Not a good look for whom? Iowa or Minnesota? Is the NIL funding the same between both schools? Some have mentioned Iowa's isn't all that great, no clue on Minny's NIL situation.
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Jerrod Calhoun - Head Coach - Men's Basketball Coaches - Utah State University Athletics
Jerrod Calhoun was named the head men’s basketball coach at Utah State on March 30, 2024. Calhoun spent the last seven seasons (2018-24) as the head coach at
utahstateaggies.com
That's the real story ...
But the Iowa story is much different ... LOL ...
I hear these stories and after I get off the phone ... I sit and take a minute and thank the Lord that we have Josh Whitman ...
And I am being 100% serious ...
There are a lot of people who don't think she's very smart ... I am in that group ...
There are also a lot of coaches who have ZERO interest in working for a female athletic director ... I am sure there are a few people who are going to run with that and that's fine ... Just stating the facts ...
whats your best guess as to what that number is these days ?
They're both in the bottom tier of the Big Ten ...
Coleman & JT Toppin made more NIL than Minnesota and Iowa had for their whole roster based on what I got told ..
Number that Iowa has ? Or the number that DeVries was after ?
And someone already I changed it back. I swear I saw it there.
I always thought he was a great guy, good x/o s guy, but couldn’t recruit. In retrospect I can see he had some bad luck and not much support here. If he got another try at a big job, I would root for him.
IU update ...
DeVries met with Wren Baker today ... You can guess what that was about ... Wren Baker's response was to make a call to Logan, Utah and Des Moines, Iowa ...
Dolson has told all the players to hold off on entering the portal until they announce the new coach ... Players are being told this announcement should be coming shortly ...
DeVries met with Wren Baker today ... You can guess what that was about ... Wren Baker's response was to make a call to Logan, Utah and Des Moines, Iowa ...
Dolson has told all the players to hold off on entering the portal until they announce the new coach ... Players are being told this announcement should be coming shortly ...
Lot easier to recruit nowadays than it was back then ...
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
At a place with good NIL resources Groce could do very well. It's a different world now than when he was our coach, that's for sure.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
Devries was Iowa born and raised. Played at N Iowa. Very successful HC at Drake for 7 years.
With new rules allowing schools to payout up to $20M per year there should have been school funds to make up for short term lack of $NIL.
Chance to go home to Iowa vs. live with crazy expections of Hoosier fans. JMO - I would take Illinois HC job BB FB over any other program for the chance to lead Illini to national championship. Would not mean as much doing it somewhere else. This is somebody who has worked and lived in Champaign, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago, NYC, Pennsylvania, ABC and now SoCal. There is no place like home
With new rules allowing schools to payout up to $20M per year there should have been school funds to make up for short term lack of $NIL.
Chance to go home to Iowa vs. live with crazy expections of Hoosier fans. JMO - I would take Illinois HC job BB FB over any other program for the chance to lead Illini to national championship. Would not mean as much doing it somewhere else. This is somebody who has worked and lived in Champaign, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago, NYC, Pennsylvania, ABC and now SoCal. There is no place like home
Here's an excerpt from an article I found online:
"He’s proven to be a subpar X’s and O’s coach. His in-game adjustments almost never work out. I can’t even keep track of the number of times I’ve seen him call a timeout when the game was getting away from Illinois and the team actually performed worse after the timeout.
There’s a specific play that’s burned into my memory from last season that is really indicative of the whole Underwood era for me. It was against Wisconsin at home, and the Illini were down by ten points as the game was starting to slip away from them. Underwood called a full timeout to try and stop the Badgers’ run. After a two minute break to draw up a set play, the Illini came out of the huddle and inbounded the ball. What happens next may or may not surprise you.
Turnover. Out of a timeout. I couldn’t believe it. The camera had barely switched back to the action on the court and the play that Underwood had just drawn up went to hell in two seconds."
Sounds like something we've seen posted on this board hundreds of times right? Well, here's the twist - see the word Underwood in orange in that excerpt? That wasn't in the original text. Replace it with "Groce" and you get the excerpt in its original form from January 2017
It's interesting how the mythologies around ex-coaches changes depending on the current coach. Because BU is a great recruiter and almost all criticisms of him have to do with x's and o's, the mythology around Groce becomes that he was a strong x's and o's coach that couldn't recruit. If BU was an x's and o's genius who had trouble recruiting, I am certain we'd remember Groce as a good recruiter and terrible x's and o's guy.
It’s time for Illini Basketball to make a coaching change
John Groce is likeable, but time has essentially run out for him in Champaign.
www.thechampaignroom.com
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OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Living in Central Iowa, I can tell you that the attitude toward Beth Goetz is not overly positive right now. A lot of Iowa fans think she should have encouraged Kirk Ferentz to retire along with moving Brian along. They kind of understood Jan Jensen succeeding Lisa Bluder, but felt she could have at least made an effort to see who might have been interested.
