Fran

Fran knows more about coaching basketball than all of us on this board combined, times 10 (at least). Let's not ever forget where this program was after years of treading water under Alford and then sinking like a boulder under Lickliter. Some programs never, ever recover from that. We all want better, no doubt, and I think they'll get there under Fran's guidance. The vitriol is unfounded in my judgment.
 
Fran has 1 less conference regular season win than the great Tom Izzo over the last 2 years. He had tougher conference schedules than MSU both years too.
 
AlmaMaterIowa said:
Fran knows more about coaching basketball than all of us on this board combined, times 10 (at least). Let's not ever forget where this program was after years of treading water under Alford and then sinking like a boulder under Lickliter. Some programs never, ever recover from that. We all want better, no doubt, and I think they'll get there under Fran's guidance. The vitriol is unfounded in my judgment.
Click to expand...

If in 6 more years, Fran only has 4 more tournament appearances and 2 or 3 more tournament wins, I might be bored with him and be ready for a change since he's nearing the end of his career anyway. We will probably be able to find a pretty good replacement being a program that has 7 NCAA appearances in the last 9 years.

But I'm sure not ready for a change. First of all. My expectations aren't stupid high yet since we were terrible for so long. Secondly, our program isn't on good enough footing to bring in a coach that has any decent chance to actually do better than Fran. A coach would have to be an idiot to want to risk his career coming to a school who fires a coach for doing what Fran has done.
 
AlmaMaterIowa said:
Fran knows more about coaching basketball than all of us on this board combined, times 10 (at least). Let's not ever forget where this program was after years of treading water under Alford and then sinking like a boulder under Lickliter. Some programs never, ever recover from that. We all want better, no doubt, and I think they'll get there under Fran's guidance. The vitriol is unfounded in my judgment.
Click to expand...
If I am a rocket surgeon, you still have the right to criticize me if I screw up a simple math problem.
 
Yea all the in game coaching criticism is completely fine and makes for some good discussion. It's the people who want Fran fired that Crack me up. Of course that makes for good discussion too.
 
I know not much about basketball but two questions?

seems like the players and the coach have some inside conflict that started half way through the season anyone else suspect the players don't respect or like the coach? I watch other teams where the players and coach often give each other hugs and nods of approval?

Also when the opposition is on a run, seems like Fran never calls a time out to disrupt the runs and collect his team? Iowa actually outscored Villanova the second half. Maybe with better strategic time outs he could have lessoned the margin and provided Iowa some chance in the second half.
 
Hawk90 said:
Hey genius, I watched Gatens play throughout his high school and his college career. He was a good shooter.....that's about it. He had little to no defensive skills, he was slow. If a quicker player was guarding him, it was over. He was a big fish in a little pond during the Lick years. Could he have played on another Big 10 team...absolutely, started....no way. He was a good kid, no doubt, but he was no star.
Click to expand...

I don't see anyone calling him a star. That said, Gatens actually became a very good defender, but I think maybe you missed his Senior season at Iowa. Gatens was a good player who was never gonna be a star of stars, he needed the team around him to really shine. The thing you have to remember is that Gatens was the only player with a pulse in his career, so teams knew shut him down and game over. The Senior version showed a bigger game than seen previously, but he had a few decent pcs around him as well, but again you probably missed his final season at Iowa.
 
SteveGarvey said:
The truth is this team being a 7 seed and winning only game in the NCAAs the last two years was about the ceiling based on the talent Fran had to play with. Considering the garbage heap the program had become before he took over, I'd say that's pretty good because it's pretty hard to recruit based on the recent history that was Iowa basketball before Fran got there.

That doesn't mean there aren't things to criticize him about (like his baffling non-use of timeouts) but to say he isn't a good coach has no basis.
Click to expand...

Great post, the Iowa environment was toxic when Fran took over. Players leaving, no fans and probably the worst job at the time in the power 6 teams, now power 5, not historically, but at that moment in time. His first 2 years were lost before he started, but 2nd year on they have exceeded expectations. Fran is a good coach, players improve and are competitive more often than not.
Iowa still lacks athleticism overall and heading into next year, as this year front court depth.
Expect some drop off next season, but losing 4 Sr starters will do that.
 
I think Fran is very good at identifying talent. He just needs to be able to land a couple of these bigger fish and then see what happens. Sometimes as hard as you try to sell things they just still don't want to come and there is nothing you can do about it. I certainly wouldn't want to have the recruiting issues that some schools have, like Louisville. Just keep finding good players and hope you can land some good ones.
 
