Andrew Francis

[RobHowe]

From a recruiting standpoint, Fran is very hands-on. He usually wants to see a prospect in person multiple times before offering and often works in conjunction with the assistant.

I would not say Francis is far and away Iowa’s best recruiter. I think a strong case could be made for Dillard being Iowa’s best recruiter after Fran.

Dillard was the assistant aiding Fran with Cook, Garza, White, Nunge and Clemmons, to name a few.

 

[InGoodCo]

Our recruiting has been abysmal. That’s been one of the biggest issues of the red face era. Really, since Raveling, save a handful of gems from Davis thanks to Pearl and Rudy.

Abysmal is where you went wrong. Has it been great? No. But it's been fairly solid. This season Iowa rolled out 3 4 stars in their starting line up. 2 of them from different states. Before this class he had 4 straight years of having a player selected to the All B1G first team. It's not been good enough but it's not abysmal either.

 

[NikeHawk21]

From a recruiting standpoint, Fran is very hands-on. He usually wants to see a prospect in person multiple times before offering and often works in conjunction with the assistant.

I would not say Francis is far and away Iowa’s best recruiter. I think a strong case could be made for Dillard being Iowa’s best recruiter after Fran.

Dillard was the assistant aiding Fran with Cook, Garza, White, Nunge and Clemmons, to name a few.

It seemed like Francis always had good relationships with some of these high level guys, but could never really close the deal. I know he was the main guy for Jalen Suggs but that was pipe dream anyway.

2020 is all about Foster, and Sherm has been the lead assistant with him. Whoever we add to the staff can get to work on new 2020 guys or the 2021 class.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Abysmal is where you went wrong. Has it been great? No. But it's been fairly solid. This season Iowa rolled out 3 4 stars in their starting line up. 2 of them from different states. Before this class he had 4 straight years of having a player selected to the All B1G first team. It's not been good enough but it's not abysmal either.

Cook, Garza, Wieskamp is a pretty good three year run. All future All-Conference guys, and of Course JBo in the Cook class as well. If you can grab an all conference level player each year that’s pretty good. Unfortunately they took some lumps early due to the extreme void of the 2014 and 2015 classes. Hopefully that stretch is just an outlier though.

Recruiting has been decent, we certainly want it to continue to improve. OldHawk is senile

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

You know...Lavar Ball is free right now and maybe he can bring Melo with him.

(Please note, this comment was said with sarcasm and is not intended to be taken seriously.)

Fryowa, I know you want to believe this is a statement of fact, but this disclaimer with the post will contradict your claims.

 

[lightning1]

From a recruiting standpoint, Fran is very hands-on. He usually wants to see a prospect in person multiple times before offering and often works in conjunction with the assistant.

I would not say Francis is far and away Iowa’s best recruiter. I think a strong case could be made for Dillard being Iowa’s best recruiter after Fran.

Dillard was the assistant aiding Fran with Cook, Garza, White, Nunge and Clemmons, to name a few.

I spend a lot of time at heavily recruited AAU tournaments, every summer, from Ohio to Kansas. Dillard is the Iowa staff member that I have seen the most and it's not even close. Fran is 2nd.

 

[oldhawk12]

It really hasn't been, but not all of us live in the past.

I hate to see Coach Francis go but I wish him all the best.

I live in the past when those were the best days like in this case. If you enjoy finishing seventh in conference, playing no one most seasons and rarely dancing, that’s up to you

 

[oldhawk12]

From a recruiting standpoint, Fran is very hands-on. He usually wants to see a prospect in person multiple times before offering and often works in conjunction with the assistant.

I would not say Francis is far and away Iowa’s best recruiter. I think a strong case could be made for Dillard being Iowa’s best recruiter after Fran.

Dillard was the assistant aiding Fran with Cook, Garza, White, Nunge and Clemmons, to name a few.

I do think our big man recruiting has definitely been a strength of the staff. It makes it that much more ironic we haven’t had the pg to match

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Personally I'd like to see someone with Iowa ties get the job. Dean Oliver and Matt Gatens come to mind. I also think they need youth on the staff.

I concur with Oliver. Poaching him from Wisconsin would be a win win. I kinda like the idea of Horner as well. I think he got a HC job recently in the dakotas somewhere. I think in the not to distant future he'll be a D1 coach

 

[oldhawk12]

Cook, Garza, Wieskamp is a pretty good three year run. All future All-Conference guys, and of Course JBo in the Cook class as well. If you can grab an all conference level player each year that’s pretty good. Unfortunately they took some lumps early due to the extreme void of the 2014 and 2015 classes. Hopefully that stretch is just an outlier though.

