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Iowa athletic director Gary Barta saw the Hawkeyes rack up loss after loss in an often half-empty arena and decided he'd seen enough.
Even though coach Todd Lickliter was at Iowa for only three seasons, Barta felt he couldn't afford to bring him back for a fourth.
The Hawkeyes fired Lickliter on Monday, ending a brief and disappointing tenure that included three losing seasons in a row and a parade of players leaving the once-proud program. Barta cited Iowa's slumping record, lagging attendance and dwindling revenue from ticket sales and contributions.
The 54-year-old Lickliter had four years left on a seven-year contract that paid him $1.2 million a year. Barta said the Hawkeyes will pay Lickliter roughly $2.4 million for the remainder of the contract.
Lickliter was not at the news conference and not available for comment.
"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 said there will be no timeline on hiring a new coach, though he hopes to do it quickly. Barta said Iowa's next coach will likely have head coaching experience, but wouldn't rule out hiring a top assistant to take over a team that finished the season 10-22.
In all, Lickliter was 38-58 with Iowa — a stint marred by a series of player departures.
The big exodus came last spring when four players transferred, and sophomore guard Anthony Tucker left last month following a pair of alcohol-related suspensions and a third for academic problems.
Lickliter spent six seasons at Butler before coming to Iowa to succeed Steve Alford, who left for New Mexico in the spring of 2007. Lickliter led the Bulldogs to a 29-7 mark and the NCAA regional semifinals in 2007 and was named the Division I Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Iowa finished 13-19 in 2007-08, Lickliter's first season, but that was expected to be a rebuilding year after Alford's departure. Iowa improved to 15-17 in 2008-09, despite losing point guard Tony Freeman to transfer, but key contributors Jake Kelly and Jeff Peterson and reserves Jermain Davis and David Palmer all left following the season.
Iowa has seen its attendance drop in recent years — a troubling sign for a program used to packed houses. The Hawkeyes, who routinely had near-capacity crowds during the Tom Davis era in the late 1980s and '90s, drew just 9,550 fans per home game this season. The crowds often seemed a lot smaller than that.
Charlotte fires coach Bobby Lutz after 12 seasons— Charlotte fired coach Bobby Lutz on after his 12th year at his alma mater was marred by a late-season collapse and a costly blunder in a first-round loss in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
Chancellor Philip Dubois said in a statement that the move was in the "long-term interest of 49ers basketball and the university as a whole." Lutz leaves as the school's all-time winningest coach with a 218-158 mark and with four years left on his contract.
Lutz was promoted to coach in 1998 after three years as an assistant and led the 49ers to the NCAA tournament in five of his first seven seasons. But the 49ers haven't been back since 2005.
Lutz didn't immediately return a message left on his cell phone, but released a statement through the school.
"It has been a privilege and pleasure to coach at UNC Charlotte, my alma mater," Lutz said. "I have been truly blessed and will forever bleed green."
The move would have seemed improbable barely a month ago, when the 49ers knocked off Temple and moved into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10. With a roster full of newcomers, Lutz had seemingly turned things around after Rose said over the summer that Lutz faced a "critical year" after going 11-20 in 2008-09.
But Charlotte soon went into a free-fall, losing seven of its last eight games to miss out on the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight year. The 49ers also failed to get a bid to the NIT on Sunday.
And Lutz's last game will be memorable for an embarrassing gaffe.
Trailing Massachusetts by three with under a minute left in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament at home, the 49ers had the ball and called a timeout. But they came out of the huddle with six players and when play began they were called for a technical foul.
UMass, which entered 11-19 and the 11th seed, hit both free throws and went on to post the upset.