PCHawk said:
Come on man. You make it sound like Baer was our best player this year.
Click to expand...
PCHawk said:
He happened to be really good this one game and he happens to be a kid that didn't look like he deserved a scholarship 2 years ago. That doesn't mean anything bad.

If Ellingson came in and drilled 6 3's does that mean Fran built a crappy program? Who cares who our top performer was during one individual game as long as that top performer performed well.
Click to expand...

Wrong. He was the best player today. That's great for Nick...he's been a wonderful surprise this year.

Doesn't say much about a team with 4 starting Seniors when a walk-on Frosh is your best performer in a second round NCAA game. But if you didn't catch that the first time...you probably won't this time either.
 
PCHawk said:
If in 6 more years, Fran only has 4 more tournament appearances and 2 or 3 more tournament wins, I might be bored with him and be ready for a change since he's nearing the end of his career anyway. We will probably be able to find a pretty good replacement being a program that has 7 NCAA appearances in the last 9 years.

But I'm sure not ready for a change. First of all. My expectations aren't stupid high yet since we were terrible for so long. Secondly, our program isn't on good enough footing to bring in a coach that has any decent chance to actually do better than Fran. A coach would have to be an idiot to want to risk his career coming to a school who fires a coach for doing what Fran has done.
Click to expand...

It will be 7 years before Patrick runs out of eligibility. So everyone can settle in for the long haul.
 
WindsorHawk said:
It will be 7 years before Patrick runs out of eligibility. So everyone can settle in for the long haul.
Click to expand...
Little lick was still on the team when his dad was run out. Based on the state tournament, I don't see Patrick being much of a step up. Bye bye Fran.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:


Wrong. He was the best player today. That's great for Nick...he's been a wonderful surprise this year.

Doesn't say much about a team with 4 starting Seniors when a walk-on Frosh is your best performer in a second round NCAA game. But if you didn't catch that the first time...you probably won't this time either.
Click to expand...


I guess I don't get it since he had a great game. Now if a freshman walk on had a bad game and was still the best player that night I would see a problem. If Baer would have made all his 3's he shot and ended with 24 or 27 points, does that mean there is an even bigger problem since the walk on played even better?
 
Hawk90 said:
Little lick was still on the team when his dad was run out. Based on the state tournament, I don't see Patrick being much of a step up. Bye bye Fran.
Click to expand...

A freshman played in the state championship. That's a little impressive by itself. My guess is he'll probably improve quite a bit. Hell also likely get taller and bigger.

Fran is here for quite a while, my guess is likely at least 4-5 years.

Deal.
 
Nova under Jay Wright...

2002 - NIT
2003 - NIT
2004 - NIT
2005 - Sweet 16
2006 - Elite 8
2007 - NCAA 1st round loss
2008 - Sweet 16
2009 - Final 4
2010 - NCAA 2nd round loss
2011 - NCAA 1st round loss
2012 - 13-19 record and no postseason
2013 - NCAA 1st round loss
2014 - NCAA 2nd round loss
2015 - NCAA 2nd round loss
2016 - NCAA Champions

The 1st three years were NIT. Four out of the next 5 years were Sweet 16 or better. The next 7 years there was no Sweet 16 and 1 year with a losing record. This year is a National Championship.

Look at Bo Ryan's numbers and they are similar. He was in the NCAA every year. He went to the Sweet 16 four times and the Elite 8 once in his first 10 years. His final 2 years he was in the Final 4 and the National Championship game.

So it took Wright (a very good coach) 15 years to win a championship. It took Ryan (a very good coach) 12 years to make it to the championship game.

So is it fair to judge Fran after 6 seasons? Are Iowa fans patient enough to let Fran go through the ups and downs before the team with great chemistry and talent makes a deep run? I guess the good news (for those of us that think Fran can do it) is fans won't be deciding. And I think the administration is going to give him some time.
 
I am a big Fran fan. The next few years will be pivotal and will tell us a lot. But thus far, he's done a great job. Barring something tragic or very unforseen, I think he'll be at Iowa for at least 3-5 more years, and I'm glad for it.
 
Hawk90 said:
Little lick was still on the team when his dad was run out. Based on the state tournament, I don't see Patrick being much of a step up. Bye bye Fran.
Click to expand...

This may be the stupidest post I've seen in a long time. You are going to predict how a kid is going to do based on his 9th grade season. Amazing tell us who's paying you the big bucks for your scouting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top