Is Fran a good basketball coach?
- Thread starter phdsvp
- Start date
D
DDThompson
Guest
Wait. Whaaa....
"There's nothing more meatbally and annoying (and ineveitable) than college sports fan calling out the coach."
--bcl20
http://hawkeyenation.com/forum/showthread.php?68383-I-ve-had-enough-of-this-experiment
hawkforlife9
Well-Known Member
I'm afraid Ben Jacobson will take him to the woodshed. Ben is better then Fred.
D
DDThompson
Guest
Now there's sense to that. Good point.
And without the emotional personal attacks.
Never heard so many men sound like women on PMS. (No, I'm not talking about you).
bcl20
Well-Known Member
I don't think reminiscing about the awesomeness of the second best coaching era in my Iowa basketball lifetime is calling anyone out.
Also, I would have just put my quote in a quote box. Your way looks sloppy and stupid.
lightning1
Well-Known Member
At this point I would have to say that he is a mediocre basketball coach. As much as I like the guy and love hearing him talk basketball, he just isn't getting it done. But having seen Barta operate, I can't say as I am surprised. Mediocre seems to be Barta's stock and trade.
I can't tell if it's coaching or the players. Both mostly but wtf does he tell them at half? Idc if the players looked like crap at the start of the 2nd half. Nobody gets ran like that for it not to be coaching too. He stood there and had no clue what to do. His half court sets work in the first half but come second half isu made adjustments that iowa couldn't handle. Iowa makes no half time adjustments it looks like. It looks like they just go sit in there in silence then come back out. Sorry but Fran doesn't know how to coach during a game. Ive watched this team have too many bad second halves to not questiom if it's just the coaching at half time.
SpecialKHawk
Well-Known Member
It comes down to being able to recruit players. Always has, always will. Our overall talent is not good enough. We have a lot of nice role players but many, if not all have deficiencies in their games due to talent limitations.
Iowa City is a tough place to attract basketball players to for whatever reasons. There is no tolerance by the University brass to cheat or work the margins. There is extreme shame for an OWI on a moped so it is not a place that recruits see as 'player friendly' as well. If we could do anything more to set up a less winning environment I would be surprised.
Last, we also torched the positive history we did have when we hired Licklighter and have never fully recovered. That hire was devastating.
Can Fran coach better? Yes, of course but better players make coaches look better in the end.
Iowa City is a tough place to attract basketball players to for whatever reasons. There is no tolerance by the University brass to cheat or work the margins. There is extreme shame for an OWI on a moped so it is not a place that recruits see as 'player friendly' as well. If we could do anything more to set up a less winning environment I would be surprised.
Last, we also torched the positive history we did have when we hired Licklighter and have never fully recovered. That hire was devastating.
Can Fran coach better? Yes, of course but better players make coaches look better in the end.
GuyIncognito
Active Member
Correct! He scored only 39%, while coach Hoiberg scored 51% of his shots. Give us a break!
It is easy to be a great BB coach when you have the best players in the nation, but it is very difficult when they are not. Iowa does not have them, nor do a great many other schools. However, according to some posters, Fran should be fired, and Iowa should hire some other bumbler. LOL.
It is easy to be a great BB coach when you have the best players in the nation, but it is very difficult when they are not. Iowa does not have them, nor do a great many other schools. However, according to some posters, Fran should be fired, and Iowa should hire some other bumbler. LOL.
Bad recruiting and bad in game coach from what I've seen. Looks lost a lot of the time and kills the team outta the half. I dont understand what he says to them in the locker room that they keep failing in the 2nd half. Sure its the players as well but it starts with the coaching. I think he game plans well before the game but thats about it.
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
Agreed. I think Fran knows what he's doing and he's built other programs before and has experience. That said, doing it at UNCG, Lehigh and Siena are one thing, but doing it in a major conference like the Big Ten is a different matter. The jury is still out, but I'm starting to have my doubts that Iowa hoops hasn't already hit its ceiling under his coaching.
If you ask me, there is a recruiting/player development issue. Maybe both. I watch Iowa State these last 3 years, and you'd have to be blind not to see the difference between their players and ours.
Alford was/is an arrogant jerk, and although I'm not going to brag too much on his 3 NCAA trips in 8 years, I ask myself "what has Fran produced ON COURT that matches or exceeds Alford?"
1 NCAA "first four" loss in his first four years, and it honestly doesn't look promising that Iowa will be an NCAA team this year, either.
HawkPrdatr40
Well-Known Member
This is spot on.. Success at this level comes from the x and o's..
SpecialKHawk
Well-Known Member
I disagree as X and O's matter when you have the players.
Fran has his best recruiting class coming with 2 Chicago guys and one playing at Oak Hill. Not saying this is all world but we need more like this.
I agree that the jury is still out on Fran but what many fail to fully grasp is how far we have sunk as a program on a national level after Licklighter. Alford has gone onto to have some success but we tanked so nationally who came out looking like the idiot?
Here is what has had to happen. Fran has needed to win with less overall until we can do enough to rebuild our image nationally to get better players. He got us close the last 2 seasons, but not quite there. With some minor success now we pulled in 4 more players that are better in general than what we could before. That's how you build it over time. Now these four have to help us move forward another notch.
You cannot look at Ames for a blue print. That is a one in a million deal. No one else they could have hired would have these results. Look across the landscape of the nation against programs in similar shape to Iowa and you will find many failures.
We need some more patience and support. The worst thing in bball right now is to turn over another coach. Then we are officially labeled a graveyard program and good luck getting anybody. Then you are down to luck. How good do you feel about out chances of getting lucky?
Its the recruiting...as always, in both bb and fb, that is the challenge.
Every time we hire a coach in these sports, we need to hire a super-recruiter, first and foremost. SA's name got him some good classes. Fran has had dozens of misses on recruits, and it is haunting us. This 2015 class is better but still ranked 9th in the league....Is that good enough to elevate us?
Every time we hire a coach in these sports, we need to hire a super-recruiter, first and foremost. SA's name got him some good classes. Fran has had dozens of misses on recruits, and it is haunting us. This 2015 class is better but still ranked 9th in the league....Is that good enough to elevate us?
1977Hawkeye
Well-Known Member
I agree with you, but this will not happen at Iowa under the current administration, IMO.
When both Lick and Fran were hired, and I forget the exact quote, but Barta said something to the effect of finding a coach who "Best exemplifies the morals of the state of Iowa". That pretty much is going to get you mediocre recruiting.
That might be putting it bluntly, but recruiting is a dirty business, and if the UofI won't hire a coach who is willing to get his hands a little dirty in this regard, then I'd expect more of the same, unless Iowa gets lucky and somehow finds the next Lute Olson.
