ISU has been better than Iowa at hoops for decades. It’s not just a “TJ effect”.
Granted ISU’s lows have been even worse than Iowa’s but they’re usually good for a couple of S16 runs a decade.
DeVries of Drake is the replacement if Fran is done
- Thread starter Chishawk1425
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Granted ISU’s lows have been even worse than Iowa’s but they’re usually good for a couple of S16 runs a decade.
with more nepotism? seriously? Maybe Tucker is the biggest reason for his success. Definitely his best recruit/player. Can he really recruit others though, P5 studs?
They have consistently won since he's been there and prior to Tucker. Tucker will be MVC player of year.
Jesus dude just get a room with devries already. Go be a drake fan.
I cheer for them, thanks. They have a shot at Madness while we are done after BTT.
The sooner we can be done with this last nepo season, the better. I just hope PMac takes Fran with him when he goes.
That logic makes sense.
I just honestly have no idea what to think about where Iowa sits in the minds of other coaches.
We really don't know where we stand because it's just not something we do.
They switch coaches every few years and it seems like all of them make the sweet 16.
Yeah 14 years is way too long almost regardless.
At a mid tier big ten school a coach should either succeed and move up or fail and move down.
The one thing I wonder about is how much excitement a new coach will really bring when it does happen. Not sure a new coach will excite the fan base. I would guess the fans would be in a wait and see type of mode.
In that vein, i think that’s probably what attracts us fans more to Iowa bred coaches. We don’t want our coach to actually have success then be poached by a blue blood program, and if they’re from or have ties to Iowa that risk goes down. At least that’s my thought.
I think that would solely depend on who the replacement was. Give Fran credit, when he leaves the program will be in a far better spot than when he showed up, so I don’t think it would be difficult to energize the fanbase with the right hire.
It would take a spectacularly bad hire to keep fan apathy where its at, or even turn fans away. Anybody new will instill at least a little hope that better results and fan energy will return to the MBB program.
Fran's time as an effective coach at Iowa is done, whether he leaves/is replaced after this season or not.
It has to be a name people are familiar with to excite them. If DeVries was the hire, I am not so sure that would excite the fan base as much as what some think. Smith at Utah would be interesting and Odom from VCU is another, but he may like the east coast better. It would be interesting if Ryan Bowen would be interested in the college game after being in the NBA for so long.
TJ is already in the best basketball conference and it ain’t even close. Add in the 4 PAC schools and the gap widens even more.
Remember Maury John? Took Drake to final four & was poached by the Clones. The Clone fans loved that move.
I didn't realize before that Drake had to replace almost their entire roster this year. I like how DeVries had his team ready to play yesterday, and the intensity. Changed my mind again, wb a good hire, I wonder how he would do in recruiting if NIL takes over even more.
the seton hall big would have been a welcome addition over krikke. that's the body I'd like to see us have in the middle.
Drake has top 5 most wins in D1 since 2020.
His 1st season he had months to build an entire roster from scratch and fielded a competitive roster. 4 straight MVC title game appearances and now 2 straight March Madness bids.
Yeah, I think the rest of the P5 coaches saw the tape of Krikke's rebouding/defense and all passed on Krikke. Fran saw no problem with a guy not playing defense and put Krikke into the starting lineup with his boy, who also doesn't rebound or defend. That is what got this team into trouble losing early games--a frontline of Krikke, Sandfort, PMAC.
No way Fran gets fired anytime soon, so no Devries or anyone else for awhile. Fran had a good/solid run, he just has such a low ceiling that no one gets excited about Iowa B-ball ever doing anything special. The Illini are a lot more talented/athletic and Iowa has to be shoting well to win and instead Perkins, PMack,Krikke were all off.
I think Iowa can beat Illini in BTT if they make it that far, but the most Fran thing for this team to do would be to lose 1st round game in BTT and not get that chance.
Just how does TJO get rated black athletes to ISU while FM can't get them to UI?
Iowa would be stupid to not pounce on DeVries and cut the Fran chord. His teams play with a toughness that we haven't seen in years in Iowa City.
I’ve made my opinion on DeVries pretty well known on this board. But the guy can flat out coach and build a roster. 10 total newcomers this year and three trips to the dance in four years at Drake (Drake!!) is pretty astounding.
From what I’m hearing in Drake circles, he’s definitely had other opportunities but passed on them (K State being the most prominent). He’s thought to be holding out for Creighton and Iowa. McDermott just signed an extension at Creighton. But as we see with mid major coaches, the window is only open so long so it wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t wait around any longer and takes a high major opportunity soon.
