Andy Manis - AP
GET YER DUKES UP, WASABI. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
Friend of the Pants Scott Dochterman wrote an interesting article about the basketball team yesterday, one loaded with information and well worth your time. There are a few points that particularly stood out, though, and warrant a little more focused discussion.
One, about that "Chairgate" incident...
McCaffery’s fire has spilled over to the court. He’s earned seven technical fouls this year and grabbed headlines for slamming a chair following a technical at Michigan State. The incident drew national attention and prompted a letter from Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany.
Barta said he’s received "incredible feedback" on the subject, many of which called for McCaffery’s firing.
"I got just as much feedback and just as passionate about the fact that I didn’t support him enough," said Barta, who later added, "we’ve moved on. It’s over." (emphasis added)
I still think Barta's handling of "Chairgate" was fairly terrible -- the fact that he didn't utter a peep about it until B1G grand poobah Jim Delany groused about it makes him look like nothing more than Delany's stooge and a guy who won't stand up for his coaches in public. If he wants to tell McCaffery to tone it down in private, fine. But in public he should stand by his man -- not back up the bus after Jim Delany has already thrown his coach under it. (It's even more baffling that this incident earned a public rebuke from Barta when Rhabdogate earned no public criticism of either Ferentz or Doyle. Of course, Delany himself was also fairly mum on that one, so there's little ability for the marionette to move when the puppetmaster is motionless.)
But more importantly... some people actually wanted Barta to fire McCaffery for that incident? Are you fucking kidding me? I suppose he should have just done this instead; it would have been the more gentlemanly way to behave. It's one thing to debate the tactical merits of McCaffery's technical(s) or to grumble about the minor public embarrassment they might bring... but to want him fired for that? I can't even comprehend the mindset of those fans -- nor do I want to.
Meanwhile, the other most interesting point in the article concerned recruiting budgets:
Iowa has helped McCaffery improve with an earnest recruiting budget. Iowa basketball spent $147,593 recruiting in McCaffery’s first year, about $71,000 more than what was spent during former Coach Todd Lickliter’s final year at Iowa.BASKETBALL RECRUITING EXPENSES
- 2011 — $147,593
- 2010 — $76,547
- 2009 — $117,320
- 2008 — $124,201
- 2007 — $117,524
McCaffery and Barta both say there was no recruiting budget increase. It was simply about allowing McCaffery and his staff to pound the pavement every allowable day. That also has paid off.
Almost two years (and several energizing Frantastic wins) later, I admit I'm ready to move on from the Lickliter era: it was a costly mistake and he was a miserable fit, but it's probably time to get past all that. But then I see figures like those and I'm just dumbfounded. What the hell was he doing while he was here? Recruiting expenses went down every year Lickliter was here, dropping a stunning $40K between 2009 and 2010. There's an argument to be made that Iowa isn't spending enough on recruiting, period, considering that a) recruiting athletes to Iowa is hard and b) Iowa ranks just 9th in the Big Ten in recruiting expenses (ahead of only Indiana, Northwestern and, strangely, Wisconsin), but Lickliter's cut-rate spending on recruiting is shocking. It's the equivalent of going to Aldi's to do your shopping while your rivals go to Whole Foods and then both of you trying to prepare the same meal. You might be able to make a meal as good as theirs, but it's going to be a lot harder and your special spices system better be gangbusters.
Moreover, recruiting is an endeavor defined by activity, not passivity. Maybe in Indiana you can afford to sit around and wait for quality talent to fall in your lap when half the kids there grow up dreaming of becoming the next Jimmy Chitwood, but that approach doesn't fly in Iowa. Lickliter would have had to run over Matt Gatens' dog and set his mom on fire to get him not to come to Iowa, but (unfortunately for us) kids like Gatens are few and far between. Most recruits require some actual wooing and that requires getting out and pounding the pavement. McCaffery didn't land guys like Adam Woodbury and Mike Gesell by sitting back and hoping -- he got them by being tenacious and spending as much time as possible watching them and interacting with them.
Part of McCaffery’s strategy he said in November — and reiterated on Monday — was to attend every summer league game that included Woodbury and Gesell, who play for Iowa-based Martin Brothers. That meant using every method of transportation, from commercial to private planes.
