Iowa men's basketball has now completed a dramatic arc in coaching. A few years ago, the coach was Todd Lickliter. He seemed like a decent enough guy, but his teams were plagued with defections and bottom of the barrel-scraping in the talent arena. I remember watching him coach more than one game and seeing him sitting on the bench with his head in his hands. He was frustrated and Iowa fans were too. When he was dismissed and Fran McCaffery came to town, Iowa fans rejoiced. A coach with fire and brimstone.
That fire came out during last night's Iowa men's basketball game at Wisconsin. McCaffery was ejected when he was slapped with 2 technical fouls in quick succession. You can see two videos on this page here - the one from last night and the one from the debacle at Michigan State from a couple of years ago, when his team was not playing well. Watch and listen to coach McCaffery talk about the game. He is not apologizing for his behavior:
McCaffery said he regretted getting the second technical, but was hardly apologetic, nor did he feel that his ejection cost Iowa (12-3) the game. “What I feel bad about is getting the second one,” McCaffery said. “I think the first one, it’s safe to say I probably went after that one a little bit.”
McCaffery denied that he made contact with an official near mid-court. He also doesn’t think he will be disciplined by the Big Ten Conference. “I got two (technical fouls), why would I be disciplined?” McCaffery asked.
The real question is "Why shouldn't he be disciplined?"
Since when do we allow grown men to have temper tantrums? As much as I love the passion for the game and the fire in his eyes when they get consumed with rage, you can't do that. This isn't the Jerry Springer show where it's acceptable to be out of control or a WWE match on PPV. On the contrary, he needs to be an example to his players. What example does he set for his players, his family, and his friends?
This article points out that Iowa "has only lost to teams currently ranked — in games played away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena." That has nothing to do with anything. You have to finish the game. Iowa was ahead by 11, lost the lead on the two technical fouls, and lost by 4. Unacceptable. Coach needs anger management classes. Or his assistant coaches need to put a shock collar on him so that when he gets as animated as he was last night, they can zap him back to acceptable behavior. My guess is that McCaffery would rather get shocked than relinquish any of the passion he has for the game.
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