Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling Riding High, but still Beatable
By Kif Richmann
The Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team went on a little trip this weekend, first to Evanston, Ill., and then to University Park Penn to face the #1 Nittany Lions.
Two weeks before the Hawkeyes were down, having tied Oklahoma State in Stillwater and snapping a 69 dual meet winning streak. Things were looking a little bleak for the three time defending championship Hawkeyes.
The return of Montell Marion has given Iowa a boost at both 141 and 149. Marion is now ranked #3 after this weekend's win. (photo via thegazette.com)
Before the road trip, Iowa head wrestling coach Tom Brands visited the KRUI studio and talked about the return of Montell Marion
Download: Tom%20on%20Marion.MP3
Two weeks later, and the wrestling world has been put on notice: after beating Cael Sanderson’s Nittany Lions, the Hawkeyes are at the top of their game, and with the addition of Montell Marion at 141, Iowa expects to beat anyone, anywhere.
But they are still vulnerable.
While Marion’s return to the lineup has give the Hawkeye’s an immediate jump start, it should be noted that Mark Ballweg was doing a decent job at 141 before Sunday’s meet at Penn State and will now be a boost at 149. He had wrestled aggressively against all competitors, and even raked up a few impressive wins, including a decision over retrurning all-American Chris Drouin of Iowa State. Mark had wrestled so well, in fact, that Tom Brands bumped him up to the 149 spot in the Penn State dual.
Although he lost to #5 Frank Molinaro in Pennsylvania, Mark Ballweg should be competitive at 149 as soon as he gets comfortable in the weight class. (Mark Ballweg replaced his older brother Matt, who has struggled at 149 this season.)
While Iowa’s 125 lb stud and returning national champion Matt McDonough appears to be on the charge, having accumulated 3 pins in a row. But there is still a question of how he will fare if he again faces Brandon Precin of Northwestern. Precin beat him in at the Midlands Championships, and was beating McDonough 3-0 with riding time in this weekend’s dual when McDonough stuck him for the pin in the 3rd period.
The pin looks great, but it appears that Precin can score on McDonough, something few wrestlers can claim.
Tony Ramos is on fire at 133, and after beating then #5 Andrew Long of Penn State, Ramos has been bumped up into the #8 individual ranking for intermat.com.
Derek St. John, however, has yet to find his rhythm. The current Intermat #9 at 157 has been hot and cold all season, and St. John was given a loss by major decision against fellow freshman David Taylor of PSU. If St. John doesn’t pick it up soon, 157 could be a hole in the Hawkeye’s title chances.
Grant Gambrall also had a good weekend, going 2-0 on the road trip, which included an 8-3 win over Quintin Wright of Penn State. Gambrall took advantage of a banged up Wright who came to the mat on Sunday with a wrap around one shoulder. Although Wright outranked Gambrall before the weekend, Gambrall and Wright are now 13 and 14 respectively, according to Intermat.
With the Hawkeyes riding high after beating the #1 team in the country, Tom Brands will be expecting big things from his wrestlers. But while beating Sanderson and company is a nice feather in the cap, it’s all a buildup to the national championships in March.
How do you think the Hawkeyes will fare in March? Give us a reply and get in on the conversation.
NBA All-Star Game Voting Needs Re-tooling
By Jordan Underwood
Well it’s that time if year again when the exuberant fans of the NBA get to express who they want to see represent their conference.
I am of course talking about the All-Star game in Los Angeles, California.
Despite averaging 10 pts and 5 rebounds, Yao Ming was chosen to face off at center against Dwight Howard of the Orland Magic (photo via life.com)
With the starters being announced on January 27th and the reserves to follow later, it is apparent that the fans know what they are doing in some regards, but they mostly fail in the grand scheme of voting for all-stars. Now I am not saying that the fans should not have a say in who gets to go to the all-star game every year, however, I believe that we have given way too much power to the fans to decide and have just accepted their choices as what the people really want.
With that being said, the starters for each conference’s team are as follows: Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and Yao Ming for the Western Conference and DeWayne Wade, Derrick Rose, Lebron James, Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire for the Eastern Conference.
So let us begin analyzing the Western Conference starters. I can live with the fact that Kobe, Chris Paul and Kevin Durant are in the starting lineup because over the first half of the season, they have close to, if not the best at their position. Carmelo Anthony is playing fairly well this year (besides dragging the Nuggets and all of their fans through a roller coaster ride dubbed MeloDrama), however, I feel that there are a few other players who should be in the forward spot beside Kevin Durant.
First and foremost is Dirk Nowitzki. Before his injury, Nowitzki was putting up numbers better than what he did in his 2007 MVP campaign. As of right now, he is averaging 23.1 points per game (a little down from last year but remember the injury), 6.8 rebounds per game, and 2.5 assists per game while upping his field goal percentage to 52.2% and three-point percentage to 40%.