Lickliter may have saved a few pennies in the short-term for the Iowa athletic department with his less aggressive approach to recruiting, but it had long-term cost to the talent base of the program -- one that we're still feeling the effects of now.
2 recs | 138 comments
The technicals and temper tantrums
are acceptable as long as Iowa is improving and winning. If that stops, then people will start to turn on Fran.
The fact that people wanted him fired over the chair? Seriously? I think Barta should have publicly supported Fran and done any chastising behind closed doors.
Enoch - January 26, 2012
I can't imagine we didn't know stuff like this was going to happen with Fran
I doubt he tried to hide his “passion” during the interview and you can look at his history to see he gets fired up at times. His wife got kicked out of a game for f’s sake.
The Bacon Explosion - January 26, 2012
I'd like to see the stooges that wanted him fired for that
He slammed a chair. There are coaches out there getting arrested for owi, sexual assault, and many other things. In my mind the guy is passionate about the game and his emotions get the best of him. This doesn’t make him a bad guy, or give the school ground to fire him.
eff bielema - January 26, 2012 via mobile
Then there are the stooges that want Kirk fired for not being passionate enough
#fishbowled
The Bird Cult - January 26, 2012
Absolutely this
Captain n Diet Coker - January 26, 2012
I like to see the passion and it is nice contrast to the facepalms of Lickliter
Enoch - January 26, 2012
Fran's sideline behavior should have zero affect on his job, unless, of course, he assaults someone on the court.
Fran was hired because he’s proven to be a very good coach and I think his fire was fairly well known. Of course we expect the program to improve and win, but to say it’s only tolerable because he’s doing his job seems unfair. Unless Fran punches someone in the stands or attempts to tackle an official, I don’t give a shit what he does on the sidelines. His job is to get wins and recruit solid B1G talent, not be a saint on the sideline.
The Mexican't - January 26, 2012
Remember Bob Knight
He was a real boor.. we don’t want that at Iowa
GuttedSnowBird - January 26, 2012
Fran isn't anywhere near the same place Generalissimo Knight occupied.
Eyeheartfreedumb - January 27, 2012
I am still pissed.....
about Barta not publicly supporting his coach. He really is just an empty fucking suit and IOWA deserves better.
Bluzmn - January 26, 2012
Lickliter just got really big into using Groupon in 2010.
SomeJerkPoster - January 26, 2012
"$0.75 for Devon Archie?"
“SOLD!”
RossWB - January 26, 2012
I think he paid too much.
Probably got a 2 for 1 with Brommer.
mikjones24 - January 26, 2012
Fran could shop for recruits at Food 'N Stuff. It would still be a better team
Better than the fucking turkey burgers at jNorthwestern, anyway.
YouCanPutYourEddsInIt - January 26, 2012
It's where he buys all of his food.
And most of his stuff.
Touchdown Iowa! - January 26, 2012
Yes.
This is why I love you people. Parks and Rec is the bayest.
NWIOWAHawk - January 26, 2012 via mobile
Suddenly I'm in the mood for a Chicky Chicky Parm Parm
IPeeBlackAndGold - January 26, 2012
Don't forget your food rake.
Touchdown Iowa! - January 26, 2012
Quickly!
To Tom Haverfoods!
SomeJerkPoster - January 26, 2012
Welp, there goes my work productivity for the next three hours.
Touchdown Iowa! - January 27, 2012
Excellent article and excellent points, Ross
The recruiting note strikes me as particularly relevant. Recruiting appears to be a lot like dating or sales: Quantity matters more than quality. Get enough of the top prospects interested and you’re more likely to land a few of them.
therealCatnuts - January 26, 2012
It's all numbers.
When I did sales for cutco (actually not the end of the world), they had it down to a science: Ask every person to give you 20-30 referrals; you’ll likely average 10. Of those ten per, 4 will let you come do your pitch. Of every ten you talk to, four will buy. They will average about $175 per order. Average 10 pitches per week (20 in the summer), that’s $700 in sales per week for about 15 hours of work. Quickly get to 25% commission, and you’re making over $10/hr in self-employed wages – that was good for a college kid 10 years ago. I had a couple of frends that got were up to 50% rather quickly. One guy did that, had a higher sales rate, higher $/order, and averaged about 25 pitches even during the school year. He made about $30/hr.
