Iowa's current recruiting ranking according to this site

[HawkGold]

I understand the sentiment for sure, but the reality is that it’s ridiculously hard to find any coaches to begin with, let alone make it tougher for them to stay on staff. There are 453 high schools in the state of Iowa, so you have 453 head coaches for every sport and 800-1,000 assistants. Something like what you’re suggesting just isn’t feasible. Ideally would it be a good thing? Sure. But you’re not going to get people to go along with it, they’ll just quit. The reason they had to introduce the transitional authorization was because it was so hard to get new coaches hired.

USSSA has an A, B, and C classification system for coaches that involves more complex clinics at each level. My experience is that guys go to the classes because they have to in order to do more things, not necessarily learn the game. Also, if you have someone who is dedicated enough to coach club baseball, that person is already experienced enough that they’re not really learning anything new other than maybe some practice ideas. The deeper game knowledge and strategy is already there or they wouldn’t be trying to coach at a more advanced club level to begin with.

Where coaching clinics and required continuing ed would really help is at the recreational level for parents trying to coach but not knowing what they’re doing. I have a couple sophomore kids out for baseball right now who can’t hit a ball off a tee. They either whiff completely or knock the tee over. Never seen anything like it at that age. Like, how do you consistently hit 6" over or below the ball 20 times in a row and never get lucky and hit the ball once? I don't get it. Can’t catch a ball hardly and they sure as hell can’t throw. But.... their class never had a parent who played baseball or even softball so every practice they had since kindergarten was a complete joke and now they’re screwed. Part of that is, yes, a problem with the local rec departments. But what do you do about it? As a high school coach with limited time, how many hours can I spend with sophomores trying to get them to at least make contact off a tee when they should’ve learned that at age 5? Especially since they’d be facing varsity level pitching if I ever put them in a game and there’s no way they’d be able to hit anyway. As much as I hate it, it’s a lost cause at this point because their window for learning the fundamentals is over and at some point they will quit because of no playing time. It’s a super vicious circle.

How many times have you seen the biggest most mature kid in grade school and junior high be done growing and the immature skinny kid not get playing time that turns out to be bigger, stronger and faster.

 

[Knight78]

How many times have you seen the biggest most mature kid in grade school and junior high be done growing and the immature skinny kid not get playing time that turns out to be bigger, stronger and faster.

I was that "immature skinny kid not get playing time". As a high school freshman I was a 5'10" way-too-skinny kid who just enjoyed sports even though I wasn't good at anything other than baseball. By my high school junior year I was 6'6" (still way too skinny) but found a love for basketball; I was still quite uncoordinated, tripping over the black lines on the floor, but I loved playing. To contrast that, one of my brothers was 5'11" in the sixth grade and today at 60 he's 5'11 1/2".

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Plenty of times, I watch "Incredible Hulk." I see a man changed into a big green monster!View attachment 7866

Never. Never...piss off Bill Bixby

 

[atomicblue224]

Never. Never...piss off Bill Bixby

Or Lou Ferringno

 

[InGoodCo]

Not that recruiting doesn't matter, because it definitely does, but it doesn't really matter that much at Iowa. It's more of a developmental program.

in 2020 we had the 11th ranked B1G class - finished 3rd
in 2019 we had the 11th ranked B1G class - finished 5th
in 2018 we had the 12th ranked B1G class - finished 6th
In 2017 we had our best class of the last 4 years, ranked 9th - but we finished 11th. That's kind of the outlier season as if we continue to go down the years until we get to Fran's first few you will always see the team finish well beyond where their program ranked in the recruiting rankings.

It's always been one of my big pro Fran arguments, he, for the most part, always finishes way above his recruiting rankings as well as comparative to what he's paid vs the rest of the conference.

He hasn't got out of the first weekend in the NCAA though and ultimately, that's all that really matters. I think he will - I think he will do it in the next 3 to 4 seasons. I am one that doesn't think the cupboard is all that bare. Yes, they are losing a ton, but I am excited about what we have knowing how good our staff is at making players.

Still feel this way

 

[ChosenChildren]

Making the Sweet 16 is a function of your initial seed. Earn a 5 seed or better, and your odds of making the Sweet 16 go up a whole lot!

The problem with Fran's NCAA teams is that with the exception of last year, Fran tends to come in with a seed of 7 or worse into the tournament. That means he runs into a very highly seeded team in the second round.