The only story I have to tell that involves me and Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly was a few years back at the team’s preseason media day.
I worked in Marshalltown at the time and was interviewing him one-on-one about former South Tama prep Madison Baier, who graduates this spring.
It was a nice chat. He was very helpful, and we had a great conversation. We even gave each other a hard time about the MLB teams we root for. Most know he loves the Cardinals. I love the Reds. So that went as good as it could go, too.
What I will remember most about that experience though was what Fennelly did days later. I received a thank you card in the mail for attending media day. He even mentioned something about our Reds-Cards discussion in the message.
It was a thoughtful gesture. He certainly didn’t have to do that. And I have never gotten a thank you note from any other college coach whose media day I attended.
Fennelly made the news this week in a bad way. He is being sued by former player Nikki Moody for what she is calling racial discrimination during her time at Iowa State.
It’s a big case for Fennelly and the school.
I have no idea what happened. I also have no doubt that Fennelly has likely said something along the way that has offended his players.
That alone doesn’t make him a racist.
The support for Fennelly from former players has been overwhelming. Most of the prominent ones are in his corner.
Bryanna Fernstrom, who left the Iowa State program midway through last season, tweeted out a message after Moody’s case became public impling she agrees with her former teammate.
One other player, Cheyenne Shepherd, has come forward in support of Moody. Other than that, Fennelly has gotten most of the support.
I don’t know how it’s going to end, and I won’t pretend to know details of what happened, but what I do know is even if Fennelly “wins” the case, the stigma may live with him forever.
On a lighter note, Thursday is final day to qualify for the Drake Relays.
As of 10 p.m. Wednesday, the area had only two athletes above the cut-off for the Drake Relays, according to information posted to quikstatsiowa.com.
On the girls’ side, Prairie City-Monroe junior Jayci Vos is currently sixth among recorded times in the 400-meter hurdles. The top eight times qualify for Drake. Her time is 1 minute, 5.64 seconds, and the final cut-off time online is 1:06.09.
Newton’s Grace Coen is close to the current Drake Relays cut-off in the 1,500. She’s sitting 27th in an event that qualifies 21.
There will be 80 teams in the 4x100 relay again this year. The area’s best foursome is from Newton, but that group is currently 89th and .22 seconds off the cut-off time. PCM and CMB also are within a second of the 52.72 current cutoff mark.
The only area male athlete currently above the cut-off mark is CMB’s Brady Stover. He’s 29th in the 100 with a time of 11.11 seconds. The top 32 qualify and the current cut-off mark is 11.12.
Lynnville-Sully’s boys 4x100 relay is .59 seconds back of the final qualifying time.
Information on the Newton boys team is unknown as times, marks and distances have not yet been posted online.
With one day to go, these numbers can change. An article on the Drake Relays area qualifiers will appear in Monday’s Newton Daily News.
Contact Troy Hyde at
thyde@newtondailynews.com