As bad as things can seem Lick vs Fran

[HaydenHawk56]

I had ZERO hope things would turn around under Lick. ZERO. A very boring style of ball and little to no talent. Nothing was going to get better under him.

At least with Fran, we see more talent on the horizon and a style of ball that will be much more enjoyable with better players.

Rome was not built in a day and neither the nuclear winter mess that Alford and Lick left us in is going to be fixed by Fran this year.

There is a future, just have to be patient at this point. This is a major rebuilding job.....something that many of us have not seen and much worse than what Ferentz had to rebuild in his first years on the job.

It is going to be rough year, but cheer loud and support this team at Carver.

 

[HawkForce]

Ok I somewhat agree, and I was more than ready for Lick to go....but lest not forget we had a solid class coming in the year he left. (Brust, etc)

 

[big10fan]

Ok I somewhat agree, and I was more than ready for Lick to go....but lest not forget we had a solid class coming in the year he left. (Brust, etc)

of that solid class, we only "missed out" on brust. we got lucky that we didn't get that kid from south dakota (cody larson?). i think anyone could have gotten marble and mccabe, wasn't because lick was a good recruiter, that much is certain.

 

[hawkforlife9]

After watching the embarrassment last night... I'm not sold on Fran. He has a lot to prove. A coach who has NEVER coached has kicked his arse two years in a row, totally unacceptable.

 

[CAARHawk]

Both guys went about it the same way. Neither brought in a guys that were guaranteed recruiters. Neither did anything particularly out of the ordinary with recruiting. Neither cleared their bad roster quickly. One ran a precise 3 pointer offense without shooters, one runs a hurry up scheme without athletes. Both showed demonstrative frustration on the bench. Both got clobbered.

We never saw Lick's decent recruiting class. Hopefully we get to see Fran's.

 

[rider22]

I still believe in Fran but he does have a lot to prove, our best players are Marble and Basabe and they are Sophs. Our upperclassmen are not very good, Gatens can have a solid game at times but May and Brommer don't bring a whole lot. McCabe can be a solid piece, one of those glue guys who never leads the team in scoring or rebounding but averages around 6 pts, and 4 rebounds. And Oglesby and White have shown flashes of good basketball which I hope can lead to some good consistent basketball players in the future.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

While I like Fran's overall demeanor and work ethic much more than anything Lick ever showed, Fran has yet to win anything at this level of coaching. Yeah I know, it's only 1+ years into his tenure, and that's a valid point. I'm willing to give it a couple more years (at least) and see what he can do.

But the problem with Iowa Basketball the past decade or so it's always "We're young" or "We're not healthy" or "Wait until next year's class makes it to campus!", etc. I'm ready for "tomorrow" to become TODAY. Been waiting for the results for years.. We're starting to sound like Cubs fans. "Wait 'til next year".

I guess it's just getting hard to be blindly optimistic now that's it's been 4 (soon to be 5) straight losing seasons.

But Lick was a complete disaster, and Fran signed on to clean up the mess. Fran needs to get more talent on campus, and THEN those players need to get a year or two of experience under their belts. It's going to be a couple more years, apparently, before we can hope to have a good team.

 

[westview]

Fran could not keep what talent he had. You can not keep reloading every year.

 

[HawkForce]

I'm sorry but I don't buy the "it takes years to turn around this program" If you're a good enough recruiter it can be a two year project...basketball you need 1-2 game changers (MAYBE Gessell and Woodbury, not sold on their immediate impact though) and you're good. I'm talking like a Tyler Smith type player.

 

[bcl20]

I'm sorry but I don't buy the "it takes years to turn around this program" If you're a good enough recruiter it can be a two year project...basketball you need 1-2 game changers (MAYBE Gessell and Woodbury, not sold on their immediate impact though) and you're good. I'm talking like a Tyler Smith type player.

Name some programs that were as bad as we are and have just turned it around in 2 years.

 

[AZHAWKFAN1]

BUTLER WAY!!!!!!! YIPPPEEEE!!!!!! Lick won with his predesessors players, then Iowa grabed him. I, for one, am not and was not sold on his recruits.

 

[GhostofGhost]

Well get there guys, don't you worry. Woodbury! Gessell!
This time next year well be undefeated.

 

[IowaTeddy]

To me, a coach in college BBall has to do three things.
1) Recruit
2) Get players emotionally, mentally ready to play (motivator)
3) Coach X's and O's, strategy, tactician. (in game coaching)

In that order. I think that Fran can recruit, which is the most important thing. I don't think he is a very good in game coach, he just lets the guys play and the team makes tons of silly mistakes, which probably reflects upon him. Also, they don't seem very well motivated to play and play hard all the time, sometimes they look a little disinterested.
Last year against Purdue, last game of the season, was the only time I can truly remember them playing intense, hardfought BBall for an entire game.

Not to be too critical though, because Fran is still a good coach. He recruits well, which is #1 on the list, and his system (up tempo, running the break, multiple on D) allows him to minimize strategy. Because that is their strategy.

Lickliter, for example, was not a good recruiter, decent at getting his players motivated (seemingly) and a very good strategy coach, tactician. He just didn't have the athletes, because he couldn't recruit them. Brad Stevens (also from Butler) is a similar example. He is a beautiful tactician, his teams execute at a high level and play extremely hard, but aren't quite talented enough.

I think there are only a handful of coaches in the country that are good at all 3 things on the list. Izzo can recruit, motivate, and coach. Coach K can do all three. Maybe there are more coaches like this, but these are the two that I think of. Maybe Thad Matta is in there too.

 

[bcl20]

I think the verdict is still out on if Fran is a good in game coach. Lack of talent is going to make you look like a bad coach.