Fran's Grade after 5 years

deanvogs

deanvogs

Well-Known Member
Since year 5 is now complete I think we should take a look at what grade you would give Fran for these 5 years. Deace gave Fran a B+ and Miller gave him a A on their podcast this week. I fall right in line with Deace, and give him a B+. We have come from an absolute joke of a program and he has improved the team each and every year. Not a small feat considering that he never really did bring in that game changing recruit (Woody was one, but hasn't preformed like one). The only reason I don't give him an A, is I feel an A should be reserved for someone who got to the NCAA in year 3, but that is just a slight nitpick, and certainly going to vary from person to person on how to grade.
 
I think I'm at a B+

Happy to win a tournament game and exceed expectations this year but we fell short of expectations last year.

I would have thought we would have won a tourney game last year and been bounced in a play in game this year so it's pretty much a wash.

This is a HUGE improvement of where the program was so I hope the grade reflects that but I just can't go to the A status without a conference championship or at least a sweet 16 appearance or better.
 
I think I'd say B+/A- territory. I'm not sure how anyone can argue against the steady improvement. The program was a dumpster fire when Fran took over, and he's gotten us to the dance the past two years, and got to the round of 32 this year. So I'm happy with the job Fran has done.

The reason I can't give him a full A or A+ is basically because I've seen coaches take bad programs to the dance in just a couple years - and Bob Knight took a bad TT program to the dance in his very first year. But as dean said, a minor nitpick here - progress is progress, even if it's not as fast as some other programs.

The other thing is recruiting - Fran has done a good job of finding some under the radar guys (Aaron White in particular) but Iowa still lacks shooters/scorers outside of a couple players, and don't think Fran did as good a job as maybe he could have in bringing in the necessary players sooner so that Iowa doesn't miss a beat next year with White & Olaseni gone.. I expect a drop off, but maybe Fran will prove me wrong.

If Fran gets Iowa to the dance next year as well, then I may be inclined to bump his grade to the A-/A range, because I think it'll take a terrific coaching job in 2015-16 to make it 3 straight in the NCAA's. I just don't think the scoring and front court presence will be there without White & Olaseni, but would love to be proven wrong.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
I think I'd say B+/A- territory. I'm not sure how anyone can argue against the steady improvement. The program was a dumpster fire when Fran took over, and he's gotten us to the dance the past two years, and got to the round of 32 this year. So I'm happy with the job Fran has done.

The reason I can't give him a full A or A+ is basically because I've seen coaches take bad programs to the dance in just a couple years - and Bob Knight took a bad TT program to the dance in his very first year. But as dean said, a minor nitpick here - progress is progress, even if it's not as fast as some other programs.

The other thing is recruiting - Fran has done a good job of finding some under the radar guys (Aaron White in particular) but Iowa still lacks shooters/scorers outside of a couple players, and don't think Fran did as good a job as maybe he could have in bringing in the necessary players sooner so that Iowa doesn't miss a beat next year with White & Olaseni gone.. I expect a drop off, but maybe Fran will prove me wrong.

If Fran gets Iowa to the dance next year as well, then I may be inclined to bump his grade to the A-/A range, because I think it'll take a terrific coaching job in 2015-16 to make it 3 straight in the NCAA's. I just don't think the scoring and front court presence will be there without White & Olaseni, but would love to be proven wrong.
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This is pretty much where I'm at. If a couple recuits next year look like they can be really good I'll be convinced without a doubt that he has what it takes to keep us good. If they are all Clemmons type players (hard to type that without being offensive but it is what it is) then we might end up a program that dances half the time. I highly doubt the latter is the case.
 
An "B+" so far since he resurrected the basketball program. They did fall short of expectations last year but played up to expectations this year. The true test will be after next year when his star recruiting class graduates.
 
I would say overall a B+ because the program was swirling the drain AND I am not dumping on Fran all the way for last year's collapse (something going on there besides just not shooting as well).

If the hawks dont collapse last year they get a 4-6 seed in the Dance.

I would give Fran an A for years 1-3, a B last year (which looked like an A+ in mid-Feb) and an A this year.
 
Fran still needs to get that better than above avg to great point guard and some better , more consistent 3 pt shooters to improve the half court offense because teams know now to get back on defense against the hawks.
 
To be honest, I don't understand how recruiting would even factor into the grading. It should be simply based on results.
 
I would give him a B. He is has made improvement every year (albeit small incremental steps each year) taking the program from the graveyard to an NCAA 1st round win ball club in year 5.

I can't give any higher because of how the program fell apart last year and how we have been inconsistent against lesser programs we have played.

If he can get to the tournament again next year I would bump him up a bit more. His recruiting is going to need to improve and I hope that this year is not the peak of things under him in what we can expect in his best years. Hopefully this can become more or less the average year at worst most years (which would be great that is Mr. Davis results) with a run towards a conference title or sweet-sixteen or better every few years (which would be great because you are getting a taste of that next level above Mr. Davis results).
 
