3 Straight Years of .500 or Better in the B10

[SpecialKHawk]

My thing is this. It is not unfair to judge results during and after 5 years... or even sooner if you wish. The issue I have is at some point you have to back someone otherwise the perpetual turnover will only worsen your chances of ever having success and you will be labeled a coaching graveyard.

Iowa's national rep was totally obliterated especially after Lick. Quality recruits have been super difficult to attract in any noticeable number. Some of that is Iowa but also because we had become a down trodden program. That was Fran's starting point.

Part of the patience and persistence is giving a coach who has some success time to attract a consistently more promising set of recruits from the previous ones. It takes time to build those recruiting relationships and credibility with players and handlers. We are starting to see evidence of that with 2 Chicago kids. Are they the best in IL? No but now that means we have enough credibility to get our foot in the door. It is signs like this that also show building steps taking place. If you toss Fran out that process might have to start again from square one.

There have been great milestones and great disappointments with Fran no doubt. There has been a learning process for him on how to win in the B1G. Again with a new coach that most likely starts all over.

 

[uihawk82]

2 out of 5
3 out of 6 or 7
4 out of 8

Now 16 years later we are supposed to accept less than what we fired a guy for? This isn't anything about Fran, and I would think this no matter who the coach was, 2 out of every 3 years is the bottom of what we should accept as fans. This isn't 5 years ago, and Fran has the program on good footing, stop acting like it is year 2 or 3, we are in year 5 for *ucks sake. Bottom line is he SHOULD be making the NCAA's and it looks like he will be making the NCAA's.

I think Mr. Davis was left to ride into the sunset because of several factors, Non-conf attendance was waning (due to bowlsby not scheduling good games and not due to Mr. Davis), Mr. Davis didnt go to the boys state bball tourney and lost too many big time Iowa recruits, the fans got bored with his style when he didnt quite have the athletes. Mr. Davis was a great coach and he proved it at Drake.

I think Fran is doing really well. jNW was not good during Mr. Davis's time but most of the B1G was pretty damn tough.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

#FireFran - we should expect more in year 5. /end sarcasm

Actually, to put it in even more prospective, Iowa bball had 3 non-losing B1G seasons under the ENTIRE Alford/Lickliter era. Fran just clinched his 3rd straight. It's why people scoff on here when people throw out that he's not getting it done.

I don't "scoff", because I think Fran may get a "better" job if things continue to improve here. As long as ND remains a Top 25 program, that avenue is prolly closed. But Fran hasn't stayed anywhere that long.

The other part of me says he is here for the long haul and really wants to spit in the eyes of Bo Ryan and Tom Izzo for 10 or so seasons...

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I would add that the NIT finals run was a hair away from being an NCAA berth. We got rooked against MSU that Friday. Win that, we were probably in. A Saturday win would have made us a lock.

And Fran getting Woody and Gesell pretty much showed he could get it done. Jump on them all you want, but both are solid and deserved the attention they were getting. Keeping them in-state was huge. Alford wouldn't have pulled it off. Lick would have them transferring after a season.

Make no mistake, Fran was a very good hire. Question becomes, will he become a "great" hire? Probably.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

I would add that the NIT finals run was a hair away from being an NCAA berth. We got rooked against MSU that Friday. Win that, we were probably in. A Saturday win would have made us a lock.

And Fran getting Woody and Gesell pretty much showed he could get it done. Jump on them all you want, but both are solid and deserved the attention they were getting. Keeping them in-state was huge. Alford wouldn't have pulled it off. Lick would have them transferring after a season.

Make no mistake, Fran was a very good hire. Question becomes, will he become a "great" hire? Probably.

The first half of that game, especially the first 8-10 mins, was still the most locked in defensive half of basketball I've seen under Fran. It was a brutal one to lose, but he had us ready and we were absolutely flying around defensively in that game.

 

[HawkeyeWalker]

What? Where have I ever gotten "off" the bandwagon? Everything I have said was clearly stated in the context that IF WE DIDN'T MAKE THE NCAA this year. I still stand by it, if we can only make the NCAA 1 time in 5 years, that just isn't good enough.

We clearly need to finish strong. I said at the beginning of the year this is a NCAA quality team, and hopefully we finish like we are capable

But can you really count Fran's first couple years in the ratio?

My expectations going forward now are to make the NCAA on a regular basis, consistently stay in the top 5-6 in the B1G, crack the top 20-25 at times, be a top 3 B1G team occasionally, make the 2nd 3rd round every 3-4 years. And Yes, I'd like to see a B1G title in the next 5 years

Fran has improved every year, let's hope that continues. Go Hawks.

 

[PCHawk]

The first half of that game, especially the first 8-10 mins, was still the most locked in defensive half of basketball I've seen under Fran. It was a brutal one to lose, but he had us ready and we were absolutely flying around defensively in that game.

The first half of this year's MSU game was really impressive too.