poor larry

Wesley

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Apr 12, 2006
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That sounded very positive for Larry. We will be in much the same boat as us with very few people returning who played significant minutes. Sounds like Larry cleaned the house from the names of the schools thew two people will go to. He sure did like to roll the dice. Let's see how his coaching year unfolds. Nine newbies.

COMMITS:

Name Pos Stars Ht Wt RR(?) video Hometown
Gijo Bain C 6-11 225 - Nassau, Bahamas, NE
Demar Dotson PF 6-9 245 - Harrisburg, IL
DeWayne Green PG 5-10 155 - Saginaw, MI
Jarvis Hill SG 6-2 195 - Starkville, MS
David Howard SF 6-5 220 - Waynesboro, MS
Andre Stephens PF 6-8 220 - Heidleberg, MS
Saiquon Stone SG 6-5 185 - New York, NY
Jeremy Wise PG 6-2 180 - Jackson, MS
Maros Zuffa PG 6-4 190 - Baltimore, MD

Last Year's Roster
Name Pos. Yr. Exp. Ht./Wt. Hometown (last school)
Jason Forte G Sr. 3V 6-5/220 Bay Springs, MS (Bay Springs)
Kendaris Pelton F Jr. JC 6-6/180 Troy, AL (Chipola JC)
Travis Hall G Jr. JC 5-10/186 Baton Rouge, LA (Western Nebraska CC)
Mildon Ambres F Jr. 1V 6-6/215 Opelousas, LA (LSU)
Courtney Beasley G Fr. HS 6-3/215 Huntsville, AL (Brigton Academy)
Kyle Lamonte G Jr. JC 6-3/185 Davenport, IA (Marshaltown CC)
Donatas Visockis C Fr. HS 6-10/220 Siauiai, Lithuania, (Cardinal Gibbons)
Jarekus Singleton G Jr. 2V 6-3/210 Clinton, MS (Clinton)
David Cornwell F Jr. TR 6-8/235 Louisville, KY (Los Angeles CC)
Craig Craft G Fr. HS 6-3/175 Raleigh, MS (Raleigh)
Tyler Quinn G Sr. 1V 6-3/170 Knoxville, TN (Hiwassee CC)
Shaun Simpson F Jr. JC 6-8/245 Cincinnati, OH (Los Angeles CC)
 

melkor

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Apr 17, 2006
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His team was awful last year. I'm not talking ISU last year awful. I mean theese-guys-shouldn't-even-be-playing-at-the-Y awful. If he lost some starters from that team, I would have to guess that at least three of the NINE freaking newcomers could at least be as <strike>good</strike> bad as the departed guys were.
 

Wesley

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Guess he could win 10 gamers and the fans would be happy. Lowered Expectations.
 

Wesley

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One thing about Southern Miss is that it is easier to drive to the bball games in winter and one can be a Redneck and not be noticed on the roads. Not a bad match. Heard that the frat/sorority houses are not as good as in the big 12 schools. Less tempation all around. Jusyt have to be a Southern Baptist to fit in. A far cry from Idaho or ISU.
Wonder if he is making the kind of bucks that he was getting at ISU.
 

CTTB78

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Apr 7, 2006
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When he gets his players, I hope we never have to meet him in the NCAA tournament. The guy is a winner, just look in our trophy case. His name is the ONLY one in there for football or basketball. It's just too bad the situation wasn't handled better.
 

JDog

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Mar 23, 2006
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Larry is the best coach to ever step foot into Hilton. So he drank some beer and touched some college @#%^@.
He is the only coach to win back to back Big 12 conf. championships. Some people say that he did it with Tim's player, but he still had to coach the team to success. It was his team and his players. They were playing for him.

As far as his tenure at Southern Miss, he will eventually win. The program was in shambles and needed stability. Players transferring from a program are not uncommon. He is weeding out the bad and replacing with the good. We owe it to Larry Eustachy to respect him and the things he accomplished here at our beloved ISU. Without him and the things he did, we wouldn't be in the same situation we are right now. We can talk about winning the Big 12 again and succeeding in the NCAA Tourney. I don't believe that the Squackeye fans can say that. Let's tip a drink for Larry and make sure that it is a Light Beer.
 

CYdTracked

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Mar 23, 2006
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I think that Larry had a lot to do with it more than it being Tim's players. Look who he brought in to compliment Fizer, Shirley, Rancik, and Stevie Johnson: Tinsley and Horton. I can't remember if he was responsible for Nurse or not. Larry's first year they were 15-15. He sets his system in place, brings in Tinsley and Horton and they go to the Elite 8 and win 32 games the next season. Then they win another 24 WITHOUT Fizer the next year and brought in some quaility freshmen in Sullivan and Power. He could flat out coach and he got the most out of the talent he had and more. We rebounded and played great man defense and we actually had players that could shoot lights out from 3 point range too. These are all qualities that went down the crapper when Morgan took over.

I think G-Mac will return those qualities to the program that we appreciated under Orr, Floyd, and Eustachy.
 

Wesley

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Apr 12, 2006
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The one problem besides the one he was caught on was that he was pretty negative towards his players and refs. He used the "Sky is falling" routine quite a bit. When he coached, the sky was falling in bball, while our football program under MCC said the "Sun Never sets." Quite a different approach. And only an observation as I do not need my Karma to sink anymore.
 

