Bucknam new Arkansas coach

Will Doug Case promise to put in the same effort that he did at Arkansas State, while building all of those championship teams for Jay Flanagan?

not so fast wrote:

Case has Arkansas ties, he used to coach at Arkansas State, and has already once moved from a head coaching position to be an assistant at UNI(from Drake). If being a head coach were the most important thing to him, he would have never done that.

Assistant coach at Arkansas has to be a better paying position than head coach at UNI. Plus he doesnt have to deal with funding restrictions, begging for travel money, etc.

Dont rule out him going to Arkansas.

What has happened to Kyle White? Is he selling fireworks full time again?????

TEDDY MITCHELL is going to be the big surprise. Bucky will hire this brilliant distance mind to come in a run the show. He can dope em up and they will be rolling. Seriously I heard Teddy was really hurt when he was told about the AD laughing when asked if he was a candidate. He answered "who" but after seeing a picture of Teddy he said he did not think it would be wise to hire a skinny pimle faced girl to hcoach the mens team.

There is little to no change Bucknam would hire Woody as an assistant.

My prediction, Case leaves for Arkansas and Woody is named the UNI head coach.

Bucknam will need some help with the distance guys but it won't be Teddy. Case would clean up in ARK & if Boothe left, Travis could be there in an instant-or is he getting the MN job? Woody is not qualified to be the head coach at UNI for a few years yet.

another coffee drinker wrote:

Woody is not qualified to be the head coach at UNI for a few years yet.

You and I know that but does UNI's new AD know it?

Will Buck give a call to former UNI grad Hostager at Drake to run the distance side? Stay tuned...

Hey, I hope I'm wrong. I want to see Arkansas back to where they were. What I love is the people comparing the last 2 or 3 years of Arkansas performances to Bucknam's. This isn't about the last 2, 3, or 10 years, it's about an entire legacy. I don't care what they did in the last couple of years vs. Arkansas, I want to see what he can do over 30 years.

Please keep the questions coming!

Schiefer

PS. What happens to Danny Green and Kyle White?

Well, nobody does anything for 30yrs anymore, its what have you done for me lately---look at all of the college & pro coaches & managers that are out of a job in two years or less. Bucknam seems to have had solid success for a long time & is a smart cookie, no rookie- he'll keep a local flavor for his help to go with any ringers that he brings down with him.

Schiefer- Your concerns about Bucknam are understandable. No one can compare to McDonnell and anyone outside the system will understandably be met with some trepidation.

I dont know much about McDonnell other than what ive read- hes a hell of a coach and built an awesome program. I did, however, run for Bucky and feel like I know him fairly well. I few honest observations, hopefully to give you some hope in the new coach.

Bucky is a go getter. He is very personable and a hell of a one on one recruiter. He is not the type to try and live off the laurels of the previous coach. He knows the pressure is on and will work twice as hard.

The improvement of kids in his program at UNI has been phenominal. A 1:54 high schooler winning an NCAA title and running 1:46 his Junior Year. A 4:09 miler 2 years later is the NCAA runner up in the 1500. A 4x400 team of all Iowa kids, that almost every year makes nationals and runs around 3:04. Kids that couldnt break 10:00 in the 3200 or barely 4:30 running mid 14's 5k and 4:10 or faster miles. Point is year after year kids develop and get faster under Bucky. He has had a bunch of success with walk ons at UNI. I know McDonnell has at Arkansas as well. Look for that to continue.

Some of the success, especially of the 400 runners, goes to his assistant Doug Case. Case is like a younger, more intense Buck. I would not be surprised at all if Case if choosing between the head coaching job at UNI or an assistant job at Arkansas. Point being Bucky lets his assistants do their jobs. Booth will not have Buck looking over his shoulder trying to tell him what to do. Neither will the others.

Bucky stayed at UNI for almost 25 years. He isnt the type to just bolt. He will be aggressive at Arkansas and go after the best athletes, also getting solid walk ons as well. He is well liked and respected up here and will be at Arkansas as well.

As for Green and White. Like I said, if Case comes down, that would probably put the sprint coach out. I just cant see Bucky keeping all the assistants from the previous staff, in my opinion. Buck doesnt like the admin duties, like most coaches, so look for the coach overseeing operations and admin stuff to be kept on board.

Bucky will be missed here, and there are a lot of new Arkansas fans up here because of him.

I'd hope Woody wouldn't go to UNI as he has a lot going for him at Iowa. To me, the UNI job is nothing but a sidegrade since he'll have the opportunity to take over Iowa's program in a few years which will give him more control over the direction of a major University in a major conference with better funding. Not to mention, people in Iowa could care less about UNI athletics. If Woody continues what he's started at Iowa, the program will become highly competitive and Iowans will take notice and be supportive. It's hard to find more dedicated fans than the Hawkeyes.

Plus, Iowa's a Hawkeye state.

I am not disagreeing with anything but what exactly has Woody done at Iowa so far?

I don't know complete specifics but one of his athletes was the fastest freshman 400m hurdler in the nation in 2007. Also, he's taken one of his 800m runners and dropped 7 seconds off his time from high school to make him a sub 1:50 runner. And he's developed a couple young 400m runners to just off regional times. I know it's not much to get excited about, but the future is bright, especially considering the Hawkeye team is young and in Woody's first full year of recruiting he's managed to gather state champions from Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana for the incoming 2009 class (or is it 2012?)

Ehh wrote:

I don't know complete specifics but one of his athletes was the fastest freshman 400m hurdler in the nation in 2007. Also, he's taken one of his 800m runners and dropped 7 seconds off his time from high school to make him a sub 1:50 runner. And he's developed a couple young 400m runners to just off regional times. I know it's not much to get excited about, but the future is bright, especially considering the Hawkeye team is young and in Woody's first full year of recruiting he's managed to gather state champions from Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana for the incoming 2009 class (or is it 2012?)

This was all great but where were these guys in 2008?

People from Iowa don't care about UNI athletics? You obviously are not from Iowa.

No he said they COULD care less - so I take it Iowans care a lot about UNI athletics?

Which one of Iowa's "athletes" is trolling this thread?

Woody is not going to get the head job at UNI - he burned his bridges with UNI when he took his ball and went home because he couldn't get along with the men who made him - Case and Buck.

UNI's new coach will be Travis Geopfert. Bank on it.

For you DB Hawks who say it's a "Hawkeye State," how does 8th place feel...every year...year after year...in the Big 10?

If Northwestern had a team, they'd probably beat you too. Iowa is a PATHETIC team.

Varner was working on transitioning his steps which he didnt quite get down. However, if you've seen the Big Ten meet on the Big Ten Network youd have seen Varner destroying the field before falling on his 10th hurdle. Im speculating here but based on how far ahead he was, had he closed well he would have had ran a huge pr and a possible at large national time. As far as I'm concerned he never quite recovered from that fall. As for Hairston, he was an NCAA provisional qualifier indoors but wasnt able to have the same kind of success outdoors for whatever reason. At the conference level though he placed 2nd indoors and 3rd outdoors. They weren't particularly fast times but he scored points.

In regards to national competition these two didnt do much, but they had a solid showing on the conference level. I'd expect them to find success next year as they both were young.

Btw, I just looked at their bios and I know its not 2008 but in 2007 Woody coached Hairston to a 3rd place finish at the US Juniors.

Joey Woody is a great person and great coach give him time. As a assistant coach you can't always get scholarship money to get the best athletes but Woody will be very successful you watch. Why would he want to go back to a mediocre place like UNI when he likes where he is now!! And all you Travis lovers he is too way immature to be a head coach he can't even coach all the field events. Was a horrible throws coach.