Fire Barta, Fire Fran, fire them all.

[DJL]

I would say Iowa has a 60% chance to bring in someone who could spit out Fran/Alfraud type results. 30% chance they could bring in someone > Fran/Alfraud type results. 10% chance to get a Lick type coach.

Just because Iowa has a complete shit hire at one point doesn’t mean you never try again. I think there is a 90% chance we could stay at the level we were under Mr. Davis, Alfraud, Fran if we hired another HC, because history shows us that really. Lick is the only 1 off here.

Thank you. I'm so tired of the Lick BS. Yes it could be worse than Fran, but it most likely won't be. Most athletic departments that have a choice don't stick with such a crappy coach who also happens to be an embarrassment to the program by the way he acts.

 

[DJL]

Won’t argue your point. But I will add that we likely lose some players. Patrick follows Fran. Joe T. (like Basabe) follows Fran. Connor plays baseball.

I would hate to lose Joe T. but whatever, it's worth it. Don't care about Patrick and really don't care about Connor.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I would hate to lose Joe T. but whatever, it's worth it. Don't care about Patrick and really don't care about Connor.

It’s not worth it to me. We need all of those guys. Without them we are not good. Remember last year when JB was the only PG. That’s what you have next year and for who knows how long.

And the hate...by so many...on Patrick is ridiculous. He’s our highest rated recruit in years. No. He won’t be as good as JW as a freshman. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be good and become really good.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

3 straight lackluster seasons is enough of a trend. No defense to speak of, can't recruit a legit B1G point guard, getting your ass kicked on senior day by Rutgers, getting punked by a horrible Nebraska team to end the season. This is not where this program should be in year 9. And then there's Fran's feud with Dolphin, his failure to reign in Tyler Cook when he does stupid s--t on the court, his maniacal displays of rage that have no track record of serving to motivate his players, and the little secret extension he worked with Barta in 2017 which doubled his buyout. A deal which would never have been made known without a reporter filing a FOIA request. I have long moved on from the (well at least this isn't Lickliter) years when Fran first got here. Iowa can do better.

I don't want to hear that it is too expensive to fire Fran. The athletic department is flush with cash from TV rights and shared BTN revenue. However, those sources of money will not last forever and there are also some little-known aspects of the tax reform bill that will eat into department revenues as well such as a 21% excise tax on university salaries over $1,000,000 and the elimination of the ability to write off season ticket purchases on taxes. What is the cost of failing to act now and get serious about the program's future? Fran's buyout is affordable now, but with potential losses in revenue down the road which could also include reduced fan support from lackluster on-court play the buyout could become more of an issue.

The Board of Regents needs to act and do its job in oversight of a state run university. The secretive extension that they had no intent of telling anyone about plus Barta's little $6 million discrimination lawsuit he brought on by his mishandling of the Greisbaum/Jane Meyer fiasco should have gotten Barta canned already. I doubt anything will happen because only one word describes the situation at Iowa now: Corruption. And corruption is a nasty little cancer that is hard to get rid of (please excuse my analogy but it fits).

Solid post.

 

[DJL]

It’s not worth it to me. We need all of those guys. Without them we are not good. Remember last year when JB was the only PG. That’s what you have next year and for who knows how long.

And the hate...by so many...on Patrick is ridiculous. He’s our highest rated recruit in years. No. He won’t be as good as JW as a freshman. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be good and become really good.

I don't hate Patrick at all. He may very well be good, but not good enough that I want to deal with his dad for 4 more years. I honestly just don't like our coach. I love passion but he just comes off as an angry idiot. I'm sick of the late season collapses. I'm sick of watching a team that can't play defense. I think Iowa basketball can be more than what it is. Not expecting a perennial Elite 8 team or anything like that, but one who is consistently in the tournament and maybe once in awhile could make a run at winning a few games in the Big Dance would be nice. Or something better than 2 tournament wins in 9 years.

 

[PCHawk]

You know, I have often wondered if this is exactly why we get these late season swoons. Everyone adapts 2nd time through and we don't have the answers. Either that, or we start getting everyone's best shot and our guys don't match the intensity. Or maybe a bit of both. Not sure.

That doesn't really explain the 2014-15 season where the team actually got hot down the stretch, but it also occurs to me that year was the one time where we were flying under the radar, so maybe they weren't so focused on how to beat us. The 3 times we've fallen apart, the team was ranked, and sometimes highly so.

I think it's the second reason. I think this team especially just isnt talented enough to play against teams that are trying to beat a ranked team.