Fans chose forward Carmelo Anthony (right) over Dirk Nowitzki for the Western Conference All-Star starting lineup (photo via life.com)
The next worthy candidate for this spot is Pau Gasol. He is averaging a double double with 18.1 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game while shooting 51.5% from the field. Pau was a staple in the Lakers second consecutive championship and he carried that momentum into this season where he is clearly a focal point to the Laker’s offense.
Well that brings us to the worst pick in this year’s all-star game, Yao Ming. His stat line is . . .oh wait it is a meaningless 10 points and 5 rebounds per game because he has only played in five games all season due to injury!! I do not know how the fans could have screwed this one up as badly as they did but here we are and now it will be the coaches’ decision to choose a starting center.
The best possible choices as I see it right now would have to be Kevin Love, Emeka Okefor, or Tyson Chandler with some other possibilities, but no clear cut winner.
With the West complete, let’s move to the East.
In retrospect, the fans got a majority of these picks right. They all deserve to be starters and the controversial picks of Amare over Kevin Garnett and Derrick Rose, who should be high up in the MVP voting later on in the season, over Rajon Rando were excellent choices in my mind.
Overall, good job on the eastern conference, fans.
With my piece being said I must make note of how I think changes should be made (be they right or wrong). I believe that the fans voting is a crucial part to the NBA All-Star game, however, with the constant mishaps in their voting, I feel there is a better way to use fan voting.
The votes should count, but to a lesser extent. That way the fans get to see who they want to see and the players that deserve to be there are there and noone makes it based solely on popularity (yes, I am looking in your direction Allen Iverson). Would a change come quickly? I do not think so, however, it is clear that something needs to be done, whether that is minor or major, in order to fix the process.
All stats via various team websites and NBA.com
What do you think? Did the fans get it right? Leave us a reply and get in on the conversation.
Memo to Hawkeye Fans: Appreciate Stability
By Kif Richmann
Despite a dissapointing 2010 season, Kirk Ferentz still led the Iowa Hawkeyes to a win over Missouri in the Insight Bowl (photo via dailyme.com)
Remember the 2007 Hawkeye football season?
You know; The University of Iowa football team lost at home to Western Michigan, wrapping up the second consecutive six-win season.
The year the Hawkeyes missed a bowl game.
Remember the doom and gloom in Iowa City. (I’m pretty sure I saw brimstone.) People were calling for Kirk Ferentz’s job. Something has to be done!, fans and media cried. Gary Barta can’t put up with this! So, what did Iowa athletics director Gary Barta do?
How about a contract extension?
People could not believe it! Two mediocre (at best) seasons and you’re going to give Ferentz a contract extension?!
Three consecutive bowl wins later and it turns out that was a pretty good call.
Firing coaches brings instability, and instability in any organization is a bad thing, be it business, school, or college and professional teams.
Granted, lack of success and firing coaches can be a chicken-and-egg situation, (is Notre Dame struggling because they have been a coaching carousel, or are the Irish a coaching roller coaster because they’ve been struggling?) but when in doubt, a program should stick with stability and let a coach do his job.
Case in point #1: The Michigan Wolverines.
Lloyd Carr was one of the best coaches in the country, winning 5 Big Ten titles and a national championship from 1995-2007. However, struggles later in his career caused discontent from fans and boosters to make a change. Although Carr officially retired, pressure from outside forces played a big part in his decision to leave.
Now look at Michigan. Rich Rodriguez led them to a 15-22 record, a dismal mark for the most storied NCAA football program. Now they have gotten rid of Rich Rodriguez, and will again attempt to reestablish Michigan as a Big Ten powerhouse. Only problem: they don’t know who they’re going to hire, and whoever Michigan does hire will have to try to win with Rodriguez’s recruits, who were brought in to run a spread offense based around a shifty quarterback.
Case in point #2: The Oakland Raiders
One year after going to Super Bowl XXXVII the Oakland Raiders went 4-8 in 2003-04, and pathological firer Al Davis chose to get rid of head coach Bill Callahan. The franchise has been in a tail spin ever since.
Even Tom Cable, who led the Raiders to an 8-8 record, (the best since the Super Bowl year) was fired. By all accounts the team was improving and the Raiders players were buying into Cable’s system, but this was not good enough for Al Davis, who treats firing coaches like popping chewing gum.
When the 2011 season starts, the Raiders will have had 6 coaches since 2002. They will also have had one of the worst runs in NFL history.
The last coach to leave the Raiders with a winning record is Jon Gruden, who left in 2001.
Case in point # 3: The Penn State Nittany Lions
Joe Paterno: Penn State head football coach since 1966, 401-135-3 overall record, two national titles. Enough said.
