Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Movin' On Up.

Two college coaches from mid-majors will be getting their shots to run with the big boys at nationally known schools where they'll be second fiddle in terms of program importance, as they're both going to football schools.

Butler's Todd Lickliter (pictured) is heading to Iowa City to take over the Hawkeyes in the wake of Steve Alford's departure, and Creighton's Dana Altman is leaving Omaha behind for Fayetteville and life as a Razorback head coach. Both have earned their moves up, as Butler made the Sweet 16 this year and Creighton was well-thought of heading into the tournament, although it's safe to guess Hog fans were less than thrilled that AD Frank Broyles (who made a dumb move by firing Stan Heath and trying to land Texas A&M's Billy Gillispie) wound up with not the most heralded coach.

I'd say Lickliter is probably more likely to get to the Pearl Standard with his new team, especially considering the general weakness of the Big 10 outside of OSU and Wisconsin.

5 comments:

twins15 said...

I really like the Altmann move, especially becuase there is some decent talent already in place. Obviously he wasn't the Razorbacks first choice, but I think he'll be pretty solid at Arkansas.

Adam said...

Don't forget about Penn State in the Big 10. Word out of Happy Valley is that we have some good recruits coming in and should win at least 4-5 conference games next year. Lickliter is done for.

Marco said...

I think that both hires are bad moves....why exactly did Arkansas get rid of Stan Heath in the first place?

THN said...

I'm serious, I'd rather stay at Butler and Creighton. But these guys have but a small window to move on to the next job, otherwise they get stuck and eventually fired because they can't keep winning on the Mid-Major level.

Signal to Noise said...

NFL Adam - clearly Altman thinks like you do, although a bit too late.

Marco - Broyles wanted to steal Billy Gillispie from Texas A&M and fired Heath so he could do so. Of course, Billy didn't want to leave and Broyles had to start running through the list.

YL Adam - you'll have to forgive me if I say with regard to PSU men's hoops that I'll believe it when I see it.