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Dr. Tom coached thirteen seasons at Iowa

The first paragraph has been said or typed for the last 25 years

Hope springs eternal as Cub fans like to say! We will be able to say this for the next 25 years as well. There is not doubt that next year’s team will be different than this years team. I did not say that they would be better overall, just better on defense and that I was looking forward to seeing how they develop.
 
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Davis did not get pushed out because of his record alone.

As others have mentioned, I think there was a sense that he got outhustled in the recruitment of Raef LaFrentz. The way I heard it, while Roy Williams frequently traveled to watch Raef play in person, Davis had the habit of dispatching his assistants.

But more than that, I believe it was the recruitment of Joey Range that did in Dr Tom. Range had some serious citizenship issues, and It is my understanding that Bowlsby directed Davis not to recruit him, but Davis did anyway.

There’s also the time Davis was asked when Iowa fans could expect the Hawkeyes to compete for a Big Ten title. Davis’s response was basically “no time soon.” Even if true, it’s the wrong thing to say. You always should talk about striving to win championships. Davis’s answer contributed to the sense that he had grown complacent in regard to the team’s growth.
Other issues that Davis had with Athletic Department management was that the NCAA was beginning to evaluate the strength of a team's schedule and not just looking at the W-L. Davis had a practice of scheduling cupcakes and with that he had the hopes of a .500 record in the conference to get those NCAA bids. That worked for quite a few seasons. Bowlesby mandated that Davis improve the quality of the teams on the schedule and Davis ignored him. That stubbornness, laziness if you will, cost Iowa a couple of NCAA invites and Bowlesby was incensed at Davis's insubordination. The Joey Range situation may have been the last straw. Range had charges of domestic abuse and the University wanted his scholarship offered revoked. The University did not want Range on campus. Davis ,again, didn't do that. And, no, Bowlesby did not have Alford lined up to accept the job. Alford really didn't become such a hot commodity until he took who was then SW Missouri State to the Sweet Sixteen in Davis's lame Duck season. Davis was famous for spending as much time as he could on the golf course. And, he best seasons were with Raveling's recruits. He had the absolute best roster his first year and should have won the National Title only to blow a 16 point lead to UNLV in the Elite Eight. No one I know has ever forgot that. And, then each of the next 2 years, still with Raveling's recruits, Davis proceeded to have worse W-L- records each ensuing season. The talk that I heard was that Heinrich was going to Iowa State and never considered Iowa and Collison was ever really considering Iowa either. I think people are forgetting that the recruitment of players doesn't start their senior years. Do not forget that in their senior seasons the first team All America team had 3 Iowa boys none of whom played at an Iowa school. Collison, Heinrich and Corver. And, don't get me talking about Davis's game time substitutions or his refusal to stop pressing even after giving up uncontested lay up after uncontested lay up. His last act of professionalism was that he allowed Life as a G to become ineligible for Alford because he didn't track his progression of credits.
 
LeFrentz got away from Dr. Tom partly because of KU obviously, but he was facing enormous pressure in becoming the savior of Iowa basketball. My sister in law worked with his dad at his high school and we had many discussions back in 85 about his recruitment. Even Hayden Fry publicily tried to push Raef into choosing the Hawks. After he made his decision he was vilified by Hawk fans for leaving the state, (I know hard to believe right). All this left him and his family with a very bitter taste when it came to Iowa. One which Raef has never gotten over, even though it's way past time to forget all that. He's made public statements that he would do whatever he could to steer any recruit, (especially Iowa kids) from ever choosing Iowa. Pretty sure he was hard after Collison and Heinrich to choose KU over Iowa, although as has been mentioned I think they may have ended up at Iowa had Davis not been told he wasn't being retained.
85? That is impressive. Back in those days very few 4th graders were getting recruiting attention, especially in Iowa.
 
Quite an interesting thread. I learned a few things about Dr. Tom's less than positive relationship with Bowlsby than I knew at that time. Sounds like the recruitment of Joey Range was an act of utter defiance by Dr. Tom and may very well led to his dismissal by Iowa.

