Schoffner

This time, it has to be right

OK, Gary Barta, no more mulligans. This time, you have to get it right. You've got to find the right basketball coach.

Todd Lickliter, Barta's choice for the position three years ago, obviously didn't work for the Hawkeyes. Whether you agree with his action or not -- I was leaning toward giving Lickliter one more season -- give Barta credit for this: He didn't try to spin Lickliter's dismissal as a resignation or a mutual parting of ways or some other nebulous term. He called it what it was -- a firing. And in letting Lickliter go, Barta admitted he made a mistake. He didn't get the right guy for the job.

I agree with Des Moines Register columnist Sean Keeler on this point: In trying to find the anti-Steve Alford, Barta probably went too far in the other direction in tapping Lickliter. People were fed up with Alford's arrogance and many were upset with his handling of the Pierre Pierce incidents. In Lickliter, Barta found someone who was honest, sincere, modest, a coach who had integrity and played by the rules. All admirable qualities. But Lickliter seemed uncomfortable in the spotlight that goes with coaching in the Big Ten and lacked charisma. In the end, that hurt him.

I'm not saying Iowa needs to hire a wise-cracking funnyman. The school doesn't need a coach who paints his body for a big women's game. The new coach doesn't necessarily have to show his emotions as openly as Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads.

But Iowa does need a coach who can rally the troops, someone who's comfortable on the banquet circuit, who can schmooze with donors, who can relate with students and get them interested in Hawkeye basketball again. Oh yes, he also needs to be able to recruit better players than what this team has now.

Speaking of those players, I got a little tired of their whining at the end of the season. If you're tired of losing and basketball isn't fun anymore, who's fault is that? How about playing a little harder? Work harder at improving. Take better shots. Try guarding somebody. Hey, life isn't always fun. Sometimes you have to suck it up and look for ways to make things better. That starts with looking in the mirror, not quitting on your coach.

As for style of play, I don't think Iowa has to do a total about-face and play racehorse basketball. You certainly can't call Wisconsin a racehorse team, but the Badgers play good defense, they're sound fundamentally and, the most important thing, they win. That's what keeps the fans coming back.

But a little more aggressiveness on defense by the Hawkeyes would help. They don't have to press all the time, ala Tom Davis, but clamp on a press once in a while, spring some half-court traps, do something to get some steals, create some cheap baskets and disrupt the other team's rhythm.

So the pressure's on, Gary Barta. If this choice flops, the next time reporters start figuring out how much a buyout would cost, it might be yours.

Here's to one of the good guys

We've all heard or read about the seamier side of college athletics. Schools getting busted by the NCAA. Graduation rates hovering near the Mendoza line. Money changing hands illegally. Abusive fans. Law-breaking athletes.

Then along comes someone like Drake's Josh Young to refresh your spirits and remind you there's also a lot of good in college sports.

Young is so skilled that he's Drake's career leader in scoring and 3-point baskets. If he makes four more free throws at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament this week, he'll become the leader in that category, too.

But there's far more to Josh Young than what he does on the basketball floor. He's a good student. He can light up  a room with his ever-present smile. Little kids flock to him. Mothers love him. He's the type reporters enjoy interviewing -- thoughtful, well-spoken, patient and modest. When he greets you, he looks you in the eye, shakes your hand firmly and says, "Hi. Josh Young." You know who he is, but he introduces himself anyway.

My longtime friend, Randy Minkoff, and his wife, Sue, work with athletes on dealing with the media and how to conduct themselves in interviews. Josh Young could be their poster guy. They don't come more polished. Last year, when the Drake Relays honored its Athletes of the Century, Josh was among those picked to escort them the ceremony.

Young played his last game at the Knapp Center, Drake's home arena, on Saturday. It didn't go quite the way Young or the Bulldog faithful had hoped. Josh again led the team in scoring. With the Bulldogs trailing and time running out, he  banked in a floater to tie the score with 8.1 seconds remaining. Sadly, for the Bulldogs, he scored too quickly. Evansville's Denver Holmes hit a 25-footer at the buzzer to give his team a 56-53 victory.

Afterward, Josh stood at halfcourt with his family and listened as tributes to his character and accomplishments rang through the arena. Some of the strongest praise came from Drake athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb, who said Josh "exemplifies everything that's great about Drake.'" She talked about his smile and said if her son grows up to be anything like Josh, "it will be a great day."

