Well the Hawkeyes, as everyone knows, did terrible this year. The once well respected program won a total of 10 games this year. That is not acceptable for a Big Ten school. This is why it wasn't too much of a surprise when the Hawkeyes announced they would be firing head coach Todd Licklighter after three consecutive losing seasons at Iowa. Now don't get me wrong. Licklighter is a great coach, he was national coach of the year in 2007 at Butler, he just wasn't a good fit at Iowa. His tempo was too slow which resulted in dwindling attendance at Iowa home games last year and prompted AD Gary Barta to make a move in firing Licklighter.
And who did Iowa hire as Licklighter's replacement? They went out and hired Siena head coach Fran McCaffery. I, along with a lot of Iowa fans, had never heard of him before and were very stunned when word became known that he would be the next mens head basketball coach at Iowa. But after doing some research on him, I found out that he should be a good fit at Iowa. He, unlike his predecessor Licklighter, will bring an uptempo offense and defense with him along with gaining athletic recruits. This will be a great change for the Iowa basketball program, because it will bring more fans and will revamp the team into a more interesting team to watch. What is even more impressive about McCaffery is the fact that the is a proven winner. These last three years at Siena he had taken them to three straight NCAA Tournaments and I hope he will continue this tradition at Iowa.
This, I feel, will be a much different basketball tam and wi,, be more interesting too watch. I sincerely hope he has success at Iowa and I have a good feeling that he will. Watch out 2011, here comes the Iowa Hawkeyes!
"Above, Iowa Mens Basketball Coach, Fran McCaffery, http://images box.com"
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