Howe: Here We Are Again with Hawkeye Hoops

Good Not Good Enough for Some in Iowa Basketball Fandom

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Stop me if you've heard this story before. Iowa Basketball bows out of the NCAA Tournament's first weekend, igniting debate. It centers around change. 

Well, if you haven't experienced it before, you're new around here. Not reaching the Sweet 16 for a quarter century builds up a high level of frustration. 

Another layer was added Thursday night in Birmingham, Ala., where the eighth-seeded Hawkeyes fell, 83-75, to Auburn in the first round. Once again, they retreated to the sideline, watching others party, waiting at least another year for the drought's end. 

Iowa last reached the second weekend in 1999, coach Tom Davis's final season after learning he was being unceremoniously shown the door. The school was aiming for a higher level of success. It hasn't hit that target yet. 

Fran McCaffery just completed Season 13 as the current coach. He's returned the program to Davis's level after Steve Alford damaged it and Todd Licktliter destroyed it. 

The Hawkeyes have a four-year run of NCAA Tourneys that would have matched a school-record five in a row had Covid not canceled the '20 event. After taking three years to clean up his predecessor's mess, McCaffery's teams have competed in seven of the last nine tourneys. 

Davis inherited one of the best rosters in program history and reached the second weekend in his first two seasons. During his next 11 years, Iowa played in seven NCAA Tournaments with the one Sweet 16 in '99. 

In a way, Iowa Basketball has come full circle. With a sample size of 13 seasons each of Davis and McCaffery showing similar results, have we reached the program's apex?

It's a complicated question with multiple layers, including coaching, talent level from in-state and out, facilities, NIL funds and other resources. Ultimately, it's up to each of you if you're content or not. 

Maybe another coach takes Iowa to "the next level." None of us know. Perhaps a different leader drops it a level or two. Again, we don't know. 

What we have are opinions. I can't see firing a coach with four NCAA trips in a row. I believe it's more likely the Hawkeyes go backward than forward with a change. Hawkeye history tells me that. 

I'm not urging people who disagree to be careful what they wish for. That's a lazy argument. Just know the program is capable of quickly bottoming out as it did before the current coach arrived. 

In addition to winning the Big Ten Tournament last season, Iowa has fared well in conference play during the McCaffery era. It finished in the upper division in 10 of the last 11 seasons, and is the only league member to do it in each of the past five years.

It's not like coaching changes have worked out great around the Big Ten, either. Illinois has a 10-year, Sweet-16 drought since making it the year after letting Bruce Weber go. Indiana fired Tom Crean after reaching regional finals three times in five years, replacing him with Archie Miller, who failed to make the tourney during four years in Bloomington. 

Minnesota and Nebraska appear in worse shape now than they were in their previous coaching regimes. Wisconsin and Michigan are playing in the NIT. Ohio State is home. 

Penn State is rising in the second season under Micah Shrewsberry. Time will tell where it goes from here, which is the same case with Kevin Willard after Year 1 at Maryland. 

There's also something to be said for how McCaffery runs his program. He and his guys stay out of trouble. Don't take that for granted. 

So, invest in the current coach. Give him NIL support to improve his roster as you did for the football program's offense this offseason. Now is not the time for change.