OT: IA crowd tonight

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tjgopher

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Iowa-Duquesne is on ESPNU right now. Good match-up, actually. But, there can't be 3000 people there. I mean there are 1st row/half court seats wide open. Empties everywhere. Amazing what has happened to that program and the interest level.
 

tjgopher said:
Iowa-Duquesne is on ESPNU right now. Good match-up, actually. But, there can't be 3000 people there. I mean there are 1st row/half court seats wide open. Empties everywhere. Amazing what has happened to that program and the interest level.
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amazingly funny and wonderful

:pig:
 

Iowa is down 5 at home a little less than halfway through the second half. This team is brutal.
 






Iowa loses by 2. There was no one at that game. We get just as many people at the junior college games in town.
 

This is worse than Monson in 2006. Lickliter has to be fired within a week -- maybe he has another lose before it's final.
 



go 31 said:
This is worse than Monson in 2006. Lickliter has to be fired within a week -- maybe he has another lose before it's final.
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He won't be fired. He signed a 7-year contract when he was hired. His buyout would be almost $3 million. No chance Iowa has that kind of dough in this economy. They're stuck with him.

The Gopher women draw more than the Iowa men right now.
 

jamiche said:
Most people would hate to see it happen to any program.
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disagree that most people would hate to see it happen to any program. especially a rival school. most becky and hogeye fans revel in any opportunity to take shots at the minnesota program and its fanbase. i am not personally interested in cutting ioweee any slack. you want to? go right ahead.

i also have to say that you are living in a "idealistic dream world" if you really think that most true gophers fans (and even becky fans) don't find iowee's crappy basketball situation hilarious.
 

iowa basketball is hilarious.

how many becky and iowa fans were here saying they felt bad for us when we went 9-22?
 

Be careful, my friends. Lickliter is one hell of a good coach... And he will have his Hawkeyes well prepared for our Gophers, even tho we will snoose them by 20 or more.
 



Todd Lickliter may be a better coach than Monson but he did the same job of poor recruiting and then lost some of his best recruits. He'll be a big loser this year if he's still around at the end of the season, the Gophers should have no problem. Sure the Gophers could be caught in an off night by any team but it's unlikely to be Iowa.
 

Makes me wonder when we'll see the next group of Hawkeye fans making fun of us for not supporting the Gopher football team.

I mean I know the Hawkeyes are staring a long year in the face, but good lord Carver-Hawkeye was a certifiable morgue during this game. I thought it was bad against UTSA, but holy cow, it was much worse tonight based on the camera angles on ESPNU.
 

tjgopher said:
He won't be fired. He signed a 7-year contract when he was hired. His buyout would be almost $3 million. No chance Iowa has that kind of dough in this economy. They're stuck with him.

The Gopher women draw more than the Iowa men right now.
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Iowa used to be a top 15 team in attendance in the nation. Iowa drew a paid attendance of 7940 or so tonight. They could EASILY fire Lickliter if they hired someone EXCITING that could fill up those other 6000 empty seats. The apathy factor and the loss of revenue from empty seats could easily prompt a change.
 

FarmerClone said:
Iowa used to be a top 15 team in attendance in the nation. Iowa drew a paid attendance of 7940 or so tonight. They could EASILY fire Lickliter if they hired someone EXCITING that could fill up those other 6000 empty seats. The apathy factor and the loss of revenue from empty seats could easily prompt a change.
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Sure, they could fire him and bring in a more exciting hire. But, that is what they thought they were doing with Lickliter. He was the national coach of the year the year before, had been to a couple of NCAAs, he was the next Thad Matta, etc. They touted it huge down there. Turns out, he wasn't as exciting as they thought.

I probably shouldn't have been so absolute in my post in saying "no chance." Of course, there is a chance. I'd say instead that it is highly unlikely in today's economy that they'd fire him. Highly unlikely. In addition to paying him almost $3 million to walk away, they'd have to pony up at least $2 million per year on a new 7-year deal to bring in anyone new who would sell those other 6000 seats. All of that at a time where they're trying to raise $40 million to build their new basketball practice facility/education center.

