FYI..I posted this several weeks ago on mom's site...LOL
First off before everyone rips me and tells me I am the anti-fan. I congratulate the guys for a good win today. Fuller is really turning the corner, I wish Matt could wake up and join him. That soph year is tough...
Most on here think I don't support the basketball program. I have more basketball memorabilia in my hawkeye room then football. My earliest recollection of Iowa Athletics are basketball memories. As most of you know I have been a HS coach for 25 years...had a 65% winning percentage, all be it in girls. However, basketball is basketball and I did take 4 different schools to state tournaments. So I somewhat understand the game, I also have 3 close friend who are in D1 basketball.
Now from day 1 I have been very hesitant about Coach Lickliter and his preparedness for Big Ten Basketball. I personally like Coach and his values, I think he is a good guy. However, he won't win any charisma contest. I would like to give you my breakdown of why I would not of looked at Lick as a guy who could have success at a school like Iowa. By that I mean a school with borderline facilities, a somewhat tarnished rep from the last coaching hire and the coaching release before that.
We know who made Butler a household name and that was Barry Collier, who is the same guy as Lick, nice guy, personality and charisma are not his strong suits either. Barry went to Nebraska, the press loved him, he was congenial, was going to bring the Butler system to Nebraska and play lock down defense and shoot the 3. He couldn't ever get talent to Nebraska (and say what you will but their facilities were decent and money was present to help). After about 4 years of recruiting unathletic guys, boring style of ball (to the fans) the worm started to turn. The press was nice, I remember Tom Shatel in the World Herald wring I want him to succeed but he is failing to bring fans in, failing to bring athletes that are capable of winning in the Conference and his style was somewhat limiting...it was time for Barry to go and sure enough back to Butler he went.
In the meantime Matta takes the helm and really recruits a strong group to Butler...goes 24-8 and draws the interest of Xavier. Off he goes and starts to figure out that the Butler system has its strong points but if he was to succeed at the level he needed to he would have to change. He allowed his guys to create and play in space, press, and run a controlled break. He hence had great success at Xavier going 78-23 and never losing a first round NCAA game and going to the elite 8 once. He figured it out...had a great staff, recruited well and let his guys play....no stifling them with sets, and patience on offense. He goes to Ohio State and even opens up more....
Now Lick takes over for Matta and Butler was already a player in the game...thanks to Collier, followed up even better by Matta. Lick in 01-02 and 02-3 inherited a very good nucleus from Matta and Collier and went 26-6 NIT 2nd round, and 27-6 NCAA Sweet 16, then with his kids went 49-42 the next 3 seasons never finishing higher then 2nd in the conference one year had a .500 conference record, one year had a 7-9 season and one year had a 11-5 season with only 1 trip to the NIT. RED FLAG! Then in his last year in 06-07 (and most will tell you in a VERY WEAK HORIZON LEAGUE) went 13-3 in league and tied for first and had a fairly easy trip to the sweet 16. 3 of 6 years he was not conference champion and 2 of 3 years not even in the top half of the Horizon League, with a 500 team and a losing record team.
His recruiting was marginal at best...65-31 conference record (67%) in a suspect conference. His teams were hard to prepare for with only a day or two to prepare. My argument from day 1 has been he is unprepared for this kind of position. Do I think his system could work...YES...however he has committed a cardinal sin in BCS Conference basketball, he has surrounded himself with a totally inadequate staff. You look at all the highly successful coaches wherever they have been have surrounded themselves with top flight assistants, a mix of x and o guys and at least 2 young recruiting guys. Until Lick understands the staff part he is doomed to failure at Iowa (in my opinion). Do I want him to fail HELL NO...I want whoever is at the helm to have success. I want #5 or higher in the conference with NCAA berths 7 out of 10 seasons...sound familiar? I believe it may take Barta saying change the staff up to get him to win at Iowa. Collier did not figure it out and was out...Matta figured it out and went right up the ladder and continues to do so. These are my thoughts and concerns about our staff, in particular our head coach. I may be totally wet behind the years but I think bringing in two young guys, whether they are recent players at a BIG TIME program, AAU coaches, or former players that have great connections to a hotbed of recruiting. He has to make some changes to succeed at Iowa.
And that is about all I have to say about that...
I like the hawkeyes.
