Enough with the Transfers. Let’s Build the Right Way.

I’ve been seeing a lot of praise heaped onto the new men’s basketball “coach” TJ Otzelberger, if we can even call him that. What kind of name is Otzelberger anyway? Was this guy created in an Applebee’s marketing meeting? He hasn’t coached a single game at Hilton Coliseum yet and already he’s taken this program to unimaginable new lows. I hope Jamie Pollard recorded some more videos wearing that plaid shirt that he can release to explain to me just what in the world this Otzelberger guy is doing.

We don’t have to look that far back to see how this should be done properly. The guy before the last guy, Fred Hoiberg. Now there is an honorable coach. Georges Niang, Matt Thomas, Monte Morris. Those guys made Iowa State great. You’d never see Fred try and build a program with transfers. I’m disgusted. And to those people who say we can win faster with experienced players, I say “at what cost?” Wouldn’t you rather go 2-22 with some dignity than try and “win games” with “good players”? If your answer to that question is no, you shouldn’t be a fan of this honorable game of college basketball.

At what point do we have to take a step back and call out this strategy for roster building? Transfer portal? In architecture, a portal is defined as “an opening in a wall”. In other words, it’s a hole. This one is about the size of the hole in my heart for the days of winning basketball the right way. If you want to see how it’s done, look no further than Iowa City, right here in this state. Fran McCaffrey would never stoop so low. And look at the roaring success he’s had.

I know he just signed a contract extension, and I’d like to commend Gary Barta for doing that. Making the 2nd round of the tournament as a 2 seed is not easy. Not in this world of kids running around from place to place. Here’s a piece of advice to Coach TJ. If you want to do this right, have a couple of sons and in 18 years you can recruit them. If you do that, maybe I’ll give you a chance. But you better not buy them anything that the NCAA doesn’t allow, or I will call in the violations myself.

Frankly, I’m on the fence about keeping this guy around. I was sold on TJ being a great recruiter, and as far as I’m concerned he’s not doing any of that. Tyrese Hunter? Sounds great. Redshirt him to get some experience. He might be a good player in a few years. Tamin Lipsey won’t even be here until next year. What are we paying TJ for? He should give back all the money he’s made so far if he wants to keep his job. I’d let him go today if I could. And while we’re at it, let’s send Jamie Pollard packing to. There is a right and honorable way to build a program, and he’s not doing it. Now if you’ll excuse me, my liquor cabinet is calling.