Fran McCaffery is hitting all the right notes so far as Iowa's men's basketball coaches

At his introductory press conference as Iowa's men's basketball coach a few weeks ago, it seemed Fran McCaffery knew the right chords to strike with his audience.

He has put talk into action since becoming the Hawkeyes' coach.

Hiring Kirk Speraw as an assistant coach? Smart. Ex-Hawkeye player, a college head coach for a long time, and someone who left Central Florida with three players from the Chicago area. If Speraw can re-open Chicago for the Iowa program, all the better.

Hiring Ryan Bowen as an administrative assistant? Smart. Bowen typifies what Iowans like in their players. He's a straight arrow who has stayed close to his alma mater during his long NBA playing career, and he was the kind of player you wish everyone would be. He can now ease into the coaching life, and perhaps be a fixture in the Iowa program.

Offering Darius Stokes a chance to walk on at Iowa? Smart. I don't know if Greg Stokes' son will ever be a Big Ten player. He averaged 5.6 points for Linn-Mar High as a senior. It doesn't matter.

One, you're not risking anything by letting a 6-foot-8 player with Darius' bloodlines walk on. Two, Greg Stokes is one of Iowa's all-time greats. You have a chance to extend a legacy, you take it.

Three, if the kid keeps growing and fills out, who's to say he won't be a player one day?

Four, he has a Linn-Mar teammate named Marcus Paige who is a very hot commodity as he enters his junior season.

Five, there's this senior-to-be at Linn-Mar named Kiah Stokes. She merely is one of the premier girls' basketball players in America. If Iowa gets her, Lisa Bluder's women's program will immediately be strengthened considerably.

If McCaffery's offer to Darius Stokes helps sway his sister into becoming a Hawkeye (and even if it doesn't), he has shown friendship to the women's program and the Hawkeyes' athletic department as a whole.

Those three moves alone show organization and thought. They don't have anything to do with bench-coaching and game-planning, but I would suggest McCaffery's track record at Siena and previous stops help answer any questions about those matters.