The State of Iowa Basketball

[longtimer]

Let me preface this with I have been an Iowa fan for a long time 60s however I have not always been a fan of the coaches at Iowa. Dick Shultz was a nice guy but a lousy coach, Alford was a potentially great coach but couldn't overcome the fact he was a Jerk. Lick (what can I say)
Not sure where McCaffrey fits on the spectrum but its not near the top. I have never been a fan. Why?
He is a bad recruiter. I think the last few days really bears that out. If you look at his years at Iowa you could arguably say he won one big recruiting battle. Tyler Cook. And as we in hindsight evaluate that while Tyler was talented and athletic and a good kid maybe other schools recognized he would never shoot the ball well? There are others like Weiskamp who is and will be a good player but Iowa recruited him not McCaffrey. I see on the board all these 4 and 5 star players we are recruiting ex Foster but we aren't going to get any of those. Why would they come to Iowa to play for McCaffrey? In the end we go out and recruit Tousant (sp) who Fran describes as a hard nosed player! We have some "good" hard nosed players but not the kind of players that get you to a higher level (sweet 16) Fran can't recruit
As a coach I think he probably was a decent mid major coach but his time at Iowa hasn't won him any coach of the year consideration. I know we are not a great athletic team but our defense is a pretty good example of Fran's coaching. I think even UNI with their talent level plays better defense
Finally Fran is not a great representative at times of the University I graduated from, but at least he hasn't broken a chair in a while

So where is Iowa basketball under Fran McCaffrey? I think we will periodically battle for first division finishes and a trip to the Tournament with a possible win in the tournament like this last year. But that is most likely the pinnacle of a McCaffrey coached Iowa team. Maybe that's good enough? Sure hope not

 

[PCHawk]

Another guy making the argument that someone with average results is somehow a bad recruiter and a bad coach.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Again, it comes down to the defense. If they can figure that out, that would help a ton. Iowa scores points, they just don't defend them that well. Fix that and I'm willing to ride with him a bit longer.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Another guy making the argument that someone with average results is somehow a bad recruiter and a bad coach.

I always find that argument funny. Nobody ever gives credit for landing and Aaron White, for sticking with Peter Jok, when nobody else did, Olaseni turned out pretty nice, Garza looks like a quality recruit.

If it was as bad as they say Iowa would have totally sucked every year under Fran.

 

[NikeHawk21]

Again, it comes down to the defense. If they can figure that out, that would help a ton. Iowa scores points, they just don't defend them that well. Fix that and I'm willing to ride with him a bit longer.

For me next year I’m thinking our defense potentially takes a step back, that’s a step back from a sub-100 level defense.

Baer was our best defender, then likely Wieskamp. After that I’d say probably Kriener, Cook, Dailey, and Moss in the next group. So we lose 4 of our top 6 defenders.

The scary part is without Cook and Moss I think our offense probably takes a step back as well. That’s not to say we wont be a good offensive team, I’m sure we will, but I’m not sure we will be as good as we were this year on that end.

As always guys can and will improve, but will it be enough to replace what we lost? I’d say I’m skeptical at this point.

 

[Xerxes]

Again, it comes down to the defense. If they can figure that out, that would help a ton. Iowa scores points, they just don't defend them that well. Fix that and I'm willing to ride with him a bit longer.

So true. Iowa's offensive efficiency was actually slightly better in 2017-2018 than it was in 2018-2019.

The problem of course in 2017-2018 the team had a historically bad defense.

Last year, that improved quite a bit. Iowa still had the worst defense in the B1G but overall they ranked 205th in the nation in efficiency (they were 308th in 2017-2018). And that resulted in the team getting the closest Fran has ever gotten to the Sweet 16.

Imagine if Fran committed to playing defense like Wisconsin or Kentucky does. One program struggles recruiting top athletes, one gets the very top athletes. But both programs have one thing in common. Regardless of who you are, you simply don't play if you refuse to defend well.

 

[BigD]

I always find that argument funny. Nobody ever gives credit for landing and Aaron White, for sticking with Peter Jok, when nobody else did, Olaseni turned out pretty nice, Garza looks like a quality recruit.

If it was as bad as they say Iowa would have totally sucked every year under Fran.

