I'm pretty indifferent on Lick - but consider this

[BSpringsteen]

Lick took a team to the sweet 16 that was comprised of someone else's players. He then took his own players to another sweet 16. He is capable of rebuilding a program.

Tyler Smith's dad got lung cancer and Jake Kelley's mom died in a plane crash. Two pretty significant tragedies out of his control.

If we have those two players, what is Iowa's record this year?

That being said, I understand everyones frustration.

I think this guy is a great coach, but whether he'll be a great coach for Iowa is pretty up in the air right now.

 

[imported_ankle23]

Lick took a team to the sweet 16 that was comprised of someone else's players. He then took his own players to another sweet 16. He is capable of rebuilding a program.

Tyler Smith's dad got lung cancer and Josh Kelley's mom died in a plane crash. Two pretty significant tragedies out of his control.

If we have those two players, what is Iowa's record this year?

That being said, I understand everyones frustration.

I think this guy is a great coach, but whether he'll be a great coach for Iowa is pretty up in the air right now.

I have no idea, but I think those two guys left the program for reasons other than the reasons you list as the primary reason. I think those reasons were secondary. Again, IMO.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Lick took a team to the sweet 16 that was comprised of someone else's players. He then took his own players to another sweet 16. He is capable of rebuilding a program.

Tyler Smith's dad got lung cancer and Josh Kelley's mom died in a plane crash. Two pretty significant tragedies out of his control.

If we have those two players, what is Iowa's record this year?

That being said, I understand everyones frustration.

I think this guy is a great coach, but whether he'll be a great coach for Iowa is pretty up in the air right now.

I don't care at this point what Lickliter did at another school, because so far, he has done absolutely ZIP at Iowa. That was the Horizon league. Lickliter is in the Big Ten now.

If we do have Smith and Kelly, what would our record be? Hard to say. Those two guys would help, but we appear headed for a 6-8 win season. With them, how many extra wins would we get? Your guess is as good as mine, but would it put us into the NCAA Tournament or anywhere close? I find it doubtful. Maybe we would win 12-15 games instead of 6-8? That still is not acceptable.

 

[IowaBanker]

I have no idea, but I think those two guys left the program for reasons other than the reasons you list as the primary reason. I think those reasons were secondary. Again, IMO.

The deteriorating health and eventual death of a parent (Smith), and the sudden and shocking accidental death of another parent (Kelly) are "secondary" reasons in your mind? I'm sorry, but life trumps basketball each and every time, and both of these young men wanted (and probably needed) to get back closer to home.

I think it takes a lot of guts for someone to insinuate that the death of a parent is a secondary reason to transfer. Whether you like Lick or not, there is simply no way you can count these transfers against him. These were extraordinary circumstances, and even the NCAA agreed and allowed both to play without sitting out a year.

 

[imported_ankle23]

The deteriorating health and eventual death of a parent (Smith), and the sudden and shocking accidental death of another parent (Kelly) are "secondary" reasons in your mind? I'm sorry, but life trumps basketball each and every time, and both of these young men wanted (and probably needed) to get back closer to home.

I think it takes a lot of guts for someone to insinuate that the death of a parent is a secondary reason to transfer. Whether you like Lick or not, there is simply no way you can count these transfers against him. These were extraordinary circumstances, and even the NCAA agreed and allowed both to play without sitting out a year.

If it were so shocking to Kelly why did he wait so long? in fact, he was saying he was staying before he left. He could have just as easy said he was leaving due to the death of his Mother. Everyone would have understood. i think there is more to the story and while going home is important given that circumstance, I think there were other things helping him along. that is all i'm saying.

Do you think if Neal and Alford would have stayed that Smith would have still left? I don't.

It's just my opinion. If they were the only two that left, I'd give you your point.

 

[therealforeverhawk]

Lick wouldn't have known what to do with Smith. And do you really think Smith would have played Lick's style? Smith looked at the team he would have been playing with that first year of Lick and probably looked at games that Butler had played and knew he had to get out of town. I think he would have left even if Alford stayed. Iowa didn't have the supporting cast that other teams had.

 

[Thawki]

Guts, IowaBanker?

It's just posting an opinion.

In my opinion, if Iowa's program were at the level of Kansas and it were in Iowa City with Bill Self as the coach (heck, maybe even if Kick were the coach with that level of a program) I don't think Jake would have left, even if they had the same style as the current Iowa program. but we were bad and he wasn't having fun and he left. Plain and simple.

What the poster is saying is that if Iowa were better or if he enjoyed playing more in this program (whether it is the coach or the losing is irrelevent) Jake would have stayed. That makes his mother's death secondary in this line of reasoning. It doesn't make her death secondary in his life at all to say that.

And I also believe if SA were at Iowa then Smith wouldn't have left. I think it is funny how everyone wrote him off as a two-year player and he is in his fifth year of college now, after a year of prep school to boot.

 

[JHawkI]

Actually, Tyler is in his 4th year of college...his third at Tenn. He did not have to sit out a year and is on track to graduate. I am glad for him. Watched Tenn. last nite vs Wyoming. Wyoming looks a lot more athletic than Iowa. Anyway, Tyler has always been one of the fun players to watch...last nite on one play he took a defensive rebound ,drove the length of the court and finished with a perfect behind the back pass to a teammate for a dunk. Sure miss watching him do that in a hawk uni...sigh.

