Howe column

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Originally Posted by Playmaker
Tool? Well you are a fool. A fool for walking in lockstep with Bowlsby and now Barta, and putting up with mediocre coaching and recruiting efforts year after year after year. I guess you are one of those Iowans just happy to cheer on "your boys" no matter what the product is....I honestly hope you were not fooled by the last football season.....because more of 2014 is right around the corner when the schedule gets tougher.
What a miserable existence this must be.




Why people choose to live with this much angst is beyond me. Makes for a looooong life.

 
Playmaker said:
------I'm done with this discussion.

Um...ok. Who asked you to respond? But I did unintentionally did draw you off sides, so it's 1st down and 5 yards to go for me.

------If you think Fran and the team sucks and an abomination, own it and don't call out a writer for pointing it out.

I never said the team sucks....but I do think that both Fran and KF are severely overrated and deserve short leashes. I own everything.....the only thing that I called you out for was the crutch of only criticizing in the 3rd person.
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Keep fighting the good fight. And by good fight I mean dumb fight.

You'll be gone soon enough though...and then back with a new alt. What's old is new again...
 
ESPN Classic showed the 2002 Iowa-Wisconsin Big Ten tournament game, where Wisconsin was the 1 seed and Iowa was the 9 seed.
That was the season, where we were returning everybody (Recker, Reggie, Brody, Pierce, etc.), except Dean Oliver and Jason Smith.
We finished with a 5-11 record. Yes, we made it to the Big Ten Tournament final, but got blasted by Ohio State.

At this stage, to me, that felt more disappointing than this season.
 
Playmaker said:
------I'm done with this discussion.

Um...ok. Who asked you to respond? But I did unintentionally did draw you off sides, so it's 1st down and 5 yards to go for me.

------If you think Fran and the team sucks and an abomination, own it and don't call out a writer for pointing it out.

I never said the team sucks....but I do think that both Fran and KF are severely overrated and deserve short leashes. I own everything.....the only thing that I called you out for was the crutch of only criticizing in the 3rd person.
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The program was a wasteland six years ago. Fran's Hawkeyes have gone 12-6 two years in a row. How is that overrated in the context of where the program has been? Fran and Kirk needing to have short leases is just laughable.

I'd recommend taking a week or two off from the message boards and go try to gain a perspective.
 
Rob has solid columns, but not every column can be an A.
Heck, I have below average days, at my place of employment.

Fans were frustrated and venting, when we were this close to winning a regular season Big Ten title and lost it.
This is human nature, and the "fair weather fan" card is always a cheap shot.
 
Scooby said:
ESPN Classic showed the 2002 Iowa-Wisconsin Big Ten tournament game, where Wisconsin was the 1 seed and Iowa was the 9 seed.
That was the season, where we were returning everybody (Recker, Reggie, Brody, Pierce, etc.), except Dean Oliver and Jason Smith.
We finished with a 5-11 record. Yes, we made it to the Big Ten Tournament final, but got blasted by Ohio State.

At this stage, to me, that felt more disappointing than this season.
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Well it should.
 
Yawn....

Garvey - KF had a short leash going into the season, so I would hardly call it laughable given his propensity to have 1 great season followed by 4-5 crappy ones. It's what he has done for 20 years with the exception of 2002-2004.

And for Fran to lose 5 of 7 with 4 seniors is inexcusable....especially given the fact that Indiana was not expected to do what they did.
 
Playmaker said:
Yawn....

Garvey - KF had a short leash going into the season, so I would hardly call it laughable given his propensity to have 1 great season followed by 4-5 crappy ones. It's what he has done for 20 years with the exception of 2002-2004.

And for Fran to lose 5 of 7 with 4 seniors is inexcusable....especially given the fact that Indiana was not expected to do what they did.
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If you're a glass-half-empty kind of person, that is how you would see things. Or if you're expecting Ohio St. results in football or Duke results in basketball from the University of Iowa that is also what you would see.
 
Playmaker said:
Yawn....

Garvey - KF had a short leash going into the season, so I would hardly call it laughable given his propensity to have 1 great season followed by 4-5 crappy ones. It's what he has done for 20 years with the exception of 2002-2004.

And for Fran to lose 5 of 7 with 4 seniors is inexcusable....especially given the fact that Indiana was not expected to do what they did.
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12-6 and tied for 3rd in Big 10 for second strait year is far from short leash material. I don't care how you got there. And how does Indiana over performing have anything to do with how long the iowa coach's leash is?
 
