Do you want Fran to stay or go?

Do you want Fran to stay or go?


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Kamala

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By now we know what we are getting with Fran. His teams are generally going to be top half Douche teams. They are generally going to make the NCAA tournament. They play an entertaining style. They are wildly inconsistent due to lack of defense. They are incredibly soft. They are not built to make any sort of deep tournament run and will be disappointing in March.

We could make a change and do a lot worse, and we have in fact done a lot worse. It may even take a series of hires/fires before we actually upgrade.

So would you rather stay the course and be content with what we have or take on the risk of making a change?

I think there is validity to either opinion.
 

Hawkstrat

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Stay, because I don't think there is a thing as built for March. They'll never be great at defense, but they've been better than this.

But I also don't care that much. Like if he does get an offer he wants (I don't see it happening) that's fine.
 

Floyd R

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*Edited*
I hope to God Fran leaves for something else and they hire DeVries.

Iowa can’t afford to ire Fran because his buyout was written by a retard named Gary Barto.
 
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The Goodman poll of conference coaches ranked Iowa 10th or 11th best job in the league. Objectively you can’t make an argument higher than 8th at the absolute best.

They have a top a 10 streak nationally making the tournament. At Iowa. Finishing in the top third of the league yearly. Firing talk is just stupid.
 

RiotFan

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I’ve hit the fatigue stage with Fran. Several contributing factors including his kids minutes (primary Pat), apparent contempt for spending any time/energy on defense, similar contempt for recruiting and signing high-quality PGs. Not to mention the completely inexplicable rotations….

This season was a perfect encapsulation of the Fran era. Coached up a team to a 5th place finish in the Big 10. A team we all thought would be very lucky to make the tourney. Yet they lost 6 games to the bottom of the conference including getting swept by Nebrantska and Wisconsin. Lost their last 3 games including a Senior Day game that would have sealed up 2nd place in the conference and a double bye in the league tourney.

So frustrating, yet solid coaching to get them this far? Such a roller coaster.
 

HerkyHopeful

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He's not fireable but being consistently shitty in March combined with his stupid kids has left a sour taste in my mouth. I wouldn't cry if he left.

That said, if he'd even try on defense and pay for some recruits he could maybe take a big step. A sweet sixteen is not a crazy wish is it?
 

RiotFan

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He found and developed Garza and the Murrays.
Garza was a highly rated recruit.

Murrays were in his own backyard and had no other major offers, so credit to Fran for taking a chance. Far from a slam dunk at the time.
 

Kamala

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It’s one thing to hope he moves on to a different job because you want change.

Firing a coach who has made 5 straight tournaments and finished 6th, 6th, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the Big Ten, at Iowa, is insane and a non-starter.
The question wasn’t about firing him, to be clear.
 

Talkin' Goat

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Fran is fine. He was a great hire at the time. We needed something to be fucking excited about and he did what was needed.

He’s also pretty much done what he can. Not saying that’s good or bad, just what it is. His teams have been fun as fuck to watch at times and well you know the other times.

Iowa basketball is basically where it was with Dr. Tom. Fran not as successful of course, but kind of at a plateau. Is it time to try something else?

I think it was time to try something else with Dr. Tom (though Bowlsby fucked it up like no other). I’m feeling the same with Fran. It could be worse, but honestly who gives a fuck at this point.
 

RiotFan

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So saying he “found” Garza is a stretch. He was a good recruiting get, not someone Fran pulled off the pile.

Regarding Murrays: “credit Fran for taking a chance.“
 

nolookpass

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Donald Trump thinks Fran's defense video was a scam.
 
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Fran is fine. He was a great hire at the time. We needed something to be fucking excited about and he did what was needed.

He’s also pretty much done what he can. Not saying that’s good or bad, just what it is. His teams have been fun as fuck to watch at times and well you know the other times.

Iowa basketball is basically where it was with Dr. Tom. Fran not as successful of course, but kind of at a plateau. Is it time to try something else?

I think it was time to try something else with Dr. Tom (though Bowlsby fucked it up like no other). I’m feeling the same with Fran. It could be worse, but honestly who gives a fuck at this point.
He’s basically the same as Davis was after the Raveling guys were gone.

In regards to the “it could be worse, who cares”, do you remember the 15 years after getting rid of Davis? 12 of them fucking sucked. I cared and they were awful. We were dying to get back to the tournament once because it became such a rarity. If you don’t really care about Iowa basketball or CBB then I guess it’s easy to only focus on March. But it’s horrible being out of the mix every year.

Fran has made more tournaments here than Minnesota has in 25 years. They should be better than us. Just keep cycling through clowns thinking the next one will be it.
 

