I don’t know how good of a team Iowa State will have next season, but I don’t understand why beating Iowa State needs to be a bench mark for determining program success. Iowa State clobbered the #1 ranked team in the country to win the Big 12 tournament a couple weeks ago. So, they’re pretty good right now. Yes, it’s a rivalry game, but I think you also need to put it in perspective. I would add it’s not like Fran hasn’t won against Iowa State. IIRC, Iowa State hasn’t beaten Iowa in Carver since 2014, and Iowa won in Ames a few years back. So, I don’t think that’s a box that really needs checked at this time. Iowa State wins 3 or 4 in a row, then I get it.
Last, it’s about stagnation. There’s no real excitement or enthusiasm right now. Bad or mediocre seasons are going to happen. That’s inevitable. The question is, what are you doing to make the program better and more competitive? Are you adequately addressing glaring deficiencies like rebounding and defense? Sure doesn’t seem like it. Are you getting rid of dead weight on your staff and bringing in assistants who can improve recruiting and make the team better? Nope. Are you adjusting recruiting strategies to address weaknesses, particularly at guard and with overall athleticism? Nope.
In short, this program is going nowhere. So, if your Beth, you lay down the ultimatum: adapt or GTFO.
How exactly does NIL donations work? Do fans who donate get a say in where they want their money to go? So, for instance, someone could say “I will donate $1,000 to Swarm if it goes to football”? How exactly does this work?
Yeah, it’s definitely not fair to criticize Fran if he doesn’t have the NIL money to work with. However, would more NIL donations come in for basketball if fans had more faith in Fran?
I will end by saying, does anyone see a real difference in Fran’s recruiting from before and after NIL? I don’t.