Pollard Addresses MBB

[Frak]

That is not correct. I believe JP has even said as much. And if indeed we don't, well that just makes JP look worse, actually. Getting into a very long term contract you cannot get out of is a horrible business strategy. You should always have an exit strategy.

We will lose more next year in ticket sales than we will save in waiting out the contract. The only theory I buy is that JP didn't like any of the potential replacements. Which is weak, because it is always a crapshoot anyhow.

No, he hasn't said as much. And he can't. He's not going to say that he's keeping GMac because ISU can't afford to buy him out. Some of you guys really don't understand public relations. I do agree that the hire was a mistake. And Pollard believed enough in "his guy" that he went overboard on the contract to get him. Another mistake...one that I fully expect Pollard to admit when/if he has to pull the plug on GMac, but not UNTIL that day.

Will we lose more in ticket sales next year, though? That is the key. You say it like it is a fact, but it's not. The MBB program only makes $2.5M a year after expenses. So, how many ticket holders do we lose by keeping GMac? 2,000 per game? $500k (GMac's yearly buyout) would be the equivalent of 1,000 full price season ticket holders and 1,000 $99 season ticket holder leaving. So, if it gets worse than that, a change is justified. If not, then it isn't. Believe me, JP has all of the info. He knows how many MBB donors are also FB donors and won't change their donation. He knows how many are long time seat holders and are unlikely to want to lose their seat. He's surely made projections as to how far attendance will fall.

To me, this is a business decision. Pollard is taking a chance that the fans will stand by the program instead of bailing like iowa fans did. He may very well be wrong. If they lose more than $500k in revenue, then he made a bad choice and he'll make a move after next season. IMO the one way people will affect change is to not show up...and I am not advocating that, it's up to every fan what they choose to do with their money. But to say that this is Pollard's ego or stubborness, I think that's ridiculous. This is a business decision that he made in the best interests of the entire athletic department. We'll see if he wagered on the right side.

 

[CykoAGR]

Totally agree. It's a generational thing. Every older generation will always say that the younger generation is corrupt and immoral and has a poor work ethic. One poster here said that we are all lazy because people use riding mowers to mow their lawns! Here's a thought: as technology increases and things that make life easier like riding lawn mowers become available cheaper people will always use them. Why intentionally make life harder on yourself?

Things are different today. We don't have to use push mowers if we don't want to. It doesn't mean we are lazy, it means life is better now. There's a lot of disparaging remarks out there about our "instant gratification" society. What "you" need to understand is that in a lot of ways, that's how the world works now. If I can get what I want now, why should I wait a week or a year? What "we" need to understand is that not everything is about "instant gratification" and in some cases the quick answer isn't the right answer.

I was the poster who mentioned the riding lawn mower. I take full advantage of most of life luxuries and I agree that there is no reason to make life harder than it has to be.

I guess what I was trying to say is that you cannot expect kids to "want" to work hard the day they sign with you basketball team when they have not been forced to work hard at any point in their life up to this time. The culture today has driven kids (mainly because they have known no other way) to expect everything to be easy and if it isnt then I just wont do it anymore. The value of hard work is unknown to many kids under 18 today. How many kids under 14 have cell phones? How many of them do any sort of "work" to "earn" the right to have such a privlidge? Some do, many do not.

 

[GoShow97]

I keep hearing from JP worshipers (employees) how we can't get rid of JP because he's raised so much money. Revenues have mainly gone up because JP has made us fans pay a lot more for a lot less. Doesn't take a genius to raise ticket prices and required donations, and as a result we've got terrible basketball for 4 years and lousy football for 3 of the last 4. Most a.d.s would be on the hotseat, and if JP isn't, Geoffrey's job needs to be on the line.

:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:

 

[Dryburn]

Honestly, BF has lost his entire recruiting class for last year as well from a team which has been deep in the dance for several years. I can understand the argument and definitely think it has some weight. There have been a startling number of transfers the last couple years in all of CBB. If the coaches are the same and the fans are the same, by elimination it has to be the students or the parents.

