PMac Commits to Butler

optics

IMO, Pryce Sandfort can step into the Pmac role and actually may end up being better. It is just the perception and how it looks which is the killer. A coach’s kid that doesn’t want to play his final year for his Dad is a bad look.
 
Fryowa said:
This^^^

Since Murray and Garza left the program has felt like the Alford/Lick era again in a hurry.

People certainly don't have to agree with me, but between basketball, football, and wrestling I see some dark days ahead. Some of it is self-inflicted (Kirk Ferentz), some of it is a mix of both (Fran), and some of it is largely out of our control (Brands). Even baseball is meh this year after big expectations.

It feels a lot like the 2010-2013/14 ish era in Iowa sports. Things turned around, but the difference now is there are going to be two new head coaches in the revenue sports real soon, and the odds of it getting better rather than regressing ain't great. One thing is for certain...it's either going to be real good or real bad.
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yup.
 
I don't see any issue with this, he knows he won't be starting at Iowa, Gets to be close to his brother, won't have to deal with all the alcoholic degen "fans" spamming his phone with hate texts and voice messages after every loss.
 
trj said:
Fair

Brandon Smith is 6’0 175 lbs. and Harding is 5’10 150 lbs. In my head I had Brandon Smith at 6’2 or 6’3, but he really isn’t that much bigger than Harding. Brandon Smith is the obvious comp, but it is the size thing with Harding that make people like me hesitant on him. Now that I know BS isn’t that big, it does make me reasses some things.
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For some reason I thought Harding was 6' so I thought it was an even more accurate comparison.
 
Fryowa said:
This^^^

Since Murray and Garza left the program has felt like the Alford/Lick era again in a hurry.

People certainly don't have to agree with me, but between basketball, football, and wrestling I see some dark days ahead. Some of it is self-inflicted (Kirk Ferentz), some of it is a mix of both (Fran), and some of it is largely out of our control (Brands). Even baseball is meh this year after big expectations.

It feels a lot like the 2010-2013/14 ish era in Iowa sports. Things turned around, but the difference now is there are going to be two new head coaches in the revenue sports real soon, and the odds of it getting better rather than regressing ain't great. One thing is for certain...it's either going to be real good or real bad
Click to expand...
 
Fryowa said:
This^^^

Since Murray and Garza left the program has felt like the Alford/Lick era again in a hurry.

People certainly don't have to agree with me, but between basketball, football, and wrestling I see some dark days ahead. Some of it is self-inflicted (Kirk Ferentz), some of it is a mix of both (Fran), and some of it is largely out of our control (Brands). Even baseball is meh this year after big expectations.

It feels a lot like the 2010-2013/14 ish era in Iowa sports. Things turned around, but the difference now is there are going to be two new head coaches in the revenue sports real soon, and the odds of it getting better rather than regressing ain't great. One thing is for certain...it's either going to be real good or real bad.
Click to expand...
They missed the tourney one year after going in consecutive years, and at least they made the NIT. Fran has a good core of players and some excellent recruits in the next two classes. The athletic department needs to gets its act together and promote the program and improve the game day experience.
 
Gander Hawk said:
They missed the tourney one year after going in consecutive years, and at least they made the NIT. Fran has a good core of players and some excellent recruits in the next two classes. The athletic department needs to gets its act together and promote the program and improve the game day experience.
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Maybe they will start doing two burrito lifts instead of one.
 
trj said:
Fair

Braden Smith is 6’0 175 lbs. and Harding is 5’10 150 lbs. In my head I had Brandon Smith at 6’2 or 6’3, but he really isn’t that much bigger than Harding. Braden Smith is the obvious comp, but it is the size thing with Harding that make people like me hesitant on him. Now that I know BS isn’t that big, it does make me reasses some things.
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25 lbs is quite a bit though... If a post weighs 250 instead of 275 that's pretty noticeable right? A 220 lb kid is different then a 245 lb one. A 175 lb pg which I'd say many and most are about that or more is still quite a bit bigger then Harding.
 
Grady said:
I think the key phrase here is "single other occasion where this has happened". It's also not likely you could find a situation where:
* A coach's son is treated and recovers from thyroid cancer at age 13;
* He goes on to become a 4-star rated player & commits to play for his father;
* He becomes a starter, but underperforms;
* His anxiety grows to a debilitating level and he has to take an extended leave from the team;
* After returning to the team, he gets beat out by clearly superior players, and is relegated to being a backup.
* His last year on his father's team would be spent as a backup player.
The transfer outcome may be unique; but so are the circumstances.
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Prior to his diagnosis, ya have to throw in there that he lost a very close friend when he was a child to a cancer. I realize thyroid CA is one of the more manageable CA's one can have, but that would freak any child out along with their parents knowing a friend passed from CA just a few years before the diagnosis. I believe Patrick wore his friends number while at Iowa. That is how close they were.
 
InGoodCo said:
His situation is unique, but having that sort of infrastructure of support would be something I would think would be a good thing for him. But, by the sounds of what you're spelling out, he's leaving because he wasn't good enough. While I was someone who wanted him benched and to play less at several points last year, I disagree and next year, Iowa needs a lot of help in the post and could use Patrick another year. Like, I bought that with Joe Toussiant, I bought that with Aaron Uhlis, I bought that with Josh Ogundele ... this is JUST the worse IMO, mostly because it's Fran's kid. If he can't get Pat to stay and it sucks that bad here at Iowa....I've lost some confidence in our coach at best.
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To be honest, I really think much of his decision was prob based on Connor being in Indy and prob wanting to be close to him.

Now I really wonder if Jack will end up at Butler. I'll have to check who is recruiting him. That would be interesting and I would see it as he already stated he doesn't want to play here.
 
I actually believe Fran is going to do a better job of coaching not having any kids or relation on his team now. That has to be challenging with managing those minutes, staying true and fair to the other teammates at the same position and help better with recruiting to their positions.

Who want's to commit to a team that has a father of players as the coach? How many of the players that left in the previous 6 yrs left due to that reason?

I believe it would be less pressure on Fran now. We will see.
 
Chad Liestekow has a good column on hawkcentral.com. He interviewed Patrick. One of the first things that Patrick said was "believe it or not, we are two different people", referring to his dad. Paraphrasing here but he went on to say he had lived in Iowa City for 15 years and just wanted a change. Nothing but love for his teammates and the program, nothing negative at all. And he loved Thad Matta, as the coach. He did talk a little about the difficulties of playing for his dad but it wasn't like he hated the experience of playing here.

I understand how it looks but some people may be overthinking this. IMO, kid is just doing what he wants to do.
 
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