Richard Hayman

It's always a pleasure hearing from my friend Richard Hayman, who keeps track of his favorite Hawkeye teams from afar. Here's Richard's latest e-mail:

Hello, Mr. Maly,

"Thank you so much! Your Fennelly piece took me back to the juiciest days of The Big Peach, when The Des Moines Register was truly the newspaper upon which Iowa depended. Your blog allows you to reach a worldwide audience, and I reflect with marvel that this initially-struggling Internet experiment has lived up to its promise of providing nearly instant access to a wide variety of information and capabilities. It is wonderful to have you writing, and to have access to that writing without regard to where I am physically located. Thanks so much for sharing, and I hope the activity is keeping you young.

"Despite many challenges, the news from here is that we continue to be blessed and highly favored. I am sending along a picture of us at the new Teton Trek exhibit at The Memphis Zoo.

"The Teton Trek is a fine exhibit that focuses on providing the animals (in this case, featuring grey wolves and elk…yeah, in side-by-side habitats…certainly within smelling and seeing distance of one another…which I thought was a bit cruel and unusual…smile) a fairly expansive (by zoo standards) and varied natural habitat. The exhibit also features a gorgeous reproduction of Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone National Park. In other 'news' from these parts, the Willie Herenton mayoral stranglehold on the city of Memphis is apparently over. Elected to five consecutive terms, initially amid promise of a brighter day, King Willie’s latter-reign administration was plagued by scandal and corruption, and, in my opinion, had little credibility or relevance. As a pragmatic outsider, it was difficult to watch.

"We had an interesting football season, and it is always special to be able to talk about my home state while drawing attention to the football team. I am very happy for the entire team, and especially for Coach Ferentz. I think he hung in there when the going got rough; a time during which many other people would have packed the station wagon and skedaddled. I am not sure we will receive a Fiesta Bowl invitation, but it would be a terrific opportunity for us to end the season on a particularly high note. Also, I read a piece at the beginning of the season that mentioned Phillip’s days as a running back in the early 70s. That was nice. I am looking only halfway in Coach Lickliter’s direction at the moment. I want to give him time to build the program in his image. Next year, I will be looking squarely at him, and asking the question, 'what have you done, lately?' Here’s hoping the men will find their stride and have a surprising season this year. Sadly, we have not had many good moments in Iowa men’s basketball since the departure of Dr. Tom. Excitement builds as we look to see if the wrestling team can turn things around -- and establish some separation from the national crowd -- while going for the three-peat. I like Coach Brands. Given that we are all in the tumbler to be polished, I feel good that the young men in his charge have benefit of his grit to smooth and shape them.

"Here’s wishing you a safe and joyous holiday season.

"All the best,"

Richard

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for your kind words, Richard. My best to you and your family at this wonderful time of the year. As for Iowa's bowl destination, I'm counting on the Fiesta until I hear otherwise. As for the other Hawkeye sports, you have a very accurate handle on what you and other fans can expect in terms of success.]

Dordt College Would Never Treat Me So Rudely

In the wake of the two columns I wrote last week about Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly, I've received telephone calls from readers, plus the following e-mail from Mike Byker, the sports information director at Dordt College in Sioux Center and the sports director at radio station KDCR:

Ron,

"Just read with interest your entry about Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. Rest assured if you ever showed up in Sioux Center we'd never treat you so rudely. Heck, I'd even let you ask our coaches a question or two. Keep up the good work."

Mike Byker
Dordt College Sports Information Director
KDCR Sports Director

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: I appreciate Mike Byker's kind words. He's been a good friend over the years, and obviously knows his way around collegiate athletics. In the event you've been on the moon or otherwise out of the state, you probably recall the strange experience I had on what otherwise was a pleasant Sunday afternoon a little over a week ago. I had attended the Drake-Iowa State women's basketball game -- a 78-75 Drake victory -- at the Knapp Center on the Drake campus, and went into the Paul Morrison room after the game to hear the press conferences with the coaches -- Bill Fennelly [pictured at the right] of Iowa State and Amy Stephens of Drake. I didn't know much of anything about Fennelly, the highly-successful Cyclone coach. I did know that he won a lot of games and made a lot of money doing it. I thought he'd be like most other women's basketball coaches I've known over the years -- pleasant, talkative and happy to visit with anyone who wanted to converse about their sport. I asked one question of Fennelly -- "Bill, you've been in this game a long time. When was the last time you felt this way about one of your teams?" Early in the session with reporters, Fennelly had been critical of his team and, I guess, of himself. He said the Cyclones were outplayed and he was outcoached. Anyway, Fennelly evidently didn't care for my question. Frankly, I thought it was a pretty tame question, especially to a coach who has been on the national stage as often as Fennelly. After I asked the question, Fennelly hesitated a second or two, then said he wouldn't comment on it and left the room. Later, Fennelly's sports information director asked me who I was writing for and seemed to be indicating she didn't think I should be asking Fennelly anything. Indeed, Fennelly delivered the message that he "didn't like my question." I'm now of the opinion that Fennelly comes from the Lute Olson School of Coaches -- one that says only "softball" questions are permitted by sportswriters in press conferences. Fennelly certainly surprised me with his immature behavior. Here's the response I gave Mike Byker of Dordt College after his e-mail to me: "Hey, Mike, thanks for the kind words. That was a weird experience we had in the Paul Morrison press room at Drake the other day. I didn't know Bill Fennelly well, and obviously still don't know him well after what happened after Drake upset his team. Since then, I've gotten phone calls from people who were very critical of Fennelly because of the way he treats some of his players. I'd never heard that, but the people said I should sit behind his bench sometime and listen to him. After Sunday, I'm not sure I want to be in the same arena with him again. Anyway, thanks for your message. If I'm ever in the neighborhood, I'll certainly drop in to watch a Dordt game and visit with you." By the way, Dordt is a college that was established in 1955. It's a private, Christian liberal arts college located in Sioux Center, Dedicated to Christ centered education, Dordt offers over 90 programs of study. In a later e-mail, Byker wrote, "Todd Voss's name caught my eye as well....former Concordia (NE) coach who Dordt ran into several times. Micah Parker also coached there as I'm sure you know...couple classy guys. They won more than they lost against our teams, but, we gave them a run and his teams were always fun to compete with." Voss is on Amy Stephens' staff at Drake, and Micah Parker is a former Drake assistant coach.]

