my take

SwirlinLingerie said:
The guy went 2 games over .500 in Big Ten play over those 15 years, after taking over a program at its lowest point in 50 years.

That is really difficult to do. His tenure also included Iowa's first two first round picks in a quarter century, as well as Iowa's first Wooden award winner. Fran also led Iowa to highest NCAA seed in over 30 years.

The man can coach.
Click to expand...
..................offense.
 
Hawke said:
There is a reason he came from a mid major and returned to a mid major (and didn’t generate serious interest from another P5 program in between)
Click to expand...
I think a lot of that was the way he handled himself. A lot of Hawkeye fans loved his temper and outbursts (myself included), but most generally everybody else in the country hated him for it. I can't imagine judging by how the guy was completely serious all the time and looked just on the verge of flipping out in about every presser he ever did that he was a joy for ADs to work with either. Pair that with his age and there you go.

I'm also betting he knew that there's one place a Philly personality will always fit in and that's Philly. He probably had the Penn job wrapped up a long time before it was public and nobody else had to come calling.

Penn is honestly the perfect gig for a guy like Fran. That job compared to something like the B1G is a part time retirement job you do for fun and don't really have to care about results. No expectations. It's like leaving your corpo job because you're filthy rich and getting a lawn mowing gig 'cause you're bored and need something to do with your time. It's his alma mater, back home where he's comfy in a comfy job on his old campus. I love it for him.

I bet he probably makes like $350k a year at Penn and it's enough that he can leave everything else in the bank until he officially retires.
 
Hawke said:
It’s true Fran has the most wins in program history. It’s also true that he has the most losses in program history. Both attributed to his having the longest tenure in program history.

I’m not sure how failing to advance in the tourney with NBA talent is a point in his favor.

It’s true that he inherited a dumpster fire, BUT… in the 7 years prior to Bo Ryan being hired at Wisconsin the Badgers had a conference record of 68-82. Bo took over and in his tenure he had a conference winning percentage of .717. Quite a jump from the years before he took over. Fran reached the .500 level and basically stayed at that level.

In Fran’s final few seasons attendance was in freefall at a time the women’s team were packing the same house.

There is a reason he came from a mid major and returned to a mid major (and didn’t generate serious interest from another P5 program in between). I don’t have any thing against the guy; in fact I enjoy listening to him talk basketball but I make the distinction between talking a good game and producing great results. Bo did the latter, Fran the former.
Click to expand...
I did not say Fran was a HOFer or great coach. He was a good hire and did a really good job in his tenure at Iowa. You said he was "out of his league." No he wasn't. He competed very well in this league and as someone else posted, was above .500 in league play. If you take out the first couple of Dumpster Fire Recovery Years, and his resume is even more impressive. Fran was never overmatched in the Big10. He consistently had Iowa finishing in top half of the conference. 11 out of 15 years to be precise. He more than held his own in this league. His problem was he could not put even one run together in the NCAA tourney, despite having several teams that should have. That was his ultimate downfall. That and CC and Bluder taking all the fans away.
 
Hawke said:
It’s true Fran has the most wins in program history. It’s also true that he has the most losses in program history. Both attributed to his having the longest tenure in program history.

I’m not sure how failing to advance in the tourney with NBA talent is a point in his favor.

It’s true that he inherited a dumpster fire, BUT… in the 7 years prior to Bo Ryan being hired at Wisconsin the Badgers had a conference record of 68-82. Bo took over and in his tenure he had a conference winning percentage of .717. Quite a jump from the years before he took over. Fran reached the .500 level and basically stayed at that level.

In Fran’s final few seasons attendance was in freefall at a time the women’s team were packing the same house.

There is a reason he came from a mid major and returned to a mid major (and didn’t generate serious interest from another P5 program in between). I don’t have any thing against the guy; in fact I enjoy listening to him talk basketball but I make the distinction between talking a good game and producing great results. Bo did the latter, Fran the former.
Click to expand...
If Bo Ryan and his run at Wisconsin are the bar, then there is almost no chance you'll ever be satisfied with Hawkeye basketball.