It was just all a numbers game. Get this many names, make this many calls, get your foot in the door to this many houses, this many will buy and on and on.
tyger1147 - January 26, 2012
Well
That is genuinely interesting, and true to a point for college basketball recruiting, but there’s still a scholarship cap to deal with. I guess it would be like if you got to negotiate price with each customer, and then at the end of the year had to pick 12 customers you were going to sell to. The more customers you see the more you’re likely to get willing to buy, and the more willing to pay a lot—actually, I think I’ve tortured this metaphor beyond repair, I’m just going to abort.
Notclevr - January 26, 2012
ROI
Return on Investment – It isn’t hard to trace recruitment spending to wins to ticket/merchandise spend to increased dollars.
If you want to make money, you have to spend money wisely. Recruiting seems to be one of the easiest spending decisions there is.
The Bacon Explosion - January 26, 2012
Stooge eh?
I fully support /appreciate any comparison of Barta to Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and Interim General Manager of Monday Night Raw Mr. John “#BigJohnny” Laurinaitis.
Missing Brad Banks - January 26, 2012
[insert "gratuitous wwf" tag]
And you’re damn right that’s a rec.
RossWB - January 26, 2012
what does the World Wildlife Fund have to do with it?
The Bacon Explosion - January 26, 2012
Words With Friends?
mikjones24 - January 26, 2012
I think my sig represents my opinion about them on this topic.
RossWB - January 26, 2012
I just read that in Laurinaitis' voice. Bravo.
the notorious r.d.m. - January 26, 2012
Lickliter era, damn i sure don’t miss having 20 points at halftime every game
waterboy31321 - January 26, 2012
That was only when the system wasn't working
. . . which was always.
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
a 10 point deficit a halftime, was really a 25 pt deficit, the scoreboard just had it wrong
waterboy31321 - January 26, 2012
Those are questions I had as well
Unfortunately, there’s a rather large idiot faction in this fan base. Let’s just hope they keep their shit in order going forward and Barta can manage to fend off their insanity. Frankly, in an article painting a positive picture for the program, it wasn’t worth mentioning people wanted him gone at all. Leave it at “We’ve moved on. It’s over.” I hope “incredible feedback” mean “the people that offered feedback are fucking batshit crazy and I laughed at their stupidity.”
The last two years have been the perfect tonic to move away from the Lickliter years. Clearly, the program is on the rise and is about to get a good infusion of talent. But then I read stories like this, see those recruiting numbers, and the questions on Lick’s tenure come roaring back. What, exactly, was he doing here? That guy fleeced the athletic department.
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
To be fair
For about 95% of the feedback the AD’s office takes, I’m sure it could be characterized as “fucking batshit crazy and I laughed at their stupidity.”
Luke Recker No-Look Pass - January 26, 2012
Exactly
You have to be a little crazy just to think the Athletic Department is going to take your unsolicited advice in the first place. And to the extent you know they won’t, you would be as shrill as possible to try to get them to be more sympathetic toward you’re real position.
You know, like when I threatened to spread corn earworms throughout the state if they didn’t change the Iowa-ISU trophy to a championship belt.
Notclevr - January 26, 2012
One edit
“Unfortunately, there’s a rather large idiot faction in
thisall fanbases.”Fans are idiots sometimes. Sometimes they’re not. Sometimes not idiot fans can say and do idiot things (you know, like betting money on Iowa straight up against Oklahoma…………) …….. .
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
I found the fake betting our fine moderators set up for the regular and bowl season to be far easier to always take Iowa. Of course, I’m also immune to winning, since it’s fake.
txhawkeye - January 26, 2012
Blind fandom pays off sometimes
I made some money on a ~+400 odds when Iowa beat OMHR last year at CHA. Granted, the $5 bet was on centsports.com so it wasn’t money that I already had, but it was still real money! (kind of).
I’m still probably 2 – 25, though, on bets where my heart says yes, but my head just shakes its head.
