Iowa Basketball Needs to Start Healing

Heck yes Jon Miller! Glad you posted this! Some of this bashing is poison. I am proud to be an Iowa fan and one of the reasons is because of our great sportsmanship as fans. We've been voted the best before and want more than anything to keep it this way! All you bashers better shape up or ship out! Welcome aboard Fran McCaffery! Go Hawks!
 
deezhawknuts said:
Heck yes Jon Miller! Glad you posted this! Some of this bashing is poison. I am proud to be an Iowa fan and one of the reasons is because of our great sportsmanship as fans. We've been voted the best before and want more than anything to keep it this way! All you bashers better shape up or ship out! Welcome aboard Fran McCaffery! Go Hawks!
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Doesn't the sportsmanship award normally go to the worst team at any given event?
 
I thought I remembered this right. Here's something I really like about Iowa coach McCaffery. He's his own man.



In the final regular-season ballot for the USA TODAY/ESPN coaches' poll, Siena coach Fran McCaffery made a strong statement for mid-major teams with his votes.

McCaffery voted three teams from outside the power six conferences into the top 10 in his ballot, including Butler (No. 4), Temple (No. 5) and Northern Iowa (No. 8).

After all the 31 coaches' votes were tabulated, Butler landed at No. 8, Temple at No. 13 and Northern Iowa at No. 24.

McCaffery's placement of Northern Iowa was six spots higher than any other coach. Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli had the Panthers at No. 14 in his ballot.

"I would not have voted them where I did if I had not played against them," McCaffery said Monday. "I have good knowledge of their program and know how good they are."

But that's not even the highest McCaffery has voted Northern Iowa on the season.

The Siena coach first put the Panthers in his ballot on Dec. 28 at No. 25. The next week, he moved them up 12 spots to No. 13. By Feb. 8, they were up to No. 6. After a loss to Bradley that week, McCaffery slid the Panthers back down to No. 21.

As Northern Iowa and the other schools climbed McCaffery's ballot, several big-name schools had to fall.

Villanova was ranked No. 9 after Sunday's final votes were all counted. But McCaffery had the Wildcats at No. 20 in his ballot. For the Top 25 poll released on March 1, McCaffery did not have Villanova in his ballot at all.

"I love Villanova. I think they can make the Final Four," McCaffery said. "But Villanova lost a bunch of games recently. If a team is losing, I don't keep them up there because I think they're good. Maybe that's wrong. But I keep them in. I just move them down. If a team goes 2-0 in a week I might move them up. If they 0-2 or 1-1 in a week, I drop them."

About the ommission on his bracket two weeks ago, McCaffery said that was in error.

"I think that was a mistake, an oversight because Villanova should be in the top 25 at all times," he said.

Kansas State landed at No. 7 in Sunday's full tally, but McCaffery listed them at No. 16. Last week, he had them at No. 18. The Wildcats are a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Syracuse, which earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, landed at No. 9 in McCaffery's ballot.

Here's where McCaffery ranked other non-power conference schools on his ballot, with where they finished in the final Top 25 in parenthesis:
- New Mexico at No. 10 -- (10th)
- Brigham Young at No. 11 -- (tied for 16th)
- Texas El-Paso at No. 13 -- (25th)
- Richmond at No. 22 -- (unranked)
- Siena at No. 24 -- (unranked)
- Cornell at No. 25 -- (unranked)
 
It's a new era and each Hawkeye should show their support. The basketball program needs it.

I'm on the wagon. Let's get back to NCAA bids soon.
 
JonDMiller said:
Folks, I get that there were people that maybe wanted to see Iowa go after and hire that didn't get the job. And I understand a little venting.

But at some time soon, people need to rally around Fran McCaffery and the hire, otherwise one of the factors we will evaluate the next time around related to the Iowa job is that there is a poison factor in the fanbase that will make this job look unattractive.

He's not a household name; neither was Lute. Neither was Tom Davis, other than he run a funky system.

I don't think Gary Barta is stupid. He knows how important this hire was not only to the future of the program, but for his future, too; seldom does an Athletic Director get to make a third hire for a basketball job if the first two didn't work out. So Barta is all in on this guy, too.

Fran McCaffery wanted to be at Iowa, too...take that into account.

He will have a brand new practice and training facility in about 14 months, too...that will give him more bullets in his gun than the previous two coaches had...and that is not insignificant. This will help in recruiting, the biggest challenge he will have at Iowa.

He plays an exciting, up tempo style, and will press if need be to change the momentum and fortunes of the game...I like that.

I will write more on this later, but at some point in time very soon, and for no other reason that he is now the head coach at Iowa, people need to rally around him and give him a chance to do his job...otherwise you will need look no further than in the mirror for one of the reasons why the Iowa job isn't as attractive as it once was.
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im with ya jon. cheers to a new beginning and go hawks
 
Herkeynerd said:
Classless. :(
Tell that to Francis Scott Key! Wrote our Star-Spangled-Banner. Can be boy or girl!
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Say what you will about Fran, but I will not stand by while you bad mouth the United States of America!

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JonDMiller said:
Folks, I get that there were people that maybe wanted to see Iowa go after and hire that didn't get the job. And I understand a little venting.

But at some time soon, people need to rally around Fran McCaffery and the hire, otherwise one of the factors we will evaluate the next time around related to the Iowa job is that there is a poison factor in the fanbase that will make this job look unattractive.

I will write more on this later, but at some point in time very soon, and for no other reason that he is now the head coach at Iowa, people need to rally around him and give him a chance to do his job...otherwise you will need look no further than in the mirror for one of the reasons why the Iowa job isn't as attractive as it once was.
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Jon,

To blame the current state of Iowa basketball on the fans is, frankly, beneath you (one would hope). FWIW The 'poison' in this situation is the university administration and to a lesser extent the ADs office - not the fans.
 
On Iowa!!

This is a great hire and I'm excited about the future of Hawkeye Basketball!

Let's get behind coach and welcome him and his family to the Hawkeye Nation!

Go Hawks!
 
I wish the guy luck. The Iowa program probably needed a re-boot, and maybe this is the guy to get it done. Bottom line, nobody knows how this guy will do until he has a couple seasons under his belt. At any rate, Iowa fans need to give this guy a chance and see what he can do.
 
Sorry Jon, but if barta wanted to bring back Iowa basketball and to start the healing, he would have been smart enough not to go out and hire another MID-MAJOR coach, all this si going to do is split the fan base from day one. Sorry not excited about the hire at all, and really puts another why give a rats *** about Iowa basketball more credit.
 
latrans said:
Jon,

To blame the current state of Iowa basketball on the fans is, frankly, beneath you (one would hope). FWIW The 'poison' in this situation is the university administration and to a lesser extent the ADs office - not the fans.
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Whew..that's good, because I didn't blame the current state of affairs on the fans.

I do think that if Fran doesn't work out and if he will have had to battle pissin and moanin from the fans from his hire forward, the next time Iowa has a coaching search, the pool of candidates is going to know that...and the job will be even less attractive then as it was now.
 
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