Think First Before Criticizing McCaffery

[HawkMD2007]

I think Fran is right on track. Next year he gets us past the play in game as a 10 or 11 seed. The following year we get to 4 or 5. and make Sweet 16. It takes time to rebuild something as screwed up as the program was. I do agree, if it took any other coach Iowa has hired in the past 6 or 7 years to get to Sweet 16 they would of been long canned. But we are starting from a different place.

Agreed. Fran will continue to improve the team and we will get better seeds. My only concern is that he chooses to leave Iowa after year 5 or 6.

 

[lightning1]

I tend to agree with lightning...

Losing is losing, and to me, that is never "entertaining". I would rather be Wisconsin and play their style of ball, and be in the Final Four right now, than to lead the conference in scoring and not even having made the field of 64. I would rather be ISU and "not do it the right way" and make the Sweet 16. (yeah, I just called down the thunder)

"Go root for another team" isn't really helpful advice. So my choice as an IOWA fan is to either just be ticked off about it, or stop caring as much... One or the other.

I'll save you the trouble of asking: I'm 37.

Exactly. "Go root for another team" is the fox hole answer when someone cannot engage in honest, intellectual debate on the merits of their view point. My loyalty is not to a coach or an AD. It's to the Iowa Hawkeyes. If I believe that a certain coach isn't doing a good enough job, then I want a different one. I was one of the earlier posters that jumped off the Lickliter bandwagon. The moment his own recruits started to transfer, I knew we had a problem. I have no problem hiring and firing a coach every 4 or 5 years, if they aren't getting the job done. In any sport. I have had conversations with Fran. I have witnessed him interacting with kids and fans at Jr high basketball games. I genuinely like the man and want him to succeed. But if he can't get us to a conf title, he's got to go.

 

[MisterLucky]

Even in his first year here, with a losing record, it was obvious that McCaffery knew what he was doing. I was as disappointed with the way this season ended as I have been with any sports team in my life, but I don't throw the blame entirely (or even mainly) on the coach. I want the Hawks to be a winning program as much as any fan on this board and I feel we have the man to accomplish this. Three years ago we would all have been thrilled with a 20 win season. Now he has raised our hopes so much that the results pale next to our expectations. It's a tough job in the toughest conference, but I think he gets the job done.

 

[kicker22]

Just my opinion but I honestly don't think criticizing a coach is a bad thing. IMO it means you can think for yourself and have a mind of your own. And lets be honest, no coach really cares what is said by someone in a message board.

That said,while I don't necessarily agree with every decision he's made, his knowledge of basketball is far superior to mine and I think he's a hell of a coach.

 

[BritishHawk]

Motivation - B...The guys play hard the vast majority of the timePlayer Development - A...Can't think of a player that isn't better now than when they arrivedGame Situation - B...Love the transition offense, 3/4 court press and out of bounds plays in particular

Wow. That's just silly. Especially player development. Since when is "getting better than when you arrived" the acceptable metric for player development?

 

[PCHawk]

Exactly. "Go root for another team" is the fox hole answer when someone cannot engage in honest, intellectual debate on the merits of their view point. My loyalty is not to a coach or an AD. It's to the Iowa Hawkeyes. If I believe that a certain coach isn't doing a good enough job, then I want a different one. I was one of the earlier posters that jumped off the Lickliter bandwagon. The moment his own recruits started to transfer, I knew we had a problem. I have no problem hiring and firing a coach every 4 or 5 years, if they aren't getting the job done. In any sport. I have had conversations with Fran. I have witnessed him interacting with kids and fans at Jr high basketball games. I genuinely like the man and want him to succeed. But if he can't get us to a conf title, he's got to go.

Not sure about having to get rid of a coach for not winning a conference title. Why not just up the antie and say we need to get rid of him if he doesn't win national championships?

 

[lightning1]

Not sure about having to get rid of a coach for not winning a conference title. Why not just up the antie and say we need to get rid of him if he doesn't win national championships?

If that's your personal barometer, that's fine. I want to compete for conference titles. Every competitor should. Nobody hires a head coach to finish 5th or 8th, do they? If there are ADs out there with that mind set, when interviewing candidates, I don't ever want to meet him. Nor do I want him to have anything to do with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
If that approach is okay with you, that's your problem. I don't care to know you either.

