ESPN: Iowa's survey to fans comes off as " incredibly strange and tone deaf"

[BleedGopher]

ESPN: Iowa's survey to fans comes off as " incredibly strange and tone deaf"

per ESPN:

Big-time college sports, no matter how much some people would like to believe otherwise, is a business. And every business would be wise to get as much feedback from its customers as possible in order to tailor their products in the best possible way.

But Iowa's recent survey of its fans borders on the absolute absurd.

Our friends over at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Marc Morehouse and Scott Dochterman, have brought to light what Iowa's athletic department called a "Black and Gold Feedback" survey that was sent to season ticket holders.

The first three questions of the feedback form ask fans to rate on a scale of 1-to-10 how important the following items are to them: Winning, graduating players and "do[ing] it right." No, really.

Whatever the reason, the survey comes across as incredibly strange and tone deaf. Iowa should not have to sacrifice any of the bedrock principles that all Big Ten teams say they hold dear. Fans shouldn't be asked to prioritize them, either. Customer feedback is almost always a valuable tool in business. Except in this case, where the answers should already be painfully obvious.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/120801/does-iowa-really-have-to-choose-priorities

Go Gophers!!

 

[beavergopher]

They forgot the most important question for Iowa football.

How many felony drug charges should a player be allowed before he is dismissed from the program?

 

[Unregistered User]

Some comments posted by Iowa fans on reddit.com:

I work at the University of Iowa Foundation Call Center calling alumni asking for donations and if we literally started keeping track of every time a person refused to donate because Ferentz is still the football coach there would be 5 times each shift minimum. I myself have been told that at least 10-15 times in the two months I've been there. The disconnect between fans and administration is unreal. I'll take 8-5 seasons, but not when Kirk is a top 10 highest paid HC running the same **** he ran in 1995.

One of the top Iowa podcasts "On Iowa" talks about this and makes the theory that this is maybe more of a damage control like don't get you're hopes up too much this season because they know we will not be very good.
Or they really mean this and don't know their fans want to win and in that case burn the whole department to the ground.

If we are 7-5 or worse this season it could get very, very, very ugly in Iowa City this fall.

 

[WanderingGopher]

I don't think the survey is that strange -- Bennett answered his own question later in the article. The survey is a reminder to fans that winning games is not the only important aspect of a program.

Frankly, the minute Iowa starts winning more games again is the minute I'll believe they are cheating again [as is widely known in the Hayden Fry era].

 

[BarnBoy]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how strongly do you feel about the tactics deployed by Minnesota against your team during onside kicks?

 

[dpodoll68]

The disconnect between fans and administration is unreal.

I doubt there's much of a disconnect at all. It's easy for the fans to say "fire the coach" but they're not the ones who have to pay the enormous eight-figure buyout. I'm quite confident that the administration knows that Ferentz's time is over, but they are also held to standards of reasonable fiscal accountability.

 

[Gopher Warrior]

I doubt there's much of a disconnect at all. It's easy for the fans to say "fire the coach" but they're not the ones who have to pay the enormous eight-figure buyout. I'm quite confident that the administration knows that Ferentz's time is over, but they are also held to standards of reasonable fiscal accountability.

One might say had they been held to "standards of reasonable fiscal accountability," the enormous buyout would not have come into existence, hey? Awful contract. They screwed up.

 

[dpodoll68]

One might say had they been held to "standards of reasonable fiscal accountability," the enormous buyout would not have come into existence, hey? Awful contract. They screwed up.

Agreed. And now the wise decision is not to compound the error by paying him an absurd amount to walk away.

 

[bemidjigopher]

One might say had they been held to "standards of reasonable fiscal accountability," the enormous buyout would not have come into existence, hey? Awful contract. They screwed up.

I would say at the time ferrntz earned it. They were coming off the orange bowl and he capitalized. Unfortunately Kurt had all the leverage.