 

[theboat]

Won’t argue your point. But I will add that we likely lose some players. Patrick follows Fran. Joe T. (like Basabe) follows Fran. Connor plays baseball.

We lost Jake Kelly and Little Lick when lickliter got fired too. The point is to bring in someone that can get better players and coach them. Fran sucks at both

 

[hoxrock]

Those of you worried about Fran's kids and Joe Touissant:

Connor: 2 years, 4.4 ppg, 20% from distance, less than 1 steal per game, 1.5 rpg
Patrick: Hasn't arrived on campus yet
Touissant: Hasn't arrived on campus yet

Why are any of you worried about three players, 2 of which haven't even played for Iowa (aren't even 4 or 5 star recruits) yet and the other has been less than impressive in his time he's gotten and may very well be more interested in baseball than basketball. You worry about losing a Bohannon, Garza, or even a Nicholas Baer. Not these guys.

 

[hoxrock]

We lost Jake Kelly and Little Lick when lickliter got fired too. The point is to bring in someone that can get better players and coach them. Fran sucks at both

And Jake Kelly was hardly a world beater when he went to Indiana State. Acceptable loss.

 

[hoxrock]

The only player we lost because of a coaching change that would come close to wishing we could have had for a couple more years was Tyler Smith. But he would have stayed to play with glorified high school players plus Gatens and Cole. He made the right decision.

 

[seepig]

Barta will never fire Fran. Now that 2 of Fran’s kids will be on the team, that pretty much locks him in for another 4 years.

Harrald will not fire Barta because Harrald apparently approves of the job Barta is doing, they are friends, and because Harrald simply does not care about athletics.

Face it.....Iowa basketball is screwed for the next 4 years, minimum.

That AND because they aren't going to pay Fran a buyout thanks to Barta's extension for lifetime coaching contracts

 

[theboat]

And Jake Kelly was hardly a world beater when he went to Indiana State. Acceptable loss.

That’s kinda the point

 

[theboat]

Those of you worried about Fran's kids and Joe Touissant:

Connor: 2 years, 4.4 ppg, 20% from distance, less than 1 steal per game, 1.5 rpg
Patrick: Hasn't arrived on campus yet
Touissant: Hasn't arrived on campus yet

Why are any of you worried about three players, 2 of which haven't even played for Iowa (aren't even 4 or 5 star recruits) yet and the other has been less than impressive in his time he's gotten and may very well be more interested in baseball than basketball. You worry about losing a Bohannon, Garza, or even a Nicholas Baer. Not these guys.

And just an FYI, if you compare stats over 40 minutes Connor this year ain’t much better than lil Lick @ Iowa.

 

[karras]

Those of you worried about Fran's kids and Joe Touissant:

Connor: 2 years, 4.4 ppg, 20% from distance, less than 1 steal per game, 1.5 rpg
Patrick: Hasn't arrived on campus yet
Touissant: Hasn't arrived on campus yet

Why are any of you worried about three players, 2 of which haven't even played for Iowa (aren't even 4 or 5 star recruits) yet and the other has been less than impressive in his time he's gotten and may very well be more interested in baseball than basketball. You worry about losing a Bohannon, Garza, or even a Nicholas Baer. Not these guys.

When we brought in Mr. Davis how many did we lose? Did the team get better when Ravelings players were being coached by someone else?

Replace Fran with a good coach and the losses will be overcome by better coaching. Of course the problem is everyone knows Barta will screw up the replacement hiring.

Us fans are literally hostages of a person who is either incompetent or corrupt or both. Doesn't feel that good. It's obvious which fans/boosters have Stockholm syndrome. Those folks are extending our term of imprisonment to indefinite.

 

[PCHawk]

Jake Kelly didnt leave iowa because of a coaching change.

 

[WinOneThisCentury]

I'm just shocked our coach doesn't know that he should have given up no threes in the last minute. Make them score twos...or get fouled. To let them trade 3 for 2 was the dumbest thing I've seen. As soon as they hit the first one, you take away anything beyond the arc. It was the only way they could get back in it...and Fran played it the worst he possibly could. Wow...just wow.

 

[SpiderRico]

I've seen some sportswriters (Pat Harty, I'm looking at you), that are arguing that Fran couldn't be fired because you don't fire a coach who's made the tournament 4 out of the last 6 years. I say BS...we fired Mr. Davis for making the tourney 9 out of 13 years.