It has absolutely no weight and here is why. BF is a winning coach! Despite losing that class, BF still wins, and has won every single year he has been at Iowa State except one! He has taken ISU to the NCAA tourney 11 of his 15 years. His teams have reached the Sweet 16 5 times and the Elite 8 twice. He has won over 20 games 10 of his 15 seasons at ISU. He has finished in the top half of the conference standings 10 of his 15 years here. His overall record at ISU is 332-149 and 144-94 in conference. BF is a winner, and one of the most respected coaches in WBB. You honestly believe that the transfers for WBB for one year are comparable to what has happened in MBB at ISU for the last 4 years? You really don't see the difference between the two programs and the situations? Really?

Don't fall for JP's little trick here. He is trying to cover his and GMac's *****......plain and simple. Don't be so naive as to actually believe that what happened to one class for BF is the same as what is happening on the MBB side. For one very simple point......BF lost most of last year's class before this season started......and how did the team respond? He now has lost that last player....do you think the program will take a step back next season? Do you think he will have another strong team? Or will he just reload, and keep winning? Now, after you answer those questions.......ask yourself what is going to happen in the MBB program for next year. See any difference?

 

[sunset]

It looks like every angle of this has been discussed. I'll just add that I am a big JP supporter, but I don't like that letter one bit.

 

[Frak]

I keep hearing from JP worshipers (employees) how we can't get rid of JP because he's raised so much money. Revenues have mainly gone up because JP has made us fans pay a lot more for a lot less. Doesn't take a genius to raise ticket prices and required donations, and as a result we've got terrible basketball for 4 years and lousy football for 3 of the last 4. Most a.d.s would be on the hotseat, and if JP isn't, Geoffrey's job needs to be on the line.

Why do you suppose ISU fans actually PAID for those increases? Are we all stupid? No. The answer is that Pollard sold a vision to ISU fans. "If you want the programs to succeed, you need to get behind them and invest. If you want to be competitive in the Big 12, then you need to pay Big 12 prices. Now is the time, the program is in your hands". Well, many of us bought in to that and are still buying in. WAY too many people like to sit there and ***** while not being an shareholder in ISU athletics. They expect Oklahoma results on a Tulsa budget. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. If you don't care enough to buy a ticket to a game, then shut up. Take a look at how far our facilities have come in the last 4 years. And then think about where we can go in the next 4. It's exciting. Yeah, it sucks that MBB isn't any good right now and won't be for awhile. But it will eventually and we'll have the facilities and infrastructure to take advantage of that success.

 

[IGotThis]

This is nothing more than a CYA statement! I really think that JP is on the hot seat as well right now. He NEEDS GMAC to come through since it was his marquee hire. We are/were a basketball school remember. JP is simply defending his job to the best of his abilities right now. If anyone can not see through that load of crap that he sent out, then wow, just wow.

Not even close bud.....Football is the revenue generator in college athletics...he whiffed on chizeldick and looks like he got a steal in CPR. CPR is gonna make or break Pollard as far as coaching hires are concerned.

 

[Frak]

It has absolutely no weight and here is why. BF is a winning coach! Despite losing that class, BF still wins, and has won every single year he has been at Iowa State except one! He has taken ISU to the NCAA tourney 11 of his 15 years. His teams have reached the Sweet 16 5 times and the Elite 8 twice. He has won over 20 games 10 of his 15 seasons at ISU. He has finished in the top half of the conference standings 10 of his 15 years here. His overall record at ISU is 332-149 and 144-94 in conference. BF is a winner, and one of the most respected coaches in WBB. You honestly believe that the transfers for WBB for one year are comparable to what has happened in MBB at ISU for the last 4 years? You really don't see the difference between the two programs and the situations? Really?

Don't fall for JP's little trick here. He is trying to cover his and GMac's *****......plain and simple. Don't be so naive as to actually believe that what happened to one class for BF is the same as what is happening on the MBB side. For one very simple point......BF lost most of last year's class before this season started......and how did the team respond? He now has lost that last player....do you think the program will take a step back next season? Do you think he will have another strong team? Or will he just reload, and keep winning? Now, after you answer those questions.......ask yourself what is going to happen in the MBB program for next year. See any difference?

