Twister Sister Summary - Thirty Years and What It Means

[acoustimac]

We are nearing the end of a coaching era. Here's a look at the impact the hiring of Bill Fennelly has had on Iowa State.

Thirty Years and What it Means

The end of a sports season nearly always ends in a loss for every team but one. It’s all a matter of when that loss happens. There are approximately 351 D1 women’s basketball programs in this count…

twistersistersummary.wordpress.com

 

[Buster28]

We owe this program so much gratitude for literally decades of watching exciting basketball as the team played in Hilton and across the nation, meeting so many wonderful people who we still call friends to this day (fellow fans, coaches, staff, players and their families). It would be difficult to imagine our life today had we not discovered ISU women's basketball on a whim in late 1997 after the Daily published an article about the upcoming Iowa State/Iowa game at Hilton and how this Cyclone team was built for success. We went to maybe a half dozen games that first season, then after missing the first two home games in 1998, at least one of us has been at every home game ever since (with myself only missing four total). Should the Iowa State program of the Fennelly era come to a close, I will remember so, so much of it fondly and proudly. This program has meant the world to me. Truly.

Great write-up, Cous. Thanks, as always, for sharing your thoughts on the program.

 

[WBBfan15]

Thanks for the great write up. My dad took me to my first game 29 years ago, when he could bribe me with a hot dog and root beer for under $5. I eventually started paying attention to the game and now March Madness is my favorite time of year. Reading this summary reminded me of Wild Bill, Mary Fox, and my continued wish that the Little Cyclone Club was around when I was of age. When I have trouble with something ending in my life I try to remember Bill's words "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

 

[Royalclone]

This brought back many memories for me. One that sticks out: We moved to KC straight after graduating from ISU. Though always a big fan of ISU teams, I never paid much attention to ISU WBB until BF arrived.

In 2001 we took our 10 year-old daughter along with us to watch them play KU in Lawrence . After the game, we hung out around the locker room door. My daughter got the autographs of nearly every player, and Bill had a one-on-one conversation with her about reading.

The next year, she wanted to give basketball a try in our local parks&rec program. Let’s just say she learned she’s a much better singer and musician than athlete.

At the tournament the Big 12 worked with a local KC girls program to promote reading. Those that met the reading goals, got tickets to a WBB tournament as well as meet a big name WBB player like Rebecca Lobo in a pre-game event. Though her suburban school didn’t promote it like some schools did, she decided to participate and was the only one in her class to meet the goal, just so she could take me to see the Cyclones play.
A couple years later we learned she was dyslexic. Until then, I didn’t realize how hard it was to for her to meet that reading goal.

Today she’s married with a master’s degree in TESL. Every year she leads a week of church camp for middle school kids. Oh, and she’s blessed us with two young grandsons who love shooting hoops with their grandpa!

 

[geewago]

You put a lot into that article. I've come to know you and a lot of other Iowa St fans over the years(Jim Rock, Jolly, NWIcy etc.) . As you know for at least the last 5 years I have sat with you right in the middle of a bunch of Clones and always wished the best for ya'll I used to have several buddies from Waco come with me and we always had a good time as well. But once the coaching change took place here they left the tournament out of their schedule. After reading your article I can truthfully say I really understand why You and Mike and Dale were so happy when you won the Tourney a couple of years ago. I'm glad Dale lived to see that. I still have the picture of the three of ya'll in your "Power of the Pops Sweaters". I posted that picture not long ago on the forum down here right before I headed for KC. For some reason I didn't get many likes. LOL

 

[CYdTracked]

Got a good Bill story from college (98-02.) They had a road trip deal for a weekend road game at Nebraska that I think ISU took at least 6 charter buses to for a pretty cheap price. I bought a seat to go on the trip. We get there and by game time the entire place is completely packed which was not the norm for Nebraska WBB. Found out that State Farm had bought up all remaining tickets and gave them away in order to sell out the game and set an attendance record. A week or so later Bill had some "Q&A" session or something one afternoon at the Maintenance Shop in the MU that I went to. Someone during the Q&A portion asked Bill if we'd ever consider getting a sponsor to sell out a game like that and Bill answered something like "after I found out about the ticket giveaway, I called my State Farm agent to make sure my insurance prices weren't going up!" Then he went on to say they weren't interested in doing that because our fanbase already shows up in big numbers without having to give away tickets so there was no need to try and artificially inflate attendance like that.

