Tom Izzo thinks the firing was disgusting

[Tomr]

I realize that I'm always bringing up the real world...but he brings up a good point...if you had a friend or colleague who confided in you that he was considering taking a position with a company that you had knowledge of and you happened to know that they regularly fired people in the position your friend/colleague was seeking...what would you say?

College athletics isn't the "real world." The pay is excellent and the golden parachutes are ridiculous by real world standards. So approaching the job like you would approach a conventional middle management job is just silly.

If I had a friend that was offered a 7 year deal at 1 million per year, with a $600k/year buyout if he got fired, I would tell him to take the job immediately.


College basketball is a high risk/high reward situation. There is a very strong empirical argument that Lickliter was among the very worst coaches in Iowa basketball history. Maybe not at the very bottom, but he's in the bottom quartile.

There aren't an awful lot of jobs where you can have a poor track record like that and yet still leave a millionaire.

Izzo is a great coach, but I think he's lost touch with how unique a position he occupies.

 

[Hawke]

He lists a lot of names of guys I am sure he loved beating to death on the court. Amaker and Monson had a decent amount of time.

I was thinking along similar lines when I read the title to the thread.

 

[Reeon]

This article was passed along to me:
LSJ Blogs: Hey, Joe: Lickliter firing 'disgusting' to Izzo

I guess that kills Iowa's chance at his second in command, Mark Montgomery.

 

[IATrainMaster101]

I guess that kills Iowa's chance at his second in command, Mark Montgomery.

Maybe that's what the whole thing was about... worried Iowa may come after his assistants and there could be mutual interest.. Probably a stretch but what the hell.

 

[NewMexHawk]

Ok guys..."Izzo gets it." How many of Izzo's players transfer every year? I wonder how many kids want to transfer TO Izzo's program?

On the other hand did YOU just want Iowa's better players to just transfer out without any notice while Barta continued to support Lickliter? What would you have then said about Barta--that he had no control over his program? Then we are into summer, the better coaches are hired and where is Iowa? Starting over again with Lickliter making excuses about why players left. The program is again in total shambles and more continue and boosters continue leave Carver in droves.

So who really gets it? Izzo who speaks from on top of the mountain? Or Barta trying to put a stopper in the bottle trying to get players from transferring and trying to get fans back into Carver?

Easy for Izzo to talk his trash from where he speaks....very easy indeed! Izzo also is looking in from the outside and sees ONE side of the coin...very easy to be condescending sitting where Izzo is...

 

[cibula11]

Izzo has to say that. Lick beat his team and allowed them to 36 pts. Who does that?

 

[Hawkize1]

Hey Tom Izzo your Iowa's AD (hypothetically speaking) Your coach has just lost a school record 22 games this season, the sentiment is that the program hasn't improved any in the past 3 yrs. Players are leaving right and left, the arena is 1/3 to 1/4 full every home game, the fund raising has taken a tremendous hit. Next season doesn't look any better in terms of fan support or winning percentage. What do you do?
Firing coaches is not high on all AD's lists of things to do. But sometimes its just what has to be done to create a feeling of hope for a fresh start. Just what this program desperately needs. 10-22 and mass exodus' thats "disgusting" Enough said!

 

[tweeterhawk]

Easy for Izzo to talk his trash from where he speaks....very easy indeed! Izzo also is looking in from the outside and sees ONE side of the coin...very easy to be condescending sitting where Izzo is...

Here's an idea: you know the TV show "Wife Swap"? Let's have the Big Ten Network do "Coach Swap" where Izzo and Lickliter trade places for a season. If Tom's such a supporter of the progress of the Iowa program for the past three years I imagine he'd be up for it ...

 

[hawkincal]

I seem to recall that Hayden Fry was upset in the early 1980s (just as Hayden had turned around Iowa's football program) that Michigan State fired head football coach Frank "Muddy" Waters. Waters had only been head coach for three seasons, in which Spartan football got worse every year. It was pretty easy to tell that Hayden was mainly upset because he knew that as long as Waters was at MSU, the Spartans would not be a threat to the Hawks (who had already upset the Michigan-OSU dominance of Big 10 football). Sure enough, MSU hired George Perles, who made the Spartans a force in the Big 10 for about a decade (and developed quite a rivalry with Iowa during that period).

I believe Tom Izzo is coming at this the same way as Hayden Fry did those many years ago.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I guess Izzo must have forgotten that the object of the game is to win. Does he realize that Lickliter had the worst record in Iowa history? I kinda doubt it. I'm sure Izzo will miss abusing TL on the court, though.

 

[1manwolfpack]

Of course he's upset that 2 guaranteed wins are off the schedule. He'd really be upset if Bruce Pearl comes to town. I don't think any Big Ten head coach wants to compete against Bruce Pearl on or off the court.

 

[swanssy]

I agree with Tom Izzo wholeheartedly, Iowa should be ashamed of themselves.


-Joe Buck

 

[tubahawk]

I found that interesting as well. He has been consistant in his praise of SA but TL "walked into a crap situation"
So which is it Tom? You cant have it both ways. If SA was a great coach and doing a wonderful job, why would TL be walking into crap?
You dont have to answer that Tom, I'll answer it for you.
SA turned a good situation to crap and TL added more fecies to the pile.

An absolutely excellent point.

I'd like to hear Izzo talk himself out of this corner.

 

[Rawkhawk73]

I hate Tom Izzo.....always have. I'm not aware of another coach in the conference, ever, who thought it was okay to comment on the inner workings of another member insitution. Who the hell does he think he is? I don't remember him out in front of a microphone when his administration was firing John L. or Bobby Williams. Oh, it must be okay when it's his insitution doing the firing for poor performance, but it's not okay when another institution is doing it. Got it!

Izzo is no different than every other primma donna coach who wants it both ways. They want the high paying gig with all the contract language in their favor AND they want to have no accountability for their performance. I have news for Crybaby Tom, it doesn't work that way. If he wants to go to "lifetime" contracts, then let's just adjust all coaching salaries down to about $75k per year....that'll solve that problem really fast. Otherwise, he needs to shut his pie hole and just keep cashing the checks.

 

[storminspank]

How could you hate Tom Izzo? He's one of the best coaches in the country.

 

[trj]

I like Izzo, however, put me in the category of those who think, having TL at Iowa made his job much easier.....of course he is going to be "disgusted".