You may want a recount regarding the success in Dr. Tom's later years. Iowa only was invited to the NCAA Tournament 3 times in his last 6 years. One year we went nowhere, twice we went to the NIT. One of those NIT years we lost in the first round. Yes, we always won our 1st round NCAA games but of note, Dr. Tom never beat a NCAA team that was seeded higher except once he beat a 9 seed as an eight seed, that was his only encounter with a higher seeded team in the first round, and he beat a 4th seed once as a 5 seed.
His end of career mediocrity is why he got let go...even with like you said, 50% tourney runs and a sweet 16. So again, why the love for Fran? He has done considerably less and we are going on year 10. Time to move on imo.