Must-read SI article if you care about Iowa's next coach

[joelbc1]

Easy Caesar - a few concerns that should to be addressed before we hand McCollum the keys : This Drake team is 364th, or dead last nationally in tempo, which if you squint you catch a whiff of Todd Linkliter’s boreball. Most importantly, can McCollum land D-1 recruits and manhandle the transfer portal?? Haven’t seen enough this year to know. That’s a big unknown and very risky. In the pre NIL landscape, to be very successful in basketball at Iowa you had to be able land high caliber recruits from Chicago. Not sure things are so different now. Does a kid from Simeon High or Kansas State want to come to Iowa City to play the slowest tempo basketball in the country? I have doubts.

Coaches can coach. That has to be the first criteria. Other than that, coaching is a crap shoot. (But you gotta like the way McCollom holds the dice.)
Again… how long do expect a kid to stay at a school? 1-2, years for a starter might be the max. Between the professional leagues and the highest bidder what can a person expect?
You remind be of those Badger fans Vino…their complaint was Bo played slow-down basketball… there is nothing wrong winning games 63-59…
But Iowa will eventually hire someone…if the name isn’t McCollom or De Vries… this place will be very entertaining for months to come. Get your popcorn ready.

 

[nosok23]

Easy Caesar - a few concerns that should to be addressed before we hand McCollum the keys : This Drake team is 364th, or dead last nationally in tempo, which if you squint you catch a whiff of Todd Linkliter’s boreball. Most importantly, can McCollum land D-1 recruits and manhandle the transfer portal?? Haven’t seen enough this year to know. That’s a big unknown and very risky. In the pre NIL landscape, to be very successful in basketball at Iowa you had to be able land high caliber recruits from Chicago. Not sure things are so different now. Does a kid from Simeon High or Kansas State want to come to Iowa City to play the slowest tempo basketball in the country? I have doubts.

It’s needs to be a national search! With and without Iowa ties for interviews!

 

[TampaHawkfan]

The players should be taken care of via the TV contracts…not the fans. TV is the industry raking in profits from this bullshit. It dura as hell shouldn’t be “on the fans” to pay the players…
Using evenly divided TV revenues amongst the participants and allow each school to distribute tgd $$ as they see fit amongst the individual sports/ athletes.. thus outside money by individual donors will ruin college sports just as assuredly as “dark money” has destroyed the fiber of American politics.
Right now you have Major League Baseball without salary caps… and the rich will damn near always win.

I agree. The way I see it, the fans buy tickets, concessions, merch, pay to travel and park at the games, and so on. Now we're expected to foot the bill for paying the players, too? That just doesn't sit right with me. As you said above, I too have other expenses and ways I'd rather choose to spend my spare income. The fans do enough already IMO. Not saying people shouldn't donate if they want to, but the "donate or shut up" attitude I see from some seems a little misguided.

You mentioned a salary cap. If you ask me, there needs to be something like this with NIL, or the gap between the haves and have nots will only get wider and wider as player salaries quickly get out of hand. I don't feel the situation is good for MLB, or for college sports.

For the record, I've always been in favor of players being able to make money, but I also want as level of a playing field as it can be. Right now it's the wild west.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[TampaHawkfan]

Easy Caesar - a few concerns that should to be addressed before we hand McCollum the keys : This Drake team is 364th, or dead last nationally in tempo, which if you squint you catch a whiff of Todd Linkliter’s boreball. Most importantly, can McCollum land D-1 recruits and manhandle the transfer portal?? Haven’t seen enough this year to know. That’s a big unknown and very risky. In the pre NIL landscape, to be very successful in basketball at Iowa you had to be able land high caliber recruits from Chicago. Not sure things are so different now. Does a kid from Simeon High or Kansas State want to come to Iowa City to play the slowest tempo basketball in the country? I have doubts.

Mccollum himself said he doesn’t like to play that slow of a pace. They are playing that way because he doesn't have the shooters this year he'd like to have, so working for a good shot is taking the shot clock down, but he feels it's their best chance to win THIS YEAR with what he has.