Disagree. The letter was talking about attrition, not how you deal with it. Both programs have had attrition, just like the letter states. It just happens that BF is better at dealing with it (and probably preventing it). That's why he's a great coach and better at his job than GMac is.

I took it more as "For as strong of a program as he has and as good of a coach as he is, even BF has had to deal with attrition". Not "GMac's situation is comparable to BFs". For the record, I don't think that the transfer situation is nearly as bad on the women's side overall. Girls don't have the bad AAU influences, the money, the agents. Their game isn't as dirty and they don't have the leeches in their ears telling them to transfer.

 

[VeloClone]

You can go online and find some really interesting research articles about how 100-150 years ago the 'older' generation thought the 'younger' generation was lazy, entitled and was bound for failure.

Uh, it goes back to writings in ancient Greece, too.

But this time we mean it!:wink:

 

[IGotThis]

I respect the hell out of JP, he gets it...I feel sorry for those that don't understand what JP is saying.

That GMAC is no way responsible for Ham, WJ, Lucca, and even Eik leaving?..seems farfetched me to KG.

 

[DaddyMac]

"In the past two years over 500 men’s basketball players have transferred from a Division I team to another program"

How many D1 programs are there? So that's how many transfers per program? Iowa State has had how many?

I think just about any way you want to spin it, this is one area where in MBB we finally DO beat the competition. Or, I suppose depending on your viewpoint, lose yet again.

 

[oldman]

Anyone who buys this is being manipulated.


Any of you over 40 y/o folks remember what your parents were saying about those hippies while you were growing up? Now there is a generation that did nothing but sit around singing and smoking pot. Country is screwed when those hippies are running it.

I remember, and looking around, I believe they were right.

 

[Jack & Hilton]

We should have players leaving for the NBA, not to transfer up to division one from our juco

 

[Al_4_State]

I think it's kind of funny how everyone assumed Chizik was just going to continue to fail. He was bringing in Gus Malzahn as OC. Now that he has a legit staff around him, he'll be fine.

Chizik is an arrogant bastard who used ISU, but he has the ability to be a solid football coach. Criticizing JP's handling of Chizik is a little short sighted.

The guy screwed the pooch on basketball, but it's like some of you want to go back to the days of old. You want success and don't want to pay for it. That just doesn't happen anywhere. If we had kept football ticket prices down, we'd never be able to upgrade anything, and we'd be screwed in the recruiting battle.

In regards to running JP out of town, be careful what you wish for. We could have Bruce Van De Velde in charge.

 

[azn4cy]

I think it's kind of funny how everyone assumed Chizik was just going to continue to fail. He was bringing in Gus Malzahn as OC. Now that he has a legit staff around him, he'll be fine.

Chizik is an arrogant bastard who used ISU, but he has the ability to be a solid football coach. Criticizing JP's handling of Chizik is a little short sighted.

The guy screwed the pooch on basketball, but it's like some of you want to go back to the days of old. You want success and don't want to pay for it. That just doesn't happen anywhere. If we had kept football ticket prices down, we'd never be able to upgrade anything, and we'd be screwed in the recruiting battle.

In regards to running JP out of town, be careful what you wish for. We could have Bruce Van De Velde in charge.

I'll agree with that. people were all talking about giving McD more time after year 2, but we just assumed Chizik would continue to go 2-10 every year? I still maintain he would have been fine, eventually.

JP is doing a decent job overall, he just needs to stop writing petty emails out that ignore the real reason people are angry about MBB.

 

[Cyclonestate78]

Why do you suppose ISU fans actually PAID for those increases? Are we all stupid? No. The answer is that Pollard sold a vision to ISU fans. "If you want the programs to succeed, you need to get behind them and invest. If you want to be competitive in the Big 12, then you need to pay Big 12 prices. Now is the time, the program is in your hands". Well, many of us bought in to that and are still buying in. WAY too many people like to sit there and ***** while not being an shareholder in ISU athletics. They expect Oklahoma results on a Tulsa budget. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. If you don't care enough to buy a ticket to a game, then shut up. Take a look at how far our facilities have come in the last 4 years. And then think about where we can go in the next 4. It's exciting. Yeah, it sucks that MBB isn't any good right now and won't be for awhile. But it will eventually and we'll have the facilities and infrastructure to take advantage of that success.