Unless the bottom falls out of the basketball program in the next 2-3 years, I don't see Fran being fired. But I do wonder if this season is the best Fran get come up with. I hate to say it but, I just don't see anything that makes me think Fran will ever do any better then what we are seeing this year. Hope I'm wrong.
 
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85? That is impressive. Back in those days very few 4th graders were getting recruiting attention, especially in Iowa.




Good catch CID. Not sure why I put 85 in there. Was thinking about watching the Iowa vs OSU game at her house that year for some reason. She taught at MFL between 84 and 98 I think which is where Raef went to school. Should have been 93 I guess......
 
And what talent do you see coming up and/or in that would be upgrades over what's on the floor today?

I would consider both Murrays, Ulis, Perkins and Patrick to be upgrades over JBO and Connor.

With CJ, Nunge and hopefully Weezy back they really just need to add a transfer big or two.

Thats a team that can and will play defense on their own and Fran can do his offensive thing.
 
Well, it could happen, but I would be shocked.

Iowa had pretty much topped out under Davis. The alumni and fans were pissed that Davis didn't work very hard at recruiting and some top Iowa kids got away. The Hawks were a couple of decades into being "good" and the fans desperately wanted the next level. The arena was full for every game and things were going very well for the program, but not at the top.

I think Bowlsby had Alford in his pocket from the time he told Davis he was not going to renew his contract. Alford looked like the total package and Bowlsby was ready to take the chance.

Barta is not a risk-taker. I don't think there is any way he would take the risk to get to the next level, now that Fran has finally (maybe) gotten it back to the Davis level.

I must have missed the part where Fran got past the second round.
 
Fran also missed on Uthoff in 1st go around but he did lock down Ogelsby.

Fran is going no where and Iowa B-ball is back to 0.500 in B1G next year, or maybe worse. Hopefully no mass
transfers this spring.

I will hand it to Fran, he did score in Keegan and Kris, now he needs to play Kris.

You mean Fran didn’t convince Jarrod to go to Iowa in his first 115 days in Iowa City?

Good call on Uthoff :rolleyes:
 
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I must have missed the part where Fran got past the second round.


You also must have missed the part where Coach Davis inherited George’s roster while Fran inherited (name redacted) roster.

There was quite a dry spell of Fran like “mediocrity” once George’s recruits left the building. I can hear the whining now..... “why can’t we make it past the 2nd round”?!?!

It sucks, I hate the Sweet 16 dry spell, and imo there’s no logical reason why it should be this way.
 
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Fran has did a great job securing the Iowa high school talent: Conner, Patrick, Pemsl, Okey, Ash.........
Heard he has the inside track for another McCaffrey in a couple years too. I’m sick of not watching Iowa play the second weekend of the tournament.
 
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Davis did not get pushed out because of his record alone.

As others have mentioned, I think there was a sense that he got outhustled in the recruitment of Raef LaFrentz. The way I heard it, while Roy Williams frequently traveled to watch Raef play in person, Davis had the habit of dispatching his assistants.

But more than that, I believe it was the recruitment of Joey Range that did in Dr Tom. Range had some serious citizenship issues, and It is my understanding that Bowlsby directed Davis not to recruit him, but Davis did anyway.

There’s also the time Davis was asked when Iowa fans could expect the Hawkeyes to compete for a Big Ten title. Davis’s response was basically “no time soon.” Even if true, it’s the wrong thing to say. You always should talk about striving to win championships. Davis’s answer contributed to the sense that he had grown complacent in regard to the team’s growth.
True story about Range. What’s so disheartening is that Bowlsby ran off Range after firing Davis, but then let Pierre Pierce and Alford stay on after his rape allegations. Then Bowlsby ran off so he didn’t have to deal with Alfords mess anymore. Bowlsby was a hack
 
Fran has did a great job securing the Iowa high school talent: Conner, Patrick, Pemsl, Okey, Ash.........
Heard he has the inside track for another McCaffrey in a couple years too. I’m sick of not watching Iowa play the second weekend of the tournament.
So does Fran get credit for Joe W and the Murrays or were those Iowa kids just luck on his part? How about Woodbury and Gessell? Woody had offers from UNC and KU if I'm not mistaken.
 
