Lickliter Lands at Miami (OH)
After a year off, Coach Todd Lickliter has landed a new gig. This time he is an assistant to Coach Charlie Coles at Miami (OH). This is a nice pickup for the RedHawks. Coach Coles is already one of the best in the business and has consistently made Miami a player in the MAC. Add an experienced coach like Lickliter to the mix and the RedHawks have a superb coaching staff on multiple levels.
Lickliter is best known for taking Butler to two Sweet Sixteen’s, in 2003 and 2007. In his six years at Butler he amassed an overall record of 131-61. He won the Horizon League three times and reached the postseason a total of four times.
Unlike his Butler predecessor, Thad Matta, Lickliter failed to have success after moving to a Big Ten school. In 2007 Lickliter took the Iowa job. There was certainly some rebuilding to be down in Iowa City, but Lickliter apparently did not show enough progress to keep the job. After just three seasons, Lickliter was fired from the Hawkeyes. During his three year tenure he posted an overall record of 38-57 and a conference record of 15-39. Those are bad numbers, but many felt Lickliter should have deserved another year.
In any event, that year will never come at Iowa. However, Lickliter is a quality coach who may not be done being a head coach…and may even be next in line to take over for Coach Coles when he hangs it up. For now, Miami has an extremely experienced coaching staff that can only help the team win games. And this year Coach Coles, Coach Lickliter and the RedHawks should win plenty of games.
Read the in-depth men’s basketball preview for this team
