Is Farley OK?

[QCPanther05]

I just don’t see the basketball program as the failure you all seem to. Especially in today’s era. Looking around the nation, which programs from one bid leagues are achieving what you all seem to think should be the expectation for us?

If Jake went away you’d HAVE to hire someone at half the salary because a large chunk of his salary is privately funded. So your solution is “hire a worse coach for less money to save big donors money”? We’ve won the league two of the last five years. Finished in the top 4 last year. One year was a lost/weird COVID season where our best player didn’t play. And one other year we finished 8th playing an extremely young group due to a number of injuries too. It hasn’t worked out in St. Louis. And that sucks. But only one team out of 12 can win in St. Louis and the other teams are trying too.

If you’re going to judge a coach based solely on what he does one weekend in St. Louis, I think you’ll be continually disappointed.

The whole point of winning the league is to get a 1-seed in St Louis, paving the easiest path to the NCAA tournament. Basketball is a different sport. Your success is measured by that one tournament, fair or not. You don’t get to go .500 and go to a bowl game in basketball. I would rather lose the conference every single year and then win the conference tournament and get knocked out in the first round. NCAA tournaments are the benchmark for success in college basketball. He couldn’t even get with a literal NBA player on the team. You shouldn’t get paid a million a year for that mediocrity, regardless of who it is coming from.

[Mudrafan]

Look I'm not someone who has that foolish thing called "hope that anything good happens ever," but to be fair to her, she's been here for a few months, and walked into a situation that was mildly in shambles for the previous two administrations. Let's give her some time.

That isn't how this works. This is college athletics. It's a business now. She's in a very high profile position. You come into a job like this with a clear plan. Rock solid 1 yr, 3-yr, 5-yr plan as well as a long-term vision. Or you don't get the position. And you take charge.

[Mudrafan]

I wrote 10 years ago that Farley should have been given a sweetheart deal to be moved down the hall into the AD's chair. How different things would look today if that had happened.

[CletusCat]

First time long time here. I think the writing was on the wall with Farley when Klieman left town to go to NDSU. Klieman knew Farley wasn't going anywhere so he went somewhere he could climb the ladder (extra salt in the wound for being NDSU). Ever since then it's been a revolving door of coaches and Farley has never allowed them to make the changes necessary to succeed.

I think Mark wants to win games the way Mark thinks they should be won but that's not the way the game is played nowadays. It worked in 2005 but this is 2024.
Just my 2 cents.

[Blue42]

First time long time here. I think the writing was on the wall with Farley when Klieman left town to go to NDSU. Klieman knew Farley wasn't going anywhere so he went somewhere he could climb the ladder (extra salt in the wound for being NDSU). Ever since then it's been a revolving door of coaches and Farley has never allowed them to make the changes necessary to succeed.

I think Mark wants to win games the way Mark thinks they should be won but that's not the way the game is played nowadays. It worked in 2005 but this is 2024.
Just my 2 cents.

That last paragraph is dead on the money.

This is the way we're gonna do it...and we'll do it til it works despite the evidence that it's not.

[BCPanther]

That isn't how this works. This is college athletics. It's a business now. She's in a very high profile position. You come into a job like this with a clear plan. Rock solid 1 yr, 3-yr, 5-yr plan as well as a long-term vision. Or you don't get the position. And you take charge.

I assure you that she does. She just needed to hire a staff first. That's all but done with one position left to fill (an Associate AD role that is going to be in charge of large gifts and coordinating NIL).

You're already seeing the differences in marketing and engagement and GameDay operations. She has absolutely hit the ground running.

Absolutely no use in firing anyone mid-season at our level so let's see how she responds once it's over.

[Wxcpanther]

I assure you that she does. She just needed to hire a staff first. That's all but done with one position left to fill (an Associate AD role that is going to be in charge of large gifts and coordinating NIL).

You're already seeing the differences in marketing and engagement and GameDay operations. She has absolutely hit the ground running.

Absolutely no use in firing anyone mid-season at our level so let's see how she responds once it's over.

Nevermind the fact that firing the most successful coach in program history mid-season is never going to happen. He will likely choose to retire at the end of this year, maybe he announces it ahead of the end of the season, but you absolutely do not fire that guy in season.