Recruiting has been decent, we certainly want it to continue to improve. OldHawk is senile

Therein lies the problem. You are fine with all conference performers and like players like bohannon. You will never compete nationally that way. I have higher expectations and desires for the program. It doesn’t make me wrong. I’m simply more unhappy. From reading the board, that should be enough for some of you

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Francis is a young enough guy that since climbing the ladder here isnt happening anytime soon he should be looking to see what else is out there. He'd been here for quite awhile in the coaching world so this is a good thing for him. Hope nobody thinks any different for him

 

[Stanzi]

I live in the past when those were the best days like in this case. If you enjoy finishing seventh in conference, playing no one most seasons and rarely dancing, that’s up to you

"Playing no one most seasons"...what does that even mean? We always play a few pretty good P5 teams in non-con play. The B1G is always one of the toughest conferences. Rarely dancing? I don't think rarely is the right word to use.

 

[InGoodCo]

I live in the past when those were the best days like in this case. If you enjoy finishing seventh in conference, playing no one most seasons and rarely dancing, that’s up to you

They didn't even finish 7th THIS season - and played a top 25 schedule in hoops. You living in the past or being old is no excuse for ignorance. You obviously know how to use a computer.

 

[InGoodCo]

Therein lies the problem. You are fine with all conference performers and like players like bohannon. You will never compete nationally that way. I have higher expectations and desires for the program. It doesn’t make me wrong. I’m simply more unhappy. From reading the board, that should be enough for some of you

You can't win with all conference type players? They need to be better than that? The B1G is as national as you're gonna get. Who is competing nationally with better than All-Conference type players? Iowa plays at the highest level of college basketball. We all have high expectations and want better but we all obviously understand the landscape a little too.

 

[mopkins]

I concur with Oliver. Poaching him from Wisconsin would be a win win. I kinda like the idea of Horner as well. I think he got a HC job recently in the dakotas somewhere. I think in the not to distant future he'll be a D1 coach

Sounds good on paper but what is Fran's relationship to those players? He didn't coach or recruit either of them so I have no idea. Gatens might make more sense, but he's very green.

 

[ssckelley]

I live in the past when those were the best days like in this case. If you enjoy finishing seventh in conference, playing no one most seasons and rarely dancing, that’s up to you

But those days are gone and you were wrong about the recruits. If your expectations are to have 7 NBA players on the roster like those teams did back then you are rooting for the wrong team. We may never see another team like that again.

 

[Northside Hawk]

For the record Lute and George had some major recruiting whiffs as well. Lute lost a hotly contested battle with Indiana and DePaul for Isiah Thomas and lost out on Marquette's Doc Rivers and Purdue's Russell Cross as well. (He also lost Steve Krafciscin to North Carolina only to have him transfer back later.) He had to fall all way back to Madison's Craig Anderson for his 1980 big man after missing on Cross.

Raveling went after JR Reid hard, but lost him to North Carolina. Glen Rice was another miss, as was Chris Gaines from right in his backyard at Waterloo West. He tried to get Chris Monk from the west coast and lost him although I think there were academic issues there, as there were with Flint's Anthony Pendleton.

Just pointing out facts that OldHawk has conveniently overlooked as he tries to make his "get off my lawn" arguments.

 

[lightning1]

For the record Lute and George had some major recruiting whiffs as well. Lute lost a hotly contested battle with Indiana and DePaul for Isiah Thomas and lost out on Marquette's Doc Rivers and Purdue's Russell Cross as well. (He also lost Steve Krafciscin to North Carolina only to have him transfer back later.)

Raveling went after JR Reid hard, but lost him to North Carolina. Glen Rice was another miss, as was Chris Gaines from right in his backyard at Waterloo West. He tried to get Chris Monk from the west coast and lost him although I think there were academic issues there, as there were with Flint's Anthony Pendleton.

Just pointing out facts that OldHawk has conveniently overlooked as he tries to make his "get off my lawn" arguments.

Every coach has recruiting misses. Having and landing plan B is the difference.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I'm just saying...if Cook doesnt' come back, you have essentially 3 African American players on a roster of 12 players. Look around the B10 and find out what the percentages are for most teams. I've not said it was racially motivated...I'm just pointing out that Iowa will have several combinations of lineups next year that will put 5 white guys on the floor at the same time. I think saying, "there's nothing to see here" isn't the right response.

I don't think Auburn had a white player on the team at all.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Therein lies the problem. You are fine with all conference performers and like players like bohannon. You will never compete nationally that way. I have higher expectations and desires for the program. It doesn’t make me wrong. I’m simply more unhappy. From reading the board, that should be enough for some of you

I want recruiting to improve and want Iowa to continue to improve and I think they can.

The current run they are on is pretty good for recruiting, that’s why many national outlets have them as a potential top 15/20 team next year, even after losing Cook early. Rob ran a nice piece that showed in terms of recruiting rankings Iowa compares to Purdue, who was just a half second away from the final 4.

Plenty of work to do for Fran but if he keeps hitting on quality all conference level talents we will be able to compete at a higher level. Calling our recruiting abysmal was an idiotic statement, which is par for the course for you.