Jon's new article

[BlacknGold19]

That didn't have the effect on me you hoped it would. You're gonna have to try harder than douchebag.

Don’t care what effect it had on you. Maybe you should go for a walk and think about what’s important in life instead of bringing up other people’s kids and parenting skills on a message board because you disagree with their views of an athletic program.

 

[Fryowa]

Don’t care what effect it had on you. Maybe you should go for a walk and think about what’s important in life instead of bringing up other people’s kids and parenting skills on a message board because you disagree with their views of an athletic program.

All I said was that I hope you don't teach your kids to be defeatists. I'm not going to feel bad about it no matter how long of a walk I go on.

 

[InGoodCo]

Wisconsin blocked Uthoff’s transfer to Iowa. So any schools that weren’t blocked could communicate with him while we couldn’t. He chose to attend Iowa and pay his own way for one year. It was a very unique situation.

Now I think Fran deserves some credit for turning our program around and his playing style helped to attract JU.

The problem with some of the really negative posters, and the troll56, is they won't ever give Fran credit for anything.

For instance if a guy doesn’t improve as much as they’d like they say Fran sucks at developing players. But then when someone brings up a Marble or Olaseni they say well he just got lucky.

Same thing for recruiting. They say he’s lucky White turned out as good as he was. Once you get into that place where you can’t give Fran credit for literally anything it’s hard to have a sane conversation.

I recognize that Fran has done some good here, but I’m ready to move on given everything I’ve seen.

Fair enough. I am not saying you're wrong either... I again, see the same potential in players like Jordan, Cook, Nunge, and Garza as I did with players like Marble, Uthoff, White and Jok. I also like next seasons incoming class. So, that is why my leash is longer then yours. I don't think either of is wrong but I think my line of thinking is likely more in line with the administration.

 

[BlacknGold19]

You just gave the textbook definition of a homer fan. Which just about nobody here is.

You can't come to a message board like this and not expect everybody to say your point of view is ridiculous.

CyFan is a site suited to whiny homers. They'll take you in and we even have a couple members here who would sign you up and probably preempt you from the approval process waiting period.

Homer fans cheer their team on?

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Izzo comes on in 95 I believe. If you compare Iowa in 95 with MSU those are pretty much equals historically. Was Jud better than Davis? Yes. But the programs themselves were regarded in the same vein.

That's true and we've had 4 coaches now since then including Davis. Izzo got that ball rolling and has them as a top 5 overall program I would say in this time period. I hate em but mostly out of jealousy.

 

[InGoodCo]

All I said was that I hope you don't teach your kids to be defeatists. I'm not going to feel bad about it no matter how long of a walk I go on.

If you walk long enough you're bound to at least get a foot ache, dehydrated or something.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Dr Tom's 93-94 squad keeps coming up as justification for Fran's mess this year. Obviously Chris Street was lost earlier that year. IIRC weren't there some other key injuries or player losses? The roster on WIKI looks pretty thin.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

PC is presenting you with a straw man
"We can have a coach who keeps Iowa irrelevant or a HOF coach."
Like those are the only two options.
A coach who makes Iowa relevant may or may not be a HOFamer. But he would be better than Fran.
Can we get someone better than Fran? The answer is yes, but first you have to want better. Notice how PC keeps saying he is okay with down seasons. 3 ncaa visits mean 5 outa 8 years are down. Why would anyone be okay with that??

There were also three NIT years. In each case, nobody "expected" NCAA bids. Not excusing that, of course, but the first two NIT years were significant steps post-Lickliter.

 

[Joshbrown]

Wisconsin blocked Uthoff’s transfer to Iowa. So any schools that weren’t blocked could communicate with him while we couldn’t. He chose to attend Iowa and pay his own way for one year. It was a very unique situation.

Now I think Fran deserves some credit for turning our program around and his playing style helped to attract JU.

The problem with some of the really negative posters, and the troll56, is they won't ever give Fran credit for anything.

For instance if a guy doesn’t improve as much as they’d like they say Fran sucks at developing players. But then when someone brings up a Marble or Olaseni they say well he just got lucky.

Same thing for recruiting. They say he’s lucky White turned out as good as he was. Once you get into that place where you can’t give Fran credit for literally anything it’s hard to have a sane conversation.

I recognize that Fran has done some good here, but I’m ready to move on given everything I’ve seen.

I think you make valid points.
But when I hear:
"he turned the program around"
"he's done some good here"

True, but he's paid to do those things. This isn't charity work. He isn't some nice guy who walked in off the street and said, "Hi, I'm here to make things better cuz I like all of you personally." The U and us fans have made him rich. We don't "owe" him anything. I'm tired of all this hand-wringing like we as fans should be ashamed of demanding what we already have paid for.

But you ended your post correctly so ignore everything I said previous to this sentence.

 

[Fryowa]

Homer fans cheer their team on?

Fans who this like this are. Yep.

Iowa Basketball is never going to be a perennial Final Four program. You can all keep wasting your energy and time hoping for it someday. There’s a chance we might have a year, maybe two, when we make a deep run. But it’s never gonna change.

I wish we’d be good every year just like you. But I realize the chances of it happening are slim to none

If it were so easy to be so successful and turn a program into a consistent top 15 program, why can’t every program find a coach to do it??

 

[Joshbrown]

That's true and we've had 4 coaches now since then including Davis. Izzo got that ball rolling and has them as a top 5 overall program I would say in this time period. I hate em but mostly out of jealousy.

