So tell me again why exactly did Fran get a 1 year extension???

I'm a bit torn on the Fran situation. On one hand I think he's a decent coach but at the same time I'm not sure how much better this team is going to get in the next few years. By no means do I think it's time to start looking elsewhere, but at the same time I can't help but wonder if the hype and our past history of coaches make him that more appealing?

Would the majority of the fanbase have fallen in love with him and anointed him as the programs savior if his personality/sideline demeanor wasn't the complete opposite of KF and he wasn't replacing a horrendous hire in Lick? I think we may have over looked a few things that are just not coming to the forefront.
 
kicker22 said:
I'm a bit torn on the Fran situation. On one hand I think he's a decent coach but at the same time I'm not sure how much better this team is going to get in the next few years. By no means do I think it's time to start looking elsewhere, but at the same time I can't help but wonder if the hype and our past history of coaches make him that more appealing?

Would the majority of the fanbase have fallen in love with him and anointed him as the programs savior if his personality/sideline demeanor wasn't the complete opposite of KF and he wasn't replacing a horrendous hire in Lick? I think we may have over looked a few things that are just not coming to the forefront.
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Agree - I'm really starting to believe that the Fran era has peaked. He's done a nice job and I like the guy too, but gut feeling says he's taken us as far as he can without better recruiting. More 3* guys coming in next year, and I saw Fleming ranked as a 2* in one service.. That's basically what we've BEEN getting, so I expect more of the same on court results the next few years without upgraded talent - NIT or fringe-bubble at best. Would certainly love to be wrong, but if you were to point a gun to my head and force me to predict, that's what I'd say. Unless, as I said, Fran finds a way to boost recruiting.

You may be on to something with your second paragraph. But speaking for myself, I don't really care about all that. I just know that Iowa still hasn't won an NCAA game since '01. "Being better than Lick" means little to me.. We're talking about the coach who compiled the worst winning percentage in program history.. His results shouldn't be the new measure for success.
 
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Scooby - Our schedule has been a "lifetime SOS of Raveling and Davis combined????" Are you kidding me? I am going to guess you never saw any of their teams make runs in the NCAA tournament against the Dukes of the world, because you have no clue what you are talking about. Our current strength of schedule is 75th in the country. Boo hoo. While our guys look overmatched out on the court, that is more a product of Fran's inability to recruit rather than an objective test of our strength of schedule. Raveling and Davis did not have starting lineups that included 4 skinny redheads. They recruited Chicago and Michigan.

You are a classic apologist. You look at "improvement" the kept us in the NIT through the first 3 years of Fran's tenure, and in his fourth year, a glorified NIT game where we did not even manage to get our name on any NCAA tournament pool bracket. News flash, most new coaches do not require 5 years to make it to the NCAA tournament. Hoiberg did it in year 2. Nebraska and Minn hired up and comers who got it done quick. Fran just isn't getting it done.

Scooby said:
The first 4 years, the team has gotten better, every year.
No postseason to NIT 2nd Round to NIT Championship to NCAA Tournament, if you call the play-in game, that.

We've played Syracuse, Texas, North Carolina, Iowa State and Northern Iowa, which is a lifetime SOS of Raveling and Davis, combined.

2015-16 should be a special year, and if we lose in the first round of the NCAA, then Fran's run might have run out of steam.
It feels like recruiting is still there, but, oh so many, misses this past year.
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iowalaw said:
Scooby - Our schedule has been a "lifetime SOS of Raveling and Davis combined????" Are you kidding me? I am going to guess you never saw any of their teams make runs in the NCAA tournament against the Dukes of the world, because you have no clue what you are talking about. Our current strength of schedule is 75th in the country. Boo hoo. While our guys look overmatched out on the court, that is more a product of Fran's inability to recruit rather than an objective test of our strength of schedule. Raveling and Davis did not have starting lineups that included 4 skinny redheads. They recruited Chicago and Michigan.

You are a classic apologist. You look at "improvement" the kept us in the NIT through the first 3 years of Fran's tenure, and in his fourth year, a glorified NIT game where we did not even manage to get our name on any NCAA tournament pool bracket. News flash, most new coaches do not require 5 years to make it to the NCAA tournament. Hoiberg did it in year 2. Nebraska and Minn hired up and comers who got it done quick. Fran just isn't getting it done.
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Agree with your post, but in Fran's defense most coaches don't walk into a situation like the one Fran did. Not one for excuses, but between Lick's style of play, the returning players available to Fran that were brought in to play Lick's style of play (completely different styles requiring completely different player types) and the overall state of the program; I think Fran did very well from day one. That said I'm not one for excuses and the recruiting hasn't improved lately to get us to the next level.
 
He needs to change the personalities hes recruiting. You cannot win in the Big Ten with 10 choir boys. You cant. Sure you need a few of those sprinkled in, but you also need some fighters, toughness, etc..........Iowa has zero players with that mentality on their roster. Maybe some of the kids coming next year have that mentality. Any of Iowa's current players, if they were punched in the nose, would turn around and run away instead of punching back. Zero toughness or grit on the roster.
 
eveningnewsteam said:
He needs to change the personalities hes recruiting. You cannot win in the Big Ten with 10 choir boys. You cant. Sure you need a few of those sprinkled in, but you also need some fighters, toughness, etc..........Iowa has zero players with that mentality on their roster. Maybe some of the kids coming next year have that mentality. Any of Iowa's current players, if they were punched in the nose, would turn around and run away instead of punching back. Zero toughness or grit on the roster.
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Agree we need some toughness, but McCabe was "tough" but that didn't seem to help. Fran also needs to stop recruiting so many white kids. Unless you are Duke, a roster full of white kids just doesn't seem to work out very often.
 
