Fran McCaffery Says Hawkeyes Will Rebound from Down Season

[Ian Pike Hammer]

FRAN MCCAFFERY SAYS HAWKEYES WILL REBOUND FROM DOWN SEASON

I'd say that too if I'd had a year like last year!! IMO, today's college basketball success is 90% recruiting, 10% coaching. Inevitably, it is the blue-bloods that take home the titles: Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA, Villanova etc... Players flock to schools like these. Year after year after year, they land the top recruits. Currently, Duke has pulled in the top 3 recruits in the whole country! Think they'll have a decent year next year?

 

[earlkoppelman]

Do you ever question what the UofI athletic department ever says or does? Serious question.

Do you ever question what the UofI athletic department ever says or does? Serious question.

They HOPE for more GOLD? Gold is good no? Cashing wins hard yes...Go Hawks...

 

[lightning1]

Ok? If that makes you feel better. Larry was an asshole as well, but he won.

But he got fired. Again and again and again.

 

[lightning1]

At the risk of being called "Phil", what could be missing is the "Freeze, Fight, Flight" response in this. OK for those to disagree, but there could be a lot come out about Fran when his tenure is finished. Maybe I"m way off base. No way a D1 Big player doesn't hustle unless he's on medications, totally selfish, or abused. The face value of this doesn't make sense. Abusers always blame others. Always.

There is no evidence that he's abusive to his players. And don't bother showing me pictures of him yelling at his players during games. That's frustration due to his players practicing one way for days and playing another way in the games. I've had that situation several times and it's extremely frustrating. I'm not a defender of Fran. I think he lacks the attention to detail his position needs, in order to succeed at a program like Iowa. We've seen the best he can offer, IMO. But there's no way he's abusive to his players in general. We've had a dozen transfers since he got hired, that would have come out and said something by now. Too much social media access to not have something like that leak out. A coach can lock down those things on campus but he can't do anything about former players talking, several years after the fact.

 

[HawksMN]

I just don't see how Iowa is going to coming roaring back from this mess with the coach doing business as usual??

 

[revkev73]

I don't expect Fran to lead Iowa to a national title (those goals aren't allowed in Iowa sports discussions) but I expect to see the players box out, play like a team, demonstrate some defensive fundamentals, and have heart, a never give up attitude that the other teams respect and fear...or at least they used to. Iowa is now the softest team in the conference.

Fran has been a pretty big disappointment in my view...

 

[Northside Hawk]

I don't expect Fran to lead Iowa to a national title (those goals aren't allowed in Iowa sports discussions) but I expect to see the players box out, play like a team, demonstrate some defensive fundamentals, and have heart, a never give up attitude that the other teams respect and fear...or at least they used to. Iowa is now the softest team in the conference.

Fran has been a pretty big disappointment in my view...

Teams like Penn State own us before the ref tosses the ball. I would call them Villanova Lite for the toughness and fearlessness they bring to the court, all those Philly kids. Their poster dunk fest at the end of the game in State College was one of the low points of a season full of them. If Watkins doesn't go down late in the year, they probably get to the BIG final and make the dance. And could have done some damage in the tournament.

Bullies are going to keep kneeling on the chest of the playground wimp until the wimp decides they've had enough and throw a handful of sand in the bully's eyes. Then the bully will pick on someone else. Watching uncontested dunk fests and layup lines on a near nightly basis is frustrating, not to mention unacceptable. But teams are going to keep doing it until they have a reason not to. Just look at the body language in some of this past winter's games.

 

[PCHawk]

If Fran was the maniac people thought he was, his kids would have found an excuse not to come here. He just takes "having his player's back" to the extreme. It's clearly very important to him.

Also, watch the chair slamming video. Anyone who has any ability to read body language can see he's trying to motivate the players. That wasn't uncontrollable rage like a lot of people think.

 

[Northside Hawk]

If Fran was the maniac people thought he was, his kids would have found an excuse not to come here. He just takes "having his player's back" to the extreme. It's clearly very important to him.

Also, watch the chair slamming video. Anyone who has any ability to read body language can see he's trying to motivate the players. That wasn't uncontrollable rage like a lot of people think.

True, but the Kohl Center meltdown was unacceptable. That crowd, minus it's students, was dead and Wisconsin was sleepwalking through the game. We had the #3 team in the country on the ropes. Fran had to take all of that into consideration before going Triple H on the officials. The final margin was exactly the same as the number of technical free throws Brust converted.

What upset Fran in the first place was Nigel Hayes using his rear end to get position on Olesaini. Hayes was posting up strong. Gabe on the offensive end was fading away from the rim on his moves. Who do you think is going to get the calls?

 

[Kennyfromminne]

If Fran was the maniac people thought he was, his kids would have found an excuse not to come here. He just takes "having his player's back" to the extreme. It's clearly very important to him.

Also, watch the chair slamming video. Anyone who has any ability to read body language can see he's trying to motivate the players. That wasn't uncontrollable rage like a lot of people think.

Have you ever heard of battered wife syndrome?

