Iowa

The ‘73 football Hawkeyes: Winless, yet winners

Published

1 year ago

August 27, 2023

The ‘73 football Hawkeyes: Winless, yet winners

Dan McCarney when he was an Iowa offensive lineman in 1972. McCarney was a Hawkeyes assistant coach who eventually was head coach at Iowa State from 1995-2006 and was 6-6 against his alma mater.

As another football season nears liftoff at Iowa this week and optimism is free to soar, imagine the unimaginable for a moment.

The Hawkeyes go winless. None of their games are televised. Their average home attendance is 43,569 (with 31,119 at Kinnick Stadium for the season-finale), not the capacity 69,250.

They get outscored by an average of 37-13. They open the season by playing Michigan at home, followed by UCLA and Penn State on the road.

What seems preposterous now was reality 50 years ago. This marks the “golden” anniversary of Iowa’s only team not to win a game other than the 1889 club that went 0-1.

“Quite frankly,” Ohio State assistant coach George Chaump said before the Buckeyes played Iowa in 1973, “they do not appear to be what we are physically. If we play the way we should, this should not be much of a threat — but there is always that possibility.”

There wasn’t. Ohio State won, 55-13.

The Hawkeyes’ 0-11 season of ‘73 was dismal, to put it gently. But it wasn’t fatal. So many members of that team went on to greatly successful, productive lives in and out of football.

Offensive lineman Rod Walters was an NFL first-round draft pick. Fellow lineman Joe Devlin was a second-rounder who started 179 games for the Buffalo Bills. Jim Caldwell, still working in the NFL, was the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions as well as Wake Forest.

Bob Elliott and Dan McCarney of Iowa City were coaching lifers. McCarney was the head coach at Iowa State for 12 years after being an assistant at Iowa and Wisconsin.

Elliott was an Iowa assistant coach at Iowa for 11 years and worked for three different head coaches at Iowa State, including McCarney.

Overall, though, the ’73 Hawkeyes didn’t have enough talent or depth. Then, the NCAA scholarship limit was 105 instead of today’s 85, and heavyweights like Ohio State were well-positioned to replace injured players. Iowa, not so much.

“Back in those games we didn’t have enough good players,” McCarney said last week from his home in Sarasota, Fla. “There were some really good players during that time and there were some really good people. But nothing was sustained at all with any consistency.”

It was the third and last season of Frank Lauterbur’s tenure as Iowa’s coach. The Hawkeyes started the year 11 seasons removed from their last winning season and nine away from their next one.

“Definitely not fun,” said Rick Penney, an Iowa sophomore defensive back in 1973. “We always wanted to win and thought we could win, and then it never panned out that way and it was disappointing.”

Penney also lives in Sarasota, where he owns a trucking company.

“Each of us says ‘Boy, it would have been nice to play for Hayden Fry or Kirk Ferentz when you had a chance to win,’” Penney said.

“There’s not much to write about,” said Dan LaFleur, a Hawkeye linebacker in 1973.

“When you’re not a very good team, you’re prone to giving up big plays. We’d give up one or two big plays and you could just see kids quit in the huddle, and that didn’t go well with me.

“Dan McCarney and I were kind of cut out of the same cloth. If I’m going to go down, I’m going to go down and fight and I’m not going to lay down. I was brought up that way. You step foot in the arena and you better be ready to perform.”

LaFleur has spent his post-college life in his Jefferson, S.D., hometown, where he helped run LaFleur Brothers Livestock. His son, Jon, was a defensive tackle for the Hawkeyes in the 1990s and is the head football coach at Sioux City Heelan.

Don’t mistake LaFleur’s comments for bitterness.

“I played against a couple of Heisman winners,” LaFleur said. “I played in the L.A. Coliseum twice.

“There’s nothing better than college football.”

LaFleur called his time at Iowa “a great experience” and still makes the 300-mile drives to Iowa City for Hawkeye home games. Kyle Skogman doesn’t have as far to travel to see his former team play.

Skogman is retired as president/CEO of Skogman Homes in Cedar Rapids. He also has been on the boards of directors of several Cedar Rapids-Marion civic organizations and institutions. He was the quarterback of the ’73 Hawkeyes.

Consider being the quarterback of a winless Iowa team in 2023.

“Oh my gosh, the social media would be horrible,” Skogman said. “In fairness, most of the negativity back then was toward the coaches. It wasn’t like we didn’t want to go to class or show up anywhere in public. We weren’t treated that poorly.”

But only teammates know how hard it is to never taste victory in an entire season.

“When you go through a very difficult season you tend to grow together as a group because there’s a lot of outside noise about how bad things are,” Skogman said. “You kind of go to your closest people, your teammates.

“Last year there was a reunion down at the university, a bunch of players that were in that class and also guys that played a year or two behind us. There were a lot of successful people. Those relationships and respect we had for one another has carried for 50 years.”

There’s a world of difference between losing and being losers.

“The camaraderie, the hard-work ethic, even when you lose,” Penney said, “you’re picking yourself back up and figuring out a way to make it work.

“As horrible as it was not winning, it was still a great experience. I met great friends, lifelong friends.”

A lot of those players on the ’73 team got some positive attention early in the next season when the 24-point underdog Hawkeyes stunned 12th-ranked UCLA, 21-10, in Iowa City.

“IOWA WINS! IOWA WINS! IOWA WINS!” was the headline on the following day’s Gazette sports section cover, with a photo of jubilant fans who had charged the field in the game’s final seconds and toppled the north goal posts. Gov. Robert Ray went into the Hawkeyes’ locker room to praise the team.