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
That is really funny.
“….but my head just shakes its head.”
I am going to steal that one from you, whether you like it or not.
hawkinsandmelrose - January 26, 2012
Well done Ross.
Barta’s response to the chair incident pissed me off far more than the incident itself. I was really hoping for something along the lines of: “Leave it the guy who engineered 5 suspended players getting eligible for the Sugar Bowl to say a chair slam makes the B1G look bad.”
I understand that not bowing before the Delanybot may have lasting implications for Barta and Iowa. It would’ve been much more enjoyable though.
9isEnough - January 26, 2012
The smart thing to do would've been not to say anything
Instead Bloodpunch threw Fran under the bus. That was bullshit.
mikjones24 - January 26, 2012
100% agreed
Just don’t say anything.
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
Fully agree.
Nothing needed to be said at all.
9isEnough - January 26, 2012
Unless it happens again.
And by again I mean if he throws the chair at somebody. If that happens, you fire him from his position as basketball coach.
And you make him coach of the wrestling team.
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
Look put as many kids in the hospital as you want, but for heaven's sake please respect the furniture!
NorseHawk - January 26, 2012
JUD HEATHCOATE ONCE SAT IN THAT CHAIR, SIR.
RossWB - January 26, 2012
DREW NAMICK DEVELOPED HIS POST MOVES AGAINST THAT CHAIR
/YiJianlian’d
SomeJerkPoster - January 26, 2012
HE WAS A GREAT COACH BECAUSE MAGIC JOHNSON WANTED TO STAY CLOSE TO HOME
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
Apparently athletes are easy to replace, but furniture thats a whole other story
eff bielema - January 26, 2012 via mobile
Did you see what that chair did to the court?
If anyone deserved to be punished, it was that chair.
DJK's bongwater - January 26, 2012
1 / 10 / 12 neverforget
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
Fran blast-offs are the best
That is all.
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
My God, is that green paint? On the hradwood?
Fire this out of control Irishman, NOW!
Samilcar - January 26, 2012
Hard, not hrad.
Just thinking about this furniture abuse makes my fingers tremble.
Samilcar - January 26, 2012
I will remember you....
djwoody - January 26, 2012
For someone from Ireland
She has no accent. At all. Does any else find that odd?
hawkinsandmelrose - January 26, 2012
She is from America's top hat... Canada.
pollo diablo - January 26, 2012
Ever see the Confucius episode of Seinfeld?
“I’m Donna Chang.”
hawkinsandmelrose - January 26, 2012
Wait - so you're saying Ronald McDonald isn't Irish, either?
(hakinsmelrose – Mclachlan would be of Scottish descent, anyway…)
YouCanPutYourEddsInIt - January 26, 2012
Loved Fran ever since his time at Siena
Chairgate only enhanced that. Being more like Bob Knight is now and forever a good thing, not a bad thing, Barta.
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
Bob Knight was a horrible bully and physically abusive to actual people
As far as I can tell Fran has only assaulted a chair.
NorseHawk - January 26, 2012
Yeah
Although the players sure didn’t look surprised by it….
Notclevr - January 26, 2012
and every single one was a better person for it
RMK forever
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
He was a Very Bad Person
NorseHawk - January 26, 2012
We're gonna have to disagree on this topic
I know it’s not the majority opinion, but I am more than willing to forgive Knight’s pigheadedness for his greatness in other parts of raising young men.
therealCatnuts - January 26, 2012
He needed to get his anger under control.
But he did do well with turning many of those guys into successful adults, and he always made me laugh.
I don’t want to see Fran get to that point, and I don’t think he will. As a general rule, just for the safety of players, assistant coaches, and trainers/medical staff, he should probably avoid slamming chairs. He can still kick the scoreboard on the score table, though.
WaterlooChazz - January 26, 2012
Do you live in Albany?
GuttedSnowBird - January 26, 2012
Very close: Clifton Park
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
Niskayuna
GuttedSnowBird - January 26, 2012
I don't live there anymore,
but I still have some friends there. Nice town. I made my way to a few Siena games during the Fran era.
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
Maybe I'm a loon -- well, I guess I.am -- but..
