JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
Spoke with someone last night familiar with him, and the overall staff Iowa has put together, and someone that has been in and around Iowa hoops for a long time, as well as hoops on a national basis...
Said that Dillard instantly brings connections and relationships with 20-30 of the top AAU programs in the nation, given his role with Nike the last several years as Global Camp Director.
Also said that in Dillard and Speraw, McCaffery has added two assistant coaches that can spend quite a bit of time on player development, while McCaffery manages it all..plus throw in Francis, and you have three assistants that have been in the recruiting battles for a number of years, and each brings different areas of strength around the nation.
The combined head coaching experience that is on the Iowa staff right now is quite impressive...15 years for Speraw...over a decade for Dillard...and McCaffery has been a head coach since the mid 1980's. You have a head coach that is showing he is not afraid of bringing in others that are peers, people that can say 'Perhaps we should look at doing things this way'...something we did not see from Lickliter, and something we didn't see from Alford until the last two years after he brought in Craig Neal.
Throw in Ryan Bowen, who along with Speraw have the former Iowa angle, and it's impressive. I still think it's possible Horner could be added later this summer.
We haven't seen a recruiting staff like this since Raveling was in town...and I have heard that from several people that have been around the program since before Raveling was at Iowa. In fact, Raveling likely played a role in Dillard's hire, as McCaffery sought out Raveling to talk about the nuances of the Iowa job several weeks back.
We'll see how they do..they have to land talent..but this staff is not going to fail because they don't know the game..it will come down to how well they can recruit.
Said that Dillard instantly brings connections and relationships with 20-30 of the top AAU programs in the nation, given his role with Nike the last several years as Global Camp Director.
Also said that in Dillard and Speraw, McCaffery has added two assistant coaches that can spend quite a bit of time on player development, while McCaffery manages it all..plus throw in Francis, and you have three assistants that have been in the recruiting battles for a number of years, and each brings different areas of strength around the nation.
The combined head coaching experience that is on the Iowa staff right now is quite impressive...15 years for Speraw...over a decade for Dillard...and McCaffery has been a head coach since the mid 1980's. You have a head coach that is showing he is not afraid of bringing in others that are peers, people that can say 'Perhaps we should look at doing things this way'...something we did not see from Lickliter, and something we didn't see from Alford until the last two years after he brought in Craig Neal.
Throw in Ryan Bowen, who along with Speraw have the former Iowa angle, and it's impressive. I still think it's possible Horner could be added later this summer.
We haven't seen a recruiting staff like this since Raveling was in town...and I have heard that from several people that have been around the program since before Raveling was at Iowa. In fact, Raveling likely played a role in Dillard's hire, as McCaffery sought out Raveling to talk about the nuances of the Iowa job several weeks back.
We'll see how they do..they have to land talent..but this staff is not going to fail because they don't know the game..it will come down to how well they can recruit.