McCaffery plans to continue to let loose his wrath
Despite his latest bench tirade going viral on the Internet and drawing criticism from at least one national media member, Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has no regrets about his behavior during games nor will he apologize for it.
“No, not all,” McCaffery said Thursday, two days after he was called for his fifth technical foul of the season in the second half of Tuesday’s 95-61 loss to Michigan State at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich. “If anybody thinks I’m going to sit there with my hands crossed when we’re down by 40 (points), they’ve got the wrong guy.
“I was brought in here to change the culture. I’m going to coach with passion and my players know that. They also know I’m going to fight for them.”
McCaffery said he thinks a lot people on the outside misinterpreted what took place during a timeout when he slammed a chair to the ground shortly after being called for the technical against Michigan State. He also went up and down the bench screaming at his players during the timeout.
“I think a lot of people like to infer about what’s going on or what’s being said,” said McCaffery, whose team is 10-8 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten heading into Saturday’s game at home against No. 13 Michigan . “Nobody knows what I was saying. Nobody knows what we’re discussing during that timeout except for me and the players.
“So, I have no regrets, I have no apologies, none whatsoever. I’m going to continue and coach the same way and we’re going to keep working and improving and battling and fighting until we’re up by 40.”
Iowa freshman forward Aaron White said after the 34-point loss to Michigan State that McCaffery was upset at his players for not matching Michigan State’s physical approach on defense. The officials allowed the game to be played physical and the Michigan State players took advantage of it.
“First of all, I didn’t have much at all towards the officials, to be honest with you,” McCaffery said. “In this case, what I should say is it was toward the players to take care of what was happening in the game.
“Now you can infer whatever you want to infer from that, because when the game is physical and it’s being officiated like that, then we have to adjust.”
McCaffery’s tirade at Michigan State has been a huge hit on YouTube, receiving over 60,000 views, and it’s drawn the attention of the national media, including Tony Kornheiser, who along with veteran newspaper columnist Michael Wilbon, co-hosts the show Pardon the Interruption on ESPN.
Kornheiser called McCaffery’s behavior an embarrassment to the University of Iowa, but Wilbon said he liked it.
USA Today also compared McCaffery’s chair-throwing incident to when former Indiana coach Bob Knight tossed a chair across the court during a game against Purdue in 1985.
McCaffery said Thursday that he hadn’t heard from the Big Ten or from any officials at the University of Iowa voicing concern about this latest bench incident.
He also isn’t worried that game officials will take offense to his behavior and hold it against him.
“The good ones don’t,” McCaffery said.
The Iowa players defended McCaffery on Thursday, saying his temper is just part of his passion for his job and for his players. McCaffery is trying to turn around a program with four straight losing seasons.
“I think it’s cool, I like seeing it,” Iowa senior guard Matt Gatens said. “We don’t like being down 20 or 30 (points). But that’s great to see fire out of him.
“I know he’s a competitive and passionate guy and sometimes that comes out.”
McCaffery avoided being ejected from the Michigan State game, unlike the Northern Iowa game on Dec. 6 in Cedar Falls when he was booted in the second half after receiving two of Iowa’s four technical fouls during the 80-60 loss.
Gatens has played in 111 games as a Hawkeye, but Tuesday’s game at Michigan State marked the first time that he witnessed a coach slam a chair to the ground out of anger.
“I’ve never seem something like that,” Gatens said. “That was a pretty heavy chair, too.
“It’s kind of impressive for him to throw it down with that force. But we’ll just try to avoid those situations again.”
McCaffery’s bench demeanor is a major change from his predecessor at Iowa Todd Lickliter, who rarely showed emotion in games during his three seasons as coach.
“He wants to win, and that’s the passion that I want to see,” junior forward Eric May said of McCaffery. “It’s good to see. That’s the way he coaches and I respect that.”
The players also said they are used to having coaches that show their emotion.
Gatens won a state title at City High as a senior in 2008 while playing for Andy Woodley, who coached with passion and wasn’t afraid to criticize his players.
“I was kind of used to it coming in,” Gatens said. “My high school coach was pretty loud and tough on us at times.”
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball
Fran’s passion is welcomed compared to Lick’s lack. The program is turning around, and, look for an angry IA team to upset Mich.
