Nov 25

Hamburg would like Farragut’s land

Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

FremontDistricts
School districts in Fremont and western Page counties, from a state map of school levy rates. The town of Riverton is where Hamburg, Farragut, and Sidney meet.

In light of last week’s decision by the state to nuke the Farragut school district, the Hamburg district wanted to ask the state to deed it some of Farragut’s area, adding enrollment to stabilize that district. Hamburg even volunteered to take control of the school building in Farragut.

Now, if you’ve been following along, that’s a dollop of irony, seeing as though it was the failure of the consolidation vote on the Hamburg side (likely resentment about losing the high school) that contributed to the situation in the first place. Not only that, even if Hamburg did get the Farragut building, the Americans with Disabilities Act non-compliance issues aren’t going away.

The state quickly shot down Hamburg’s suggestion. The Green Hills Area Education Agency is now in charge of operations in Farragut, including how the district will be carved up. I certainly can’t fault Hamburg for trying, and Riverton might be sent that way, but otherwise, I’m in favor of straight lines and not the mess that happened when Clearfield drew its own.

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Nov 24

How Iowa State has lost football games in the 21st century

Posted on Tuesday, November 24, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

[This was slightly less painful when I started writing it Oct. 19. Slightly. Paul Rhoads was the perfect man for ISU football everywhere except the W-L ledger. -Ed.]

In light of Nebraska’s pair of hilarious losses to BYU and Illinois, Indiana’s Jim Walden-esque forfeiture of a 25-point lead, Michigan’s “we have no idea what happened but it’s going to get a special name” loss to Michigan State, and Michigan State’s “out of bounds is just a conjecture” loss to Nebraska, the Big Ten Conference (save for a team that shall remain nameless) is trying to lose games in the most Iowa State ways possible.

But the last two weeks have proven that over the long term no one, NO ONE, can match the Cyclones in that category. “The most Iowa State way possible” is less jaw-dropping end-of-game moments and more building like a slow-motion wreck. Here’s a list limited to this century of the many ways ISU has lost football games, updated as necessary:

  • Up 21 at half, still up 7 with 1:31 remaining, fumbled twice when kneeling would’ve made time (almost) expire (2015 Kansas State)
  • Up 17 at half against #5 team in country, trailed for first time with 3 minutes left, uncalled first down leads to coach confusion (2015 Oklahoma State)
  • Up 20-0 at half against #16 team in country (2008 Kansas)
  • Up 7, 2 minutes remaining, opponent drives 58 yards for tying score, lost in OT (2005 Kansas)
  • Up 6, 1:08 remaining, opponent fumble at 1-yard line ruled not a fumble, opponent scored, conference apologized (2013 Texas)
  • Blew 14-point early-fourth-quarter lead to top-15 team at home, never trailed until game-ending field goal (2016 Baylor)
  • Blew 17-point second-half lead to top-15 team the week after the above game (2016 Oklahoma State)
  • Three words: Big 12 Refs (2017 Kansas State)
  • Down 1, 46 seconds remaining, “wide right” kick sailed over the goalpost, third missed field goal of game (2001 Independence Bowl vs. Alabama)
  • Down 1, 32 seconds remaining, extra point blocked (2009 Kansas State)
  • Tie game, one win away from outright Big 12 North title, one minute left, wide right, lost in OT (2004 Missouri)
  • Up 7, one win away from outright Big 12 North title again, opponent completes 87-yard drive with 20 seconds to go, wide right again, lost in OT again (2005 Missouri)
  • Tie game, time expired, wide left, lost in double OT (2015 Toledo)
  • Down 1 in double OT after 14-point comeback, 2-point conversion attempt fails (2010 Nebraska)
  • Recovered from 21-point halftime deficit, game-winning two-point conversion attempt fails (2019 Oklahoma)
  • Wiped out 20-point deficit, opponent puts together 14-play drive for game-winning field goal (2019 Baylor) — in 93-degree Texas heat
  • Double OT as the higher-ranked team (2005 Nebraska)
  • Triple OT to most-hated rival (2017 Iowa)
  • Opponent scores 31 points in third quarter, then takes mercy by kneeling in the red zone on last drive (2014 TCU)
  • Reversed call at end of first half gives opponent TD, opponent then also scores on second-half kickoff (2014 Oklahoma State)
  • Toyed with by the weather gods, and then the extremely not optimal situation of running into your own punt returner with a minute and a half to go (2019 Iowa)
  • In the only matchup of AP Top 10 teams ever at Jack Trice Stadium (2021 Iowa)
  • By 1, 1, 2, 7, and 10 points the entire season (2019)
  • By 3, 7, 7, and 10 points the entire season, and 3 in the bowl (2005)
  • By 64 points (2013 Baylor)
  • By 41 points, including a 31-point second quarter (2010 Utah)
  • By 46, 46, 25, 52, 38, 45, and 38 points (2002, ’03, ’06, ’10, ’13, ’14, and ’15 Oklahoma)
  • To an interim coach (2010 Colorado)
  • To another interim coach (2014 Kansas)
  • To a third interim coach, and a 62-yard field goal as time expired (2021 Texas Tech)
  • To a Division I-AA program, three four times (2007 UNI, 2013 UNI, 2014 NDSU, 2016 UNI)
  • To a program in its third year at the Division I-A level (2002 UConn)
  • Starting quarterback had the flu (2012 Liberty Bowl vs. Tulsa)

