Wine Online: Rodney?

Wine Online: Rodney?

April 26, 2005

“Like Rodney Dangerfield, Iowa football gets no respect,” writes George Wine, the UI’s former sports information director in the latest installment of Wine Online.

“That’s the perception, anyway. Hayden Fry enjoyed the role of the underdog and claimed the national media never gave his teams the attention they deserved. The old psychologist would stick out his lower lip, shake his head and wonder aloud why his Hawkeyes got no respect.

“Because he is naturally self-effacing, Kirk Ferentz has easily followed in Fry’s footsteps. Recently asked if he gets to vote on the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, Kirk responded, “I’ve never been asked. Maybe I don’t qualify. They’ve probably had to have heard of your team.”

“Ferentz, whose Hawkeyes have won 31 games and shared two Big Ten championships the past three seasons, has obviously learned how to play the Rodney Dangerfield role.

“But don’t take him too seriously. The Hawkeyes get respect. They got it under Hayden Fry and they are getting it under Kirk Ferentz, whose teams have finished No. 8 in the Associated Press poll three straight years.”

To read the latest installment of Wine Online from start to finish, click HERE.