If I’m a recruit the chair slam gets me thinking positively about Iowa. Lick always looked like he was trying to digest bad onion rings.
Blackheartnopants - January 26, 2012 via Android app
It's like the time Mike Gundy decided to inform a reporter that he was a 40 year old man
It may have been viewed by university administration and much of the public as a mild embarrassment, but it probably gave the current players and recruits at least a semi
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
And it gave us this
Best Car Commercial EVER
PackerHawk - January 26, 2012
A LOCAL DEALERSHIP COMMERCIAL THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE OWNER'S DUMB CHILDREN?
ckmneon - January 26, 2012
DICKS CHEVY SUPERSTORE
Whar wheal smaht uh peeper. Bar the currs. <looks off camera with pissy face wondering why he couldn’t play outside today instead of spending 8 hours filming this stupid commercial>
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
I think you're confused on the recruiting front
Fran was hired on March 29, 2010. The precipitous drop-off in the recruiting budget was likely due to the transition, not because Lick decided to mail it in for 3 months in 2010.
nattybumpo - January 26, 2012
That's not the way Dochterman characterized it.
Either he’s mistaken or “2010” doesn’t mean the strict calendar year.
In any event, recruiting expenses were definitely trending down under Lickliter.
RossWB - January 26, 2012
Not in any event
The Dochterman article is unclear on this. In the text, it seems clear that Iowa basketball spent $147,593 recruiting in McCaffery’s first year, about $71,000 more than what was spent during former Coach Todd Lickliter’s final year at Iowa.. But the accompanying table says that in 2010 we spent much less, and most of the recruiting budget would have been spent by McCaffery and not Lick.
If the table is right then, Lick spent most of the 117K in 2007, 124K in 2008, and 117K in 2009. No trend, just natural variability. If, however, we assume based on the text that Lick’s first year recruiting is 2008, then his numbers are 124K, 117K, and 76.5K, which shows a clear trend. So it does matter which event we’re talking about.
It’d be nice to see this cleared up by Dochterman, because as presented, it is far from clear.
nattybumpo - January 26, 2012
You're right, it is unclear.
I wrote to Doc to see if he could clarify the numbers a bit more.
RossWB - January 26, 2012
When are the signing days?
Would that have any major impact on those numbers?
BStylin Hawkye - January 26, 2012
There are 2 - one in April, one in October.
I don’t think that would impact the numbers though – you recruit whenver the NCAA allows it and you evaluate kids for future classes. It’s pretty much a year-round commitment.
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
I wonder if the numbers are based on academic fiscal years.
i.e. fiscal year 2011 = July 30, 2010 – June 30, 2011?
EnergizerHawk - January 26, 2012
And you get a cookie.
RossWB - January 26, 2012
WOOOOHOOO!
Chocolate Chip, please?
EnergizerHawk - January 26, 2012
But a demerit for calendarin'
Don’t think UI works on an 11-month fiscal year.
therealCatnuts - January 26, 2012
Goddammit.
July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011.
EnergizerHawk - January 27, 2012
FYI, this is what Doc said when I asked him:
RossWB - January 26, 2012
Yikes
Doesn’t that make it look even worse for Lick? How bad would it have been if it didn’t include 3 months or Fran?
Enoch - January 26, 2012
I wonder what the number is pre-Fran?
Fran recruited Cartwright (JUCO was in Texas) and made trips in an attempt to keep the group Lick had signed together. I can’t remember if he made any additional trips to see Basabe or not, but that would’ve required travel to New York.
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
"I'm already done here. Fuck it"
-TL
therealCatnuts - January 26, 2012
"If I'm getting fired -
I’m recruiting hard in Florida and Arizona all winter, maybe taking a look at that kid in the Caribbean – they have basketball right? Hell of a player in Barcelona that’s looking."
-TL
The Bacon Explosion - January 27, 2012
Considering Fran hit the ground running
let’s just assume Lick spent $0 to that point.
chitownhawkeye - January 26, 2012
Was thinking the same thing
Still, Fran looks to be spending about 23% more than an average Lickliter year.
YouCanPutYourEddsInIt - January 26, 2012
Typo...
