Fran Looking Around?

The SEC is making an effort to upgrade their basketball coaches. They are serious about basketball money. A&M just hired Buzz Williams away from VA Tech. Auburn has Pearl. Alabama just fired Avery Johnson after 4 years, who has a similar win% as Fran has at Iowa.
 
InGoodCo said:
and that's my bad. Not a lot gets passed ole Lightning1. I knew you already knew it before you even told me and I should have said "At the time it looked like a good hire to most except Lightning1, who knew it was going to be a disaster" - next time I'll stay in line.
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Basketball people knew. The fact that you didn't know and Gutless Gary didn't know, isn't a surprise.
 
lightning1 said:
The SEC is making an effort to upgrade their basketball coaches. They are serious about basketball money. A&M just hired Buzz Williams away from VA Tech. Auburn has Pearl. Alabama just fired Avery Johnson after 4 years, who has a similar win% as Fran has at Iowa.
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It was just a matter of time before they did. I wonder what took them so long. Soon the SEC will be dominating basketball the same way they dominate football.
 
BryceC said:
Honestly, if he's going to go this is the year. Connor is one of the top baseball prospects in the Big 10, he could go pro in just a few months. Fran could bring his 4 star son with him to help sell the fanbase. After this he'd have to transfer and sit out. He'd leave behind a good, senior laden team which is really all you can ask of a coach to help set the table for the new guy.

That said I think he retires at Iowa.
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And does Fran want another rebuild job at this point? Try to get a 5th team to the dance? He's 59 now, but I don't pretend to know what makes him tick, either.
 
All things considered Fran has been a decent recruiter at Iowa, not good enough to be in the top of the conference but at least to keep Iowa around the middle. Arkansas is a better job with a better opportunity to recruit better players, will pay more than Iowa, and Connor can play for a better baseball program. With his offense and the ability to recruit better players to play in it, this could be a good under the radar hire for Arkansas.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
And does Fran want another rebuild job at this point? Try to get a 5th team to the dance? He's 59 now, but I don't pretend to know what makes him tick, either.
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Unless they've got players leaving that Arkansas job doesn't look like much of a rebuild.

But, whatever, we will see if anything comes of this.
 
lightning1 said:
The SEC is making an effort to upgrade their basketball coaches. They are serious about basketball money. A&M just hired Buzz Williams away from VA Tech. Auburn has Pearl. Alabama just fired Avery Johnson after 4 years, who has a similar win% as Fran has at Iowa.
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Ole Miss hired Kermit Davis last year. Hardly a splash. Vandy fired Bryce Drew and appears to have Shaka Smart as a dream hire but Jerry Stackhouse appears to be the favorite...meh. Alabama hired Nate Oats from Buffalo. Winning pedigree but hasn't recruited in a P5 conference. Mizzou hired Cuonzo Martin a couple years ago. Solid hire but nothing special. Pearl, Crean, and Buzz Williams are big name hires to be sure but let's not pretend SEC basketball will be anywhere near as good as football or make the same kind of money. Arkansas hiring Fran McCaffery would be in line with most of the recent hires in the SEC. Solid but not headline worthy. ACC and Big Ten still > SEC in basketball.
 
ssckelley said:
I thought the 2 of you hugged it out?
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I extended the olive branch a few times, he's been fairly mum. That's ok. He doesn't like me and I am ok with it. I can dish it out all he wants. I embrace it.

Look, Butler coaches have been hit and miss. I knew that at the time too. But even some "basketball people" applauded the hire for Iowa. Some probably didn't. Guess what, that's the case in every coaching hire. Jesus. At the time his resume was impressive. That's all I said. It's hard to argue that. It was more impressive than Fran's. But I knew ole Lightning1 wouldn't let us down and be all "WELL, SMART PEOPLE KNEW DAR DAR DEE DARR DAR, GUTLESS". Just cause some shrimp dick that he knows knew Barry Collier flamed out at Nerbaska doesn't mean Iowa wasn't getting the next Matta. In hindsight, it's easy to say. I'll wait for his proof that its anything beside that, otherwise it's just Lightning being his charming self.
 