Other issues that Davis had with Athletic Department management was that the NCAA was beginning to evaluate the strength of a team's schedule and not just looking at the W-L. Davis had a practice of scheduling cupcakes and with that he had the hopes of a .500 record in the conference to get those NCAA bids. That worked for quite a few seasons. Bowlesby mandated that Davis improve the quality of the teams on the schedule and Davis ignored him. That stubbornness, laziness if you will, cost Iowa a couple of NCAA invites and Bowlesby was incensed at Davis's insubordination. The Joey Range situation may have been the last straw. Range had charges of domestic abuse and the University wanted his scholarship offered revoked. The University did not want Range on campus. Davis ,again, didn't do that. And, no, Bowlesby did not have Alford lined up to accept the job. Alford really didn't become such a hot commodity until he took who was then SW Missouri State to the Sweet Sixteen in Davis's lame Duck season. Davis was famous for spending as much time as he could on the golf course. And, he best seasons were with Raveling's recruits. He had the absolute best roster his first year and should have won the National Title only to blow a 16 point lead to UNLV in the Elite Eight. No one I know has ever forgot that. And, then each of the next 2 years, still with Raveling's recruits, Davis proceeded to have worse W-L- records each ensuing season. The talk that I heard was that Heinrich was going to Iowa State and never considered Iowa and Collison was ever really considering Iowa either. I think people are forgetting that the recruitment of players doesn't start their senior years. Do not forget that in their senior seasons the first team All America team had 3 Iowa boys none of whom played at an Iowa school. Collison, Heinrich and Corver. And, don't get me talking about Davis's game time substitutions or his refusal to stop pressing even after giving up uncontested lay up after uncontested lay up. His last act of professionalism was that he allowed Life as a G to become ineligible for Alford because he didn't track his progression of credits.
That’s a lot of slant against Davis. You skipped over the part where Hunter Rawlings wouldn’t let Roy (or Ray, I confuse the two ) play in the tournament on the Marble/Armstrong/Horton senior year, which totally screwed us out of what may have been the best Davis. team. You also didn’t mention the tragic death of Chris Street or the injuries that ruined Jess Settles career. Davis had a LOT of bad luck and still produced high quality teams.
 
So does Fran get credit for Joe W and the Murrays or were those Iowa kids just luck on his part? How about Woodbury and Gessell? Woody had offers from UNC and KU if I'm not mistaken.
No he doesn’t get credit. Joe W was going to Iowa no matter who the coach was. Kenyon deserves the credit as he molded good young men. Fran wasn’t offering when they were coming out of high school. Only offered while the Murray’s were at prep school as a package deal. And this isn’t downplaying either Murray. Keegan has been very good. Haven’t seen enough of Kris yet. I’m just saying Kenyan’s persistence paid off. Kris might see some playing time now with Nunge out. Did Woodbury or Gessell lead Iowa into the sweet 16? Nope. I liked both of them but neither was ever 1st team big 10. Not that means too much as it’s kinda political unless your good enough from a lower big 10 school to be considered a no-brainer. They were not that. Average at best. Woodbury was 7’01” but had more eye pokes than dunks. One of them was from Nebraska too so doesn’t even apply to in state.
 
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No he doesn’t get credit. Joe W was going to Iowa no matter who the coach was. Kenyon deserves the credit as he molded good young men. Fran wasn’t offering when they were coming out of high school. Only offered while the Murray’s were at prep school as a package deal. Did Woodbury or Gessell lead Iowa into the sweet 16? Nope. I liked both of them but neither was ever 1st team big 10. Woodbury was 7’01” but had more eye pokes than dunks. One of them was from Nebraska too so doesn’t even apply to in state.
Your earlier post was about Fran not securing Iowa talent, then when someone points out the highly rated players Fran did sign you switch to Fran not getting results from highly rated players or Fran not offering lowly rated players soon enough or Fran not needing to recruit because highly rated players are coming here anyway.
 
