Lickliter's Teleconference - Audio
- Thread starter storminspank
- Start date
HawkeyeBBall
Well-Known Member
Why's that? Because you have no class? I'm really getting sick of people that really love Iowa and want to see us succeed, but people need to understand, you run a coach out of town after 3 years after a coach that destroyed the program, you will NOT find anyone that would want to inherit the situation that is going on here.
Have to agree Hawkeye.
I don't see any BIG NAME coach being willing to come if that would occur.
Which coach destroyed the program? Not Alford. The program was certainly mediocre but it was not destroyed. Hindsight is 20/20 but Lick was the wrong type of coach to hire after Alford. The team the new coach inherited was low on talent, we need a coach that could replenish talent base, not merely coach up existing talent.
Lick is in such a deep hole, in part his fault and in part the circumstances dealth, that I don't think it is possible to get out. A new coach gets a couple years of "energy" he needs to capitalize on to get the program going, if a coach doesn't capatlize its hard to dig out. For example, Alford, Painter, Tubby, Matta were all able to captalize on new hire momentum (although Alford couldn't sustain it), while guys like Monson, McDermott, and seemingly Belien were not able to captalize and had/will have a hard time every being anything but medicore. I guess Dechellis/Carmody are examples of coaches with little early sucess but achieved level of modest success after 5 years are so.
It is going to be tough for Lick to get any momentum in fan support/recruiting when he has completely lost all momentum. He has been branded by fans/recruits. Long-term thinking the best we can hope for is Lick can turn this around to DeChellis/Carmody level which looks to be at least a 3 year project. If we achieve that level of mediocrity, there is a possibility we can take the next step to compete with the MN, ILL, WI ect... But that is a ways out, and odds suggest we never make it to or past the Dechellis/Cardmody mediocrity. If that is our ceiling and its still 3 or 4 years away, why not cut our losses now and try to rebuild with the new coach "energy" bounce (and hire a charismatic guy that can relate to youth).
As far as running a guy out of town in 3 years I don't think it will have that much impact. He aren't hiring a big name coach anytime soon (our program is in shambles). We paid Lick fairly, and I think coaches will undestand that if they post the same type of record (which has to be one of our lowest in a 3-year span) with below average recruiting over a 3 year period they to would deserve to be fired.
I'm certain there is some younger assistant/coach eager to get his break. This time we need to have an accurate self-assement of our program, consult people who understand the challenges of coaching here at Iowa and try to target the right type of coach for state of our program. Then we need to interview a ton of people and get a good feel for the available coaching talent.
Alford didn't destroy the program. The destroyer is sitting in the head coaches seat as we speak. This guy has screwed things up for this program from day1. Alford needed to go for many reasons but Barta really screwed this hire up big time. Lickliter is the ultimate "peter principle."
storminspank
Justin VanLaere
USA #1!!!!
hawkeyescott
Well-Known Member
I have to disagree with you, as much as I hated Alf he didn't destroy the program, he at least got the team to the NIT and was never staring at single digit wins in a season, he just couldn't get this team to the next level, which was making the NCAA tournament on a consistent basis.
This is all on Lick now, he will have the worst 3 year record in Iowa basketball history and possibly the worst single season in Iowa history ever as well. The only player left over is Cole, so these are his own players now.
DO NOT TRY TO CONVINCE ME THAT ALFORD DIDN'T DESTROY THE PROGRAM!!!! Alford's job when hired was to get Iowa to the next level. We were already at a level where we were making the NCAA tournament on a consistent basis. Not only that, but I do not believe Mr. Davis ever lost a first round game, could be wrong with that but I certainly don't remember losing many. Alford took us from that to needing Big Ten tournament titles to even get in the tournament and several first round losses in the NIT's. Can't really see progress there!!! It was fairly clear that Alford left because he was given an ultimatum by A.D. Barta, RIGHTLY SO, start to show the progress toward the next level that was expected when you were hired or we will need to go in different directions. He knew the players he had recruited weren't going to get that done. That is not what he was hired to do. He was given what, ??eight years??, to do the job. I have no doubt and I think the numbers show, he was farther away from the goal at the end of his tenure than he was at the beginning.
As I have stated in previous threads regarding comparison of the team Alford inherited from Mr. Davis to the one he left for Coach Lick, the debate is very, very questionable about the talent level Alford left at Iowa. Personally, it is my belief that the OVERALL talent level and incoming players were no better and probably were a step below what he inherited from Mr. Davis.
Building a BIG TEN program from the level that Alford left this program at takes time. The unforunate part is that today, two and a half years into Coach Lick's tenure at Iowa, we are still struggling to get wins. Will he get the eight years Alford was given?? NO HE WON'T AND SHOULDN'T!!! Should he get at least another two years to show progress?? Yes, I believe he should.
I know some of you will blast me on this so go ahead. But before you do take a look at some of the players. Signs of progress are there!! Gatens, May, Payne, Cougill and I will even add Tucker are all solid players that fit what Coach Lick wants done on the floor. Are we still missing a piece or two from what Coach really wants and what his Butler teams had? Yes we are. But with Brust, Marble, Larsen and Mc Cabe coming next year, I personally like the nucleus that is being built.
Now, if at the end of this year we see SIGNIFICANT player losses from the list above and/or from the recruits coming in, then I will reconsider my stance. Until then I will give the man the chance to do it his way and to FIX THE PROGRAM he inherited.
hawkeyescott
Well-Known Member
All I will say to defend Alford is it isn't 100% on Alford that we have fallen so far. So since I refuse to defend Alf anymore we will have to agree to disagree about how this program got destroyed so quickly.
storminspank
Justin VanLaere
I think this is fair. Iowa just needs to go the only way it can now - up.
