So let's get this out of the way early....

hawkeye12345

Well-Known Member
A. If Iowa beats Auburn, as we would prefer, will the call for a new coaching staff subside until next year? It's a road win in the NCAA tournament where Auburn will likely have a 2-1 fan advantage.

B. If Iowa loses to Auburn, which Sagarin and most gaming websites predict, could this finally be the last nail in the coffin? Losing to a former Iowa Asst that Iowa could have hired if we had the balls, and likely going to get outcoached by a more athletic albeit raw basketball team that is full of high level transfers and recruits. It's not going to be pretty boys.


I'm in the B camp and get tired of people using the, "we're just Iowa, we can't hire a great coach." or the "Why would D1 players want to come to Iowa to play."

Fran has done a nice job of getting the program back into contention after the alford and Lackluster years but we're no where near getting back to legit contention for tournament runs, B1G championships, etc. Defense has been an issue his entire tenure, recruiting overall has been above average, losing players to transfers has been above average with only a small group of players leaving for greener pastures, X&O execution on the court has been bad, his relationship with the refs seems to be improving and the Ts have pretty much gone away, the results just aren't there to stay the same course and expect different results.

B1G Regular Season Finish last 10 years
7th
4th
3rd
7th
6th
13th
8th
5th
4th
6th
 
No Fran isn't getting fired. Unless they lose 100-0 he isn't getting fired. He might up and leave. As unlikely as I think that is too. To me that's always on the table coaches up and move around all the time so I won't rule that totally out. But if you're hoping he's leaving I wouldn't hold your breath. There's a better chance he stays till his youngest boy Jack comes through then him leaving now if you ask me.
 
Anyone suggesting a coaching change without a definitively better replacement in mind is an idiot.

We've got a coach with 200 wins, better than Tom Davis, with no scandals, whose players love him, who's recruited a POY followed by POY runner up who is now lighting the NBA on fire, for less money than his peers. Yeah let's throw that in the toilet and flush it for Lickliter 2.0 because Fran hasn't made a S16. That's a marvelous idea.

Do you guys advocating this shit sit and play scratch tickets thinking your odds get better the more you play?

Jesus.
 
Wait, I thought that Fran had already accepted the HC job at ND? I am so confused as to why I am supposed to hate Fran and want him gone. He and his wife aren't loyal enough? Nepotism? Frantrums? The past 5 seasons with a conference tourney title, top half of conference finishes, first team all-conference player every year, national player of the year finalist 3 times, national player of the year, 4 NBA draft picks, but all that is not up to snuff from the glory years when Lute was patrolling the sideline?

Oh wait, we need to hire a better coach to get us to "the next level." Great idea.

Regards,
Bob Bowlsby from 1998
 
I'll once again remind you numbskulls wanting Fran fired that prior to coming to Iowa, Todd Lickliter did the following

--Set a school record at Butler his first year with 26 wins.

--Got Butler in the AP top 25 for the first time in 53 years.

--Did even better his second year going 27-6

--Made 4 Dances in 6 years including two sweet 16s

--2007 national coach of the year.

--Got hired by Iowa because he was frickin awesome.
 
Wait, I thought that Fran had already accepted the HC job at ND? I am so confused as to why I am supposed to hate Fran and want him gone. He and his wife aren't loyal enough? Nepotism? Frantrums? The past 5 seasons with a conference tourney title, top half of conference finishes, first team all-conference player every year, national player of the year finalist 3 times, national player of the year, 4 NBA draft picks, but all that is not up to snuff from the glory years when Lute was patrolling the sideline?

Oh wait, we need to hire a better coach to get us to "the next level." Great idea.

Regards,
Bob Bowlsby from 1998
Folks in this thread wanting to turn our sports programs into nebraska Musical Chairs East.
 
Anyone suggesting a coaching change without a definitively better replacement in mind is an idiot.

We've got a coach with 200 wins, better than Tom Davis, with no scandals, whose players love him, who's recruited a POY followed by POY runner up who is now lighting the NBA on fire, for less money than his peers. Yeah let's throw that in the toilet and flush it for Lickliter 2.0 because Fran hasn't made a S16. That's a marvelous idea.

