Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - DISASTER: Fran McCaffery NEEDS TO GO, Iowa Hawkeyes were AWFUL defensively in Big Ten Tournament Loss

Starting point is 00:00:00 As Iowa season comes to an end of the Big Ten Tournament 2 Illinois, it is time. Time for Framon Caffery to move on. Iowa, Beth gets, let's make the choice. Today, Locked On Hawkeye. You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome in. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes

Starting point is 00:00:35 your first listen every day. We're available wherever you find podcasts. You can also watch us on YouTube. While you're there, hit the subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by Fiannual. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Iowa

Starting point is 00:00:54 falls at the hands of the Illini as they go down in typical Iowa basketball fashion. It is overall a game giving up 106 points, Fray McCaffrey injected on and on and on. So, we have a lot to talk about today. We'll take a look back at the matchup against Illinois. What we saw on Thursday night is Iowa Falls 10694. Obviously, the high water marks that were in there. Peyton Sam Furtin, what he was able to do tying a career high with 30 points, getting that shot finally back and we've been waiting for

Starting point is 00:01:29 that throughout the course of the season. Josh Dix, what he was able to put together, just a lot of good stories at least offensively and then there's the other stories on the defensive end of the floor, frame of Caffrey, on and on and on. So we will get into that and of course we need to talk about the future. And the time now is here for Beth Getz to make the decision of what she's going to do, where this program sits, and financially, where Iowa is. We are going to dive into all of that today in a very important episode of Lockdown Hawkeyes, breaking down what the future looks like and where we go from here. But first, a look back at the game and what we saw on that front. So I've mentioned it at the top,

Starting point is 00:02:12 Peyton Sanford, the play that we saw out of him, he got going there in the first half and he could see that confidence starting to build. And it really was a great thing. You know, this is not to be all fan boy and looking at it only through those glasses and we try to stay as objective as possible while still understanding and maintaining that fandom that I have. But to see a kid like that, the way that he came off the floor, tears in his eyes, hugging people on the sideline. You knew what it meant for him to be an Iowa Hawkeye. And for myself growing up a Hawkeye fan, I talk a ton about growing up in the eighties and what that was like and the importance of Iowa basketball, just

Starting point is 00:03:00 to being an Iowan, it was a huge part of everyday conversation during the wintertime was Iowa basketball wherever you went and that obviously is not the case anymore. We see it with attendance we know it's not the same just in general with sports viewing. It's a different era. It's a different world. We're gonna talk about that different world a little bit later on but there was also another important piece and that was That Iowan guy. Yeah, of course, we loved

Starting point is 00:03:35 BJ Armstrong and Roy Marble and Ed Horton And we love Chris Kingsbury But there was something extra special about the Iowa kids. Of course Chris Street who tragically his life came to a close. But the other ones too. The hard-working guys. The guys that just wanted to wear the black and gold. And that's what you got with Peyton Samford. The importance to the Iowa basketball program. He was a great steward of this basketball program and yes you would have loved to see more successes.

Starting point is 00:04:12 I'd love to be able to see more from him and he'd go back a couple years ago and and what could have been in that NCAA tournament run after they win the Big Ten title, his freshman campaign. But it didn't happen. It's not to knock Pete and Samford for what he did. He gave it his all and he grinded throughout a senior year that did not go anywhere close to where he thought. Last year Iowa was a bubble team. They couldn't even get to that this year. He had teammates that ended their season early and Owen Freeman. And it was not just him banged up, it was other guys.

Starting point is 00:04:57 And yet he was still out there grinding, gutting it out, trying to do everything possible, not for the name on the back of the jersey, for the name on the front. And for that, Peyton Samford needs to be commended. He needs to be celebrated. He needs to be looked at as one of those guys that we're happy to call Hawkeyes. And the death threats and the ridiculous nature of that grow up, people. This kid gave his all for the university, for the Hawkeye program. He gave everything that he could. Payton Sanford, tip of the ball cap.

Starting point is 00:05:40 Absolutely tip of the ball cap to you and what you're able to do to this program. We didn't get to the heights we wanted. We didn't win the games we wanted the NCAA tournament. You think it frustrates us? It also frustrates those guys in the locker room. And they understand what this season was. They understand that this season easily could have been much different than it ended up being. But here we are. And this is the reality. that this season easily could have been much different than it ended up being. But here we are, and this is the reality.