My wife remembers going to a game in HS not long after Bill took the job and there were maybe 100 people there for the game which is a testament to what he started with and where the program is now. Her grandparents lived just a block away from Deb's parents in Ruthven. I've never run into Bill when we've been up there for Bully Bullhead Weekend but apparently there have been years he and Deb are there so maybe one of these years I'll finally cross paths long enough to have a conversation.

My freshman year RA in the dorms was one of the "refs" that sat in front of Wild Bill and even if he had not invited me to come to a game I think I would have eventually become hooked anyways. I rarely missed a men's or women's game when I was in college. Wish I could make more games these days but got JCC memberships for our 2 girls and try to make games when possible that way. They've already got some great memories from it, my daughter got to be kid captain for the Iowa/ISU game a couple years ago which was a tough ticket for my wife to get - we didn't have JCC membership that year and were fortunate enough to know a season ticket holder that was able to get 2 tickets so getting to be the kid captain that game too she got to see us take Caitlin's team nearly down to the wire in that game too. This year we had a great moment with Angie Welle after the game too. I had to dig up some old videos and games online the next day for my girls to understand who they just met and got an autograph from. I went into more detail of that story in another thread after that game but I was all smiles as I was in the same graduating year as Welle so not only do I have memories of her playing but getting to see her interact with my kids 25 years later then get to explain to my kids how she is one of the greatest players in program history.

The one thing that has stood out to me over the years is the impact Bill has had on his player's lives. You brought up the Nikki Moody situation where a ton of players passionately came to his defense and not 1 corroborated Moody's allegations which speaks a lot about just how much they respect Bill. He makes a long lasting relationship with his players and you see how many come back to be around the program years later because of it. My guess is he coaches at least until Audi and Addy graduates as that seems like a fitting end to see those 2 through who are becoming 2 of the great players in program history.

 

[acoustimac]

Got a good Bill story from college (98-02.) They had a road trip deal for a weekend road game at Nebraska that I think ISU took at least 6 charter buses to for a pretty cheap price. I bought a seat to go on the trip. We get there and by game time the entire place is completely packed which was not the norm for Nebraska WBB. Found out that State Farm had bought up all remaining tickets and gave them away in order to sell out the game and set an attendance record. A week or so later Bill had some "Q&A" session or something one afternoon at the Maintenance Shop in the MU that I went to. Someone during the Q&A portion asked Bill if we'd ever consider getting a sponsor to sell out a game like that and Bill answered something like "after I found out about the ticket giveaway, I called my State Farm agent to make sure my insurance prices weren't going up!" Then he went on to say they weren't interested in doing that because our fanbase already shows up in big numbers without having to give away tickets so there was no need to try and artificially inflate attendance like that.

My wife remembers going to a game in HS not long after Bill took the job and there were maybe 100 people there for the game which is a testament to what he started with and where the program is now. Her grandparents lived just a block away from Deb's parents in Ruthven. I've never run into Bill when we've been up there for Bully Bullhead Weekend but apparently there have been years he and Deb are there so maybe one of these years I'll finally cross paths long enough to have a conversation.

My freshman year RA in the dorms was one of the "refs" that sat in front of Wild Bill and even if he had not invited me to come to a game I think I would have eventually become hooked anyways. I rarely missed a men's or women's game when I was in college. Wish I could make more games these days but got JCC memberships for our 2 girls and try to make games when possible that way. They've already got some great memories from it, my daughter got to be kid captain for the Iowa/ISU game a couple years ago which was a tough ticket for my wife to get - we didn't have JCC membership that year and were fortunate enough to know a season ticket holder that was able to get 2 tickets so getting to be the kid captain that game too she got to see us take Caitlin's team nearly down to the wire in that game too. This year we had a great moment with Angie Welle after the game too. I had to dig up some old videos and games online the next day for my girls to understand who they just met and got an autograph from. I went into more detail of that story in another thread after that game but I was all smiles as I was in the same graduating year as Welle so not only do I have memories of her playing but getting to see her interact with my kids 25 years later then get to explain to my kids how she is one of the greatest players in program history.