Lick mailed it in for 3 YEARS.
djwoody - January 26, 2012
Without going all argumentative, Fran is fine. Barta could be more supportive. Barta hired Fran, after all. Why is this still being brought up? The answer: people are idiots.
txhawkeye - January 26, 2012
Fran is so anti-Iowa City it's perfect.
He’s somewhat rude to officials. He doesn’t say please or thank you to his players. He doesn’t say they do a good job when they don’t. He loses patience with players and shows it. When refs make bad calls he doesn’t say “that’s part of the game”, he gets a T.
And he apparently thinks it DOES matter if you win or lose, not how you play the game (usually if you play to win you do). Crazy, I know.
hawkinsandmelrose - January 26, 2012
I'm not sure I agree with this
At least not all of it. Fran is certainly more forthcoming than most coaches that we’ve had around here lately, but he’s also more forthcoming than most coaches period.
And this description, “He doesn’t say please or thank you to his players. He doesn’t say they do a good job when they don’t. He loses patience with players and shows it.” sounds like Alford more than Fran.
As far as not artificially pumping up players go, I suppose, but he has talked up players in the preseason (Eric May) and he has an unusual ability to criticize a player in public without demeaning them, at least from my perspective. I’d say that is something which is fairly unique, period, regardless of which city he is living in.
nattybumpo - January 26, 2012
A follow up
I think his ability to criticize constructively without demeaning a player is rooted in his ability to praise the player while he then criticizes the actions, or lack of action, of that player.
nattybumpo - January 26, 2012
My point is that if Iowa City thinks he's too.....whatever....
Then leave him alone. He’s not running for PTO president.
hawkinsandmelrose - January 26, 2012
Well, and it was more ESPN than Iowa City criticizing him.
And it happened the same time as whats-his-age poked a player and the you-know-where (sternum). That’s what’s great about 24 hour news. If you can’t fill it with real news, fill it with this. Or YouTube videos.
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
Almost every criticism of a player in the media
is followed in the very same or next sentence by “I know he can do better at X.” or “He’s shown what he can do when he’s doing X. He’s just been a little bit sideways lately.”
His and Alford’s handling of players in the media are worlds apart. To be fair, it has always seemed that Alford’s players had genuine respect for him well after their careers were over.
Cattlefeeder - January 26, 2012
I get the feeling Fran
is more “tough love”, he get frustrated by guys not living up to their potential. Alford was more “I’m just an asshole to people”.
That could just be me.
chitownhawkeye - January 26, 2012
Oh, so this
Fran wasn’t throwing the chair at anyone, like Knight did, and people are really confusing this here. If Fran was beating the players in practice, or smacking them in public, that’s a different thing.
If anything, I think we get him SPECIAL chairs to slam on the court. You know, that will disintegrate dramatically and stuff. It would be compelling television.
Just fucking win and move on. Good god, it seems like the only people left in Iowa sometimes are assholes that are 85bajillion years old and worried about something as minor as this was.
The Bird Cult - January 26, 2012
"If anything, I think we get him SPECIAL chairs to slam on the court. You know, that will disintegrate dramatically and stuff. It would be compelling television."
If he had chairs that did that, it’d be appointment TV and score millions upon millions of YouTube hits. Iowa’s ratings would go through the fucking roof.
“Watch as Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery tries to turn a chair into dust. Iowa-Nebraska! Next on Big Ten Network!”
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
Would that get old?
Once people got used to Fran smashing chairs he would have to escalate to throwing special desks and then ultimately a special Jay Bilas that disintegrates dramatically.
Enoch - January 26, 2012
He can smash whatever he wants
HE’S FRAN MCCAFFERY!
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
HULK SMASH
The Bird Cult - January 26, 2012
Over a chair? Really?
2wordsIowaHawkeyePride - January 26, 2012
Well the chair, yes.
But crapping a cupcake I think is the final straw.
hawkinsandmelrose - January 26, 2012
Brommer, you really are the best.
SomeJerkPoster - January 26, 2012
awesome
SaturdayMorningKegStanzis - January 26, 2012
How is Brommer not from Iowa City?
I give myself an A for this comment. I worked hard at it, and gave it my best.
hawkinsandmelrose - January 26, 2012
Hey, it's Minnesota nice, not Minnesota modest.