Many people felt like Barta's time was done, but Goetz hasn't exactly endeared herself to the fan base. Given DeVries' ties to Iowa through his brother, unless she gets McCollum there's going to be a pretty vocal outcry against her. And she hasn't been on the job all that long.
Yes, thank God we have Josh Whitman.
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GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Groce was a mediocre x's and o's coach for us, but he's improved over time to where I'd say he's even above average. His recruiting was mediocre for us, as well, but not because he couldn't identify talent - it was because he could never lock it down. After all, he identified Oden, Conley, and Lighty for OSU (of course more locked down by Matta), and DJax, Cliff, Jawun Evans, Brunson, Leron, Malcolm, etc. for us. Now with NIL being king and improved x's and o's ability (watch some Akron games if you don't believe me, and look at his record over time at Akron, especially in recent years), again I think he'd do quite well with sufficient resources. He's a likable guy and he's paid his dues. Would love to see him succeed somewhere bigger than the MAC.Here's an excerpt from an article I found online:
"He’s proven to be a subpar X’s and O’s coach. His in-game adjustments almost never work out. I can’t even keep track of the number of times I’ve seen him call a timeout when the game was getting away from Illinois and the team actually performed worse after the timeout.
There’s a specific play that’s burned into my memory from last season that is really indicative of the whole Underwood era for me. It was against Wisconsin at home, and the Illini were down by ten points as the game was starting to slip away from them. Underwood called a full timeout to try and stop the Badgers’ run. After a two minute break to draw up a set play, the Illini came out of the huddle and inbounded the ball. What happens next may or may not surprise you.
Turnover. Out of a timeout. I couldn’t believe it. The camera had barely switched back to the action on the court and the play that Underwood had just drawn up went to hell in two seconds."
Sounds like something we've seen posted on this board hundreds of times right? Well, here's the twist - see the word Underwood in orange in that excerpt? That wasn't in the original text. Replace it with "Groce" and you get the except in its original form from January 2017
It's interesting how the mythologies around ex-coaches changes depending on the current coach. Because BU is a great recruiter and almost all criticisms of him have to do with x's and o's, the mythology around Groce becomes that he was a strong x's and o's coach that couldn't recruit. If BU was an x's and o's genius who had trouble recruiting, I am certain we'd remember Groce as a good recruiter and terrible x's and o's guy.
It’s time for Illini Basketball to make a coaching change
John Groce is likeable, but time has essentially run out for him in Champaign.
Where were the national media guys at 8 AM when the DeVries news dropped on Loyalty … 
I've seen this comment regarding Groce a few times the past couple days. Wasn't he Matta's Ace Recruiter while at Ohio State??? Or am I misremembering?
Edit: I see GreyGhost has shed some light on this....
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
It's entirely possible that John Groce was a "not yet" type of hire. We have to remember that Mike Thomas was pretty deep into his list because no one really wanted to work for him.Here's an excerpt from an article I found online:
"He’s proven to be a subpar X’s and O’s coach. His in-game adjustments almost never work out. I can’t even keep track of the number of times I’ve seen him call a timeout when the game was getting away from Illinois and the team actually performed worse after the timeout.
There’s a specific play that’s burned into my memory from last season that is really indicative of the whole Underwood era for me. It was against Wisconsin at home, and the Illini were down by ten points as the game was starting to slip away from them. Underwood called a full timeout to try and stop the Badgers’ run. After a two minute break to draw up a set play, the Illini came out of the huddle and inbounded the ball. What happens next may or may not surprise you.
Turnover. Out of a timeout. I couldn’t believe it. The camera had barely switched back to the action on the court and the play that Underwood had just drawn up went to hell in two seconds."
Sounds like something we've seen posted on this board hundreds of times right? Well, here's the twist - see the word Underwood in orange in that excerpt? That wasn't in the original text. Replace it with "Groce" and you get the excerpt in its original form from January 2017
It's interesting how the mythologies around ex-coaches changes depending on the current coach. Because BU is a great recruiter and almost all criticisms of him have to do with x's and o's, the mythology around Groce becomes that he was a strong x's and o's coach that couldn't recruit. If BU was an x's and o's genius who had trouble recruiting, I am certain we'd remember Groce as a good recruiter and terrible x's and o's guy.
It’s time for Illini Basketball to make a coaching change
John Groce is likeable, but time has essentially run out for him in Champaign.
People change, coaches improve. I've watched Akron a few times this season (props to CBS Sports Network to having a pretty consistent MAC schedule on Friday nights). They are fun to watch. I picked them to beat Arizona in my bracket (admittedly more of a "heart over head" pick, but you gotta have a few of those in a bracket, right??). If Groce does end up at Villanova, I hope he does well there. I'd certainly follow them, as I still do like Groce and want to see him succeed.
Is it me or is Chester a perfect fit to end up with Collins at Nova (if he gets it)?
I absolutely agree Groce has probably improved in many ways as a coach. But the idea that he was a good x's and o's coach during his tenure at Illinois has been repeated a number of times and is entirely a reflection of common criticisms against our current coach. The perception of Groce during his tenure was absolutely not that he was a good x's and o's coach.
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