*

I'm trying to catch up with some of the things that happened over the Thanksgiving holiday period -- one of which was the announcement that newsside columnist John Carlson of the Des Moines Register is leaving his job at the end of December.

The headline on editor Carolyn Washburn's story said Carlson was retiring, but I didn't necessarily get that idea after reading what Carlson wrote over the weekend.

It sounded to me like he wanted to continue doing some sort of work, and I hope he does.

In fact, I hope he decides to write Internet columns.

Take it from me, John, it's a lot of fun.

And it's certainly not work.

Here's a copy of the e-mail I sent Carlson when I read that he was leaving the newspaper:

Hi, John,

"I want to wish you the best. You're a hell of a good guy and a hell of a good writer. I know I'll be reading what you write elsewhere in the future, and I know it'll be outstanding. I've enjoyed our talks at all the Iowa-Iowa State football games in the press boxes at Iowa City and Ames in recent years. Keep up the great work."

Ron Maly

The Iowa-Iowa State games have been where Carlson and I have had our conversations in the past few years.

As for anyone wondering why a guy like Carlson would want to leave the Register, all you have to do is recall what's been happening in the newsroom in recent months.

Features writer Ken Fuson and farm editor Jerry Perkins quit, 26-year veteran cartoonist Brian Duffy was escorted to the door by security people after he was told he no longer had a job, and everyone else on the Fourth Floor newsroom is running scared.

They might have jobs one day, then be escorted to the door the next day.

Nobody needs that.

Carlson's timing is perfect.

In a Letter To the Register's Editor, George Wine Writes That Coach of the Year Kirk Ferentz 'Deserves An Apology from the Newspaper and Sean Keeler'

When Iowa's Kirk Ferentz [pictured at the top, inside Kinnick Stadium] was named coach of the year in the Big Ten this week, George Wine of Coralville wrote the following letter to the editor to the Des Moines Register.

Wine [pictured at the right], who spent 25 years as Iowa's sports information director, co-authored a book about former Hawkeye coach Hayden Fry and still writes online football columns for the university's athletic website, targeted sports columnist Sean Keeler [pictured at the left] in his criticism of the Register.

Here's Wine's letter:

To The Editor, D.M. Register

Kirk Ferentz is the Big Ten coach of the year? That must have come as a shock to the Register and its columnist, Sean Keeler, who accused Ferentz of playing it safe, playing scared, being meek and surrendering in Iowa's overtime loss at Ohio State. Under very difficult circumstances, Ferentz did a marvelous job in leading his football team to 10 wins and a January bowl game. He deserves his coach of the year honor. He also deserves an apology from the Register and Sean Keeler. You're entitled to disagree with a coach's decision, but you crossed the line in your criticism of Ferentz.

George Wine
Coralville, IA

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: In addition to sending his letter to the editor of the Register's opinion pages, Wine forwarded a copy of it to me, and also sent a copy to Register sports editor Bryce Miller. So far, the letter has only been published in this column. The Register has not published it. Not yet anyway. In a column that appeared in the Sunday Register on Nov. 15, Keeler was critical of Ferentz for his decision to not play for a touchdown or a field goal in the final 52 seconds of regulation time in the Nov. 14 game at Ohio State. The Buckeyes then clinched a trip to the Rose Bowl by beating Iowa on a field goal in overtime, 27-24. In online comments for many days following the game, Keeler was attacked by scores of Register readers. He was also criticized heavily by Hawkeye fans in the many online websites devoted to Iowa football. Some Iowa fans, including Al Schallau -- who often writes to me about Hawkeye sports -- didn't agree with Ferentz's decision to shut down Iowa's offense in the final 52 seconds of regulation time. Regardless of what people thought, Iowa went on to win its regular-season finale over Minnesota, 12-0, in its next game and now will take a 10-2 record into a January bowl. Keeler's Des Moines Register column was headlined "Meek won't inherit the Rose Bowl berth," and is reprinted here:

Columbus, Ohio — One minute, you’ve got your hands around Ohio State’s throat. The next, you’re raising them high in the air. A white flag planted at the 33-yard line for all the world to see.

Fifty-two seconds, 24-24 game, on the road, a Rose Bowl dangling the balance. There’s one timeout in your pocket and momentum at your back.

You sit on the ball. You surrender.

“I’ve done enough stupid things this year,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said after a 27-24 overtime loss at Ohio State. “Why do something at that point?”