Starting point is 00:06:09 Now when we look at things big picture, giving up 106 points, a Illinois team that came in shooting 31% from the three-point line goes 12 to 26. And it's not like they were hitting a lot of those three-pointers with a hand right in their face. There were a couple, but it was a rarity. Just absolutely pulverized on the boards. 41-23. Gave up 14 offensive rebounds. There was a period in the first half where Illinois had 12 rebounds, six of them offensive. 12 missed shots, six offensive rebounds. Means it was 50-50 proposition of just getting a rebound on that end of the floor. And it's more of the same. And it's more of the same for this program and for Fray McCaffrey. And

Starting point is 00:07:01 that's where we'll go next. Josh Dix, got it going again. 10 to 17 from the floor. I would have loved to see Josh Dix throughout the course of the year. Takes 17 shots every game. Would have loved to see that. Thought we saw some good things. Dempelli was giving up a ton of size inside. Could he be in peace going forward?

Starting point is 00:07:19 Drew Thelwell, 12 points, six rebounds. Got knocked out on those free throws. That was a problem in the first half things could have been a little bit tighter. Price came in and it continues to play at a high level Price Hanford was a guy I didn't know where he was going to fit. I didn't know with this squad where he was going to be. Evan Bronze again finishing his career the way that he did in the Hawkeye uniform for an Iowa City kid another great story Now this is gonna be another piece of the story that I'm gonna remember for a long time or wonder about for a long time

Starting point is 00:07:54 What about different inside if we would have saw Evan bronze a little bit more Because it's not just that he's a stud athlete he is and we see that leaping ability that Evan bronze has but also he is and we see that leaping ability that Evan Bronze has but also he's a guy that could handle the touch. Now kind of up in front if there would have been a little more high low action with him and Freeman early in the season if we would have saw Freeman who developed that outside shot be on the high part of it bronze down low and then vice versa because the passing ability from Evan Bronze. It's it's gonna linger for a while of what could have

Starting point is 00:08:30 been and if there was maybe some more substitution patterns that would have made sense and if he could have been a guy that gives you ten minutes a game and you you play a couple of bigs together but of course we'll never know. Riley Mulvey last Thursday he went through senior day activities. And though he has another year of eligibility, the likelihood, his career is over. But the big question that remains is the big man at the top. Fran McCaffrey gets ejected. Gets ejected from the game.

Starting point is 00:09:00 Back to back technical falls. And it wasn't that he was flying off the handle, any more than we've seen in the past in fact for Fran other years That was pretty subdued. I Didn't hear the magic word. I didn't see it flipped the magic word But it ends like that We'll talk about frame a Caffrey his his future, the decision of Beth Getz. What happens next?

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Starting point is 00:11:24 So, visit FanDuel.com and get in on the College Hoops action all tournament long with FanDuel and online at FanDuel.com. Try kind of back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for being with us and making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. If you're watching on YouTube, hit subscribe. Just takes a moment. If you are listening on the audio side, five star views helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Well, let's get back into it and the lingering

Starting point is 00:11:55 question. What the decision for Iowa athletic director Beth Getz is going to be and what she's going to do with this basketball program. You look at the frame of Cafriera and there are a lot of high water marks. There is plenty that you can look at and say that he's done a good job with the program. First you just start of the program that he inherited. Coming in after the Todd Licklider era and just how ugly that time was. Licklider's final season they went 10 and 22, 4 and 14 in the Big 10. They were off 322nd in the country in off in uh in adjusted temple. They were slow, they were bad, it was not an entertaining product and the fans started to turn away. Framie Caffrey came in and by year number two they

Starting point is 00:12:46 made the NIT. Year number three they should have been an NCAA tournament team outside of getting absolutely jobbed and hosed in the Big Ten tournament against Michigan State when they held a big lead and it slipped away because the refs swallowed their whistles. Ted Valentine after that one didn't do Iowa basketball games anymore. That's how incompetent his crew was in that one. They let it slip away. Yet the season didn't come to a close. Iowa went out, got to the championship game of the NIT. They beat Maryland on the road to get to the final four. Beat Maryland then in the first

Starting point is 00:13:18 game at Madison Square Garden before ultimately falling to Baylor in that championship game. And then since then, it's been tournaments. More years than not, an NCAA tournament team. They had made during the run seven NCAA tournaments during a nine-year period. That is something that hadn't happened at Iowa in its history. Dr. Tom Davis did not have a run of seven tournaments in nine years. It didn't happen. He didn't have that kind of consistency. Before this season there were only two programs that had 500 or better records in the Big Ten, ten of the last eleven years. Michigan State, who's made every NCAA tournament the last twenty-seven seasons and these Iowa Hawkeyes coached by Freya McCaffrey but the knock as we

