WEBSTER CITY - University of Iowa basketball fans have spent the better part of this week dishing out opinions on the state of the program and speculating on who will get the gig as the next head coach.
The wish list - and it's a rather long list - includes the names Bruce Pearl, Josh Pastner, Scott Drew and Jamie Dixon, among others. Whether or not any of the high-profile coaches are interested in the position is up for debate, but what is a fairly common sentiment is that Iowa would be able to lure Providence head coach Keno Davis back to the Hawkeye State.
But there's one recognizable figure that isn't so sure. Dolph Pulliam, one of the all-time great basketball players ever to put on a Drake uniform and the current voice of the Bulldogs on KRNT Radio, says he would be surprised if Davis is the next coach of the Hawkeyes.
"Keno's my buddy, and right now he's got a great job at Providence with a five- or six-year contract at about $1 million per year," Pulliam, who was in Webster City on Tuesday to serve as the guest speaker at the 83rd Annual Webster City Noon Kiwanis Honor Banquet, said when asked his opinion on the Iowa coaching search. "And is the job at Iowa a step up from Providence, or is it a lateral move? I don't really know."
If Davis - the coach at Drake prior to his move to Providence - were to receive a call from Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta, Pulliam says the first person the Friars' coach should call is his father - former Iowa head man Dr. Tom Davis.
"If I was Keno and I got the call, the first one I'm going to run to is my dad," Pulliam said. "What would Tom Davis say to Keno? Probably, 'Son, you know the history of what I went through.' So it's a tough call, but it would be intriguing."
Dr. Tom Davis guided the Hawkeyes for 13 years from 1986-1999 and accumulated a record of 269-140. Iowa reached the NCAA tournament nine times under his watch and never lost a first round game. The Hawkeyes twice advanced to the Sweet 16 and made it to the Elite 8 once.
But former Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby elected not to renew Dr. Tom Davis' contact following the 1998-99 season, and over the last decade the Hawkeyes have gone to just two NCAA tournaments and have not advanced past the first weekend.
Steve Alford followed Dr. Tom Davis on the bench before he left for New Mexico. Todd Lickliter took Alford's spot, but he was fired on Monday after three losing seasons and a school-record 22 losses this winter.
Pulliam says Lickliter's termination was unfortunate, but expected.
"I'm not surprised at Iowa," he said. "I'm not taking anything away from Coach Lickliter and I'm not trying to bash him because he's a fine man, but the Hawkeyes struggled in some places where they needed help. They truly didn't have a big man down inside to help them rebound and that hurt them a lot. And Iowa Hawkeye fans are used to someone that is engaging with the fans. Even in a losing season, if a coach is engaged with the fans, they'll be there for you, and that was one of the pieces of the puzzle that Iowa lost."
Pulliam says Keno Davis is a players coach and someone that would bring enthusiasm back to the program if he were to return to the state. But that's a big if.
"Keno would probably be a great fit," he said. "When Keno was talking with the (Drake players) the first day of practice (during the 2007-08 season), he said to his players: 'I will pull you out of the game if the shot comes to you and you don't take it. But I will not pull you out of the game for shooting the ball.' How many coaches would say that to their team? But Keno did, and that allowed the players to be relaxed. It calmed them down."
Pulliam's distinguished rsum in the game of basketball speaks for itself. A starter on Drake's one and only Final Four team in 1969, he was a sixth-round draft pick of the Boston Celtics that same year, and he was also drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.
In February of 2009, Pulliam's No. 5 jersey was retired by Drake.
But for all of the successes that he's had over the last 40 years since his playing days ended, Pulliam says conversations routinely travel back to that magical 1969 Final Four run when the Bulldogs finished third. They lost a tight semifinal to eventual national champion UCLA 85-82, but rebounded to beat North Carolina 104-84 in the consolation game.
"A day has never gone by that somebody hasn't talked with me about the NCAA Final Four, and this time of the year, when we get to March Madness, it's twice or three times a day," he said. "I'm so impressed that 41 years later people are still talking about that team. We were good representatives for Drake University and good representatives for the city of Des Moines and the state of Iowa."