 

[Thawki]

Thanks JHawki.

I stand corrected. It is still interesting how it was a foregone conclusion when he left Iowa that he would only be in college basketball for one more year.

 

[NewMexHawk]

It makes NO difference WHAT Lickliter did at Butler. Two completely different situations. It is what he has done and IS doing at Iowa that matters. Alford did a great job at his two previous schools and is doing nicely at UNM, but he was not a good coach at Iowa. Many coaches flop when they change schools after having done well at previous schools and after having won accolades. It just doesn't matter what they DID, it only matters how they are doing NOW. All the man has to show for how badly he is doing are excuses.

And folks he ain't doing diddly squat, no ifs, ands, or maybes. He has been and IS a complete failure at Iowa, there is NO argument at this point. He is a complete failure period. It just does not matter that he WAS COY at Butler, that was the past, all that matters is the present and what he is doing NOW with this team and folks he has been and is doing lousy...poorly doesn't even begin to describe how badly he is doing.

If he were working at a corporation as a manager, he would be out on his a$$ looking for another job. It is as simple as that. He would have received his walking papers after being fired a long time ago, no questions asked.

 

[GhostofBTT]

Lick took a team to the sweet 16 that was comprised of someone else's players. He then took his own players to another sweet 16. He is capable of rebuilding a program.

Ummm, logic fail?

He didn't rebuild Butler. He kept the train rolling, but he didn't rebuild it.

 

[HawKCP]

Whether he would have stayed with Alford or not is irrelevant (just so you know I happen to be one of the rare Alford fans)...the fact of the matter is that if I had to watch Tyler Smith play basketball in Lickliter's "system" I would cry.

It was bad enough at the end of last year watching Cyrus Tate and Jarred Cole sitting there licking their chops to get the opportunity to play together - they finally got it in that last game of the regular season against Penn State and I was so excited to see it again in the Big Ten tournament and Lick refused to do it. Go back and watch that game sometime and watch how much fun those guys were having and watch the excitement across the board in CHA during that game...it was fun.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

It makes NO difference WHAT Lickliter did at Butler. Two completely different situations. It is what he has done and IS doing at Iowa that matters. Alford did a great job at his two previous schools and is doing nicely at UNM, but he was not a good coach at Iowa. Many coaches flop when they change schools after having done well at previous schools and after having won accolades. It just doesn't matter what they DID, it only matters how they are doing NOW. All the man has to show for how badly he is doing are excuses.

Alford did well at SWMS, and is doing fairly well at UNM. Not so much at Iowa.
Lickliter did well at Butler, and is failing bigtime (so far) at Iowa.

I'm seeing a pattern here: Our coaches have done well at the mid-major level (is the Horizon league even really a mid-major?), but aren't getting it done in the Big Ten. It just seems that success at a lower level doesn't automatically translate to a major conference. Coaching isn't enough. You have to be able to recruit to compete at this level. I believe that more and more every day.

 

[HawkeyeMike23]

If we do have Smith and Kelly, what would our record be? Hard to say. Those two guys would help, but we appear headed for a 6-8 win season. With them, how many extra wins would we get? Your guess is as good as mine, but would it put us into the NCAA Tournament or anywhere close? I find it doubtful. Maybe we would win 12-15 games instead of 6-8? That still is not acceptable.

I don't know how many more wins wins we would have with those two, but that would have been a really fun team to watch. If they went small with Smith at the 5 and surrounded him and Kelly with shooters, maybe Gatens, Tucker, and May, that team would be hard to match up with.

 

[HawkIreign]

Lick took a team to the sweet 16 that was comprised of someone else's players. He then took his own players to another sweet 16. He is capable of rebuilding a program.

Tyler Smith's dad got lung cancer and Jake Kelley's mom died in a plane crash. Two pretty significant tragedies out of his control.

If we have those two players, what is Iowa's record this year?

That being said, I understand everyones frustration.

I think this guy is a great coach, but whether he'll be a great coach for Iowa is pretty up in the air right now.

I get what your saying but as a coach he is supposed to develope a bond with his player thus becoming part of a support system for them and I don't think he does that. College kids parents die every year but I doubt that makes most of them run straight home unless they are already unhappy with things going on around them.

 

[HawkIreign]

Alford did well at SWMS, and is doing fairly well at UNM. Not so much at Iowa.
Lickliter did well at Butler, and is failing bigtime (so far) at Iowa.

I'm seeing a pattern here: Our coaches have done well at the mid-major level (is the Horizon league even really a mid-major?), but aren't getting it done in the Big Ten. It just seems that success at a lower level doesn't automatically translate to a major conference. Coaching isn't enough. You have to be able to recruit to compete at this level. I believe that more and more every day.

Does that make you think that when Lickliter finally gets fired (and I have little doubt he will) that we need to go after a proven major confrence coach? Lavin, Bob Knight, Mejerus, Gillespe?

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

I wish fans would quit citing what Lick did at Butler. This AIN'T Butler ... This is comparable to the kid who was a college standout but couldn't make it in the pros ... This is the Big 10. This is Iowa basketball ... So far, Lick has shown ABSOLUTELY nothing to make us believe he is the right fit for this job.