Starting point is 00:14:09 know is lack of success in March. Now, the biggest part of that was of course what happened in the NCAA tournament. The one in Duns, the round of 32 and that's it. And the back to back losses and the years losing to Villanova and Gonzaga in the round of 32 and just getting outclassed in both of them. They had a shot against Tennessee one year, had a great path to make a run after they won the Big Ten championship, but ultimately never could break down that door. And that was the downfall. There was more to it coming on the heels of the 2020 season,

Starting point is 00:14:49 that 2021 year, that Iowa was good, had a really good season that season. And when you look back at that year, yes, it ended to Oregon in the NCAA tournament, but you had a national player of the year in Luka Garza. You had a fun squad to watch. Weisskamp, Bohannon, CJ Frederick, Connor McCaffrey, obviously the Murray twins coming off the bench, a freshman, Patrick McCaffrey. That was a team and that was a team that could do a lot of damage. They came down the stretch. They won seven out of

Starting point is 00:15:19 eight. Get to the NCAA tournament as a two seed and they ran into a bad matchup. But it was not just that loss, and that was tough. But it was also the part of it where it wasn't full attendance, where we didn't get a season where we were able to see Carver Hawkeye Arena packed, and for people to get back into the building

Starting point is 00:15:42 and see not just a good team, but also kind also fall in love with the Hawkeyes again. As college basketball has changed, as Hawkeye basketball has changed, viewing habits have changed on and on and on, they missed a window at that time. They continued, got to the Big Ten tournament. Everything was looking really good as they made that run for the first time, win the Big Ten tournament, then they lose to Richmond

Starting point is 00:16:09 and a bad Richmond team. I mean, they just, it's unthinkable. Following year, back to the tournament again, losing the first round to Auburn. And now these last two seasons, 19 and 15 last year, 17 and 16 this year. It's come to an end. The fan base has checked out. It isn't fair to Fram McAfee, no. Is it fair that they've been able to put this together in this fashion?

Starting point is 00:16:43 That Fram McAfee's been able to rebuild this program and he's gonna be ousted. Probably not. Different people probably deserve different. This is all time winning as coach and for the second time, I was going to be exiting their all time winning as coach in unceremonious fashion. But it has to be done. The attendance figures are awful. It's embarrassing to see what Carver Hawkeye Arena's turned into and the way that this fan base is checked out. Being a Hawkeye fan means something. It means something in this state, in this region, in this conference. And what it's turned

Starting point is 00:17:25 into for men's basketball carver. It's unthinkable. But it's the reality. And there's no more sugar coating what needs to be done. You have to fire Freyja McCaffrey as we found out in the postgame after the loss to Illinois frame a Caffrey does not He's not gonna exit quietly he's not going to retire because he's not ready to retire he's not going to quit because He's owed 4.2 million dollars So you want to move on as an athletic department you want to move on and

Starting point is 00:18:04 Move this program to a different spot, you're going to have to fire Prey McCaffrey. That is the reality. Beth Getz needs to do this quick. And as we continue Lockdown Hawkeyes, that's where we're going to go next. This decision, because it's not as simple as just make a firing and away we go. There are so many more components. The decision of Beth gets what needs to be done, how it needs to be done. We'll talk about that next.

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Starting point is 00:19:41 your first year. Again, MonarchMoney.com with the code LOCKDOWNCOLLege for half off your first year. MonarchMoney.com Back with you one final time. This is Lockdown Hawkeyes and I'm Trent Condon. Alright, Beth gets the decision. How this needs to go down, how this needs to happen, the firing of Fran McCaffrey. And because Fran is not willing to walk away to take, I guess, an easier way out for all parties involved, the way that it has to be done is for Swift. This needs to happen now. As we sit here late into the evening

Starting point is 00:20:25 and into the early morning of Friday, the choice needs to be made right away. There is no reason to let this thing linger. Iowa cannot afford to fall behind the eight ball. We're seeing firings happening. There's already two openings in the big 10. Indiana, that is flush with cash and then Minnesota that should be but isn't in a professional sports market up in

Starting point is 00:20:50 Minneapolis. They fired an alum in Ben Johnson and did in the middle of the night acted very quickly after they lost in their opening game at the Big Ten Tournament to Northwestern. They made the decision swift and that's what Iowa is going to have to do. Make this decision quickly. Don't let it linger. And the decision one way or the other.

