I was gonna say good grief Drake gets poached of coaches every dang time they get a good one. UNI has had Jacobson forever now. It'd be nice to see Drake keep a guy for awhile and see what they can do.Leave my Drake Bulldog basketball team alone. We can only rebuild so many times in 9 years.
Who should Iowa hire?
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pythagoras
Well-Known Member
I think it's ridiculous to think after 15 years Fran can coach with the best of them and also deservers another year. Times up
No idea about the house situation. I think they owned multiple homes in IC area. When Connor was in college I think they'd bought one for him and PM to live in as well. So if they'd sold a home it may or may not have been the main one they'd been living in as a family. I'd heard this rumor a couple of places but haven't seen any proof of any of it.
The daughter is older and if she's not out of college she's probably an upperclassmen. Jack is the baby of the family.
Fryowa
Administrator
Daughter graduated from Iowa already.
House was sold in June.
Moved from this out in the sticks of North Liberty millionaire's row...
To this one right near the Mayflower dorms (up the street from Hancher). Yeah it's still a million dollar house, but it's right across the street from a fraternity and has neighbors 60 feet away on all sides. That isn't the move of a bazillionaire P6 basketball coach looking to stay very long or looking for any kind of privacy.
I'd guess that Iowa's first call would be to DeVries. Seems like they'd have mutual interest. Let him rule himself out if he wants and go from there. If Iowa say doesn't want to go after him then there's only 2 reasons I could see why. Either his lack of interest or $. Paying both Fran and his buyout might be too rich for what Beth wants to do. Although Frans being able to be spread out 3 yrs or whatever should make that extremely doable. But it's not my $.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
If Iowa misses back to back dances at any point, there needs to be a huge reason as to why. This year you could point towards injuries and I'd hear it, but let's face it, when the team was healthy, it was likely a bottom half of the conference finisher. Back to back tourney dances with no hope moving forward is never going to be acceptable at Iowa, no matter where any coach is at in the tenure of their career. Iowa needs to make 4 out 5 dances every 5 years, however it happens.
So yeah there's only a couple reasons to do all that and the one I come up with would be is if say they bought land somewhere and wanted to build and didn't need 3 properties all at once.
That said with all the breadcrumbs being what they are there's no chance Fran is retiring in the Iowa City area and about to build a new home. So the other reason is like you said they've been counting down the days for quite awhile now till they move to Indy and this puts them in an easier position to do so.
Remember towards the beginning of the year we almost won at Michigan and they are the 3 seed, and we almost beat ISU who is highly ranked. Koch being out might have hurt worse than we know. Thelwell playing injured and missing key games that were very winnable hurt bad. Freeman being out at the end probably didn't cost us the tournament because we were probably already out by then. But it probably cost us a couple wins for sure. Also Iowa needs a hall of fame coach to make the tournament 4 out of 5 years with the way things are now. You're very realistic with where we are as a program so you saying that doesn't really make much sense. Unless you just mean ideally. In that case I agree.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
Any time Iowa doesn't make it in back to back years, I am going to want a new coach or a REALLY REALLY explainable reason. I think I've been consistent as the day is long with that expectation. I don't demand March runs and conference championships and high seeds. I demand that Iowa, a power program, to be one of the top 68 teams in the country 4 out 5 years regularly. It's a really low bar.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
I live up the street from here. It really isn't as it appears. You can only access this house and the ones around it by a private drive up a steep hill. It's very secluded. The frat house is down a steep hill and it has no direct access to these homes. As for the homes surrounding, they are close but the trees provide a lot of cover between the houses. This house is close to downtown Iowa City but probably as private as you can get and still be this close in. I think Licklighter lived in this very same area.
With all that said, I have no idea what his and his family's plan are.
InGoodCo
Well-Known Member
IMO, this is one of the most disappointing Iowa basketball seasons in recent memory and unfortunately, it followed a clunker of a season as well. I also don't look at next year and say, ok, I can see the pieces that might put together a really good season next year. So, we're staring down 3 in a row as a possibility in making the dance? Not good enough for me as a fan. This is one of 2 or 3 seasons in my lifetime that every Iowa basketball game wasn't MUST SEE television. Half way through the season I turned it off for the most part. I watched it eventually, or what I could stomach.
Everyone on here knows how positive I am and have been about Iowa basketball. I am pretty much done with it as it currently stands.
Everyone on here knows how positive I am and have been about Iowa basketball. I am pretty much done with it as it currently stands.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
As I posted in another thread, IF everyone on the current roster that can come back does, and is healthy, and if Fran can keep that stud transfer from Florida and the two high end high school kids that are committed, I like this team a lot in '26. The team is getting exactly what it is missing now: an all-conference type center to protect the rim and rebound, and a hug infusion of athleticism on the wings.
I have no trouble seeing a formidable roster next year with the current and committed pieces. What I have trouble seeing is Fran being retained AND keeping all these pieces in place.