So, based on all of that, I'd say he'd have to be something like 4-23 or 5-22 and they might pull the trigger. If he gets to double digit wins, then he is back for sure.
 

I think Lickliter is a very good coach but one that is best suited for a smaller school, much like Monson was. It's really hit or miss when the bigger schools hire the hot mid major coach of the moment. Where is Buzz Peterson coaching now? Barry Collier? Certianly there are just as many who have succeeded but some guys just are much better at being the underdog.
 

LOL. They just put up a graphic on ESPNU that said that Iowa had not lost their first two non-conference home games since 1931. One of the two teams that beat them that year was Carleton! Funny.
 

tjgopher said:
Sure, they could fire him and bring in a more exciting hire. But, that is what they thought they were doing with Lickliter. He was the national coach of the year the year before, had been to a couple of NCAAs, he was the next Thad Matta, etc. They touted it huge down there. Turns out, he wasn't as exciting as they thought.

I probably shouldn't have been so absolute in my post in saying "no chance." Of course, there is a chance. I'd say instead that it is highly unlikely in today's economy that they'd fire him. Highly unlikely. In addition to paying him almost $3 million to walk away, they'd have to pony up at least $2 million per year on a new 7-year deal to bring in anyone new who would sell those other 6000 seats. All of that at a time where they're trying to raise $40 million to build their new basketball practice facility/education center.

So, based on all of that, I'd say he'd have to be something like 4-23 or 5-22 and they might pull the trigger. If he gets to double digit wins, then he is back for sure.
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By exciting I mean a person with an exciting personality (Lick is dry and boring in person and to listen to from the Hawks I know that have met him) and his brand of basketball is slow and boring. They need someone that can energize the fan base.

Iowa is trying to raise money for the facility, but they are far from being in economic dire straights. If they make a BCS bowl that will be a ton of extra cash (though most of that money will go to Ferentz in the form of bonuses) and as I said, if they can put 6000 more fans in the stands for 20 or so home games at 20 bucks per seat, that is 2.4 million per year.
 

FarmerClone said:
Iowa is trying to raise money for the facility, but they are far from being in economic dire straights. If they make a BCS bowl that will be a ton of extra cash (though most of that money will go to Ferentz in the form of bonuses)
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The B10 pools all bowl revenue and divides it equally amongst all 11 member institutions. Iowa will get no bigger share than Indiana if they make a BCS bowl. That has no impact on this discussion.

In comparison to other, much larger, institutions in this conference (Mich, Wis, Min, OSU) Iowa is not in great financial shape. Their endowment is significantly smaller than others, and the school needs more money than just football revenue (the only sport that makes money down there) to operate as a, you know, actual 4 year school.

I don't think they're in a "dire" situation, but I think it would be a tough sell to can a coach 3 years into a 7 year deal.
 

i remember when lickliter was first hired and somebody made a thread on hawkeyereport ranking the big ten coaches.

lickliter was consistently in the 3-5 range was tubby was usually 6-8.

hows that workin out for ya iowa?
 

My take on the state of Iowa Basketball - for those that care

bassy123 said:
i remember when lickliter was first hired and somebody made a thread on hawkeyereport ranking the big ten coaches.

lickliter was consistently in the 3-5 range was tubby was usually 6-8.

hows that workin out for ya iowa?
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Whoever ranked Coach Smith below Coach Lickliter is a moron.
That said, I am firmly in the camp of giving him some time. (Cue the reply - "That sounds great to us! More years of beating your sorry team!")
You guys got the "Kill Shot", stealing one of Coach Brewster's terms, when you hired Coach Smith. He is a great recruiter, high energy, and a great in-game coach. Congratulations to you and to the B10 in general.
Maybe I'm bitter, but I still put a lot of blame on the fans lack of interest on Coach Alford. His bungling of the Pierre Pierce situation turned a lot of fans off and most are waiting to see Coach Lickliter turn it around before they come back. Sort of the same argument going on with Minnesota football. Win and we'll show up. We can wait.
Again, I'll say give Coach Lickliter some time. The team is brutal to watch right now - as they were early last year. I am interested in seeing if he is as good of an Xs & Os coach and teacher as they reported when he came in. If I don't see any improvement in the team, then I'll probably have to rethink my position. I am not going to judge him by his W/L record this year - every team in the Big Ten has more experience and more talent. I am just looking for better basketball than I saw last night against Dusquesne (sp?) - oh, hell, the Dukes - and some individual improvement.