Several years ago when McCarney was the head coach at North Texas, he decided to call himself and six of his Iowa football teammates “The Magnificent Seven” and hold reunions with them.

“Seven of us played together at Iowa and went through extremely tough times on and off the field,” McCarney said. “We were never part of a winning season, never part of a bowl game.

“That revolving door was just rolling non-stop, players and coaches coming and going. I call us the Magnificent Seven not because we were magnificent players, but because we had magnificent loyalty and pride and a bond, and we hung together all those years.”

Three of the seven — Elliott, Jim McNulty and Dave Butler — have since died. The others are McCarney, Penney, Brandt Yocum and John Speaker.

“I had T-shirts made that first year that said ‘Magnificent Seven,’ and had a Hawk logo on the front. All three of those guys had that T-shirt on when they passed away. It speaks so well, I think, of the bond we had through the toughest of times.”

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com

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Iowa

What channel is Iowa State vs. West Virginia game tonight (10/12/24)? FREE LIVE STREAM, Time, TV, Channel for college football, Week 7

Published

6 hours ago

October 12, 2024

Press Room

What channel is Iowa State vs. West Virginia game tonight (10/12/24)? FREE LIVE STREAM, Time, TV, Channel for college football, Week 7

The No. 11 Iowa State Cyclones, led by quarterback Rocco Becht, face the West Virginia Mountaineers, led by quarterback Garrett Greene on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 (10/12/24) at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W. Va.

How to watch: Fans can watch the game for free via a trial of DirecTV Stream or fuboTV. You can also watch via a subscription to Sling TV.

Here’s what you need to know:

What: NCAA Football, Week 7

Who: Iowa State vs. West Virginia

When: Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024

Where: Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium

Time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: FOX

Live stream: fuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial)

***

Here are the best streaming options for college football this season:

Fubo TV (free trial): fuboTV carries ESPN, FOX, ABC, NBC and CBS.

DirecTV Stream (free trial): DirecTV Stream carries ESPN, FOX, NBC and CBS.

Sling TV ($25 off the first month)– Sling TV carries ESPN, FOX, ABC and NBC.

ESPN+($9.99 a month): ESPN+ carries college football games each weekend for only $9.99 a month. These games are exclusive to the platform.

Peacock TV ($5.99 a month): Peacock will simulstream all of NBC Sports’ college football games airing on the NBC broadcast network this season, including Big Ten Saturday Night. Peacock will also stream Notre Dame home games. Certain games will be streamed exclusively on Peacock this year as well.

Paramount+ (free trial): Paramount Plus will live stream college football games airing on CBS this year.

***

Here’s a preview capsule via the Associated Press:

No. 11 Iowa State (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) at West Virginia (3-2, 2-0), Saturday, 8 p.m. ET (Fox)

BetMGM College Football Odds: Iowa State by 3.

Series record: West Virginia leads 6-5.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Iowa State is off to its best start since 1980, and a win would make them 6-0 for the first time since 1938. The Cyclones are looking to extend their road winning streak to seven games. West Virginia is going after its third straight win after a 1-2 start. Iowa State and West Virginia are 2-0 in conference play. One of them will forge a first-place tie with idle Texas Tech.

KEY MATCHUP

Iowa State’s defense vs. West Virginia QB Garrett Greene. Of the dual-threat quarterbacks the Cyclones have faced so far, Greene could be the best. He had runs of 39, 15 and 10 yards against Oklahoma State last week and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry and 59 yards per game. Run defense hasn’t been a strength for the Cyclones, who hope to force Greene to try to beat them through the air. Iowa State has the Big 12’s top defense, allowing just 10 points and 272 yards per game.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Iowa State: LB Kooper Ebel has led or co-led the team in tackles in three straight games. He made just three tackles in eight games as a freshman last year. He added 15 pounds to get up to 240 on his 6-foot-4 frame and has made at least six stops in all five games. Last week he had eight tackles and a quarterback hurry against Baylor.

West Virginia: RB Jahiem White. The sophomore ran for a season-high 158 yards in the lopsided win at Oklahoma State and the Mountaineers compiled 389 on the ground. White hopes to be back on track after being limited to 94 yards combined against No. 4 Penn State, No. 22 Pittsburgh and Kansas.

FACTS & FIGURES

Anthony Becht, a tight end for the Mountaineers from 1996 to 1999, will be honored during the game for his induction into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. His son, Rocco, is Iowa State’s quarterback. … The Cyclones have won 12 straight when scoring at least 30 points. They’ve scored at least 30 in the last five meetings with WVU. … ISU had nine plays of 20 or more yards against Baylor last week, tied for the most by a Power Four team against a conference opponent this season. … The Cyclones’ defense gets better as the game progresses. They’re allowing an average of 4.0 points and 112 yards in the second halves. … West Virginia will wear all-black uniforms in honor of the state’s coal mining industry.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

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Iowa

Rosemount H.S. Marching Band wins at Iowa competition

Published

13 hours ago

October 12, 2024

Press Room

Rosemount H.S. Marching Band wins at Iowa competition

The Rosemount High School Marching Band is celebrating a big victory from a competition earlier this fall. In late September they took home the Class AAA Championship trophy at the Bands of America regional competition in Waukee, Iowa. Members of the band joined the FOX 9 Morning News to talk about the win and share how they are getting ready for another big competition this weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

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