And what talent do you see coming up and/or in that would be upgrades over what's on the floor today?
I think the first and most obvious element of this is the improvement in the athleticism of the roster....that’s something that a lot of fans have been bitching about with the current team. Next year our rotation should be more athletic in the guard court, on the wings, and possibly in the post.

That “should” result in better defense. Again, something nearly EVERY fan agrees that we need.....if I get a chance to post more later I will.
 
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You also must have missed the part where Coach Davis inherited George’s roster while Fran inherited (name redacted) roster.

There was quite a dry spell of Fran like “mediocrity” once George’s recruits left the building. I can hear the whining now..... “why can’t we make it past the 2nd round”?!?!

It sucks, I hate the Sweet 16 dry spell, and imo there’s no logical reason why it should be this way.

Now might be a good time to remind you that Iowa's last appearance in the Sweet16 was when Tom Davis took us there after he had been sent down the road by the coaching wiz Bob Bowlsby.
 
Your earlier post was about Fran not securing Iowa talent, then when someone points out the highly rated players Fran did sign you switch to Fran not getting results from highly rated players or Fran not offering lowly rated players soon enough or Fran not needing to recruit because highly rated players are coming here anyway.
I will make it clear then. My original post was sarcastic. In state talent is irrelevant. Fran does recruit talented players. There is enough talent on this team to make it to the Final 4. I really believe that. I want Iowa to win. Win games that matter, against good teams. However, Fran is the coach and this team is not winning when it matters, in the NCAA tournament. He has had ten years to make it to a sweet 16 and failed. That’s on him. Is any Iowa fan satisfied with this? I know the deck is stacked against teams like Iowa to make final 4’s consistently. 5 star talent go to the blue blood programs. I get it. However, Iowa has had enough talent to make sweet 16’s consistently the last 6 years or so and have not made one. Not to mention look at out big 10 tourney success under Fran. It’s embarrassing. He can’t coach himself out of a paper bag. It’s time to cut the cord.
 
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Now might be a good time to remind you that Iowa's last appearance in the Sweet16 was when Tom Davis took us there after he had been sent down the road by the coaching wiz Bob Bowlsby.

Ya don’t say? A ton of “mediocrity” in between, Mr Bean. Just ask IowaFan! Fran is putting up Tom Davis like results(after George’s recruits) yet IowaFan! thinks he sucks. Then they pine away for the good ol’ Davis years when Iowa got bounced in the 2nd round year after year. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
 
No he doesn’t get credit. Joe W was going to Iowa no matter who the coach was. Kenyon deserves the credit as he molded good young men. Fran wasn’t offering when they were coming out of high school. Only offered while the Murray’s were at prep school as a package deal. And this isn’t downplaying either Murray. Keegan has been very good. Haven’t seen enough of Kris yet. I’m just saying Kenyan’s persistence paid off. Kris might see some playing time now with Nunge out. Did Woodbury or Gessell lead Iowa into the sweet 16? Nope. I liked both of them but neither was ever 1st team big 10. Not that means too much as it’s kinda political unless your good enough from a lower big 10 school to be considered a no-brainer. They were not that. Average at best. Woodbury was 7’01” but had more eye pokes than dunks. One of them was from Nebraska too so doesn’t even apply to in state.
Sorry but I certainly disagree. For whatever Papa Murray did, NO one else in the power 5 had any interest in the twins before Fran, and I believe it was before they went to the prep school. Regardless Fran didn't have to take a chance on them and he did, AND he was ridiculed on this very board for making a poor decision by many, so maybe he knows more then you think. As for Whatever Woodbury did thats a poor argument using hindsight on your part. Woody was a top 50 recruit who had top 10 level offers. When you recruit players, you don't have the luxury of looking back at their careers 10 to 15 years later and saying well he'll never be what we thought so no offer for him. He was a HUGE get at that time, and he certainly didn't have to come to Iowa as he had much better offers.
 