I am also waiting to see if whoever turns out to be the best player on the squad this year decides to come back next year (unlike Jake Kelly, Jeff Peterson, Tony Freeman, Tyler Smith, etc). It's yet another rebuilding year - that's all Coach Lickliter has had. And yes, it gets old.
He might also want to find a recruiter.
 


FarmerClone said:
they are far from being in economic dire straights.
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Maybe not dire, but pretty freaking close. The state of Iowa just put into effect record budget cuts for all three state institutions, which includes hundreds of job losses, mandatory furloughs, hiring freezes, building freezes, tuition increases, etc. Iowa AD Gary Barta mandated that each sport cut spending by 5%, which in basketball is significant, especially when that sport was used to small yearly increases.

How do you think paying a coach $3 million to walk away, while investing another $14 million or so into a new one will go over? Do you think they'll say "oh, but he can sell those 6000 tickets?" Nope. The environment right now will make it very, very tough to fire Lickliter. There just isn't a lot of money there right now for that, especially when they already have their hands out to raise $40 million on the facility upgrade.
 


StPaulHawkeye said:
Whoever ranked Coach Smith below Coach Lickliter is a moron.
That said, I am firmly in the camp of giving him some time. (Cue the reply - "That sounds great to us! More years of beating your sorry team!")
You guys got the "Kill Shot", stealing one of Coach Brewster's terms, when you hired Coach Smith. He is a great recruiter, high energy, and a great in-game coach. Congratulations to you and to the B10 in general.
Maybe I'm bitter, but I still put a lot of blame on the fans lack of interest on Coach Alford. His bungling of the Pierre Pierce situation turned a lot of fans off and most are waiting to see Coach Lickliter turn it around before they come back. Sort of the same argument going on with Minnesota football. Win and we'll show up. We can wait.
Again, I'll say give Coach Lickliter some time. The team is brutal to watch right now - as they were early last year. I am interested in seeing if he is as good of an Xs & Os coach and teacher as they reported when he came in. If I don't see any improvement in the team, then I'll probably have to rethink my position. I am not going to judge him by his W/L record this year - every team in the Big Ten has more experience and more talent. I am just looking for better basketball than I saw last night against Dusquesne (sp?) - oh, hell, the Dukes - and some individual improvement.

I am also waiting to see if whoever turns out to be the best player on the squad this year decides to come back next year (unlike Jake Kelly, Jeff Peterson, Tony Freeman, Tyler Smith, etc). It's yet another rebuilding year - that's all Coach Lickliter has had. And yes, it gets old.
He might also want to find a recruiter.
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As usual, a well thought out response from St.PaulHawkeye. Of course, I've come to expect them. :D As to your points, I tend to agree and in carrying the Lickliter vs. Brewster thing a step further, I think Brewster deserves one more year before any judgments can be made. But after that, if things aren't progressing, it's going to be time to re-evaluate our situation. And it sounds as if you feel pretty much the same about Lickliter.

I guess the biggest thing right now I see with Iowa is a definite lack of Big Ten level players. Some of them may develop into competent and good Big Ten players down the road, but right now, there just isn't that type of quality on the roster. The more alarming thing from an outsider's perspective however is just how little interest and support there seems to be from Hawkeye nation for this team. That was one of the things that got Monson canned here in Minnesota and I'm just wondering how much patience Iowa fans are going to have with Lickliter. Obviously, judging him on this season is going to be tough because, quite frankly, he doesn't have the players to be successful in the conference. But if attendance continues to fall off, I would think his seat will be pretty toasty sooner rather than later.
 

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