Up Next: Bradley

[UNIdad]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

There are places for coaches to be held accountable for the performance of their teams, such as in reviews by David Harris. I prefer to let him handle the "kick in the pants." However, there also needs to be a spirit of fan support, even during the down times.

Listen to this quote from an Iowa State player.

Naz Mitrou-Long has a message for those shivering and snuggling in the long line of tents snaking around Hilton Coliseum in advance of Monday’s big home game against No. 2 (for now) Kansas. “Best fans in the country, no ifs ands or buts. That’s why I came to Iowa State, man, for that sole reason — their commitment to us, to this university, to be able to get into Hilton. I mean, it’s freezing out there. I was complaining getting from class to class today and they’ve been out there (for over a week). They deserve the world. We appreciate them. We love them. Like I said, best fans in the country.”

I counted 15 tents last night, some whom started camping on Saturday, Jan 7th for the Monday, Jan 16th game. Yes, more than a week in advance. It isn't always about return on investment. It is often about just being a fan.

[SteinPizza]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

Any booing at your team at a college game is not the "swift kick in the backside" that is needed. A sign that says "I have faith that you can solve this riddle" would probably be more productive. And frankly, you have gotten a pretty good return on investment, if you choose to think about it that way, particularly related to basketball.

Agreed on booing college players. I feel it's not appropriate. Professionals, sure, boo all you want. College kids, however, are in a different situation. The coaches, however, are fair game, just like professional athletes. The problem is, how do you differentiate the players and coaches during a game? You can't, so if you feel compelled to blast the coaches, then best to do it in another way.

[PVG Panther Fan]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

Any booing at your team at a college game is not the "swift kick in the backside" that is needed. A sign that says "I have faith that you can solve this riddle" would probably be more productive. And frankly, you have gotten a pretty good return on investment, if you choose to think about it that way, particularly related to basketball.

You hand out your trophies, and I'll worry about my investments ... Mk dad?

[PVG Panther Fan]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

How many tents are there at the ISU football games UNIDad? Not one! I agree you support your team as a fan. Show me where I'm not supporting. But there's consequences to being dead last, and as athletes I think the coaches and players understand that. Perhaps this offseason there'll be a little more recruiting and a little less fishing. I'm a passionate fan, and I think the team appreciates that more than the fans that just don't show up after a few losses.

[BryceC]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

How many tents are there at the ISU football games UNIDad? Not one! I agree you support your team as a fan. Show me where I'm not supporting. But there's consequences to being dead last, and as athletes I think the coaches and players understand that. Perhaps this offseason there'll be a little more recruiting and a little less fishing. I'm a passionate fan, and I think the team appreciates that more than the fans that just don't show up after a few losses.

Fan support for what has been a pretty crappy ISU football program has been excellent.

[ubuntuCAT]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

Fan support for what has been a pretty crappy ISU football program has been excellent.

ISU football has better fan support (attendance) during some pretty bad years than UNI basketball has in their best years in history.

[PVG Panther Fan]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

I think the point was missed. I wasn't comparing ISU attendance vs UNI attendance. I was comparing enthusiasm for ISU football vs ISU basketball. Point being of course they camp out for a matchup of KU and ISU b-ball. All fans support winners. The question becomes, when your team isn't winning, what is your response? For UNIDad it's encouragement, for me is negativity. But hopefully neither of us stop attending games...Which is exactly what the avg fan does, Cyclone football fan included.

[UNIdad]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

You hand out your trophies, and I'll worry about my investments ... Mk dad?

Too bad this site doesn't have a "like" function so that I can give them to everyone who posts anything! Ha ha.

Sounds like you ought to change your username to PVG Panther Investor! Just kidding. I recognize your passion as a fan slips over more into frustration for you than for me. And I hope your investments pay off handsomely for all of us!

[UNIdad]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

How many tents are there at the ISU football games UNIDad? Not one! I agree you support your team as a fan. Show me where I'm not supporting. But there's consequences to being dead last, and as athletes I think the coaches and players understand that. Perhaps this offseason there'll be a little more recruiting and a little less fishing. I'm a passionate fan, and I think the team appreciates that more than the fans that just don't show up after a few losses.

I agree on the "recruitment" rather than "fishing." There has been a dramatic shift toward much more serious recruitment for Iowa State football with Coach Campbell. They aren't "taking flyers" on guys from Texas passed over by all the other Texas schools. They are going after the guys they really want. It seems that the recent success of national attention of UNI basketball would help us in serious recruitment.