 

[PCHawk]

If that's your personal barometer, that's fine. I want to compete for conference titles. Every competitor should. Nobody hires a head coach to finish 5th or 8th, do they? If there are ADs out there with that mind set, when interviewing candidates, I don't ever want to meet him. Nor do I want him to have anything to do with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
If that approach is okay with you, that's your problem. I don't care to know you either.

There is a big difference between looking for someone who will always finish middle of the pack and firing a really good coach because he doesn't happen to win conference championships. I just think it was a strange statement to make saying if he doesn't win championships he has to go. Obviously you wouldn't want him fired if he finishes 2nd four years in a row with four elite 8 runs. Do you think there are 11 big 10 coaches that deserve to be fired this year? Bo Ryan didn't win a championship so I guess he needs to go?

 

[lightning1]

There is a big difference between looking for someone who will always finish middle of the pack and firing a really good coach because he doesn't happen to win conference championships. I just think it was a strange statement to make saying if he doesn't win championships he has to go. Obviously you wouldn't want him fired if he finishes 2nd four years in a row with four elite 8 runs. Do you think there are 11 big 10 coaches that deserve to be fired this year? Bo Ryan didn't win a championship so I guess he needs to go?

Finishing second would suggest that they at least had a chance for the title. Bo Ryan has 2 BIG conf titles to his name and 13 straight NCAA appearances. He also finished second this season. Your attempt to argue semantics doesn't interest me. You lack the competitive spirit that I usually associate with. Let's just agree to disagree.

 

[PCHawk]

Finishing second would suggest that they at least had a chance for the title. Bo Ryan has 2 BIG conf titles to his name and 13 straight NCAA appearances. He also finished second this season. Your attempt to argue semantics doesn't interest me. You lack the competitive spirit that I usually associate with. Let's just agree to disagree.

I will agree to disagree with your lame arguement that there is only one good coach per year.

 

[sportstalent]

Asinine might be going too far. Is he wrong? Maybe. But when you're talking about the worst 10-15 programs in the country, it's tough to go wrong picking one of them as the worst. The gap between the worst and 15th worst isn't THAT big.

To clarify...Power Six...the reasons are numerous, but when players leave over and over for more than a decade, arrests, academic issues and not ever knowing what an early signing period class, let alone a commit for the next year I think is enough to consider it....especially when that is not how Iowa basketball operated prior to SA/TL.

 

[sportstalent]

I tend to agree with lightning...

Losing is losing, and to me, that is never "entertaining". I would rather be Wisconsin and play their style of ball, and be in the Final Four right now, than to lead the conference in scoring and not even having made the field of 64. I would rather be ISU and "not do it the right way" and make the Sweet 16. (yeah, I just called down the thunder)

"Go root for another team" isn't really helpful advice. So my choice as an IOWA fan is to either just be ticked off about it, or stop caring as much... One or the other.

I'll save you the trouble of asking: I'm 37.

Me too...37...my point about rooting for someone else is simple...Iowa is going to have average years more often than exceptional...if you can't accept it as an Iowa fan...there us no reason to act surprised...it is what it is...I hoped this season would be better, but it ended poorly. Overall, it was a good season considering how it finished.

 

[lightning1]

I will agree to disagree with your lame arguement that there is only one good coach per year.

Would you like a trophy for participating in this thread? I'm sure your book shelf is full of participation trophies.

 

[lightning1]

In 4 seasons, Fran hasn't finished higher than 6th place in the BIG conference. I'm sorry but that's not getting it done by my standards. How many seasons should he get before he cracks the top 3? 6 seasons? 8 seasons? I'd be happy to hear all of your opinions on this. No hemming and hawing mind you. I'd like an actual season from all of the posters here.
Even Alfraud managed a 4th place finish in year 5......spew, retch...gag.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

a season ago, ferentz could do no right, fran could do no wrong. why can't ferentz be more like fran, or how the sentiment went. i will never understand the disdain so many feel towards ferentz. i guess that is just present day 'fan'.

Which--unfortunately--speaks to the "quality" of this "fan base".

I am certainly not thrilled with the way the b-ball season ended, and I agree that too many act as if FranMac is the all-solving-savior type. But he should get credit for what he has done.

Personally, I don't think Fran is the long-term answer for the program for several reasons. First, he has NEVER been a 10-year guy as HC at any school. Second, while he can get us the "next level", the starting point was awfully low. I'm not sure, given some of the losses, that he is the take-us-all-the-way guy. Finally, I'm not sure he will WANT to stay here long-term, and if that's the case, he may just do us the greatest favor by leaving the b-ball program in a FAR better place than when he got here.

