Fran is Gone

rschneider said:
Couple of things

Fran is a good coach.
I really wish we could have seen Frans offense with elite players.
Feel like Freeman and Fran had an issue of some sorts. Is Freeman back next year?
Really like some of the latest recruits. Hope they can be retained.
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In a perverse way, did this year's recruiting class commit to Iowa knowing that Fran WOULDN'T be the coach?

Guess we'll find out shortly.

It was time for him to go. He has run a clean program with integrity in regards to the rules, and he developed some high end NBA talent.

But....we too often were sorely lacking in the physicality matchups. Our players couldn't fight through the hand to hand combat. When we had pit bull type players they frequently didn't last because they either couldn't shoot good enough or turned the ball over too much.

Instead of bitching about the officiating how about adjusting to it. How about recruiting, and sticking with, the types of players who could walk down a dark alley with Dracula. Sparty, Purdue and Wisconsin thrive when the game turns into a rock fight.

I always go back to the side by side comparison of shirtless Iowa and Wisconsin players that came out about eight, ten years ago. Iowa’s players looked like a cross country team compared to Wisconsin's who looked like NFL linebackers.

Fran was in the league fifteen years. If he hadn't figured out by now how to recruit players based on how the league was officiated he was never going to figure it out. So it was time to go.
 
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Northside Hawk said:
In a perverse way, did this year's recruiting class commit to Iowa knowing that Fran WOULDN'T be the coach?

Guess we'll find out shortly.

It was time for him to go. He has run a clean program with integrity in regards to the rules, and he developed some high end NBA talent.

But....we too often were sorely lacking in the physicality matchups. Our players couldn't fight through the hand to hand combat. When we had pit bull type players they frequently didn't last because they either couldn't shoot good enough or turned the ball over too much.

Instead of bitching about the officiating how about adjusting to it. How about recruiting, and sticking with, the types of players who could walk down a dark alley with Dracula. Sparty, Purdue and Wisconsin thrive when the game turns into a rock fight.

I always go back to the side by side comparison of shirtless Iowa and Wisconsin players that came out about eight, ten years ago. Iowa’s players looked like a cross country team compared to Wisconsin's who looked like NFL linebackers.

Fran was in the league fifteen years. If he hadn't figured out by now how to recruit players based on how the league was officiated he was never going to figure it out. So it was time to go.
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Level headed take right there
 
Northside Hawk said:
In a perverse way, did this year's recruiting class commit to Iowa knowing that Fran WOULDN'T be the coach?

Guess we'll find out shortly.

It was time for him to go. He has run a clean program with integrity in regards to the rules, and he developed some high end NBA talent.

But....we too often were sorely lacking in the physicality matchups. Our players couldn't fight through the hand to hand combat. When we had pit bull type players they frequently didn't last because they either couldn't shoot good enough or turned the ball over too much.

Instead of bitching about the officiating how about adjusting to it. How about recruiting, and sticking with, the types of players who could walk down a dark alley with Dracula. Sparty, Purdue and Wisconsin thrive when the game turns into a rock fight.

I always go back to the side by side comparison of shirtless Iowa and Wisconsin players that came out about eight, ten years ago. Iowa’s players looked like a cross country team compared to Wisconsin's who looked like NFL linebackers.

Fran was in the league fifteen years. If he hadn't figured out by now how to recruit players based on how the league was officiated he was never going to figure it out. So it was time to go.
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I have to admit, since I don’t like how bb has turned into a street fight, I have to agree that we are going to have to adjust. Years back, when Lute had guys like Sky King, physical bb was coming on strong. Compare that to Ralph Miller: High on finesse and a passing game we don’t see as much any more. Yeah. I am old, but I will maintain that the physicality has gotten out of hand. Lots of injuries these days…
 
Fryowa said:
Level headed take right there
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Heres another take. Everyone has commented this year on his calm, stoic, hands in the pockets demeanor on the bench this year and many have criticized him for this as much as for his fiery demeanor.

Maybe he is battling an undisclosed illness. Again, we will find out in time. But his players have certainly been emotional this year to the point of outright drama (check Peyton collapsing on the Carver court in the fetal position after the heartbreaking loss to Oregon a few weeks ago that probably officially ended their NCAA hopes)

It's probably a combination of a lot of things-his wife and kids in Indiana, conversations Beth had with him, a short handed team with Owen and Cooper out, Drew probably missing practice time the last month (and Peyton playing with a bad shoulder all season)

We will never know his demeanor behind the scenes with the team and whether that changed, but there sure has been a lot of sappiness with the team this year.
 