Because something — anything — is better than two ho-hum run plays sandwiched around a penalty. Because teams that play not to lose usually do. Because you’re 45 yards from a makeable field goal.

Because your kids, having rallied from a 24-10 deficit in the Big Ten’s most hostile environment, deserved a fighting chance to win it in regulation.

“As a receiver, you’re like, 'Let’s go,’” wideout Derrell Johnson-Koulianos said after the game. “Me and Marv (McNutt) are like, 'Throw us the ball. We’re going to get open. Put this thing in our hands.’ We want to be the guys to make the plays.

“But that’s the coaches’ job. That’s what they’re paid to do — to make those kind of decisions.”

What was it Herm Edwards said? You play to win the game. You don’t play scared. You don’t handcuff your players. Not after they spill their guts all over Ohio Stadium. They deserved better.

James Vandenberg deserved better. After 233 passing yards and two touchdowns, the redshirt freshman from Keokuk deserved another shot to lead one final, fateful drive to Pasadena.

Would Ferentz have made the same call if a healthy Ricky Stanzi was under center? Was it because of Vandenberg’s youth? His inexperience? His three interceptions?

“We could’ve had Joe Namath in there,” Ferentz countered. “We would’ve done the same thing.”

And they still would’ve been wrong.

Maybe Ferentz, deep down, didn’t trust his players, which is the most awful message of all to send after the way this wonderful season, this story, has taken shape. Maybe he didn’t trust his kicker, Daniel Murray, who’d missed a 22-yarder in the third quarter.

But if you don’t have enough faith in your offense enough to make one drive of 40 or 45 yards in regulation — Murray is 6-for-6 this season on field-goal attempts from between 30 and 39 yards out, by the way — what makes you think it’ll be able to keep pace, series after series, with Ohio State and Terrelle Pryor in overtime?

“It’s a blessing,” Buckeye defensive tackle Doug Worthington said.

It’s a head-scratcher. A soul-crusher.

Still, if there’s a silver lining, it’s this: An at-large berth in the Bowl Championship Series is still very much on the table, especially with so many national scribes witnessing the Hawkeyes’ pluck in person. Of course, to even stay in the conversation, you’ve got to beat Minnesota.

And how much fight the Gophers have left in the tank is anybody’s guess. That it took a late field goal for Minnesota to beat South Dakota State could mean the Fighting Brewsters (6-5) are running on fumes. Or perhaps, with memories of that 55-0 shellacking at the Metrodome last year burned into their brains, they’re lying in the weeds, waiting to kick a dog while it’s down.

“We’re going to remember this,” Ohio State linebacker Austin Spitler said, “for the rest of our lives.”

So will those young men in the white jerseys, a chorus of slumped shoulders marching off into the night. That’s what breaks your spirit. That’s what breaks your heart.

Sunday Register sports columnist Sean Keeler can be reached at skeeler@dmreg.com. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/seankeeler and on Facebook at facebook.com/smkeeler.

Iowa State's 'Bill Fennelly Hates--Absolutely Hates--Losing To Drake.' So What Happens? Mr. Wonderful Gets Outcoached By Amy Stephens and Loses, 78-75

I've been writing more than usual lately about Amy Stephens, the Drake women's basketball coach who received some rare praise a couple of days ago from Mr. Wonderful himself, Bill Fennelly of Iowa State.

Fennelly quit thinking about himself for about 2 seconds when he said he got outcoached by Stephens [pictured at the right, enjoying some postgame water] in the Bulldogs' 78-75 victory over Iowa State at the Knapp Center.

Most people -- even those who were dressed in Drake's blue-and-white -- figured Stephens' team would get clobbered by 20 points or more by Fennelly and his Cyclones.

But the Bulldogs got stronger as the game went on, and Drake wound up beating the Cyclones for the first time since 2003.

One guy who wasn't surprised that Stephens outcoached Fennelly is longtime Drake fan Jay Davidson of Des Moines.

"Amy Stephens can outcoach most anyone most of the time," Davidson said. "She'll also outwork them. Growing up as the daughter of one of the most successful high school coaches in Nebraska, [her dad and mom are nearly always present for weekend games in the Knapp Center, driving in from their home in Albion, Neb.], she is a real student -- and teacher -- of the game. Nothing she does will ever surprise me, and no one is more deserving."

Well put, Jay.

Although you don't hear as much as you should about Stephens, and her name isn't often mentioned in the same sentence as that of Fennelly [whose reputation apparently sometimes succeeds his ability in his own mind and in the minds of Iowa State's fans], she's already in her seventh season at Drake.

"I admire Fennelly's coaching and much of his style [personal and coaching]," Davidson wrote to me. "He's done great things at ISU obviously, but his blind spot on sportsmanship comes when his team loses to Drake...

"Bill Fennelly hates -- absolutely hates -- losing to Drake..."

That's why Stephens' victory over Fennelly and an Iowa State team that was ranked No. 24 nationally was so good for women's basketball in this state.

*

Bill Fennelly certainly isn't the only Iowa State coach who hates, or has hated, losing to Drake.

Or losing to Northern Iowa, for that matter.

Ask former Cyclone football coaches Jim Criner and Jim Walden. Both were fired at Iowa State, and losses to Drake and Northern Iowa hastened their exits. Now both have been put out to pasture.

*

I wrote yesterday about Erin Smith, the woman who is listed as an associate director for athletic communications at Iowa State.