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Awesome! Wish ol’ Kirk would take a page out of Frans book!!!!
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The only reason USA Today has any relevant opinion on the coaching of Iowa basketball is that the it is a Gannet owned news paper– as is the “Iowa City” Press Citizen.
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Go for IT Fran. However its very simple get better pkayers the B10 is loaded and getting better tough time to rebuild a team that has fallen as far as the Hawks
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If you want to change the culture of losing, you have to do something different and wake the players up sometimes. The press in Iowa just loves to find controversy when there is none.
Coach ‘em up Fran!
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I watched the incident and never had the feeling that Fran was doing something to show up his players or embarrass them. He didn’t single anyone out as he went up and down the bench to everyone. In games like that, it’s important to draw a line in the sand for the next time you play that team. It would be worse to me if it appeared that he had given up on the players. I don’t know what was said but that is between Fran and the players. Whatever it was, it was done in a way that didn’t humiliate the players. Being the senior that he is, Matt understands that you don’t want to get to that point and, believe me, if they do, they may get more of the same. There is no comparison between Knight’s chair throwing or Lute’s water bottle throwing, which was directed at the officials! Fran got ‘T-ed’ up, but he didn’t resort to throwing things at them. I support Fran all the way on this.
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I, for one, would MUCH rather see that than what we saw out of Lickliter, ie. NOTHING.
Keep working hard, boys, and turn this thing around.
Go Hawks!
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Go Fran—-You’re building a winner and we wern’t performing. We know you care—-this program is turning for the good!!
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I love his wrath. It’s the same crap I do in my living room when I’m watching some of these games.
Oh, and what Tony Kornheiser has to say on PTI should not be called out as a major media criticism. The TV show, if you’ve ever watched it, is two guys who both pick opposing sides of a story and argue it out for 20-30 seconds. You can take their criticism with a grain of salt because one of them has to say that his behavior was out of line and the other has to say that it was awesome (which it was).
Keep it up Franimal!!
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This is the only place in our culture where behavior like this is honored. I don’t get it. Would you want teachers to treat your kids like this? Do you want your boss to treat you in this manner when someone else does a better job than you? I think it demonstrates a lack of ability when a coach has to resort to this kind of ego-driven theatrics.
Can’t there be something between marshmallow Todd Lickliter’s style (who prior to one game apologized to the press ahead of time for the team’s lack of upcoming play…disgusting) and the bullying of 19-year-old kids? I look forward to a coach that displays true leadership.
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Guess you better stop watching Hawkeye basketball if Fran’s passion and “bad” leadership is not to your liking. Yes, coaches get away with this more than other professions; if you want to change our society feel free to do so, but it’s really much easier, better, rewarding for me to just watch the games for what they are – a game – and if Fran gets excited from time to time, then so be it.
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Just look about 120 miles to the northwest.
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Frantastic! Love the passion. Keep it up, coach!
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If Fran was not the Hawkie coach, all of you would be condeming him. He looked like a 2 year old throwing a temper tantrum. Classy, really classy. But what should everyone expect from hawkie fans.
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ljones1972:
I watched the replay of the game and at that point where Fran went off, the kids were standing around and playing lackluster. So, yes, they needed a good chewing out.
As far as teachers? Even though most teachers don’t go off on kids this way, trust me, there are a HUGE number of lazy, disrespectful, kids who come from dysfunctional parenting households who need a good chewing out. Most kids these days should take their field trips to a job fair so they can see what it’s like.
This is not Fran’s ego. He wanted the team to play harder and not just give up. They were standing around and didn’t appear to be playing hard.
But then again, some people in society have become soft.
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Love the fire and passion, but not all the profanity please…not cool. Maybe behind closed doors. It’s an intense game and you’ve got to get the players to play with intensity. But a short fuse, and going completely ballistic with temper tantrums grows tiresome. And, it was pretty ineffective, at least in the MSU game. I really like Tom Crean’s passion and intensity at Indiana. His players respond well to his good example of intensity and competitiveness. Go Fran and go Hawks! Kick the Wolverines.
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Five technicals in one season and that’s passion? That’s the best an Iowa coach can do? I beg to disagree.
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