2020 recruiting

[Dr. Zaius]

Lol Fran.

 

[nolookpass]

the young lad seems wishy washy. Could see him flipping before signing day.

 

[HerkyHopeful]

the young lad seems wishy washy. Could see him flipping before signing day.

This post has a very CF-ish feel to it

 

[nolookpass]

the young lad seems wishy washy. Could see him flipping before signing day.

This post has a very CF-ish feel to it

bah. I never thought he was coming to Iowa to begin with.

 

[Thanksgiving Dinner]

the young lad seems wishy washy. Could see him flipping before signing day.

This post has a very CF-ish feel to it

bah. I never thought he was coming to Iowa to begin with.

This post has a very Kakert feel to it

 

[Hawk_Kegmasters]

the young lad seems wishy washy. Could see him flipping before signing day.

he can sign on Wednesday. I think his mind is made up.

 

[nolookpass]

the young lad seems wishy washy. Could see him flipping before signing day.

he can sign on Wednesday. I think his mind is made up.

oh, thought signing day was a few months away

 

[douglasbader]

It is going to take a fundamental program change to have a chance to fix it, and this is a bigger than just changing the coach.

The only way you are going to change Iowa Basketball back to what everyone pines for in the 80's and early 90's is to build a new arena and get a coach that has less than above the board recruiting methods.

As of now, they play in a cavernous arena that people don't show up to consistently and they might have the most honest and clean coach in the history of basketball when it comes to recruiting and half of the current fans hate him.

Exactly. I don’t think there is a simple solution. The basketball culture from a fan/university standpoint just isn’t good.

I have been in the Carver Hawkeye is perfectly fine camp for years, but it really isn't anymore. It is an old, huge and outdated facility. Their big updates to attract people have been to put tables in an area at the top of the arena that has the worst views. The old people with money surround the court in the best seats, but they hate walking down into that bowl 35 rows and especially hate walking back up and love to leave early to stand at the top. Students can barely even be bothered to show up even when tickets are free and they give out even more free shit.

There are really 3 options at this point.....

- Get a new coach that is a stud recruiter surrounded by a bunch of shady AAU connected staff and they all can actually coach and win games as well.

- Build a new arena with about 10k seats that is fan friendly and provides an atmosphere. Put the rich people in courtside seats and the rest in luxury boxes. Have the Students somewhere good and visible and they likely actually show up. Oh, an have a good coach that can recruit.

- Do nothing. Iowa is currently a solid middle of the pack Big Ten program that is going to the NCAA Tournament every other year or so. Fran runs a clean program with good kids and they are an overall positive. Building a new arena will cost $200m. A new coach and staff will cost millions more. There is no guarantee that anything will actually improve significantly enough if you make this sort of massive investment and you already dumped millions recently to renovating Carver Hawkeye.

 

[Hawk_Kegmasters]

the young lad seems wishy washy. Could see him flipping before signing day.

he can sign on Wednesday. I think his mind is made up.

oh, thought signing day was a few months away

There are 2 signing periods now, the first of which begins on the second Wednesday of November.

 

[Geese]

And here I was ready to celebrate him staying in state.

 

[MikeyJoe]

- Do nothing. Iowa is currently a solid middle of the pack Big Ten program that is going to the NCAA Tournament every other year or so. Fran runs a clean program with good kids and they are an overall positive. Building a new arena will cost $200m. A new coach and staff will cost millions more. There is no guarantee that anything will actually improve significantly enough if you make this sort of massive investment and you already dumped millions recently to renovating Carver Hawkeye.

This is definitely where Iowa is at as a program. Gary Barta's motto is basically: "Iowa Sports: Fine".

 

[CamelTones]

Francis wasn’t a great recruiter but Fran replaces his best recruiter with Billy Taylor. The fact that that was the best he could do says all you need to know about this program.

 

[douglasbader]

Everyone should get comfortable with exactly how things are. Fran hasn't done anything to be fired and is going to have a couple more good years this year and next year. They aren't going to dump $200m+ into a new arena after doing multiple expensive upgrades. The ROI on all of this wouldn't bring enough results to do it. The fans and administration simply don't care as long as Football is winning 8+ games every year.