Do you guys advocating this shit sit and play scratch tickets thinking your odds get better the more you play?

Jesus.
I'd take this a step further and say that unless you have a replacement coach that has already run a Power 5 program at a high level and won more than Fran, you're just taking a shot in the dark. How many proven winner Power 5 coaches are sitting out there waiting to leave their gig and come to Iowa? Absent tripling the coaching budget, I don't see us landing a Matt Painter or the like.

No, what would happen is we would look to a hot coach from a smaller program. Sometimes that works (see Fran), sometimes it implodes in your face like Steven Alford, Lick, or Scott Frost for Nebbie. Alford was a homerun hire for Iowa at the time it happened. Frost was a grand slam hire for Nebbie football. Both were the hottest young up and coming coaches in their games. And then reality set in. Careful what you wish for, gents.
 
I'd take this a step further and say that unless you have a replacement coach that has already run a Power 5 program at a high level and won more than Fran, you're just taking a shot in the dark. How many proven winner Power 5 coaches are sitting out there waiting to leave their gig and come to Iowa? Absent tripling the coaching budget, I don't see us landing a Matt Painter or the like.

No, what would happen is we would look to a hot coach from a smaller program. Sometimes that works (see Fran), sometimes it implodes in your face like Steven Alford, Lick, or Scott Frost for Nebbie. Alford was a homerun hire for Iowa at the time it happened. Frost was a grand slam hire for Nebbie football. Both were the hottest young up and coming coaches in their games. And then reality set in. Careful what you wish for, gents.
If your coach is an asshole that fans, players, and media all hate and who sticks up for a puke like Pierre Pierce, you fire him and start looking for a replacement.

If your coach has a .278 conference record after three years and is getting worse rather than better, you fire him and start looking for a replacement.

Fran does not fit in any of these categories.

When you fire a coach at a non-blue blood school it has to be because he's a scandalous moral failure, or because your performance likely can't get worse. It has to be as bad as it can be or the likelihood of regression is thousands of times more likely than finding a better performing coach.
 
I'll once again remind you numbskulls wanting Fran fired that prior to coming to Iowa, Todd Lickliter did the following

--Set a school record at Butler his first year with 26 wins.

--Got Butler in the AP top 25 for the first time in 53 years.

--Did even better his second year going 27-6

--Made 4 Dances in 6 years including two sweet 16s

--2007 national coach of the year.

--Got hired by Iowa because he was frickin awesome.
Had no full cycle track record btw.
 
If your coach is an asshole that fans, players, and media all hate and who sticks up for a puke like Pierre Pierce, you fire him and start looking for a replacement.

If your coach has a .278 conference record after three years and is getting worse rather than better, you fire him and start looking for a replacement.

Fran does not fit in any of these categories.

When you fire a coach at a non-blue blood school it has to be because he's a scandalous moral failure, or because your performance likely can't get worse. It has to be as bad as it can be or the likelihood of regression is thousands of times more likely than finding a better performing coach.
Don't forget that the times you do find a better coach, more times than not he leaves before you get any value out of him.
 
A. If Iowa beats Auburn, as we would prefer, will the call for a new coaching staff subside until next year? It's a road win in the NCAA tournament where Auburn will likely have a 2-1 fan advantage.

B. If Iowa loses to Auburn, which Sagarin and most gaming websites predict, could this finally be the last nail in the coffin? Losing to a former Iowa Asst that Iowa could have hired if we had the balls, and likely going to get outcoached by a more athletic albeit raw basketball team that is full of high level transfers and recruits. It's not going to be pretty boys.


I'm in the B camp and get tired of people using the, "we're just Iowa, we can't hire a great coach." or the "Why would D1 players want to come to Iowa to play."

Fran has done a nice job of getting the program back into contention after the alford and Lackluster years but we're no where near getting back to legit contention for tournament runs, B1G championships, etc. Defense has been an issue his entire tenure, recruiting overall has been above average, losing players to transfers has been above average with only a small group of players leaving for greener pastures, X&O execution on the court has been bad, his relationship with the refs seems to be improving and the Ts have pretty much gone away, the results just aren't there to stay the same course and expect different results.