And actually, there is usually quite a line of student vehicles waiting overnight to enter the tailgate lots, particularly for the Iowa State/Iowa game regardless of the likely outcome, but that may be more because of commitment to tailgating than to football. And there are dozens of RVs that show up on Fridays before Saturday games. [cue the argument about how fan support for bad teams just encourages them to remain bad]

UNI needs demanding investors. Just make sure that your investment is at a level that merits your complaints. It seems that it was only a few big donors that ultimately resulted in the ouster of Paul Rhoads in Ames. From the rest of us, UNI needs committed fans. As long as this team doesn't give up, I won't give up in cheering for them.

[PVG Panther Fan]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

Amen to that Dad, on both statements! Hopefully we notch one in the win column Sunday and I don't have to decide how to portray my displeasure with the coaching staff. Go Panthers!

[UNIdad]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

I think the point was missed. I wasn't comparing ISU attendance vs UNI attendance. I was comparing enthusiasm for ISU football vs ISU basketball. Point being of course they camp out for a matchup of KU and ISU b-ball. All fans support winners. The question becomes, when your team isn't winning, what is your response? For UNIDad it's encouragement, for me is negativity. But hopefully neither of us stop attending games...Which is exactly what the avg fan does, Cyclone football fan included.

Actually, I think the tents are more a reflection of a fan culture. And that is what Naz Mitrou-Long was talking about. Iowa State has the least chance this year of beating KU in Ames of any in the last 5, but the fan culture is making up for the sagging performance.

And back to your point about recruitment, I think this alone makes Prohm a better coach than Hoiberg, because he is lining up some great talent for the years to come. If this Iowa State team tanks this year, then I will gladly grab a bunch more season tickets from some of the fair-weather fans who sit around me. There are good years to come in Ames. And I'm still hoping so for Cedar Falls as well.

[PVG Panther Fan]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

ISU tailgaters are very committed. As a panther fan I'm quite jealous of that. My investment level towards Panther Athletics (4 season tickets and Gold PSC) is substantial compared to my income, but not compared to my passion.

[catsize]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

Austin Phyfe better be the real deal or it might be really bad next year. Right now I feel like we have a bunch of role players starting that seem to all have the green light to shoot whenever they want. Hopefully Austin is the real deal. We could sure use a couple of athletes above 6'6 to come in and start right away next year.

All the success from the last two tourney wins along with a huge home game with UNC last year and we end up with recruits that nobody else even recruited. Not counting McCloud who was hyped.

My guess is if we had Morgan along with two other talented starters everyone else would be looking a lot better. Talent can hide incomplete players. Example being Bohanan was a great player. However would he have been able to sit on the three point line and be successful with the talent we have this year. Take away just Wes and Tuttle from him and he might be simply looked at the way we look at Spencer this year. We need more talent and could really use some taller athletes.

We have such a respected coach with great recent history. Why can't we get some high level talent?

This thinking on Phyfe is exactly why people need to back off on AJ Green for expectations (and why he may not want to come here). Odds are, with Koch, Carlson, Friedman, McDonnell, Dahl already on the roster, that Phfye will redshirt. AJ would likely be playing right away, but looking at how many people keep calling out for Phyfe to be the difference maker, would be out of this world with expectations for AJ should he come here.

[SteinPizza]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

This thinking on Phyfe is exactly why people need to back off on AJ Green for expectations (and why he may not want to come here). Odds are, with Koch, Carlson, Friedman, McDonnell, Dahl already on the roster, that Phfye will redshirt. AJ would likely be playing right away, but looking at how many people keep calling out for Phyfe to be the difference maker, would be out of this world with expectations for AJ should he come here.

People were also calling for Friedman to be a difference maker before he saw one meaningful minute. That logic is ridiculous. People need to back off on thinking Phyfe is going to come in and be competitive at this level as a freshman. There's a 99% certainty due to his age and needing to develop his game that he can't. That's nothing against him, just the reality of the situation. A redshirt year to develop and lift weights will do wonders for him down the road.

[hoopfan]

Re: Up Next: Bradley

People were also calling for Friedman to be a difference maker before he saw one meaningful minute. That logic is ridiculous. People need to back off on thinking Phyfe is going to come in and be competitive at this level as a freshman. There's a 99% certainty due to his age and needing to develop his game that he can't. That's nothing against him, just the reality of the situation. A redshirt year to develop and lift weights will do wonders for him down the road.

I think what is driving the Phyfe talk is the performance of the current starting center. The only thing you can do is hope that the incoming recruit can improve that situation. If Bennett was playing well, you wouldn't hear any talk about Phyfe. Unfortunately, he's not been playing well, the team is losing games and fans are looking to the future and trying to find a reason to stay excited.