I've seen some say we can't fire Fran because we'll lose his kids as players. One of them is a slow point guard who can't shoot, the other is a skinny tall kid that can't rebound. As if we can't get those kinds of players anytime we want (although I would argue we need to stop getting those kinds of kids).

I've seen some say we can't fire Fran because we'll lose the kid out of NY. Sure, he's a fast, somewhat athletic point guard that we haven't seemed to be able to get (save Bryce Cartwright). But those guys are a dime a dozen for even a semi-accomplished recruiter. Nick Norton would have looked good in black and gold (went to Drake). Wes Washpun would have looked good in the black and gold (went to UNI). The majority of the mid-major programs in the tourney each year have these guys. So obviously even mid major coaches can get them.

I've seen plenty say that we can't fire him because of the buyout. Really? We can pay $6.5M to a couple of lesbians that were discriminated against, but we can't come up with $9M to save our basketball program? Bullshit. We're bringing in $50M just from BTN....that doesn't even count ESPN/ABC money, donations, ticket sales, etc. I'm pretty sure that in a $110M budget, we can find $9M in one-time funds.

I applaud Fran for helping dig us out from the Lick crater. But let's be honest with ourselves here.....there are COUNTLESS coaches in the country that could have done that.....and not been an insufferable jackass and a complete embarrassment to our program in the process. We're one Fran rage fest away from him going all Woody Hayes on a ref and just jacking him in the face after a bad loss.

 

[deanvogs]

It’s not worth it to me. We need all of those guys. Without them we are not good. Remember last year when JB was the only PG. That’s what you have next year and for who knows how long.

And the hate...by so many...on Patrick is ridiculous. He’s our highest rated recruit in years. No. He won’t be as good as JW as a freshman. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be good and become really good.

A coaching change is always going to lead to losing players. In this case losing Connor wouldn’t hurt at all. Patrick would be a loss longer term, but I don’t expect anything out of him next year. Joe T, you could sell more and immediate playing time, maybe you keep him maybe you don’t.

Devries was left with a bare cupboard and he did just fine at Drake. I mean to it ain’t like next years Iowa team is gonna be a lock for the NCAA’s. Heck I’d say now losing Baer and if Cook leaves this is a NIT team next year even with Patrick and Joe T.

 

[PCHawk]

I've seen some sportswriters (Pat Harty, I'm looking at you), that are arguing that Fran couldn't be fired because you don't fire a coach who's made the tournament 4 out of the last 6 years. I say BS...we fired Mr. Davis for making the tourney 9 out of 13 years.

I've seen some say we can't fire Fran because we'll lose his kids as players. One of them is a slow point guard who can't shoot, the other is a skinny tall kid that can't rebound. As if we can't get those kinds of players anytime we want (although I would argue we need to stop getting those kinds of kids).

I've seen some say we can't fire Fran because we'll lose the kid out of NY. Sure, he's a fast, somewhat athletic point guard that we haven't seemed to be able to get (save Bryce Cartwright). But those guys are a dime a dozen for even a semi-accomplished recruiter. Nick Norton would have looked good in black and gold (went to Drake). Wes Washpun would have looked good in the black and gold (went to UNI). The majority of the mid-major programs in the tourney each year have these guys. So obviously even mid major coaches can get them.

I've seen plenty say that we can't fire him because of the buyout. Really? We can pay $6.5M to a couple of lesbians that were discriminated against, but we can't come up with $9M to save our basketball program? Bullshit. We're bringing in $50M just from BTN....that doesn't even count ESPN/ABC money, donations, ticket sales, etc. I'm pretty sure that in a $110M budget, we can find $9M in one-time funds.

I applaud Fran for helping dig us out from the Lick crater. But let's be honest with ourselves here.....there are COUNTLESS coaches in the country that could have done that.....and not been an insufferable jackass and a complete embarrassment to our program in the process. We're one Fran rage fest away from him going all Woody Hayes on a ref and just jacking him in the face after a bad loss.

Save our basketball program? I'm not sure those words apply here.

 

[SteveGarvey1]

Ask Bob Bowlsby who fired a coach that had a sweet 16 team his last season.

Surely you know that Bowlsby let him go before the season began in which Davis ended up going to the Sweet 16.

Anyway, I'm not a Fran apologist but, if you throw out the first season in which he took over from Lick a program that had become the laughingstock of the B1G (and anyone who is fair would do so), he's gotten the Hawks to the Dance half the time.

Half the time isn't great and he's not made it to the Sweet 16, (unless we shock everyone and make it this year) yet he's done the minimal enough to avoid being fired.