maly, too: Jeff Rutter, a veteran coach with vast experience in Iowa and the Missouri Valley conference, has joined the Drake basketball program as an assistant coach, head coach Ray Giacoletti announced Thursday. “I’ve known Coach Giacoletti for the past 20 years and I’m excited to join his staff and the men’s basketball program at Drake,” Rutter said. “Drake University and the Bulldog athletic department are a very special place with great people, strong leadership, a true commitment and vision for men’s basketball and a dedication to providing a quality experience for student-athletes.” Rutter comes to Drake after seven seasons at Iowa State where he helped coach 13 all-Big 12 student-athletes and aided in 46 victories, the third-best two-year win total in Cyclone history, resulting in a pair of NCAA tournament berths. Rutter spent the first four seasons of his ISU tenure as an assistant coach before assuming the role of director of operations in the spring of 2010 under Fred Hoiberg. “Jeff brings an extensive background and experience to Drake, especially since we want to make the Midwest and especially Iowa a priority,” Giacoletti said. “I’ve known Jeff since his time at North Dakota State and we’re really fortunate and lucky to bring somebody of his character and Iowa roots with his experience and Iowa State and Northern Iowa into our program at Drake. He’s a veteran basketball coach that has been in a number of systems and seen different ways to be successful.” Rutter gained three seasons of experience coaching in the Missouri Valley Conference as an assistant at UNI from 2003-06, where the Panthers compiled a 65-31 mark and made three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances under head coach Greg McDermott. In his first season in 2003-04, UNI won the MVC Tournament title and qualified for its first NCAA appearance since 1990. The following year (2004-05), UNI earned its first ever at-large NCAA berth with a No. 11 seed while posting a 21-11 record. The Panthers tied a school record in wins in Rutter’s final year at UNI with a 23-10 record. Three Panthers earned first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference honors four times in his three seasons in Cedar Falls. In 2006, Rutter was honored by his peers by winning the NABC Literacy Award, given annually to a coach who is committed to promoting education to children in local schools and communities. Past winners of the prestigious award include Mike Krzyzewski, Gene Keady, Tubby Smith and Fran Fraschilla. Rutter’s career also includes a lengthy tenure as the head coach at Wisconsin-Parkside from 1996-2003 before joining McDermott’s staff. UW-P finished 15-13 overall his final season, its first winning record since 1988. In his first year as head coach in 1996-97, Rutter’s team stunned the No. 1 team in the nation, the University of Indianapolis, 63-45. In his second season, the team posted its first back-to-back double-digit win seasons in a decade. In 2001-02, UW-P was nationally ranked (No. 16) for the first time since the school joined the Division II ranks. At UW-P, Rutter developed the Adopt-a-Ranger program and the Junior Rangers built a strong connection with schools in the Racine-Kenosha area. His teams also posted some of the highest grade-point averages in the school’s 35-year basketball history. He assisted in developing corporate sponsorship programs and was instrumental in the development of the Ranger Athletic Club and the men’s basketball Dunk Club. Rutter has also taught at various levels, including serving as a clinical associate professor from 1996-2003 at UW-P, a lecturer at North Dakota State from 1990-95 and teaching at the elementary, junior and senior high school levels. He began his collegiate coaching career at North Dakota State from 1990-95 where the Bison posted a 43-17 mark and made two NCAA tournament appearances in his final two seasons there. The Bison advanced to the “Sweet 16” with a 21-9 mark in 1993-94 before earning their first North Central Conference championship in 14 years with a 22-8 record in 1994-95. He served one year as an assistant at Stetson University in 1995-96 before accepting the head coaching position at UW-P. Rutter lettered in basketball and football at Nathan Hale High School in West Allis, Wis. He played college basketball at both Wisconsin-Waukesha and Winona State, the latter from which he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1988. He received his master’s in physical education from North Dakota State in 1992. . [This story was written for Ron Maly by Ty Patton, Drake's assistant athletic director for communications].

