I hope Lick is back next year

B

bud2380

Well-Known Member
I know I'm in the minority, but I have always felt, and still do, that he deserves one more year. I think he is the right man for this job. I think the pieces are in place for this Iowa team to really improve next year. I think Lick is the guy who should be leading them. If we have another poor year next year, I may change my mind. But right now I hope he is our coach next year.
 
I'm actually with you.....or was. I can't believe that these rumors might be true. I thought for sure Lick would be given another year guaranteed. I guess if he does step down, we might as well make the best of it and hit a homerun.
 
Throughout this process I have been torn. Part of me wants to see Lick have a final judgement year to see the incoming recruiting class mesh with our current core players but the other part of me knows that this program needs a jolt and hiring a new energetic coach could do just that.

Either way, its a fact that this decision will be the most important decision that Barta will have made in his tenure at Iowa.
 
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I think if we are patient with Lick good things will happen. But we are in a pretty impatient society, so it might not be in the cards. But I'd like to see Lick given one more year to prove himself.
 
There are plenty of people who agree with me. Everyone wants a winner, but some think that change guarantees success.
 
bud2380 said:
I think if we are patient with Lick good things will happen. But we are in a pretty impatient society, so it might not be in the cards. But I'd like to see Lick given one more year to prove himself.
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What would Lick have to prove??? If he improves the team to 15 wins instead of 10, then he hasn't improved the program since he began at all.

4 years and nothing is what he'd have to show for it if Lick doesn't get over 16 wins. Nothing. I don't see a 5 game improvement being that we're in a tough conference. Big Ten may well be stronger next year so wins are going to be few.

Lick had his chance to show slight improvement and failed. This season was the worse of all time. I still may be ok with it if the team showed Improvement throughout the season. Yet they just got worse, and worse, and worse. Last few games were simply embarressing.
 
I am with you! This guy was handed a turd and told to polish it. Name one school that has had the same situation to deal with AND turned it around in 3 years. Quick touch point Alford left nothing to build on. Terrible to say, but similar to Fry leaving Iowa. It to Kirk 4 years....sound familiar? I agree Bud the pieces are there. Two all big ten freshmen. Three all big ten team players as sophomores and freshmen. A new facility is coming. A top thirty class of Freshmen coming in. An injured big man that has been able to practice with the team all year (Archie). These Freshmen that his the wall will not hit it next year (Cougill, May, Payne) they only played 20 games in high school last year not 30+ minutes in over 30 games. It happens to eveyrone. Todd should not be held responsible for not being able to coach Alfords undisciplined players that did not want to be a part of a system. We now have a foundation, and I think if we don't win more than we lose next year of if ANY scholarship player leaves this team we have a bright future. If we and of the previous things go wrong my support of Big Lick will be over. I belive today will create the motivation for the team to unite, and the coach to work as hard as he did in 2001 when he took a Butler team in his first year to it's best ever record and in his 2nd year went to the sweet 16 when the won a NCAA game for the first time in 38 years! Stick with this guy he is a winner, and after only 3 seasons has a team he can win with!!!!!!!!!!
 
NewEraKinnick said:
What would Lick have to prove??? If he improves the team to 15 wins instead of 10, then he hasn't improved the program since he began at all.

4 years and nothing is what he'd have to show for it if Lick doesn't get over 16 wins. Nothing. I don't see a 5 game improvement being that we're in a tough conference. Big Ten may well be stronger next year so wins are going to be few.

Lick had his chance to show slight improvement and failed. This season was the worse of all time. I still may be ok with it if the team showed Improvement throughout the season. Yet they just got worse, and worse, and worse. Last few games were simply embarressing.
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I have to ask you this. What were your expectations for this team entering this year? Did you think we would have a better record entering this year after losing 4 players to transfer and 2 players to graduation? Not meaning to knock against your post but I'm curious on your criteria for improvement.
 
I view this season as year 1 for Lick. This was the first year with all his guys playing his system. The results were ugly for sure, but a lot of guys got a lot of experience and I think we have a solid foundation to build on. What does he have to prove? Are you serious? How about prove that he can turn this into a winning program. I think he would very much like to prove that.
 
After all the transfers I expected atleast a 15 win season (at worst). After the first few games, I changed my expectations to right around 13. Then I saw a few more games and figured our only wins would come vs Penn State in Big Ten play.

Then I noticed improvement so the losses didn't hurt. I supported Lick because of this. Improvement. Then the collaspe came. Since the Indiana game, Iowa played it's worst basketball of all time. Worse by far. It is unacceptable to show improvement and tank the way Iowa did this year.

So, all in all, I knew it was going to be a bad season because of the transfer. But what hurts more is how Iowa got worse, worse, worse as the season progressed.
 
CHShawk said:
Throughout this process I have been torn. Part of me wants to see Lick have a final judgement year to see the incoming recruiting class mesh with our current core players but the other part of me knows that this program needs a jolt and hiring a new energetic coach could do just that.

Either way, its a fact that this decision will be the most important decision that Barta will have made in his tenure at Iowa.
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+1
 
bud2380 said:
I know I'm in the minority, but I have always felt, and still do, that he deserves one more year. I think he is the right man for this job. I think the pieces are in place for this Iowa team to really improve next year. I think Lick is the guy who should be leading them. If we have another poor year next year, I may change my mind. But right now I hope he is our coach next year.
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What makes you think this way?
You know I have been seeing bad things in his coaching for three years and didn't want to be hasty because things take time but this year has shown no changes until TODAY. TODAY for gods sake. Doesn't that suggest something to you. It does to me. It makes me very mad because he and the kids probably had quite a few more wins in them and HE CHOSE to lead them a different direction. To guide them to the promised land with the "system". BS he wanted to command them to be something that they weren't good at.=bad coaching
He screwed up and he knows it
 
I really saw this train wreck coming so I posted 6-8 wins before the start of the season on this site. There's no way the team could be better losing their 2 best players in Cy Tate and Jake Kelly along with their only true big man remaining at the time; David Palmer.

They actually exceeded my expectations and managed 10 with 4 wins in conference. I was thinking they would win 1 max in the Big Ten. I was impressed with the effort of the kids until the last 3 games... it looked like they had thrown in the towel for the most part.

This is not just a players issue. Lick appears to be in way over his head. He's supposed to be a good coach and most good coaches identify their own strengths and weakeness and improve. Lick instead seems to continue pounding the square peg in the round hole. His frustration after games with the kids is maddening. All this stuff about ignoring the score and playing only one possession. Hello,,, the last time I checked the score mattered and the team needs a sense of urgency when trailing by 20 points.

1. Issues with player communication - too much tough love stuff and no meaningful relationships
2. Recruiting - not identifying the type of player it takes to win at this level
3. Recruiting - not understanding the importance of AAU programs,, not just High School
4. Disappearing acts - certain players tend to have streaks of playing well ony to disappear and languish on the bench for long stretches
5. Any coach that has one 'system' or 'style of play' will not make it at this level - must adjust to strengths of players and situations
6. No value on big men and getting the ball inside for higher percentage scores and free throw opportunities - standing outside and launching 3's with the shot clock expiring is not going to work very often
7. Need excellent point guard to take someone off the dribble to create or create for others

Barta needs to find a way to end it.
 
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