Lickliter arrives in stealth, leaves in the same way

[clicheusername3]

Unlike Alford, I wish Lickliter the best and hopes he does get a chance to run a successful program.

barf...both have their positives and negatives (mostly negatives). Im not going to wish a guy well that ran the program in to the ground and almost killed off a major college men's sport single handedly. I hope he spends his buyout money on attending coaching camps. See Ya!

 

[swanssy]

barf...both have their positives and negatives (mostly negatives). Im not going to wish a guy well that ran the program in to the ground and almost killed off a major college men's sport single handedly. I hope he spends his buyout money on attending coaching camps. See Ya!

Do we really need to continue to trash on the guy after he was fired? He is too classy to take cheap shots at the school on his way out, so we can at least show him the same courtesy. It just didn't work out. Turn the page.

 

[Bucketochicken]

among all the perfectly legitimate complaints about lickliter's time here, nobody ever had anything but nice things to say about him personally. the losing was brutal, but in retrospect i think we will always appreciate lickliter's classiness over alford's dickishness.

and to sidetrack the topic a little bit, i will never apologize for rooting against alford wherever he coaches. the guy was a grade-A jerk. on the other hand, a part of me will always root for lickliter in his next job. nothing would make me happier than lick having some success at a smaller program while mccaffery leads the hawks back to relevance... and alford explains away another first-round tourney exit.

Very well said. Couldn't agree more.

 

[JonDMiller]

Todd is a class individual. It just didnt work here

 

[hawklock00]

Unlike Alford, I wish Lickliter the best and hopes he does get a chance to run a successful program.

+1

 

[travismullen]

I wish the best to the both of them. Even though Alford did not win 'personality of the decade' in my book and I did not appreciate the way he left, he did give us some decent basketball. And Lick gave us far from decent basketball but had a pleasant personality.

To say, "I'm not going to wish him the best", seems a bit odd, cruel, and borderline evil to me. Just my opinion though.

The best to all of you...

 

[tm3308]

barf...both have their positives and negatives (mostly negatives). Im not going to wish a guy well that ran the program in to the ground and almost killed off a major college men's sport single handedly. I hope he spends his buyout money on attending coaching camps. See Ya!

Seriously, it was not all Lickliter's fault. Barta has a share of the blame, Alford has a good chunk, and Bowlsby shoulders a lot of it, IMO. HE was the one who didn't invest in the program when he had the chance, and now we're reaping what he sewed.

Can Lickliter's "system" work? Absolutely. Any system will work with the right amount of talent. Did Lickliter also underestimate the amount of talent needed? Yes, and I think we saw his realization of that with this year's incoming class. Was it too late? Apparently so.

But I will not hold that against Lickliter. He just didn't work out, that's all there is too it. He didn't purposely "run the program into the ground". And as I mentioned before, he hardly did it "single handedly". So lay off the guy, he's moved on, and he's shown much more class than Alford did in his departure, which is another reason (besides the more objective ones) that I will be rooting for him wherever he goes, and why I will always root for Alford to lose.

 

[tweeterhawk]

Lick's severance agreement likely includes a non-disparagement clause of his former employer. Pretty standard.

 

[homes]

Seriously, it was not all Lickliter's fault. Barta has a share of the blame, Alford has a good chunk, and Bowlsby shoulders a lot of it, IMO. HE was the one who didn't invest in the program when he had the chance, and now we're reaping what he sewed.

Can Lickliter's "system" work? Absolutely. Any system will work with the right amount of talent. Did Lickliter also underestimate the amount of talent needed? Yes, and I think we saw his realization of that with this year's incoming class. Was it too late? Apparently so.

But I will not hold that against Lickliter. He just didn't work out, that's all there is too it. He didn't purposely "run the program into the ground". And as I mentioned before, he hardly did it "single handedly". So lay off the guy, he's moved on, and he's shown much more class than Alford did in his departure, which is another reason (besides the more objective ones) that I will be rooting for him wherever he goes, and why I will always root for Alford to lose.

For the record, I think he was a class act, just very quiet and unassuming, maybe to a fault. He probably wasn't ready for a stage like Iowa. Nothing wrong with that, just the way it is.

More important immediate issue for Iowa basketball is retaining Fuller - until today, I didn't even know this was an issue.

 

[storminspank]

barf...both have their positives and negatives (mostly negatives). Im not going to wish a guy well that ran the program in to the ground and almost killed off a major college men's sport single handedly. I hope he spends his buyout money on attending coaching camps. See Ya!

That's a little harsh, IMO.

 

[HandsyHobo]

Unlike Alford, I wish Lickliter the best and hopes he does get a chance to run a successful program.

This.

 

[BKBroiler]

Todd is a class individual. It just didnt work here

Agree 100%. This is a good man who deserves our respect- as a man. We can easily poke holes in what he did/didn't do as our coach - but there is no reason to pile on personally.

We've got our coach and we're behind him - let's show Coach McCaffery we have some class.

 

[imported_ankle23]

Unlike Alford, I wish Lickliter the best and hopes he does get a chance to run a successful program.

I agree. Very well put.

 

[Hawke]

Unlike Alford, I wish Lickliter the best and hopes he does get a chance to run a successful program.

I agree, he didn't fit here which doesn't make him any less of a decent person, he's a good guy with a good basketball mind. He came into a bad situation and was unable to improve it. I wish him all the best.

 

[tweeterhawk]

The consensus is that Lickliter was a decent fellow, and he certainly came across that way in his pressers and most of the time during games. But didn't he also have a degree of arrogance in the way he appeared to sulk on the bench and roll his eyes when his players performed poorly, in his unwillingness to adapt his game plan and coaching style to changing times and needs and apparently his inability to develop a close relationship with his players?

Just saying ...

 

[loesshillshawk]

We all have issues...wish him luck wherever he lands. Coaches families are the ones that get the shaft, I know as I have been a coach for 25 years.

 

[bws258]

Re: Completely different situations..

Let him find a job someplace. Give him about three years, and when he's back in the Sweet 16, let him rip on us all he wants (a la Alford).

when the hell did Alford make the sweet 16?

last I checked they beat a 14 seed and lost to an 11

 

[burky247]

I wished nothing but the best for Alford when he left. I feel the same way about Lick.

 

[CAARHawk]

The whole "Todd is a good guy" thing is kind of strange in retrospect. He wasn't real loud, so his issues weren't real public, but I keep hearing how people felt put off by the guy. Former players, media, current players. A lot of people couldn't necessarily put their fingers on one thing, but felt disrespected by Todd.

Might really just be a communication problem, which may have served Todd in not looking like a bad guy, because he didn't talk to anyone. But might also have left people not liking him much on a interpersonal level.

 

[HawkeyeinDC]

I think alot of people forget that Coach Lickliter was dealing with some very serious health issues. This certainly could have affected the way he recruited and communicated with his players.

When one is looking at their possible mortality in the face, the debate of motion offenses and playing time probably takes a a back seat to many priorities in a man's life.

The cards really seemed stacked against Lick, but I think the man carried himself with class and respect during his time here. Something that was refreshing. I am sure that many Hawkeye fans wish Coach Lickliter nothing but the best for himself and his family.