Jarryd Cole opens up about his Iowa experience, including teammate transfers and why he stayed

IOWA CITY - Iowa senior Jarryd Cole has participated on four of the losingest teams in Hawkeye basketball history, and numbers alone make him the losingest player in Iowa history.

But Cole, a senior, is far from a loser. Few college players have dealt with as much adversity or trying circumstances as Cole and likely none have displayed his character while doing so.

Cole, a senior center and three-year captain, suffered a torn ACL in his left knee his freshman season. He signed a letter of intent under one coach, played three years for another and is finishing his career under a third. He's seen his high-profile teammates and friends come and go, yet he has stayed true to his values and convictions.

“I wanted to stay loyal,” Cole said. “That's what I was taught at a young age, and that's just what I felt was right. When I committed to the University of Iowa, I committed to more than just a coach. I committed to more than just a couple of guys. I committed to a community. I committed to a state. I committed to fans who don't have the right to see Iowa basketball, but they've invested. So I wanted to show that I invested. I can't offer any more than that.”

Iowa has lost 75 games the last four years, by far the most over a four-year span. Any of those four seasons would rank first in single-season losses, and last year's 22 holds the record. Cole is the only member to play on all four squads.

Cole committed to former Iowa Coach Steve Alford, who left in March 2007 for New Mexico. Unlike Dairese Gary, who asked for his scholarship release, Cole stayed with the Hawkeyes.

Cole missed the Big Ten portion of his freshman year after tearing his ACL in the final non-conference game. His recovery wasn't complete until after his sophomore season.

Concurrent with his recovery was turmoil. After Cole's freshman year, Iowa's leading scorer Tony Freeman left the program after a disagreement with then-Coach Todd Lickliter. After Cole's sophomore year, four players bolted, including classmates Jeff Peterson and Jake Kelly. Those events, plus the firing of Lickliter after his junior year, showed him college basketball is a business, not just a game.

“In the perfect scenario you would have four years where nobody leaves, where the players stay, where the coach that you committed to stays,” Cole said. “You go through it and you battle together and you win or lose together as a team. I think if that would have happened, this whole four years would have been completely different.

“We lost a great point guard in Tony Freeman my first year here. He was a junior. You guys know about his upside; he's a great basketball player and he even played great that junior year and he decided to transfer. My sophomore year we had Jake Kelly and Jeff Peterson, Jermain Davis came along, David Palmer, all those guys (leave). I feel like if we would have had that squad stay ... there were a lot of things that could have added to what we could have done here. It's a shame that those go out the window.”

Cole, a Kansas City native, has started 74 of 104 games in his Iowa career and all 27 this year. He averages 6.3 points a game - 7-3. this year - and grabs 6.3 rebounds a game. He will graduate in May with a degree in English and would like to coach basketball and teach once his playing career ends.

“Being at Iowa you learn life lessons,” he said. “It's not just basketball, it's not just school. People go to college and think ‘I'm in the real world now.' But it's kind of like an altered real world to be real with you. You go through things that actually could happen in a real world, but we're a little more protected. Like going to the actual real world, I learned thing you're not going to have ... every year is not going to be the best year for you. You've got to go through adversity and you have to live through that kind of stuff. I think going through situations like this are going to prepare me for that.”

Cole has a minimum of four games left in Iowa career, but only one at home - next week against Purdue. He's called this final stretch of games “a little surreal” knowing he's going to hang up his Iowa jersey forever. He's optimistic about Iowa's future under first-year Coach Fran McCaffery and is aware of his legacy, calling it a “bumpy run.”

“Survivor would be a good way to put it,” Cole said. “It's been rough, it's been tough. It hasn't been ideal and things like that. But it's been mine. I'm proud to say that.”