when someone says "the new BBall coach fits in at ISU" ? What type person fits in at ISU? Lute Olson didn't fit in at U of Iowa, one reason why he left. Tim Floyd didn't fit in at ISU. Didn't want to come here to begin with, one story had it his wife was not happy here. Jeff Lebo, or at least his wife didn't want to come here. Larry on the other hand loved Ames, wanted to finish his career here. Not going to comment on Morgan, because whatever I said would be interpreted as racist by someone. GMac wanted to come here, fits in well I would say. Back to the question, three piece suits need not apply. You don't need to be a redneck, but a feeling for neighbors and small towns would help. What else?
What does it mean
- Thread starter Oldgeezer
- Start date
Why did Floyd not want to be here? That's a new one to me. Granted it was no secret the Chicago Bulls had a love affair with him but if you got offered millions to coach a crappy team wouldn't you take the money and run too? Heck just a couple years ago Floyd was being paid by both the Bulls and Hornets NOT to coach! Sounds like a good financial deal to me and now he has a nice job at USC and lots of financial security from his NBA paychecks. Floyd kind of got screwed in his NBA stint though. Chicago never had a good team and the 1 year with the Hornets he took them to the playoffs with a team that had lots of injuries during the season. I never thought he was a terrible coach in the NBA, he just never got a chance to coach a team with playoff talent.
Anyways, I think wanting to be at ISU and being active in the Ames community goes a long ways to pleasing the local Cyclone fans. I remember the 1st National Bank commercials with Tim and Larry that were always pretty funny where Tim and Larry were sitting in the back yard of the house they both lived in and Tim tells Larry he buried some money in the yard. He comes back and finds Larry chest deep in the ground digging, classic! Another reason I liked Larry was his dry sense of humor in his post game interviews and also the quotes like "Homan went after him like someone just stole his prize cow." You can't help but laugh at that one!
Anyways, I think wanting to be at ISU and being active in the Ames community goes a long ways to pleasing the local Cyclone fans. I remember the 1st National Bank commercials with Tim and Larry that were always pretty funny where Tim and Larry were sitting in the back yard of the house they both lived in and Tim tells Larry he buried some money in the yard. He comes back and finds Larry chest deep in the ground digging, classic! Another reason I liked Larry was his dry sense of humor in his post game interviews and also the quotes like "Homan went after him like someone just stole his prize cow." You can't help but laugh at that one!
I still maintain that winning is all one needs to "fit in". Floyd may not have been one of us, but he won consistently so we made him one of us during his career. Everybody was sad to see him go. There is a huge contingent of people that are totally ok and happy that Morgan is gone, but had he won, we would have been sad then as well. If he was a big winner we would have been reading stories about how he's come to love the quiet life in Iowa and how the fans really made him feel comfortable. A lot of fans didn't like what they saw on the court and he didn't make much of an effort to reach out to fans, so he never really fit in. People didn't know how committed to ISU he was.
That is one thing that McDermott has done right away. He reached out to fans by saying he's one of us, and he has done a lot of interviews already and is trying to engage us. Many fans want to see good effort and defense and he will bring that (and has gone out of his way to tell us this many times). Basically, he's made and effort to tell us exactly what we as fans want to hear. Morgan never really did that at all. I don't recall Floyd ever saying that he wanted to finish his career here. That goes a long way with people.
All of that being said, I really don't care where he's from, I just want a winner at the helm.
That is one thing that McDermott has done right away. He reached out to fans by saying he's one of us, and he has done a lot of interviews already and is trying to engage us. Many fans want to see good effort and defense and he will bring that (and has gone out of his way to tell us this many times). Basically, he's made and effort to tell us exactly what we as fans want to hear. Morgan never really did that at all. I don't recall Floyd ever saying that he wanted to finish his career here. That goes a long way with people.
All of that being said, I really don't care where he's from, I just want a winner at the helm.
I don't think Floyd was unhappy in Ames. I saw him several times at football games and at a resturant, and he enjoyed the people and attention. I did hear his wife didn't like living in a "fishbowl." But he turned down the job when first offered. Had to be convinced by some influential friends that it was a great opportunity, and just the "stepping stone" he needed to get to the NBA. Still he was a classy guy, and took the Johnny Orr program a step further. He just never saw ISU as a place where he wanted to finish his career. I think Larry and GMac see Ames as that kind of place.
Yeah I didn't want to give the impression that I thought Floyd didn't like Ames. I thought he liked Ames well enough, but he didn't make it any secret that he didn't want to be here forever. Really he was only here for a few years and then moved on to the bright lights.
I just meant to say that McDermott made an effort to say that he wants to end his career at ISU. That goes a long way with some people.
I just meant to say that McDermott made an effort to say that he wants to end his career at ISU. That goes a long way with some people.