People will bitch about Fran and recruiting but there isn't anything to be done until Fran has a couple bad years in a row a few years from now. At that point he will be 65 years old and it will be time to move on and find a new coach. That new coach won't be anyone high profile, likely someone who is a similar mid-major rising coach like Fran was.

 

[MikeyJoe]

Francis wasn’t a great recruiter but Fran replaces his best recruiter with Billy Taylor. The fact that that was the best he could do says all you need to know about this program.

I don't know if it's the best he could do or if it's the best he wanted to do, which is almost worse.

 

[ClintWalker]

Oh well...It seems about right for the program. Time will tell if this kid is an impact type player or not.

 

[JR Hawks]

Iowa recruiting was fucked the moment a newly hired Fran got pissy when a reporter asked him if he'd be hiring an assistant to lead recruiting and he said, no, he would be serving as the lead recruiter. We've got ourselves a control freak....and he's a big white dork that has no appeal for African American recruits.

clearly, as evidenced by his roster composition at Siena

My bad. I should've said high-level African American basketball recruits. Cuz the leftovers that went to Siena just aren't going to cut it here. If you'd like to further discuss Fran's challenges recruiting African Americans at this level, I'll point you in the direction of our all white starting lineup....which is unheard of at this level.

 

[HerkyHopeful]

What can be done renovation-wise to Carver? I don't know shit about engineering but don't think it's a big deal to lose 25% of the seats in there, they only fill it for big wrestling meets and occasional men's games.

 

[Berzerkenpas]

this class is probably one LATFG from finished

(just don't get the vibe that ogundele is coming here -- so on to the fallback from the fallback)

 

[Creed]

I think the frustrating part is that it should be easier for Iowa to compete in basketball than football to get one or two good players per year since the state does seem to regularly have a 4 star each year.

 

[douglasbader]

Francis wasn’t a great recruiter but Fran replaces his best recruiter with Billy Taylor. The fact that that was the best he could do says all you need to know about this program.

This ultimately tells you everything about Fran and where the program is going, and that is stuck in neutral. Not bad, not great, but fine as @MikeyJoe points out.

Fran should have done a significant overhaul, but he either was lazy or couldn't get anyone worth a shit and went with a guy who had already been on staff and then left for a crap job and flamed out and took him back.

Speraw's supposed worth and strong suit is getting the best in state talent. He has failed miserably at that the last 2 years. Sherm supposed worth and strong suit was AAU connections through Nike, but that obviously isn't producing anything.

Fran is 60 years old. Speraw is 63 years old. Sherm is 64 years old. Al Siebert is 57 years old.

Billy Taylor and Courtney Eldridge are the youngsters on the staff and they are 46 and 41 years old.

The staff is too old to truly be effective in recruiting in 2019, especially given that Iowa doesn't exactly have a great winning reputation.

 

[Stomper15]

 

[Bonner]

Everyone should get comfortable with exactly how things are. Fran hasn't done anything to be fired and is going to have a couple more good years this year and next year. They aren't going to dump $200m+ into a new arena after doing multiple expensive upgrades. The ROI on all of this wouldn't bring enough results to do it. The fans and administration simply don't care as long as Football is winning 8+ games every year.

People will bitch about Fran and recruiting but there isn't anything to be done until Fran has a couple bad years in a row a few years from now. At that point he will be 65 years old and it will be time to move on and find a new coach. That new coach won't be anyone high profile, likely someone who is a similar mid-major rising coach like Fran was.

I’m going to get worried when Connor is on the bench in 4 years...

 

[maxinquaye]

 

[douglasbader]

If you really want to get depressed, and this goes out to all the people that want Fran gone, is what do you think his replacement is realistically going to look like?

This isn't like if Iowa Football hypothetically had an opening and there would be a lot of higher profile and top prospect coaches that would be clawing to get the Iowa job because of the facilities, fan base and potential job security.

Not a single high profile coach or top prospect is going to be after the Iowa basketball job. They would be looking at best case scenario of hiring someone like Darian DeVries from Drake or maybe a solid mid-major coach.

