+1. Too many people punch drunk on the Elite 8 success...nobody wanted to rock the boat, even when it was apparent during LE's last two seasons that something was going wrong.
Eustacy discussion on DP show
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+1. Too many people punch drunk on the Elite 8 success...nobody wanted to rock the boat, even when it was apparent during LE's last two seasons that something was going wrong.
I don't know how much the contract/money had to do with it. IMO the real problem was LE's attitude and his relationship with BVDV. If the coach and AD would have had a better relationship, the AD could have gotten ahead of the story and LE would still be at ISU. Instead, BVDV was looking for an excuse to get rid of LE and LE gave it to him.
That's why I've never bought LE's alcoholism excuse. Sorry. He drank to loosen up his inhibitions around women.
I've worked around true alcoholics. None of them could hide it.
True but Floyd found Fizer and no big program wanted to touch Tinsley when we found him. Neither were thought of as 1st rounders when they came to ISU. Also look at some of the role players he got a lot of production out of such as Nurse, Horton, Tyray Pearson, etc and even some of Floyd's left overs. Jake Sullivan is another guy we got a lot of mileage out of. That team that won the 2nd Big 12 Title without Fizer we got a lot out of Tinsley and a bunch of good role players. So much in fact they were burnt out at the end of the season and got upset in the last 2 games they played. Those teams were well coached and it showed on the floor because we have yet to see a team rebound and play great defense like those teams since LE left.
are you freaking kidding me? He was drinking with college age adults. Cheating on one's wife is WAYYYY worse. LE was let go due to a conservative staff and enviornment that is Iowa State University. Should have never been let go.
Yeah, sorry, adultry.....being a hypocrite...(if you have read his books)...is 100 times worse than what LE did.
I worked with a guy who told me a story about a coworker before I got there. This coworker infrequently came to work smelling of alcohol, but no one ever reported it because he did a good job and never seemed drunk at work. When the guy eventually got fired, the people who worked with him still refused to admit to any knowledge of his alcohol use, both because they liked the guy and wanted his reputation to be as untarnished as possible, and because they felt guilty about not reporting the alcohol sooner.
I always took the party line from the players and coaches about his lack of alcohol-use-clues as being just that: a party line. Remember how popular Larry was with the students at the time. Hiawatha Rutland got famous in Ames because of supporting Larry.
I know a guy that served Larry a shot of Goldschlager as he left town to drive to the Big XII tourney that year. I know the guy who's job it was to clean up the home bench area after home games, and he says that the pop can almost always smelled of liquor.
As Travman said, if you had your eyes open in Ames, you knew Larry had a problem with the sauce. And Larry himself has admitted that he was a functional drunk, meaning that he had to drink to feel normal, to function. For me, I'd be more surprised to learn he never coached under the influence than if I found out he did.
That being said: I love Larry. I think he's the best coach we've ever had at ISU (and it is opinion, an opinion that I don't feel like derailing a thread over). I think that Will and Curtis had shown up in Ames with Larry instead of Wayne, they'd both be NBA stars and we'd have a banner in our rafters. I feel sorry for him that his addiction ruined the chance he had to live up to his potential. And I, for one, would welcome him back if the opportunity presented itself.
I think if you replace Bruce with President Geoffrey you'd be right. I dont think BVD did much without orders. Just my opinion.
I really beileve the part of the University that didnt like LE couldnt wait to fire him after Pete died. Also, just my opinion.
I wouldn't be so sure of that. I remember listening to a radio interview after the Hampton "unpleasantness". LE was talking about how "they" (I assume meaning him and the other coaches) lost the team at the end of the Big 12 conference season. He never got the team back over the following two years. If he wasn't inebriated while coaching, then there had to be some other flaw that caused him to lose the team.
Quite frankly, I think LE's style of heavy verbal abuse becomes ineffective over time. This is true in any field. Subordinates just start to tune out the name calling and yelling. The very same thing appears to be happening at Southern Miss. From what I understand, he hasn't exactly changed his approach. Two losing seasons, a 20 win season, and back down to 15 wins in year 5.