Iowa State football fandom: We don’t know HOW the punch is coming, we just know that it is.

Last updated 11/25/21.

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Nov 23

MMCRU: A quadrant unfilled

Posted on Monday, November 23, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The combined Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn/Remsen-Union High School will be called… MMCRU. I thought there could have been a concession to Remsen-Union to give it the first part of the name, but overall in Iowa there’s only a handful of two-name/two-part districts where the first town is not the one with the high school. (Among them are Aplington-Parkersburg and Gladbrook-Reinbeck.)

The new nickname will be the Royals, which until now was unique to Colo-NESCO. (Another nickname note: Chris Andringa let me know a few weeks ago that Rock Valley, like Remsen-Union, is also the Rockets, in the sports it doesn’t share with Boyden-Hull.)

The other option for a new name was Northwest, which would have been a vague choice for the multi-county location but only the second geographically correct one in a “quadrant” setup:

  • Northeast of Goose Lake has been around a while but is in far east-central Iowa.
  • Corning and Villisca combined to form Southwest Valley a few years ago. The valley in question is the Nodaway River, but there’s already a Nodaway Valley, and “West Fork Hundred and Two Valley” is slightly cumbersome.
  • The direction for the new Southeast Valley comes from Southeast Webster-Grand, which is in north-central Iowa. It most likely pre-empts any new district actually in southeast Iowa using that, though.
  • And, of course, the two “Central” districts discussed in previous blog posts that are located in counties along the Mississippi River.

MMC won a state football championship last week, so it’s going out on a high note. (And also putting an end to a very minor Chris Hassel character on KXNO.)

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Nov 22

The toughest job in college football is now open

Posted on Sunday, November 22, 2015, at 12:48 PM by Jeff

Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads has been fired after Saturday’s absolute debacle at Kansas State, where the Cyclones snatched defeat from the jaws of what would have been the first second victory in the Little Apple since Bill Snyder started coaching there.

It is a horrible, horrible year to be coach-shopping. Here’s what should run on the ESPN ticker:

IOWA STATE | Fired seventh-year head coach Paul Rhoads (32-54) after back-to-back losses with double-digit halftime leads

ISU | Rhoads has not had winning record since 2009 (7-6, won Insight Bowl)

ISU | Cyclones have won eight games in a season only once since 1978 (2000)

ISU | Longest conference championship drought in Power 5 (1912)

ISU | University most at risk in future rounds of realignment

Coaches: Do you want a challenge, a REAL challenge, where eight or even seven wins a season will provide indefinite employment, in the nation’s toughest environment for recruiting (among other things)? If so, there’s only one place to go. Pick up the phone and call.

I guess I should’ve made my “loser of ISU-Iowa is fired” prediction after all. (Remember ISU led at half and was still tied with 3 minutes left? Yeah.)

CORRECTION: Iowa State won in Manhattan in 2004.

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Nov 21

Farragut is third forced dissolution in state history

Posted on Saturday, November 21, 2015, at 10:42 AM by Jeff

The Iowa Board of Education has ordered an end to the Farragut school district after multiple years of deficit spending and facilities not in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. This is the third overall state-mandated dissolution in Iowa’s modern district system and the second based on financial problems. Russell was shut down in 2008 for that reason.

This case touches on the two major issues facing Iowa school districts, declining rural enrollment and the Legislature’s reluctance to increase funding (not to mention Gov. Branstad’s veto of one-time money last session). Allowable growth has been set at very small percentages or even zero since the Great Recession. Also brought to light recently is an inequity among districts in per-pupil funding, which Davenport’s superintendent put in the spotlight during the last legislative session. There’s also the issue of higher transportation costs in large rural districts.