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Sorry but I can't agree more. For whatever Papa Murray did, NO one else in the power 5 had any interest in the twins before Fran, and I believe it was before they went to the prep school. Regardless Fran didn't have to take a chance on them and he did, AND he was ridiculed on this very board for making a poor decision by many, so maybe he knows more then you think. As for Whatever Woodbury did thats a poor argument using hindsight on your part. Woody was a top 50 recruit who had top 10 level offers. When you recruit players, you don't have the luxury of looking back at their careers 10 to 15 years later and saying well he'll never be what we thought so no offer for him. He was a HUGE get at that time, and he certainly didn't have to come to Iowa as he had much better offers.

I absolutely agree with this. Adam Woodbury, at the time, was a major recruiting win.
 
No he doesn’t get credit. Joe W was going to Iowa no matter who the coach was. Kenyon deserves the credit as he molded good young men. Fran wasn’t offering when they were coming out of high school. Only offered while the Murray’s were at prep school as a package deal. And this isn’t downplaying either Murray. Keegan has been very good. Haven’t seen enough of Kris yet. I’m just saying Kenyan’s persistence paid off. Kris might see some playing time now with Nunge out. Did Woodbury or Gessell lead Iowa into the sweet 16? Nope. I liked both of them but neither was ever 1st team big 10. Not that means too much as it’s kinda political unless your good enough from a lower big 10 school to be considered a no-brainer. They were not that. Average at best. Woodbury was 7’01” but had more eye pokes than dunks. One of them was from Nebraska too so doesn’t even apply to in state.

You cannot pick and choose what you think the coach should get credit for in recruiting in an effort to support your stance, especially when you are not involved in the situation and do not know what happened.

My understanding is that the entire Murray family and Fran were involved in getting Keegan and Kris to Iowa. I am not trying to speak for Kenyon, but I believe that I have heard Kenyon say that Fran let them know what the twins needed to do to become division one players in his opinion.

To the credit of Keegan and Kris, they did what they needed to do and more. The Murrays were rewarded with scholarships to play basketball at Iowa and Fran was rewarded with a couple of players who look like they are going to be key players for Iowa for the next few years. The credit goes to Keegan, Kris, Kenyon, Michelle and Fran.

I see that you have already been taken to task for your take on Woodbury so I will not add anything. I really have no idea if Joe was a lock for Iowa regardless of the coach, but I do have some doubt that he would have come to Iowa over other schools if he would have come out during the Lickliter days.
 
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I know Joe's and his family. Joe was indeed a lock for Iowa. Something major would have had to have happened for him not to come to Iowa. He has always wanted to be a Hawkeye.....
 
Until Barta is gone, no I don’t want him to make another hire. The only hire by him that has been genuinely good is getting Heller for baseball.

actually Heller wasn't Bartas' first choice...he got lucky the assistant coach from a southern school turned him down...that is direct from someone on the baseball interview committee.
 
Yeah, I never understood the wisdom behind the lame duck year. It was a wasted year in terms of recruiting and getting the new coach established. Flip side, it was a year in which Iowa made a Sweet 16 run. Jeezus, it's been a long time.
I agree with what you have been saying, my issue is whether BB had the talk with TD and asked him what he needed to get to the next level.? Had the talk about getting an assistant or 2 that were top notch recruiters, what it would take etc...because I am not sure it was done that way.
At that point TD could have then made his own decision, I will never forget though when Alford came to Drake and TD handed him a large dose of whoop ass, That was the TD we needed to stay at Iowa, classy classy man and a great representative for the U and the state. Very good coach as well when motivated.
Above someone wrote TD said that Iowa would not contend for the title anytime soon, I recall those remarks and I took them that the reason was he was not getting the backing that he needed,'
To carry this further, I was at fball practice one day and after practice HF and BB were off to the side having a long conversation and I asked the coaches what it was about.
One of them pipes right up and states it is one of those hey we need to do this or get that mtgs and the answer will be we cannot do this or that. so they were not big BB fans.
A lot of what was thought at the time was probably under the old perception becomes reality in peoples minds but it with out a doubt should have been handled differently.
 
