Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball


The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team is part of the University of Iowa athletics department.
The Hawkeyes have had eight National Invitation Tournament appearances, won eight Big Ten regular-season conference championships and won the Big Ten tournament three times. Iowa has played in 29 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournaments and advanced to the Final Four on three occasions, reaching the semifinals in 1955 and 1980 and playing in the championship game against the University of San Francisco in 1956.
Iowa basketball was widely successful in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s with a program resurgence under Lute Olson and the tenures of George Raveling and Tom Davis. Under Olson, the Hawkeyes won their last Big Ten regular season championship and went to the 1980 Final Four.
They currently play in 15,400-seat Carver–Hawkeye Arena, along with Iowa women's basketball, wrestling, and volleyball teams.
Prior to playing in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which opened in 1983, the Hawkeyes played in the Iowa Armory and the Iowa Field House, which is still used today by the school's gymnastics teams. In 2006, the Hawkeyes accumulated a school-record 21 consecutive wins at home before losing to in-state rival Northern Iowa.
Three Iowa head coaches have been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as coaches: Sam Barry, Ralph Miller, and Lute Olson. A fourth Hawkeyes head coach, George Raveling, is a member in the Hall's contributor category.

History

Early years (1901–1922)

The roots of Iowa basketball lie in 1901, when Ed Rule coached the Hawkeyes to a 10–2 record in their very first season of varsity basketball. Earlier, when the sport was evolving and still in a club format, Iowa played the University of Chicago club in the first five-on-five college game on January 18, 1896. Rule coached the Hawkeyes in four non-consecutive seasons, leading Iowa to a 37–15 record under his watch. Even today, Rule's winning percentage stands as the best among head coaches in Iowa basketball history.
Aside from Rule's tenure, the Hawkeyes were coached by: Fred Bailey, John Chalmers, John Griffith, Walter Stewart, Floyd Thomas, Maury Kent, Edwin Bannick, and James Ashmore. In the era of multiple sport coaches, Chalmers, Griffin, Kent and Ashmore also were Coaches of Iowa Hawkeyes football. Kent pitched briefly for the Brooklyn Dodgers and coached the Iowa Hawkeyes baseball team, as did Chalmers, Stewart, Ashmore and Griffith. From 1902 to 1923, the best Iowa basketball finished in conference play was fifth on three separate occasions. Iowa began play in the Western Conference which evolved and changed its name to the Big Ten Conference beginning in 1917–1918.

Sam Barry era (1922–1929)

In 1922, Sam Barry was hired as Iowa's 10th head coach. In Barry's first season, 1923, Iowa went 13–2 overall and won the Big Ten championship for the first time in school history. The winning did not stop there: the Hawkeyes also tied for the Big Ten championship in 1926, along with Indiana, Michigan, and Purdue. Barry also coached the Iowa Hawkeyes baseball team, going 19–15 from 1923 to 1924. Before Barry continued his Hall of Fame career at the USC in 1929, he authored a handbook on the sport, Basketball: Individual Play and Team Play, featuring Iowa players and facilities. 62–54 at Iowa, Barry remained at USC until his premature death in 1950 at age 57. Barry was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979.
1922–23IowaSam Barry13–211–1T-1st
1923–24IowaSam Barry7–184–89th
1924–25IowaSam Barry6–105–77th
1925–26IowaSam Barry12–58–4T-1st
1926–27IowaSam Barry9–87–5T-4th
1927–28IowaSam Barry6–113–7T-7th
1928–29IowaSam Barry9–85–77th
Totals62–54 43–39

Rollie Williams era (1929–1942)

