For all of yoou that went ballistic at first, thoughts now?

Thawki

Thawki

Well-Known Member
This is not meant to put anyone on the spot and say you were an idiot or someone else is. But the initial reaction to McCaffery's name being leaked out was pretty negative. I would say 70% who reacted on this board were very negative. After today's events I get the impression that it is at least 70% of this board that is positive. Many that were seemingly very negative now seem to be quite positive, although I can't say who without researching it.

So here is my research. Tell me what your thoughts were when you first heard the name and what they are now.

I was in the camp of not knowing much about him but I was familiar with Siena from when Hewitt was there and I was a little familiar with their recent success. I was cautiously optimistic after seeing the style of play he has incorporated and I like what I am hearing about what an integral part of recruiting he was while at ND. I like that he has turned teams around at three stops and his teams have competed for conference titles at each stop as a head coach. I like how he seems to have really turned people on this board that seemed to be leaning very negatively on Sunday. I will wait to see who he brings in as his coaching staff.

So far I can say I felt cautiously optimistic as opposed to pessimistic initially, and now I am feeling even better than that. If I like his coaching hires and if he brings in a solid recruit of his own in the 2010 class I will feel even better about it.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
I was so mad about the hire when I first heard it that I looked like Tre in Boyz n the Hood after he gets pulled over by the cops...yelling and cussing and swinging at imaginary objects.

After I woke up this morning, I felt a little better since at the very least I knew that we would have uptempo basketball in Carver again. So even though we didn't hire the type of coach I was expecting, I would be able to enjoy seeing fast breaks and dunks again.

After hearing Frans conference, I was sold on the guy. That simple.
 
Burky-

Those were my thoughts exactly. I think it is a normal reaction to a hire, but like you, I am completely sold. I am drinking the Fran the Man Kool Aid and am on board 100%.

Go Hawks!
 
I was originally underwhelmed like most people I know, but once I read that he runs and presses, I was very happy. The jury will be out for a while, but at least we have an up tempo style to look forward to. I doubt I will be ordering season tickets, but I will definately go to a few games, and I haven't gone to a game the last two years.
 
Nice job Jon, on breaking down Mcaffery's coming out party. Very impressive and upbeat. I just felt like when Lick was hired that some of his answers seemed almost antagonistic. Like he was breaking the question down to it's merit instead of just answering the question. I would love to see an ex player as an assistant. Isn't Jess Settles some sort professional motivator or that was his dream to be? He would be great along with Kenyon Murray.
 
Hillcrest1981 said:
Nice job Jon, on breaking down Mcaffery's coming out party. Very impressive and upbeat. I just felt like when Lick was hired that some of his answers seemed almost antagonistic. Like he was breaking the question down to it's merit instead of just answering the question. I would love to see an ex player as an assistant. Isn't Jess Settles some sort professional motivator or that was his dream to be? He would be great along with Kenyon Murray.
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I am all for a player coming to and being an assistant coach. They would have to be a player that has experience in coaching, certainly. Like Paul Lusk. He might be difficult to lure away from Purdue, being he is the number two in charge.
Someone with Iowa connections would be just as good in my mind, whether they were a player or not. Someone fitting that mold would be Steve Forbes. The number three man at Tennessee. Give him a raise and bring him on board. The Iowa rebuild would look great on his resume.
What others with coaching experience have Iowa ties??

As for Coach McCaffery coming in, I wasn't informed enough on how good of a coach he was or his experience. Just that he was a good coach that lead Siena to the Dance once again.
Having recently studied the Hawkeyes new floor general I am very much impressed! Sounds like a great hire by Barta. Chaulk me up as one of the new Franatics in Hawkeye land!
On Iowa!
 
hawkeyegrant said:
I was originally underwhelmed like most people I know, but once I read that he runs and presses, I was very happy. The jury will be out for a while, but at least we have an up tempo style to look forward to. I doubt I will be ordering season tickets, but I will definately go to a few games, and I haven't gone to a game the last two years.
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My thought exactly. I also haven't been to a game in two years. While I'm also not buying season tickets now I will still start going to some games. I also only watched two games this year. I'll certainly start following them every game again.
 
My original outburst was not positive. After a good night sleep and reading up on this coach I have a much different vibe. His press conference did wonders as well. Much different feeling than when Lick was hired. Not that a presser is everything, but first impressions are very important. He made some key statements that stuck with me. "I want to be your coach". Also, having been in Carver when it was rocking and that sticking with him were important to me personally. He knows that Iowa was passionate at one time about MBB. Also, gave proper kudos to the respective coaches. His recruiting style from the sounds of it, sound like KF. Finally, I did not here how we were going to run the Sienna system or Frans system or the better version of the Butler system. (Although it worked out well for them this yr.)
 
I was VERY VERY disappointed at first (evidenced by my "REALLY?" thread) I wasn't ready to string up Barta but I was saying that, "This coach better win 16-18 games cause that's where this talent level should have us next year..." But after listening to the press conference WOW!!!!! I fully expect this guy to return us, the only question is if he can recruit like he says he can...reminds me ALOT of Ferentz though.
 
I went on a tirade after the rumors started coming out & were subsequently confirmed. I was just disappointed because I truly felt like Iowa was going to do something similar to what Oregon is doing right now.

Thinking about how the hires that I would have liked would have cost more than Ferentz -- well that would have raised some serious eyebrows, and you DON'T dis' Captain Kirk for anything. Now, looking at the whole thing objectively, I feel like we got a great coach and the price is right!
 
On my 5 Pearl rating system (1 Pearl - keeping Coach Lick, 5 Pearls - Hiring Coach Pearl) my intial reaction was 1 1/2 Pearls. And it would have been the same with any mid-major coach.

As I was deciding whether to throw the radio in the bathtub or starting the car in the garage I saw about 4 taped interviews of Coach McCaffery. I thought his personality was about a 1 1/2 Pearls. He never cracked a smile or made any attempt at humor.

On his style play, I gave him 3 Pearls.

I saw video tape of him on the sidelines and he was all kinds of fired up, didn't look like a head in his hands kind of a guy. 3 Pearls. (I turned the car off)

He's said all the right things since he's been announced as the head coach and wants to be here. 3 Pearls. (My family felt safe to move back in the house)

Good looking wife that's been kicked out of a game - 1/2 Bonus Pearl

So over all I'd give him 3 1/2 Pearls.

IMO it's all going to come down to whether or not he can recruit.

Go Hawks!
 
TChawk said:
Wasn't happy about it before, still not really that happy about it now.
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Same. I rated this a 5 out of 10 and probably leaning to a 4 more than a 6. I'm not going to get in to it now but I will be interested to see where Brian Gregory ends up (or stays at Dayton) and how Tony Barbee does in the near future. This is the honeymoon phase right now and everyone has blinders on.
 
Re: For all of you that went ballistic at first, thoughts now?

The hiring of Coach Fran met both of my requirements: He was an excellent hire, and he drove people around here into a meltdown. Here is what I wrote at 10:30 Sunday, right after we hired him.

GhostofBTT said:
Awesome.

We get a great coach, and I get to witness a meltdown! I'm gonna get some popcorn and wait for the trolls to roll out of bed. This is gonna be a fun day!
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http://www.hawkeyenation.com/forum/basketball/8226-might-true-3.html

I don't consider myself an especially toleranant person, so I am amazed that only myself and a small handful of people waited to judge McCaffery until we saw him, not after reading two articles on him and declaring Barta was in over his head.

Although on the other hand, I am not that suprised, since the internet has a way of making people feel like they're experts on everything, even things they know nothing about.
 
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