Fran McCaffrey deserves to be fired

[McNutt7gets6]

I watched the first half and was mesmerized by "The Big U" (great performance). Turned it off at halftime. I knew what was coming so I turned it off and didn't let it ruin my night. I'll sleep fine tonight without those nasty images in my head.

 

[PCHawk]

Fran is the master of game planning....the guy really is a basketball genius in this regard. However, when the noose tightens at the end of games, he's completely lost and always has been. He doesn't have the ability to strategize and deal with the "unknown" when things start going off-****** or off-game plan. His leadership in end game situations is consistently non-existent and its those situations that separate great coaches from avg ones.

What makes Fran so good is how he instills confidence in his players. It's that mindset that leads him to let his players win the game at the end. It obviously hasn't worked out too well but where would players like Marble and White be without that coaching philosophy? People see a coach that blows leads at the end of games. I see a coach who has put together teams that can compete with anyone for the last 4 years.

 

[metahawk]

There was not a single person in the world outside of the team and a few fans thought Iowa was going to win. Fran takes his unranked team into a very difficult venue to play, and loses by one point. And now some of you whiners want him fired. Haven't any of you hysterical beeyotches learned from the FIRE FERRENTZ crowd to shut your stupid mouths? Obviously not. Learn some loyalty. Spineless nags like you are 90% of everything that's wrong with this country.

Agree. I didn't expect Iowa to even compete with ISU this year. I like how this team is playing so far. I also don't miss Aaron White as much - the offense seems to flow nicely at times, more so than last year. Good warmup for MSU, and no shame in losing by 1 at Hilton. Lots to work on, most everything can be corrected, including end of game discipline.

 

[PCHawk]

I watched the first half and was mesmerized by "The Big U" (great performance). Turned it off at halftime. I knew what was coming so I turned it off and didn't let it ruin my night. I'll sleep fine tonight without those nasty images in my head.

I highly doubt anyone who doesn't even care enough to bother watching the 2nd half could care enough to have the outcome ruin their night.

 

[theboat]

What makes Fran so good is how he instills confidence in his players. It's that mindset that leads him to let his players win the game at the end. It obviously hasn't worked out too well but where would players like Marble and White be without that coaching philosophy? People see a coach that blows leads at the end of games. I see a coach who has put together teams that can compete with anyone for the last 4 years.

If that is confidence then yikes.

Coaching up builds confidence. Winning builds confidence. letting them wallow in their fright at end of games and **** it away builds more fear.

 

[theboat]

Lots to work on, most everything can be corrected, including end of game discipline.

Look, Israel and Palestine may someday get along too, but there are years of evidence to the contrary.

 

[Hawk4Fan]

He's light years better than our previous two coaches. Yes, we should have won. Yes, that sucked.

But step back from the ledge.

The sad part is he is not as a game coach, he might be far worse than either

 

[Hawk4Fan]

Agree. I didn't expect Iowa to even compete with ISU this year. I like how this team is playing so far. I also don't miss Aaron White as much - the offense seems to flow nicely at times, more so than last year. Good warmup for MSU, and no shame in losing by 1 at Hilton. Lots to work on, most everything can be corrected, including end of game discipline.

Not with a coach who is clueless as a baby at end of tight games...never seen such a clueless turd at the end of games as Fran is.

 

[Knight78]

Typical Iowa ISU game......Iowa gives it away in the end.

I've watched Iowa St play a lot of game last year and this year. To restate your post, "Typical ISU game.... down big in the first half and come back late."

Yes, I think Iowa handed them the game. Yes I think blatantly obvious calls were missed. But the way this game went is pretty much how Iowa St plays EVERY game.

 

[blubberhawk]

What makes Fran so good is how he instills confidence in his players. It's that mindset that leads him to let his players win the game at the end. It obviously hasn't worked out too well but where would players like Marble and White be without that coaching philosophy? People see a coach that blows leads at the end of games. I see a coach who has put together teams that can compete with anyone for the last 4 years.

Only problem with that philosophy is that Compete has to = win at some point. Finding ways to "compete" while ending up blowing the game means absolutely nothing to me. I would have felt no better last night had Iowa lost by 20.

Iowa dominated the first half. Somehow in my heart, I knew they would blow it in the second. I recorded the second half and turned it over to the Vikings game. I checked the score every few minutes on my phone. 20 point lead, then 16, then 13, down to single digits. Then the 6 point lead and the ball with only a minute to go. I thought, maybe we will hang on. How stupid was I. A few minutes later, I checked my phone and saw the inevitable, 83-82 score, ISU. So glad I did not watch the cookie crumble. I deleted the recording as soon as I found out they lost. Just another night of Hawkeye basketball.

