Was he really that bad in terms of temperament? I grew up an 80s Iowa fan at the time and I thought he was a pretty cool coach the times I saw him vs ISU.
Iowa's coaches were pretty mild mannered guys when I was a kid in the 80s and early 90s (although way more successful than the last three coaches). What little I knew of Orr I liked that he had some fire.
Not switching to ISU until mid 90s when I see all the classic football and basketball highlights the two people I wish I had been able to follow were Grayer and Orr. With Troy Davis everybody saw the highlights plenty. In that best ISU dunker thread I was looking back at Grayer clips, wow, he is close to Deonte Burton as a dunker.
In temperament he was good. I was thinking more of his ribald story telling and just off the cuff comments that people would be up in arms about today. I'm pretty sure somewhere there is the quote about David Moss it goes sort of like this "longest arms I've ever seen on a white boy" He was awesome a tweaking referees and fueling the fire on rivalries such as Iowa, Missouri, OU. He fit perfect at the time I just don't know if he would anymore, but he will still be my favorite coach.
When he came to ISU I think he went to every dorm floor, fraternity, and sorority on campus to stir up interest for MBB. He promised us entertaining BB and he sure delivered that. The first time I went was on a free ticket from a friend who had to study for a test. Great game and next yr I scrounged up enough money for tickets and have owned them ever since.
I hope whoever our new coach is makes it fun to go to BB again. My standards aren't as high as many on the board Natty's would be fun, but I just want to defend Hilton, steal some on the road, and make the tourney 3 out of 4 yrs and make a deep run in it now and then.