Fran the rebuilder

franstheman

franstheman

Well-Known Member
Fran is known for going from school to school building programs from the bottom to the top. Do you think he views Iowa as his final destination where he can build a big time power and retire or is this just a stepping stone to the ultimate stop for Fran?
 
I keep thinking we are just a stop but he has said numerous times that he is happy here. It also helps that it is fairly close to the in-laws, but not too close. He has such a great group of assistants though, I think if he were to leave we would be able to promote from within and still be fine.
 
Casey388 said:
I keep thinking we are just a stop but he has said numerous times that he is happy here. It also helps that it is fairly close to the in-laws, but not too close. He has such a great group of assistants though, I think if he were to leave we would be able to promote from within and still be fine.
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So did Mr.-UCLA

He's my age (55), coaching in the best league in the nation. If he's going to make the move, it'll have to be in the next 3-4 years IMO.

Being entrenched and coaching in your 60s is one thing....expending the energy to correct a deteriorated program, quite another.
 
I don't see Fran going anywhere. He could be hot on the market if he comes up big this year but I think that will jus get him a fat extension.
 
the rebuilding job here isn't finished until a sweet 16

unless players start getting arrested or he loses control of the program, he ain't leaving

at worst, the program stays where it is (18+ wins, NIT). that won't get him fired after lick and alf.

this is his last stop
 
hawkfan33 said:
I still wouldn't be surprised if the Bulls look into him if they fire Thibs at some point this year.
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Thibs aint getting fired. He actually should have been COY in all three seasons in Chicago. Fran is a college guy, I think He loves his players and wants to guide them to successful lives. He has young kids and will not want to be on the road in an NBA grind. I think he might leave if he finds that even a saleman on his level cannot lure out of state players to Iowa City. It has to get discouraging to spend so much time on a kid like Ulis only to come up just short.
 
I think he stays. He is in the BIG. He'll be able to lure the top 100 kids when Iowa starts making its deep runs in the NCAA.
 
His image as a chair slammer forever burned in my memory and that's the first frame on the fat roll of films
th
in my brain.
 
I think Fran has done a good job of recruiting players from Iowa that have been life long Iowa fans, as long as there are recruits that want to go to Iowa I think he will do well.
 
Yeah, Fran has jumped around to a few different jobs in his career, but keep in mind that his first few gigs weren't in the Big Ten, either. Any job in the Big Ten is much higher profile than Lehigh, UNCG or Siena... Not that there aren't better jobs out there than Iowa, but I'm not overly worried about Fran bolting.

If he has so much success at Iowa that a bigger program poaches him from us, that means to me that he would be leaving us in a great spot to attract the next coach (a win-win for us, whether Fran stays or goes), which sure beats the situation we were in when we hired Fran, coming off of maybe the worst 3-year stretch in program history.

Or things may not work out as well as we hope, in which case, I don't think we have to worry about a big time program coming along, but I don't want to even think about failure...
 
tiberius said:
I think Fran has done a good job of recruiting players from Iowa that have been life long Iowa fans, as long as there are recruits that want to go to Iowa I think he will do well.
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If Fran can't get good players from out of state, I don't think it's going to be due to lack of effort.. I'm curious to see what kind of recruits he can pull in if/when Iowa starts making the NCAA's with more regularity. Iowa still (officially) hasn't been in the NCAA Tournament since 2006 and doesn't have a national reputation yet, so I still try to take that into account when judging Fran's recruiting skills.

The players he's brought in sure beats what we saw under the previous coach, though.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
If Fran can't get good players from out of state, I don't think it's going to be due to lack of effort.. I'm curious to see what kind of recruits he can pull in if/when Iowa starts making the NCAA's with more regularity. Iowa still (officially) hasn't been in the NCAA Tournament since 2006 and doesn't have a national reputation yet, so I still try to take that into account when judging Fran's recruiting skills.

The players he's brought in sure beats what we saw under the previous coach, though.
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I have a feeling the previous coach would have found a way to make these players look bad. How good can a player/team look passing the ball around for 33 seconds and then taking a set shot from 3?
 
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