From what I’m hearing in Drake circles, he’s definitely had other opportunities but passed on them (K State being the most prominent). He’s thought to be holding out for Creighton and Iowa. McDermott just signed an extension at Creighton. But as we see with mid major coaches, the window is only open so long so it wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t wait around any longer and takes a high major opportunity soon.
Come on Beth, put together an early retirement package too good to pass up. You don't even have to call it retirement package. Use the corporate term "Fresh Start".
The smart money is on this. Once a Fran team falls off the March cliff they're done.
People are going to say NIL but isu has been recruiting good black players since Tim Floyd. They have almost never had a primarily iowan/white roster over the last 30 years.
Frans teams have lost their first game to double-digit seed 5 times. Four times in a row so it will hardly come as a surprise if they lose Thursday night.
But I will probably still go and watch.
Drake would be a good place for Fran if he's sick of Iowa City. We can do a coach and son swap. That would keep Fran close enough to watch Jack's senior year. Or Jack could transfer to a local high school.
True. But no coach at Iowa is going to recruit any better until we get more money for NIL.
I think it's possible to do better simply by focusing on different types of players.
Fran doesn't recruit bad players but he over focuses on certain types of players imo.
We'll never get the high profile guys that Fran goes for without NIL but the mid majors are full of good smallish athletic guards. I think there's room for improvement in that area. There's also unskilled but athletic bigs out there.
Those are two types of players that Fran doesn't have much interest in.
ISU roster supposedly is $1.2 million/yr in NIL...that isn't big money. Part of the benefit of getting a younger and more charismatic coach is he can energize the donor base.
ISU has had a majority african American teams for the last 20's some years.They've also been better.
Alford, Lickliter, and Fran have all concentrated more on getting Iowa kids or other kids similar backgrounds. I would suspect it is harder to recruit African American's for Fran because they are always in the minority on Fran's teams. Didn't help that the last 6 years he's been managing the roster/playing time for his own kids benefit.
We currenlty have three recruited African American players on this Iowa team....Perkins, Bowen, and Dembele---so about 25% when national average is more like 50% at college level. Fran seems to have a problem recruiting and retaining black athletes. Perkins stuck it out....JoeT was the kind of guard Iowa never has and Fran had really short leash with him.
That's called a buyout. The next buyout of an Iowa coach will be it's first I believe.
This conversation is a waste of air unless folks think Fran is retiring. He needs at minimum to have two bad seasons before he would be pushed out the door. Or really bad ticket sales next year.
I get it, he’s had his chances and mostly its result has only been regular season success. I’ve liked some players under him and enjoy some teams but I’m not so sure his next years team is anything more than a 1st weekend NCAA tournament at best. So I’m in the camp that he should consider moving on after next year, if he isn’t going to accomplish anything he hasn’t already done before.
I like Drakes roster so I can see he can recruit. But let’s see him win a NCAA win a ncaa game before we act like it’s a certainty he’s a better coach than Fran… plenty of hot mid major coaches crash and burn when they go up a league.
I get it, he’s had his chances and mostly its result has only been regular season success. I’ve liked some players under him and enjoy some teams but I’m not so sure his next years team is anything more than a 1st weekend NCAA tournament at best. So I’m in the camp that he should consider moving on after next year, if he isn’t going to accomplish anything he hasn’t already done before.
I like Drakes roster so I can see he can recruit. But let’s see him win a NCAA win a ncaa game before we act like it’s a certainty he’s a better coach than Fran… plenty of hot mid major coaches crash and burn when they go up a league.
Technically he has when they beat Wichita in a First 4 game but yes he has not made it out of the Round of 64 yet. Came damn close last year against Miami though.
Almost had UCLA beat in First 4 a few years back as well and UCLA went to the Final 4 that season I believe.
I never really had an opinion on Devries before, either way, but you know what? I'm in now. I love what Fran has done for the program, but we've seen his best and that best equals zero Sweet16s and zero B1G regular season crowns.
I'd miss the annual Top 10 in offensive efficiency that Fran produces, but I would most definitely not miss the Top 110-125 defensive efficiency and rebounding troubles.
If Devries can do what he's doing at Drake, he can't do any worse here. Yes, I know "MVC vs B1G", but even without a great NIL program for MBB, his recruiting would still be better here vs what he could/does muster at Drake.
I'd miss the annual Top 10 in offensive efficiency that Fran produces, but I would most definitely not miss the Top 110-125 defensive efficiency and rebounding troubles.
If Devries can do what he's doing at Drake, he can't do any worse here. Yes, I know "MVC vs B1G", but even without a great NIL program for MBB, his recruiting would still be better here vs what he could/does muster at Drake.