DJL said:
Agree we need some toughness, but McCabe was "tough" but that didn't seem to help. Fran also needs to stop recruiting so many white kids. Unless you are Duke, a roster full of white kids just doesn't seem to work out very often.
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Mccabe wasnt tough, he was a spoiled punk. Toughness to me is not ******** yourself with the ball in a key situation, stepping up to the line in a crucial situation and knocking them in, getting an offensive rebound and putback with things are going sideways, knocking in a much needed jumper, digging in on D and getting a crucial stop, getting up in someone's grill on D and taking the ball away. Iowa's players crumble with things get elevated a bit.
 
eveningnewsteam said:
Mccabe wasnt tough, he was a spoiled punk. Toughness to me is not ******** yourself with the ball in a key situation, stepping up to the line in a crucial situation and knocking them in, getting an offensive rebound and putback with things are going sideways, knocking in a much needed jumper, digging in on D and getting a crucial stop, getting up in someone's grill on D and taking the ball away. Iowa's players crumble with things get elevated a bit.
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This. Chris Street was tough. Matt Gatens was tough, particularly in his senior year. Jarryd Cole was tough for bad teams.

McCabe threw temper tantrums.
 
iowalaw/eveningnews - Great post above!!!

ankle23 - Chimed in? I started the thread....do some research next time.
 
Playmaker said:
What blue chip recruit was he in danger of losing due to the young man not knowing if his new coach was going to be around? The ONLY reason Fran made it to year five (5) is because y'all loved his passion early on...tantrums, technical's, clip board slamming, etc.....and he seemed like a pretty likable guy. Lets face it....he is KF's twin in that he CANNOT recruit!!!! If there isn't pitchforks and fire in Sally's front yard tonite and through early morning, then you have ZERO room to b**** on message boards and around the water cooler....it's going to take something BIG like that to make news before anything is going to happen with the sorry state of Iowa athletics....that is a fact!!!
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This is why Fran made it to year 5.

Year 1 - Nothing
Year 2 - NIT
Year 3 - NIT Runner-up
Year 4 - NCAA
Year 5 - To be determined...maybe a reversal of last season where we started fast and dropped off

We have trended upwards in the first 4 years and I'm not going to throw in the towel on the coach or the season before conference play has started in year 5.
 
WindsorHawk said:
This is why Fran made it to year 5.

Year 1 - Nothing
Year 2 - NIT
Year 3 - NIT Runner-up
Year 4 - NCAA
Year 5 - To be determined...maybe a reversal of last season where we started fast and dropped off

We have trended upwards in the first 4 years and I'm not going to throw in the towel on the coach or the season before conference play has started in year 5.
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This is a fair post. He argues the merits and skips the ad hominem. CecilB and his ilk could learn from this guy.
 
I think we should try the opposite of an extension. Let his contract expire and go on a month to month deal. Like the rest of us, we have to prove ourselves daily or get fired. We don't have to worry about another school snapping him up. If you can't make quick progress at a B1G school with the tradition of Iowa, you can't make it anywhere. I don't think schools would be lining up to hire Fran at this point.
 
Playmaker said:
What blue chip recruit was he in danger of losing due to the young man not knowing if his new coach was going to be around? The ONLY reason Fran made it to year five (5) is because y'all loved his passion early on...tantrums, technical's, clip board slamming, etc.....and he seemed like a pretty likable guy. Lets face it....he is KF's twin in that he CANNOT recruit!!!! If there isn't pitchforks and fire in Sally's front yard tonite and through early morning, then you have ZERO room to b**** on message boards and around the water cooler....it's going to take something BIG like that to make news before anything is going to happen with the sorry state of Iowa athletics....that is a fact!!!
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Haymaker, it was done solely to **** you off since you have to keep posting--ad frigging nauseum, no less--your continual dislike for all things Hawkeye.
 
hawkforlife9 said:
I think we should try the opposite of an extension. Let his contract expire and go on a month to month deal. Like the rest of us, we have to prove ourselves daily or get fired. We don't have to worry about another school snapping him up. If you can't make quick progress at a B1G school with the tradition of Iowa, you can't make it anywhere. I don't think schools would be lining up to hire Fran at this point.
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<<Like the rest of us...>>

You ham-and-egg-ers can speak for yourselves. Those of with balls and refuse to let ourselves be ground into the dust and then blame "The Man" will pass on that ignominous fate, thanks so much.
 
I think they need to bring in a sports psychologist for the players and a therapist for Fran. The players have no confidence, Fran looks lost and doesn't seem to know how to deal with his own emotions which seems to be more of a priority to him then getting control of this team. Just a mess.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
<<Like the rest of us...>>

You ham-and-egg-ers can speak for yourselves. Those of with balls and refuse to let ourselves be ground into the dust and then blame "The Man" will pass on that ignominous fate, thanks so much.
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Ignominous?!? Holy smokes...where's my dictionary? ;)
 
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