[PantherAlum09]

First time long time here. I think the writing was on the wall with Farley when Klieman left town to go to NDSU. Klieman knew Farley wasn't going anywhere so he went somewhere he could climb the ladder (extra salt in the wound for being NDSU). Ever since then it's been a revolving door of coaches and Farley has never allowed them to make the changes necessary to succeed.

I think Mark wants to win games the way Mark thinks they should be won but that's not the way the game is played nowadays. It worked in 2005 but this is 2024.
Just my 2 cents.

This is an interesting point that's brought up. Besides the fact UNI can't pay assistants enough money to keep any good ones, I do think there is a general sentiment that these guys know they have to get away from Farley to grow professionally. Farley is a motivator and his passion is undeniable, but I have heard from a few people who are very close with these former assistants (Klieman especially) that Farley just doesn't have it anymore.

[BCPanther]

You look at some of the coaching talent that ran through here 10-15 years ago and it's staggering. Obviously the FCS level is a stepping stone and there's going to be big time turnover but that also puts you in a spot where it's hard to be consistent when you don't have the budget to have a solid foundation.

Klieman, Frost, Montgomery, Chinander, Bullock, Blue. Just a whole bunch of guys that ended up HCs, coordinators and NFL position coaches.

[BCPanther]

Also, just for reference, there isn't going to be a whole lot of savings in the next head coach. Maybe $100-125k. Maybe. Reciprocity is going to be the big deal budget wise if the BOR can help us there.

This is current as of this year:

T1) Tim Polasek, NDSU- $400K
T1) Mark Farley, N Iowa- $400K (Down from $430k on last contract)
3) Brock Spack, IL State- $364K
4) Jimmy Rogers, SDSU- $362K
5) Bob Nielson, S Dakota- $305K
6) Ryan Beard, MO State- $275K (Petrino was making $375K)
7) Nick Hill, S Illinois- $265K
8) Jody Wright, Murray St- $260K
9) Bubba Schweigert, N Dakota- $255K
10) Doug Phillips, YSU- $250K
11) Curt Mallory, Indiana St- $241K

This is per most recent data on Google.

[Trapped in California]

Could certainly take $100k and spread it around to key assistants. It will never be equal for the weightlifting coach at Iowa. However, another $15-30k is a meaningful difference to someone making $80-$120k

[havok58]

Even saving $100,000 to $125,000 or more on a new coach will be better for the program. And for UNI, let alone in the FCS, saving $100,000 a year is HUGE savings. It’s not an amount to be dismissed.

[UNI MadCat]

Also, why are we focused just on the savings? I wouldn’t balk at the $400k if he was winning conference titles and challenging nationally. He’s not. And hasn’t for a long time. I want a new coach and a new direction. I don’t want one just to save money.

[PantherAlum09]

I don't think I saw it mentioned anywhere else, but Farley essentially threw Harris under the bus and ran back and forth in an interview with Jim Nelson the other day. The scheduling has been atrocious this year obviously and previous years, and Farley is rightly frustrated by it. The support of Dr. Franklin by the coaching staffs is evident.

I know we are all frustrated by the state of UNI Athletics in general, but we really need to give Dr. Franklin and her staff a chance. She is showing the care, enthusiasm, and support that has been lacking for a long time. I still am very much in the boat that we need to move on from Farley sooner rather than later, but he absolutely has been hamstrung by the previous administration.

[06panther10]

I don't think I saw it mentioned anywhere else, but Farley essentially threw Harris under the bus and ran back and forth in an interview with Jim Nelson the other day. The scheduling has been atrocious this year obviously and previous years, and Farley is rightly frustrated by it. The support of Dr. Franklin by the coaching staffs is evident.

I know we are all frustrated by the state of UNI Athletics in general, but we really need to give Dr. Franklin and her staff a chance. She is showing the care, enthusiasm, and support that has been lacking for a long time. I still am very much in the boat that we need to move on from Farley sooner rather than later, but he absolutely has been hamstrung by the previous administration.

He’s right to throw Harris under the bus, he was an absolute trainwreck for this University, and the damage he has done may never be fully remedied.

With that being said, you can’t blame scheduling for getting our asses kicked the way we are getting our asses kicked. I don’t care if we are playing 12 road games, losing 41-3 is not Panther football.