Fran Looking Around?

[InGoodCo]

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.

I wanted Pearl, I wanted Altman. I was like who the F is this guy? But, his resume looked good IMO and I would sign up for a guy with 2 sweet 16's and a NCOY right now.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

If Fran was going to leave, this would be the time. Before Patrick starts college. Connor could play college baseball anywhere or enter the draft.

With the off court stuff this season, might just be ready for a fresh start.

Good point. This is a time for evaluation as a family before they go all in for more years at Iowa. The last two seasons may have worn a little thin with Fran and maybe he feels a move now would be best.

 

[InGoodCo]

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.

he could have just checked the Butler message boards apparently.

It was a terrible hire, Barta should have known better. Ya really don't know how a fit is going to be, but you are always going to have a "great hire" camp and a "dumb hire" camp regardless of who you hire.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Those of you with daughters know where the biggest pushback would likely come from. The youngest is pretty big for a 5th/6th grader (in this photo from last Sept).

One of my twin boys (the taller one) got an "and-one" on him in 3rd grade. He is a taller kid. Plays on Barnstormers for basketball.

 

[InGoodCo]

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.

That's good me neither. There were plenty of people, and basketball people who said "good hire" when Lick came to Iowa. There were likely a lot that didn't. That comes with every coaching hire, you know that, I know that....yet you still dug in. What leap did I take?

 

[Hawkboys]

I'm definitely a homer in general but I really feel good about both the basketball & football programs going forward. . Both have underperformed overall over the last 5 years. But I think both are recruiting much better as of late which should lead to better performance on the field/court.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Good job!

 

[Stanzi]

I want Fran to stay here as long as Barta is the AD. If Fran does leave and Barta is still the AD he absolutely needs to hire a head coach who can, and whose staff can, recruit players that don't look like they grew up in Iowa if you catch my drift.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

That's good me neither. There were plenty of people, and basketball people who said "good hire" when Lick came to Iowa. There were likely a lot that didn't. That comes with every coaching hire, you know that, I know that....yet you still dug in.

My feelings/responses to the hires since Tom Davis was ushered out:

Alford - I wasn't as big on him as most others. I was never impressed with his 2nd-3rd place MVC finishes. As I said earlier, I like coaches who can win mid-major conferences, not finish 3rd. I got more excited when he took SWMS to the Sweet 16, and looked like they played good D. So I figured hey, finally a coach whose teams defend the 3 point line, etc. Didn't really work out that way.

Lick - When I heard the name.. My response was "Who?" Oh, the Butler coach. Ok, seems like they have a good program, so could be a good hire. I was initially optimistic.. I didn't know who Brad Stevens was at the time. Turned out Lick couldn't recruit worth a lick and the brand of basketball couldn't have helped matters.

Fran - At first I didn't like the hire. It looked like we were hiring a career mid-major guy, not an up-and-comer. Why hadn't this guy ever gotten an offer to coach in a major conference sooner? But I saw his success at Siena, that he had taken 3 other programs to the dance, so looked like he knew how to build a program and I warmed to it some after my initial disappointment.

 

[eledmonster]

Fran would be a poor fit in Arkansas. He has all his teeth.

a teethbrush joke?

 

[Grady]

I appreciate Rob going directly to the source and asking Fran. Not sure why Rob's so testy about it tho. It's not a matter of 'semantics' -- his first inquiry asked only if Fran had talked HIMSELF to Arky. His second inquiry asked whether his agent or any other reps had talked with Arky. There's a factual difference, with a potentially different answer, to those questions...it has nothing to do with semantics. Your first question, Rob, got partial info; your second elicited more thorough info. Thanks for following up, which does clarify and more fully elaborate on the situation. We appreciate it.

 

[DDThompson]

I think this is nothing more than a bargaining chip. We have been told how many times that the ultimate goal for the McCaff crew is for Connor and Pat to play together on their Dad’s team. They are 5 months away from that possibly happening, if he went elsewhere who knows if that would ever happen and it certainly wouldn’t happen for at least another season.

I’m thinking Fran’s name is a bargaining chip by Arkansas to keep Pitino’s asking price lower. Pitino would go there: Arkansas’s “Win. Graduate. Do it right.” athletic department motto is most likely not emphasizing the latter two.

 

[JG10Hawk]

I don't normally follow these things this closely but it's a slow morning and I got interested and decided to look into some Arkansas boards to see what they had to say. One of them has a flight tracker thread that posted the link below for a charter jet service tracking. Looks like they were indeed in Iowa City for a few hours on Monday.



https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N686TX

 

[DDThompson]

I see the honeymoon between lightning1 and InGood is already over ....

 

[ssckelley]

I see the honeymoon between lightning1 and InGood is already over ....

I’m ok with it, more entertainment for us

 

[JG10Hawk]

Sounds like Fran may have not been in Iowa City when that flight landed.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

The Lick hire should have been a "canary in the coalmine" around Barta's competence. He simply went after a guy that got an award and looked to be a good hire on the surface. Shortly after Lick was announced we had all kinds of Butler people on the board saying essentially...Good Luck...Stevens was the real brains behind the success. You got the wrong guy.

Barta clearly didn't do his homework and dig very deep.

 

[tksirius]

Sounds like Fran may have not been in Iowa City when that flight landed.

Would Lisa Bluder really leave Iowa for the Arkansas job?

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Sounds like Fran may have not been in Iowa City when that flight landed.

3 hours? That's barely enough time to land, deplane, take a leak, travel and get back to the plane...with maybe a 1 hour, 1 1/2 hour meeting. That could be done on the phone.

 

[Xerxes]

9 years is an awfully long time for a coach to be in one place. I wouldn't blame him for moving on. Particularly to Arkansas which is probably widely viewed by coaches as a better job than Iowa.

But his expectations there will be higher there.