Good Coaches Can Have Poor Seasons

ChosenChildren

ChosenChildren

Well-Known Member
Mark D'antonio went 3-9 in 2016. Why wasn't he fired? Kirk Ferentz went 4-8 in 2012. Why wasn't he fired? (Good decision by the way, he went 28-12 from 2015 through 2017).
Matt Painter of Purdue went 5-13 in the Big Ten a few years ago, followed by another losing season. Why wasn't he fired?

McCaffrey is having an awful year. There is no doubt about that. But he has suffered injuries, and this is a very young team. He has recruited well. Iowa would be foolish to let him go now. With the new NCAA rules pending on transfers, most of Iowa's roster would leave with him, along with the good recruits. Patience will pay off. Stay the course, which is exactly what I expect will happen. He is an excellent coach, as has been proven over his entire career. I know that is a difficult concept for the anonymous, negative posters calling for his head to grasp, but it is reality.
 
Every situation is different and I think there's no correlation between football and basketball. I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether someone agrees with it or not. That said good coach or not (regardless of what anyone thinks) if he's lost his players and they are no longer playing for him or each other than something needs to be done.

But going after the "anonymous, negative posters" is no different than them going after the delusional "rainbows and unicorns" crowd. Just because some want change doesn't make them any less entitled to their own opinion as it does someone else.
 
ChosenChildren said:
Mark D'antonio went 3-9 in 2016. Why wasn't he fired? Kirk Ferentz went 4-8 in 2012. Why wasn't he fired? (Good decision by the way, he went 28-12 from 2015 through 2017).
Matt Painter of Purdue went 5-13 in the Big Ten a few years ago, followed by another losing season. Why wasn't he fired?

McCaffrey is having an awful year. There is no doubt about that. But he has suffered injuries, and this is a very young team. He has recruited well. Iowa would be foolish to let him go now. With the new NCAA rules pending on transfers, most of Iowa's roster would leave with him, along with the good recruits. Patience will pay off. Stay the course, which is exactly what I expect will happen. He is an excellent coach, as has been proven over his entire career. I know that is a difficult concept for the anonymous, negative posters calling for his head to grasp, but it is reality.
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Living in la la land
 
FirstDownHawkeyes said:
Losing and having a poor season isn’t the concerning thing. What’s concerning is how they are losing. They are gettting destroyed by average to poor teams and embarrassed by good teams. I’m sure they are but it LOOKS like they aren’t trying very hard.
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I agree - we're not close and that is even more disheartening. It does look like they aren't trying.

The only thing I can say is... this is basketball. 1 player can make the difference. The sport is 5 on 5 and things can change in a hurry. In fact, it happens a lot every single season. It happened to Iowa THIS season...but it also is happening to Wisconsin, Northwestern and Minnesota. Nebraska is going through the opposite. In college hoops - 1 player can change everything. I am also not selling that it's going to change at Iowa, it just has to for Fran to remain the coach. It also could happen with someone else at helm.
 
ChosenChildren said:
Mark D'antonio went 3-9 in 2016. Why wasn't he fired? Kirk Ferentz went 4-8 in 2012. Why wasn't he fired? (Good decision by the way, he went 28-12 from 2015 through 2017).
Matt Painter of Purdue went 5-13 in the Big Ten a few years ago, followed by another losing season. Why wasn't he fired?

McCaffrey is having an awful year. There is no doubt about that. But he has suffered injuries, and this is a very young team. He has recruited well. Iowa would be foolish to let him go now. With the new NCAA rules pending on transfers, most of Iowa's roster would leave with him, along with the good recruits. Patience will pay off. Stay the course, which is exactly what I expect will happen. He is an excellent coach, as has been proven over his entire career. I know that is a difficult concept for the anonymous, negative posters calling for his head to grasp, but it is reality.
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The coaches you mentioned accomplished a lot more in previous seasons than Fran ever has. Look at Dantonio's previous six seasons before his bad year. 39-9 in conference games. I'd say he was getting it done and had earned some good will, to say the least.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Dantonio

KF had won 2 conference titles, four Top 10 finishes, won the Orange Bowl a couple years prior to his 4-8 year. Not to mention, KF's buyout would have been HUGE thanks to our AD.

Matt Painter had also had some years finishing 1st-2nd in the conference. Purdue was in a bit of a lull there, but they've bounced back again.

There was prior proof that those coaches would be fine.

Not that Fran hasn't had SOME success at Iowa, but not at the levels the other coaches you mentioned have had. Not really an apples to apples comparison IMO. I'm not saying fire Fran NOW, but this would be a bit more valid of a comparison if he had won a conference title, had a deep NCAA run or two, had teams finish ranked in the Top 10-15, etc. It also would be easier to accept if this team was at least showing some promise despite the L's, but they're getting their doors blown off.

As for Fran recruiting well, it's hard to accept that when his 2014-15 classes were total disasters. That's biting us right now.
 
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ChosenChildren said:
Mark D'antonio went 3-9 in 2016. Why wasn't he fired? Kirk Ferentz went 4-8 in 2012. Why wasn't he fired? (Good decision by the way, he went 28-12 from 2015 through 2017).
Matt Painter of Purdue went 5-13 in the Big Ten a few years ago, followed by another losing season. Why wasn't he fired?

McCaffrey is having an awful year. There is no doubt about that. But he has suffered injuries, and this is a very young team. He has recruited well. Iowa would be foolish to let him go now. With the new NCAA rules pending on transfers, most of Iowa's roster would leave with him, along with the good recruits. Patience will pay off. Stay the course, which is exactly what I expect will happen. He is an excellent coach, as has been proven over his entire career. I know that is a difficult concept for the anonymous, negative posters calling for his head to grasp, but it is reality.
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head-up-your-ass.jpg
 
Look at other teams across the country and some injuries that have occurred and then see if you can seriously blame injuries for this team being so bad.
 
Hawk5656 said:
Look at other teams across the country and some injuries that have occurred and then see if you can seriously blame injuries for this team being so bad.
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Agreed. Injuries in my opinion are never a legitimate excuse as every team has them.
 
Good coaches usually have at least some good seasons.

This team is poorly coached. When Fran has guys to overcome that (marble, White, uthoff, Jok) they do average. This year they are probably the worst power 5 conference team.
 
kicker22 said:
Agreed. Injuries in my opinion are never a legitimate excuse as every team has them.
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You should really rethink this stance. You can't say team A losing an entire starting 5 for the season has no excuse because team B had his 8th man miss two games with a sprained ankle. That is an extreme example to prove that all injuries aren't created equal. That said, our injury bug has been fairly minor. Unless Bohannon is hurt worse than its being let on anyway.
 
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