I agree with your sentiment in theory. That being said it brings about one huge question that has yet to be answered. JP told the fans to step up and they have in record season ticket sales, donations, highest membership level in the history of the NCC, etc.... This all happened during a time of economic decline during which most people have felt the effects. People have tightened up their own personal budgets yet still found a way to support the Cyclones both in attendance and donations. I would say the fans have done a fantastic job of stepping up to the plate and during hard times financially makes it even more impressive.

JP has done a fine job selling his vision for ISU Athletics and getting the fan base to buy into it. His marketing campaigns have been excellent to date. There is no doubt that he is a great fundraiser. That is only part of his job and only accounts for a portion of his job performance though. He is in charge of putting our athletic programs in a position to succeed based on his decisions of who he selects to run these programs. It isn't a perfect science and every decision he makes isn't going to pan out. GMAC looked like a good decision at the time he made the hire but as is very evident it was not a good hire as he has failed miserably. I think it is more then fair for Cyclone fans to now go to Jamie and ask him to step up and do his share of the heavy lifting. This isn't about being right and wrong. This isn't about being petty. This is about being sold a vision for ISU Athletics by the man who isn't holding up his end of the bargain that he got so many ISU fans to invest in.

 

[Dryburn]

I respect the hell out of JP, he gets it...I feel sorry for those that don't understand what JP is saying.

Gets what? God, you are so condescending sometimes!

So, apparently, you must feel sorry for the majority of the ISU fan base, because it appears that most of us "don't understand" what JP is saying.

I understand. He is trying to pass the blame for the transfers onto anyone else but the head coach. Not surprising that you would agree with that, since you have not blamed a single problem in the program on GMac since day one. It has always been someone else's fault, or it is a problem that is really not there, and only exists in the minds of the fans.

It just amazes me that it is so obvious how far this program as declined over the last four years, and yet some people want to blame everyone but the incompetent head coach.

Sure athletes are transferring all over the country. But to act like what is happening at ISU is just like everybody else's situation is just stupid and naive, and I'm not buying it.

Tell me one other example where a two-year starter, all-conference player was willing to leave a school, sit out a year, transfers, and became a likely lottery pick in the NBA draft. Show me another school where a starter leaves mid-season, when the team still looked promising, and lies about the reason that he is leaving, saying that he has to go at mid-season because otherwise the opportunity will be gone. A statement later denied by the team that signed him. Show me another school where a starter who shows all kinds of promise for the future leaves and lies that he wants to go to a school "closer to home" and then transfers within a couple of weeks to a school much further away from his home.

If you really think the situation at ISU is just typical, and is just what is going on in college sports today, then I feel sorry for you. Your loyalty lies with the coach, not with the program or with ISU.

 

[Cyclonestate78]

In regards to running JP out of town, be careful what you wish for. We could have Bruce Van De Velde in charge.

The day that pig bastard returns to be the AD at ISU is the day I become a hawk fan.

 

[GeronimusClone]

The day that pig bastard returns to be the AD at ISU is the day I become a hawk fan.

I wish there was a junk punch option on here.
Nothing could make me do something that drastic.

 

[GoShow97]

I think it's kind of funny how everyone assumed Chizik was just going to continue to fail. He was bringing in Gus Malzahn as OC. Now that he has a legit staff around him, he'll be fine.

Chizik is an arrogant bastard who used ISU, but he has the ability to be a solid football coach. Criticizing JP's handling of Chizik is a little short sighted.

The guy screwed the pooch on basketball, but it's like some of you want to go back to the days of old. You want success and don't want to pay for it. That just doesn't happen anywhere. If we had kept football ticket prices down, we'd never be able to upgrade anything, and we'd be screwed in the recruiting battle.

In regards to running JP out of town, be careful what you wish for. We could have Bruce Van De Velde in charge.

+1