While sitting and watching Bruce Pearl coach Tennessee against Florida, in only his second SEC game of the season, I began to wonder if Iowa would have been better off making a major play for Pearl last Spring instead of hiring Fran McCaffery from Siena. I have always been a huge Pearl fan and feel he is one of the better in-game coaches in the NCAA. How else would you explain his knack for consistently winning games his teams are expected to lose? The question of Pearl versus McCaffery is a tough one with pros and cons on both sides. Here are three reasons Pearl would have been the right answer, and three reasons the Hawks are better off with Fran.
Yes, Iowa would have been better off with Pearl:
1) Pearl would have brought immediate national attention to the Hawks. Pearl is obviously well-known in basketball circles. He is on PTI frequently. He makes Sportscenter for his on-court antics and off-court activities, which include painting himself for a Tennessee women’s game. For the Hawkeyes basketball program, which has been lacking national attention since the Alford days, this might have been a shot in the arm. It would have generated not only interest in Hawkeye Nation, but also nationally, which is always good for recruiting.
2) Pearl is an excellent coach. Bruce Pearl has won wherever he has gone. He made a tournament run with Wisconsin-Milwaukee and then went to Tennessee and within a couple years had them ranked #1 in the nation. Pearl coached under Dr. Tom Davis and utilizes a Dr. Tom full court press, which Iowa fans would love. His style of play would have brought back memories of B.J. Armstrong, Dean Oliver and Jess Settles.
3) Recruits would be more inclined to come to Iowa if they had a coach with a national profile. Pearl has that national profile. He has proven he can turn a program around with not only sound coaching, but also with good recruiting. Although it may not always be legal, it is solid recruiting. I have no doubt in my mind that in a couple years, Pearl would land a couple big name recruits that usually would have had Iowa way down on their list of potential suitors.
Iowa is better off with Coach Fran:
1) Fran McCaffery has become the face of the program in less than a year. Coach Fran came to Iowa City and immediately started saying all the right things. He met with students in the dorms. He held a “Meet the Coach” night at Carver. He made the rounds on the I-Club tour, which Todd Lickliter never did. He addressed the problems facing Iowa head on and said what he intended to do to fix them. He also handled the returning players nicely, which is always a difficult task for a coach coming into a new situation. The giant cardboard Fran heads seen in the student section of Carver Hawkeye arena are proof of the effect Fran has had on the Iowa fan base. 
2) Fran’s recruits may be as good, if not better than Pearl’s. After last week’s game at Indiana, Hoosier’s coach Tom Crean made some kind of statement about how Todd Lickliter deserves some credit for the Hawks playing better. I strongly disagree with Crean. I think Matt Gatens has regressed each year of his college career. Eric May has had a down season compared to last year. Both of them are Lickliter guys, even though Gatens likely would have came to Iowa no matter who the coach was. The Hawks three best players this year have been Jarryd Cole, who is an Alford recruit, Bryce Cartwright and Melsahn Basabe. Basabe and Cartwright were both players that McCaffery brought to Iowa City in the little time he had to prepare for this season. Basabe should be on the All-Big 10 freshman team. Cartwright has made Hawks fans completely forget about Cully Payne, which makes me happy. Between the two of them, they have energized the Hawkeyes from inside and outside. McCaffery deserves about 95% of the credit for the recent good play of the Hawkeyes. Alford gets 4% and Lickleiter gets 1%, for Brommer.
3) Pearl would have cost more money, and the recruiting violations would have followed him to Iowa. Pearl has never been said to have a squeaky-clean reputation, but it has taken a real hit over the last few months because of his recruiting violations. After all of the transfers from the basketball program and the problems on the football team, the last thing the University of Iowa needs is more off the court issues. McCaffery has avoided everything but good press, while I can’t promise the same for Pearl
I truly feel that Iowa made the correct decision in hiring Fran McCaffery. I was one of the people strongly pushing for Pearl last April, but since Coach Fran has been in Iowa City he has won me over, along with thousands of other Iowa faithful. I remember watching games last year and having only one or two friends to talk to about the game because nobody else watched. Due to McCaffery’s diligent work and fiery attitude, the Hawkeyes are playing better and filling up my inbox every game with texts from re-interested fans.
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