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Jeff Rutter, a veteran coach with vast experience in Iowa and the Missouri Valley conference, has joined the Drake basketball program as an assistant coach, head coach Ray Giacoletti announced Thursday. “I’ve known Coach Giacoletti for the past 20 years and I’m excited to join his staff and the men’s basketball program at Drake,” Rutter said. “Drake University and the Bulldog athletic department are a very special place with great people, strong leadership, a true commitment and vision for men’s basketball and a dedication to providing a quality experience for student-athletes.” Rutter comes to Drake after seven seasons at Iowa State where he helped coach 13 all-Big 12 student-athletes and aided in 46 victories, the third-best two-year win total in Cyclone history, resulting in a pair of NCAA tournament berths. Rutter spent the first four seasons of his ISU tenure as an assistant coach before assuming the role of director of operations in the spring of 2010 under Fred Hoiberg. “Jeff brings an extensive background and experience to Drake, especially since we want to make the Midwest and especially Iowa a priority,” Giacoletti said. “I’ve known Jeff since his time at North Dakota State and we’re really fortunate and lucky to bring somebody of his character and Iowa roots with his experience and Iowa State and Northern Iowa into our program at Drake. He’s a veteran basketball coach that has been in a number of systems and seen different ways to be successful.” Rutter gained three seasons of experience coaching in the Missouri Valley Conference as an assistant at UNI from 2003-06, where the Panthers compiled a 65-31 mark and made three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances under head coach Greg McDermott. In his first season in 2003-04, UNI won the MVC Tournament title and qualified for its first NCAA appearance since 1990. The following year (2004-05), UNI earned its first ever at-large NCAA berth with a No. 11 seed while posting a 21-11 record. The Panthers tied a school record in wins in Rutter’s final year at UNI with a 23-10 record. Three Panthers earned first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference honors four times in his three seasons in Cedar Falls. In 2006, Rutter was honored by his peers by winning the NABC Literacy Award, given annually to a coach who is committed to promoting education to children in local schools and communities. Past winners of the prestigious award include Mike Krzyzewski, Gene Keady, Tubby Smith and Fran Fraschilla. Rutter’s career also includes a lengthy tenure as the head coach at Wisconsin-Parkside from 1996-2003 before joining McDermott’s staff. UW-P finished 15-13 overall his final season, its first winning record since 1988. In his first year as head coach in 1996-97, Rutter’s team stunned the No. 1 team in the nation, the University of Indianapolis, 63-45. In his second season, the team posted its first back-to-back double-digit win seasons in a decade. In 2001-02, UW-P was nationally ranked (No. 16) for the first time since the school joined the Division II ranks. At UW-P, Rutter developed the Adopt-a-Ranger program and the Junior Rangers built a strong connection with schools in the Racine-Kenosha area. His teams also posted some of the highest grade-point averages in the school’s 35-year basketball history. He assisted in developing corporate sponsorship programs and was instrumental in the development of the Ranger Athletic Club and the men’s basketball Dunk Club. Rutter has also taught at various levels, including serving as a clinical associate professor from 1996-2003 at UW-P, a lecturer at North Dakota State from 1990-95 and teaching at the elementary, junior and senior high school levels. He began his collegiate coaching career at North Dakota State from 1990-95 where the Bison posted a 43-17 mark and made two NCAA tournament appearances in his final two seasons there. The Bison advanced to the “Sweet 16” with a 21-9 mark in 1993-94 before earning their first North Central Conference championship in 14 years with a 22-8 record in 1994-95. He served one year as an assistant at Stetson University in 1995-96 before accepting the head coaching position at UW-P. Rutter lettered in basketball and football at Nathan Hale High School in West Allis, Wis. He played college basketball at both Wisconsin-Waukesha and Winona State, the latter from which he earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1988. He received his master’s in physical education from North Dakota State in 1992. . [This story was written for Ron Maly by Ty Patton, Drake's assistant athletic director for communications].

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.