 

[revkev73]

Not much Fran does impresses me much...not professional, not well thought out words or actions, not competent...yell, accuse others, demand adoration...shut up...COACH...show us you can do it.

 

[revkev73]

Boys want to play for crazy/volatile dad...crazy/volatile dad is at home...crazy/volatile is "normal" "good"...homeostasis

Any choice other than dad would be abnormal...out of the "norm"...

 

[Northside Hawk]

Not much Fran does impresses me much...not professional, not well thought out words or actions, not competent...yell, accuse others, demand adoration...shut up...COACH...show us you can do it.

I mentioned this on another thread. If his two kids are on court extensions of the bad side of Fran in any way, watch out.

If Connor and Patrick show the positive attributes of their father we could have a hell of a run coming. They deserve the chance to show us either way. I'm not going to use high school performance as a direct indicator of future college success one way or the other-yet. What if Patrick suddenly fills out and puts on 35 pounds?

 

[revkev73]

His boys might resurrect Fran...this would be good.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Have you ever heard of battered wife syndrome?

I wouldn't bet against Margaret kicking Fran's ass in a hoedown.

 

[PCHawk]

True, but the Kohl Center meltdown was unacceptable. That crowd, minus it's students, was dead and Wisconsin was sleepwalking through the game. We had the #3 team in the country on the ropes. Fran had to take all of that into consideration before going Triple H on the officials. The final margin was exactly the same as the number of technical free throws Brust converted.

What upset Fran in the first place was Nigel Hayes using his rear end to get position on Olesaini. Hayes was posting up strong. Gabe on the offensive end was fading away from the rim on his moves. Who do you think is going to get the calls?

The way I remember it is we were getting raped pretty bad. After something like that happens, do the officials call the game the same way? Do the players play the same way? There is no way to know, so the final score doesn't mean much.

 

[PCHawk]

Have you ever heard of battered wife syndrome?

I guess there is a small chance that Fran is sooooo bad that his kids are afraid to get away. But if that were the case, I'm pretty sure there would be talk by now. Most of his past players speak really highly of him. Guys that don't even live inside the country anymore. I'm pretty sure they aren't just afraid.

 

[Northside Hawk]

The way I remember it is we were getting raped pretty bad. After something like that happens, do the officials call the game the same way? Do the players play the same way? There is no way to know, so the final score doesn't mean much.

If you're talking Wisconsin players that was the exact point I tried to make. They woke up after that incident. The crowd woke up.
The Badgers ran their half court sets better. They played with some swag. Regardless of how bad we were getting raped, we still led the #3 in the country in their own barn by eleven. Hayes was simply more agressive inthe post than Olesaini. And Wisconsin's guards are always physical and can get to their spots and prevent you from doing the same. Add the effect of the Grinch on the sideline and yeah, you have the recipe for some questionable officiating. But the blowup turned the entire tide of the game...in favor of Wisconsin.

Your point was that I shouldn't correlate the technical free throws directly to the margin of victory because that's a coincidence. I do know better. You can't assume future results based off the past happening differently. But I still think the meltdown cost us the game-and a huge opportunity to sweeten our tournament resume.

 

[NikeHawk21]

True, but the Kohl Center meltdown was unacceptable. That crowd, minus it's students, was dead and Wisconsin was sleepwalking through the game. We had the #3 team in the country on the ropes. Fran had to take all of that into consideration before going Triple H on the officials. The final margin was exactly the same as the number of technical free throws Brust converted.

What upset Fran in the first place was Nigel Hayes using his rear end to get position on Olesaini. Hayes was posting up strong. Gabe on the offensive end was fading away from the rim on his moves. Who do you think is going to get the calls?

I was at that game at the Kohl Center. My recollection was Hayes was putting his shoulder into Seni’s chest and Iowa was getting homied by the officials. Fran wanted the first T but accidentally hit the ref to get the ejection. That’s inexcusable no doubt. Chances are pretty high Iowa would have found a way to lose that game one way or another I suspect.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I was at that game at the Kohl Center. My recollection was Hayes was putting his shoulder into Seni’s chest and Iowa was getting homied by the officials. Fran wanted the first T but accidentally hit the ref to get the ejection. That’s inexcusable no doubt. Chances are pretty high Iowa would have found a way to lose that game one way or another I suspect.

I was there too. Obviously your recollection carries some weight. More than reasonable. Remember how cold it was that night?


EDIT: I just looked at the footage on YouTube to make sure my ducks were in a row. He looked like he wanted more one T. He charged the second ref who tried to put his hand up to block what he knew was coming. Fran bumped him pretty good. This went on for another thirty seconds, by which time Fran was, by rule, required to immediately leave the court. He then, with his own assistants in pursuit, charged toward the third ref at the opposite diagonal of the court. Very little of this looked contrived-his staff was trying to do whatever possible to prevent further damage.

Would we have found a way to lose that game? We'll never know. Bo's teams were at their best when they took time off the shot clock each possession and waited for the defense to break down. We could have sped them up down the stretch like we did when Cartwrigjht was here, making them shoot quick threes. Basabe was doing a good job on Dekker. Kaminsky was off. Hayes Brust and Gasser made the winning plays.