 

[Stu Beagle]

Gradate. Do it right.

 

[douglasbader]

The fucking Murray twins, the shitty Ulis brother and some random guy from Indiana. Zero offers from Power 5 schools. Sheesh.

Fran, send that bag of cash to Sibley and the British kid.

 

[Hawkstrat]

The hillbilly from Fairbank might work out.

 

[maxinquaye]

They should stop trying to recruit players higher than a 3 star. Waste of time.

 

[CamelTones]

After the news today, the Murray twins would have made more sense as fall backs. There was still no reason to offer them when Fran did.

 

[StinkyMcFadden]

Fran is the Hawk&Balls/Valp of recruiting.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

I guess I’m just happy that Fran is not The Criminal at this point

 

[StinkyMcFadden]

I guess I’m just happy that Fran is not The Criminal at this point

Fran McCaffery: He's mostly trying

 

[JR Hawks]

I guess I’m just happy that Fran is not The Criminal at this point

This is a pretty good summary of the Fran era and the low expectations he faces. Given the pay, it's quite the gig for him.

 

[Berzerkenpas]

or maybe a solid mid-major coach.

which is what iowa currently has

 

[douglasbader]

I guess I’m just happy that Fran is not The Criminal at this point

This is a pretty good summary of the Fran era and the low expectations he faces. Given the pay, it's quite the gig for him.

Do you ever do even a second of research before you make dumb statements like this? Last week it was fucking up that the athletic department takes state funds, and now it is this.

Fran is the 10th highest paid coach in the Big Ten and regularly finishes in the top half of the conference. He is a relative bargain given the results.

 

[CamelTones]

This whole recruiting class cycle was really odd basically from when last years class signed.

Outside of Foster there wasn’t a lot of buzz about any recruits from Iowa reporters at all. 3/4 of the class is made up of guys Fran offered in the last 4-6 weeks/right before they visited.

I like the Ulis signing. Perkins reminds me too much of Pat Ingram and the Murray twins are maybe the oddest signings I can remember by Iowa.

 

[Swingin' Dick Stanzi]

bah. I never thought he was coming to Iowa to begin with.

From page 6 of this very thread...

This seems auspicious.

Sat next to a coach who knows family well at at a wedding Saturday.

If the kid stays instate, he will be a Hawk.

 

[douglasbader]

I guess at this point why does any of this surprise anyone? Iowa treats the basketball program like a relative second class citizen. They invest in it a little bit more than Rutgers, Northwestern and Penn State.

Even a historical loser school like Nebrantska has invested far more than Iowa has recently.

With all of those factors including Iowa State being more high profile in state, Fran is sort of undervalued.

 

[L. Wade Childress]

What can be done renovation-wise to Carver? I don't know shit about engineering but don't think it's a big deal to lose 25% of the seats in there, they only fill it for big wrestling meets and occasional men's games.

purchase bots to show up at the games. There is nothing wrong with Carver. Our fans are spoiled and evidently refuse to show up unless dr Tom is rehired and Chris Street resurrected.

we can talk all we want about trying to take the next step up but quite frankly there are not enough people that care. The donors that could influence change are comfortable with the current state of the program and the everyman Fanbase doesn’t bother to show up to games. There is no incentive to make any big changes.

 

[Geese]

bah. I never thought he was coming to Iowa to begin with.

From page 6 of this very thread...

This seems auspicious.

Sat next to a coach who knows family well at at a wedding Saturday.

If the kid stays instate, he will be a Hawk.

LLOOOLLL

 

[Berzerkenpas]

this has the look of "go all in on one guy and lose him at the last minute."

 

[Billy Butters]

JFC, what a bunch of faggots. At least Fran's not The Criminal, LOL. This sucks and we will probably be dogshit in 3 years but that will be after we make 4 straight NCAA tourneys. Our shitty fanbase doesn't deserve much better.

