Sure I am, NOT, but if I had been Iowa's AD at the time I would not have given Davis the same ultimatum that Bob Bowlsby did. You don't tell your coach that you won't be retained after the up in coming season and not have repercussions. I believe that Iowa's President would not allow Bob to fire Tom. Someone with a better memory might be able to elaborate further. If you're Davis what incentive would he have to go out and recruit for a coach that will take over the next season and that's exactly what happened.
Listen, Like Fran McCaffery, it was Tom's time to go. His recruiting was subpar and his style of play didn't appear to favor bring in top recruits that wanted a majority of playing time. Missing top Iowa recruits to Kansas and other teams didn't help his cause either.
It was a different time in College basketball also, it was almost a given that a teams that reached 20 wins would automatically make the NCAA tournament and Davis would usually load his schedule with easy wins. It wasn't always the case but most seasons.
His best years were with George Raveling's recruits that he inherited at the beginning of his tenure and that can't be disputed.
I will also say I was pretty excited when Steve Alfaud was hired to replace Tom, but then I have my faults and as most on here will say it's not always the flavor of the month that is the best hire as we also found out at the end of Steve's run a Iowa.
You could say that it was the hiring of Alford and also Todd Lickliter that was the ultimate down fall of Iowa basketball.
Fran had the opportunity to revitalize the program and in a sense he did but failed to elevate the program after year 6 to compete for a Big Ten Championship in my opinion and I think last years team was the celling for Fran here at Iowa. JMO.
