One word: RECRUITING

[FreddyBrown]

I believe Fran McCaffery can coach. His record shows he can rebuild. I like the style of play a lot. They like to attack the basket and he recognizes that it's a guard's game. I don't think he's a name or a personality that will excite anyone right out of the gate, but I do believe he can turn Iowa around and bring the fans back if he can do one thing very well:

Recruit.

It's a plus that he has experience in high major recruiting in the Midwest from his years at Notre Dame. However, that was a long time ago. While it would be nice to pull a good player from out East on occasion, the bread and butter recruiting will have to be done closer to home.

I will be very, very interested to see the composition of the staff. It would be very reassuring to see him hire one or two assistants with strong Midwest recruiting ties.

 

[BSpringsteen]

I'd love to see Kenyon Murray on the staff.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Agreed - without recruiting, you're toast. That is going to be the #1 thing I will be looking at when McCaffery comes aboard and starts signing players to play for the Hawks.

 

[lightning1]

I believe Fran McCaffery can coach. His record shows he can rebuild. I like the style of play a lot. They like to attack the basket and he recognizes that it's a guard's game. I don't think he's a name or a personality that will excite anyone right out of the gate, but I do believe he can turn Iowa around and bring the fans back if he can do one thing very well:

Recruit.

It's a plus that he has experience in high major recruiting in the Midwest from his years at Notre Dame. However, that was a long time ago. While it would be nice to pull a good player from out East on occasion, the bread and butter recruiting will have to be done closer to home.

I will be very, very interested to see the composition of the staff. It would be very reassuring to see him hire one or two assistants with strong Midwest recruiting ties.

This leads us back to the Lick situation, IMO.
McC worked as an assistant at ND. In the state of IND, BB is king. There are enough BB players in the state to field a good team, even if you only get the leftovers (kind of like Butler/Lick).
The same can be said about Recruiting at Sienna. There are enough leftover recruits in the state of NY to field a decent team.
There will be no such luxury at Iowa.
He will have to be able to sell himself to get kids to leave their home states and come to Iowa to play for him.