Fran's got a great gig...

NikeHawk21 said:
I don’t think the point is that he has never won a close game, I think the point is that he has a very very poor record in close games, which is true. All @PCHawk Is saying is that he believes it was a product of that class of players, particularly MG who was probably the most unclutch player of all time. We will see if that is more of a product of those players or Fran going forward.

Last year for instance we were 4-4 in OT games/ games decided by 5 points or less. I can tell you MG’s class was well below 50% in those contests.
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I agree with PC and you on that. I really felt like as great as that class was, they didn't always possess the killer instinct or clutch jean. Typically their big pressure "wins" were blow outs. That doesn't mean they didn't win ANY close games. But, really, if it was close with 2 minutes left, I didn't have a ton of faith in that group getting it done. I know Fran takes that blame cause he's the coach, but some of it is on the players. None of them had a lot of swag. I think we have a lot of potential for that now, they just have to get better. I believe they will.
 
seepig said:
Really so why do we pay all this money and time to search for a coach? So our standard is to finish in the bottom half of the conference and we're ok with that?! Ok then I think we should just pay coaches less.
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When was the last time Iowa finished in the bottom half of the conference? Fran's first season?
 
Ok let's put this to bed and compare what Fran has done at Iowa to what Dana Altman has done at Oregon.

Altman Fran
Win PCt. .730 .575 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD
NCAA App. 5 3
Conf. Champs 2 0 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD
Con. Tourn. Champ . 2 0 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD

Two schools not really considered bball blue bloods, Power 5 conf. Both coaches are in their 8th year. I would take Altman's results over FRanimal in a heart beat.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
I agree the number is much higher than 5 but I think the point still remains. Now we need Fran to take the success to the next level, we will see if he’s the man to do it.
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Leave it to message boards to nit pick a random number and ignore the point. It probably is more than the first number I threw out without thinking, but it isn't much more. Programs don't fire coaches who finish 5th, 3rd, 3rd, 6th, 6th in their conference. Especially when thats right after the worst stretch in that program's history.

Internet posters can want to fire a coach for being slightly above average right after being terrible. But anyone with a brain wouldn't do it. Wanting the "next level" after a couple decades of the same level is one thing. Demanding the next level right after you've already jumped about 5 levels is another.
 
seepig said:
Ok let's put this to bed and compare what Fran has done at Iowa to what Dana Altman has done at Oregon.

Altman Fran
Win PCt. .730 .575 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD
NCAA App. 5 3
Conf. Champs 2 0 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD
Con. Tourn. Champ . 2 0 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD

Two schools not really considered bball blue bloods, Power 5 conf. Both coaches are in their 8th year. I would take Altman's results over FRanimal in a heart beat.
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So Fran isn't the best non blue blood coach in the nation. Congrats on breaking that news to us.
 
InGoodCo said:
I agree with PC and you on that. I really felt like as great as that class was, they didn't always possess the killer instinct or clutch jean. Typically their big pressure "wins" were blow outs. That doesn't mean they didn't win ANY close games. But, really, if it was close with 2 minutes left, I didn't have a ton of faith in that group getting it done. I know Fran takes that blame cause he's the coach, but some of it is on the players. None of them had a lot of swag. I think we have a lot of potential for that now, they just have to get better. I believe they will.
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I don't think a coach has much control over that aspect. But imagine if that class did posses that instinct. Fran would possibly have 3 straight conference titles. It's actually crazy to think how good that team was without hardly winning a 50/50 game with 2 minutes left.
 
Hawk5656 said:
This is a very unique strategy you are going with here. It's the former players fault for not winning high pressure games but it's not Fran's fault for recruiting those players. I think all the successes and failures fall on the head coach. They are responsibile for recruiting the players and getting them mentally and physically ready to play.
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We were a terrible program and we recruited players that had that success without hardly ever winning close games. I'd say Fran did pretty good with who he brought in. Especially since I think Gesell lost his confidence his sophomore year at ISU.
 
seepig said:
Congratulations you found 1 year out of 8. I believe we are tied for last currently. You wanna bet we don't finish 12-6 in conference play this year?
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Tied for last after 2 games out 18, time to pack it in, panic, fire people and give up. It's particularly time to reflect on the season over all. 12-6 will be very difficult to accomplish. You'd have to be a real "bud" to take that bet.
 
PCHawk said:
Well you can't say what you said when we've already challenged for one.
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"I'd settle for at least "challenging for a conference title" ... you mention they just did 2 seasons ago and the ole classic "well, 1 year out of blah response"...

these threads write themselves.
 
seepig said:
Congratulations you found 1 year out of 8. I believe we are tied for last currently. You wanna bet we don't finish 12-6 in conference play this year?
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So if we keep firing coaches with the results Fran has had, do you think the odds are better that we end up like Wisconsin has been, or end up like we were under Lick?
 
"So our standard is to finish in the bottom half of the conference and we're ok with that?"

someone points out that hasn't happened since Fran's first couple of seasons.....

this thread is like a paint by #'s...

we just need a "Fran can't recruit a PG" after having a 4 year starter and an All B1G freshman kick in the nuts and we'll be complete.
 
seepig said:
Ok let's put this to bed and compare what Fran has done at Iowa to what Dana Altman has done at Oregon.

Altman Fran
Win PCt. .730 .575 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD
NCAA App. 5 3
Conf. Champs 2 0 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD
Con. Tourn. Champ . 2 0 NOT EVEN CLOSE BUD

Two schools not really considered bball blue bloods, Power 5 conf. Both coaches are in their 8th year. I would take Altman's results over FRanimal in a heart beat.
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Oregon went to the elite 8 as recently as 2007 so I think you could make an argument that Altman inherited a program in a much better state.

Also if I was a coach I would much rather coach at Nike University than the University of Iowa.

Altman has been great and better than Fran no doubt, but also in a better situation imo.
 
PCHawk said:
So if we keep firing coaches with the results Fran has had, do you think the odds are better that we end up like Wisconsin has been, or end up like we were under Lick?
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Fran is a mediocre coach but if you fire him are you going to bring in a good coach or a bad coach? That's the million dollar question. If we got rid of Barta and brought in a competent AD I would feel a lot better about our chances of bringing in an upgrade over Fran if we went that route.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
Oregon went to the elite 8 as recently as 2007 so I think you could make an argument that Altman inherited a program in a much better state.

Also if I was a coach I would much rather coach at Nike University than the University of Iowa.

Altman has been great and better than Fran no doubt, but also in a better situation imo.
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I have a conspiracy theory on Altman that this is as good of place to share as any. I believe Iowa passed on him TWICE....and honestly, the majority of this board hated the idea of him being hired BOTH times. Altman's attitude would go over in IC like a ton of bricks, but I really wanted him, and I think we'd all take the results that OR has had recently.

But, here goes, when Lick was hired.... leading up to it, there were rumors all around the Creighton folks that Altman was in IC interviewing. There were rumors on Hawkeyenation of the same thing. He had 1 foot here, had decided he was leaving CU. Iowa spurned him, went with Lick. Altman left CU 2 days later and went to Arkansas. He was in Arkansas for a cup of coffee and returned back to CU a few days later after having a change of heart.

Fast forward to when Iowa fired Lick. Altman was still at Creighton. His name came up once again for the job. Iowa hires Fran. A couple of days later he bolts for Oregon. I shared this theory with Tom Shatel from the Omaha World Herald who knows Dana on a personal level, and he all but confirmed there was a lot of truth to it. Iowa didn't want Dana and that's always pissed me off.
 
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