They come and they go

Today I take down a little newspaper clipping that either Jake Kurtz or Joey Aguirre stuck to my computer screen. It is a yellowed cutout of Fred Hoiberg, formerly The Mayor, in cardinal and gold smiling that nice guy smile at me every morning.

Regular readers may know that I adored the Ames High and Iowa State star who came home to put the Cyclones on the national maples map. I was managing editor of the Ames Tribune when Hoiberg burned the nets with three-pointers for the late great Johnny Orr. I grow wistful when I think of the season tickets we had.

I couldn’t abide Tim Floyd. Wayne Morgan played a mean guitar. Larry Eustachy liked to party and win — who doesn’t? Greg McDermott had one heckuva son in Cedar Falls and should have stuck with him in the Missouri Valley.

Hoiberg was everything, better than all the Cyclone coaches before him combined. He was respectful. He made Iowa look smart, classy and understated. And whoooee boy, coach, did he know how to run and win.

He was an NBA journeyman with the Minnesota Timberwolves until a heart condition knocked him into Glen Taylor’s front office. Then he moved home to Ames, where he posted a sterling 115-56 record, the best in school history. Only one Iowa NCAA coach has a better winning percentage: our own Brian Van Haaften at Buena Vista. (Please tell us you never will bolt for Northwestern or anyplace else!)

Upon his return, Hoiberg said he wanted to retire at Iowa State.

I believed him and swooned.

Everyone who said he would leave for the NBA was wrong. I knew it because Fred Hoiberg said so. Most everyone knew that he would be in the Final Four in a year or two. It was only a matter of time before The Mayor and his Court beat Coach K and Duke for the national trophy. In time, more banners would hang in Hilton than in Kansas’ Phog Allen Fieldhouse. We would own the Big 12 and Kansas City. We all knew that.

What we didn’t know is that Hoiberg intimated to Athletic Director Jamie Pollard that he really wanted to coach in the NBA.

When the Bulls called, Hoiberg answered.

He will get a few million more than the couple million he was getting from us. But a couple million goes a long way in Gilbert, where his kids go to school about five miles northwest of Ames. It can’t be the money, please say it ain’t so. It must be the fame, to know that you have won among the very best.

Michael Jordan made Phil Jackson look pretty smart.

I don’t even know who the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers is. The real coach is LeBron — you don’t even have to say his last name.

Who will remember Fred Hoiberg outside of Ames if he — and it happens pretty often in the NBA — ultimately gets the same ax treatment as Floyd?

Already the Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist declared he is sick about hearing what Hoiberg did at Iowa State — what can he do in the Windy City? Just five years after Ozzie Guillen delivered the beleaguered White Sox their first World Series rings since 1917, he was fired. They said he talked too much.

Even those Minnesota Nice people complain about hometown hero and future Hall of Famer Joe Mauer when his batting average dips below .300. They forget that as a free agent, Mauer could have jumped to the Yankees. But he stayed in Target Field for several jillion less than he could fetch on the open market. Mauer gets flack from the fans but the only thing he returns them is respect and commitment.

All Hoiberg ever got was love in Iowa.

He follows a venerable trail: To find success you must leave Iowa.

After Tom Tauke lost to Tom Harkin, Tauke stayed in Washington. After Bruce Braley lost to Joni Ernst, he bailed for Colorado. They ditched Iowa for the money.

Hoiberg, we would like to think, is abandoning us for the challenge.

But what challenge is there in baby-sitting Doug McDermott? The greatest coaches in the nation are Tom Izzo, Coach K, John Calipari, Bill Self and Roy Williams. College is where the coaching challenge is.

Hoiberg will learn that after a couple tough years with Jerry Reinsdorf, the hard-nosed owner of the Bulls and ChiSox. He will learn that being called The Mayor is almost an insult when one compares him to Richard Daley Sr.

Welcome to the new guy from Murray State.

And all my love to Fran McCaffery, the Hawkeye coach with the Irish temper who brought the Black and Gold back to life.

Keno Davis. Keno who?

Art Cullen is the co-owner and editor of The Storm Lake Times.