Has being an ISU football fan nowadays really become the constant flux between - fear of a successful coach leaving & he's 1-1 so it's time for him to move on?
Has the Rot Started to Set In?
- Thread starter Gunnerclone
- Start date
I was attending ISU when we went winless. Moved to Nebraska during the Callahan years. Its been kinda fun watching the Huskers chasing the "grass is always greener" alongside their "we deserve a championship" fan mentality. Don't ever wish that on my Clones...
This is kind of the point of the thread and my OP. This is ISU, it’s been proven over and over that time is not our friend and every time we waste time we get just incrementally more behind the 8 ball. We’re a classic 1 step forward, 2 steps back school for a variety of reasons.
I think TJ can be a cycle stopper there for one reason: he is truly an ELITE recruiter. I don’t know where CMC falls on the levels of recruiters but it is certainly not elite level by any stretch of the imagination.
Two plays changed the game, blocked field goal and 50+ yard run on Iowa’s next series. Team never gave up like TCU last year,
I get that, but Iowa wasn't really dominating us. They just made a few more plays when it mattered. They had a pick 6 that essentially sealed the game for them. Nonetheless, we had the ball with more than enough time to tie the game.
I mean, weve had our best recruiting classes under CMC so im curious what level you would put him on...
We're heading into game 3 with a really young team and bunch of new coaches and some of you are ready to throw in the towel. That's more predictable than our first down play calling.
This is like being the hottest chick in the fatties pageant. TJ is elite on the national level. Not historic ISU levels, not conference level, national level.
Your “feelings”. JFC. I am betting on Matt Campbell. Best coach in Iowa State history.
I think you're making the gambling thing way, way more than it actually is. Guys making a $10 bet on DraftKings isn't the same as some kind of point shaving scandal. Stupid? Yes. But is it a sign of terrible character on the team? I really don't think it is.
Look around college sports at some of the really bad behavior that we see repeatedly at some schools: Michigan State — cough, cough.
We aren't anything like that, thank God.
But I will say that a decent season this year will make me feel a little better about our long term football outlook. We've underachieved the last 2 seasons and lost some momentum.
Then at the end of the season, "we're going to lose the best guys to the portal."
What’s your expectations for ISU football? Should teams always be on an upward trajectory, or can there be ebbs and flows as you transition from young teams to older teams? I personally don’t see ISU as a 7-8 win team every year. But we should have years when we are at that level or better. As long as the lows are still in that 4-5 win area, that’s where this program is IMO.
As long as Campbell avoids the disaster seasons with 0-2 wins and he develops teams to get to that 7+ win seasons frequently, I don’t see any reason to get concerned. But I also lived through the times that a 4-5 win season were seen as a success, so everyone’s base levels may be skewed from when they started following ISU.
Were in agreement that TJ is a better recruiter, but comparing his recruiting to CMC's is a classic apples to oranges comparison. One recruits maybe 3-5 guys, the other recruits close to 25-30?
People trying to make the gambling some grand indictment of Campbell has been odd. Obviously dumb, but some are acting like Campbell kept them around after they were found out. Should he be installing trackers on their phones?
If you want to take up a beef with Campbell there’s plenty that’s far less of a reach than the mental gymnastics around the gambling thing.
Campbell is the best recruiter we have had. Even with the step backwards Campbell is far ahead of his predecessors in having success. Name all the successful football coaches at Iowa State. Only one Coach has taken us to a NY6 Bowl and won it. And you want him fired while not having the horrendously terrible records of the previous coaches.
I think it is an over reaction at this point but I accept that it's more than just losing to Iowa for those folks.
It's knowing you haven't replaced skill positions with players as good as just left in the last couple seasons. It's watching players who move on professionally absolutely blossom in their new situations. It's the feeling that a defense is being wasted by an offense that can't score enough. It's an acknowledgement that, despite making needed changes in the staff on the offensive side of the ball, the head coach will always want a ball control scheme. It's knowing this scheme, employed here, isn't as effective as it is at schools we play against, because ISU is more prone to mistakes because of how young they are. It's KU being offensively solid and saw immediate results on that side of the ball with their hire. It's Campbell consistently brushing off concerns getting under their skins a little bit. AND it's losing to Iowa.
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I don't know if Campbell is an elite recruiter in terms of getting guys on campus and getting them to sign, but he is an elite talent evaluator. Being excellent at that is critically important in the new world of NIL we're in.
There are some vague parallels with the middle of the Rhoads era.
Both Rhoads and Campbell came into bad situations but quickly turned things around and had some substantial success by Iowa State standards. Rhoads pulled some memorable upsets and made a bowl game 3/4 years, something no Cyclone coach had ever done before. Campbell obviously exceeded and transcended even that level of success to incredible degrees from 2017 through 2020 in the "miracle era."
Both both programs sort of "stalled" and backslid after that. Both Wally then and Heacock now were putting some salty defenses on the field, but the offense and special teams were never quite good enough to eek out a lead consistently. Eventually Wally's defense broke down and the program crashed as a result into three-, two-, and three-win seasons, and Rhoads was let go to make way for up-and-comer Campbell.
Not to say it is exactly the same or will play out the same way, but it is the same problem --
Excellent if not championship-quality defense, special teams and offense eating paste.
I think you need three bad years in a row before Pollard would even consider making a change. Even the "bad" Campbell season last year mostly consisted of close losses to high-quality Big 12 teams, not constant blowouts as we saw late in the Rhoads era. I think Campbell is going to rebuild things yet.
Both Rhoads and Campbell came into bad situations but quickly turned things around and had some substantial success by Iowa State standards. Rhoads pulled some memorable upsets and made a bowl game 3/4 years, something no Cyclone coach had ever done before. Campbell obviously exceeded and transcended even that level of success to incredible degrees from 2017 through 2020 in the "miracle era."
Both both programs sort of "stalled" and backslid after that. Both Wally then and Heacock now were putting some salty defenses on the field, but the offense and special teams were never quite good enough to eek out a lead consistently. Eventually Wally's defense broke down and the program crashed as a result into three-, two-, and three-win seasons, and Rhoads was let go to make way for up-and-comer Campbell.
Not to say it is exactly the same or will play out the same way, but it is the same problem --
Excellent if not championship-quality defense, special teams and offense eating paste.
I think you need three bad years in a row before Pollard would even consider making a change. Even the "bad" Campbell season last year mostly consisted of close losses to high-quality Big 12 teams, not constant blowouts as we saw late in the Rhoads era. I think Campbell is going to rebuild things yet.