Case in point #4: The Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history and the most AFC Championships. They have also had three coaches since 1969.
Although Chuck Noll occupies the majority of this time frame, coaching the Steelers from 1969 to 1991, Bill Cower also takes up a large portion (1992-2006), and you can expect Mike Tomlin to do the same by the time he leaves the Pittsburgh job.
In 1998 the Steelers finished 7-9 and missed the playoffs. The next year they would finish 6-10, the worst record under Bill Cower. What did the Rooney family, which owns the Steelers, do?
They kept Cower on for another seven seasons, allowing him to keep building and eventually win Super Bowl XXL in February, 2006. Good choice Rooneys!
As you can see, keeping coaches around and allowing them to build a stable program is valuable. I could list a few other college football programs that have let instability cripple their teams, (Notre Dame anyone? Or how about Hawkeye basketball?) but for now I will just be thankful to watch an Iowa football team that has consistency in its leadership.
Iowa is not Florida, Ohio State, Michigan or USC. Iowa football is not an elite program and Iowa City is not the most desired destination for football coaches or recruits. However, with consistency, stability, and leadership Iowa can do more with less. A guy like Ferentz can make that possible.
Without Ferentz, Iowa might be worse off than Michigan.
Now that’s scary!
Patience Needed in Cam Newton Case
By Kif Richmann
I don’t know Cam Newton.
I’ve never shaken hands and looked Cam Newton in the eye.
I’ve never sat at a bar, shared a few cold ones and chatted about girls with Cam Newton.
For all I know, I’ve never even been in the same state at the same time as Cam Newton.
Because of all that I don’t know, I can wait before making an assumption about the man.
Auburn quarterback Cam Newton (photo via Getty Images)
Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz discusses Cam Newton case
With all the allegations flying around right now, it is easy to assume Newton is guilty of something. But until I know the facts surrounding the latest pay-for-play scandal, I will hold off judgment. I don’t know the facts, and I don’t know the man.
As the old saying goes, where there’s smoke there’s fire, and right now Cam Newton has more smoke floating around him than a pile of burning leaves. But there is a more important saying out there: innocent until proven guilty. In this day of hyper-fast information, people have also turned to hyper-fast conclusions.
Maybe Cam Newton is guilty.
Maybe Cecil Newton, Cam’s father, really did demand thousands of dollars from Mississippi State for the services of his son.
But what if it’s not true? Then we have run the risk of completely assassinating the respectability and integrity of a tremendously talented young man without anything to back it up.
Back when Newton was arrested on serious charges of burglary, larceny and obstruction of justice, we knew what happened. To Newton’s credit, he manned up and admitted to wrong doing. After enrolling at Auburn, he went on talk show after talk show and confessed to making a dumb mistake. He bought a stolen computer and should have known better. He reacted in an extremely foolish manner when the police arrived at his apartment, but he has since paid his dues. And he has since owned up to issue.
I’m waiting for a recording of the alleged conversations in which Cecil Newton demanded money for Cam’s talents. I’m waiting for a confession by either Cam or Cecil, which is not likely to come anytime soon.
Although the burden of proof falls on those lobbing these allegations, Cam Newton has not helped his cause either. During a recent press conference, Newton chose to neither confirm nor deny the pay-for-play allegations. While it’s his right to act as he sees best, I think someone who knows they are innocent would quickly, fervently and repeatedly deny the allegations.
But maybe that’s just it. Maybe Cam Newton doesn’t know.
What if the demands for cash were made without any knowledge by Cam Newton himself?
Until we know for sure, stick with what we do know: Cam Newton is a great football player who has made mistakes in the past and owned up to those mistakes. He has worked his way back into a major NCAA program and lifted that team into the national spotlight. His play on the field has made him a front runner for the Heisman.
At this point, that’s all we know.
Can Cam Newton Be Trusted?
By Kyle Hughes
Cameron Newton has been the brightest star in college football this season. He is second in the nation in passer rating, has over 3000 total yards, has 35 total touchdowns, and has led Auburn to an undefeated record so far this season. He is the favorite to win the Heisman, but accusations about his past have been rampant this past week. Is it possible that the biggest superstar in college football is ineligible? After an investigation by the NCAA could we see Newton giving back a Heisman and Auburn handing back a BCS Championship trophy? I’m all for innocent until proven guilty, but things look bad for Newton.
- Cam Newton leads Auburn to a 24-17 win over LSU (Getty Images)
The Computer Scandal
In 2008, while he was at Florida, Cam Newton was charged with felony counts of burglary, larceny, and obstructing justice. Newton was suspected of stealing a computer from another student and when the police went to question him he threw the computer out of his dorm window. However, Newton was never convicted of a crime and some reports said that he just purchased the computer from someone for a good price. Newton later called it the stupidest decision he’d ever made.