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That’s a lot of slant against Davis. You skipped over the part where Hunter Rawlings wouldn’t let Roy (or Ray, I confuse the two ) play in the tournament on the Marble/Armstrong/Horton senior year, which totally screwed us out of what may have been the best Davis. team. You also didn’t mention the tragic death of Chris Street or the injuries that ruined Jess Settles career. Davis had a LOT of bad luck and still produced high quality teams.
and I have heard TD say that that death really affected him for quite a few years. There are a lot of moving parts to the TD story but imo think it needed ot be handled better starting at the top with BB.
 
Davis did not get pushed out because of his record alone.

As others have mentioned, I think there was a sense that he got outhustled in the recruitment of Raef LaFrentz. The way I heard it, while Roy Williams frequently traveled to watch Raef play in person, Davis had the habit of dispatching his assistants.

But more than that, I believe it was the recruitment of Joey Range that did in Dr Tom. Range had some serious citizenship issues, and It is my understanding that Bowlsby directed Davis not to recruit him, but Davis did anyway.

There’s also the time Davis was asked when Iowa fans could expect the Hawkeyes to compete for a Big Ten title. Davis’s response was basically “no time soon.” Even if true, it’s the wrong thing to say. You always should talk about striving to win championships. Davis’s answer contributed to the sense that he had grown complacent in regard to the team’s growth.

and prior to Range..there was Jeff Walker out of Springfield (who made Range look like a boy scout). I dont know about Davis recruiting efforts. I had heard that Walker was actually trying to enroll a year later & Coach wasn't totally against. Bowlsby wasn't thrilled.

Obviously Bowlsby wanted him out...which as AD is his position to do so...its the way he did it which was total BS & chicken sh*t on his part. There we also rumor articles in the newspapers in fall of '98 mentioning Alford.
 
I will make it clear then. My original post was sarcastic. In state talent is irrelevant. Fran does recruit talented players. There is enough talent on this team to make it to the Final 4. I really believe that. I want Iowa to win. Win games that matter, against good teams. However, Fran is the coach and this team is not winning when it matters, in the NCAA tournament. He has had ten years to make it to a sweet 16 and failed. That’s on him. Is any Iowa fan satisfied with this? I know the deck is stacked against teams like Iowa to make final 4’s consistently. 5 star talent go to the blue blood programs. I get it. However, Iowa has had enough talent to make sweet 16’s consistently the last 6 years or so and have not made one. Not to mention look at out big 10 tourney success under Fran. It’s embarrassing. He can’t coach himself out of a paper bag. It’s time to cut the cord.
Funny, I thought McC recruited Luka. You know, the odds on College Player of the Year?
 
You cannot pick and choose what you think the coach should get credit for in recruiting in an effort to support your stance, especially when you are not involved in the situation and do not know what happened.

My understanding is that the entire Murray family and Fran were involved in getting Keegan and Kris to Iowa. I am not trying to speak for Kenyon, but I believe that I have heard Kenyon say that Fran let them know what the twins needed to do to become division one players in his opinion.

To the credit of Keegan and Kris, they did what they needed to do and more. The Murrays were rewarded with scholarships to play basketball at Iowa and Fran was rewarded with a couple of players who look like they are going to be key players for Iowa for the next few years. The credit goes to Keegan, Kris, Kenyon, Michelle and Fran.