BryceC

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I still think Larry's tenure is romanticized by Cyclone fans. He had the best year in ISU basketball history, then got bounced by Hampton next year and never made the tournament in any of his other three years. I don't know how a coach can be a national coach of the year and not be able to bring in talent, but he was a terrible recruiter. I feel like I'm in the minority, but I didn't like his meltdowns on the court either. I thought they were unprofessional and classless.

And I don't get the "so what if he had a few drinks with some college kids and got some smooches" crowd. The guy is representing ISU and more importantly, he has a family. I have a hard time respecting somebody who would do that to his wife.

Wesley: Here comes that blow to the karma you were talking about.
 

ripvdub

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Mar 20, 2006
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Speaking Of LE

this morning on my way to work, the morning host on Fox Sports Radio was telling a story about an internet rumor that is true, it involves a man and his townhouse that is home to (some crazy number like) 70,000 beer cans. Instantly they whipped out a Larry Eustatchy joke. And several of the sound bites from the presser when he talked about his alcoholism. It was funny, but i was really surprised that people still remember that.
 

Stormin

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Apr 11, 2006
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I had heard that Tim Floyd was actually the one who had spotted Tinsley and kept him under wraps at the Juco. When Floyd moved on to the Bulls he informed his good friend LE that there was a certain point guard that ISU had been in contact with who he might be interested in. You know the rest of the story.
 

CYdTracked

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I blame Bruce Van DeVelde more than Larry on how his whole alcoholism issue was handled. Apparently Larry's alcohol problem was a well known issue in Ames long before the whole Mizzou mess happened. I know of people that witnessed Larry drunk at bars and harrassing bartenders and nothing was said about it because ISU was winning at the time. Bruce knew about it but never confronted Larry about it despite boosters and locals knowing about Larry's alcohol problem. And we all know know that it was fact that Bruce knew about the Mizzou incident way before the article and pictures came out and decided to let it play out in the media before actiing on it.

I'm not saying Larry was in the right for being an alcoholic, it was a bad choice in judgement on his part but the administration decided to turn the other way on his behavior and that led to the big mess that eventually led to the embarassing events that led to Larry's departure. Had Bruce shown some balls and confronted Larry about his problem and forced him to travel with the team the Mizzou incident may have never happened.

This is all in the past now though and I am very excited about McDermott. But you still have to wonder "what if" had Larry been able to coach Stinson, Blalock, and Clark what they could have done. Many forget Stinson and Blalock committed when Larry was still the head coach.
 

sclotz

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Apr 10, 2006
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I can't believe anyone can/would think that he is a great or even a credible coach...despite him and his coaching I watched the two big 12 championship teams play outstanding ball. Regardless of his personal problems, which obviously affected his professional life, I think he had little to do with those two teams' success. They would have been just as good with or without him. After Tinsley and the pack left he had mediocre teams, with his...not Floyd's players. I wish him well but I am glad he isn't around Ames anymore, it would have been a continuous downward spiral.
 

Excyled

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Apr 11, 2006
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All the players leaving were Larry's Recruits. The year before he lost all 5 of the players he recruited into Southern Miss. They either transferred or quit. Two assistant coaches quit as well. 8 players in two years that didn't pan out, that doesn't sound like a program on the rise to me. I don't miss all the JC recruiting either. That player turnover count may be higher, those are just the numbers I know.

Larry won with Floyds's players: Nurse, Rancik, Johnson, Fizer, Shirley, and I heard Tinsley was discovered by TF or another coach. It's amazing the revisionist history that goes on around here.
 

BryceC

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>
I blame Bruce Van DeVelde more than Larry on how his whole alcoholism issue was handled.
[/b][/quote]

I'll be the first to admit Van De Velde did a terrible job managing that situation. But let's face it, he did a terrible job managing pretty much anything that came his way.

The fact remains that Larry was an alcoholic, and there is a little thing called personal responsibility and accountability that he should have thought about before all of this as well. I don't doubt that it was a bad problem for him and that it has been difficult on him to quit, but it was HIS problem that brought all of the problems around. Van De Velde did a terrible job of damage control, but Larry was the one doing the damage.

Anybody that has paid any attention to the Southern Miss situation should be thankful that they have him and we don't.
 

mj4cy

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Mar 28, 2006
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I know he's had his share of troubles, but I wish him the best as long as he never beats Iowa State:)
 

kuney1

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If he was the coach at Iowa State during the Stinson, Blalock, Clark years, ISU either would have won the Bix XII championship or the players would have quit after one year. It was one way or another with LE. He brought in many talented players during his regime only to have many of them quit. Even Tinsley told LE he didn't sign up to run track. You had to be tough as nails to survive his coaching.
 

CyinCo

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Mar 24, 2006
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Mark my words: If LE can win down there at that crap hole Southern Miss, he'll jump ship to a big program so fast it'll make your head spin. Once he starts winning again, his "rehab" will be complete in the eyes of the media. There will be some ESPN documentary on how Larry turned his life around. He will be a press darling and schools will be throwing serious money at him. This will happen. It will take time. LE is a winner. I wish him the best of luck and I hope he doesn't screw it up again when it all happens.