This is not a very good comparison. Painter had 2 big ten championships and 3 big ten coach of the years under his belt. There was plenty of reason to believe in him. What are people believing Fran will get us back to....barely making NCAAs? I like the optimism by some on this board, I am just not convinced Fran is a high level big ten coach. I hope I am wrong and we get things rolling the next few years with the nice pieces coming in. I think perimeter athletes need to be added to be a serious post season threat.
Let's stop with calls for Fran's firing!
- Thread starter RoundRock620
- Start date
Fran positives- well spoken, doesn't throw players under the bus (Alford), runs a clean program, recruits good kids.
Fran negatives-not recruiting players that fit his "system", not adapting his style to the players he has recruited, coaching defense and rebounding, rotations, instilling toughness(a pattern of weak minded teams that faded down the stretch), sideline demeanor, lack of NCAA tourney success.
Fran seems like a good person and got them out of the Lick fiasco. He can probably get Iowa back to the highest levels he has already achieved here. But to achieve anything of consequence he is going to have to change his ways, particularly in teaching defense and recruiting. Since he's not going anywhere apparently, he needs a staff shakeup. I'd keep Speraw and replace the other two with younger coaches(I know Francis is young but doesn't appear to add much in recruiting or on the bench).
Fran negatives-not recruiting players that fit his "system", not adapting his style to the players he has recruited, coaching defense and rebounding, rotations, instilling toughness(a pattern of weak minded teams that faded down the stretch), sideline demeanor, lack of NCAA tourney success.
Fran seems like a good person and got them out of the Lick fiasco. He can probably get Iowa back to the highest levels he has already achieved here. But to achieve anything of consequence he is going to have to change his ways, particularly in teaching defense and recruiting. Since he's not going anywhere apparently, he needs a staff shakeup. I'd keep Speraw and replace the other two with younger coaches(I know Francis is young but doesn't appear to add much in recruiting or on the bench).
I think the problem with this comparison is that his bad seasons were still better than what Iowa's will end up being (8-10 and 5-13) in conference. These seasons were also preceded by 6 consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament, two of which included sweet sixteen appearances, and a win every year in the first round (8 tournament wins total during that stretch). This compares to 3 tournament appearances for Fran in 8 years, 2 wins in the tournament, and zero sweet sixteen appearances.
Oh okay. Keep trying to draw comparisons to rationalize Fran’s overall 8 years of mediocrity.
There's an easy fix to your issue. Fran needs to start winning games. You think they are going to start to but most on here disagree. I'm sick of listening to you people say wait until next year. I'll stop complaining about Fran when you stop this wait till next year garbage. So sick of this mentality with Iowa fans.
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If the discussions here were limited to things that might actually happen, it would reduce the number of posts by 80%.
No improvement?? Fran took Iowa from a very poor team under Lick to 5 straight finishes in the top half of BIG.
I disagree.....this comparison is spot on for the fact that a one or two year dip.....unexpected can and does happen to good coaches. In addition, I keep hearing "This is year 8, there is no excuse for a good coach"........The facts that I presented contradict that general sentiment....exactly.
That said, I'm not saying Fran is a great coach....maybe he bombs next year and he is gone in spite of the buyout. I am saying that having this down year is not grounds to toss him out. If we do we don't know what we will end up with. It could be another Todd L, it could be the next Coach K, it might by a Rick Petino type......We don't know.....none of us know the right answer for certain. Continual bitching to get him fired reminds me of Nebraska Football fans.....not where I want to be.
Todd L, Coach K, Rick P......which of these do you think there are more of?
The problem is no NCAA tourney success. Top half of BIG is a pretty low bar to be satisfied with. Conference regular season championships and NCAA tourney wins are "why they play the game." Fran has nothing to show in that regard. As far as recovering from Lick goes, that has been over since about year 3.
Avoid the coaching carousel. Avoid the proverbial "run on the bank". We've got some good guys coming in the next few years. Give it some more time.