So.................... ok where are the other Aaron Whites at over the ten years? You are indicating that it’s Fran’s recruiting and coaching skills that brought in White. If that’s true then we should see it replicated over and over but we don’t. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Jok was one of the nation’s top recruits before he got hurt. Then everyone bailed on him. If he doesn’t get hurt that Fran and Iowa would have had no chance against the blue bloods. Ten years of recruiting at Iowa bears that out.

I would say Fran’s not the worst recruiter in the country. In conference I would say he is average or in the higher tier of the last eight teams in the conference.

It’s almost going to take a blue chipper guard who gives Fran a chance, rolls the dice, and signs with Iowa. The other option is Fran hits gold and recruits another Aaron White type of player but in the point guard position.

I think old timer did a fairly good assessment of where this program is.

Right now two main items are glaring out in brilliant red flashing lights. POINT GUARD and DEFENCE. Figure those two things out and the program could make B1G strides in the right direction.

After ten years can anyone blame any of us for being skeptical?

 

[NikeHawk21]

So.................... ok where are the other Aaron Whites at over the ten years? You are indicating that it’s Fran’s recruiting and coaching skills that brought in White. If that’s true then we should see it replicated over and over but we don’t. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Jok was one of the nation’s top recruits before he got hurt. Then everyone bailed on him. If he doesn’t get hurt that Fran and Iowa would have had no chance against the blue bloods. Ten years of recruiting at Iowa bears that out.

I would say Fran’s not the worst recruiter in the country. In conference I would say he is average or in the higher tier of the last eight teams in the conference.

It’s almost going to take a blue chipper guard who gives Fran a chance, rolls the dice, and signs with Iowa. The other option is Fran hits gold and recruits another Aaron White type of player but in the point guard position.

I think old timer did a fairly good assessment of where this program is.

Right now two main items are glaring out in brilliant red flashing lights. POINT GUARD and DEFENCE. Figure those two things out and the program could make B1G strides in the right direction.

After ten years can anyone blame any of us for being skeptical?

I’m right there with you on the skeptical thing. I just don’t think we can say he’s a horrible recruiter and a horrible coach. We’ve had some success and we certainly want more. I’d say he’s an average recruiter trending potentially towards below average and an average coach.

 

[Fryowa]

Another guy making the argument that someone with average results is somehow a bad recruiter and a bad coach.

You sure like that narrative.

FYI his results are below average. Again...he has a losing conference record, never gotten out of the second round of the B1G tourney, made the NCAA less than half the time he’s been here, and won 3 games total in the NCAA.

You strike me as one of the people who were dumbfounded when Mitch King didn’t go in the first round. Put the Kool-Aid down.

 

[Fryowa]

I always find that argument funny. Nobody ever gives credit for landing and Aaron White, for sticking with Peter Jok, when nobody else did, Olaseni turned out pretty nice, Garza looks like a quality recruit.

If it was as bad as they say Iowa would have totally sucked every year under Fran.

If you’re going to list the hits, you have to list the misses. There are way more, and the roster we have now is the culmination of several years of bad recruiting. You can make all the excuses you want for Fran missing kids, but at what point do you have to admit that regardless of the reason, he ain’t getting it done?

 

[NikeHawk21]

If you’re going to list the hits, you have to list the misses. There are way more, and the roster we have now is the culmination of several years of bad recruiting. You can make all the excuses you want for Fran missing kids, but at what point do you have to admit that regardless of the reason, he ain’t getting it done?

Again, I’m not saying he’s killing it on the recruiting trail quite the contrary actually. I’m the guy who started the thread about this being a disastrous offseason and how the 2020 class isn’t shaping up well.

I’m just saying you can’t say he’s an awful recruiter and an awful coach, the results would disagree. That doesn’t mean the results are amazing either, but they certainly aren’t awful by iowa basketball standards.

 

[tweeterhawk]

I always find that argument funny. Nobody ever gives credit for landing and Aaron White, for sticking with Peter Jok, when nobody else did, Olaseni turned out pretty nice, Garza looks like a quality recruit.

If it was as bad as they say Iowa would have totally sucked every year under Fran.

I tend to agree with the OP that Fran is not a great recruiter. Yes, he beat Roy Boy for Adam Woodbury and landed Adam’s friend Mike Gessell. And he’s gotten a few other decent players mentioned above. I’m not counting Dev Marble as he was coming to Iowa via the legacy trail.