HawkBall23

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Do I want Fran to stay, if given the offer to coach somewhere else? No.

Do I think there is a less than 0% chance of him actually receiving such an offer and leaving? Yes.
 

RiotFan

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The 120th ranked recruit comes to Iowa and wins the fucking Naismith?

Ho hum. Everyone saw it coming and no credit to Fran.
Saying he “found” Garza was what I was arguing. Does he get tremendous credit for development? Absolutely. Player development is one of the highlights of his program.

For the record, I voted to keep Fran around. Firing him is a horrible idea.
 

MikeyJoe

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He’s basically the same as Davis was after the Raveling guys were gone.

In regards to the “it could be worse, who cares”, do you remember the 15 years after getting rid of Davis? 12 of them fucking sucked. I cared and they were awful. We were dying to get back to the tournament once because it became such a rarity. If you don’t really care about Iowa basketball or CBB then I guess it’s easy to only focus on March. But it’s horrible being out of the mix every year.

Fran has made more tournaments here than Minnesota has in 25 years. They should be better than us. Just keep cycling through clowns thinking the next one will be it.
I remember pre chat game threads in the early years of HaLo with like four of us posting in game threads during losses with a final score of 45-60.
 

Talkin' Goat

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He’s basically the same as Davis was after the Raveling guys were gone.

In regards to the “it could be worse, who cares”, do you remember the 15 years after getting rid of Davis? 12 of them fucking sucked. I cared and they were awful. We were dying to get back to the tournament once because it became such a rarity. If you don’t really care about Iowa basketball or CBB then I guess it’s easy to only focus on March. But it’s horrible being out of the mix every year.

Fran has made more tournaments here than Minnesota has in 25 years. They should be better than us. Just keep cycling through clowns thinking the next one will be it.
I remember and it sucked. But at some point you have to do something different. There is risk of course, but you have to hope that things get better. That’s the whole fucking point. Things can get worse though, so prepare your anus if your AD is a dumbfuck.
 

MikeyJoe

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I remember and it sucked. But at some point you have to do something different. There is risk of course, but you have to hope that things get better. That’s the whole fucking point. Things can get worse though, so prepare your anus if your AD is a dumbfuck.
I don’t know that we should expect it to be better at Iowa absent some sort of game changing NIL. It’s not a good job or a historically great program. What makes you think it should be better than top half conference finishes and making the tournament most years?
 

Hawkstrat

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Saying he “found” Garza was what I was arguing. Does he get tremendous credit for development? Absolutely. Player development is one of the highlights of his program.

For the record, I voted to keep Fran around. Firing him is a horrible idea.
Again, who cares? So he won a recruiting battle instead of finding him, that is a good thing in a coach.
 

Hawkstrat

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I don’t know that we should expect it to be better at Iowa absent some sort of game changing NIL. It’s not a good job or a historically great program. What makes you think it should be better than top half conference finishes and making the tournament most years?
It mirrors the problem with the FB program in a sense. Overall good enough (football being better), but the shortcomings are so obvious and below reasonable expectations.
 
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I don’t know that we should expect it to be better at Iowa absent some sort of game changing NIL. It’s not a good job or a historically great program. What makes you think it should be better than top half conference finishes and making the tournament most years?
Right. The “don’t fear change because things could go worse” works if you’re like South Carolina under Frank Martin and mediocre but never making the tournament. There’s validity to that when you’re doing nothing.

Firing the coach with like the 8th longest tournament streak in the country, finishing in the top 1/3 of the Big Ten at Iowa gets you laughed at by everyone. You also better pay $5M+ to get your next coach because that’s a tough precedent.
 

MikeyJoe

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Fran turns 64 this spring. I don’t want him fired or to leave for another job, but if he decides to retire I would be pretty indifferent towards that decision. I like the guy, but someday before I die I’d love to see the Hawks make a run.
I agree with this. I appreciate Fran but I’ll be okay when he’s gone.
 

Kamala

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The 120th ranked recruit comes to Iowa and wins the fucking Naismith?

Ho hum. Everyone saw it coming and no credit to Fran.
I guess I don’t care whether an Iowa player wins the Naismith or not. I would take that award away from Garza if it would mean a Sweet Sixteen
 

Talkin' Goat

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I don’t know that we should expect it to be better at Iowa absent some sort of game changing NIL. It’s not a good job or a historically great program. What makes you think it should be better than top half conference finishes and making the tournament most years?
No you are absolutely correct that’s what it is, but it’s still fun as fuck to catch lightning in a bottle and be something more. I think that can happen at Iowa, plus resources are certainly above average however you want to define that.
 
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