Shaun, I think you have missed Fran's entire point. It is quite plain what he has to say, if you pay attention.
We were told Jeter HAD to go because his style (on and off the court) didn't sell tickets and he was not achieving at a high level (I remind you of the measures - Top 100 RPI and Top 3 in the Horizon).
Fran's point is, and there is little to suggest otherwise at this point, LJ has the exact same style - off and on the court.
Off the Court: He is a very nice and humble man. He is God fearing with high ethical standards. He is very knowledgeable about basketball and has a lot of experience as a D1 assistant, mostly in the Big 10. He is NOT (and neither was Jeter) a human billboard, full of pizzazz, he is not a rah-rah promoter, and he will never be confused for a Pearl-style program builder. We were told RIGHT AFTER THE FIRING that this was the type of guy we would hire and we needed. This hire is essentially what we were just told we didn't want.
On the Court: LJ espouses tough defense and rebounding. He has spent his ENTIRE career playing and coaching in systems that DO NOT RUN (look it up) and play mostly half court set offenses, using a lot of shot clock and working for a good shot. He is also a head coach for the first time, so there is no realistic argument to be made that his presence alone will result in either Top 100 RPI's (which in the Horizon requires 25+ wins per season) or even perennial Top 3 in the Horizon League. He has no head coaching record to base either expectation on at all.
Neither Fran, nor I, say this as any criticism to LJ. None of these things are "bad" at all. What they are is 180 degrees the opposite of what we were told BY AB we were going to hire. What we DID hire is a younger, cheaper version of Jeter after being told that Jeter was not good for the program.
Which leads Fran and many others to the following: Jeter was fired because Jeter was Jeter, as a person, not as a coach or head of the program. It was personal, not professional. And it was happening for years before she finally scraped together the money to do this. It was the execution of a vendetta, not running an Athletic Department.
Had she hired a coach with ample head coaching experience, championships to his credit, and an outgoing salesman and promoter, this criticism could not be levied. She didn't.
She essentially traded in her 2005 Ford F-150 for a 2016 Ford F-150, in the same color, with the same options while telling the world the F-150 needed to go because we needed a Mustang GT 500. We are all now supposed to pretend that the 2016 F-150 is a Mustang GT 500, goes 0-60 in 4 seconds, and turns heads everywhere it goes.
But, it's still a truck. Useful, reliable, and not at all flashy. And definitely not a Mustang GT 500.