 

[Stu Beagle]

What can be done renovation-wise to Carver? I don't know shit about engineering but don't think it's a big deal to lose 25% of the seats in there, they only fill it for big wrestling meets and occasional men's games.

purchase bots to show up at the games. There is nothing wrong with Carver. Our fans are spoiled and evidently refuse to show up unless dr Tom is rehired and Chris Street resurrected.

we can talk all we want about trying to take the next step up but quite frankly there are not enough people that care. The donors that could influence change are comfortable with the current state of the program and the everyman Fanbase doesn’t bother to show up to games. There is no incentive to make any big changes.

Carver does actually suck.

But yes, fans not showing up is a big deal. And I don't know how to fix that. It seems people now are way less likely to leave their house when it's shitty weather than they were 20 years ago.

 

[douglasbader]

JFC, what a bunch of faggots. At least Fran's not The Criminal, LOL. This sucks and we will probably be dogshit in 3 years but that will be after we make 4 straight NCAA tourneys. Our shitty fanbase doesn't deserve much better.

The only people with any control over any of this are Barta and the larger donors. As of now, they are happy with the current results in basketball. I don't think any fan is necessarily "happy", but reality is a mother fucker.

The investment it would take to take Iowa to the NEXT LEVEL!!!! isn't something they want to invest in, either facilities or coaching salary.

 

[Hawkstrat]

I'm just going to enjoy this season and next year. It might be ugly after that.

 

[ISUFan98]

Carver is fine, but it's not used like it should be. Put the students on the floor and the bluehairs in seats that are close enough to the action, but not so far that they won't walk 30+ rows.

When Dr. Tom was there Carver was the kind of arena nobody wanted to play in because it got so loud. Plus you had fans sitting near the floor who'd make noise.

Blowing it up and trying to build a 10,000 seat arena in the current environment of major conference CBB would be dumb, especially when you have conference rivals in close proximity with arenas well in excess of 15k capacity.

 

[Stu Beagle]

Carver is fine, but it's not used like it should be. Put the students on the floor and the bluehairs in seats that are close enough to the action, but not so far that they won't walk 30+ rows.

When Dr. Tom was there Carver was the kind of arena nobody wanted to play in because it got so loud. Plus you had fans sitting near the floor who'd make noise.

Blowing it up and trying to build a 10,000 seat arena in the current environment of major conference CBB would be dumb, especially when you have conference rivals in close proximity with arenas well in excess of 15k capacity.

so during the 80's when Iowa was really fucking good? I don't think anyone was afraid of Carver past 1990

 

[nolookpass]

bah. I never thought he was coming to Iowa to begin with.

From page 6 of this very thread...

Sat next to a coach who knows family well at at a wedding Saturday.

If the kid stays instate, he will be a Hawk.

LLOOOLLL

ol Dick did half his homework.

got further scoop from the same source a few months ago that said Fran had basically stopped recruiting him.

 

[Mo T]

Iowa basketball fan sounding like Nebrantska football fan.

Except Iowa's glory days were 30+ years ago and not all that glorious.

 

[douglasbader]

Carver is fine, but it's not used like it should be. Put the students on the floor and the bluehairs in seats that are close enough to the action, but not so far that they won't walk 30+ rows.

When Dr. Tom was there Carver was the kind of arena nobody wanted to play in because it got so loud. Plus you had fans sitting near the floor who'd make noise.

Blowing it up and trying to build a 10,000 seat arena in the current environment of major conference CBB would be dumb, especially when you have conference rivals in close proximity with arenas well in excess of 15k capacity.

The reality of Iowa Basketball is the heyday was in the 70's / 80's / 90's and the fans are now well into the 40-80 year old range. Alford even with a few good years pissed in everyone's mouth and The Criminal dropped a fat turd in after.

Fran hasn't done nearly enough to grow enough new fans to make up for any of that.

Hence you have students who don't show up or give a shit, you're missing a huge swath of 20 and 30 year olds that should be fans and all the "real" fans are now too old and crotchety to want to leave the house in bad weather and go through the pain in the ass of parking at Carver Hawkeye and walking their fat asses up and down 35 rows of stairs. Every relevant game is also on in beautiful HD an with the BTN coming in there are very few Saturday/Sunday games.

I don't see it coming back unless Iowa pays through the nose and gets lucky with their next coach.