HuckFinn said:
I have to admit, since I don’t like how bb has turned into a street fight, I have to agree that we are going to have to adjust. Years back, when Lute had guys like Sky King, physical bb was coming on strong. Compare that to Ralph Miller: High on finesse and a passing game we don’t see as much any more. Yeah. I am old, but I will maintain that the physicality has gotten out of hand. Lots of injuries these days…
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I think refs called more fouls back then for sure. Look at the box scores from the Miller era, of even Lute's 1980 Final Four run. It wasn't unusual for 25-30 team fouls to be called. Players played with two first half fouls (until Dean Smith changed things) Players fouled out on a more frequent basis and many more played with four.

When Iowa beat Syracuse in the 1980 regional semifinal game Steve Krafcisin fouled out with five or six minutes to go and an already short handed team had to play even more short handed.
 
Seth53 said:
Wadda say a few of us go in and buy this sucker. Turn it into a "mature" (read: geezer) frat-type gathering place. I volunteer to hold the title of in-house guardian and will keep the liquid refreshments stocked appropriately.
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Make sure there’s some Diet Coke. Contains you guys will have a DD
 
At age 77 I have evolved from a naive school boy to a realistic grump. I no longer live or die on whether Iowa wins or losses, but by how well they compete and the strategy employed. At this junction Iowa mens basketball isn't able to compete physically with the uptempo style Fran employed. The players put their best efforts forward, but were over matched physically.

I'm unsure what qualities Goetz thinks the next coach will need to better compete. Whoever she selects has some challenges immediately. Retaining some of the roster will be number one. Secondly, getting NIL support improved will be necessary. It's obvious that money is important to buy talent. If number 2 isn't happening, the next coach is already history.

In Fran's final after game press conference he said it will take $6M for player pay and schools are offering 7 figure deals to transfers. Just keeping it real.
 
eyekwah said:
At age 77 I have evolved from a naive school boy to a realistic grump. I no longer live or die on whether Iowa wins or losses, but by how well they compete and the strategy employed. At this junction Iowa mens basketball isn't able to compete physically with the uptempo style Fran employed. The players put their best efforts forward, but were over matched physically.

I'm unsure what qualities Goetz thinks the next coach will need to better compete. Whoever she selects has some challenges immediately. Retaining some of the roster will be number one. Secondly, getting NIL support improved will be necessary. It's obvious that money is important to buy talent. If number 2 isn't happening, the next coach is already history.

In Fran's final after game press conference he said it will take $6M for player pay and schools are offering 7 figure deals to transfers. Just keeping it real.
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It's hard to imagine the amount of money people donate right now is sustainable. I think within a few years a lot of people will get sick of dumping their money to buy players that sometimes pan out and sometimes don't.

It's similar to the poker boom after Chris Moneymaker. Within a couple years, everyone who would ever have any interest in playing started playing at the same time. Over the years, people either got bored with it or got tired of losing money. The poker boom was always destined to die out. That doesn't mean people don't still play. Just like some people will always donate money. But I think we are already at the top or close to the top of how much people are willing to spend.
 
Northside Hawk said:
I think refs called more fouls back then for sure. Look at the box scores from the Miller era, of even Lute's 1980 Final Four run. It wasn't unusual for 25-30 team fouls to be called. Players played with two first half fouls (until Dean Smith changed things) Players fouled out on a more frequent basis and many more played with four.

When Iowa beat Syracuse in the 1980 regional semifinal game Steve Krafcisin fouled out with five or six minutes to go and an already short handed team had to play even more short handed.
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Did not know this stuff. Thanks.
 
Iahwk06 said:
Whoever the new coach is, will they bring their own staff or do you think any of Frans assistants will be retained?
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Usually they bring their own staff. In the case of smaller schools they may not have three or four assistant coaches sitting on the bench with them. So in that case they may bring their top assistant and then shop around to complete their staff.
 
Hopefully the new staff will not be allergic to playing DEFENSE. With a great defense you can have off nights shooting and still be in the game. Have an off night and don't play defense............. You're screwed and lose by twenty points. Now where have we seen that before???
 
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