Iowa hires Fran McCaffery from Siena

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He gets a lot closer to his wife's home in St. Paul. That must have had some bearing on his decision. The guy can coach. He has proven that. The question will be whether he can recruit enough to be successful at this level.

Hawkeyes are lower than the Gophers were at the end of Monson's tenure. Good luck, Fran.
 

Is this really an upgrade?
 

mkAz said:
Is this really an upgrade?
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Lickleiter had the worst coaching record in the history of mens bb at Iowa.
To answer your question yes. Admittedly the bar is low but my answer is still yes.
 


Holy Man said:
He gets a lot closer to his wife's home in St. Paul. That must have had some bearing on his decision. The guy can coach. He has proven that. The question will be whether he can recruit enough to be successful at this level.

Hawkeyes are lower than the Gophers were at the end of Monson's tenure. Good luck, Fran.
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I think that Margaret's St. Paul roots had a lot to do with Fran's decision. And don't forget, he got his coaching start in the midwest at Notre Dame.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
I think that Margaret's St. Paul roots had a lot to do with Fran's decision. And don't forget, he got his coaching start in the midwest at Notre Dame.
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Okay, so his wife is from St. Paul. How does that factor in to Iowa's decision to hire him? Is he supposed to coach better because his wife is from St. Paul? Does his wife have recruiting ties to M/SP?

I hope I am wrong, but I hate to see this type of hire. I think it is in all of our interests for the big ten to be as elite as possible, and this type of hire is a poor decision imo with all the other young, up and coming coaches.
 

His people might have approached Iowa.

He has been successful at Lehigh, UNCG, and Siena. All three teams reached the NCAA tournament. He has major experience at Notre Dame
 

It's a good hire in the sense that it immediately changes Iowa's style of play dramatically from the slow, unexciting Lickliter basketball to an uptempo, pressing style that should help attract recruits. Now, Iowa is not in good shape right now, but as long as McCaffery gets some good recruits in there (which is the key to any Big Ten job), he should be fine. He spent several years as an assistant at ND a while back, so he does have some ties to the region.
 



OSUfan said:
It's a good hire in the sense that it immediately changes Iowa's style of play dramatically from the slow, unexciting Lickliter basketball to an uptempo, pressing style that should help attract recruits. Now, Iowa is not in good shape right now, but as long as McCaffery gets some good recruits in there (which is the key to any Big Ten job), he should be fine. He spent several years as an assistant at ND a while back, so he does have some ties to the region.
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The new style of play will hopefully provide for excitement and impetus for future recruits. I am cautiously optimistic that Mr. McCaffery will take this program in the right direction. Iowa fans have to find a way to reconcile their discontent with one of the largest mid-major coaching hire flops in recent history (Lickliter was National Coach of the year in 2007) and the notion that most competitive/great coaches have come from the very same mid-major ranks.
 

I think it is an upgrade. McCaffery has a much stronger resume than most mid-major coaches.

He has taken three different programs to the NCAA tournament. He has won tournament games over higher-seeded teams from Ohio State and Vanderbilt. And he spent 11 years as an assistant at Notre Dame. He's been a head coach for 14 years.

Sometimes hiring a mid-major coach works out (see: Bruce Weber and Thad Matta). At other times, it's a mess (see Dan Monson and Todd Lickliter). We'll see what happens in this case.
 

A little Gopher hsitory too

It wan't just Dan Monson.

Early 70's flashback. Coaches were George Hanson. Cal Lutehr. Admittedly, the Luther era lasted about three days. Then they plucked a guy named Bill Musselman from tiny Ashland, Ohio College. After that, things got , well *interesting* for the Gophers. But under Hanson, there was only major, major apathy. Under the muscle, attendance jumped from like 8,000 a game to 19,000......


Now, that was the thing the Hawkeye brain trust was looking at with Caoch Lickliter, and not liking. Lickliter may or may not be a great coach, but he had turned a once-formidable program in terms of attendance and state-wide interest into the equivalent of many of my co-workers with degrees from Univ. of Iowa saying "did the Hawks play last night? I forgot...."

--- no major college coach is ever safe in his job if they are losing 20 games a year, but the big thing was the style of play was flat-out boring (hard tow atch on tv), and to borrow a phrase frot he political world, Lickliter has lost his base.....
 

The new style of play will hopefully provide for excitement and impetus for future recruits. I am cautiously optimistic that Mr. McCaffery will take this program in the right direction. Iowa fans have to find a way to reconcile their discontent with one of the largest mid-major coaching hire flops in recent history (Lickliter was National Coach of the year in 2007) and the notion that most competitive/great coaches have come from the very same mid-major ranks.
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Congrats go to Iowa. It should be exciting for them to have a renewed sense of optimism.
 



Blizzard said:
Congrats go to Iowa. It should be exciting for them to have a renewed sense of optimism.
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You hit the nail on the head, Blizzard. The Coach Lickliter era was not working in just about every aspect. Something had to be done. At least now, Hawkeye fans have something to be excited about. Admittedly, it's not a whole lot, but at least it is something. I hope this will stop the bleeding when it comes to players leaving during the offseason. That's a start, right?
 

I also think it's a great step for Iowa.

Good luck to you guys. We were there a few years ago.
 

kramer said:
I hate to see this type of hire. I think it is in all of our interests for the big ten to be as elite as possible, and this type of hire is a poor decision imo with all the other young, up and coming coaches.
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Yes, I agree. No place in the Big Ten for an aging, unexciting mid-major coach to catch his first big break.


Signed,

Bo Ryan
 

kramer said:
I hope I am wrong, but I hate to see this type of hire. I think it is in all of our interests for the big ten to be as elite as possible, and this type of hire is a poor decision imo with all the other young, up and coming coaches.
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Bo Ryan....man he really brought the big10 down a notch.
Bruce Weber...he has decimated Illinois.

I am not sure if I can take this comment seriously. Why does age matter, the man is only 50 and in good health? He took Lehigh, UNCG, and Siena to the tournament. He has 11 years experience as an assistant at Notre Dame. In the last 3 seasons Fran McCaffery has 2 tournament wins whereas Tubby Smith has zero NIT/NCAA Tournament wins in the last 3 seasons (For the record, I am not claiming that Fran McCaffery is a better and more proven coach than Tubby Smith).
 

Then what is the purpose of mentioning Tubby, PapaHawk? Obviously he isn't as proven. Your point would have been illustrated just as effectively by only stating McCaffery has two tournament wins.
 

The Tubby Smith point provides emphasis that McCaffery is not a drag on the conference. We are bringing in a coach who has had success in the tournament. Clearly, Tubby Smith has done more and earned his recognition as one of the best coaches in America.
 

The way it read made it seem like a jab at Tubby Smith and the Minnesota basketball program. If this was not your intent, forgive me as I fall into the category of liking the hire.
 

Poor Lickliter's kid now how is he going to get minutes that he didn't earn?
 

Brew_recruit said:
Poor Lickliter's kid now how is he going to get minutes that he didn't earn?
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For the record, Lickliter's son played because of the mass exodus after the previous season. When he came into the program he made a statement that he knew his roll at Iowa. He stated that he wanted to be a solid practice player and contribute in that way to the success of the program. When Anthony Tucker was suspended he was the only viable option left to give Cully Payne some rest during a game. He never played because he proved he was worthy, it was pure desperation.

I cannot understate what Todd Lickliter did to this program. We went from being the big 10 tournament champions in 2006, a 4th place finish in the big 10 in 2007 to being a program that is in shambles. I believe and hope McCaffery can bring us back from the brink.
 

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