Leighton Housh, my old boss, would have referred to her as a "press agent" or maybe something even less formal than that.

Smith and others like her are supposed to exist to help make the job easier for people writing and talking about the athletic teams representing her university.

Smith was anything but a helper Sunday after Drake's victory over Iowa State. Indeed, without first introducing herself to me in the Paul Morrison Room at Drake, she wanted to know who I was writing for.

Frankly, I thought it was none of her business to ask a guy what he was doing and who he was writing for in the press room of a university for which she wasn't employed.

So I will recognize Smith the next time our paths cross, I looked for her photograph on the Internet. I found her Facebook picture, and posted it at the left side of this column.

Now I'll know who she is the next time she gets nosy about the press credential I'm wearing around my neck.

The next time we meet, I fully expect public relations expert extraordinaire Smith to say something like, "Hi, Ron, it's great having you at another Iowa State women's basketball game. It's an honor to have a four-time Iowa Sportswriter of the Year, charter member of the Kinnick Stadium Wall Of Fame at Iowa and best-selling author to cover Bill Fennelly and the Cyclones. If there's anything I or my staff can do for you, don't hesitate to ask."

*

One thing that makes reading my West Des Moines Register -- aka the Hy-Vee Shopper -- worthwhile is the writing of Larry Ballard.

The guys in the sportswriters' lunch group said a while back that Ballard is quitting the Register and going to work for Hy-Vee.

I'll miss his reporting. Ballard used to share the writing of the old Work Bytes column in the Register [the Des Moines version], but that was dumped. It's just a wild guess, but I suppose Work Bytes was killed so there'd be room for more hard-hitting stuff [don't get excited, Rekha, that's a joke] from Rekha Basu and Kathie Obradovich.

Ballard wasn't heard from for quite a while, then somebody said he was demoted. Evidently a demotion these days means you work for the "zone" publications -- in Ballard's case the West Des Moines Register.

Like I said, he's been pouring it out in the old West Des Moines Register, and I'll miss his writing when he becomes another "helpful-smile-in-every-aisle" at the grocery store.

It's Just Like the Old Days for Me: I Ask Bill Fennelly One Question, and the Press Conference Abruptly Ends; The Prima Donna Coach Bolts for the Door

As is the case usually, we attended the 10:30 a.m. service yesterday at church.

The service ended at 11:45, then there was a congregational meeting that lasted until about 1 p.m.

We normally go to a restaurant for breakfast or lunch after church, but yesterday I mentioned to Maxine that maybe I'd go to the Drake-Iowa State women's basketball game that was to start at 2 p.m. in the Knapp Center on Drake's campus.

For a guy who's been retired for more than 10 years, I've got plenty on my plate--and I'm not talking about breakfast or lunch. I'm talking about all the great things a grandpa like me gets to do.

The trouble is, my schedule doesn't allow me to attend as many football games and collegiate men's and women's basketball games as I'd like.

But after what happened yesterday, I think I'll be going to more women's basketball games.

It was a fun afternoon, both in the arena and in the interview room afterward.

It reminded me of the old days.

*

I can count on the fingers of one hand how many women's basketball games I've seen in their entirety in my lifetime.

Maybe on two fingers.

I think the only other game I saw at the Knapp Center was a number of years ago when Lisa Stone was still coaching the Bulldogs, and I sat in on one of her games in the Missouri Valley Conference postseason tournament.

One of the reasons I wanted to attend yesterday's Drake-Iowa State game was because Bill Fennelly [pictured at the right] is the Cyclones' coach, and he's regarded as a big deal nationally in women's basketball.

Even though I'd never met the man, I'd plenty about Fennelly.

I mean, I looked up something I wrote about him on Dec. 10, 2007, and wondered if maybe I had become his unofficial agent or publicity guy. Here's some of what I wrote in that column:

"You've probably seen the TV commercial. A guy stops the car and says to his buddies, 'That's Bobby Bowden over there. I want to touch him.' The instant the guy opens the car door to run over to touch the man he thinks is Bowden, another car comes by, sideswipes the Bowden fan's car and tears off the door.

"Later, the guy says, 'It wasn't Bobby Bowden.' So he didn't get to touch the legendary Florida State football coach. Another commercial being shown these days shows a car containing two nitwits colliding with the Bobby Bowden statue. I was thinking of the commercial about the guy who wants to touch Bowden when I considered going to the Knapp Center yesterday for the Drake-Iowa State women's basketball game.

"Cyclone coach Bill Fennelly isn't quite as legendary nationally as Bobby Bowden, but he's the best our state has as a women's basketball coach. So I put some thought into going to Sunday's game so I could watch Fennelly in action throughout the game, then I could go into the interview room afterward and say, 'I want to be in the same room as Bill Fennelly.'

"I'm not into touching Fennelly or any other guy, so forget that. Anyway, I didn't make it to the game, but the folks at Drake e-mailed me to say Iowa State won another game from the Bulldogs, 58-51...Before Fennelly took the Iowa State job, Iowa State couldn't give away tickets. The Cyclones averaged only 733 fans a game the year before Fennelly showed up, and most of those were probably family and friends of the players. The tremendous attendance at Hilton is a big reason why Iowa State attracts good players.

"People tell me if Fennelly gets a prospect to visit on game night, there's a pretty good chance he'll be able to recruit her. Imagine what it would have been like if Fennelly brought prospects into Hilton on the night Iowa State walloped Iowa in front of nearly 13,000 fans.

