Vacation Day 4 – Cotton Candy

I was set on going back to the Cyclone State on Tuesday night after visiting Faust on his day off, but Bethany and Becca requested that I stay one more night. I had no plans for Wednesday (Sara’s attempt to convince me to go to Iowa City failed since she couldn’t produce a single credible theory on why it would be fun for me to sit around while she put stitches in a pig’s foot), so I agreed to come back to Eagan after my visit to Mankato.

Nate, Becca and Bethany live a couple blocks from a donut store by the name of Puffy Cream Donuts. After I woke up and showered, I hit the open road to Mankato after picking up some cream filled goodness at Puffy Cream.

When I got to Mankato I stopped at Target so I could buy some extra clothes for the extra day in Minnesota.

I arrived at the Faust home and we discussed potential new coaches for the Cyclones.

My dream has always been that Iowa State rights the wrong it made several years ago and brings back Eustachy. I know this was a pipedream, but there are several great options out there. It was exciting to think about what guy Pollard would bring to Ames to return the Cyclones to glory.

We went to Mr. Goodcents for lunch. I hadn’t eaten at Mr. Goodcents since the one in Ames closed down while I was still in college. The sandwiches are no longer as epic in scope as they were all those years ago, but it was definitely still very tasty and I wasn’t disappointed. Not like how disappointed I am with the horrible joke that is masquerading as Panchero’s across the street from the Computer Mine.

At 2:30 we walked over to Jackson’s school to pick him up. I got to admire some of his artwork and look around his school.

As we returned to the Faust abode, I checked my email on my phone. I wasn’t expecting any messages of great consequence, I was just trying to hammer out lunch plans for Thursday with Shannon, but then I got an email message from The Swell Season updating their Summer tour schedule. They are coming to 1st Ave in July! Hallelujah!

After further discussion about who Iowa State could get as a coach, Nicole came and picked us up to get cotton candy!

The residence hall where she works was trying to get the students to leave their dorm rooms by serving cotton candy, popcorn and playing approved music. I don’t know how well it worked on the students, but it worked on Jackson, Faust and I.

On the way over to Minnesota State’s campus, Jackson flexed the golden pipes and wowed me by singing along word for word with the Justin Bieber CD playing on the stereo.


Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
A portion of the day was following Jackson while he ran through the hallways of the dormitory.

Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
Jackson has yet to develop his dad’s patented “Leaning Weiner” shot.

Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
Now I’ve been able to school two generations of Fausts on the court. Plus Faust and I did relive some old Saturday Morning Basketball memories. Including how he felt that he owned The Salmon on the court. Hmmm… two friends that think they own The Salmon.

Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
Jackson nailed somewhere between 3-5 shots depending on how he retells the story.

Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
Faust manning the popcorn machine.

Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
Jackson and his Mr. Freeze

Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
Fronting for the Cyclones in Maverick Country

Vacation Day 4 - Cotton Candy
Faust Knocking Down Cotton Candy Goodness


Shortly after we got back to the Faust Estate my phone rang. It was Jesse.

“We just hired a new coach. Fred Hoiberg.”

I was instantly pissed. Are you kidding me? We just hired some guy because he is super popular with the fan base even though he has NO coaching experience on any level. Was this the cheapest publicity stunt ever?

Full disclosure: I’m not and never was a ravenous Fred Hoiberg fan. He was a solid player and a nice story. His teams were okay and they went to the tournament, but they were not my teams and I could not stand their style of play. They were soft. I was and always will be a Dedric Willoughby fan. He actually won a championship. I’m sure if Pollard would have announced that Willoughby was the new coach and he was filling out his staff with Jacy Holloway, Kenny Pratt and Shawn Bankhead I would have jumped for joy. Hoiberg doesn’t do it for me like he does it for the grand majority of Cyclone nation.

Jesse and I vented our anger. Then Faust and I vented our anger.

I sent text messages to Baier, Bill, Russell, Andree, Derrick and Schmidt.

Bill wrote back:

“Fred? As head coach?”

“Yep.”

