Iowa Basketball stuck in Meh

You aren't joking. 4 star sophomore who's already 6'8" and beefier than Pat.
Fran will be 68 when his contract runs out, he's not a spring chicken, but he seems like he has a lot of years left in the tank. I am very hopeful he remains through Jack, and if that means we lock him up beyond the 27/28 year, fine by me.
 
Last I checked he's the 10th highest paid coach in the league and it's been a while since he's placed anywhere near 10th. Now, you see his kids publicly asking for more fan support. Do you think Fran wouldn't want to go coach at a place that fills it's barn? I bet he does. He is woefully underpaid and again, consistently produces high quality players and wins. Check yourself if you think Iowa has hand in this relationship. I think the fact that he could coach his own kids had a MAJOR impact in retaining a coach the quality of Fran.
I do think Fran is very loyal to IC and that plays a big part in it. I've heard him talk about the support he got from the community and state during Patrick's ordeal and the experience they had with the children's hospital being right there, and I can tell he doesn't think of Iowa City as just a job until the next one comes. Which is lucky for us.
 
Fran will be 68 when his contract runs out, he's not a spring chicken, but he seems like he has a lot of years left in the tank. I am very hopeful he remains through Jack, and if that means we lock him up beyond the 27/28 year, fine by me.
My hope is Connor comes on as a GA and Fran can last long enough to get him on staff as a jumping point to somewhere. I'm not saying he's going to jump to P6 basketball right away, but Connor is going to be a hell of a basketball coach at some point and I wouldn't be mad to see it be here. Obviously I'm not in his head and don't know what he wants out of life, but if I had to judge by what I've seen (escpecially in person during timeouts and warmups at the Minnesota game where he was hurt) and what people say, he's got the genes in his blood.

He's also got the Irish hellfire in him like his dad which is a quality I want, I don't give a shit what anyone says.
 
Fran will be 68 when his contract runs out, he's not a spring chicken, but he seems like he has a lot of years left in the tank. I am very hopeful he remains through Jack, and if that means we lock him up beyond the 27/28 year, fine by me.
My guess is that's how it'll play out. I mean unless something terrible happens with the program and we tank Licklighter style the next couple yrs. To me that's impossible without a wave of injuries to the best players. But never know.
 
My hope is Connor comes on as a GA and Fran can last long enough to get him on staff as a jumping point to somewhere. I'm not saying he's going to jump to P6 basketball right away, but Connor is going to be a hell of a basketball coach at some point and I wouldn't be mad to see it be here. Obviously I'm not in his head and don't know what he wants out of life, but if I had to judge by what I've seen (escpecially in person during timeouts and warmups at the Minnesota game where he was hurt) and what people say, he's got the genes in his blood.

He's also got the Irish hellfire in him like his dad which is a quality I want, I don't give a shit what anyone says.
I've always loved Fran's smugness and and DGAF attitude. A lot of people have used that to hang him but IMO, that's the kind of coach I want. The bigger whiner and cry baby he is, the better. I want a coach that is pissed when we lose, I want a coach that gets fired up...that sticks up for his kids. I love that he's a poor sport. I love that. I like that tells the refs what's up. I'll take that every day.

"Cause I said so" - i quote the dude at least 10 times a month. :)
 
Iowa Basketball is in the best position it's been in for almost 20 years. Meh? Hardly.

IMO, I think... FINALLY. 4 straight years of high quality basketball. This is where I've wanted to be for so long. The program is as healthy as it's ever been. Regularly going to the NCAA. Producing pro players. Guys going to the NBA draft. The guys in Fran's program also all seem to be high character humans. The only way to advance in March is to continue to give itself chances. Iowa is doing that. It's recruiting at a high level despite the fact that Iowa doesn't seem to be willing to get too involved in NIL. They likely have their 3rd All American on their roster in the last 3 years all with different names.

If this is MEH for Iowa fans, Iowa basketball can't be saved. I personally think Fran will eventually get fed up with it and leave for a school that has more resources, better fan support and obviously, he'll not be in the bottom half of the conference as far as pay.

There is a much better chance of Fran leaving Iowa for a better job then Iowa feeling the need to hire someone to take us to "another level".
Good take.
 
I have a boy that got an "and one" on him in 3rd grade. Fran was sitting on the end of the basket it happened witnessing. LOL.

Oh, and he's also a heck of a nice kid, quality kid.
You're higher up than me. My kid hit a double off Zach Lutmer last summer (stud Iowa football commit from CL-GLR) and he thought it was the most badass thing ever.
 
I'll date myself.

I was an Iowa student 78-82. A BB ticket was way way harder to get than a FB ticket as HF was bringing FB back out of the dark ages.

Lute and Gable ruled the campus. The old field house was packed and loud and raucous for every game regardless of the opponent. You could sell one game and pay for your entire student ticket price. Students were vocal. Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon games.

The on-court product is just as good today as back then.

So yes, this new age of 50% attendance befuddles me a bit. Although...CHA doesn't atone itself to comfort or noise...Big donors get the best seats...... TV covers every game now...Parking is still atrocious

No real answers here...just observations
 
Last edited:
You're higher up than me. My kid hit a double off Zach Lutmer last summer (stud Iowa football commit from CL-GLR) and he thought it was the most badass thing ever.
Not sure higher, but it was really cool. I presume the football player committed to Iowa was prob a pretty good pitcher. Those players are at a more developed age than 3rd grade. Good for him.

