Looks like in 2019-20 average home attendance for wrestling was 12,500+.
John Sears wants IA to start giving out “freebies” again at embarassing Carver
- Thread starter JP4CY
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Looks like in 2019-20 average home attendance for wrestling was 12,500+.
I don't know if it was Lickliter's lack of offensive excitement so much as they were just absolutely horrible. Their attendance tanked. So I wouldn't call Fran the cause of their attendance problems, but he sure isn't good enough to fix it.
I think there's a reality among Iowa fans that must have hit with a National player of the year on your squad and another NBA guy and you aren't even remotely competitive in the round of 32. Insult to injury was Oregon going on and not being competitive in the Sweet 16. The program and Fran are good enough to have a floor where they are usually going to be OK and in contention for getting in to the NCAA most years, but we've probably seen the ceiling, which is pretty low.
It's a worse version of the purgatory they were in the last several years under Davis, but with a completely embarrassing coach.
Apathy would seem to be a natural byproduct of their fans actively disliking a 1/3rd of their own active players.
F*ck Iowa, why are we even concerned about them? Let that b!tch burn in hell. Pathetic fan base, pathetic athletic program. Great day to everyone.
Attendance started tanking and apathy w/ mbb crept-in during the Alford era, after Steve's reputation of arrogance off the court spread around town, plus the two Pierre Pierce incidents--that Alford greatly mishandled.
The shine started to wear off w/this primadonna in year 3 or 4.... with thousands on no-shows/game
i.e. We had friends who were IC natives (husband an U of IA doctor) ;
~ long-time season ticket holders until early Alford seasons.
~ They not only quit their annual season ticket purchases, they stopped watching Iowa MBB on TV altogether ---to this day
I’m still worried about Jon’s shrinking face. That thing looks like it’s going to just cave in at any moment.
That seasons home schedule was ridiculous. I even wanted to buy season tickets. You had what THE OSU, OSU, Minny and PSU. And throw in Nebraska and Wisconsin at the start
It doesn't help that Fran is an a-hole either. He is pretty polarizing with the fan base it seems like. When things are going well you don't hear as much about it but when things are not going well his temper and coaching flaws seem to become magnified more. After the Wisconsin loss some Iowa fan was ranting on the Morning Rush how it's been the same problems every year with Fran's system, they don't rebound or play defense well and it's not like they haven't had the talent to do well in those areas it just doesn't seem to be important to him.
I'm amazed at how he gets the recruits he does with his hot head reputation. Had a relative that sat a couple rows behind the Iowa bench one night when they were on the road a few years ago and was texting me how he couldn't believe the foul mouth Fran had with his players, coaches, and refs. He apparently one time told one of his assistants to "sit down and shut the f* up" and that was just 1 of many tantrums he apparently had that night. How any player would want to play for a guy like that is beyond me and I can see why many in the Iowa fan base would be glad to see him leave as I know I would be embarrassed too if that was the kind of coach we had representing our university.
I'm amazed at how he gets the recruits he does with his hot head reputation. Had a relative that sat a couple rows behind the Iowa bench one night when they were on the road a few years ago and was texting me how he couldn't believe the foul mouth Fran had with his players, coaches, and refs. He apparently one time told one of his assistants to "sit down and shut the f* up" and that was just 1 of many tantrums he apparently had that night. How any player would want to play for a guy like that is beyond me and I can see why many in the Iowa fan base would be glad to see him leave as I know I would be embarrassed too if that was the kind of coach we had representing our university.
The whole 2 hours from Des Moines excuse is my favorite. The Eastern third of the state is much more densely populated than the other two thirds plus you have CR and the quad cities to pull from.
Fran needs to wrestle a bear at halftime. It's a proven crowd pleaser.
Here's the thing, who has Fran pulled in? Tyler Cook and Luka Garza are the only two higher profile kids Fran was brought in during his entire Iowa career. White was an under the radar fluke, and Wieskamp, Uthoff, Jok, and the Murrays have all fallen into his lap. His entire roster has been constructed around kids that are either terrible or grew up Hawkeye fans. As long as Iowa flirts with being a tourney team Iowa will keep him forever and I'm here for it!
When they posted the video your observation was the first thing I thought of.