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taking over a program who's football team literally had more wins than the basketball team the year before and 5 years later having them win an NCAA tournament game (plus make some sort of post season 4 years in a row) is pretty remarkable. Iowa was left a radioactive crater after lickliter got fired. Hopefully this time around Iowa fans (myself included) will accept making the NCAA tournament and getting to the 2nd round as a successful season, not an entitlement and will be understanding of the occasional down year which next season appears to be without major offseason improvements in almost all areas.
 
HaydenHawk56 said:
Because recruiting influences results. He could do better here......see Dickerson situation.
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So ultimately your judging the results... not recruiting. Are you judging Aaron White by his recruiting profile or are you judging him on how he turned out to be one of the all time best to wear a Hawk uni?
 
ibahawkeye said:
To be honest, I don't understand how recruiting would even factor into the grading. It should be simply based on results.
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Recruiting is part of the job though. Purely based upon results I would give him an A-. When I factor in recruiting I'd say B. So I agree that a B+ is probably a fair grade at this point.

I don't look at the recruiting situation as a lack of effort. Fran is working his tail off to land guys. He's just missed out on some of his primary targets and it hurts. That and Woodbury and Gesell just haven't quite lived up to the hype that many thought they would. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for those two guys. Both Woody and Gesell play hard and they seem like good people so I'm not attacking them personally. They just haven't made quite the impact I thought they would initially.

With that said, it is pretty difficult for me to not look at the recent recruiting efforts and wonder what direction the team is about to go in. It's been a steady improvement since Fran arrived, but I'm worried we're about to see a set back because of misses on the recruiting front. I hope I'm wrong. Fran has proven that he's pretty good at spotting underrated talent. Hopefully some of these guys prove they belong at the B10 level.
 
ibahawkeye said:
So ultimately your judging the results... not recruiting. Are you judging Aaron White by his recruiting profile or are you judging him on how he turned out to be one of the all time best to wear a Hawk uni?
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It all counts and recruiting is a part of it (in the end result). Aaron White worked out for sure. But, he has had misses in other areas (overall guard play, and maybe even at center). I still think Woodbury was an important recruit to get, but clearly he has not got a guy in there yet as a recruit that has some beef to him.

Upgrade the recruiting, get some guards in here that can shoot, get an oxe for a center or power-forward, put away Northwestern like teams, and get some hardware in the display case and he will be talking A level grade.
 
Honestly, I see a small step backwards next year. I think losing White and Gabe will hurt more than losing Marble did last year.

If Jok, Gessell, Uthoff, Clemmons, and Uthoff all take steps forward, Uhl can develop, and we can maybe get one or two of the incoming frosh to be productive off the bench...we could possibly still take a small step forward.

If we can get a solid Big (transfer?) to give depth, I would feel better. Either that, or a bigger, athletic Power forward.

I do think we will, overall, have a better shooting team next year. The questions are can we create shots, and can they be consistent.

The scoring droughts were still a problem in the bad losses.

All that said, Fran has been fantastic. In my opinion, his recruiting has gotten better in terms of finding the type of guys he thinks fit. 3 Uthoff type players, a pg, and a center or big forward would be just fine by me.

I caution folks not to freak out if we take a step back next year, although i know many will. I remember when Mr. Davis just "had to go...just can't get over the hump"....yeah, I know, I love "mediocrity"

Go Hawks.
 
ibahawkeye said:
I think I'm at a B+

Happy to win a tournament game and exceed expectations this year but we fell short of expectations last year.

I would have thought we would have won a tourney game last year and been bounced in a play in game this year so it's pretty much a wash.

This is a HUGE improvement of where the program was so I hope the grade reflects that but I just can't go to the A status without a conference championship or at least a sweet 16 appearance or better.
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B minus. Both Ralph & Lute took over two awful programs. Not as bad as the one Fran inherited, but pretty bad. By their fifth season both had a B1G championship. In their sixth season, Ralph went undefeated in the B1G & Lute went to the Final Four.
 
deanvogs said:
Since year 5 is now complete I think we should take a look at what grade you would give Fran for these 5 years. Deace gave Fran a B+ and Miller gave him a A on their podcast this week. I fall right in line with Deace, and give him a B+. We have come from an absolute joke of a program and he has improved the team each and every year. Not a small feat considering that he never really did bring in that game changing recruit (Woody was one, but hasn't preformed like one). The only reason I don't give him an A, is I feel an A should be reserved for someone who got to the NCAA in year 3, but that is just a slight nitpick, and certainly going to vary from person to person on how to grade.
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I don't think an A is justified. Iowa was in bad shape when he took over but that's almost used an excuse. This is college basketball not football. It doesn't take that many years to turn a program around. Iowa has still not played on the first day of the BTT and recruiting still seems to be an issue.

It's one thing to beat an undersized Davidson team but when we go up against the big boys you can tell the obvious difference in talent.

I would give Fran a solid "B". If he takes next years team to the tourney then I'll kick that up. You can't give an "A" unless he challenged for conference crown, BTT title or made Sweet 16.
 
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