Fran McCaffery Says His Team Doesn't Have Thugs And The Only Reason One Of His Players Got Arrested For Fighting Was Because He Won The Bar Fight
Des Moines Register- Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery is not worried about the public perception of his program in the wake of several player arrests. “Not at all,” McCaffery told the Register at a charity-golf appearance Monday in Des Moines. “Not in the least. We have great kids. We don’t have thugs.” McCaffery has issued four press-release statements in response to the arrest of one his players since April. The most recent came Saturday, after senior guard Josh Oglesby was charged with public intoxication. Monday’s comments from McCaffery marked the fifth-year Iowa coach’s first detailed interview since legal troubles put three of his players — Oglesby, Peter Jok and Zach McCabe — in headlines. McCaffery, who returned from vacation Sunday night, said he was still collecting facts on the Oglesby case. “I just think everyone, like me, needs to get all the facts before you rush to judgment,” McCaffery said during a Coaches vs. Cancer event at the Wakonda Club. “Especially on a guy who has had such an incredibly good track record. I’ll tell you what. I wish I had a lot of Josh Oglesbys. Put it that way.” Former player Zach McCabe was charged with assault after an altercation in an Iowa City bar May 16. McCaffery said he issued a statement about McCabe, even though he had completed his eligibility at the time of the incident, “because I knew the harassment that he endured and what he went through. “Not that I condone a player getting in a fight. But he got into a fight. It takes two people to fight. Because he won the fight, he was the bad guy.”
This right here is why Iowa players (and fans) love Fran McCaffery. The guy has a Ride or Die mentality with his players. He refuses to throw them under the bus even when people wouldn’t blame him if he did. He could’ve said “It’s been a stressful summer and I wish our kids would try and be more responsible” but he didn’t and I love him as much as the players do for it. Who cares that he had to address 4 player arrests over the course of a single summer? Fran sure as shit doesn’t. Josh Oglesby just got arrested last weekend for being drunk at a bar at bar close and Fran said he wants as many Josh Oglesbys as he can get. Awesome. So do I. And if we’re being honest, Iowa City cops have an absolute hard on for arresting athletes. It gives them the biggest boners in the world. I’m not saying they look to arrest players out on the town in Iowa City but I’m not saying they don’t either. I guarantee the ICPD could’ve just as easily let Josh go the other night but when they saw he was a basketball player they put him in bracelets.
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The best part of the article is when he’s talking about former player and Stoolie Zach McCabe. Zach got arrested for punching a guy in a bar a few months back. How does Fran view the situation? That the only reason Zach got arrested was because he landed the finishing blow and won the fight. Fran the man! That’s a perfect answer. “You don’t want my players to get arrested? Then tell the drunks trolling around the Ped Mall to not get their asses kicked by my players” If you don’t love a coach that defends his players to the absolute death then you can kick rocks.