Really?

[CylentButDeadly]

I'll never not support the program but I reserve my right as a fan to be upset about the product I'm seeing on the floor. It's one thing to lose a game, but it's how we lose games that really irritates me.

It's terrible that we are having these type of discussions, and I really do want Mac to succeed at ISU, but I have seen nothing from his 3.5 years that makes me believe he's ever going to produce more than a mid, to bottom level B12 team that consistently hovers around or finishes under .500.

 

[chuckd4735]

Not buying tickets is a lose lose. If they happen to be good you will regret it. If they are not you have contributed to not having the money to buy out McDermott. Not a very well thought out plan.

I look at it in the way of "what else can I do with that $99". I'll still donate to the NCC, because that shows i support athletics at ISU, which overall have been pretty stressful. However, I have bought season tickets all 4 years of McDermott's tenure, and have yet to see a return on that investment. If anything, I will increase my NCC donation by $99.

 

[hursts]

I have never posted before, so ignore this if you choose. As an old clone I have hit this site for several years as a great source of ISU basketball information. I thank Chris for that and commend kg-clone and cysmydog for great insite. But now I have stop shaking my head and respond.

What happened here? When did some of you decide State was a basketball power? Are you kidding me with all this? Fire the coach? For what? Because you constantly over rate your own players and expect him to win championships because of it? ISU has had three good basketball teams in forty years. There is one mens athletic program at ISU that will consistantly compete at the top of the national scene, and it is not football or basketball. ISU basketball is a history of a few great players, some big upsets, and a fantastic college sports atmosphere. Embrace that.

The problem is not the coach, or the point guard, or the superstar. It is the constant over reaction to losses and unrealistic expectatons after wins. GM is a good coach and a good man. Support him. The players play for ISU, the state of Iowa, and for you. They are kids. Love em. Stop acting like it's something it's not. Just expressing your frustration? Find another way besides hurting the program. If you don't think all the crap posted on this site is doing that, then wake up. When you google Iowa State Cyclones you get here pretty quick. Think about it. People are watching.

I assume this site was formed as an electronic gathering place for a nation wide community of Cyclone fans. It is becoming destructive to the very programs it is meant to support. We are not Kansas. We are not Texas. Never will be, and that's a good thing. They are not us either. Having pride in who you are is not settling. It is living.

Stop already. Please.

jmo
GO CLONES!

Three good basketball teams in forty years? I can count 1995-1996, 1996-1997, 1999-2000, and 2000-2001 just off the top of my head that were very good basketball teams. Johnny Orr also had some dangerous teams and routinely went to the NCAA tournament. ISU fans aren't expecting to win the conference or go to the Final Four every year. What they do expect is a coach to lead them to at least the UPPER half of the conference once in a five year span. We will likely finish 9th or worse in the Big 12 again. Are we supposed to be satisfied with that? I know I am not.

 

[Cyhart]

As I asked before, what is a reality check? In your opinion, what are realistic expectations for Iowa State (I started a new thread about this)?

4 straight losing seasons? No post season for 4 years? Not beating a ranked opponent? Constant player defections? Losing to the South Dakota State's and Hawaii's once per year? Are those realistic?

They dont have an answer to this. Its easier to simply say we are unrealistic. Or even lump us all in with posters like FCMC.

 

[tellmac]

I think it was Tim Floyd who said if you have at least two NBA prospects on the team,you should have a GOOD team and go deep into the NCAA's.

 

[CyCrazy]

Not buying tickets is a lose lose. If they happen to be good you will regret it. If they are not you have contributed to not having the money to buy out McDermott. Not a very well thought out plan.

Ya because my 100 dollar season ticket is a big dent in that buyout. My guess is that Pollard would notice the dent in ticket sales a lot quicker and be forced to make a decision. You do know that ISU owns Hilton again so they get all the profits and suffer the losses if people stop showing up. Dont you think having Hilton look like Carver's attendance might force his hand. Please think before you type.

And if your wondering Im not going into hilton until a change is made.

 

[weR138]

They dont have an answer to this. Its easier to simply say we are unrealistic. Or even lump us all in with posters like FCMC.

This is what I'm seeing too. I love the "win at all costs" line. What a load of BS. Most rational fans want hope that we can get to the tourney once every few years. Right now we don't have that. There is nothing about the current regime's performance to make anyone think so.

 

[CloneIce]

The problem is not the coach, or the point guard, or the superstar. It is the constant over reaction to losses and unrealistic expectatons after wins.

That is the single most ridiculous thing I have ever read. The problem isn't the consistent losing, its because the fans don't like losing and watching terrible basketball? Its the fans fault because we believe ISU could at least make the postseason once in 4 years. Please.

