Aaron Woliczko Interview Today

QChawks

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I really hope she doesn't pout and cry like Deal if the coaches ease her along slowly from the start
 

Manfredi

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Aaron was on the Travis Justice, Ross Peterson podcast The Rush this morning to discuss the current state of NIL in college basketball from a parent's perspective. Fascinating and informative perspective that was really insightful.


His segment starts at about the 1:32:25 timeframe on the show.

Thanks for posting this.
 

Jonesy5960

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I really hope she doesn't pout and cry like Deal if the coaches ease her along slowly from the start
Deal's problem wasn't sufficient playing time. She got sufficient playing time. She even got a chance to start. It’s clear to me now that, given her level of NIL, there was a significant disconnect between the staff's initial expectations of what she could produce and what she was actually capable of delivering. At the end of the year there was simply no way to justify the compensation she was receiving and that's a really tough conversation. It's not just a conversation about playing time next year. It's a business conversation involving "salary" requirements and limited resources that could be utilized elsewhere. The player and her representatives are trying to maximize compensation, just like they do in the pros. The team needs to decide whether said player is worth what they're asking for. Can't come to terms? No hard feelings. Time to move on.
 
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Kceasthawk@77

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If you listen to the recording, I don't think you have to worry about that from her or her parents.
If you listen to the recording, I don't think you have to worry about that from her or her parents.
I guess the one thing he said that was just "a bit con concerning" was where he said, "my daughter isn't going to a school where that is going on" talking about players having minutes played being a condition of their contract. So was all the hub bub about Deal suggesting that WAS in her contract? I just wasn't too sure what his comment meant there. Obviously Deal is gone, and Erod obviously did not have such a contract. Just curious how others took from his statement.
 

Head Guy

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Aug 24, 2007
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This was a great listen for all those that had questions. Interesting about the playing time being in the contract and most contracts are for 1 year so that really explains the Deal situation as I'm pretty sure her deal was reduced as well as guaranteed playing time. Now also you can see how tough it is on coaches with all this extra stuff in contract rather than just trying to win you have to play certain people so many minutes amongst other things.
 

QChawks

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Lets keep making up lies? cause didn't see her ever do any of those things
She was obviously unhappy to be leaving

I don’t know how anybody can say that they saw that coming either. All we heard about all off-season was how excited she was to come to Iowa and had been following them for many years.

at this point, we really shouldn’t get too excited about anybody committing for more than one season
 

SB_SB

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I guess the one thing he said that was just "a bit con concerning" was where he said, "my daughter isn't going to a school where that is going on" talking about players having minutes played being a condition of their contract. So was all the hub bub about Deal suggesting that WAS in her contract? I just wasn't too sure what his comment meant there. Obviously Deal is gone, and Erod obviously did not have such a contract. Just curious how others took from his statement.

When I heard that I was happy to hear it. And what it told me was, the Deals were a little naive and had parent goggles on. I'm sure they've never had a situation where their daughter didn't play most of the game. It's hard to accept that your superstar may be average.
 

Jonesy5960

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I guess the one thing he said that was just "a bit con concerning" was where he said, "my daughter isn't going to a school where that is going on" talking about players having minutes played being a condition of their contract. So was all the hub bub about Deal suggesting that WAS in her contract? I just wasn't too sure what his comment meant there. Obviously Deal is gone, and Erod obviously did not have such a contract. Just curious how others took from his statement.
I don't recall anyone specifically saying that playing time was a metric for Addie getting paid. There were some people on here stating that it was a metric for Emely and was a source of contention. Talk about a recipe for disaster if that's the case.
 
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FranklinHawk

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Jan 3, 2023
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I don't recall anyone specifically saying that playing time was a metric for Addie getting paid. There were some people on here stating that it was a metric for Emely and was a source of contention. Talk about a recipe for disaster if that's the case.
Exactly. Recruits/parents/agents asking for guaranteed playing time or minutes would be a huge red flag to me. That said, even if it wasn't in Addie's agreement doesn't necessarily mean it's not a reason they can't be unhappy and decide to go elsewhere (in today's world, they really don't need any reason at all).
 

citizenHawk1

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Lucky to have McKenna on the team. Hope she comes in and kills it.

Liked how her dad talked about the McDonald's AA game, and how that sort of me-ball doesn't really jibe with MK's mentality. I could see that.

And the short comments about Greenway hints at some possible familiarity with the Greenways, which yeah, I'd imagine that Maddyn and McKenna have probably chatted about Iowa at some point. (maybe.)
*Never know what the future portal might bring.
 

