Drake wins. Next UMN Coach?

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Its funny how the WNBA loses $40-50 million a year, funded by the NBA who has never seen a profit from their funding, yet there is no interest in building college bb monetarily from any NBA team. TWolves could kick Gophers a few million bucks...;)
 

Bad Gopher said:
Additionally, P.J. might have fled long ago if this weren't such a kick-ass place to live.
1. A job is what you make of it.
2. Is there really anyone in this forum who'd rather live in Iowa City than MSP? If so, why are you here and not there?
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2. I might. I'm not here or there though.
 




Bad Gopher said:
2. Is there really anyone in this forum who'd rather live in Iowa City than MSP? If so, why are you here and not there?
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As someone who actually has lived in Iowa City, I'd say that I'd rather live there if I were a twenty-something but not as an adult.
 

tjgopher said:
Just to play devil's advocate........




Not sure that's a big selling point specific to this candidate. Guy may like smaller towns. He was born in Iowa City (population 75,000), grew up in Storm Lake (population 11,000), went to junior college in Mason City (population 27,000), went to college in Maryville, Missouri (population 10,000), coached in Emporia, Kansas (population 24,000), returned to coach in Maryville (population 10,000), and now in Des Moines (population 210,000).




Meh. Based on the number of NCAA national champion programs who reside in NBA cities, probably not much impact.



Last guy who got the Gophers to the second round was run out of town two years later. Guy before that who went to the second round was run out of town two days later.



Iowa's current guy has been there 15 years. We've been through three coaches in that same time. Minnesota hasn't had a men's basketball coach leave the program as a non-fired coach since at least the 1970s, possibly the 1960s. Not sure job security is a great selling point.
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I grew up in a town of 7,000 but came to the Twin Cities for school and never looked back. I'm sure Iowa City is nice, and college towns have their appeal, but...

For sure, the guy surely has family there. It's a natural fit for various reasons. But maybe not a foregone conclusion.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
As someone who actually has lived in Iowa City, I'd say that I'd rather live there if I were a twenty-something but not as an adult.
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I've lived in Iowa City and grew up in Minneapolis. I really like them both. I would still choose Minneapolis, although it is a lot closer than I thought it would be before I lived in Iowa City.
 

Just not sure what McCollom may want to do. Not sure anyone knows. I was just speculating when I started this thread, that he might be our next coach. Who knows? This thread went in an interesting direction.

IMHO --- Iowa City is kind of a "fishbowl environment" for college coaches that Minneapolis just is not. Lute Olson, George Raveling and Steve Alford both ran afoul of the environment for various complicated reasons. Dr. Tom Davis and Fran have done a little better, though it is instructive that Fran has all this angst after one piss-poor year.

While Monson, Tubby, and Richard had some pressure, they never had the scrutiny that a coach in Iowa City gets. I think it is the difference in environments (big city vs very small city). It is more like if the Gophers are having a tough year (tough three years?) many of us just move on to something else. Hockey, Vikings, ice fishing, concerts, alll the crap there is to do in the Twin Cities. In Iowa City, it can be a fun town to drink in, but there is not a ton else to do in the winter. So the basketball gets a lot of attention.....and the coach gets a LOT of the attention. I'm 65, the one I remmeber specially hating Iowa City after awhile was Raveling in the late 80s. A black single man whose every on-curt and off-court move was scrutinized/criticized. He seemed very very happy to escape to USC/LA.

But remember - the Hawkeye fans even helped chase away Lute Olson prior to Raveling. Of all the coaches we have talked about, his results were the best. But in many ways that still wasn't good enough for Hawkeye fans.

I of course would opine that the Minny job is better than the Iowa City one. But that is admittedly personal Gopher fan bias.
 



eker0016 said:
I've lived in Iowa City and grew up in Minneapolis. I really like them both. I would still choose Minneapolis, although it is a lot closer than I thought it would be before I lived in Iowa City.
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If you could get rid of the University of Iowa and all the Hawkeye fans, Iowa City isn't bad
 

Bad Gopher said:
I grew up in a town of 7,000 but came to the Twin Cities for school and never looked back. I'm sure Iowa City is nice, and college towns have their appeal, but...

For sure, the guy surely has family there. It's a natural fit for various reasons. But maybe not a foregone conclusion.
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Well, the Iowa City area is a lot bigger than 7,000 and Cedar Rapids is a short distance up I 380 so, if you combine the two, you're almost at 300,000 population.

Here is the problem with being a coach of a major college sport in Iowa City: you're living in a fishbowl.

Most people in the Twin Cities area don't care that much, or at all, about Ben Johnson or Gopher basketball. If you stop at a local bar in a small town outside the TC area, you probably don't even see the Gopher game on TV (I know that I've rarely seen one at those places except in Tubby's early years). A Gopher basketball coach could go to many restaurants in the Twin Cities and nobody would bother him.

That's not the case in Iowa City. Go to a restaurant if you're a coach of one of those sports and you're pretty likely to get some stranger stopping by your table. Same thing if you go to the grocery store. I remember getting on local transit buses and listening to everyday citizens talking about who they believe the right starters should be.

George Raveling who coached there in the eighties could only take it for three years. Lute Olson persevered for longer but he left for Arizona eventually.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
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Man…I miss those days!!! When the suit coat came off, you knew Clem meant business!!!
 

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