Starting point is 00:21:12 I'm speaking like Beth Getz has made the decision that the firing is happening and it's inevitable. I believe that it is. Now there's still work that has to be done and we'll get into that with Beth Getz. But she has had now the better part of a month and a half. I mean you look back at this season and you look back at this Iowa team. We knew way back in the middle of January that when they went out to LA and got pulverized by USC and UCLA that this thing was over. Then they come back against Minnesota lose that one by that time You know, this is a dead season and what was still in front of them Owen Freeman shutting it down. We knew Called a season right? It's over

Starting point is 00:21:54 So the background is there the looking after money also is a big part of it The financial component of getting the bio money What it's going to take to bring a new coach in, buyouts that are going to happen there, building a staff. But the most important component about this is the NIL part of it because you've got to pay players and Iowa has fallen so far behind their peers in the big 10 We're talking bottom of the rung 16th 17th 18th place something like that in terms of NIL budget in the big 10 and Iowa Yes, it's a small public university understand However, this is one

Starting point is 00:22:43 Where I wish shouldn't be this far behind. People have chosen to support football, women's basketball, and wrestling. That all takes a ding. But Iowa shouldn't be at this spot. We don't know how things are going to ultimately look in college athletics. But there are athletic departments that have a lot less money, that have a lot less income, that don't have the television be at the top of the consideration as it pertains to the buyout. Can you bring in a hire though that is going to excite this fan base that you can build back up? There was excitement for Ann McCaffrey. We've seen excitement. Steve Alford brought excitement. Excitement can be built and built pretty quickly, but you got to find the guy.

Starting point is 00:23:45 Then you need to reconnect with this fan base. If it's a barnstorming tour, if it's different events, if it's bringing back the prime time league, whatever it is, something needs to be done to rebuild this fan base that has been lost. A lost generation. We're not talking about 27 years without a Sweet 16 appearance. Look, I'm 44. I got memories. We've got people in their mid-30s that don't have great memories of Iowa basketball. I've even played in a Sweet 16. How crazy is that? But that is the reality. We even played in a sweet 60. How crazy is that?

Starting point is 00:24:23 But that is the reality. We gotta rebuild this thing. And that's going to be another big component. You look at the candidates, the ones that have been bandied about the most, Darren DeVries with the Iowa Connections, out of West Virginia after his first year. You have Ben McCollum

Starting point is 00:24:42 and what he's been able to do in Indiana. Oh, excuse me, at Drake, but Indiana, possibly also involved. Those are the two at the top of the list that most people talk about. Neither of those guys are the most dynamic personality-wise, so how do you get to that direction? It's not going to be easy, but it has to be swift. Don't let this thing linger. Don't go into the weekend. Get it done on Friday. If it's a Friday news dump, to be swift. Don't let this thing linger. Don't go into the weekend. Get it done on Friday. If it's a Friday news dump, so be it. Whatever it is, just get it done.

Starting point is 00:25:11 I like Fran. I've defended Fran. I don't like the way that it ended. But it's apropos of the era. You give up a hundred points, you play an entertaining basketball game, you score a ton, you lose, and Fray McCaffrey gets ejected. Fray McCaffrey gets ejected, two technical falls, must have said a magic word. Should he have been run? No. It's a nine point game, 69-60 at the time. They get four free throws, and Iowa can never really get back over the hump after that. It was the first technicals of the year and that also shows you just how different this season was. The sideline demeanor for Fray McCaffrey with his hands in his pockets

Starting point is 00:25:54 was so different than what we saw and he changed last year. It went to another level this year. Well maybe for one final time, we got to see the Fran that we'll remember. Fiery, red-faced, calling people names, going from 0 to 100, in a matter of a snap of a finger. Fran was back. We got to see that Fran. Maybe we got to see that Fran one final time. We'll be back with you with a rapid reaction podcast after Beth gets makes the decision. I anticipate we're going to find out something quick. It is going to be something that happens on Friday. If not, it'll be another swing and a miss from the University of Iowa Athletic Department, but we've also grown accustomed

Starting point is 00:26:41 to that. Thanks for being with us as always in making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Again, back with you, rapid reaction of whatever happens here on this front. I'll be on the road making my way out to Cleveland, my niece's baptism, so we'll do it remotely. We got you covered though on Lockdown Hawkeyes because we can take the equipment anywhere and we will do just that.

Starting point is 00:27:01 Thanks for being with us in making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Hey, also don't forget forget obviously March Madness is here. There is so much going on. We got a great program here on the Locked On Network. It is Locked On College Basketball. Andy Patton, Isaac Schottie doing everything on the college basketball front. The most informed college basketball fan is you after you listen to Lockdown College Basketball. Find Lockdown College Basketball right here on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. We'll talk to you again. I'm sure sometime over the weekend. Brackets will be set on the women's side.

Starting point is 00:27:35 We'll talk about that. Of course, find out their destination next week and what is going to happen with this basketball job. That's all to come here. Lockdown Hawkeyes, your team every day. That's what we do. Thanks for being with us. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - DISASTER: Fran McCaffery NEEDS TO GO, Iowa Hawkeyes were AWFUL defensively in Big Ten Tournament Loss

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