I’m done with Fran

The bad news is Iowa lost. The terrible news is Fran probably won't get the conference coach of the year award. I have a feeling they were probably looking past Minnesota toward Michigan after the Michigan State loss. Iowa does have talent so if the bottom falls out in the last half of the conference it will seem like a typical Iowa basketball year under Fran. The defensive game plan against Minnesota didn't seem very good.
 
Ok, I’ll lay-off KF and Barta and out my two cents in this thread.

It’s not the end of the world YET that we lost a big ten conference game on the road. The conference is very good and beating any team on the road is very difficult to do. Also, losing to MSU on our court is also not the end of the world. It happens to some of the best teams.

Now having said that it is vital for us to win most of the remaining games at home. We should be able to. If we steal another one on the road then that is just gravy. We still get into the tournament and likely get a win in the first round. After that all bets are off because usually the first round is made up of teams from inferior conferences and in the second round things get real.

I’ve been honestly trying to be more optimistic for both major sports. Even commenting how a win against Mississippi State would set us up nicely heading into next football conference. The NFL draft severely dented that hope.

I tried to get some hope up towards the basketball program and called for a nice winning streak. I was glad to see it happen. Did we lose two in a row? Yes, and against one of the best teams in the conference and also to a rival on their own court. It’s not the end of the world as I just mentioned if we protect our home court.

You all know I’ve been hard on Fran for over three years now. Even took some heat from a few on here. So for me to say let’s be patient and see how the rest of the season pans out, well that’s hard for me to do but I am trying to be fair. If we tank, then I will be back to calling for Fran and Barta’s head. As long as the pretty boy AD from the University of Wyoming is here NOTHING is going to change. Wyoming??? Yep that’s where I would go to find a successful AD. Sometimes you can’t make this $h!t up.
 
BigD said:
Ok, I’ll lay-off KF and Barta and out my two cents in this thread.

It’s not the end of the world YET that we lost a big ten conference game on the road. The conference is very good and beating any team on the road is very difficult to do. Also, losing to MSU on our court is also not the end of the world. It happens to some of the best teams.

Now having said that it is vital for us to win most of the remaining games at home. We should be able to. If we steal another one on the road then that is just gravy. We still get into the tournament and likely get a win in the first round. After that all bets are off because usually the first round is made up of teams from inferior conferences and in the second round things get real.

I’ve been honestly trying to be more optimistic for both major sports. Even commenting how a win against Mississippi State would set us up nicely heading into next football conference. The NFL draft severely dented that hope.

I tried to get some hope up towards the basketball program and called for a nice winning streak. I was glad to see it happen. Did we lose two in a row? Yes, and against one of the best teams in the conference and also to a rival on their own court. It’s not the end of the world as I just mentioned if we protect our home court.

You all know I’ve been hard on Fran for over three years now. Even took some heat from a few on here. So for me to say let’s be patient and see how the rest of the season pans out, well that’s hard for me to do but I am trying to be fair. If we tank, then I will be back to calling for Fran and Barta’s head. As long as the pretty boy AD from the University of Wyoming is here NOTHING is going to change. Wyoming??? Yep that’s where I would go to find a successful AD. Sometimes you can’t make this $h!t up.
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You receive the award for for saying "I" the most in this post. I congratulate you.
 
Fryowa said:
And when your teams have been this bad for this long, the tirades start to come off as cry babying rather than sticking up for your team. I don’t remember the last lost we had, close or blowout, where Fran didn’t go psycho at some point.

Even the super awkward stare down he had with Rob after the MSU game was way overboard. I didn’t think it was an unreasonable or low blow question at all. He just asked if he thought they were aggressive enough and the foul totals would even suggest that. Fran gave him the weird googly eyes and then got all red faced and animated like Rob just kicked his dog or something.

I don’t know what he’s upset about anyway. He’s got the second most secure job in the state by a country mile.
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Yeah, this kind of crap makes him look bad.
 
Fryowa said:
We’ve played extremely well when both Cook and Bohannon were on the bench, and that’s not just exaggeration.
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I didn't understand all the love the announcers were giving Cook, saying he played brilliantly. From my POV Cook played terribly, it may have been the worst I've ever seen him play. He was missing easy shots, missing free throws, refused to give the ball up when he got it in the open court, and was schooled on the defensive end. He wound up with 18 points, because they kept feeding him the ball, but that came with FIVE turnovers!

JB disappearing in that game blew my mind. JB didn't even attempt a 3 point shot, the first time in his career.
 
A lot of the coaching reminds me of poor junior high coaching- totally lacking in any kind of discipline. Examples:
1) Time after time, your power forward dribbling full court with no regard for the situation in front of him. It looks like middle school basketball. What do the coaches say.... " everybody get out of Tyler's way?!" What coaching staff tolerates such undisciplined basketball?
2) Benching the " starters" to "send a message". Why? Bench the guys who aren't getting it done. By simply benching the 'starters' you're not fair to the guys who are working hard( Luka Garza for example), you divide your team, and you demonstrate that you really don't know what to do. You see this childish coaching move at lower levels, but not in big time basketball.
3) Inability to use a time out in an effort to stem the tide. Nope, just watch it happen- time after time.
4) Making a total fool out if yourself by screaming at officials when it's you and your team that aren't getting it done. It's a bad look for our program and it's hard to imagine your team having much discipline when you don't have it yourself.
5) Your signature "late game" offense consists of getting your ball to your best player, then telling everyone else to get out of his way. We've watched it for years.. no set play, no execution, just one on one play.

