Who should Iowa hire?
- Thread starter longtimer
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JoeyLabasForPresident
Well-Known Member
That would probably be my preference as well. Has the potential to both take the program in a (more) winning direction, and can maybe even develop in spite of the program’s NIL direction. His style of play would be a huge change of pace, so I’m not really sure exactly what to make of that, but I do suspect with the right players it will be more competitive in the B1G than Fran’s. And it’s goofy, because you’d expect Fran’s style to translate to more post season success, but that never happened.
McCollum seems to me the kind of hire that could be both a slam dunk and be around for twenty years (if he works out).
DeVries is also at least worth a phone call, but I wouldn’t be rushing here without a raise and some really sizable NIL guarantees.
McCollum seems to me the kind of hire that could be both a slam dunk and be around for twenty years (if he works out).
DeVries is also at least worth a phone call, but I wouldn’t be rushing here without a raise and some really sizable NIL guarantees.
JoeyLabasForPresident
Well-Known Member
Also, I’ve seen some rumblings about Indiana having serious interest in McCollum. I would wager they interview him, but would expect them to target a higher profile name. Still a live shot if he wows, I think especially so if he can win a game (especially two, though that’s a major long shot) in the dance.
www.thedailyhoosier.com
www.insidethehall.com
IU basketball coaching candidate profile: Ben McCollum
This is the seventh in a series of profiles of potential candidates for Indiana’s open basketball head coaching position. Candidate: Ben McCollum Age: 43 Current position, tenure: Drake head coach …
www.thedailyhoosier.com
Indiana basketball coaching search profile: Ben McCollum
Winning basketball games is what Ben McCollum has done for the past 16 seasons.
www.insidethehall.com
thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
Perhaps we should lock him up even if Fran stays for another year or two
If this is possible
If this is possible
JoeyLabasForPresident
Well-Known Member
Watching Drake last night and the MVC Championship today… I just don’t know how Beth doesn’t make a push for him.
thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
I used to go to all the Drake games at Vets Auditorium
During the Maury John years
The Final Four game against UCLA with Lew Alcindor was one of the best games
I have ever seen
Kareem said that the Drake game was the toughest game of his entire career
During the Maury John years
The Final Four game against UCLA with Lew Alcindor was one of the best games
I have ever seen
Kareem said that the Drake game was the toughest game of his entire career
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JoeyLabasForPresident
Well-Known Member
That’s cool! Those seasons are just banners in the Knapp Center to me.
pythagoras
Well-Known Member
Leave my Drake Bulldog basketball team alone. We can only rebuild so many times in 9 years. 
You have a he’ll of an athletic director if anyone can make a good hire it’s himLeave my Drake Bulldog basketball team alone. We can only rebuild so many times in 9 years.
Hawkeye/swish
Well-Known Member
Well, i'm a drake fan as well as a hawkeye fan.. And I'd hate to see coach Mac leave Drake right now. I was hoping he would stay for a few more years. Also I really don't think hawkeye fans could handle coach Macs type of offense even though he wins. I just don't see it. The Big Ten conference is a lot different, then the Missouri Valley also.
pythagoras
Well-Known Member
Agreed, most everyone hated Lickball and has it's similarities.
JoeyLabasForPresident
Well-Known Member
If he doesn’t succeed totally agree, fans will sour quickly. But fans will absolutely trade in 25% of the offense we saw under Fran for 25% more wins, and I’d wager engagement and viewership actually increases—a lot. Now, can he make it work? IDK, but I trust him to win at Iowa at least as much as any reasonable hire. Iowa needs a new system. Clearly this hire would bring an entirely different approach and different players. Plenty of similarly situated programs have turned into (relative) powerhouses by focusing on the transfer portal. Fran is a hell of a coach. But he doesn’t have the resources to regularly build the roster he needs to support his style of play. That’s not really a concern if Beth hires Mac.
And I’m also a Drake fan (alum) so I’d be totally fine with him staying. Just not sure he’s long for Drake if this season wasn’t a fluke, anyhow (unless he really, *really* loves it, or the team goes to shit) and if he’s going to find success at the next level, I’d sure as hell prefer he do it here.
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99topdawg
Well-Known Member
His team won the MVC with a new roster of players, with 5 of them being his former players at NW Mo. St. That tells me that he a) won more with less, b) developed the shit out of these guys so they could go from D2 recruits to D1 conference champs, and/or c) recruited D1 kids to a D2 school, which means he's a helluva recruiter.
HawkeyeHypnosis
Well-Known Member
I think it’s ridiculous to let fran go at this time. With what they have coming in next season and with what they have coming back it’s not the right time. This has happened before, top 25 recruiting class and get rid of coach. Fran can coach with the best of them. More focus on D or employing a defensive coach would be a better idea. In the NIL world, it’s not going to matter if we have Coach K. But at least give him a year.
Fryowa
Administrator
Something aboout this whole deal smells fishy to me and really the only way we're going to find out is when it's announced. Fran has publicly said he plans on staying, but that's the canned answer to the question you're going to get from any coach. No P6 coach is going to say at a press conference in-season, "Yep, I'm out." Goetz knows that and it pretty much kills any recruiting going on. She's not going to comment on that.
He sold his house, people who would know better than any of us say that Margaret is already living in Indy, his son is coaching in Indy where his superstar future wife is playing basketball, and his youngest will be playing basketball at the same place his oldest is coaching. He coached at a place right up the road and loved it there, and his wife was a player and coach at the same place.
My brain tells me those are the stars lining up for him to move on. My gut tells me maybe he wants to stay to get his current incoming (and more talented) recruiting class in the door, but I have a REAL hard time believing that after Jack's redshirt year he's going to want to be hangin' out in Iowa by himself getting beat up by the Big Ten and the media.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Iowa would need a pretty huge commitment from Fran to be a bigger cheerleader and fundraiser for the program as a whole to bring him back. I don't think Fran deserves to be fired for his on the court coaching, but you can't ignore the lack of interests and juice attached to this program. Iowa has 15 years of evidence that's just not how Fran is wired. Iowa needs an ambassador that embraces the challenges and is the face of Iowa basketball and Iowa desperately needs fundraising prowess in order to take Iowa a different direction in which it is trending. IMO, making the B1G tourney just extends this another week but still the same inevitable outcome.
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Zstatman
Well-Known Member
Is it true that he has sold his house? That would be very telling, IMO.
How old is his daughter, is she out of high school? That could be a factor.