You are citing the coach with the best all time winning percentage in conference play. It's a silly argument.

The only reason I even say "almost no chance" is I still think McCollum is a goddamn ninja and I want to dream big.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
The only reason I even say "almost no chance" is I still think McCollum is a goddamn ninja and I want to dream big.
Click to expand...
I’m fully onboard with that.

The dwindling attendance for MBB is a clear indication that Fran had ultimately failed to put a marketable product on the court and the people reacted by staying away in numbers that were approaching Lick territory. Thankfully Beth Goetz had seen enough and made the decision to move in a new direction.
 
There was a perfect storm for Fran. After the Garza and Kris Murray era, Fran could not quite reload. He was given time to do so. The fans grew weary of the antics, lack of defense, and lack of any tourney success. And the rise of CC siphoned away even more from what was already a fairly apathetic fan base. Everything has its season. Fran's stability and regular season winning ways were what Iowa needed post Lick. BM is a pendulum swing the other way and has fans excited about defense, execution, grit, and tournament success.
 
Hawke said:
Correct about the final four run. I was glad when Bennet quit the way he did. Wasn’t counting on The Grinch to take the program over. Wish they would’ve kept Soderberg. My point still stands; Fran wasn’t a great coach, he was a good coach that couldn’t get the program to the next level.
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I generally liked Fran, but he couldn't get it done after many years. He had success at Iowa, but eventually getting to the Sweet 16 or better is important.

I lived in Madison for a long time (they were good at both FB and BB those years). It was more than annoying. The Grinch did a bit of "extracurricular activities" so that took a bit of shine out of his legacy with the locals. :)
 
Westernhawk said:
I agree with you. I generally liked Fran, but he couldn't get it done after many years. He had success at Iowa, but eventually getting to the Sweet 16 or better is important.

I lived in Madison for a long time (they were good at both FB and BB those years). It was more than annoying. The Grinch did a bit of "extracurricular activities" so that took a bit of shine out of his legacy with the locals. :)
Click to expand...
Rumors of the Grinch's "extracurricular activities" follow him all the way back ro his UW Platteville days in the 1980's.
 
Fryowa said:
I think a lot of that was the way he handled himself. A lot of Hawkeye fans loved his temper and outbursts (myself included), but most generally everybody else in the country hated him for it. I can't imagine judging by how the guy was completely serious all the time and looked just on the verge of flipping out in about every presser he ever did that he was a joy for ADs to work with either. Pair that with his age and there you go.

I'm also betting he knew that there's one place a Philly personality will always fit in and that's Philly. He probably had the Penn job wrapped up a long time before it was public and nobody else had to come calling.

Penn is honestly the perfect gig for a guy like Fran. That job compared to something like the B1G is a part time retirement job you do for fun and don't really have to care about results. No expectations. It's like leaving your corpo job because you're filthy rich and getting a lawn mowing gig 'cause you're bored and need something to do with your time. It's his alma mater, back home where he's comfy in a comfy job on his old campus. I love it for him.

I bet he probably makes like $350k a year at Penn and it's enough that he can leave everything else in the bank until he officially retires.
Click to expand...
It absolutely is the perfect job at the perfect time. Penn couldn't have offered him fast enough. At this point in Frans life it's just perfect. Takes him back home. Zero pressure or expectations as you said.

Fran is 66 I don't see him as a Rick Pitino type where he'll wanna still be bouncing around jobs when he's over 70 chasing what exactly? A championship? Please, he's self aware enough to know he's not getting a job capable of him competing for that.

More $? Maybe but he's only had to pony up for one of his kids to go to college the boys all got to go for free. He should be in great financial shape at this point but who knows if that's a huge motivator for him. Penn allows him to still be in the game and live the life for a few more yrs yet and be close to his home stomping grounds without the pressure top D1 schools would have him under.

I'd be curious just how hard and intensely he's working at this job now. Is he pounding the pavement recruiting wise? He watching hours and hours of film? I envision him doing a lot of delegating these days. I don't see him going all Francon 5 on the bench at the refs anymore either. This is probably a whole different Fran going forward I would bet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Latest posts

Share this page



Top