This has been the worst 4 years of ISU basketball in decades. Terrible player retention, poor recruiting, lack of intensity and focus... my god we are last in the Big 12 in every major defensive category except blocked shots! That is an embarassment with the experience and solid frontcourt we have returning.

Some people seem to forget that we fired Morgan to "make basketball our flagship program." These same people now forget (or haven't even paid enough attention to realize) that we have been worse every year under Gmac than the season that got Morgan fired!

For most of us it is about being a fan of ISU basketball, for some it is about blindly supporting a coach instead of the ISU Bball program. Some people have lost their grasp on reality in an attempt to justify their weird personal attachment to GM.

 

[CYKOFAN]

A good coach can win at ISU, pure and simple. No we don't expect to routinely compete for Big 12 titles or final 4's, but NCAA tournaments 40-50% of the time and NIT's most of the rest is reasonable and doable. GMac's problem is he has not come close to even reasonable expectations so far, and his window of opportunity to keep selling his program to fans and recruits is closing fast.

 

[WalkingCY]

Baring a miraculous turnaround this season, I highly doubt I will purchase season tickets next year if McDermott is still here, and I sit in the $99 seats. Other than the Texas game this year, I have been completely bored sitting in my seat and watching this team. It just does not get better! I will find better way to spend my money if I am going to keep watching what we have for the past 4 season.

I'm with you. I really would love it if GM could proove me wrong, right the ship and have a great finish to the season....and I would gladly eat crow.......but I know this season will end in failure. I really hate to say it. I love my alma mater and I love Iowa State Athletics. But I can not continue to support this Coach. I will drop my season tickets too after this year. It really isn't fair that this guy would even get to keep his job after doing so poorly with the program. LE and WM were just absolutly screwed in my mind.....and this guy....can't even put a team in the NIT and he gets to keep a B12 coaching job? At ISU? Playing in Hilton? Outragious....and I will not stand for it.

I hate the freaking mediocre talk about ISU. ISU can be a BIG TIME player in the College Basketball world. (Was a big time player with LE....whom should have NEVER been let go) When you have 13k+ butts in the seats to watch this ****.....we have some unbelievable fans.....the best. But I really can't stand the fact....after 4 major failure of seasons that we would even think to keep this guy here. I really don't care what any one says about me not getting season tix next year.....I will not support this guy....cause I know that it will be another epic failure next season as well. He has no control of this program. And I am sick of this BORING/undisciplined basketball. He is driving ISU MBB into the ground.

 

[CloneIce]

Yes in Brackins and Gilstrap... Name one other player that would start on another Big 12 team

How do people fail to understand that recruiting and developing Big 12 level talent is the coaching staff's job #1? Seriously, its not that hard to understand.

Absolving a coach of responsibility for his teams' performance because the players HE RECRUITED are not very talented is an exercise in stupidity.

 

[cyphan]

I only know one way...keep working to get better. But that's doesn't work for you does it?

Work harder huh? That's your answer to this train wreck we have? I work in sales with someone who hasn't brought in business for over 2 years. This person collects their salary and doesn't bring in the company a dime. Not going to last long in this business. They may work hard, but the result is the same. In sales, you can work your fannie off, but it takes relationships to get the deal done.

I'm sure GMac and his staff work hard, but a change is needed. I'm not saying GMac has to go, but maybe we need to replace an assistant who can better develop the players we have or recruit better talent. Maybe Rutter should go and Hornacek hired? I don't know much about our assistants but I would assume Rutter is more of a development coach helping Mac with X's & O's while TJ and Danyial recruit.

Whatever the case, something is not working and a change is needed. Adapt to the demands of this league and the players today or hand the keys back to our program so we can find someone who can win here.

 

[ddisu]

Someone posted a while back about the BCS conf teams (76 total teams) that have not made any post season apperance of any kind in the last 3 years. Iowa and Iowa State are both on that list of 6 total teams. I would like to think there are not 70 better teams in those confrences than ISU, but apparentlly that is not the case.

I am still not sure what to do with GMac. You can blame all the problems on injuries, transfers, hard knocks, etc. Guess what? Every team deals with those issues. It's just that those other 70 schools somehow overcame them to make some sort of post season tournament.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Ya because my 100 dollar season ticket is a big dent in that buyout. My guess is that Pollard would notice the dent in ticket sales a lot quicker and be forced to make a decision. You do know that ISU owns Hilton again so they get all the profits and suffer the losses if people stop showing up. Dont you think having Hilton look like Carver's attendance might force his hand. Please think before you type.

And if your wondering Im not going into hilton until a change is made.

I meant on a large scope. Many people have been talking about doing that. Why do you guys just think Pollard can just cut checks any way he wants? If he were to buyout Mac this year your new coach you want O so bad would likely be junk. We couldn't afford anyone other than that. Do really not get that at all? Do you think if they are losing money they can afford to do something more expensive? By the way you contradicted yourself. You say that your ticket didn't matter but then go back to say lower attendance would cause a loss in profit.