"Any woman would want to perform in front of a big house like that. Not that Fennelly, who is the dean of Big 12 Conference coaches and has a lifetime contract to coach Iowa State, is in the Tennessee or Connecticut category in terms of success. He doesn't win like those coaches win. He's always pretty good, but not that good..."

Another time, I wrote about Hilton Magic -- and if there was still any of it at Hilton Coliseum, where Iowa State's men's and women's basketball teams play their home games.

I wrote that Fennelly was the only magic left in Hilton.

*

All right, let's shift this picture back to yesterday's game at the Knapp Center.

I had a press credential [a picture of which is shown at the left] that was issued to me a week or so ago by Mike Mahon, Drake's sports information director.

Mahon has been giving me one of those every year, and it's a nice thing for him to do. The pass enables me to attend any Drake men's or women's athletic event.

Drake, of course, isn't the only university that does nice things like that for me.

Athletic department officials at the University of Iowa give me a season-long pass and parking permit that enables me to watch the Hawkeyes' football games from the press box, where I am on the Kinnick Stadium media Wall of Fame. And if I want to attend a Hawkeye basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Phil Haddy's office sends me a pass.

And I've been at Jack Trice Stadium and Hilton Coliseum for plenty of Iowa State football and men's basketball games in the past. I appreciate sports information director Tom Kroeschell's kindness.

I used the Drake pass issued to me by Mike Mahon to sit at the press table during last Tuesday's Drake-Iowa State men's basketball game at the Knapp Center.

Even though I had the pass yesterday, I chose to sit in the grandstand behind the Drake bench.

I did that because I noticed Amy Voss and her daughter, Karlee, sitting there. Amy invited me to sit there because there was a vacant seat.

Amy is the wife of Todd Voss, one of Drake's assistant coaches. Todd, Amy and Carly are members of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Des Moines, as am I.

*

I was one of 3,112 spectators in the 7,152-seat Knapp Center yesterday. All of us saw a very exciting basketball game, even though Drake's fans considered it quite a bit more exciting than Iowa State's fans.

Before the game, I ran into a Drake fan who said he thought Iowa State would probably win the game by the same 20-point margin the Cyclone men's team beat Drake earlier last week.

The same guy mentioned that Fennelly is such a good recruiter that the poorest three or four players on his roster "would be stars at Drake and the other teams in the Missouri Valley Conference."

Obviously, Fennelly is held in very high regard among women's basketball fans.

Indeed, I think he's regarded as the next thing to God at Iowa State.

There's the lifetime contract he has, of course. And there was even some talk a few years ago that Fennelly would be an ideal athletic director at Iowa State.

But that didn't happen. Jamie Pollard was hired instead.

For all I know, Fennelly might've been a better choice.

*

After Drake's 78-75 victory over Fennelly's Cyclones yesterday, I went to the Paul Morrison Room, where the postgame interviews were held.

There were just a few people in the room--me, Dave Stockdale [another retired Des Moines Register sportswriter}, Dan Johnson, TV announcer Larry Morgan, another TV reporter or two and maybe two or three other people I didn't notice or didn't know.

Fennelly and two of his players came into the room first, then Johnson took over.

I've written about Johnson before. He's a Register sportswriter who is one of the hardest workers in the newspaper business. He's a premier writer nationally on women's basketball, he's a standout horseracing writer who knows the ins and outs of everything at Prairie Meadows, he covers the Iowa Barnstormers, he covers Drake football, he covers small-college sports.

In other words, Johnson can do it all and usually does.

Anyway, Johnson asked the first 100 [just kidding] or so questions of Fennelly and his players yesterday. He knows all the coaches and all the players in the women's basketball world. He's on a first-name basis with every one of them.

*

I'm glad Johnson got all the interviews he needed from Fennelly and the Cyclone players in the Morrison Room.

Because Fennelly's appearance in the room ended abruptly after I asked him one question.

Fennelly had already said, "We certainly got outplayed and outcoached. Drake played a very good game from start to finish. We did some things you can't do on the road to win games. You can't miss that many free throws and can't turn the ball over.

"In the second half, we didn't guard anyone. Not anyone. You can't give up 48 points [in the last half] on the road...Defensively, we were really, really bad. We got outplayed. No excuses."

As long as Fennelly, supposedly the master strategist and the cool, highly-paid coach, admitted he and his players performed so poorly, I figured he might know when the last time was that he had such a negative feeling about his team.

I said, "Bill, you've been in this game a long time. When was the last time you felt this way about one of your teams?"

I thought Fennelly might say he hadn't been this disappointed since the 2003 season, when Drake also beat his Cyclones.

After all, Fennelly's teams have pretty much had their way with Drake, Iowa and Northern Iowa over the years.

Somehow, I must have struck a nerve with Fennelly with my question, even though I regarded it as a very tame question.

After pausing a second or two, he said, "I'm not going to comment on that question."

Fennelly then stood up and left the room. I'm pretty sure he then headed to his postgame radio show, for which he is paid to make comments.

So that was the extent of my interview with Bill Fennelly, brilliant coach, master tactician, leader of women, Hilton magician.

Gone in an mini-minute was my hope to maybe grab onto, and understand, what makes this man tick.

I maybe wanted to continue with Fennelly after the Morrison Room gang-bang interview and/or after his radio interview.

