Megan Franklin, new UNI AD

[SteinPizza]

I should clarify the "walked out" comment. This person didn't just get up and leave mid-interview. The entire process finished and withdrew from the process.

And I don’t blame them. Per my comments above, I also don’t blame them if they let everyone they professionally know how screwed up the situation at UNI apparently is. They can only judge their potential employer by what they see with their own eyes.

Again, I’m a little shell shocked that one of the coaches would sabotage or hijack a portion of the process, when this hire is so critical to his own department. That assumes said coach wants to stick around. If he’s leaving, he may not give a ****.

[Born-a-Panther]

Bowlsby has issued a statement, and I'm choosing to trust him because he has earned that and more. I'm all in. Let's roll.

https://x.com/UNIAthletics/status/1788246266633191753

[UNIAlum95]

Bowlsby has issued a statement, and I'm choosing to trust him because he has earned that and more. I'm all in. Let's roll.

https://x.com/UNIAthletics/status/1788246266633191753

I'm not sure what else he could say though. She'll get the chance to prove the status quo isn't going to fly. I'll hope that the lack of resume experiences that address UNI's shortcomings are topics that were discussed during the interviews. I want to see her come out of the gate talking about what she is going to be doing to move UNI forward rather than talk of maintaining "the great things we have at UNI.

[iron panther]

Id prefer to see action, we had enough talk with the last baffoon we had. Bowlsby promised us we werent going to get a desk sitter this time!!!

[DownGoesKansas]

Only time will tell. Not like he was going to come out and say this hire sucks lol

[MVCBeat]

I know it is off topic and beating a dead horse but it always ruffles my feathers when people say we didn't accomplish anything with AJ. He played three years here. The two years he wasn't a freshman, we won the outright conference title. One of those two years we were in the at-large conversation before the tournament was cancelled, the other we played in the NIT. Yes, you would like to see an NCAA Tournament appearance in there but really we only had two chances, one of which was his freshman year, and we may well have made it the third year before COVID cancelled the tournament.

[BCPanther]

I know it is off topic and beating a dead horse but it always ruffles my feathers when people say we didn't accomplish anything with AJ. He played three years here. The two years he wasn't a freshman, we won the outright conference title. One of those two years we were in the at-large conversation before the tournament was cancelled, the other we played in the NIT. Yes, you would like to see an NCAA Tournament appearance in there but really we only had two chances, one of which was his freshman year, and we may well have made it the third year before COVID cancelled the tournament.

THANK YOU!

Plus, remember what happened at the end of the MVC title game his freshman year. It took a flagrant that they immediately changed the rule on after the season to keep us out.

We've won exactly 4 regular season league titles in the history of playing basketball at UNI and AJ was part of 2 of them. Jake is responsible for all 4.

[MVCBeat]

THANK YOU!

Plus, remember what happened at the end of the MVC title game his freshman year. It took a flagrant that they immediately changed the rule on after the season to keep us out.

We've won exactly 4 regular season league titles in the history of playing basketball at UNI and AJ was part of 2 of them. Jake is responsible for all 4.

That is true. That was a fun tournament until the last five minutes of the last game.

[havok58]

Bowlsby has issued a statement, and I'm choosing to trust him because he has earned that and more. I'm all in. Let's roll.

https://x.com/UNIAthletics/status/1788246266633191753

True, but what else is he going to say. He’s a professional and is trying to rally the community behind Franklin, despite coach(es) torpedoing the candidate who was most likely the favorite. Hopefully behind the scenes Bowlsby is talking with Nook or others about those individuals who gave the interview process (and possibly UNI’s reputation) a bad name by making the experience not a pleasant one. Again, I feel bad for the effort Bowlsby and the team put into the search and came up with legitimate candidates only to see it fall apart due to bad attitudes. It ended up being a waste of not only the candidates time, but Bowlsby and the search team as well. I can only hope that some form of discipline is levied on those for being unprofessional in that setting. I think it’s a given if Franklin leaves before her contract is up, or decides not to sign an extension, Bowlsby will not come out of retirement again to help, nor will his son.

[QCPanther05]

I can't outright confirm this but...

It sounds like there were some messaging and professionalism issues exhibited by our core coaches that scared at least two, if not more, candidates off.

All the major coaches have been around for years. They have gotten overly comfortable with the status quo. They get their fat paychecks each year with no accountability. They probably felt threatened by someone who was going to come in and shake things up—like any real AD worth their salt would. Don’t be surprised at all if this new AD is a weak yes-man to them who does nothing more than maintain mediocrity.