 

[Knight78]

Call a fricken time out Fran and set up a play...just terrible.

OK... just to be the devil's advocate... Uthoff got a pretty good look for the last shot. I don't think we get a much better look if we set up a play and we give ISU's defense a chance to regroup and talk about their defense. Heck, we even got the rebound off of Uthoff's miss and but for a split second had a game-winning layup.

The point is there were a lot of little plays leading up to the final 10 seconds. Iowa missed a lot of shots and played more passively during the second half. The team needs to develop the killer instinct... when they have a team down, figuratively put their boot on the opponent's throat and keep them down. Last night we had them down and let them back up.

 

[PCHawk]

Did anyone watch that awkward show where coaches sat around and talked while they ate? They were talking about how funny it was how a coach could draw up a perfect play and miss a wide open shots and fans think he sucks. But the play could completely break down and someone could throw in a miracle shot and fans would say he was awesome. They all agreed that end of games were all about the players making plays and had almost nothing to do with coaching.

The way I see it, we lost some games a few years ago that we shouldn't have and it has gotten into the players heads and snowballed.

 

[1hawkeye1]

I swear I saw Ronnie Harmon on the floor in a Hawkeye uniform.

 

[Knight78]

ISU pressed so we panicked and threw the ball inbounds to out best ballhandler, Woodbury. Then ran our patented stand around and run the shot clock down then have Gesell throw something up.

Have you watched ANY basketball other than this game? My guess is 95% of teams' press breakers inbound the ball to either their center or their power forward (both are there for the inbound pass); and over half have their taller forward inbound the ball. Woody being there to catch the inbound is what SHOULD happen. He then should immediately look for one of the guards to pass off to.

How soon we forget: who did Mr. Davis have inbound the ball against the press? Usually Roy Marble. Who did Roy throw it to to inbound the ball? Brad Lohaus. And who did Brad look for right away to pass the ball to? BJ Armstrong. So our forward who could handle the ball and make decisions (Marble / Uthoff) inbounded the ball to our center (Lohaus / Woodbury) who immediately looks for the point guard (Armstrong / Gesell). When you get down to X's and O's they don't change that much.

 

[QuadCityHawkeye]

Doesn't deserve to be fire but he needs to re-think his no timeout strategy. It's backfired more times than I can remember.

He also needs to win these close ones. His coaching sucks the last few minutes of ballgames. Both before half and to end games. It's frustrating as all hell.

 

[Knight78]

The loss really, really sucks. But it's crazy the leaps in judgement people have after an emotional game. Iowa got blown out by iSu last year and still had a good season.

We didn't just get blown out last year... we got blown out in our own house last year. And yet somehow we managed to win more NCAA tournament games than the team that blew us out last year. There's a lot of the season left but the same thing could happen this year.

 

[kicker22]

Agree. I didn't expect Iowa to even compete with ISU this year. I like how this team is playing so far. I also don't miss Aaron White as much - the offense seems to flow nicely at times, more so than last year. Good warmup for MSU, and no shame in losing by 1 at Hilton. Lots to work on, most everything can be corrected, including end of game discipline.

There is shame in losing by 1 at Hilton when you had a 20 pt. lead in the second half. If this was a game that we didn't have a chance in or were fighting to stay alive the majority of it then I think that statement hits the mark. We owned them the first half and were the dominant team. They made the changes we made the mistakes. While you may be right that not many thought we had a chance going in, but there is shame. The run we allowed and our inability to keep possession in the final minute ruined everything we'd built up in the first half. They should be ashamed of the loss.

 

[metahawk]

Look, Israel and Palestine may someday get along too, but there are years of evidence to the contrary.

You missed the point, and compared apples to oranges all in one shot. Nice.

I had assumed a talent gap preventing this team from hanging with number 4 at Hilton. Instead, the issues this team seams to have are correctable. Also, I'm noticing lots of selective memory. Some Iowa teams under Fran have shown the ability to close out games. But keep thinking up more non-reality for the Fire Fran threads, whatever works.

 

[hawkeyescott]

There's a reason this group of coaches and players have never had a winning record in the B10.

They were 12-6 last year in the Big Ten.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

You missed the point, and compared apples to oranges all in one shot. Nice.

I had assumed a talent gap preventing this team from hanging with number 4 at Hilton. Instead, the issues this team seams to have are correctable. Also, I'm noticing lots of selective memory. Some Iowa teams under Fran have shown the ability to close out games. But keep thinking up more non-reality for the Fire Fran threads, whatever works.

Not against good teams, Fran hasn't beaten a B10 team with a winning record in three years.