RossWB - January 26, 2012
Andrew Brommer - Irrational Confidence Guy
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
The only people who are likely to be upset by a chair throw
are the ones who enjoyed watching Lickliter quietly losing. I don’t care what they think.
And in terms of the recruiting budget, the Aldi / Whole Foods analogy is only apt if Lick knew there was a Whole Foods, knew how to get there, but decided that he had a recipe that used Aldi ingredients so that’s all he needed to go get. I don’t think he felt it was necessary to go fight for players.
chitownhawkeye - January 26, 2012
I love Speraw's reaction in that photo
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
Oh man, just noticed that
hilarious
ClaybornSmash - January 26, 2012
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit... Mental note: NEVER MAKE FRAN MAD."
RossWB - January 26, 2012
I would be willing to bet alot of those calling for his firing werent Iowa fans
Ive talked to plenty of Iowa fans and most of them are like “he threw a chair? hell yeah!!!!” I mean, after Ferentz and Lick, most Iowa fans i know WANT a coach to show some emotion.
this got alot of national press, im sure plenty of guys who werent indiana fans were calling for Bobby Knight’s head too.
justsomehawkeyefan - January 26, 2012
I think I know who called for his firing.
It was this guy:
and this guy:
And maybe this guy.
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
Oh god why did I click on the link
Never click on the link!
PackerHawk - January 26, 2012
BUT it's totally SFW!
Just not safe for rational opinions.
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
It was this guy:
TwistConePlease - January 26, 2012
And thank god for subject lines
PackerHawk - January 26, 2012
You know Bayless was jacked about getting to show off the pipes there.
What a weasel.
SomeJerkPoster - January 26, 2012
Yeah
I was noticing that he had decent arms for such an old hack
PackerHawk - January 26, 2012
He is a toad.
Check me out, bro!
SomeJerkPoster - January 26, 2012
I'd like to see him and Cowherd fight to the death,
as long as I get to shoot the survivor with a shotgun.
/This is not a threat, but I do hate both of them. A lot.
WaterlooChazz - January 26, 2012
This
Totally this
/Chazz-PH agreement on something other than late 90s unis. Write it down.
PackerHawk - January 27, 2012
Well, now we know what Lickliter is doing with all his free time:
The Final Gun - January 26, 2012
Apparently, the big stick up Todd's ass made it difficult to get on plane flights.
TSA, you know.
The Bird Cult - January 26, 2012
I'm sure some of the disparity
in spending was due to Fran being more willing to recruit more, including AAU/summer-league stuff.
But, I also wonder how much is due to the issue mentioned above (regarding timing from Dochterman, as well as how much really was spent by Fran in 2010).
Also, Lick was in the hospital or home on rest for at least a couple weeks during the season (can’t remember if it was 2009 or 2008). I’d guess that curtailed some of his in-season recruiting (as well as some by his assistants, as one of them was substitute head coach for a game or two).
Also, Fran appears to be recruiting kids from farther distances than Lick did. Cartwright and Hubbard (and that other guard who went to Okie State?) were from California. Basabe was from New York. I’m trying to think of any kids that Lick got serious about from outside the midwest. Jet fuel ain’t cheap, you know?
WaterlooChazz - January 26, 2012
Or was Hubbard from Virginia or Maryland by the time we recruited him?
Either way, that’s still pretty far from Iowa.
WaterlooChazz - January 26, 2012
I think the surgery/hospital issue was in late 2009
I want to say December. Honestly though, at that point I’d thrown in the towel and stopped paying attention, so my timeline might be off.
Nickhawk08 - January 26, 2012
Even if he wasn't out recruiting...
at least his assistant coaches would be out there. So it may have dipped when he was sick, but not that much… Right?
pollo diablo - January 26, 2012
I think they knew they were going to get fired and got off the road.
txhawkeye - January 26, 2012
Barta can come suck my ...........
While I wear my
STAND BY Y OUR FRAN shirt
tOSU fans don’t understand it
they just stare
Barta doesnt get it either
Let’s find a bus
and throw him under it
OhioHawk - January 26, 2012
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