[Khan4Cats]

First off, welcome to UNI AD Franklin. I mean this and hope this is taken in the right way. I hope you have a great 5 years here and move on to the next level having put UNI on a great trajectory moving forward. That is just the reality of where we are right now. We need someone who is coming not to just get a paycheck but to build a resume that will move them up quickly, and not to Tulane. Accomplish that and it will mean really good things will have been done in your tenure here.

Secondly. I love our coaches and believe we have some great people on our staffs. But if we have someone who came into these proceedings with such unprofessional and negative behavior, regardless of how they may have been treated or felt they were treated (and some of them really did get treated horribly) there is no excuse and they need to be shown the exit. Fight for your program in staff meetings and discussions with leadership once an administration is in place, not during the process to find someone to move the whole Department forward.

[BCPanther]

First off, welcome to UNI AD Franklin. I mean this and hope this is taken in the right way. I hope you have a great 5 years here and move on to the next level having put UNI on a great trajectory moving forward. That is just the reality of where we are right now. We need someone who is coming not to just get a paycheck but to build a resume that will move them up quickly, and not to Tulane. Accomplish that and it will mean really good things will have been done in your tenure here.

Secondly. I love our coaches and believe we have some great people on our staffs. But if we have someone who came into these proceedings with such unprofessional and negative behavior, regardless of how they may have been treated or felt they were treated (and some of them really did get treated horribly) there is no excuse and they need to be shown the exit. Fight for your program in staff meetings and discussions with leadership once an administration is in place, not during the process to find someone to move the whole Department forward.

Boom.

This right here.

[UNIChippewa]

I know it is off topic and beating a dead horse but it always ruffles my feathers when people say we didn't accomplish anything with AJ. He played three years here. The two years he wasn't a freshman, we won the outright conference title. One of those two years we were in the at-large conversation before the tournament was cancelled, the other we played in the NIT. Yes, you would like to see an NCAA Tournament appearance in there but really we only had two chances, one of which was his freshman year, and we may well have made it the third year before COVID cancelled the tournament.

Staying off-topic here, but keep in mind that run&blade is not a fan, pure and simple, and I'll keep on writing this until my fingers cramp. He may go to the occasional game and drink some beers, which for some reason he loves bragging about, but he is not a fan. For some reason or reasons that he has never gotten into he has HATED Ben Jacobson since his first season as coach and has NEVER given him credit for any of the great things he has done for basketball here, even if we have faded out somewhat in recent years.

And some on here will defend him because every once in a while he writes something that the majority of the board can agree with, including myself, but I really have no problems or guilt about calling him out, particularly because he is so unlikable and obnoxious. After all, I've been screamed at by some on here for not being a "real" fan due to my dual fandom of also being a Cyclone fan and since I haven't expressed a desire to sucker punch Jamie Pollard.

[run&blade]

The product blows and nobody is buying tickets anymore.

Bowlsby knew this and tried to bring in some real new leadership.

the coaches, resting on things they did a decade+ ago, scared them away.

I guess things haven’t bottom out yet. Have to wait for the coaches to retire because nobody would want either of them at their current salaries.

you can spray paint that turd purple all you want, it isn’t going to sell any tickets.

[ofpantherandman]

I know it is off topic and beating a dead horse but it always ruffles my feathers when people say we didn't accomplish anything with AJ. He played three years here. The two years he wasn't a freshman, we won the outright conference title. One of those two years we were in the at-large conversation before the tournament was cancelled, the other we played in the NIT. Yes, you would like to see an NCAA Tournament appearance in there but really we only had two chances, one of which was his freshman year, and we may well have made it the third year before COVID cancelled the tournament.

Come on. We expect a little more than "almost" at this point, right? We're here to get to the dance and make some noise. Calling results short of that "success" is just lowering the bar. Every time I hear about the "success" of the AJ Green era, I throw up a little. What a farce.

This is what happens when programs decline. The true believers start shifting the narrative and lowering the threshold of success. Just read around a little and you'll see it: Maybe the best player we've ever had never played in an NCAA Tournament game, but that's somehow not a failure. And yeah, maybe we finish somewhere around .500 most years, but we're building the program "the right way" with "high character" student-athletes. This talk happens when programs decline, and it's happening right here.

We've seen better. Don't accept less and call it success.