Seven votes in Hamburg killed a merger between Farragut and Hamburg, leaving the districts to struggle individually with money issues. Then a PPEL vote to fix the ADA issues in Farragut lost as well. Now the state will draw up a map to reallocate the Farragut area to surrounding districts – Shenandoah is likely to get much of it, but Hamburg and Sidney may gain as well. Hamburg will need to find a new grade-sharing partner (10 miles to Sidney, but 26 to Shenandoah).

(Seriously, Iowa Public Radio? “Desolve”?)

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Nov 19

Division in a time for unity

Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015, at 10:01 AM by Jeff

It has been my opinion that while nothing can easily soothe the feelings of a community that has lost its high school, winning a state championship in a major sport goes a long way toward healing rifts. But I’ve never had to apply that thought to the loss of a school building, and Gladbrook-Reinbeck is creating a very weird data point.

GR plays this afternoon for the Class A state football championship this afternoon against Akron-Westfield, the westernmost school in the state. However, many people in the town of Gladbrook and the surrounding area will have nothing to cheer for, because families have sent their students to GMG instead. The open-enrollment exodus is fallout from the closure of the Gladbrook elementary building.

Supporters of keeping a school in Gladbrook appealed to the State Board of Education, arguing (in part) that the threat of mass open enrollment should have been a sign the school district would not realize the savings it expected from closing the building.

However, the state is only allowed to consider whether a district engaged in “abuse of discretion”. The Barker guidelines were voided in 2009 (ironically, in an Iowa Supreme Court decision about Des Moines schools) — something that doesn’t help Gladbrook supporters and something I’d forgotten about in my July blog post, although schools generally continue to follow them anyway.

The state says the GR board “did not act in an arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational manner,” and so it will not reverse closure of the Gladbrook building. The decision document and appeal materials are available on the State Board of Education’s website (PDF, all scanned).

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Nov 18

Two schools in large cities to be demolished

Posted on Wednesday, November 18, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

First, a story from the Muscatine Journal. The contents of the Jefferson school building were sold the first week of November, with demolition to follow. A replacement was built right beside the old building.

Second, Walnut Grove Elementary in Council Bluffs will be demolished after the district could not find another use.

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Nov 17

Correctionville construction update

Posted on Tuesday, November 17, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Sioux City Journal reports that construction on US 20 is on track in Woodbury County. Trees have been removed in the Little Sioux River valley to make way for the new bridge that will be built next year. Traffic will be detoured on old 20.

The segment through Correctionville, and the relocation of IA 31, should be completed by the end of the year.

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Nov 15

I wrote about Dad and farming in the Gazette

Posted on Sunday, November 15, 2015, at 3:30 PM by Jeff

Dad is going to stop raising cattle.

Bruce Morrison has been on this farm, around animals, all his life. In 1967 he was a member of the Tama County 4-H team that represented Iowa in the livestock judging competition at the International Livestock Exposition in Chicago. His degree from Iowa State University is in farm operations. …

Dad’s not going to stop growing crops, not yet. He’s still a farmer, after all. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were farmers. But I am not. It would be lying to say that doesn’t come with a sense of loss.

This is a subject very important to me, and I hope you will get something out of reading it.

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Nov 13

No quarter for traitors

Posted on Friday, November 13, 2015, at 10:31 AM by Jeff

Iowa State men’s basketball starts the season with as high expectations as there have ever been, and tips off this afternoon in Sioux Falls … against Colorado.

I think the neutral site is a fine idea, since it gives western Iowa fans a chance to see the Cyclones in person. I have a huge issue with the opponent, even if ISU is being paid $125,000 to play the Buffaloes.

Ideally, Iowa State would have a blanket ban on events with any of the four universities that threw the Big 12 Conference into mortal peril. You don’t threaten to burn down the neighborhood and still get to have friendly visits. I understand that logistics and costs (or payments, see above) may make this less feasible in some cases — ISU has played Nebraska in volleyball every year except 2012 — but basketball should be off the table.

This ban wouldn’t or can’t apply to conference-dictated or postseason arrangements, of course. ISU has to go to Texas A&M this season for the Big 12-SEC challenge. Kansas has had to play Missouri in softball super-regionals. But when the university has a choice, the answer should be no.

(Of course, 125 grand isn’t chump change, but those are my principles, and if you don’t like them, I have others.)

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