OT: Obituaries Thread

[ELA]

Hayden Fry has died at the age of 90

[FearlessF]

wow

that's a big deal in the state of Iowa

[ELA]

wow

that's a big deal in the state of Iowa

Big deal on Big Ten land.  I think he has an argument, considering what he took over, of being the greatest coach in Big Ten history.  Woody might be the only coach I would buy an argument to out above.

[CWSooner]

Does Fielding Yost predate the Big Ten?

Has any coach produced a better tree than Hayden Fry?

[ELA]

Does Fielding Yost predate the Big Ten?

Has any coach produced a better tree than Hayden Fry?

Stagg, Woody, Kirk and Bo are the only coaches with more Big Ten conference wins.

[MarqHusker]

The first time I ever heard someone pronounce Wisconsin as 'West con-sin'.   Seriously,  great coach.  Few rocked shaded specs. better than Fry.

[fezzador]

Godspeed, Coach.

Iowa was a coaching graveyard in the late 70s when he took over.  He had some killer teams in the 80s (I still think the '85 Hawkeyes could have won it all) and left a lasting legacy with that incredible coaching tree.

[847badgerfan]

Oh man, that coaching tree. Does anyone have a better list?

Bill Snyder
Barry Alvarez
Stoops boys
Ferentz
McCarney

And the list goes on.

[ELA]

And the SMU boosters had him fired for refusing to play ball.

[847badgerfan]

He was a great man. 

[fezzador]

He doesn't get enough credit for integrating the Southwestern Conference in the 1960s.  Definitely a gutsy move back in the day.

[Hawkinole]

I was a Des Moines Register newspaper carrier from age 9 - 15, and followed the Big Peach carefully, and the Hawkeyes. In the 1960s and 70s the Hawkeyes just couldn't win. It was probably not much different than usual for them, but 19 consecutive nonwinning seasons covered an entire boyhood, carried me right through to college graduation. Register writers speculated the losing was related to the advent of two-platoon football because Iowa just didn't have the population base to support two D-I programs under two-platoon football and other conferences allowed endless scholarships. Enter the man from Texas, Hayden Fry in 1979.

I graduated from Iowa in December 1979, I went to FSU for law school starting Fall 1980, and as soon as I leave Iowa the Hawkeyes are in the Rose Bowl. Bobby Bowden had the Seminoles goin' pretty good at the time, as well. But doing it at Iowa -- well Iowa was only one notch above Kansas State, the losingest D-I program.

Hayden Fry was a college QB and for several years under his tutelage Iowa was QB-U.

Bill Snyder who looked old, helped Chuck Long become the QB then made what looked like a career mistake and took the HC job at KSU in 1989. Bill Snyder has to be one of the all time best coaches in college football. But even after:

• Bill Snyder left Iowa,
• Dan McCarney left Iowa,
• Bobby Stoops left Iowa, 
• Barry Alvarez left Iowa,
• Kirk Ferentz left Iowa . . .

the Hawkeyes were back in the Rose Bowl again, in 1991.

I can appreciate the staff he brought to Iowa. But, you cannot understate what Hayden Fry did himself at Iowa.

[MrNubbz]

Great Posts and Godspeed Coach Fry

[847badgerfan]

https://twitter.com/BadgerFootball/status/1207482990814740480