I have been as critical of Fran as most anyone. I am more than willing to criticize an Iowa coach, including Fran. I'm just not in the "Fire Fran" crowd, which a certain segment of the fan base has had enough and thinks he should go. I'm not in that camp. if Iowa were to fire a coach who has made the NCAA tournament 4 straight years (the 2020 team was comfortably in before COVID cancelled), they would be the laughingstock of college hoops and unable to hire anyone beyond a high school coach.
They recruited a post last year, Rebraca. I can't remember who, but they didn't get another big guy before landing Rebraca. My guess is Fran thought Rebraca would be better than he was this year. Rebraca had other Power 5 offers on transferring.
I'm not disagreeing that it would help if Fran landed more highly ranked guys. They tend to be good. And water is wet. They have landed some. More would be better.