How would I feel if Fran left?

I was pretty hard on Fran last year and the beginning of this year. I do want to say that I think he did a wonderful job getting us out of the gutter and back to the NCAA. I just think Fran has a ceiling that has already been hit. Good players, decent to good program, but we are looking at 8-12 seeds for the most part with no real shot of contending for a B1G title. I just think there are a ton of coaches who could now keep the program at this level and some that could take it even to a higher level. I’d be very ok with a change at this point.

 

Is Nebraska going up? The transfer market is pretty competitive these days. And that’s Fred’s sweet spot.

 

Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue are going to be 3 of the top 5 most years. I think Wisconsin will start to slide as the last of Ryan’s players leave. But that hasn’t happened yet. Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio State have built in recruiting advantages.

I want more postseason success like everyone else. But there are signs we are trending up in the NCAA Tournament. Don’t ask me to explain the BTT.

My point is we are competing with about 5 schools year in and year out for 4th place. I don’t know who we hire that would be interested and can take us beyond that consistently. I think Collins is a very good coach. But Iowa has finished ahead of NW 4 of his 6 years and tied 1 year. Last year’s dumpster fire was the only year in 6 that NW has finished ahead of Iowa...with a very good coach IMO.

 

What is Frans last day? What is the timeline for hiring?

 

he's still got a uphill battle. I think the B1G is a better league, the transfer market is a lot different and the state of Nebraska, while decent lately, historically is not known for a lot of hoops. But I do think Fred is a good coach and if he can get NU to routinely be a 8 or 9 seed in the dance every year they'll build a statue in front of Pinnacle Bank Arena.

 

I would like to see Fran stay for atleast a couple more years and see how this next cycle plays out. The addition of Joe T could be a big change both on the court and in recruiting. So maybe he will be terrible and not get any minutes, who knows, but what we know is that the description of him coming in is vastly different than what Fran has brought in before. Also, the area where Joe T is coming from produces a lot of D1 talent, so maybe he is tapping into that.

As I posted in another topic, there are some major limitations that Iowa has against it when it comes to competing in basketball (not paying players, no one and dones, no geographic advantage, limitation on transfers, etc.) along with the fact that we don't particularly like a defensive brand of basketball (even if Lick had won consistently it would still be boring). Fran's system is in my opinion as good as anything else I can think of that anyone would bring in so its worth a shot at seeing if his tweaks and changes work.

 

I agree that what we have seen from Fran may be about as good as he can produce. I am more than a little concerned that the coach we hire to get to the next level could very easily take us a level down again.

 

If Fred were to stay there long term and say no to any offer from the NBA then Nebraska would be a permanent thorn in Iowa's side.

 

That’s a risk I’m ready to take. You?

 

No, not really.

 

Yep

 

Yup. As much as I appreciate what Fran has done if he were to take off I wouldn't be upset.

 

Hands down YUP!!!

 

Coaching...

 

If Fran bombs out in his next big batch of recruits like he did I the last one then I don't expect great things from the coaching staff. They have some good players, but they also have a lot of weaknesses. Next year they are already ranked in the top twenty, but I won't believe they will end up there after the season. I do think they will be better next year, but they were pretty bad the last half of the conference season. I can see them easily losing more games next year. Hopefully Fredrick and Toussaint will be pretty good and Fran will play them. I'm pretty confident about Nunge.

 

Coaching...

 

Iowa has more “talent” than Tech but can’t get out of second round. Looks like Iowa still hasn’t found the right coach.

 

Welp, chomp chomp chomp, that’s coaching.