 

[Grumpy Old Hawk]

Fran had 15 years to put us in the sweet 16. He hasn’t done it. That’s pretty damn loyal as far as I’m concerned. It’s time for change

Yes, I could have coached Iowa to as many Sweet 16s as Fran

 

[kceasthawk]

The players should be taken care of via the TV contracts…not the fans. TV is the industry raking in profits from this bullshit. It dura as hell shouldn’t be “on the fans” to pay the players…
Using evenly divided TV revenues amongst the participants and allow each school to distribute tgd $$ as they see fit amongst the individual sports/ athletes.. thus outside money by individual donors will ruin college sports just as assuredly as “dark money” has destroyed the fiber of American politics.
Right now you have Major League Baseball without salary caps… and the rich will damn near always win.

Well we agree on who should be playing players, as I've stated since this whole "bogus" NIL deal started...

 

[littlez]

Easy Caesar - a few concerns that should to be addressed before we hand McCollum the keys : This Drake team is 364th, or dead last nationally in tempo, which if you squint you catch a whiff of Todd Linkliter’s boreball. Most importantly, can McCollum land D-1 recruits and manhandle the transfer portal?? Haven’t seen enough this year to know. That’s a big unknown and very risky. In the pre NIL landscape, to be very successful in basketball at Iowa you had to be able land high caliber recruits from Chicago. Not sure things are so different now. Does a kid from Simeon High or Kansas State want to come to Iowa City to play the slowest tempo basketball in the country? I have doubts.

The transfer portal is " handled" by handing out money. So whether McCollum or any coach we bring in can handle the portal is a total unknown at Iowa if we have a bottom 1/3 NIL. Yes, his tempo is slow. Normally not near as slow as this year but 13 conference championships in a row plus 4 natty's tells me all I need to know about whether he can coach. Lick was handed the keys at Butler after never being a head coach except high school. And he only spent 2 years at Butler. Oh, and he hated to recruit. McCollum has fire, and he gets results. If you want high scoring games we can keep Fran. His results at Iowa have honestly not been terrible in the grand scheme of things, except of course in the crapshoot of the tourney where he has failed miserably. What's funny is the women's team finished tied for 8th this year and got an 11 seed in the Big Ten tournament and most are calling it a pretty big success.

 

[nu2u]

Assumption #1: Iowa will be unable to seriously compete with multiple top programs regarding NIL package offers to recruits, at least in the short term, going forward and possibly for an extended length of time.

Assumption#2: as such, highly ranked players are unlikely to sign (and/or stay) with Iowa.

Therefore, the new coach (a presumption) will need to locate, recruit, coach, and develop a roster of lower ranked players to compete for conference titles and NCAA tournament victories.

To me, the “Experience Needed” and “Qualities Preferred” sections of the Iowa MBB HC job description post-McCaffery are practically begging for McCollum to be hired.

 

[Ronman]

Here is what I consider to be the harsh truth: With the newly expanded B1G, no matter who we hire (or don't hire), we will NEVER win the Conference title or even the BTT. Even with the input of the TV monies that every team will be be getting, the bluebloods will always find ways to stay competitive and successful and the rest of us, while (maybe) showing some real progress on the court with some upscale players, will never compete for titles.
The only winner that I see in our current situation is Ferentz and his obscene salary, for basically being the biggest midget in the West.

 

[joelbc1]

Here is what I consider to be the harsh truth: With the newly expanded B1G, no matter who we hire (or don't hire), we will NEVER win the Conference title or even the BTT. Even with the input of the TV monies that every team will be be getting, the bluebloods will always find ways to stay competitive and successful and the rest of us, while (maybe) showing some real progress on the court with some upscale players, will never compete for titles.
The only winner that I see in our current situation is Ferentz and his obscene salary, for basically being the biggest midget in the West.

His salary is not “obscene” for a college football coach. Barely upper middle for the conference.. and he has been here a long time..

