whitesoxfan101 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 (edited) http://www.hawkcentral.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...0316/1053/HAWKS Barta: Disappointed but going in right direction By Susan Harman Iowa City Press-Citizen Hawkeye fans, Gary Barta feels your pain. Just don't expect the Iowa athletics director to rant and rave on a Web site or radio station near you. "I feel the same way our fans do," Barta said Monday. "I'm upset; I'm disappointed. But I also then have to take a look and say, 'OK, where are we headed with the program?' And I'm encouraged from the beginning of this year until heading into next year that we're headed in the right direction." Barta was not with the men's basketball team in the locker room Sunday night, but he was in Carver-Hawkeye Arena with department staffers when the NIT field was announced. He said everybody was disappointed that Iowa failed to get an invitation after a 17-14 season and a fourth-place tie in the Big Ten. "I go back to what our original goals are," Barta said. "I was more disappointed in losing to Purdue and not making the NCAA Tournament. I feel bad from the standpoint of Adam (Haluska) and Mike (Henderson) being seniors not being able to participate in postseason play." Barta said he meets with both men's coach Steve Alford and women's coach Lisa Bluder during the season and had conversations with both coaches immediately at the conclusion of their seasons. Program expectations were discussed along with the positives and negatives of the season just completed. After the Final Four he will sit down with each coach and do a complete review of where the program has been, where it's headed and expectations for the future. "I've told both of them I expect to compete for Big Ten championships and to get into the NCAA and make runs in those tournaments," Barta said. "Obviously, in men's basketball we didn't do that this year. So I'm disappointed. We didn't make either of those goals." At the same time Barta knows where the team started, minus four starters (counting Henderson's early season injury) off a 25-victory team. "We struggled early," he said. "We did not look like a very good basketball team early. I don't think it was a big surprise to a lot of people. But then I watched a team that showed significant progress during the year. "So now we have four of five starters returning next year. That's what we're going to build off of. We need to build off of where we ended this season. We can't restart from scratch. We need to build off of where we ended." Barta said he's looking at a team that loses only one starter and a top reserve, has two assistant coaches that have gone through an entire season with the staff and players, and should be ready for bigger and better things. "We've got to grow from where we've ended this season," he reiterated. "We can't go back to the starting point where we began this season." Attendance remains a concern, although it has stabilized the last three seasons after dropping. Iowa averaged 12,126 per home game last season. "The one thing that needs to be said and understood is that it's not true that attendance is declining," Barta said. "The last three years, although slightly, it's gone up each of the last three years, and 12,000 kind of puts us on the edge of the top 25 in attendance. "But sure I'm concerned because we want it to be much higher than that. We want to be in the top 15 or top 10 in the country, so part of our plan is to figure out ways to increase that. Some of that, obviously, is winning. But there are other things. We're putting together an attendance plan. How are we going to increase it in addition to winning? Everything we're doing is part of a plan." This news certainly brightened my day, and all you fans of non Iowa Big 10 fans should feel the same, even us Illini fans who should dread the inevitable return of Jamar Smith next year *throws up*. This AD also deserves a BIG raise, btw. Edited March 14, 2007 by whitesoxfan101 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IlliniKrush Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 You da man Heads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo's Drinker Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 always a good place to go if you kick the crap out of your girlfriend......Alford would let Jeffrey Dahmer play on the team if he had talent and eligibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Found it at CycloneReport. Had to share it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Felix Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 01:27 PM) Haha, even we beat Arizona State Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I really shouldn't give Iowa fans crap. We hang banners for conference championships, conference tournament championships and NCAA berths. I can't remember if we do for the NIT. It kind of depends on the sport. We've got a ton of s*** hanging up there, including retired jerseys. But like, for wrestling, we've got the eight national championship banners and that's it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 14, 2007 -> 12:16 PM) I really shouldn't give Iowa fans crap. We hang banners for conference championships, conference tournament championships and NCAA berths. I can't remember if we do for the NIT. It kind of depends on the sport. We've got a ton of s*** hanging up there, including retired jerseys. But like, for wrestling, we've got the eight national championship banners and that's it. Plus we took care of business against you this year and were the better team the past couple seasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliamTell Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 lol funny stuff Heads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 12:33 PM) Plus we took care of business against you this year and were the better team the past couple seasons. Congratulations. Both schools haven't done s*** in the postseason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.