An entertaining thought experiment.

If Izzo comes to Iowa instead of MSU in 95, what is Iowa's record?

 

[hawkeyebob62]

True, a concern of all of us or many of us at least is even in his "good" years we have had to really question his in game coaching a lot. Many games he just got out coached it felt like, plus the late season collapses. Could we have actually been better in some of those years with better coaching? Rotations, lack of getting off a good shot at end game situations, refusal to use timeouts, lack of defensive improvement or adjustments.... just a few of the many things that have a lot of Hawk fans a little concerned. Would be easier to swallow this year I think, if we felt like his staff has proven themselves as top tier in game coaches.

Two years in a row we got hot, and were great with the transition game. Both years, teams adjusted and stopped crashing the offensive boards the second half of the season. Both years we either failed to adjust, or adjusted too late.

To be fair, the first of those years, we looked great in NCAA opener, but ran into the buzz-saw against Gonzaga. The next year, we squeaked by in NCAA opener, then got ridden hard by Villanova.

But, the common element was that we had collapses, or at least mini-collapses, after reaching good ranking and position in conference standings.

 

[Fryowa]

If you walk long enough you're bound to at least get a foot ache, dehydrated or something.

Off topic, but I had my pickup in the shop once a couple summers ago. The guy I rode to work with had to leave in an emergency. Could have waited a couple hours for my brother to get home and come get me, but I got a wild hair and decided to walk 8 miles home on gravel. I loved it.

 

[theboat]

Fans like me that cheer for them every night, look forward all week to when they play their next game, go to games and stand and cheer despite who is sitting behind me. Someone that yells at the TV when things are going wrong and puts my heart into it. That’s the type of fan I am. I wish we’d be good every year just like you. But I realize the chances of it happening are slim to none

Right. So why try anything in life, you’ll probably just fail. Good philosophy

 

[BryceC]

I'm not saying anybody should want Fran fired because I'm simply an outsider here. I root for ISU. Like Iowa, ISU lost in poor fashion yesterday and the effort was crap.

I tuned in to Iowa before the ISU game came on. I saw a lot of the same things in that Iowa game that happened in the ISU game. I like ISU's talent and I am expecting a turnaround to get to the tournament next year, but if I'm seeing the same zero effort, sloppy play on defense next year that I am this year, I am going to expect Prohm's seat to be red hot at the end of the season. I can handle losing if I feel like we're building toward something, what I can't handle is losing and the guys looking like idiots who aren't even trying.

And whether Jon or anybody else likes it or not, expectations are incredibly important. The expectations were for this team to be good. Maybe not great, but at least in NCAA tournament contention. They aren't even close. ISU's expectations among rational people are that they would likely struggle this year. That's why there is a bit of a difference in the tenor of the conversation.

 

[theboat]

Which is why PTL is, to me, worthless. We ALWAYS hear about "The Next Big Thing". Every. Single. Summer.

Seriously, it's basically "State of Iowa Summer League", nothing more. Yet, EVERY year we hear that so-and-so will dominate, thus-and-so will be a "surprise".

Where else can they learn to play this level of defense?

 

[BlacknGold19]

Iowa Baske

Fans who this like this are. Yep.

You can try all you may to call me out and make me look bad, but it won’t change my opinion. I’m a die hard Iowa fan. Always will be. But I’m smart enough to see the big picture that we just aren’t going to change into a contender anytime in the near future. Even if Fran gets fired.

You can waste your energy and complain that I’m not a true fan and I’m a deafeatist with my thinking. So be it. But at the end of the day, Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan St, Arizona, etc are going to get the majority of the top 50-100 recruits every year. Good luck competing with that

 

[theboat]

I'm not saying anybody should want Fran fired because I'm simply an outsider here. I root for ISU. Like Iowa, ISU lost in poor fashion yesterday and the effort was crap.

I tuned in to Iowa before the ISU game came on. I saw a lot of the same things in that Iowa game that happened in the ISU game. I like ISU's talent and I am expecting a turnaround to get to the tournament next year, but if I'm seeing the same zero effort, sloppy play on defense next year that I am this year, I am going to expect Prohm's seat to be red hot at the end of the season. I can handle losing if I feel like we're building toward something, what I can't handle is losing and the guys looking like idiots who aren't even trying.

And whether Jon or anybody else likes it or not, expectations are incredibly important. The expectations were for this team to be good. Maybe not great, but at least in NCAA tournament contention. They aren't even close. ISU's expectations among rational people are that they would likely struggle this year. That's why there is a bit of a difference in the tenor of the conversation.

Wiggington is 10x any player on Iowa’s roster.

 

[BlacknGold19]

Hate to break it to you. But Iowa probably won’t win a National Championship in Football or Basketball in our lifetime. It’s a sad reality and I hope I’m wrong but what am I gonna do about it? What are you gonna do about it? Nothing. Our opinions don’t matter in this sense

 

[Fryowa]

You can try all you may to call me out and make me look bad, but it won’t change my opinion. I’m a die hard Iowa fan. Always will be. But I’m smart enough to see the big picture that we just aren’t going to change into a contender anytime in the near future. Even if Fran gets fired.

You can waste your energy and complain that I’m not a true fan and I’m a deafeatist with my thinking. So be it. But at the end of the day, Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan St, Arizona, etc are going to get the majority of the top 50-100 recruits every year. Good luck competing with that

Lol. I don’t care what kind of fan you are. Not even a little.

But you most definitely, 100%, are a homer fan.