Hawkeyes' Jarryd Cole doesn't quit, hasn't quit, won't quit

IOWA CITY - The woe-is-me card would be easy for Jarryd Cole to play. But it's not in his hand, or heart.

Cole was recruited to Iowa by a coach who left before Cole became a Hawkeye.

His career got off to a nice start as a freshman. He contributed right away, but tore an ACL in Iowa's 13th game and was done for the rest of the season.

He was named a co-captain before his sophomore year, but was used mostly as a reserve, starting just nine games.

He lives in a forward's body, but has been playing center in the Big Ten.

Now he's a junior on his third-straight team with a losing record, one with 10 wins and 21 losses, one that got its brains beat in last week at Wisconsin and Minnesota. So what's his mindset these days?

“We want to go out and make an impact in the (Big Ten) tournament and see if we can do the four games-in-four days thing and try to get to the big tournament,” Cole said Tuesday.

What do you say in return to that? Wake up, young man, you can't go through life as a crazy dreamer?

Instead, how about this: Congratulations on not letting yourself get beaten down by disappointment and odds stacked against you and your teammates all season.

Let's take this from the beginning. Steve Alford and his staff recruited Cole out of Kansas City, Mo. Then Alford split for New Mexico. Another Hawkeye recruit, Dairese Gary, followed Alford to Albuquerque. He has known nothing but winning seasons as a Lobo.

Cole stayed with Iowa and a coach, Todd Lickliter, whom he didn't know.

“I think I committed to more than just a coach,” Cole said. “I made my commitment to the program, to the fans here, and most importantly, to myself. I wanted to be a man of my word, and that's what I did.”

But while Cole has stayed, friends/teammates of his transferred out of the program last spring. Two were starters.

Whatever optimism existed for the coming season was snuffed. The Hawkeyes were back to being an undermanned, undersized, underexperienced squad.

It's been fun for no one, especially the players.

“These guys are going to be very, very good players,” Lickliter said, “but there is a natural progression to this and they didn't have a chance to experience it.”

Meaning, they were thrown to the wolves.

“It's got to be taxing,” Lickliter said, in one of the season's top 10 understatements.

Look, I'm as show-me about a Hawkeye basketball renaissance coming anytime soon as the next skeptic. I listened to the last eight minutes of the Iowa-Minnesota game by radio while I was in the St. Louis suburbs heading homeward. Gary Dolphin and Bob Hansen had my sympathy. They sounded at a loss for words.

The only way this program can begin go forward next season is if the key returning players actually are returning players.

“There's always green on the other side,” Cole said. “With the guys coming in here next year, the future's pretty outstanding for Iowa.”

Spoken like a true captain.