Unfortunately this thread has devolved into a discussion of what was or has been and not what needs to be.
Back to Pat Harty's column, which was the subject of the original post, I believe Fran still is the man. But his plan needs some adjustment. It's hard for Iowa fans to look up the road and see what another coach has managed to do reviving a program, going 90-47 over the same period of time, winning the Big 12 championship and appearing in the NCAA tournament three of his four years.
As others have opined, April 2016 looms large in Fran's future, IMHO. He has two more years to continue to bring the program back from the cellar and put it on a solid foundation for the future. It is not there yet. If he is not able to accomplish those goals over the next two years, Gary Barta needs to take a hard look at his hire and see whether it is time to move in another direction.
It is obvious that Fran is a hard worker and travels a lot attempting to get good players to come to Iowa. But he can't do it all himself, and things he does when back in Iowa City perhaps are hurting him on the recruiting trail. A better W-L record and expected appearances in the NCAA will help recruiting immensely. But what can Fran do to tweak his plan to get us to the NCAA routinely? My thoughts:
1) Put a strong recruiting assistant on staff. Something's not working here. I don't know who needs to go to create the capacity for a better recruiter but Fran simply needs someone who can get in early on not only high school players but also JUCOs and possible transfers, and stay on them.
2) Add NBA experience to the staff. The person hired in No. 1 needs to bring his own set of contacts at the next level. That's what a lot of recruits are looking for.
3) Improved game management. Successful programs give the most playing time to the best players; there's little effort to spread available minutes around to all players on the roster. Fran's substitution patterns were mystifying at times the last two years. Unless there was something that those of us watching from the seats in CHA or in front of our TVs weren't aware of (player injury, player needing a breather, etc.), Fran needed to ride his main horses longer. Watch the opponent's substitutions and find better match-ups. Call time-outs when needed to set up a winning play, or set the defense for a last stand. IMHO, Fran's game management was his own worst enemy in several games last year, costing his team some critical wins.
4) Control the anger. Passion is fine. Losing your temper, or continuing to berate or move aggressively towards the officials when you already have one technical or already are on thin ice, is not. Not only did it hurt his team in some key games, my guess is it doesn't play well with recruits watching from home. When Fran was hired, I spotted a Siena fan's comment in the reader section of the local New York paper to the effect of "good-riddance" to the Fran and Marj McCaffery sideshow from Fran's time there. Marj, who had a couple well-publicized blow-ups over officiating while Fran was at Siena, seems to have gotten her act under control at Iowa. Fran? Well... He needs to do a better job of focusing on the game, his players and his game strategy, and less at blowing up at the officials.
I want Fran to succeed at Iowa. He's at a critical junction right now on whether he does.
