This was an excellent read. I didn't realize all the ways Fran ended the opportunities for fan engagement. After reading all the things he did to isolate the program from its fans, it makes perfect sense that people quit showing up.
Here’s what last part of the aricle said what you’re talking about for those who can’t access it. For the record thought it was a pretty good accurate piece. My 2 cents shirts and skins I think prior to him getting there wasn’t a regular thing but no knowledge if he completely ended scrimmages and what Alford and Lick did before. Big 4 wasn’t all him but after his ejection at Uni ended away games there and at drake and don’t think he was a fan of the big 4. I for one really enjoyed it and miss playing Uni and drake. Would’ve been fun to see us play drake this year. For prime time not for sure again how Fran effected it but the participation with losing uni guys it hurt or placating to them playing some games up in w’loo before ending it all.
“Those failures failed to build equity for McCaffery to use during the down years, like this one. But more than the losses, McCaffery took away opportunities for fan interaction and never replaced it with equal value. McCaffery ended The Prime Time League, which consisted of biweekly games in the summer with fans in attendance. The “Shirts and Skins” scrimmages before home football games vanished. The Black-and-Gold Blowout faded off the calendar. McCaffery ended the round-robin among the state’s four Division I programs for a singular event in Des Moines (2012-18) before shelving it altogether when the Big Ten expanded its schedule to 20 games.
Instead of replacing those interactive events, Iowa men’s basketball — and the department supervising it — chose nothing. Everything revolved around the product on the floor, which was good but never great. Attendance dropped, and rather than unhappily tithing at the Church of the Hawkeyes, men’s basketball fans stayed away or switched to women’s basketball.
It’s going to take a new, inclusive approach for Iowa to bring men’s basketball fans back after the new coach wins the opening news conference. Fans understand championships are difficult to attain, but if you win their hearts, they’ll stick with you forever. McCaffery chose to make his entire Iowa career about only the play on the floor. In the end, that zero-sum philosophy cost him his job.”
