He came to Iowa basketball in 2007 bringing high hopes to Hawkeye fans who needed them after an exhausting roller-coaster of nine seasons under the reviled Steve Alford.

Todd Lickliter came to Iowa City after winning the previous season's National Coach of the Year while the head man at Butler University.  But once he got here, he and every Hawkeye fan discovered early that he was in way over his head.

He spent three seasons on the Iowa sideline, going 38-58 overall. His last season, in particular, was a complete disaster at 10-22. Soon after, he was out.

Lickliter went on to coach at Indiana's Marian University of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), worked as a scout for the Boston Celtics and returned to the NCAA as an assistant coach at Evansville.

Well, congratulations to coach Lickliter who, according to the Gazette, just got promoted to head coach of the "Purple Aces".

It all works out for everyone in the end. Iowa stands at 14-5 overall, 5-3 in the Big Ten under Fran McCaffery this season. After UCLA canned him for doing just OK, Nevada took a gamble on Alford, who has his new team at 11-8 in Reno.

Lickliter is back in the big leagues...kind of. He takes over an Evansville team with a record of 9-11 this season after their recent loss to Missouri Valley Conference rival Drake.

It would be interesting if Iowa ended up playing either Nevada or Evansville in the NCAA tournament or preseason games the next few seasons but that remains to be seen.

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