I didn't want to touch the man, ala the Bobby Bowden commercial, but I wanted to figure him out. I wanted to ask him if he's talked with Dan McCarney lately and what his thoughts are on the job Paul Rhoads did this season.

*

But Bill Fennelly was out the door faster than an Iowa summer.

It was then left to an Iowa State public relations woman to take over.

After the interviews concluded, I was still sitting in the front row in the Morrison Room, talking with Dave Stockdale.

The public relations woman didn't bother introducing herself to me, but Brock Ascher -- a member of Drake's sports information staff -- said the woman was Erin Smith, who is listed as an associate director for athletic communications at Iowa State.

She began walking toward me, staring at my chest. If I didn't know better, I might've thought she was interested in seeing the bypass scar under my black T-shirt.

Actually, what she was interested in was my Drake press credential, and who I was.

"Who do you write for?" she pretty much ordered me to tell her.

All I said was, "I'm asking questions."

I didn't feel any need to answer anything she asked me, without even knowing who she was. At that stage, I wasn't sure I was going to write anything.

I changed my mind after a few minutes.

*

After Stockdale and I left the room, we were still talking about Fennelly's weird behavior.

Someone in the interview room had said, "He's pissed off about losing" after Fennelly refused to answer my question.

Indeed, I was giving Fennelly a chance to put the loss into perspective.

While Stockdale and I were talking between the Morrison Room and the basketball court, Ascher came up to me.

"Bill Fennelly didn't like your question in the interview room," he said.

Ascher has been on Mike Mahon's staff at Drake for only two weeks, but seems to know what he's doing. He told me today he was on an internship with the Kansas City Chiefs before coming to Drake.

He said Smith, the Iowa State sports information woman, had relayed the information to him about Fennelly's displeasure with my question.

Evidently, Smith thought I was a member of the arena staff or something.

Ascher was quickly informed that I write a blog.

And a damn good, no-punches-pulled blog, too.

"Well, then, it's all right for you to ask questions," he said.

Actually, I look at it differently than that. I have the right to ask questions of anybody -- whether I write a blog or not. If they don't want to answer, that's fine with me.

In a prime example of my best press conference form from the days of Ray Nagel, Lute Olson, Rudy Washington, Jim Walden and plenty of others, I said to Ascher, "You can tell Fennelly to kiss my ass, and you can tell that sports information woman to kiss my ass, too."

[By the way, I plan to apologize to my pastor for using that kind of language, especially on a Sunday afternoon].

I didn't plan to talk to Smith again, but after learning Fennelly didn't like my question, I made it a point to tell her what I thought of the coach and of her.

I now regard Fennelly as a thin-skinned prima donna who is shielded by protective public relations people and surrounded by adoring fans who continually tell him what a great man he is and what a great job he's doing.

They can have him. One Sunday afternoon with that clown is enough for me.

And, by the way, public relations woman Erin Smith is not yet ready for prime time.

*

I also asked Drake coach Amy Stephens one question yesterday and, thank goodness, she handled it with much more sanity than Fennelly.

I was the one who asked Stephens the question about the significance of the victory.

My exact question was: "Amy, you've had some big victories in your career at Drake. Where would this win stand in that list -- one of your better ones?"

"Sure," Stephens said. "You know, one of the reasons I love being at Drake is you love the Cinderella story, and we are the Cinderella school. We have great kids who are incredibly smart. We don't have nearly the resources of Big 12 schools and we're finding ways to win and compete for championships.

"There's no doubt this is definitely a big win, but it's not the end-all for all programs. There's such a bigger picture at Drake than just beating a Big 12 school. It feels great, but it's just one game. We just want to continue to improve..."

It was a nice victory by Stephens and her Drake team. It was good for women's basketball in this state and the nation.

Be Glad the Gophers Are In the League

It's a good thing there are teams like Minnesota in the Big Ten Conference. Iowa didn't have a scheduled off-week this season, so it was nice that Minnesota and Tim Brewster, its ridiculous coach, furnished the breather the Hawkeyes needed in Week 12. Iowa didn't play very well in its regular-season finale, but good enough to beat the hapless Gophers, 12-0.

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All I can say is, I'm glad Western Michigan wasn't Iowa's opponent.

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I remember longtime broadcaster Bob Brooks of Cedar Rapids telling me about how Bernie Bierman [pictured at the left], Minnesota's legendary coach, had such a stony stare on his face after Nile Kinnick and the rest of Iowa's Ironmen beat the Gophers in 1939 that some of the bricks cracked in what then was known as Iowa Stadium. I'm wondering what Bierman would have thought of the Gophers' lackluster effort today at Iowa City.

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This just in: Bierman wouldn't have attended the game. He'd have gone fishing in an Iowa farm pond instead.

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It could be that Minnesota will never score again against Iowa. I was in the last collegiate game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis last year when the Hawkeyes trounced the Gophers, 55-0. The game got so boring for some Hawkeye fans -- none married to each other -- that they went to the restrooms to have sex. At least somebody scored. I wonder if anyone checked the restrooms today at Kinnick Stadium.

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I think Minnesota and Iowa could've played until noon tomorrow, and the Gophers' offensive coordinator wouldn't have thought of a play that might have worked in the red zone.

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I'm wondering if Sid Hartman, the 200-year-old Gopher cheerleader and Minneapolis Star Tribune sportswriter, can find something positive to say about how Minnesota played for tomorrow's paper.