The Recruiting Scandal
Last week ESPN reported that a representative of Cam Newton asked for $180,000 in compensation from Mississippi State if they wanted Newton to commit to them. The representative was Kenny Rogers, a “matchmaker” for athletes and college programs. The school then reported the incident to the SEC. The NCAA had investigated the claim and was waiting for more substantial evidence. Cam Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, denied any wrongdoing by him or his son. Cecil Newton turned over phone records, bank records, and emails to the NCAA voluntarily. Coach Gene Chizik responded by emphasizing that Newton was eligible to play at Auburn. Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said he didn’t experience anything irregular in Oklahoma’s attempted recruitment of Cam Newton.
The Cheating Scandal
According to FoxSports.com, an anonymous source told them that Newton had three different instances of academic cheating while at the University of Florida. Newton transferred to Blinn College instead of appearing in front of Florida’s Student Conduct Committee. Newton had previously told Sports Illustrated that he transferred because of Tim Tebow’s announcement to return for his senior season. Gene Chizik has declared that these revelations are “garbage” and Cecil Newton called the report a character assassination attempt on his son.
The NCAA is sure to now to bring a lot of heat in their investigation of Newton and already Heisman voters are suggesting they will second guess a vote for Cam Newton. Should Newton be given the benefit of the doubt? Normally I would say yes, but in his case I say no. This all comes in the same year that Reggie Bush handed back a Heisman and USC was put on probation for illegal recruitment. In an era when athletes are willing to lie about cheating even in the face of possible jail time, it is hard for me to believe that Newton is an innocent victim. Lets not forget how unsavory a character Gene Chizik was during his time at Iowa State and how he abandoned the Cyclones the first chance he got. Lets also not forget Auburn has been involved in this type of scandal before. In 1993 the program was put on two-year probation by the NCAA for a pay-for-play scandal brought to light by former player Eric Ramsey. You can stand up for Newton if you want, you can give him the Heisman, and you can marvel at his outstanding statistics. Just don’t be shocked when they’re wiped from the record books in a few years.
Contract Extension: Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads Deserves One
By: Mike Rabon
Paul Rhoads holding the 2009 Insight Bowl Trophy
(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images via Life.com)
The Iowa State Cyclones fell to 5-5 overall on Saturday after losing a heart-breaker to hated rival Nebraska in Jack Trice Stadium. Paul Rhoads dialed-up a fake extra point play with the holder Daniel Kuehl throwing a pass to Colin Franklin, which was ultimately intercepted by Nebraska defender Eric Hagg. The call was gutsy and is indicative of Paul Rhoads’s aggressive nature. Iowa State fans and alumni could have been apoplectic in responding 31-30 overtime loss but instead many have embraced his determination to win football games.
In 2008, Paul Rhoads signed a 5-year contract worth $5.75 million, including other basic incentive packages. In the previous three seasons, Iowa State had only been victorious in 8 games overall and was 3-21 in 24 conference games. Rhoads is now 12-11 overall with a 6-8 conference record including a win against Nebraska in Lincoln and Texas in Austin. ISU defeated Minnesota in the Insight Bowl in 2009, which is only the third bowl victory in school history.
The last Iowa State coach to win 12 games this quickly was Clyde Williams in 1907 and 1908-he won 13 games in his first two seasons. If Paul Rhoads can defeat Colorado in Boulder this weekend he will be the equal of Clyde Williams and could pass him with a win over Missouri in Ames during the season’s final conference match-up.
AD Jamie Pollard should extend Paul Rhoads’s contract at the end of the season and either increase his salary or offer larger incentive packages. The Cyclones have played the most difficult schedule in all of college football and Paul Rhoads is on the verge of earning the team’s second straight bowl berth. Many may look at his record and laugh at the idea of an early contract extension but if one knows the lackluster history of the Iowa State Cyclone Football Program then this should be a no-brainer. The Cyclones have never won the Big XII or the Big Eight and have not won a conference championship since 1912 when they competed in the Missouri Valley Conference. Rhoads has adequately ingratiated himself with Cyclone fans and alumni, beaten Texas and Nebraska, won the Insight Bowl and created a culture for winning at ISU. Rhoads has energized a program that was in the cellar of the BigXII at the end of the McCarney Era and during the two seasons Gene Chizik roamed the sidelines in Ames.
Kirk Ferentz was given time to win at Iowa and in his 4th season Iowa shared the conference title with eventual National Champion Ohio State and now the Hawkeyes are constantly competing for New Year’s Day bowl games and conference championships. Rhoads may not enjoy the same success as Ferentz but he is the right guy for the job in Ames and should be handily rewarded for making the Cyclones a relevant program in the BigXII. His accomplishments are noteworthy and most of all he embodies class. Do the right thing Mr. Pollard and reward Coach Paul Rhoads for significantly improving the program.
