Help Wanted

The University of Iowa is looking for a new basketball coach. One that will bring a fan base back to Hawkeye-Carver Arena. One that will get the fans excited about basketball again. One that can recruit kids to compete in the Big Ten Conference night in and night out. One that brings a style of play that brings energy to the players and fans in the building. Not a lethargic brand of basketball that makes you fall asleep, and makes players not interested.
Who is that guy? Who can rebuild the program that forced a guy out that only took his team to the Sweet Sixteen, but has been a mess ever since. I have seen many names on message boards that are impressive, but can they really do it? Lets look at something for a minute. Tom Davis had a long career at Iowa. Had success, but the University thought recruiting was slipping and the program could do better. So he leaves, takes a break, and enters at Drake University that was a total disaster. He builds them up, hands the keys to his son, and they win the Missouri Valley Conference. I would say he was successful. Steve Alford, most sought after coach from Missouri State, Coach of the Year. Starts off pretty good at Iowa, but then starts to lose close games, player issues off the court, rubbed people the wrong way, takes the free get out of jail card to New Mexico. Has New Mexico a #3 seed in this years NCAA Tournament and has a good recruiting class next year. Todd Lickliter comes to Iowa with great success at Butler, wins coach of the Year just like Alford prior to coming to Iowa. 3 losing seasons, and this year was the worst in Iowa History, sorry coach you may be a good person, but the basketball program is in the toilet. Obviously Iowa has basketball facilities coming to help the program, and Iowa will now be up to date very soon with the rest of the league. The thing that scares me, is I'm not confident anybody can build the program because we have seen successful people come to Iowa and fail, then go to other programs and be successful. So either we are a good learning lesson for coaches, or we are a graveyard for up and coming coaches. 2 coaches that were coaches of the year failed at Iowa. So do not get this year's coach of the year please. Maybe Davis, Alford, and Lickliter were successful at Mid-Major programs because the pressure isn't the same. Coach McDermott was a great coach at University of Northern Iowa. He goes to Iowa State and its a train wreck. Ben Jacobson has done very well at the University of Northern Iowa, but people are saying the same thing about him as they were saying about McDermott prior to Iowa State.
Another option is a top assistant coach at a top program. Kansas, Purdue, and Tennessee have been mentioned for their top assistant. Problem there is no track record. They have no wins or losses. Some may say, they are great recruiters. Are they great recruiters, or is it because the head coach has a good program, or the head coach is involved as well. I would hope you are a good recruiter at Kansas, I could recruit for Kansas.
I would like for Iowa to get a coach that has proven themselves at a major conference. Just some names are Bruce Pearl of Tennessee, Buzz Williams at Marquette, and Kevin Stallings at Vanderbilt. Pearl is not coming folks unless he hates Tennessee. We are not going to pay him what Ferentz makes, deal with it. Williams would be familiar with mid west, same climate as Milwaukee, and may see Iowa as a better chance long run in Big Ten than Marquette in Big East. Stallings wanted a big conference gig, and he has that. Not sure he would leave Vanderbilt who is stable to save Iowa.
Some others to ponder if you want mid-major or up and coming coaches. Josh Pastner at Memphis, worked under Lute Olson at Arizona and Calipari at Memphis. Has #1 recruiting class coming to Memphis, problem is Memphis is a hot bed, and most of those kids probably wouldn't get in at Iowa due to academic standards. Tony Barbee of UTEP. Has done very well at UTEP, and will probably be coaching somewhere else next year as he will be sought after. Keno Davis at Providence. Did well at Drake, brings the Davis system, but allows players to do more in that system. Still unproven at Providence, would be a gamble. Ben Jacobson at UNI. He has been successful at UNI, some say he has a swagger and a look of a top basketball program and could recruit because of it. But its a gamble, and McDermott at ISU doesn't help him. Jacobson has showed that he is a very good game day coach with good decision making throughout the game. His teams are known to score coming out of timeouts or out of bounds possessions.
Nobody knows who will get the keys, but everybody will have a strong opinion on who should.