“Does he have any coaching experience?”

“None. Not at all.”

“Not good at all”

Andree wrote back:

“I guess he didn’t even entertain the idea of hiring Larry back. Well, here’s hoping Hoiberg’s NBA connections can help with recruiting. Was Pollard expecting another Paul Rhoads or something? He’ll be fired next year. This is a cheap move by hiring Ames favorite son to get fans off his back. Idiot!”

“It might be a popular move. I guess we can hope this works out.”

“Popular or not Hoiberg has some cache in Ames. Maybe he can sell to future recruits: “I got all the GMs phone numbers. If you got the chops, they’ll take my call.”

Then I got a call from Baier. We vented. Then I got a call from Russell. We vented.

Then I got a text from Schmidt.

“They are reporting The Mayor as our next coach.”

“I feel that we are worse off now than we were on Sunday with McDermott as our coach.”

“Typical Chris response that I expected!”

“Maybe he is a quick study.”

“We won’t know for three years. Its the Hall of Fame coaching staff!”

Then Derrick called. Of everybody I talked to he seemed the most optimistic that this might work. Although he had just got off the phone with Shawn and Shawn was extremely negative about this hire. But we didn’t get a full conversation because some customer came into the store and he had to “work”.

Faust and I discussed this move for quite a bit longer. Then I headed backup to Eagan.

Nate and I went to Houlihan’s for supper and then we came back to the house. I watched Weeds with Becca until about 2 in the morning and then I went to bed.

Much of my anger over the Hoiberg hiring had subsided and I was able to go to sleep rather quickly

Day 4 of vacation was still pretty great, despite the surprise Hoiberg hiring!

7 thoughts on “Vacation Day 4 – Cotton Candy”

  1. Mr. Freeze AND cotton candy? I bet Jackson didn’t sleep for 48 hours.

    As much as I understand the desire for it, I couldn’t ever see them hiring back Eustachy – just because I don’t think Pollard is a fan of anyone who has even a hint of history of “personality issues.” (It’s also why I didn’t see Gillespie ever being an option.) I agree that this hire is very in keeping with the Rhoads hire – it’s a safe move to get someone who loves Ames, and who the fan base likes.

  2. He only had a couple of bites of the Mr. Freeze, but I’m not sure that kid sleeps much any way.

    They never will bring Eustachy back and that is a shame, but hopefully Hoiberg will be good enough that we won’t need to bring him back. I think at the very least Iowa State owes him a formal apology for our treatment of him.

    I actually don’t know if it is a safe move. Paul Rhoads bought Pollard some time after his numerous hiring debacles, but his future is tied in with Hoiberg now.

    I know that if I was putting my job and future in somebody’s hands, I would want them to have some experience somewhere.

    But it is safe in respect that Hoiberg will not be leaving us for another job. This is his dream job.

    The good news for Hoiberg is that nobody will expect anything out of him for a couple of years. That gives him some time to learn on the job.

    As leery as I am about this hire, I will be surprised if we don’t win more games next season than we did last season.

    I also hope that they don’t wimp out and cancel our game with Creighton next year, but I have a feeling that they will.

    Even though Creighton should be better than us next year, I like our odds. McDermott has proven he can’t beat Big XII schools. Of course he couldn’t beat MVC schools while he was at Iowa State. That was a little weird.

  3. What I worry about is the fan base’s reaction to Paul Rhoads if we have a bad year next year (which is possible, given the fact that we’re back to playing the tough teams from the South). I think you’re right, I think Hoiberg will get a couple of years before anything would even have the possibility of going bad for him with the public – hopefully we get on the road to winning by then. I’m curious if the boost he inherently brings to recruiting just because of who he is will also be helped because of his in-roads in the NBA. Hopefully we get some talent due to that.

  4. I think his NBA front office experience will help him with recruiting, but I don’t think who he is will help with recruiting anywhere near as much as most Cyclone fans seem to think. He was a big celebrity in the state of Iowa almost 20 years ago. Next to none of the kids that he is recruiting will know who he is or that he once was a big deal. Kids outside of the state of Iowa won’t know who he was any more than they will know about the Roland Rocket.