 

[HawkLogic]

Please don't put the job Beth is doing on what Barta left her with. Give her a couple of years to clean things up. I'm sure that the buyouts are a factor, (those signed by Barta), and Frans should be manageable before too long..

True...Barta was awful, not just his coaching extensions but the two big lawsuits he lost on his watch and then Iowa coaching
Vets using their power to create personal fiefdoms and UI becoming Nepotism University.

Beth pulling the plug on Brian Ferentz early was a good move.

This is a big test for her right now. If the Buyout is the rumored$4.5 million, then it makes sense to pull the plug right now. I thought the buyout is 60% of his contract, which is 3 more years, so by my math it's closer to $6 million but there could be some contract language that makes it smaller.

I like the idea of the cheaper, younger Drake coach and not high dollar Devries and potential cost of also having to send W. Virginia some money. The Athletic director and the head coach have to work together to fix the NIL situation and also better market the program. Lower the ticket prices, add an NIL surcharge to keep tick prices flat, but get a better product on the floor.

 

[83Hawk]

True...Barta was awful, not just his coaching extensions but the two big lawsuits he lost on his watch and then Iowa coaching
Vets using their power to create personal fiefdoms and UI becoming Nepotism University.

Beth pulling the plug on Brian Ferentz early was a good move.

This is a big test for her right now. If the Buyout is the rumored$4.5 million, then it makes sense to pull the plug right now. I thought the buyout is 60% of his contract, which is 3 more years, so by my math it's closer to $6 million but there could be some contract language that makes it smaller.

I like the idea of the cheaper, younger Drake coach and not high dollar Devries and potential cost of also having to send W. Virginia some money. The Athletic director and the head coach have to work together to fix the NIL situation and also better market the program. Lower the ticket prices, add an NIL surcharge to keep tick prices flat, but get a better product on the floor.

Carver is going to be an even bigger morgue next season if Fran returns. The buyout should not be an issue…other teams don’t seem to have a problem.

I think McCollum would be a coaching risk worth taking, should Iowa part ways with Fran. He would be cheaper than many others, which would alleviate the buyout concern (especially since the buyout can be spread over 3 years).

The lost revenue from fewer ticket sales, concessions and parking has to be significant.

 

[MikeyHawk]

I agree. The way I see it, the fans buy tickets, concessions, merch, pay to travel and park at the games, and so on. Now we're expected to foot the bill for paying the players, too? That just doesn't sit right with me. As you said above, I too have other expenses and ways I'd rather choose to spend my spare income. The fans do enough already IMO. Not saying people shouldn't donate if they want to, but the "donate or shut up" attitude I see from some seems a little misguided.

You mentioned a salary cap. If you ask me, there needs to be something like this with NIL, or the gap between the haves and have nots will only get wider and wider as player salaries quickly get out of hand. I don't feel the situation is good for MLB, or for college sports.

For the record, I've always been in favor of players being able to make money, but I also want as level of a playing field as it can be. Right now it's the wild west.

Just my 2 cents.

Players will be getting their money. If Iowa tries to claim they cannot compete in mens basketball, just remember that there will be revenue sharing and Iowa is in a P2 conference.
Iowa needs to start acting like they are in a P2 conference

 

[shanksit44]

Not true at all. I really like his resume.

All I’ve said is anyone thinking a change in coaches is going to magically make Iowa a much better program could end up being disappointed as coaching changes often lead to similar or even worse results than the previous regime.

It's the people making the choice of a new coach that's been the problem at IOWA. Bob Bowlsby was the beginning of this mess the past two plus decades. Hopefully Beth can see the need is there and it's time to move on.

BM's resume would give anyone that looks at it hope. He's won wherever he's been. That's not a guarantee but his results sure indicate he'll put people in the right spot for a better chance of W's with more consistent play on BOTH ends of the court. It's time.

 

[TampaHawkfan]

Assumption #1: Iowa will be unable to seriously compete with multiple top programs regarding NIL package offers to recruits, at least in the short term, going forward and possibly for an extended length of time.

