Jeff Budlong, On the rebound

I made a trip back to Iowa this weekend and it was quite the time to be back in the Hawkeye state.

Sports news abound with the Hawkeye basketball team getting bounced from the first round of the NCAA tourney, Iowa State fired head coach Wayne Morgan and his entire staff after a recruiting/scheduling scandal and the University of Northern Iowa was knocked out of the tourney for the third straight year.

Coaching questions are now all the rage.

Will Steve Alford leave for greener Big 10 pastures in Indiana or does he have a bigger pull to Big 12 country and Missouri?

Now that Greg McDermott has taken the Iowa State job can he match and improve on the success he had at UNI? Will the Panthers continue to prosper under a new coach and continue to be a power at the mid-major level.

As I have stated before, a majority of Iowa fans would be just fine with Alford leaving.

Seven years of mediocre success at best isn’t exactly the kind of results that has the AD or fans trying their hardest to keep him.

Alford isn’t much of a recruiter at Iowa but his name means a lot more to the Hoosiers so maybe it can work out well for everyone involved.

As for ISU, Morgan has always been able to recruit but his ability to coach doesn’t even match Alford’s.

He put talent on the floor he just couldn’t direct it.

At last year’s game again UNI the Cyclones looked completely lost on both offense and defense &045; to say they had no game plan would be kind &045;&160;the only thing Morgan could do was get in a confrontation with McDermott and then watch his team fall to a squad from the Missouri Valley Conference.

With McDermott now in Cyclone country he needs to be able to win at home first and foremost.

ISU fans love their Hilton Magic and Morgan was not doing that enough.

The state has three strong Division I basketball programs but the Cyclones need to get back to winning with strong defense and playing smart on offense.

At UNI, McDermott brought the Panthers to unparalleled highs, but you have to wonder if he is truly ready for the big time in the Big 12.

His team’s have been to the tourney three straight years and lost by five points each time.

That means you are playing close but a good coach can make the difference between those five point swings.

Usually, that would be enough to qualify for a big weekend but maybe the biggest story was the Iowa wrestling team finishing fourth at the NCAA tournament.

I read stories and columns about how head Hawk Jim Zalesky had once again saved his job with a strong showing.

What??

Under Dan Gable Iowa once one nine titles in a row, and now we are happy with a fourth place finish?

Sports writers and fans say that Gable-like expectations are unrealistic and the only thing that is possible is failure under those standards.

Fair enough but why do you have to lower your standards once you have seen what is possible. That should always be the goal.

Iowa used to peak at the end of the season but that doesn’t happen anymore.

Instead of having wrestlers overachieve and win national titles the Hawks are now just happy to live up to their seeding.

Injuries were said to be a huge reason for a subpar season, but that never stopped Gable’s Hawks.

The new results may be something Iowa has to get used to but I hope the excuses never are.