PCHawk said:
12-6 and tied for 3rd in Big 10 for second strait year is far from short leash material. I don't care how you got there. And how does Indiana over performing have anything to do with how long the iowa coach's leash is?
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Not to mention, where, exactly, does he think the Hawks were picked to finish?
 
Playmaker said:
Tool? Well you are a fool. A fool for walking in lockstep with Bowlsby and now Barta, and putting up with mediocre coaching and recruiting efforts year after year after year. I guess you are one of those Iowans just happy to cheer on "your boys" no matter what the product is....I honestly hope you were not fooled by the last football season.....because more of 2014 is right around the corner when the schedule gets tougher.
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<<because more of 2014 is right around the corner when the schedule gets tougher>>

This confirms what I have always believed about you, Haymaker, and that is this: you either don't really like the Hawks, or you WANT them or the coach to fail.
 
Yawn is right.

You wanting KF to have had a short leash and him actually having a short leash are 2 very different things. And why do you assume the next 4 years will be bad...oh yeah...cause you're you.

Yawn...indeed.
 
Anyone like to apologize right about now? KF aside....you still think Fran doesn't deserve a short leash? BS!!!!
 
Iowa has lost 7 of last 8 or something like that. That's a fact. Pessimism would be saying this 8 games ago. Iowa is in a tailspin. I'm an Iowa fan so I was invested and worse, I believed. That's why it hurts so much now. For whatever reason these 3 seniors just are not clutch. Jok lost his cool, that was not smart or unselfish. Can this team turn it around, I believe so. I guess that makes me optimistic or an idiot I don't know anymore.
 
I had defended him from most criticism over the years but with yet another Fran McCaffrey-coached team choking away a promising season I can no longer do so. He has lost me. Barta needs to start looking now for a new coach, 'cause the current one just ain't getting it done.
 
tweeterhawk said:
I had defended him from most criticism over the years but with yet another Fran McCaffrey-coached team choking away a promising season I can no longer do so. He has lost me. Barta needs to start looking now for a new coach, 'cause the current one just ain't getting it done.
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What would you do differently with this team? When I look at it objectively it's just not that talented. I can see why outsiders picked us 9th pre-season. You have 2 pretty darn good players in JU & Jok but outside of that who can carry the team or play both ends of the court consistently? My answer is zero. In some ways squeezing out 12 wins with a sweep of MSU, Purdue & Michigan was a hell of a job. At the same time the coach recruited the players and is responsible for the results but the results as a whole are not bad considering the entire team make up.

The winning streak really raised expectations for the fan base to unrealistic heights. It added pressure to the players & coach who cannot handle pressure. If the 12-6 had been accomplished a different way fans would be reacting differently.

Let's see over the next 2 years what the next group of guys look like. If we have the same issues then maybe it's time to consider moving on. The worst decisions in life are often rash decisions made on emotion.
 
Playmaker said:
Anyone like to apologize right about now? KF aside....you still think Fran doesn't deserve a short leash? BS!!!!
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Have a snickers, you're cranky when you're hungry!

Fran is a good coach and the Hawks are having a great season.
 
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SpecialKHawk said:
What would you do differently with this team? When I look at it objectively it's just not that talented. I can see why outsiders picked us 9th pre-season. You have 2 pretty darn good players in JU & Jok but outside of that who can carry the team or play both ends of the court consistently? My answer is zero. In some ways squeezing out 12 wins with a sweep of MSU, Purdue & Michigan was a hell of a job. At the same time the coach recruited the players and is responsible for the results but the results as a whole are not bad considering the entire team make up.

The winning streak really raised expectations for the fan base to unrealistic heights. It added pressure to the players & coach who cannot handle pressure. If the 12-6 had been accomplished a different way fans would be reacting differently.

Let's see over the next 2 years what the next group of guys look like. If we have the same issues then maybe it's time to consider moving on. The worst decisions in life are often rash decisions made on emotion.
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Fran was able to recruit what was considered at the time a solid duo from the Sioux City area and decided to rebuild the program around them. Who knows how much PT was promised in order to get them to Iowa City? Obviously a lot. Fran then appeared to do nothing to recruit talent equal to or better than what he had at those two positions. When your starting point guard and center turn out to be just OK, not elites, you wind up relying on other players and it becomes easier for other coaches to game plan around you. When things started getting tough in the second half of recent seasons, Fran had no options at center and point guard. Hence the late season swoons we've seen.

Iowa was hurt this year by poor recruiting and by late game management that Kirk Ferentz would appreciate.
 
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