It couldn't have been easy to go through the ceremony after such a disappointing loss. But rarely has anyone been more deserving of such a salute.

And every once in a while, even as the sting from the loss lingered, that smile broke through and everything was OK again.

Bye-bye Anthony? Probably

You can just hear a cynical Drake fan now, can't you?

"Great. Anthony Tucker stays out of trouble at Iowa just long enough to help the Hawks beat us. Just our luck."

But this is no time for cynicism. Tucker's suspension from the Iowa basketball team after his second arrest for public intoxication in 13 months is a serious matter for the kid and another lousy break for coach Todd Lickliter. It came only hours after Tucker scored 17 points in Iowa's 71-67 victory over Drake at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Tucker, who at 20 hasn't even reached the legal drinking age in Iowa, needs help. Getting busted twice for public intox in a little over a year shows he's got a problem with alcohol. And for someone with an alcohol problem, it certainly doesn't help being in Iowa City, where the downtown bar scene is so available -- and so tempting.

Tucker may well bolt before anyone from Iowa has a chance to sit down and talk to him. If he does, let's hope the light bulb above his head goes on and he figures out a way to get some help. Maybe he'll stick around long enough that somebody at Iowa can say, "Here's some people or places who can help you. Give them a call and listen to what they say."

If he does seek help, maybe he'll be sincere about shaping up this time. All his earlier talk about lessons learned seems pretty hollow now.

As for Lickliter, geez, the guy just can't get a break. I don't know him. I got out of full-time work before he took the Iowa job, so I've never covered him. But he seems like an upstanding guy who plays by the rules and tries to do things the right way. I like his self-deprecating sense of humor. It's a refreshing change from his predecessor.

Yeah, his team doesn't play the most exciting brand of basketball. When the shots aren't falling, it's downright ugly. But Lickliter doesn't deserve what's happened to him recently. Four  guys from last season left. A promising newcomer, Devon Archie, has been hurt and is yet to play. Lickliter himself had a scare when he was hospitalized for a torn carotid artery. And now one of his better players can't stay away from the sauce.

Tucker has some talent. For sure he can shoot it. If his Iowa career is over -- and that's probably the case --- there's always a coach out there who's willing to give a player one more chance. So it's a good bet Tucker will end up playing somewhere and helping that team.

It's just too bad he couldn't stay on the straight and narrow so he could do it at Iowa. That would have been good for him and definitely good for the Hawkeyes.

MVP and other topics

Iowa football beat writer Andrew Logue posed a thought-provoking question in The Des Moines Register this week. Who's the Hawkeyes' most valuable player?

Hmmm.

That requires some deliberation because the Hawkeyes don't have a big star, which is one reason they haven't caught the nation's fancy despite their 7-0 record and conference-leading 3-0 mark in the Big Ten.

Tight end Tony Moeaki would have been a good choice had he been healthy all season. He's certainly been a big factor the last two games, but the Hawkeyes won all three games he missed. Other than Moeaki, the offense has been just good enough to keep the team from losing.

That leaves us with the defense, the strength of this team. Defensive end Adrian Clayborn would be a good choice. So would linebacker Pat Angerer, cornerback Amari Spievey and safety Tyler Sash.

I'll go with Sash. He's a sure tackler (third on the team with 52) and he's shown a nose for the ball with his five interceptions. Hardly anything or anyone has gotten past him this season.

And while we're at it, let's throw a few crumbs to punter Ryan Donahue. When a team relies on its defense as much as Iowa does, a solid punter can be a huge help and Donahue definitely has done his part. He's put 16 of his 32 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line, giving his defense a big edge in field position. Thirteen of Donahue's punts have been returned, but for an average of just 3.5 yards, so he's getting good hang time. He might not spend much time on the field, but he's still a valuable cog.

As long as we're on the Hawkeyes, here's an admonishment: Stop it! Put a lid on that talk about playing in the national championship game -- at least for now.

Yeah, it's great that Iowa is undefeated and sixth in the BCS standings. But there's just too much football to be played to be dreaming about that Jan. 7 title game in Pasadena. OK, you can dream, but be realistic enough to understand that it might not happen.

