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Post by redrooster on May 28, 2007 19:37:58 GMT -5
Anyone have any insight into what is happening at Iowa? Their spring roster has only 8 players--Allison Smith was a freshman last year who played a fair amount, and appears to have left the program--and I think only 3 new players are coming in. Their pre-Big 10 schedule, with the exception of Iowa State and BYU, looks pretty weak again, and according to PVB, they have been out-recruited by NW and Indiana. VB fans in Iowa have got to be getting restless. I don't blame the coach for wanting to start out with a bunch of "easy" wins before the Big 10 starts, but how long does that strategy work?
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Post by silversurfer on May 28, 2007 19:57:17 GMT -5
Anyone have any insight into what is happening at Iowa? Their spring roster has only 8 players--Allison Smith was a freshman last year who played a fair amount, and appears to have left the program--and I think only 3 new players are coming in. Their pre-Big 10 schedule, with the exception of Iowa State and BYU, looks pretty weak again, and according to PVB, they have been out-recruited by NW and Indiana. VB fans in Iowa have got to be getting restless. I don't blame the coach for wanting to start out with a bunch of "easy" wins before the Big 10 starts, but how long does that strategy work? How restless could they be? This is pretty normal, no?
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Post by Go Iowa on May 29, 2007 8:04:42 GMT -5
Too bad - Smith was a big girl and played well for them. It will be interesting to see what happens this year. They have no experience in the middle, though that Kennedy is a very good juniors player. Perhaps they're looking JUCO or transfer to bring in some people. Good luck to them. They'll need it!
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Post by BigTenVball on May 29, 2007 8:23:18 GMT -5
Not sure Smith is a big loss. Nice kid, worked hard, not a Big Ten player. Iowa will be thin, but pretty solid. Bec Walters redshirted last year, and is a 6'3" middle. Young, but good size. They return very good OH Smales, pretty solid setter Fister, and libero Hiza. Schipper now has experience at OH, and assuming Hoffman, incoming kid from Texas, will contribute right away, along with 6'2" Kennedy. So, 4 returning starters. As far as schedule, they are still willing to play UNI.
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Post by Phaedrus on May 29, 2007 8:52:19 GMT -5
Just curious. Why is the Iowa job so hard? I have heard that the administration was less that supportive throughout the years and that volleyball was at the bottom of the totem pole. But that is the case at Oklahoma, Iowa State, Baylor etc. and those programs have come a long way from where they were. It just seems that Iowa has consistently underperformed. I think this is coach Frederick's second or third year there and maybe she is on the brink. But my question is: why not Iowa? Iowa State has done very well with the present coaching staff in place for the get go. Iowa has some very good talent from what I have seen. what gives?
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Post by AntennaMagnet on May 29, 2007 9:11:17 GMT -5
I am not an Iowa fan, but Fister is one of my favorite players to watch in the Big 10. I think the tepid comment about her contribution to the Iowa program is a gross under evaluation of her athleticism and talent.
My only problem with Iowa is the football stadium's visiting team's locker room that is painted pink which is so retro and out of touch.
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Post by Gorf on May 29, 2007 9:38:14 GMT -5
The last time Iowa had a winning conference (14-6) and overall (24-9) record was 1994.
For the 2000 season they were 9-11 in conference but 13-15 overall so they didn't qualify for the tournament.
I imagine having 12 consecutive years of missing the tournament while averaging 3.25 conference wins during those 12 year it has to be difficult to recruit even in state players with at least 2 other in state teams in ISU that has had a strong team of late and UNI that's had a strong tradition of winning for many years.
I believe this will be Cindy's 4th year at Iowa and only having 8 conference wins in her first 3 years combined with a long tradition for Iowa not being very competitive has to be a tough combination to handle.
OTOH: She's had a much better overall record in her first 3 years than Rita had during her last 3 years at Iowa.
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Post by Go Iowa on May 29, 2007 9:43:51 GMT -5
Well, certainly Cindy took over a tough spot, but if anyone is to turn this (or any) program around, they need to be able to TRAIN what they have, and not solely rely on bringing it in (hard to bring in high quality athletes into a program that is consistently the basement dweller of their conference). The staff at ISU is a great training staff, as is the staff at UNI (which is why I believe they continue to be solid even when they're underbudgeted compared to other schools around them). I'm not sold that Cindy and Co. are great trainers.
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Post by BigTenVball on May 29, 2007 10:12:21 GMT -5
Well, for starters, the previous coaching staff didn't just burn bridges with the Iowa fans/players/local coaches, they nuclear bombed them, then also irradiated all the ground within a 5 mile span of the bridge too! So, Cindy and Co started in a deeper hole than most coaches. Watching them however, there has been improvement year after year. Cindy IS getting more Iowa kids, which was left SOLEY to UNI in the past, and even now, you see UNI starting to go outside the state to get kids, which was NEVER done in the past. So, Iowa is attracting and keeping some of the talent in Iowa. As far as Ia St, I am personally amazed at how fast Christy and Joe turned that around. I think they had a little better starting base to work with, but, hats off to them for their improvement! And, when Iowa and Iowa St played this year, it was a barn burner, with Iowa going up 2-0 before losing in 5. Ia State also put it to UNI this year, and UNI and Iowa never played. (whole other story) I think the previous admin supported Cindy well (Bowlsby) and not sure about the new one, though he has his hands full with bball issues. They redid the volleyball set up to Carver North, and the attendance this past season was the highest in a long time. So, there are things that are going in the right direction. The program was burnt to the ground in 6 years, going to take a while and some patience to rebuild. Basically, Rita destroyed this program for quite a while, and no one really cared, except the few of us, so, Cindy has a while to rebuild. If nothing else, people now LIKE the Iowa staff again, and fans are coming back. Oh yes, and Fister is a very solid setter and competitor, I just put Smales infront of her, because of awards Smales has gotten that Fister has not yet.