InGoodCo said:
i seriously couldn't read the first line of your response with out laughing. We get it, you're smart at basketball.
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It really didn't take much brain power to go to the people that surround the Butler basketball program, to get the right information. This is how it went down'
Power up PC
1 click of the mouse for IE
type in Butler basketball message boards
click first link
read threads about Todd Lickliter.
That's it. The end. Took about as much time as it took me to type this response.
 
hoxrock said:
Ole Miss hired Kermit Davis last year. Hardly a splash. Vandy fired Bryce Drew and appears to have Shaka Smart as a dream hire but Jerry Stackhouse appears to be the favorite...meh. Alabama hired Nate Oats from Buffalo. Winning pedigree but hasn't recruited in a P5 conference. Mizzou hired Cuonzo Martin a couple years ago. Solid hire but nothing special. Pearl, Crean, and Buzz Williams are big name hires to be sure but let's not pretend SEC basketball will be anywhere near as good as football or make the same kind of money. Arkansas hiring Fran McCaffery would be in line with most of the recent hires in the SEC. Solid but not headline worthy. ACC and Big Ten still > SEC in basketball.
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I never pretended that basketball will be as good or will make as much money as football. One has nothing to do with the other. SEC will overtake the BIG in basketball eventually. They don't have near the same academic requirements and they'll cheat their asses off and lawyer up before accepting an NCAA investigation. That sounds exactly like what the ACC has been doing for decades. Except the ACC has been faking the academic standards. That's my opinion anyway. We'll see.
 
InGoodCo said:
I extended the olive branch a few times, he's been fairly mum. That's ok. He doesn't like me and I am ok with it. I can dish it out all he wants. I embrace it.

Look, Butler coaches have been hit and miss. I knew that at the time too. But even some "basketball people" applauded the hire for Iowa. Some probably didn't. Guess what, that's the case in every coaching hire. Jesus. At the time his resume was impressive. That's all I said. It's hard to argue that. It was more impressive than Fran's. But I knew ole Lightning1 wouldn't let us down and be all "WELL, SMART PEOPLE KNEW DAR DAR DEE DARR DAR, GUTLESS". Just cause some shrimp dick that he knows knew Barry Collier flamed out at Nerbaska doesn't mean Iowa wasn't getting the next Matta. In hindsight, it's easy to say. I'll wait for his proof that its anything beside that, otherwise it's just Lightning being his charming self.
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I got no problem with you. This is it's own conversation. You take the same convoluted leaps here that you always have. That's not gonna change. neither is my response pattern to said leaps. I don't hold grudges and I don't take myself too seriously.
 
InGoodCo said:
There's a lot of dynamics there. Could Fran and the U of I be tired of each other with the suspensions? Was Fran behind the Dolph stuff and think that he should be gone or is unhappy they didn't side with him in the ultimate outcome? Did that whole deal cause friction? Does/Did Fran expect better upgrades in facilities by year 10? Is Iowa sick of the side show and things aren't as pleasant here? Does Fran harbor hard feelings over his kids and the fans? His players and the fans? Does Fran think that Iowa is a football school? Top 25 most of the season, fans still don't show up?

There's probably a billion other things I am not thinking of - but you could see it. If he's looking with this type of contract and it's true, how loyal does Iowa need to be with him going further?
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Did Lisa Bluder raise the bar with her success this year!
 
InGoodCo said:
Look, Butler coaches have been hit and miss. I knew that at the time too. But even some "basketball people" applauded the hire for Iowa. Some probably didn't. Guess what, that's the case in every coaching hire..
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I disagree with this, not that it was 100% unanimous but the Alford and Fran hires were applauded a LOT more than Lick. There were more people on here questioning the Lick hire than the others. The style of play, the Brad Stevens thing, many were wanting someone else (Pearl was very popular among others).

The bottom line is I don't blame people for thinking that Barta should have known better than to hire Lick. He should have had access to WAY more information than those of us on a message board.
 
lightning1 said:
It really didn't take much brain power to go to the people that surround the Butler basketball program, to get the right information. This is how it went down'
Power up PC
1 click of the mouse for IE
type in Butler basketball message boards
click first link
read threads about Todd Lickliter.
That's it. The end. Took about as much time as it took me to type this response.
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So, let me get this right. You're intel is the Butler basketball message boards? "Basketball people". Lol This explains a lot to me. Thank you, I love a good laugh my man.
 
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