Five games remain, including two tough ones on the road. The Hawkeyes play at Michigan State tomorrow night and they've lost to Sparty four straight times in East Lansing. A fifth straight loss there is entirely possible. If Iowa gets by that one -- it's also entirely possible the Hawkeyes could win -- they're still facing a Nov. 14 game at Ohio State. Iowa hasn't won in Columbus since 1991. So caution is advised.

Having said that, I think the worst the Hawkeyes will end up is 10-2. And that might still be good enough to claim a berth in a BCS bowl. Maybe.

The thing is, the polls might punish Iowa severely if it would lose a game. The Big Ten isn't held in such high esteem right now and there evidently are still a lot of Hawkeye skeptics out there just waiting to say, ``See, I told you so.'' After Iowa beat Penn State, it took the Hawkeyes three weeks to move ahead of the Nittany Lions in the coaches' poll. And even then, Iowa landed just one spot above Joe Pa's bunch, despite a convincing 21-10 victory on the Nittany Lions' home field.

It would be unfortunate if all the talk of an unbeaten season right now would result in 11-1 or 10-2 being viewed as a disappointment. Back in August, any Iowa fan would have celebrated that kind of record.

And now to our final topic, Marquis Gilstrap.

Gilstrap is the Iowa State basketball player who's getting a huge buildup. Though he's yet to play a minute for the Cyclones, he's seen as someone who can turn Iowa State into a team that finally makes some noise in the Big 12.

Gilstrap already has been voted the league's newcomer of the year. Texas Tech coach Pat Knight says he wishes he had recruited Gilstrap. Knight also says the 6-foot-7 forward is as good as any McDonald's All-American the Cyclones could have landed. Nebraska coach Doc Sadler says Gilstrap will be a ``great player.'' ISU coach Greg McDermott says Gilstrap is just what his team has been missing -- a versatile wing player who can shoot, rebound and take the ball to the hoop with authority.

Wow. You have to wonder if anyone could live up to that kind of hype. He sounds like the real deal, but how many times have we seen the next big thing turn out to be not quite as advertised?

On the other hand, there's something that tells me Cyclone fans have every right to be excited about Gilstrap. Mike Green, an associate director of athletic communications at ISU, is the eternal pessimist. If there's something to be down about, Beener will find it. But he's seen Gilstrap in action and says the guy can really play.

Hey, if Beener says that, I'm going with it. Keep the hype coming.

A sense of history gone missing

Gannett columnist Mike Lopresti came up with an interesting piece this week. He visited the tiny town of Hall, Indiana, talked to some of its residents and wrote about the place.

It seems that NASCAR is a big deal in Hall. Two of the people Lopresti interviewed were watching a race when he stopped by on a Sunday afternoon. But the most telling part of his story was this segment in the middle:

``You're in redneck country,'' Amanda Traut said.

She also had a question.

``Who's John Wooden?''

Why would she ask that? Well, that's the whole point of the story. Lopresti wrote about Hall because John Wooden was born there.

Yes it was in 1910. And he lived there only eight years. But good grief, the name John Wooden doesn't at least ring a bell? Sure he gained his fame winning 10 NCAA championships at UCLA. But Wooden spent almost 40 years in Indiana. He starred at Martinsville High School and was an All-American at Purdue. He coached high school ball in South Bend and was the head coach at Indiana State for two years before moving west. John Wooden is a Hoosier icon. He's college basketball's elder statesman, a gracious, principled man who's been quoted endlessly about the game. And to have to ask, ``Who's John Wooden?''

Sad

It reminds of a story I read about former baseball star Frank Robinson, a story he confirmed when I interviewed him a few months ago.

Robinson was managing the Washington Nationals in 2005 when one of his players asked him if he had played in the major leagues. Yep, the guy really didn't know.

Frank Robinson is the only player to win the Most Valuable Player Award in both leagues. He slugged 586 home runs in his career. He's been in the Hall of Fame since 1982, for gosh sakes.

Did he play in the majors?

Doubly sad.

An even more astounding example of someone unaware of history came during the 1985 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals.

Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel, threw out the first ball prior to Game Four to recognize the 40th anniversary of Jackie's signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers' organization. So New York Times columnist Dave Anderson went to several of the black players to ask what they remembered about Jackie Robinson. When Anderson talked to Vince Coleman, the Cardinals' fleet outfielder, he got this response:

``I don't know nothin' about him. Why are you asking me about Jackie Robinson?''