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Post by Go Iowa on May 29, 2007 10:18:12 GMT -5
Good points and well said. I do hope they can turn it around, and am glad they've generated interest in the community. Why didn't they play UNI? What was that about?
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Post by redrooster on May 29, 2007 22:02:46 GMT -5
I am a Nebraska grad (thus the red in red rooster) and a big Christy Johnson fan. I also have Iowa relatives and an interest in all three programs. I am guessing that because of Christy, ISU will make it harder for UNI and UI to get the best Iowa players. Regarding UNI playing Iowa, I think I have read before on this forum that the intra-state pre-conference tournament (I am not sure what it is called--it was at Iowa last year, and I think it's at ISU this year) would require UNI to play Drake, a conference opponent, a third time. I don't think ISU or Iowa would enter a pre-conference tournament that would involve a Big 12 or Big 10 team, respectively.
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Post by BigTenVball on May 30, 2007 8:35:07 GMT -5
You have to remember, for many years, UNI had an absolute lock on great Iowa kids. For almost 6 years, Iowa all but REFUSED to recruit Iowa kids. At best, they would offer walk on status, while the Coach often said that Iowa kids were not good enough to play at that level! So, Iowa bascially ignored all Iowa kids for 6 years. That is what Cindy came in to. UNI played with roster exclusively made up of Iowa kids!!! During their great runs, they had NO out of state kids on roster. (God bless Iradge!!) So, now Iowa and Ia St are going after top Iowa kids, and UNI has to work harder, and you now see them as well picking up out of state kids. So, ever changing dynamic in locall recruiting here. As far as Iowa playing UNI. For a while, UNI played single matches against Iowa and Iowa St. Last time Iowa played UNI, they beat UNI in 5 games. Then Iowa says, lets do an in-state tourney instead of single matches. Iowa, Ia St, UNI and Drake. Two night tourney. UNI, to their credit, did not really want to play Drake 3 times, since they had to play Drake twice in MVC conf. But, for someother reason, UNI drops Iowa from schedule, saying Iowa was helping their RPI enough to play. But UNI still plays Iowa St, and Iowa plays Iowa St. Not sure where they are about getting the Iowa/UNI match going again.
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Post by FreeBall on May 30, 2007 11:59:02 GMT -5
Then Iowa says, lets do an in-state tourney instead of single matches. Iowa, Ia St, UNI and Drake. Two night tourney. UNI, to their credit, did not really want to play Drake 3 times, since they had to play Drake twice in MVC conf. Why couldn't they do it as a "tournament" with two days of matches where the MVC teams play Iowa and Iowa State? Then, on a third day, Iowa and Iowa State would play each other. I'm not sure of the reason, but Nebraska's Labor Day Tournament in the upcoming season has something similar. The participating teams are NU, Penn State, Cal Poly and Creighton. The format is a round robin, except there is no scheduled match between Penn State and Creighton.
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Post by The Bofa on the Sofa on May 30, 2007 16:27:21 GMT -5
Then Iowa says, lets do an in-state tourney instead of single matches. Iowa, Ia St, UNI and Drake. Two night tourney. UNI, to their credit, did not really want to play Drake 3 times, since they had to play Drake twice in MVC conf. Why couldn't they do it as a "tournament" with two days of matches where the MVC teams play Iowa and Iowa State? Then, on a third day, Iowa and Iowa State would play each other. I'm not sure of the reason, but Nebraska's Labor Day Tournament in the upcoming season has something similar. The participating teams are NU, Penn State, Cal Poly and Creighton. The format is a round robin, except there is no scheduled match between Penn State and Creighton. I'm guessing UNI and Creighton would rather go to places where they can get three matches in over the weekend instead of two. UNI came to Purdue last year with Bradley, but they didn't play each other. However, there were still three other matches they could play (Purdue, Clemsen, Albany) to make the trip worthwhile. They should have just kept the home/home series. It was a chance for a road match without having the cost of a road trip, for starters.
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Post by BigTenVball on May 30, 2007 16:42:54 GMT -5
agree, that at least they should have kept the home and home matches. Not sure why they didn't. I do know, that the idea was floated, of the 4 team tourney, and alternate it between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids every year. Money wise, a very good idea, and as far as promoting volleyball IN-STATE, a GREAT idea. (would be awesome to see all 4 teams under one roof!!) Never got much legs, due to UNI/Drake issue. Too bad, because it would be a boon for the state of Iowa volleyball.
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