This isn't so strange. University of Iowa men’s basketball director of operations Jerry Strom has retired after 33 years with the program. The announcement came today from coach Fran McCaffery. Strom was a member of six Iowa basketball staffs that competed in 25 NCAA and NIT tournaments. “I was living my dream,” said Strom. “Working at Iowa was the greatest years of my life. It is, and always has been, about the people. That’s what makes Iowa and the community so special.” “Jerry Strom has been a very good friend of mine for over 20 years,” said McCaffery. “I was thrilled to have the opportunity to have him on our staff. For the three years that we worked together, his contributions were beyond exceptional. He’s part of the Iowa basketball family forever.” Strom joined the Iowa staff in 1981 as a graduate assistant coach under Lute Olson. He served in that capacity for two years prior to being promoted to his basketball administrative position in 1983. Strom worked closely with the Hawkeye basketball staff, helping to coordinate travel and carry out the day-to-day activities, and scheduling, of Iowa’s basketball program. Strom helped implement and was tournament director for Iowa’s Hawkeye Challenge for 26 years, and for six years did color commentary with Jim Zabel for Iowa basketball on the Palmer Radio Network. Strom came to Iowa from Monmouth College, where he was assistant to the athletic director, as well as assistant basketball and baseball coach from 1979-81. Strom was athletic director, head basketball and track coach at Martin Luther King High School in New York City for four years. Strom graduated from Fontanelle (Iowa) High School, where he earned all-state honors in basketball, football and baseball, as well as being selected to Iowa Boys State. He attended Concordia (Neb.) College, where he played basketball, baseball and golf. Jerry earned his master's degree (athletic administration) from Western Illinois in 1980 and worked toward his doctoral degree at Iowa. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Matt Weitzel of Iowa's sports information staff].

I'd like to be a fly on the wall for this get-together. I had coffee a couple of days ago with Mike Mahon, Drake's former sports information director, and one of the folks we talked about was Dick Dietl. Dietl also is a former Drake sports information director, and also had the same sort of job at Northern Iowa before that. Dietl went on to later became the athletic director at West Texas State. Mahon told me he'd like to meet with Dietl when he [Mahon] goes on an upcoming track trip to Oregon, where Dietl now lives.Like I wrote earlier, I'd like to be a fly on the way during that meeting. Here's Dietl's e-mail to me: . "Ron: I would love to meet with Mike. I suggest that he call me in advance and would love to have lunch with him. My current plan is to move to Cedar Falls in late August if I have the money saved up. But that could move to 2014. I now live in an assisted living facility and use an electric wheelchair or a walker. The 2006 stroke took a lot out me. I did finish my second book about eight fathers who built a baseball stadium without any money and it is now worth two million. They built everything themselves with no labor costs. The eight dads, their kids and the people of Eugene, Ore., bought into the thing. The school provided the land. One guy gave them $400,000 as a gift. When they need lights the money it there but they must put the money back in fund. It had pictures of the entire building process. I cannot type anymore, so I bought a Dragon, which enables me to talk the story into a computer. I spent $500 on it and had no money to promote it. The Legion team gets all of profit. I was the general managers of the team for four years. It was my gift to them." Dick.

Mike Mahon

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

By RON MALY

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.

Some might call it pretty, but not me. I never think snow in May is pretty. I presented a photo yesterday of my back yard while snow was falling. Snow on May 2? What a ridiculous thing. Well, snow fell throughout the night and it's still coming down. So here's an updated look at my yard. Sorry, snow on May 2 and May 3 is not pretty.

Iowa announced today a change to its 2013-14 men’s basketball non-conference schedule. The Hawkeyes will be competing in the 2013 Battle 4 Atlantis, held over Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 28-30. The tournament is held annually at the Atlantis Royal Towers Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas. Iowa was originally slated to compete in the Great Alaska Shootout. The eight-team field features Kansas, Tennessee, Villanova, USC, Wake Forest, UTEP, Xavier and the Hawkeyes. Four of the eight teams saw postseason action last season; Kansas advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16, Villanova fell to North Carolina in the NCAA second round; Iowa was the NIT runnerup, while Tennessee lost in the NIT first round. “Both the Great Alaska Shootout and Battle 4 Atlantis are phenomenal tournaments,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “The Great Alaska Shootout is a tournament rich in tradition, while the Battle 4 Atlantis is an exciting new tournament that began two years ago. We are excited about this new opportunity for our program and fans.” The Battle 4 Atlantis enters its third year, with Harvard winning the tournament title in 2011 and Duke in 2012. Tournament matchups and television information will be announced at a later date. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Matt Weitzel of Iowa's sports information staff]. [RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Either way, it's going to be a good tournament for the Hawkeyes].

Normally, May 2 is one of my favorite days of the year. For various reasons. But not this year. I don't like snow on May 2, but that's what's in my back yard [as well as my front yard]. So now I can't wait until May 3 and later. The month of May has no business delivering snow to us. By the way, a good friend of mine who knows how to make me feel good, said, 'It's a good thing you're not still living in Albert Lea, Minn., because they got 17 inches of snow up there.' Correct. I'm glad I'm not still living in Albert Lea, where I spent part of 1958 and part of 1959.

Blake Danielak has signed a national letter of intent to join the Drake's basketball team for the 2013-14 season, coach Ray Giacoletti said today. Danielak is a 6-7, 190-pound forward from Georgetown, Texas, who averaged 17.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game last season for Liberty Hill High School, where he was coached by legendary Texas high school coach Barry Boren. “Blake is a tremendous student and a player who can really shoot the ball,” Giacoletti said. “He’s very athletic and wants to use his great work ethic to become an even better player. When you have the opportunity to add someone to your team that is a dedicated student, can shoot the ball, has some bounce in their legs and wants to work hard – that is something we get excited about.” In addition to his scoring for Liberty Hill, which he led to a 30-5 record in 2012-13, he also averaged two assists, 1.6 steals and 1.9 blocks per game. As a junior, he recorded 15.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Danielak comes from a strong basketball family as his father, Ray, was a standout player at Southwest Texas State [now Texas State], and his older sister, Kristina, recently wrapped up a four-year career on the Cornell University women’s team. [This story was written for Ron Maly by Ty Patton, Drake's assistant athletic director for communications].