Oh, and Jack was pretty tall as a 3rd grader, too. Imagine that.
 
I'll date myself.

I was an Iowa student 78-82. A BB ticket was way way harder to get than a FB ticket as HF was bringing FB back out of the dark ages.

Lute and Gable ruled the campus. The old field house was packed and loud and raucous for every game regardless of the opponent. You could sell one game and pay for your entire student ticket price. Students were vocal. Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon games.

The on-court product is just as good today as back then.


So yes, this new age of 50% attendance befuddles me a bit. Although...CHA doesn't atone itself to comfort or noise..
Big donors get the best seats....
.. TV covers every game now...
Parking is still atrocious

No real answers here...just observations

I wish I could have gone to a game there. All valid points you make.
 
I wish I could have gone to a game there. All valid points you make.
Some tickets had "RV" on them....Restricted Vision due to the old girdors in use.

Field house was dated. A big curtain hung on the west edge of the court. AV was often hard to hear. The old steel benches were hard as a two week old Christmas fruit cake but would echo loud and clear. You could smell weed as one-hitters were the norm. Analog scoreboards told the games' tale.

Nobody cared about any of it. Tons of energy ruled the day/night. Always.
 
Some tickets had "RV" on them....Restricted Vision due to the old girdors in use.

Field house was dated. A big curtain hung on the west edge of the court. AV was often hard to hear. The old steel benches were hard as a two week old Christmas fruit cake but would echo loud and clear. You could smell weed as one-hitters were the norm. Analog scoreboards told the games' tale.

Nobody cared about any of it. Tons of energy ruled the day/night. Always.
Quite frankly, the old field house was awful. Loud, yes. Today fans would not sit in that antiquainted venue.
 
Quite frankly, the old field house was awful. Loud, yes. Today fans would not sit in that antiquainted venue.
Oh, I'm not denying the place was antiquated and needed to be retired, but, we didn't really know any better. We enjoyed what we had.

My point was it was a true home-court advantage for the reasons I listed. CHA doesn't have the same vibe and I've seen many games in both venues.
 
Some tickets had "RV" on them....Restricted Vision due to the old girdors in use.

Field house was dated. A big curtain hung on the west edge of the court. AV was often hard to hear. The old steel benches were hard as a two week old Christmas fruit cake but would echo loud and clear. You could smell weed as one-hitters were the norm. Analog scoreboards told the games' tale.

Nobody cared about any of it. Tons of energy ruled the day/night. Always.

For the record, I actually luv the smell of weed. Interestingly, I don't partake cause I don't know what the hell I am doing regarding that, but, I do enjoy a whiff when it goes by from time to time.
 
The bold isn't true, or hasn't been the last couple of years. Have you looked at the non-conf this year. It's pretty stout and Iowa has like a 5 game run of legit D1 teams heading into conference play. 5 in a row.
No argument there whatsoever, but that hasn't necessarily held ground for non-conference schedule in the past. I'm glad that we're playing who we are this year, but Fran has a history building experience for his players rather then building a decent resume before Christmas break.
 
The start times is a great point. Plus, I wonder if the state of the economy is affecting people attending. I wonder if they are cutting expenses that need to go to necessities. Not making this political but just a point that people may have shifted their spending. Also, families surely do have other commitments as far as activities at night. I know they play a heck of a lot more sports, games, practices, lessons than we ever did back in the 70's and 80's. There is usually something every night, even lessons for off season sports such as baseball.
I think you may have nailed it on both points. I'm sure for some economics play a part, but great point about youth sports. I made that initial comment coming from a parent/coach perspective. After you replied though it got me thinking about how many games I'd go to as a kid, while in college, or before I had kids and it got me thinking that one of the reasons I went to so many games (not just basketball) was because I didn't have all the other commitments and schedules that my kids do today and had more free time to just drop everything and head to Iowa City at the spur of the moment to catch a spontaneous game on a weeknight.
 
My hope is Connor comes on as a GA and Fran can last long enough to get him on staff as a jumping point to somewhere. I'm not saying he's going to jump to P6 basketball right away, but Connor is going to be a hell of a basketball coach at some point and I wouldn't be mad to see it be here. Obviously I'm not in his head and don't know what he wants out of life, but if I had to judge by what I've seen (escpecially in person during timeouts and warmups at the Minnesota game where he was hurt) and what people say, he's got the genes in his blood.

He's also got the Irish hellfire in him like his dad which is a quality I want, I don't give a shit what anyone says.
Watching Iowa basketball (offense, action, and a coach like Fran) are palate cleansing for hawk fans who sit through the football season and then transition to basketball.

With rare exceptions, all Iowa basketball games are pretty fun to watch, in my opinion. The same cannot be said for football, unless you like the feeling of impending dread and like to wonder about the progression of a peptic ulcer...
 
I would think it would be really challenging for folks to make weeknight games unless they live within an hour, no? Iowa City alone likely can't support an ongoing 15,500 attendance against non-conference teams, I would think. Perhaps I'm wrong but it's also a different era. Everyone has a lovely, big, TV and you can get hawkeye games all over the country. I live in Los Angeles now and watch the hawks against teams that in the past wouldn't even be televised. I would think TV makes a difference here as well.
Seems like a lot of Iowa fans move away from Iowa.
You are also correct that Iowa City is a small town and can't expect to fill a 15,000 seat arena nightly.

Bloomington is the closest thing to Iowa City in the Big10 and they have history to ride on.
 

Latest posts

Top