Pedley's Ponderings

Every now and then, I’m truly surprised by the World of Sports.

The Bengals are in the Super Bowl. Tom Brady retired. The Cubs actually won the World Series.

Unfortunately, none of that amusement is ever extended to the Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team. They always underperform and fail to impress, which has once again been the standard this year.

My beloved Hawks are currently in a tie for ninth place in the Big 10 standings at 4-6 in the conference and 14-7 overall. With a crushing double-overtime loss at Penn State on Monday night, the only question that remains about this season is what seed Iowa will be in the NIT.

Thusly, it’s time to lay down some facts for Hawks fans from sea to shining sea. Iowa has never made it past the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament under head coach Fran McCaffery, and we’ve never really sniffed a conference championship in the past 10 years, either. We haven’t been to the Sweet 16 since 1999, for crying out loud – I was 8 years old! Last year we had the best player in the country in Luka Garza and still failed to register any meaningful results. In my humble opinion, Iowa should have canned Fran four years ago.

Of course, McCaffery’s contract has been extended several times despite the lack of results. Mediocrity has become the status quo in Iowa City and I don’t expect that to change under the current leadership there. Athletic Director Gary Barta is only good at losing discrimination lawsuits.

I was recently lambasted by friends for my opinion on Fran. That’s fine, because I’m used to being called an idiot. However, offended Hawk fans should note that parity in college basketball is much more prevelant than in college football, and sometimes new blood is all you need to spark a turnaround – just look 130 miles west in Ames.

Fire Fran. There are better coaches out there, and they even coach defense. Until the administration wakes up and realizes that, the standard will remain the standard in Iowa City.

Nick Pedley is the news editor of The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly-Royal News.