The one thing that has stood out to me over the years is the impact Bill has had on his player's lives. You brought up the Nikki Moody situation where a ton of players passionately came to his defense and not 1 corroborated Moody's allegations which speaks a lot about just how much they respect Bill. He makes a long lasting relationship with his players and you see how many come back to be around the program years later because of it. My guess is he coaches at least until Audi and Addy graduates as that seems like a fitting end to see those 2 through who are becoming 2 of the great players in program history.

Angie Welle is a real gem. I had some conversations with her a few years ago for an interview I posted here. Very gracious and a dedicated educator.

 

[Royalclone]

Got a good Bill story from college (98-02.) They had a road trip deal for a weekend road game at Nebraska that I think ISU took at least 6 charter buses to for a pretty cheap price. I bought a seat to go on the trip. We get there and by game time the entire place is completely packed which was not the norm for Nebraska WBB. Found out that State Farm had bought up all remaining tickets and gave them away in order to sell out the game and set an attendance record. A week or so later Bill had some "Q&A" session or something one afternoon at the Maintenance Shop in the MU that I went to. Someone during the Q&A portion asked Bill if we'd ever consider getting a sponsor to sell out a game like that and Bill answered something like "after I found out about the ticket giveaway, I called my State Farm agent to make sure my insurance prices weren't going up!" Then he went on to say they weren't interested in doing that because our fanbase already shows up in big numbers without having to give away tickets so there was no need to try and artificially inflate attendance like that.

My wife remembers going to a game in HS not long after Bill took the job and there were maybe 100 people there for the game which is a testament to what he started with and where the program is now. Her grandparents lived just a block away from Deb's parents in Ruthven. I've never run into Bill when we've been up there for Bully Bullhead Weekend but apparently there have been years he and Deb are there so maybe one of these years I'll finally cross paths long enough to have a conversation.

My freshman year RA in the dorms was one of the "refs" that sat in front of Wild Bill and even if he had not invited me to come to a game I think I would have eventually become hooked anyways. I rarely missed a men's or women's game when I was in college. Wish I could make more games these days but got JCC memberships for our 2 girls and try to make games when possible that way. They've already got some great memories from it, my daughter got to be kid captain for the Iowa/ISU game a couple years ago which was a tough ticket for my wife to get - we didn't have JCC membership that year and were fortunate enough to know a season ticket holder that was able to get 2 tickets so getting to be the kid captain that game too she got to see us take Caitlin's team nearly down to the wire in that game too. This year we had a great moment with Angie Welle after the game too. I had to dig up some old videos and games online the next day for my girls to understand who they just met and got an autograph from. I went into more detail of that story in another thread after that game but I was all smiles as I was in the same graduating year as Welle so not only do I have memories of her playing but getting to see her interact with my kids 25 years later then get to explain to my kids how she is one of the greatest players in program history.

The one thing that has stood out to me over the years is the impact Bill has had on his player's lives. You brought up the Nikki Moody situation where a ton of players passionately came to his defense and not 1 corroborated Moody's allegations which speaks a lot about just how much they respect Bill. He makes a long lasting relationship with his players and you see how many come back to be around the program years later because of it. My guess is he coaches at least until Audi and Addy graduates as that seems like a fitting end to see those 2 through who are becoming 2 of the great players in program history.

The other member of the AAA-team Arianna, is like Tamin - a Cyclone through and through.

 

[kcdc4isu]

Enjoyed your write up. My late parents were season ticket holders when coach arrived and kept them till they passed away. When we moved to the Des Moines area when my company moved their head quarters here we became season ticket holders. This will be my 25th season still have tickets for the family 4 grandkids are ISU (3 grads and 1 current) fans.