Todd Lickliter Fired: Iowa Basketball Coach Fired 10-22 Season

by Scott Wu | March 15, 2010 at 02:39 pm

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Todd Lickliter Fired after 10-22 Season as Iowa Hawkeyes Coach

The University of Iowa fired Todd Lickliter after the third losing season. Todd Lickliter was the head coach of Iowa basketball team since 2007. This year, for the first time Iowa lost more than 20 games in a season.

Athletic director Gary Barta announced the decision to fire Todd Lickliter in a news conference in Iowa City. He said the decision was made due to the loss of attendance and dwindling revenue from ticket sales.

Todd Lickliter was fired with 4 years left in his 7 years contract. Gary Barta said the Hawkeyes will pay Todd Lickliter about $2.4 million, which is 2 years of his $1.2 million annual pay.

"If you take a look at our competitive record the past three years, it has not been improving. It still continues to be below where we would expect," Barta said. "Our attendance and season-ticket sales have continued to go down. This not something that started three years ago, but in the past three years it has continued to go down dramatically."

Barta hopes to hire a new coach quickly. He hopes the new coach will have head coach experience but does not rule out the possibility of hiring a top assistant.

Todd Lickliter was named the Division I Coach of the Year when he led the Bulldogs. However, Hawkeyes performance has been a major disappointment since he took over. In 2007-08, Iowa finished with 13-19. The next year, Iowa improved a little to 15-17. This year, the team's performance took a nose-dive to 10-22 following the transfer of 4 players.