OXFORD, Ohio – Former Iowa coach Todd Lickliter is in his first year as a member of Charlie Coles’ coaching staff at Miami (Ohio). They have know each other since their days coaching together at the Five Star Camps. Todd really became a coaching superstar at Butler, where he was selected as the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 2007.
Today we meet in Todd’s office located in Millett Hall and we do the interview just before practice. I stayed and watched about 30 minutes of practice and all the coaches divided equally the coaching duties. Todd seems to be enjoying his new role as an assistant after nine years as a head coach.
Bill Kintner: Let’s jump right in, you spent three years at Iowa and it didn’t work out. What happened?
Todd Lickliter: Well obviously we didn’t fulfill the contract. I have not spoken to anybody about it at all. When you try to explain something that didn’t go the way you meant it to, it sounds like an excuse. I want to always stay away from that.
So I think it is really hard to explain, but I will say this; when you go into a new situation there is a lot of assessment, evaluation and looking at things that have to be accomplished. We were behind in some areas. For instance, they just now have gotten a practice facility, something they didn’t have when I was there. We shared a facility with five teams, it wasn’t the same model that other Big Ten teams were using and there are some things that make it more difficult in situations that are not successful. You also have to evaluate your own abilities, what you brought to it as an individual, because otherwise you are not going to grow.
I was pleased with the direction we were going, to be honest with you. I don’t know if anybody understood where the program was at when I arrived and what it was going to take to get it to where it should be. What I was trying to do was create a Butler on a larger scale. I was very pleased by what we did at Butler, I enjoyed that environment, I thought that we could do it at Iowa. Our last recruiting class was a strong recruiting class. The freshman class that were going to be sophomores were starting to make some strides. It just wasn’t smooth enough or fast enough.
BK: When you saw what Barry Collier went through at Nebraska did you factor that into your decision to take the job at Iowa?
TL: I really didn’t and I was pretty naïve. I enjoyed Butler so much and I thought that it was a good model and that we would be able to do this again. Quite possibly, I underestimated how good our players really were at Butler. I knew I enjoyed that, I knew they were good, my last year at Butler we won the preseason NIT, we made the Sweet Sixteen, we were ranked in the Top 10.
There were some really special moments and you don’t do that without really special players. More than anything, I thought that our players truly upheld the student-athlete model that I think would make everybody proud. I think I had a pre-med, a pre-dental, two MBAs and that is just to name a few. Everybody was on track to graduate and it wasn’t the way it was at Iowa.
BK: Looking back, do you think the model at Butler can be duplicated at a Big 10 or Big 12 school?
TL: Without question, it doesn’t really matter the level. What you have to be able to do is thoroughly evaluate your personality, recruits and the one thing I will say is that at that level you are evaluated almost every day on something. Whereas, at Butler you are allowed to go about your daily routine and they pretty much left you alone. When I say “they”, I mean with message boards and those types of things, now there is a lot of oversight. The fan wants to know if you are winning the recruiting war. What does that mean?
For us, I was trying to build a team. I was looking at an individual as to how he complements another individual and so on. Maybe they are not rated highly by the scouting services and they do a good job. But maybe they were not rated highly individually, but as a team we could compete at a high level. That is what we did at Butler.
BK: So a fan’s point of reference is usually five, star, four star, three star….
TL: Exactly. I am really sure about our system, which I did not invent, I feel very good about. It is very sound and I think you can just look at the results, at what Butler has been able to do.
In a major conference your fans might question if you sign Gordon Hayward, because coming out of high school he was not I believe, a Top 100 player. Then in two years he was a lottery pick. That is probably rare but part of your job as a coach is to be able to evaluate, to be able to project and one of the things I liked at Butler is that we were able to do that. We took in a lot of information and criteria as far as who we were going to offer and who we were going to recruit.
BK: Let’s talk about Miami. I am going to guess that you are probably working for the one coach you would coach for.
TL: I can’t really think of anyone else that I would want to coach for. It is a funny thing. I was really disappointed when they decided not to retain me at Iowa. I was very disappointed. I wanted to finish the job that had begun. I thought we were on track, my last year we won 10 games and I know that looks awful, it hurt. I was assessing it on the long haul and were we recruiting the right players and we were building the right program. The point that is missed is that when that happens you don’t know what your future is going to be and if it hadn’t happened I would never have had the opportunity to work for Charlie Coles. It just wouldn’t have happened. I had to basically be out of a job to have this opportunity.
BK: And he has to have an opening?
TL: Yeah, he has to have an opening. I am a nine year head coach, the idea that you are probably going to work for Charlie is not going through my mind. Leaving Iowa was hurtful, but it led to something that for me is really special. How many people get to work for one of their best friends?
BK: What is your relationship with Coach Coles? Does he give you things to do he wouldn’t give a younger coach?
TL: I don’t know, I think Charlie has a great staff. They are just terrific. I know at Butler I thought I had a great staff, these guys remind me of my Butler staff, they are very similar. They are Miami grads, they understand the program and have great pride in it. I think that Charlie is comfortable. He doesn’t get his ego involved; he wants the program to be the best, he wants everybody’s input. He has the final say, without question, but my thing is I want to help Charlie. I don’t have to be heard, it is not necessary for me, I just want to be of help. I think we have a good relationship, I think there is mutual respect. I know there is on my part and I think he feels the same way.
BK: What does Coach Coles give you to handle? Are there certain areas that you handle?
TL: As far as on the court, we all share. Jermaine (Henderson) and I work with the guards more than we do with the post players, but we all have input. We all evaluate and give input. We all watch tape, we provide edits, but the scouting reports are divided up so that every third scout, I will have a scout. One of the things a former head coach said to me is that your skill set is different from head coach to assistant coach. You almost forget the assistant’s skill sets after being a head coach for nine years, so this has been really good for me to re-acclimate to it. I want to be a head coach again and maybe that is really beneficial to spend some time in the shoes of the assistants and although I have always appreciated them, maybe I even have more of an appreciation. I am doing the scheduling now, trying to take a little of the load of of Jason [Grunkemyer] and Jermaine. So Jason had the game scheduling and now I am doing that and I am trying to pitch and help with the recruiting some. We are just trying to combine our efforts and our knowledge and trying to make the program better.
BK: When you are recruiting for Miami, what are you selling?
TL: That is an easy sell. Everybody understands the reputation of the university and I think it attracts a high achiever. I like that. I felt like that was how it was at Butler. I think you can really be good in two things; you can be a really good player and you can be a really good student. They need to make sure they prioritize correctly, manage their time correctly and the individual that comes to Miami understands the benefit of a Miami degree and they have an appreciation for it.
BK: And finally, you are keeping your eyes open for coaching openings?
TL: Yes, I will just have to see what happens.
BK: Thank you for your time Todd.
TL: Anytime, I enjoyed it.