I see that you have already been taken to task for your take on Woodbury so I will not add anything. I really have no idea if Joe was a lock for Iowa regardless of the coach, but I do have some doubt that he would have come to Iowa over other schools if he would have come out during the Lickliter days.
How have I been taken to task on Woodbury? I never said Fran doesn’t recruit talent. In Woodbury’s case either Frans evaluation was too high and Woodbury wasn’t that good or Fran didn’t develop his talent. Either way Fran dropped the ball.
Fran does evaluate talent pretty good. He rarely gets the special talent to come to Iowa. When they do (Woodbury, Cook) he doesn’t develop it. You’ll immediately say he developed Garza. However, Garza is a special case. I have never seen a college player with the desire of Garza. Garza got this from his dad. You ever notice all the special training Garza does in the off season is away from the Iowa gym and his dad is always right in the middle of it? Garza and his dad developed Garza into the NPOY. Not Fran. Then you’ll say Uthoff. He faded the end of his senior season like the entire team which is directly related to the coach. There is a reason Uthoff is a fringe NBA player because Fran couldn't develop his talent any further. Can you really tell me your satisfied with Fran’s coaching over almost 11 years? Fran has shown he is a good assistant coach. He evaluates talent well and Iove his fire. However, player development and in game coaching is not good. All I’m saying is I appreciate Fran for taking us out of the lickliter mess but he has proved that he is not gonna take this team any further than he has. How many more years are we as fans gonna be subjected to mediocrity? I just want Iowa to win. It’s beyond frustrating.
 
It was in year twelve that he was told his contract would not be renewed.

Next season will be year twelve for Fran. If Iowa makes a run in the tourney (e.g. Sweet 16/Elite 8) this year, talk of his future at Iowa becomes moot. Suppose, though, Iowa doesn't make it past the first weekend. Should there be serious talk of parting ways with Fran in the next 1-2 years?

I'll end by posting Dr. Tom's last five seasons at Iowa and Fran's previous five (including this year).

Dr. Tom:

94-95: 21-12
95-96: 23-9
96-97: 22-10
97-98: 20-11
98-99: 20-10

Fran:

16-17: 19-15
17-18: 14-19
18-19: 23-12
19-20: 20-11
20-21: 16-6 (as of 2/27)

Throw in NCAA tourney performance to those numbers and the question becomes even more valid. Wins only, I didn't factor in simply "making the tourney". Also didn't factor in the NIT, where Fran took Iowa to the Finals once and Dr Tom to the Quarterfinals once.

Dr Tom
1 Elite 8
2 Sweet 16s
6 round of 32s
Never lost an opener
Total NCCA tourney Wins: 13

Fran
3 round of 32s
Total NCAA tourney Wins: 3

For those who you will say "Yeah, but he did it with Raveling's recruits..."

1. Raveling had most of the same players the year before and lost in the 1st round
2. Take out the first few years for both Fran and Dr Tom as they inherited very different rosters. Dr Tom's numbers are still better.
 
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How have I been taken to task on Woodbury? I never said Fran doesn’t recruit talent. In Woodbury’s case either Frans evaluation was too high and Woodbury wasn’t that good or Fran didn’t develop his talent. Either way Fran dropped the ball.
Fran does evaluate talent pretty good. He rarely gets the special talent to come to Iowa. When they do (Woodbury, Cook) he doesn’t develop it. You’ll immediately say he developed Garza. However, Garza is a special case. I have never seen a college player with the desire of Garza. Garza got this from his dad. You ever notice all the special training Garza does in the off season is away from the Iowa gym and his dad is always right in the middle of it? Garza and his dad developed Garza into the NPOY. Not Fran. Then you’ll say Uthoff. He faded the end of his senior season like the entire team which is directly related to the coach. There is a reason Uthoff is a fringe NBA player because Fran couldn't develop his talent any further. Can you really tell me your satisfied with Fran’s coaching over almost 11 years? Fran has shown he is a good assistant coach. He evaluates talent well and Iove his fire. However, player development and in game coaching is not good. All I’m saying is I appreciate Fran for taking us out of the lickliter mess but he has proved that he is not gonna take this team any further than he has. How many more years are we as fans gonna be subjected to mediocrity? I just want Iowa to win. It’s beyond frustrating.