Assumption#2: as such, highly ranked players are unlikely to sign (and/or stay) with Iowa.

Therefore, the new coach (a presumption) will need to locate, recruit, coach, and develop a roster of lower ranked players to compete for conference titles and NCAA tournament victories.

To me, the “Experience Needed” and “Qualities Preferred” sections of the Iowa MBB HC job description post-McCaffery are practically begging for McCollum to be hired.

Agreed. Assuming Iowa isn't going to be able to compete for top recruits, then it follows that the next coach needs to be able to excel in coaching up what he has. McCollum seems to fit the bill.

 

[woolridge]

I have my doubts about McCollum as well. He obviously can coach the game very well. That's established over a substantial amount of time. If we want to be able to get better results than we basically have for the last thirty years then the new coach has to be able to recruit just as well as Davis, Alford, and McCaffrey have. Lots of exceptional offensive players over that time span. Tough to match the offensive recruiting (not the last two years). If a new coach comes in and his recruiting and results on offense are a little weaker then previous years. His defense would have to be a lot better just to get similiar results. If you get worse at one thing you have to over compensate for that by doing something else a lot better. I'm not so sure that McCollum can recruit well enough to get us over that hump. Sure his in game coaching on defense will be better and that matters but I'm not sure with our history of struggling to recruit athletic players and his propensity to player slower basketball I am not sure we can lure in better recruits. And if we cant bring in more athletic skilled players then it wont matter how good the coaching is because we wont be able to match up with the top teams which has always been our problem. That's why I think a coach that wants to get up and down on offense is still very important. Talented kids want to play in an up tempo offense. Plus it's more exciting for the fans. Look what Caitlyn Clark has done with that style. It creates more opportunities to score before a defense can get set up. Still play up tempo but play better defense.

 

[littlez]

I have my doubts about McCollum as well. He obviously can coach the game very well. That's established over a substantial amount of time. If we want to be able to get better results than we basically have for the last thirty years then the new coach has to be able to recruit just as well as Davis, Alford, and McCaffrey have. Lots of exceptional offensive players over that time span. Tough to match the offensive recruiting (not the last two years). If a new coach comes in and his recruiting and results on offense are a little weaker then previous years. His defense would have to be a lot better just to get similiar results. If you get worse at one thing you have to over compensate for that by doing something else a lot better. I'm not so sure that McCollum can recruit well enough to get us over that hump. Sure his in game coaching on defense will be better and that matters but I'm not sure with our history of struggling to recruit athletic players and his propensity to player slower basketball I am not sure we can lure in better recruits. And if we cant bring in more athletic skilled players then it wont matter how good the coaching is because we wont be able to match up with the top teams which has always been our problem. That's why I think a coach that wants to get up and down on offense is still very important. Talented kids want to play in an up tempo offense. Plus it's more exciting for the fans. Look what Caitlyn Clark has done with that style. It creates more opportunities to score before a defense can get set up. Still play up tempo but play better defense.

So you want a coach that still gets up and down the court but also plays better defense and also recruits better than most of the coaches we have had with one of the lowest NIL budgets in the league. Got it.

 

[Ladell-hawk]

I believe no matter the age if your not producing you need to move on! KF is 69 and the program is quite stagnant so getting a younger coach just like KF was when he first started could reenergize that program. Same could be said for 65 year old FM. I think younger coaches have a better feel of the new age that were in with the NIL, culture, portal, etc. These old dogs just don't buy into what needs to be done to get over the hump and start winning again. Iowa St. has 2 young coaches that seem to be doing alright. That pains me to say!

Kirk has continued to win, 6-3 in the Big Ten last fall.

 

[Ladell-hawk]

So you want a coach that still gets up and down the court but also plays better defense and also recruits better than most of the coaches we have had with one of the lowest NIL budgets in the league. Got it.

Well, if we don’t see improvements in those areas a change in coaches would be a waste of time.