But his body of work suggests he’ll never have the talent to routinely compete in the upper division of the B1G or win more than one, maybe two, games in the NCAA tournament.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I tend to agree with the OP that Fran is not a great recruiter. Yes, he beat Roy Boy for Adam Woodbury and landed Adam’s friend Mike Gessell. And he’s gotten a few other decent players mentioned above. I’m not counting Dev Marble as he was coming to Iowa via the legacy trail.

But his body of work suggests he’ll never have the talent to routinely compete in the upper division of the B1G or win one, maybe two, games in the NCAA tournament.

Yes I agree Fran is not a great recruiter. The OP said he’s a bad recruiter. I’d say he’s average at this point.

 

[SpiderRico]

I'd say Fran is an average recruiter, at best. A pretty decent developer of talent. An excellent gameplanner. And a god-awful gameday coach. With those qualities, you get the about average results we've had since digging out of the Lick mess.

For every Aaron White, Gabe Olesani, Adam Woodbury, Peter Jok, and Tyler Cook he recruited....we got Andrew Flemming, Brandon Hutton, Brady Elingson, and Dom Uhl. In fact, of the 9 scholarship signees in the 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes combined, the only one that finished his career at Iowa was Dom Uhl. That's just isn't going to cut it.

 

[PCHawk]

I'd say Fran is an average recruiter, at best. A pretty decent developer of talent. An excellent gameplanner. And a god-awful gameday coach. With those qualities, you get the about average results we've had since digging out of the Lick mess.

For every Aaron White, Gabe Olesani, Adam Woodbury, Peter Jok, and Tyler Cook he recruited....we got Andrew Flemming, Brandon Hutton, Brady Elingson, and Dom Uhl. In fact, of the 9 scholarship signees in the 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes combined, the only one that finished his career at Iowa was Dom Uhl. That's just isn't going to cut it.

This is pretty much right where I am. Fran has been slightly above average after the first couple years and it took a horrendous year to drop to slightly above average. If Fran didnt let that garbage year happen he would be labeled as an above average/pretty good coach.

As far as the horrible game day coach goes, Fran doesn't even hardly coach during the game. He pretty much leaves it up to his players to perform. You would think that freedom would attract better recruits but it hasn't. He probably aims too high and would be better off rolling out the red carpet for low 4 stars.

 

[PCHawk]

You sure like that narrative.

FYI his results are below average. Again...he has a losing conference record, never gotten out of the second round of the B1G tourney, made the NCAA less than half the time he’s been here, and won 3 games total in the NCAA.

You strike me as one of the people who were dumbfounded when Mitch King didn’t go in the first round. Put the Kool-Aid down.

Of course I like that narrative because it's true. His results will forever be skewed by the first year after Lick. Take away that one year and his results are average/slightly above average. You cant be a horrible recruiter and a horrible coach and get average results at Iowa. If he were horrible at both, he would have horrible results.

 

[tweeterhawk]

Fran appears unable to put together a complete roster of talented players, or at least a starting 5-6, who'll take his program to the next level. He'll get the occasional decent player or two but never the complete package.

 

[1hawkeye1]

I think he's an OK coach and recruiter, but that's about it. I do appreciate the job he's done digging Iowa basketball out of the smoldering crater that Lickliter left behind. But it seems that he's taken the program as far as he can. The thing that really soured me on FM was the meltdown he had cursing out an official after a game. Really tired of his immaturity and lack of self control. I'm ready to move on.

 

[BigD]

Fran appears unable to put together a complete roster of talented players, or at least a starting 5-6, who'll take his program to the next level. He'll get the occasional decent player or two but never the complete package.

Lol, this assessment is so accurate. It’s as if your tapering in on my thought process. I can
not even begin to tell you how many times I have come to this same conclusion. Yes, he lands a good player here and there, but as you pointed out during those times the team will sorely be lacking in other positions.

 

[PCHawk]

Fran appears unable to put together a complete roster of talented players, or at least a starting 5-6, who'll take his program to the next level. He'll get the occasional decent player or two but never the complete package.

95% of schools have that same problem. How many teams have a complete roster each year? 10 maybe?