Following Barry in the line of Hawkeye coaches was Rollie Williams, who would coach Iowa on two occasions, from 1929 to 1942 and in 1951. Williams' winning percentage of 51.5%, and his long tenure at Iowa allowed him to become the winningest coach in Iowa history until Lute Olson, Tom Davis and Fran McCaffery surpassed him.
Early during Williams' head coaching tenure, in 1929, Iowa's teams were suspended from participation in the Big Ten for violating conference rules. After a Big Ten investigation uncovered an illegal slush fund and possible recruiting violations, Iowa relented to the Big Ten's demands and was eventually reinstated into the conference on February 1, 1930. Fourteen players, including four on the basketball squad, were declared ineligible as a result of the Big Ten's findings.
Nile Kinnick, the 1939 Heisman Trophy winner for Iowa Hawkeyes football, also played basketball at Iowa. Starting for Coach Williams in 1937–38 as a sophomore, Kinnick finished 2nd on the team and 15th in Big Ten scoring with 75 total points that season, his only hoops season.
Williams left the Hawkeyes in 1942 during World War II to enter military service in the Navy. He would return to Iowa after his tour of duty and coached one final season in 1950–51, after illness had forced Pop Harrison away from the sideline the previous season.
Overall Williams had a 42-year tenure at the University of Iowa, working in various coaching capacities and moving into athletic administration at Iowa after his coaching career.
1929–30IowaRollie Williams4–130–0*10th
1930–31IowaRollie Williams5–122–1010th
1931–32IowaRollie Williams5–123–9T-8th
1932–33IowaRollie Williams15–58–4T-3rd
1933–34IowaRollie Williams13–66–6T-5th
1933–35IowaRollie Williams10–96–66th
1935–36IowaRollie Williams9–105–7T-6th
1936–37IowaRollie Williams11–93–9T-8th
1937–38IowaRollie Williams11–96–6T-5th
1938–39IowaRollie Williams8–113–910th
1939–40IowaRollie Williams9–124–88th
1940–41IowaRollie Williams12–84–88th
1941–42IowaRollie Williams12–810–5T-2nd
1950–51*IowaRollie Williams15–79–53rd
Totals139–131 69–90

Pops Harrison era (1942–1950)

Just as the country emerged from the depression, so did Iowa's basketball fortunes. Following a rocky 7–10 season in 1943, Pops Harrison led the Hawkeyes to their third overall Big Ten title in 1945.
Murray Weir was the centerpiece of Pops Harrison's teams from 1944 to 1948, as Wier was a starter in all four-year season, playing under coach Harrison and developed into a prolific scorer, leading the NCAA in scoring. In 1944–45, the Hawkeyes won the Big Ten Conference season championship. The Hawkeyes finished second to the Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten during Weir's his senior season of 1947–48.
Wier led the Hawkeyes in scoring in 1946–47 and 1947–48 with 15.1 and 21.0 points per game. Weir's 21.0 ppg led the NCAA in scoring in 1947–1948, with Wier becoming the first officially recognized Major College division scoring leader. Weir was a first team all–Big Ten selection and was selected as the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player. Weir was named a 1948 consensus first team All-American.
In the following decade, from 1946 to 1956, the Hawkeyes had but one non–winning season in 1948–49, Harrison's last full season as head coach. Illness forced Harrison miss a good portion of the 1949–50 season, coaching in 11 games.
1942–43IowaPops Harrison7–103–99th
1943–44IowaPops Harrison14–49–3T-2nd
1944–45IowaPops Harrison17–111–11st
1945–46IowaPops Harrison14–48–4T-3rd
1946–47IowaPops Harrison12–75–76th
1947–48IowaPops Harrison15–48–42nd
1948–49IowaPops Harrison10–103–98th
1949–50IowaPops Harrison9–2*1–1*Inc*
Totals98–42 46–38

Bucky O'Connor era (1949–1958)

After playing and graduating from Drake University, O'Connor first came to Iowa from Boone Junior College in Boone, Iowa. He began at Iowa as the freshman basketball coach and Head Golf Coach in 1948. In 1950, O'Connor took over after the first two coaches of the 1949–50 season stepped down. He became the official coach in the 1951–52 season. Following short tenures by O'Connor in 1950 and Rollie Williams for the entire 1950–51 season, in subbing for the ill Pops Harrison, O'Connor became Iowa's permanent coach in 1951. O'Connor would hold that position and achieve great success, until his death on April 22, 1958.
Chuck Darling was an early prominent player under O'Connor. Darling was a Consensus first–team All-American in, along with being named 1952 First–team All-Big Ten. Darling was the 1st Round pick of the Rochester Royals in the 1952 NBA draft. He played instead for the AAU Phillips 66ers in order to remain an amateur. He later played in the 1956 Olympics.