Well, it could be because if Jackie hadn't turned the other cheek to all the indignities heaped upon him, who knows how long it would have been before another black player was signed. He paved the way for Willie Mays, for Hank Aaron, for Frank Robinson, for Bob Gibson and yes, for Vince Coleman.

``Why are you asking me about Jackie Robinson?"

That's not just sad. It's tragic.

I love old music. I enjoy learning history, especially sports history. I also know you can't live in the past. Still, seems to me that it doesn't hurt to know at least a little bit about it.

By the way, John Wooden turned 99 today. Happy birthday, Coach.

Eating their own

Unless you're a basketball recruiting guru or a University of Kentucky fan, you've probably never heard of Dakotah Euton.

Euton is a 6-foot-8 high school senior in Kentucky who committed to UK in June 2007, just after his freshman year. It was a dream come true for the lifelong Kentucky fan. One day, he'd be wearing Wildcat Blue -- or so he thought.

Things have changed since then. For one, the coach he hoped to play for, Billy Gillispie, was fired. And then there was the harsh criticism from some of the ''fans" he hoped to play for. They tore into the kid's ability on internet message boards and questioned how dare he think he's good enough to play for their beloved UK, the be-all and end-all in college basketball -- in their minds, anyway. After Euton announced his commitment, opposing fans heaped verbal abuse on him during his high school games.

Here's a sampling of what's been written about Euton (any spelling or punctuation errors are those of the poster)

''dont quite understand what BCG (Gillispie) sees in this kid he is super super super slow"

"If we dont cut this guy i see it as a huge downfall of bcg's recruiting. We are UK  and don't need to take a chance on this guy.''

"Slow is not a strong enough word to describe his speed ... Looked like he was wearing 20 pound ankle weights.

''painfully slow"

"very poor inside"

One poster, Will Lavender, said he never heard anything negative about Euton until after he committed to Kentucky. All of a sudden, Lavender noted, he was "slow and unathletic and a bust.'' He added later in his post: " ... it seems like we eat our own a whole lot around here.''

Euton isn't the only one getting flak, either. Rick Robey, a former Kentucky basketball star, has a son who's a standout high school football player. When Sam Robey committed to Florida, some on UK message boards slammed the family for being disloyal, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Let's see, you could play football for Florida (currently ranked No. 1, two national championships in the last three years) or you could play football for Kentucky (0-2 in the SEC after a 38-20 loss to Alabama). Duh.

When Euton announced earlier this week that he would attend either Eastern Kentucky or Akron, the critics found fresh fodder.

"The Mad Scientist has THIS guy on UK's radar? Sheesh.''

"What, he dropped Duke, UNC and Michigan St from his list?"

"EKU and Akron. Hmm...I'm so glad they fired Gillispie. What a nut."

To be fair, numerous posters thought Euton worked hard, some liked his shooting touch and others were willing to cut him some slack and give him a chance to develop. One even said, "The more I see of this kid, the more he reminds me of Larry Bird.'' Makes you wonder if they're talking about the same player. Another thought it was puzzling that a kid who committed to a big-time basketball school was now looking at mid-majors. But he added, "Either way, I wish him the best wherever he attends.''

Everybody has a right to his or her opinion, but good grief, we're talking about a high school kid. Can't you give him a break? If you're a fan of a particular school, shouldn't you be pulling for your recruits to become good players instead of jumping all over them for their perceived weaknesses? Why would a kid want to go to a school whose fans are ridiculing him before he even gets there?

To me, this is partly the result of our public discourse being dominated by talk show loudmouths. Everybody has to rip on someone or something. And with the internet, they have a worldwide forum, which isn't always a positive development.

I don't normally read message boards, but I'm sure this kind of stuff is posted on many fan sites. I just happened to land on Kentucky because I'm in Louisville this week and read an article about Euton in the Courier-Journal. Plus, Kentucky fans make themselves an easy target because it seems like they think their school invented basketball, as exemplified by this post: "No other program is favorably comparable to the greatness of UK.'' (All you Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan State, Indiana and Connecticut fans can gag now).

Today's paper contains a story about new Kentucky coach John Calipari's appearance at a Tip-Off Luncheon in Louisville. There's a kicker on the front page about that story: "UK coach helps fuel Wildcat fever."

Sometimes I think that fever in college sports turns into a real sickness.