it was called for, and that it was too easy for Larry to blow him off. At least until the AD was forced into severe action by the President.

Besides the 10 year contract Gene Smith awarded LE after one good season have you ever heard of "due process." Just ask Ohio State what happens to fired coaches who are not awarded due process. Without due process the university would have owed $10 million but that did not happen because the situation was handled appropriately. I am sure the attorneys, Prez and AD had a big part in how things played out.

 

[Palmer]

I was planning to go to the zoo and see the monkeys.

Hey...my kids like it.

 

[Tornado man]

Cyclone fans who minimize LE's behavior simply have no clue. The rest of the Big XII's coaches were alarmed too, with his behavior at coaches' meetings. Roy Williams and others cornered him at times, and tried to talk to him, but to no avail.
Also, how is BVD to blame? Prior to those pictures coming out, exactly how many fans would have supported BVD over LE? Absolutely no one. Give me a break.

 

[Wesley]

Well, at least he is sticking to his sad story. Still would tend to think the alcohol allowed him the fraternize better with the young gals. He did get divorced so he did have a relationship problem. He did well with talent but tended to alienate some of the players. He is water over the dam. I just hope McD can bring some water back to the program.

 

[BryceC]

How can people still find a way to tear down 2 of the best coaches ISU has ever had after all that? Their ISU endings might have not been glorious but some here seem to come off as they were terrible coaches and we should have never hired them.

I hope nobody is misconstruing what I say as tearing down Larry or Mac. I loved both of those guys and if you go back a ways you'll find that I was very upset when Mac was let go. I was upset when Wayne was let go for that matter. I have a lot of respect for all of our coaches even if some people around here find me overly critical of them. I don't want to see anybody let go, ESPECIALLY any of our current crop. They work extremely hard and I know ISU isn't an easy job.

Larry and Mac did some absolutely great things in their time on campus. That doesn't mean that I want them back as our coaches or I don't think it was a good idea to fire them. Especially in hindsight now I fully support the decisions made at the time.

 

[capitalcityguy]

Suggestion:

Go to the top of the page and click "Search".

Then type: Eustachy

Read through the 100s if not 1000s of posts talking about Larry, Wayne, Johnny, coach Mac.

Come back and try to make a point or orginal post that hasn't already been made.

I think the relevancy of this topic under a new discussion (at least as far as why I posted my comment today) is that I'm still in a bit of a funk at this point in time about the handling of the LE situation Today's interview with LE reminded me of this so I was curious to hear if others are too at this point in time.

Please don't take this as that I've given up on McDermott. It would be more fair to say I was never completely on board. That is, I believe he is a good coach. I just don't see anything in his past resume to make me believe he can bring us back to the level LE had us at one point.

To be fair, I was very lukewarm when LE was hired. However over time, he proved his extraordinary coaching talents and thus I will never believe otherwise (within reason of course). There can only be so many great coaches and to this day, I believe we were fortunate enough to have had one of them.

 

[capitalcityguy]

One other point that I'm sure many will not agree with but I truly believe we had a chance to benefit from in the long term is this. After this incident, LE had gained national name recognition. Yes, it was not from a positive situation, but there's a reason there's an old cliché that says, "there's no such thing as bad PR". When this story broke, more people nationally knew the name Larry Eustachy then ever knew the name Johnny Orr. Once he turned his life around, he adds a great human interest story to his name recognition.

The networks want names attached to their big games they put on the air. People want to pay to watch players and coaches they know and have heard of. Players want to play for "big name" coaches. It all adds to the excitement of the product.

I can respect someone who says "if that is what we have to go through to be associated with a big name coach, then I'm not interested". That's fine. But this is ISU. Not exactly big time to those outside the state of Iowa. Eustachy became big time in terms of name recognition and with any later successes, would have continued to build on that (in a positive way) to a level that it extremely hard for any program to attain.

 

[Tornado man]

One other point that I'm sure many will not agree with but I truly believe we had a chance to benefit from in the long term is this. After this incident, LE had gained national name recognition. Yes, it was not from a positive situation, but there's a reason there's an old cliché that says, "there's no such thing as bad PR". When this story broke, more people nationally knew the name Larry Eustachy then ever knew the name Johnny Orr. Once he turned his life around, he adds a great human interest story to his name recognition.

The networks want names attached to their big games they put on the air. People want to pay to watch players and coaches they know and have heard of. Players want to play for "big name" coaches. It all adds to the excitement of the product.

I can respect someone who says "if that is what we have to go through to be associated with a big name coach, then I'm not interested". That's fine. But this is ISU. Not exactly big time to those outside the state of Iowa. Eustachy became big time in terms of name recognition and with any later successes, would have continued to build on that (in a positive way) to a level that it extremely hard for any program to attain.

Southern Miss averaged 3,600 fans per game last season. Apparently they are unaware that they have a "big time, big name" coach.

 

[capitalcityguy]

That is far too narrow of a perspective IMO to understand what I'm saying.

My "opportunity lost" point (of course) assumes he isn't canned and sent packing to coach in the sticks. Once he was fired, both parties lost out on this opportunity.