B1G Regular Season Finish last 10 years
7th
4th
3rd
7th
6th
13th
8th
5th
4th
6th
I don't want to go back and check your work on where we finished each year. But I'm pretty sure my memory is good enough to remember 5 days ago when we lost as a 5 seed. I'm also pretty sure we finished tied for 3rd two straight years but I only see the one 3rd place finish. I might be wrong on that tho.
 
Anyone suggesting a coaching change without a definitively better replacement in mind is an idiot.

We've got a coach with 200 wins, better than Tom Davis, with no scandals, whose players love him, who's recruited a POY followed by POY runner up who is now lighting the NBA on fire, for less money than his peers. Yeah let's throw that in the toilet and flush it for Lickliter 2.0 because Fran hasn't made a S16. That's a marvelous idea.

Do you guys advocating this shit sit and play scratch tickets thinking your odds get better the more you play?

Jesus.

.....and he coaches a style the Iowa fans like. He has really created a positive culture in his program and like you state the players seem to love to play for him.
 
I'd take this a step further and say that unless you have a replacement coach that has already run a Power 5 program at a high level and won more than Fran, you're just taking a shot in the dark. How many proven winner Power 5 coaches are sitting out there waiting to leave their gig and come to Iowa? Absent tripling the coaching budget, I don't see us landing a Matt Painter or the like.

No, what would happen is we would look to a hot coach from a smaller program. Sometimes that works (see Fran), sometimes it implodes in your face like Steven Alford, Lick, or Scott Frost for Nebbie. Alford was a homerun hire for Iowa at the time it happened. Frost was a grand slam hire for Nebbie football. Both were the hottest young up and coming coaches in their games. And then reality set in. Careful what you wish for, gents.

There are definitely a lot more shitty coaches out there than there are great coaches. People need to keep it real.

Also, something I want to point out is that Fran is assembling his team and coaching his team to the metrics. Metrics have shown that there is success in teams shooting many 3's in a game, if shooting a decent %, at least 33-35% range. Yea, these teams have an occasional flop game. It happens in basketball.

They just need that consistent effort on D.
 
I don't want to go back and check your work on where we finished each year. But I'm pretty sure my memory is good enough to remember 5 days ago when we lost as a 5 seed. I'm also pretty sure we finished tied for 3rd two straight years but I only see the one 3rd place finish. I might be wrong on that tho.
This team was one win vs Nebraska at the end of the year to being a 2 seed in the BIG tourney. People should keep that real.
 
Don't forget that the times you do find a better coach, more times than not he leaves before you get any value out of him.
Yeah if it's someone looking for a stepping stone gig one should be able to sniff that out ahead of time. What sucks is when a guy like Hoiberg does what he did to ISU... They didn't see that coming. Like say we hire Gatens, Oliver, Horner or pick your favorite former Hawk in coaching a few yrs down the road and them pulling that.

Granted Hoiberg had an NBA backround and it wasn't a total shock that he had NBA aspirations it still seemed like he wouldn't think that grass was greener. Now look at him....
 
This team was one win vs Nebraska at the end of the year to being a 2 seed in the BIG tourney. People should keep that real.
The caviot to that though is that the league was a jumbled up mess. Iowa wasn't almost 2 because they were really really good. Everyone else was staring up at Purdue. Sometimes leagues are top heavy or bottom heavy well this league was middle heavy. What's there 9 teams within a game of each other? Wasn't a normal year in that regard. I mean yeah Iowa was borderline a top 2 team due to tiebreakers and such but they aren't scratching the top 25 rankings either and this is why.
 
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The caviot to that though is that the league was a jumbled up mess. Iowa wasn't almost 2 because they were really really good. Everyone else was staring up at Purdue. Sometimes leagues are top heavy or bottom heavy well this league was middle heavy. What's there 9 teams within a game of each other? Wasn't a normal year in that regard. I mean yeah Iowa was borderline a top 2 team due to tiebreakers and such but they aren't scratching the top 25 rankings either and this is why.
If they would have beat nebraska after winning big at Indiana, they very well could have been in the top 25 in the last poll of the regular season.
 
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