DukeSlater

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I really hope she doesn't pout and cry like Deal if the coaches ease her along slowly from the start
I hope she comes in far more ready to play than Deal was. Jan gave Deal every opportunity, but except for a couple of outliers, Deal never took advantage. I didn't see any improvement at the end of the season in any aspect of her game. With 5-star kids getting paid, they need to show far more than Deal did. Simple as that.
 

Jonesy5960

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I hope she comes in far more ready to play than Deal was. Jan gave Deal every opportunity, but except for a couple of outliers, Deal never took advantage. I didn't see any improvement at the end of the season in any aspect of her game. With 5-star kids getting paid, they need to show far more than Deal did. Simple as that.
That's a bit of a conundrum. Very few freshmen come in ready to contribute at a high level and yet the highly rated recruits are commanding these high compensation packages. Like Deal, McKenna will be compensated higher than perhaps anyone else on the team. The challenges this poses to team chemistry and continuity of personnel are substantial.
 

Rob260door655

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May 13, 2024
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It almost feels like going after a lot of 5 star recruits just isn’t worth it right now, especially if you are not at least fairly confident that they can come in and contribute right away. They will command a lot of money and will just transfer the next year if they don’t get enough minutes.

I think Iowa should be focusing on 4 star recruits who are good fits for your system and won’t command as much money right away. Use the portal for proven players to give the bigger amounts to.

Don’t get me wrong, I am ecstatic about MW, she seems like a great kid and great fit for our team, and also seems like someone who may not jump ship right away if she has a similar freshman year as Addie. I just think that’s few and far between for 5 star recruits, and you’re taking a big risk giving a huge payout to a freshman recruit who is unproven at the college level, and may not be willing to give you more than a year if they don’t get enough playing time, whether they deserve the playing time or not.
 

kiddman32

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In my several times seeing MW play in-person, I only talked to her once for just a few seconds and never met her parents, to my knowledge.

So, all I can go on this is that MW's game is so amazingly selfless for such an obvious superstar that she must have been raised and taught right.
 

kiddman32

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Since I was there in person, this is the first time I've ever watched the video. One of the announcers kept calling her "Volchick". :)
 
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Tippett1

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Oct 17, 2002
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I hope she comes in far more ready to play than Deal was. Jan gave Deal every opportunity, but except for a couple of outliers, Deal never took advantage. I didn't see any improvement at the end of the season in any aspect of her game. With 5-star kids getting paid, they need to show far more than Deal did. Simple as that.
I think the style of offense Iowa ran this year did not help Deal. It would have been much better for her if the team was more uptempo this year.
 

Wobmam Rulez!

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Lucky to have McKenna on the team. Hope she comes in and kills it.

Liked how her dad talked about the McDonald's AA game, and how that sort of me-ball doesn't really jibe with MK's mentality. I could see that.

And the short comments about Greenway hints at some possible familiarity with the Greenways, which yeah, I'd imagine that Maddyn and McKenna have probably chatted about Iowa at some point. (maybe.)
*Never know what the future portal might bring.
With the portal, I no longer give up on any recruit.
 

Hawk_4shur

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collegiate coaches are in a no-win situation IMO
Oh, I agree completely.

Yes, they are paid a lot of money. Yes, they have multi-year contracts. So, I'm not suggesting we need to set up a GoFundMe site.

NFL and NBA GM's have things like a database of comps, long term contracts, etc to have discussions with players about comp. College coaches have neither, nor were they able to come up through a system to learn how to deal with NIL and the portal. They were dropped in the middle of a battlefield with a pocket knife.

Add to that, a lot of the players are teenagers - some may not be completely level headed.

Jan was lauded for landing Deal. Now she being criticized for overpaying her.
 

Jonesy5960

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Oh, I agree completely.

Yes, they are paid a lot of money. Yes, they have multi-year contracts. So, I'm not suggesting we need to set up a GoFundMe site.

NFL and NBA GM's have things like a database of comps, long term contracts, etc to have discussions with players about comp. College coaches have neither, nor were they able to come up through a system to learn how to deal with NIL and the portal. They were dropped in the middle of a battlefield with a pocket knife.

Add to that, a lot of the players are teenagers - some may not be completely level headed.

Jan was lauded for landing Deal. Now she being criticized for overpaying her.
Who's criticizing her for overpaying her?
 

Jonesy5960

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Indirect criticism from this board, for example. She's not that good apparently.
Who's not that good? Are you referring to Addie or Jan? There's no doubt, based on reports of compensation, that she was paid well above what might be expected for her level of production, especially relative to her teammates. It wasn't money well spent. I don't blame Jan as much as a system that created this mess to begin with. She's not operating in a vacuum, and you see a lot of similar situations around the country such as Journey's old teammate Bourrage at LSU. Hopefully there are much fewer Addie situations at Iowa in the future and more success stories to point at.