 

[PCHawk]

In 4 seasons, Fran hasn't finished higher than 6th place in the BIG conference. I'm sorry but that's not getting it done by my standards. How many seasons should he get before he cracks the top 3? 6 seasons? 8 seasons? I'd be happy to hear all of your opinions on this. No hemming and hawing mind you. I'd like an actual season from all of the posters here.
Even Alfraud managed a 4th place finish in year 5......spew, retch...gag.

I agree with most of what you're saying but I think its ridiculous to suggest firing a coach at Iowa for not winning championships. As far as my expectations go... In year 4 Fran had built a team capable of competing for a championship. It really sucks how the season turned out but I've watched enough sports to know that losing can be contagious and sometimes teams can collapse and there is nothing anyone can do about it

Fran has met my expectations with how he has built the program but I'm also curious to see if the end of the season is a sign of things to come or just a freak occurrence.

If Fran constantly puts teams on the court as good as this team we will more than likely have plenty of good seasons. If all those teams under achieve or he has a lot of years where we have crappy teams,
then ill be worried.

Now let me ask you a question. Were you just blowing smoke or do you truely believe that the university of Iowa is in a position to fire a coach simply for not winning championships, regardless of what his other accomplishments might be?

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Next season should be interesting. There is no reason for Iowa not to make the NCAA tournament, from here on out. Wisconsin and Iowa State are doing it. I don't want excuses. I want results. Ferentz won a BIG title in year 4. Fran finished 6th in year 4. As far as I'm concerned, he has 2 more seasons to get a top 3 finish in the BIG conference regular season. That's giving him 6 seasons to accomplish that meager task. I am not now, nor will I ever be satisfied with a mediocre program. I don't care if we have to hire and fire one coach/AD after another to get it right. I'm not financially supporting mediocre. I'll leave that to the fine folks that make the excuses.

Using YOUR logic--"I'm not financially supporting mediocre"--YOU are part of the problem. You need to give a lot more support.

 

[PCHawk]

In 4 seasons, Fran hasn't finished higher than 6th place in the BIG conference. I'm sorry but that's not getting it done by my standards. How many seasons should he get before he cracks the top 3? 6 seasons? 8 seasons? I'd be happy to hear all of your opinions on this. No hemming and hawing mind you. I'd like an actual season from all of the posters here.
Even Alfraud managed a 4th place finish in year 5......spew, retch...gag.

In 3 and a half seasons Fran had us in a better position then most could have hoped for. The reason anyone can say things like "we aren't where we should be after year 4" is because how the season ended. It's not like there is any reason to assume this is the norm for a Fran coached team so is it really fair to judge him on this one time?

 

[PCHawk]

Using YOUR logic--"I'm not financially supporting mediocre"--YOU are part of the problem. You need to give a lot more support.

He says there is no reason Iowa shouldn't make the NCAA tournament from here on out. How about the fact that every other team is trying to do the same thing? Why is Iowa so special that they should lock up a bid every year? Iowa state has made it a few times and they're an automatic lock every year now?

 

[lightning1]

I agree with most of what you're saying but I think its ridiculous to suggest firing a coach at Iowa for not winning championships. As far as my expectations go... In year 4 Fran had built a team capable of competing for a championship. It really sucks how the season turned out but I've watched enough sports to know that losing can be contagious and sometimes teams can collapse and there is nothing anyone can do about it

Fran has met my expectations with how he has built the program but I'm also curious to see if the end of the season is a sign of things to come or just a freak occurrence.

If Fran constantly puts teams on the court as good as this team we will more than likely have plenty of good seasons. If all those teams under achieve or he has a lot of years where we have crappy teams,
then ill be worried.

Now let me ask you a question. Were you just blowing smoke or do you truely believe that the university of Iowa is in a position to fire a coach simply for not winning championships, regardless of what his other accomplishments might be?

I think we should be in title contention (finish top 3) once every 3 or 4 seasons. That's not a high standard IMO. It's not like MSU where they expect a Final Four run every 4 years. I'm not even expecting Wisconsin/Bo Ryan results of top 4 finish for 13 seasons running. I'm not unrealistic about Iowa's disadvantages and I really like Fran.