This is my last post. I'm done with Fran. In my opinion, he's in over his head.
 
ssckelley said:
I didn't understand all the love the announcers were giving Cook, saying he played brilliantly. From my POV Cook played terribly, it may have been the worst I've ever seen him play. He was missing easy shots, missing free throws, refused to give the ball up when he got it in the open court, and was schooled on the defensive end. He wound up with 18 points, because they kept feeding him the ball, but that came with FIVE turnovers!

JB disappearing in that game blew my mind. JB didn't even attempt a 3 point shot, the first time in his career.
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Note to Cook: You have to have the ABILITY to take over a game, especially full court, before you decide to take over a game. Otherwise, you are giving the game AWAY, and disrespecting your team mates in the process. How many times does Fran have to see this wanton give away before he does something? Perhaps I don't want to know the answer, or I already do know.
 
revkev73 said:
Note to Cook: You have to have the ABILITY to take over a game, especially full court, before you decide to take over a game. Otherwise, you are giving the game AWAY, and disrespecting your team mates in the process. How many times does Fran have to see this wanton give away before he does something? Perhaps I don't want to know the answer, or I already do know.
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He pulls JB after a couple of quick turnovers, our best shooter (Moss) gets yanked after a couple of defensive miscues, but for some reason Cook can turn the ball over 5 times and he gets a pass.

Fran must have made some serious promises to get Cook to come to Iowa, that's all I can come up with.
 
ssckelley said:
He pulls JB after a couple of quick turnovers, our best shooter (Moss) gets yanked after a couple of defensive miscues, but for some reason Cook can turn the ball over 5 times and he gets a pass.

Fran must have made some serious promises to get Cook to come to Iowa, that's all I can come up with.
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Cook is trying to "showcase" his multiple NBA skills. Fran has bought into the act.
 
My problem with Fran is that he isn’t exceptional at anything. He’s just an average coach at best. He’s not awful at anything. His style is fun. But I don’t have any expectations that Iowa men’s hoops will be anything more than average.

We should of dumped Fran after he dug is out of the Litchlighter hole. I think I would be fonder if the guy then. Average and fun sounded just fine then. Now, it just makes me loose interest in the program.
 
smitharooney said:
It will not change until he recruits better.
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100% correct. More specifically, at the PG position. He has missed on Tyler Ulis and DJ Carton. There was also the Trey Dickerson experiment that failed. If he hasn't landed a legit PG who can play in the big ten by now then I'm not sure he is going to.
 
TJR said:
A lot of the coaching reminds me of poor junior high coaching- totally lacking in any kind of discipline. Examples:
1) Time after time, your power forward dribbling full court with no regard for the situation in front of him. It looks like middle school basketball. What do the coaches say.... " everybody get out of Tyler's way?!" What coaching staff tolerates such undisciplined basketball?
2) Benching the " starters" to "send a message". Why? Bench the guys who aren't getting it done. By simply benching the 'starters' you're not fair to the guys who are working hard( Luka Garza for example), you divide your team, and you demonstrate that you really don't know what to do. You see this childish coaching move at lower levels, but not in big time basketball.
3) Inability to use a time out in an effort to stem the tide. Nope, just watch it happen- time after time.
4) Making a total fool out if yourself by screaming at officials when it's you and your team that aren't getting it done. It's a bad look for our program and it's hard to imagine your team having much discipline when you don't have it yourself.
5) Your signature "late game" offense consists of getting your ball to your best player, then telling everyone else to get out of his way. We've watched it for years.. no set play, no execution, just one on one play.

This is my last post. I'm done with Fran. In my opinion, he's in over his head.
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Garza was in the lane, walled up to draw a charge too early, defender went right by him for a lay up.

I think it might have been right after that play or shortly after when they subbed.

I like Garza but again, nobody was getting it done on D.
 
hoxrock said:
100% correct. More specifically, at the PG position. He has missed on Tyler Ulis and DJ Carton. There was also the Trey Dickerson experiment that failed. If he hasn't landed a legit PG who can play in the big ten by now then I'm not sure he is going to.
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Are you saying Tousaint is no good?
 
TJR said:
As a coach, how many times do you watch your power forward grab a defensive rebound and dribble full court into traffic before you tell him to get it to a guard? Why was Garza left on the bench so long in the 2nd half? I'm sorry, but I vote no confidence in this coaching staff. ( Not to mention giving up 55 points to Minnesota in the first half!)
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This exactly bcuz tyler cook has terrible hands, terrible handles, he bobbles so many nice interior passes to him, he losses so many dribbles. I hope Cook really improves his handles but they are not very good. Looses the ball going for dunks and it is probably a reason he doesnt finish close to the rim pretty often when he gets bumped.

Get the rebound and pass it ahead instead of turning and looking upcourt which gives the defense a couple steps to recover.

Fran's earlier teams new how to run a fast break.
 
ssckelley said:
He pulls JB after a couple of quick turnovers, our best shooter (Moss) gets yanked after a couple of defensive miscues, but for some reason Cook can turn the ball over 5 times and he gets a pass.

Fran must have made some serious promises to get Cook to come to Iowa, that's all I can come up with.
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We don’t have any other Bigs. You really can’t play Kriener and Garza together. Their combined lack of footspeed on the defensive end is way too much to overcome in either man or zone.

You can try gong small wth Baer at the 4 but against Minny that creates a huge mismatch with Murphy being their 4 man.

So I agree Cook should be benched for bad play but I’m not sure who you can put out there. This team could have used Nunge as he has more footspeed than Garza, Kriener, and Pemsl.
 
I really think we'd better get the 5 wins we need to make Tourney, or Fran is in deep water. No one is going to show up to Carver for a NIT game. Get it done.
 
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