    This football season has the potential to be very tough, not just because of the conference schedule, but because the nonconference schedule is very tough. 3 bowl teams and a UNI team that wants to beat us pretty desperately. However, I think 6-6 is a realistic goal.

    The offense is loaded with playmakers and although I trust message boards about as much as I trust Glenn Beck, people tell me that Arnaud really gets the offense now. I am inclined to believe that because he didn’t throw 5 picks in the Spring Game for the first time in his career.

    The defense is a little worrisome. It isn’t as if we lost loads of talent there, but we still have to replace lots of people. Half the secondary, all the linebackers and half the defensive line. But the defense didn’t look bad during the Spring Game, for what that is worth.

    But I think there are definitely lots of winnable games on the schedule:

    Northern Illinois – We should be able to beat even the best MAC teams (and they aren’t the best) at home.

    At Iowa – Every time Iowa is big time hyped they end up being very average. It is a rivalry game, so you never know.

    Kansas State (at Kansas City) – We are better than K-State and we need to make amends for last year.

    UNI – We should never lose to UNI. Chizik lost to UNI. Walden lost to UNI. I don’t think Rhoads wants to be in their company. Although Shannon is considering overcoming her fear of crowds and going to that game.

    Texas Tech – They have a new coach, I know they are ranked preseason, but this should be a transition year.

    Utah – I’m not sure this Utah team is as good as Utah teams of the past and it is at home.

    At Oklahoma – Probably not a realistic shot here, but the last time we beat OU it was on the road and they just lost 3 out of the top 4 picks in the NFL Draft.

    At Texas – Probably not a realistic shot here, but we have never beat Texas. It has to happen at some point. Plus they are “rebuilding” and that means that they might only be a Top 10 team instead of a Top 5 team.

    Kansas – After how their season turned out, Arnaud overthrowing Darks in the endzone at the end of the game hurts almost as bad as missing the extra point against Kansas State. But a new coach and a disastrous season last year should make this a very winnable home game.

    Nebraska – They are no doubt going to be pissed about last year’s game, but their defense just took a major hit by the draft. Although Nebraska’s defense was Nebraska’s defense of old last year, their offense still is fairly pathetic. This is a winnable game.

    At Colorado – I can still remember 2 years ago driving around Ottumwa after Jen’s Uncle John’s funeral listening to Iowa State drive towards the endzone to try and win the game. Then on 4th and Goal from the 2 Robinson was knifed down short of the goal line on an option play. Even though we aren’t much of a road team, we have played well at Boulder the last few years and as long as Hawkins is there coach, we should be beating Colorado.

    Missouri – They have all the talent and speed in the world, but their coach is suspect in my eyes. Plus we are at home and my guess is that we might need this game to go to a bowl and Missouri will already have their 7-8 wins and won’t have much to play for and that could be the difference in the game for us.

  5. I really wished I could have caught the spring game this year – I was really curious to see how the team chemistry was working. Wow, that’s an awesomely in-depth analysis – I think that each and every analysis is pretty right-on. I really want to make it to a game or two this season (season tickets weren’t practical)… I’m wondering which games would be best. I really would like to watch us take on Nebraska (I also think we have a great shot there), but it’s harder to get single tickets to that…

  6. I will be posting pictures from the Spring Game on Friday. I can tell you it seems like the offense really gets along, but the defense was on the opposite side of the field.

    Nebraska tickets are very expensive.

    I actually went down a donation level for next season, so I have no clue where our seats will be this year. It just became cost-prohibitive, but I have no doubt that if I want, those seats will be open and I will be able to sit there. Our section was 30-40% empty last year. Not a lot of people wanting to make that size of a donation.

  7. I understand the idea of needing fans to “step up” to donation, but there’s also got to be a balance to it in realizing that Ames isn’t able to fund what they’re asking. Hopefully they realize supply vs. demand here shortly and either step back the donation requirements, or do a freeze on raising them.

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