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Remember, Minnesota is bowl-eligible. Man, is that scary.

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Floyd of Rosedale told players on the Iowa sideline that he wanted to go downtown and have a beer at halftime because there wasn't enough going on in the game. Floyd got back in time to be carried off the field [shown in the AP photo by Charlie Neibergall at the right] after the victory.

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ESPN commentator Bob Griese said the only people who would've been excited about the Iowa-Minnesota game were defensive coordinators. Maybe, but only those who'd gotten plenty of sleep Friday night.

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I repeat, is Michigan still in the league?

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Rich Rodriguez, the Wolverines' coach, says he'll be back next season. I have two questions: Why and who cares?

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Michigan lost its last five games and beat only Delaware State after September to finish 5-7. Michigan has had successive losing seasons for the first time since 1962 and 1963. And it's college football's winningest program.

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Tough day for the Cyclones. But coach Paul Rhoads earned himself a pay raise with an un-Gene Chizik-like solid regular season. Hopefully, there's a spot left for Rhoads and his team in a bowl game somewhere.

Chanse Creekmur...Or His Dad...Might Want To Commit To Something Somewhere and Stick With It. Plus, More On the 1957 Hawkeyes Labeled As Quitters

Mark Robinson of Iowa City writes about Chanse Creekmur, the gifted football and basketball player from Marshalltown who came up second-best to A. J. Derby of City High of Iowa City in the Little Hawks' 42-14 victory in the class 4-A championship game:

Hello, Ron:

"Chanse Creekmur wasn't given much time to do much of anything in Friday night's championship game. It appeared that his coaches wanted him to throw the ball deep even though Iowa City High continued to throw the kitchen sink at him on every play.

"A little dink and dunk might have helped the Bobcat team keep the City High offense off the field. It wasn't much of a game after the first quarter.

"I was more intrigued by a sideline interview with Creekmur's father at that point. As you know, Chanse accepted an offer from Iowa to play basketball, then he backed off and committed to Santa Clara.

"Apparently, he has backed out of that committment and now is looking to play quarterback for Iowa State. This seemed to be pretty well confirmed by daddyo during that sideline interview.

"After Friday night's game, Chanse...or his dad....might want to commit to something somewhere and stick with it. He may not have all that many opportunities left.

"Keep writing,"

Mark Robinson
Iowa City

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Mark, you're right about the Chanse Creekmur [pictured at the right] situation. I also think the dad seems far too involved with his son's collegiate athletic career. What I'm not sure of is which sport -- Division I football or Division I basketball -- the kid wants to pursue. That's the big question. If Iowa State is giving him a full-ride and he wants to play football, then that's where he should go. But if the kid thinks he's a Division I basketball player, he'd better have a great senior season and pursue that. Anyway, for the sake of those thousands of fans from Marshalltown, I was disappointed the Bobcats didn't play City High a little tougher. Marshalltown seemed to have things figured out early, but City High adjusted and wound up thrashing them the way they've been thrashing teams all season. In the final analysis, City High had some gifted athletes -- many more than Marshalltown had -- and the Little Hawks deserved to win. By the way, Derby -- like Creekmur -- is also an outstanding basketball player, but he has already committed to Iowa as a football player. As a Hawkeye, he wants to play quarterback, even though it appears to me he can play a number of positions.]

*

Al Schallau writes more about the 1957 Hawkeye football team that Time magazine called "The Team That Quit:"

"Ron,

"My good friend Randy Duncan is accurate in his memory of the 1957 Iowa vs. Michigan game at Ann Arbor; and he is brutally accurate about the magazine headline the next week that labeled the Hawkeyes as "The Team That Quit."

"Forest Evashevski and I discussed the 1957 Michigan game twice during our many phone conversations. Evy's reasoning for accepting a tie in the Michigan game went like this:

""When we started any football season, our number one objective was to win the Big Ten championship. I wanted to position the Iowa Hawkeyes to do that by beating Ohio State in our last conference game. I thought we could beat Ohio State, but we lost, 17-13. Bob White ran the ball down our throats in the fourth quarter. If we had won the Ohio State game, we would have won the Big Ten championship outright."

FACTUAL HISTORY CONCERNING 1957 BIG TEN FOOTBALL SEASON

"Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State all had awesome teams in 1957 and all four expected to win the Big Ten championship. Evy figured that if Iowa finished the season with one tie and no losses, all the other teams would have at least one loss, and Iowa would be outright champion.

"In October, the other teams started suffering their one loss that Evy envisioned. On October 12, 1957, Michigan lost to Michigan State. On Oct. 19, 1957, Michigan State lost to Purdue. So that left only Iowa and Ohio State unbeaten in Big Ten games.

"Iowa played Michigan at Ann Arbor on Nov. 2, 1957. It was a muddy, rainy day. Michigan got ahead, 21-7, and it looked like Iowa would go home with one loss. Iowa scored two second half touchdowns and tied the game at 21-21. Yes, Evy decided to have his quarterback sit on the ball in the last two minutes because he did not want to risk a fumble on the wet field. Evy wanted to get out of Ann Arbor WITHOUT A LOSS. He was willing to accept a tie.

"Two weeks later, on Nov. 16, 1957, Iowa played Ohio State at Columbus. Iowa was ahead, 13-10, in the fourth quarter, until Bob White and the Buckeyes' offensive line took the ball down the field for the winning touchdown.