Woodbury was a top 50 recruit coming into Iowa. Everyone was extremely high on him, including the fans. Adam is still playing in the NBA G league. How did Fran drop the ball?

Luka does work very hard and Frank has definitely helped him improve. You cannot completely dismiss Fran’s part in Luka’s development though. Fran first saw the potential in Luka and Luka rewarded Fran by accepting a scholarship offer to come to Iowa. Fran has also helped design the offense to play to Luka’s strengths.

I want Iowa to win every game and do better as well. That being said, I will defend Fran and root for him and the team as long as he is the coach at Iowa.
 
I'll back Fran as long as he's the Hawkeye coach too (barring something bizarre, which I don't see happening. Fran seems to be a man of integrity and really cares about his players).

Often when a guy's been around that long and hasn't really knocked it out of the park or had at least one great run...they'll move somewhere for a fresh start. I think that window closed for Fran once his boys joined the program. His frequent confrontations with the refs may have also hurt his appeal to other suitors.

Knowing Barta, Fran will be around at least another 3-5 years, he won't get canned while his boys are in the program. When he does go, he may retire as he'll be in his mid 60s. Considering what their family has been through with Connor he could say life is too short, it's time to enjoy things...and who could blame him. But you never know...some guys just have to keep coaching.

He could take this team on a hot run to the Elite 8 (which would be awesome) and be here another 10 years.
 
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I'll back Fran as long as he's the Hawkeye coach too (barring something bizarre, which I don't see happening. Fran seems to be a man of integrity and really cares about his players).

Often when a guy's been around that long and hasn't really knocked it out of the park or had at least one great run...they'll move somewhere for a fresh start. I think that window closed for Fran once his boys joined the program. His frequent confrontations with the refs may have also hurt his appeal to other suitors.

Knowing Barta, Fran will be around at least another 3-5 years, he won't get canned while his boys are in the program. When he does go, he may retire as he'll be in his mid 60s. Considering what their family has been through with Connor he could say life is too short, it's time to enjoy things...and who could blame him. But you never know...some guys just have to keep coaching.

He could take this team on a hot run to the Elite 8 (which would be awesome) and be here another 10 years.

We have a team that is projected to be a 3 seed in the tourney and people are calling for Fran’s head? Crazy. We have lost 7 games but they include losses to the #1, 2, 4, and 5 teams in the country per Joe Lunardi’s current seeding. If anyone watched basketball yesterday, a bunch of similar teams lost.

I get Fran hasn’t made a Sweet 16 but there does need to be some reality as to where Iowa sits in the college basketball echelon. We are a mid-tier Big Ten team that Fran had to pull out of the basement.

I will say the biggest loss for Fran was not getting the older Ulis. If you add Ulis to the Jok, Uthoff, etc. team, I think they could have made a legit final four run.
 
There is enough talent on this team to make it to the Final 4. I really believe that. I want Iowa to win.
I want Iowa to win as well but final 4 talent? No. Garza has to dominate and as the Michigan game showed, there are players who can handle him defensively. Joe W seems to disappear at times as does CJ. Everyone is a role player after LG and he gives up a lot at the defensive end against a talented, quick player. I'm hoping for a good showing here today but with Jack out we are hurting with a short bench...
 
That’s a lot of slant against Davis. You skipped over the part where Hunter Rawlings wouldn’t let Roy (or Ray, I confuse the two ) play in the tournament on the Marble/Armstrong/Horton senior year, which totally screwed us out of what may have been the best Davis. team. You also didn’t mention the tragic death of Chris Street or the injuries that ruined Jess Settles career. Davis had a LOT of bad luck and still produced high quality teams.

Davis did have a staggering amount of terrible luck.

Add in Ricky Davis deciding to become the first one and done ever as far as I can remember.
 
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