That's fine if you don't want to go, I don't really want you to go because you're the guy in the restroom that comes in and ******* about everything at halftime. I would expect, however, that you wouldn't go if they were successful next year. I will guarantee that doesn't happen though. If they started off 14-0 you would be there.

 

[kg-cyclone]

How do people fail to understand that recruiting and developing Big 12 level talent is the coaching staff's job #1? Seriously, its not that hard to understand.

Absolving a coach of responsibility for his teams' performance because the players HE RECRUITED are not very talented is an exercise in stupidity.

At least the discussion is turning in the right direction...

 

[hursts]

That is the single most ridiculous thing I have ever read. The problem isn't the consistent losing, its because the fans don't like losing and watching terrible basketball? Its the fans fault because we believe ISU could at least make the postseason once in 4 years. Please.

This has been the worst 4 years of ISU basketball in decades. Terrible player retention, poor recruiting, lack of intensity and focus... my god we are last in the Big 12 in every major defensive category except blocked shots! That is an embarassment with the experience and solid frontcourt we have returning.

Some people seem to forget that we fired Morgan to "make basketball our flagship program." These same people now forget (or haven't even paid enough attention to realize) that we have been worse every year under Gmac than the season that got Morgan fired!

For most of us it is about being a fan of ISU basketball, for some it is about blindly supporting a coach instead of the ISU Bball program. Some people have lost their grasp on reality in an attempt to justify their weird personal attachment to GM.

Great post. What I want all the McDermott backers to answer is exactly how much time is enough to give him to make a post-season tournament? If we don't make at least the NIT next year will all the people who support him now finally admit that he isn't getting the job done? McDermott is in charge of the worst four year period in Cyclone basketball in the last 25 years. Those are the facts. Trust me if the team we have this year isn't good enough to make the NCAAs next years isn't going to be either.

 

[oldman]

Pollard fired Morgan because he wasn't happy with the results. I would love to see a reporter ask Pollard to compare GMac's performance to that of his predecessor.

I was always a GMac supporter but I have had concerns every year with the make up of his recruiting classes. They always seemed to be lacking something. Either not enough of this or too much of that. Never a strong post presence though. You need tough guys to win in the Big 12 (see Mizzou and Kansas State). After four years, GMac still hasn't figured that out so why should we continue to trust that he will get it done in the future.

At least Wayne Morgan had some promising young talent/recruits signed up when he was canned. We can't say that about GMac. With the possible exception of Colvin, our young talent would have to be ranked near the bottom of the Big 12.

I think WG got canned for several reasons. Poor year with basically the same players as the year before (except Homan, who was a pretty big loss). The company that was hired to help put together our non-conference schedule. I don't remember a lot of the details on this, other than the news media took it and ran with it, as some sort of shifty deal. Using these two reasons as an opportunity to get an up-and-coming coach in Mac before U of Iowa did, because WM wasn't JP's own choice.

That said, ISU will struggle with the big names like Duke, UNC, Texas, Kansas to get the top recruits. We will not have the luxury of having Mcdonalds All-Americans coming off the bench, like some of our competition. We have to rely on finding the diamonds in the rough, and I think Mac has done that, and is continuing to. Wes Johnson, Craig Brackins, Chris Colvin, MG, and this Ejim kid coming in looks pretty darn good to me. Hopefully the new BB practice facility will help in future recruiting also.

I'm not particularly happy with our record at this point, but considering the circumstances we've found ourselves in, I am for giving the coach some more time, and the team my support. We still have 12 more games and a shot at post play this year.

 

[TarHeelHawk]

I'm sure this thread has gotten way off track, but has anyone on this board ever got all the way to full rep based off of their first post?

 

[Tre4ISU]

I'm sure this thread has gotten way off track, but has anyone on this board ever got all the way to full rep based off of their first post?

HOLY ****. I worked a long time for full rep and he posts once and almost has it. Proof the rep system needs some tweaking.

 

[CyCrazy]

I meant on a large scope. Many people have been talking about doing that. Why do you guys just think Pollard can just cut checks any way he wants? If he were to buyout Mac this year your new coach you want O so bad would likely be junk. We couldn't afford anyone other than that. Do really not get that at all? Do you think if they are losing money they can afford to do something more expensive? By the way you contradicted yourself. You say that your ticket didn't matter but then go back to say lower attendance would cause a loss in profit.

That's fine if you don't want to go, I don't really want you to go because you're the guy in the restroom that comes in and ******* about everything at halftime. I would expect, however, that you wouldn't go if they were successful next year. I will guarantee that doesn't happen though. If they started off 14-0 you would be there.

Whew, Its a good thing I dont have to worry about that happening. But thanks for playing next contestant......