Yes, Iowa has not won a B1G in 42 years because Fran’s teams in the last ten years have not been tough. That’s it. Gold.
Expert opinions? Around here, good luck. Let’s hear what other B1G coaches think about Iowa. In the B1G they rank Iowa’s recruiting base dead last. They ranked Iowa’s facilities 12th. Iowa’s media exposure 10th and their financial resources 13th. Iowa’s game atmosphere is 11th (ahead of PSU, Rutgers, and NW lol) and it’s history/tradition ranked 9th.
I’m sure we’ve all seen these rankings. Iowa ranked as the 11th most difficult job according to other coaches. Behind Nebraska and Minnesota. Of the 8 categories, Iowa ranked in the bottom third of all of them besides admission requirements (1) and history/tradition (9).
Perhaps a few of these things, or maybe a combination of all of them are reasons why Iowa has not won a conference title in 42 years. The toughness of Fran’s teams in the last 10 seasons is more likely the reason.
Gold!
In your expert opinion as a fiercely independent thinker, what general level of achievement should Iowa fans reasonably expect from a head coach over the course of a decade?
What sort of milestones should reasonably mark a “successful” decade long tenure at Iowa?
For example, in Bo Ryan’s first ten years at Wisconsin he won three big ten regular season titles, one big ten tournament title and went to two NCAA tourney sweet sixteens and one elite eight.
Bo took over an established program. Fran didn’t. Bo is a HOF coach. Fran isn’t. So of course, it’s not reasonable for Iowa fans to expect results anywhere close to that.
In his first ten years at Michigan, John Beilein won two regular season big ten titles, one big ten tournament title, and had one sweet sixteen, one elite eight and one national title game appearance.
Like Fran, Beilein took over a mess but it was at glamor program Michigan not short bus program Iowa. So, of course, there is no way Iowa fans should ever expect anything close to those kinds of results.
But what
is reasonable to expect for this program over that time period?
Should Iowa, for instance,
ever expect to win a big ten regular season title? Would that
ever be reasonable? A sweet sixteen appearance? Is that a reasonable expectation over ten years for Iowa?
Is it reasonable to have
any expectations at all? Ever?
Is this a “ridiculous question?” Should I “know better than this?”
I’ll hang up and listen. Thanks!
(neither would Kingsbury - aka Marlboro Man)