Most players are loyal, and will not throw their coaches under the bus. That is admirable. But the results speak for themselves. LE's last 7 seasons have not been so hot.
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I think my "eyes" were open to Larry more than anyone on this board, frankly.
Larry was my neighbor, two houses down, when he lived here.
He was a great neighbor. Very friendly. I never saw him drunk...
Just sayin'.
I've heard of stories of him drunk off his you know what harrassing waitresses and bartenders at Wallaby's as one of the stories and this is coming from someone that witnessed it one night. Again, that was not the only incident I've heard multiple people tell either here on this board or just in casual conversation. I do think around his team and around his family he had the decency to be sober but away from them was when the problems occured.
And I tended bar at a bar where Larry frequented. I watched him get sloppy drunk. I watched him drop shots over lunch.
I can count the number of times that I've been noticeably drunk at home before 2am on one hand. I'd bet that being his neighbor probably put you in a bit of a buffer zone.
Like I said, there were a lot of people who were totally unsurprised by the alcohol allegations.
I have heard the same stories, and witnessed one sad incident at Whiskey River with LE bothering my buddy's wife. I don't connect getting "drunk" sometimes in the evenings to being an alcoholic, however...
Again, though, I don't equate LE's boorishness with Pitino's disgusting act, or Eddie Sutton putting lives at risk with his drunk driving.
WHAT!!!!!!! Pitno was having relations with this girl on a table in the resturant, granted it was closed at the time but his friend was sitting at the bar listening to them going at it. hopefully it was not a seafood restuarant. :wink:
Don't see how that is worse than having a few beers with some college kids. Mike and Mike were saying that didn't understand why LE was fired, he didn't break any laws and no one was impregnated.
AND that he was on a team trip, returning from a game, when he very well should have been with the team, he was messing around drinking with co-eds....because he was afraid to fly, or something. Along with the drinking, it was insubordination.
I live far away from Ames and don't get hear interviews/postgame regularly. I did listen to LE on the post game show from time to time over Internet. There were several times when I seriously thought he was IWI (interviewing while intoxicated) during the post game shows. It wasn't slurred speech, but more akin to the "the circle" on That '70's Show. Just kind of whacky, very loose, and free flowing. Other times, he would give more "normal" interviews.
It seems to me that the perfect storm came together to get Larry fired. A couple of subpar seasons, heavy drinking even at ISU events, the drinking photos, and the media and public outcry on the radio waves and internet about the photos. I think if you take away any of those things BVD may have put LE on a leave of absence to address his drinking problem. I also believe BVD took his orders from the prez when it came to the LE mess.
One of the factors that also contributed to LE's firing was initially LE wasn't really forthcoming. I can't remember but I think that time he didn't admit that he was at fault. To certain degree, it must have ****** off the decision makers.
Well, I may be wrong here, but I don't believe that LE was out drinking with legal aged adults as many of you are trying to claim. I agree that he had a drinking problem and should have been allowed to get help. But from what I have been told, he wouldn't admit to a drinking problem at the time and forced BVD into the firing by refusing to look at treatment. LE's drinking went on for years and there have unfortunately been numerous stories about his drinking problem. I have no first hand knowledge of any of this, however MY opinion is that someone with a known drinking problem that won't admit it is potentaily more harmful to ISU's reputation than someone that had a one night affair. No I don't condone the affair. But I still believe that a college coach should not be drinking with underage kids at a party.
C
Cyclone42
Guest
That was the angle I didn't like. He basically got drunk with fans of opposing teams, and I remember hearing at the time that he would insult and put down his own team with those opposing fans.
I was firmly in the "fire Eustachy" category at the time. I was probably wrong, in hindsight. He had just brought Morgan on board, and the combination of Morgan's recruiting and Eustachy's game-day coaching could have led us to great things. Oh, well.
