Surprise, Confusion and Gratitude
One answer surprised me this week. Another one made we wonder if it confused people. And reconnecting filled me with gratitude.
(A view from the back deck of our dear friends and former neighbors, the Henscheids, as we watched deer enjoy dinner as the sun set. We enjoyed a great dinner inside!)
Governor surprised me — I have never heard Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds call herself a “feminist.” That’s not something conservative women often say. But she does believe in giving women opportunities.
I know that it is especially meaningful to her that she become the first female governor in the state’s history. Most of her top staff members are women. She has also appointed numerous women as department directors.
But the governor surprised me this week with her response to a question about whether Iowa Hawkeye Women’s Basketball Coach Lisa Bluder gets paid what she deserves. Bluder became the first coach in the university’s history to take a team to the National Championship two years in a row, has won more games than anyone in university history and is approaching the top 10 winningest coaches in the history of women’s Division 1 basketball.
Bluder’s base salary is $1.4 million, so she is doing just fine financially. But Fran McCaffrey, the men’s coach, has a base salary of $3.2 million. He hasn’t had nearly the recent coaching success like Bluder and didn’t coach a team anywhere near the National Championship. The men’s team didn’t even qualify for a slot in this year’s 68-team NCAA tournament.
In light of her success, is Coach Bluder getting paid what she deserves?
I figured Iowa’s governor would say, “Hell, yes! Coach Bluder deserves a big raise.”
I thought that she would say that Bluder deserves AT LEAST as much as McCaffrey. And at first it sounded like she was going to call for a big raise for Bluder. But apparently she wasn’t serious.
Does Bluder get paid what she should?
“No, I don’t think so. They should up her pay,” Reynolds responded to reporters Tuesday at the Iowa Statehouse before then adding, “I’m teasing.”
Reynolds went on to say that she doesn’t know everything about how coaches are paid but that Bluder and the Hawkeyes have elevated the sport on the national level.
It wasn’t what I expected in that moment. Watch her response here.
Confusion about his position — Former president Donald Trump has supported a 20-week federal abortion ban, discussed a 15-week abortion ban, talked about women who receive abortions being punished in some way, called himself “pro-choice,” wouldn’t support banning partial birth abortions, and now says that he would not support a federal abortion ban and wants to leave this up to the states.
These pieces from NPR and NBC track his changing positions on the issue.
Question: If you are a person who doesn’t believe that there should be any legal abortions or that there should be very restrictive abortion laws (i.e., fetal heartbeat abortion law), does it bother you that Trump changes his position so frequently on this issue? Or are you content with Trump appointing Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade?
Baseball parents fill my weekend with gratitude — My son, Hayden, played with the Iowa Seawolves baseball team for five years. Our families endured close games, blowouts, memorable plays, heartbreaking losses, rain, snow, uncomfortable cold, uncomfortable heat and many, many ballpark hot dogs.
Those conversations in the bleachers and in hotel lobbies on tournament road trips bonded our time together where we did feel like one big baseball family. The team broke up after last season. Some players moved on to different teams. Some moved on from baseball to something else.
Hayden is on a new team this year as he tries to get himself ready for play high school baseball. His new team didn’t have a tournament this weekend. But four of his former teammates played in a tournament with their new teams. We went to watch. It was fun to see those guys doing what they love but a little uncomfortable to see them in different jerseys. Change can be hard for us parents, too.
But what I’m thinking about most is how great it was so see those families again, to share so many laughs by the bleachers and to catch up on our lives. Baseball was so much more than baseball. This weekend reminded me of that.
One more thing — I was fortunate to connect with Dr. Scott Brown this week. He has been at the University of Missouri-Columbia since 1989 and is retiring later this year. He is an expert in various aspects of agriculture. He explained why the industry may suffer a “slow leak down” this year. Here’s why.
Thanks to all of you for reading each week, sharing this column with others and signing up to support what we do here. I’m very thankful.
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So the gov kinda like ducked the question? Probably didn't want to tick off boosters and potential campaign donors -- or tell the University of Iowa athletics director how to do HER job.
Let me propose a fiscally responsible, cost-neutral option. Have the men's and women's basketball coaches at Iowa flip salaries. Additionally Coach McCaffery gets docked pay every time he is not able to finish a game due to an ejection, with the proceeds going to the Staed Family Children's Hospital at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
In case anyone's keeping score, the Iowa men's basketball team has not made the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA men's basketball tournament since Dr. Tom Davis's squad did it in 1998-99 -- Dr. Tom's final year. That's 35 years and three coaches ago. In contrast, the Iowa State men have made the Sweet Sixteen four of the past 11 seasons, including two of the last three.
Coach Bluder has done an outstanding job and she and her team have done our whole state proud. I wish late Iowa women's AD Dr. Christine Grant was still around. She brought the extraordinary, legendary Coach C. Vivian Stringer to Iowa and really elevated women's intercollegiate athletics. What has happened at Iowa the past two years is a quantum leap even from those halcyon days.
Meanwhile, as a proud Cyclone alum I am VERY excited about Bill Fennelly's bunch with Audi Crooks & Co. the next several years. Audi just makes me smile.