"I just got off the phone with Jim Gibbons, who was an all-American on the 1957 Hawkeye team. Among other things, he said:

"'In the Michigan game, we all knew that a tie didn't hurt us at all. We would win the Big Ten championship if we beat Ohio State. So on the trip back to Iowa City from Ann Arbor, we were perfectly happy to get out of the Michigan game with a tie.'

"So Evy's decision to accept a tie in the Michigan game was part of a profound strategy designed to win the Big Ten championship outright. Except for Bob White, his strategy would have worked.

"Best, AL SCHALLAU"

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: All of this rewinding to a football game that was played 52 years ago, of course, is because of what happened in the final minute of regulation time in the Iowa-Ohio State game a week ago. Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz told quarterback James Vandenberg [No. 16 pictured at the left] and the Iowa offense to sit on the ball in the last 52 seconds so the teams would be tied, 24-24, heading into overtime. The Hawkeyes lost, 27-24, in a game that decided which Big Ten team would go to the Rose bowl. Schallau and plenty of other Hawkeye fans disagreed with Ferentz's decision. At the time, Iowa had Ohio State back on its heels, and it appeared a few well-placed passes in the last 52 seconds could have put the Hawkeyes into position for a winning field goal].

'Walter' Calls This Iowa's Worst Basketball Team In History; But There's No Assurance Keno Davis Would Leave Providence To Coach the Hawkeyes

Sometimes a guy hears the darnedest things when he sits at the press table in a collegiate basketball arena.

The talkative man sitting next to me had just introduced himself the other night at the Drake-Iowa State game in the Knapp Center.

Then he suddenly said, "Well, I guess the bloggers have Keno Davis being the next Iowa basketball coach."

I hope the guy wasn't talking about this blogger.

I've never written that I thought Keno [pictured at the right], who had a 28-5 record at Drake in 2007-2008 and was the consensus national coach of the year -- his only season as the university's coach -- would be succeeding Todd Lickliter [pictured at the left] anytime soon as the Hawkeyes' coach.

I know things aren't going well for Lickliter. I know he hasn't had a .500 record yet and I know his team has started the 2009-2010 season with an 0-2 record.

This is the first time since 1931-32 that Iowa has lost its first two home openers.

Not good, my friends.

Another thing that's not good is that Carver-Hawkeye Arena has been less than half-full for the first two games.

As Larry Eustachy told me once when he was at Iowa State, "Athletic directors look at those attendance figures when they're thinking about firing basketball coaches."

But I haven't heard from anyone in authority at Iowa that Lickliter's job is in trouble.

And there's certainly no assurance Keno Davis would be the next coach if and when Lickliter were fired.

Keno opened some eyes with a 19-14 record in his first season at Providence, and he's off to a 3-0 start this season. The Friars play in the tough Big East Conference.

Moving from Providence to Iowa would be a lateral coaching move at best. Someone would need to do some very hard work to restore the Hawkeye program to where it was when Bucky O'Connor, Ralph Miller and Lute Olson were in charge of it.

In those days, Iowa not only had strong teams, but attendance went through the roof of Iowa Fieldhouse and Carver-Hawkeye Arena. There were capacity crowds consistently.

Keno, a 1995 graduate of Iowa and the son of Tom Davis -- the winningest coach in Iowa basketball history -- might have to take a pay cut to move from Providence to the Hawkeye job.

And there's no certainty he would be interested in the Iowa job anyway. That's because of the hard feelings that were generated when his father didn't get a contract extension in 1999, and was replaced by Steve Alford, who turned out to be awful.

*

On the subject of Lickliter, Walter from Woodward, not his real name, sent this letter to basketball guru Van Coleman:

"Van,

"It is obvious that we are now witnessing the worst Iowa basketball team in history. The only remaining players from the Alford era, Gatens and Cole, are their best players. The players that transferred last Spring were Alford recruits. The players recruited by Todd Lickliter are at best qualified for the Missouri Valley Conference.

"You met with Lickliter shortly after his hire and informed him that he had to hire an experienced recruiter that had contacts with at some of the following groups (AAU, shoe companies, NBA agents, street pimps, junior colleges). Todd declined and brought in two young men that played for him at Butler. They knew no one. The contacts used are from the last hire, who came from that basketball powerhouse, Loras College.

"The last Iowa basketball coach known for recruiting, George Raveling, was a master of 'creative' recruiting. Todd Lickliter's 'Ivory tower' approach to recruiting is his downfall. His recruiting extends only as far as Wells Fargo Arena.

"Gary Barta gave Lick a 7-year contract. How do we get out of this mess? Is Reggie Theus still available?"

Walter from Woodward

[RON MALY'S COMMENT: You've got to have the horses to win in major college basketball, and I don't see many in the stable at Iowa City].

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An e-mail from Clyde In Clutier, not his real name:

"The fact that the Hawkeyes did not even get their foot in the door with Harrison Barnes speaks volumes about the sorry state of the Iowa basketball program. Can you imagine this happening had Lute Olson or George Raveling been coaching the Hawkeyes?

Clyde In Clutier

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Harrison Barnes of Ames, rated the nation's best high school player, is signed, sealed and almost delivered to defending national champion North Carolina. Clyde In Clutier is right, Iowa didn't to first base with Barnes. Iowa State was one of Barnes' six finalists, but only because the university is in his hometown. Barnes was ticketed for North Carolina or Duke from the start].