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We hope you are ready for a season unlike any other: testing, distancing, and bubbles, oh my! Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, or whether anything actually will happen…but in the meantime we will try to restore some order with season previews featuring the best players/coaches/administrators in the country. We continue our coverage with Evansville coach Todd Lickliter. He hired Brad Stevens, had 1 of the best starts to a coaching career in D-1 history, and was named national COY in 2007. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Lickliter about taking over last January and his expectations for this year.
You played basketball at UNC Wilmington/Central Florida CC/Butler: how good a player were you back in the day, and how did you get into coaching? I am thankful that I was able to participate at that level. A lot of people probably thought I was better than I was, but I was very thankful for the opportunities at those different institutions. It was great to finally return to Butler, which was about five miles from the home where I grew up. You might think it would just be natural to go there but that is obviously not the route that I took. I got into coaching because (quite honestly) my father was a high school coach and had a tremendous influence on me: I just loved being in the gym. I knew that I was not going to play beyond college: I was fortunate to play at that level but the natural transition would be to becoming a coach and I have been fortunate in that regard as well.
In the 2001 NCAA tourney as an assistant to Thad Matta at Butler you got out to a huge halftime lead in a dominant win over Wake Forest: how big a deal was it to get the school’s 1st NCAA tourney win in 39 years (www.indystar.com/story/sports/2016/03/15/start-youre-afraid-butler-tournament/81750806)? It was special. Thad and I were very close: he was a junior on the team when I first joined Butler in the 1980s. We connected and became good friends: he has a tremendous passion for the game and a great mind for basketball. To have the chance to connect with him, become an assistant on his staff, and then work with that team was very special. We played one of the most incredible halves of basketball that I have ever seen: we were up 43-10 after the first half! It felt like we had finally taken that next step. Coach Barry Collier had led the team to the NCAA Tournament for multiple years (3 times from 1997-2000) but to make that leap and advance was really special.
After Matta left for Xavier you took over as head coach and retained a basketball operations coordinator named Brad Stevens, whom you later became a scout for with the Celtics: what was Brad like 20 years ago, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? Brad was the Director of Basketball Operations under Thad: when Thad went to Xavier Brad stayed with me…and I am thankful that he did. He was very dedicated and committed: someone who you could trust to do whatever job you asked him to do and know that he would do it well. Brad was capable of doing just about any job within the program at a very early age so we quickly became friends: it is just a pleasure to watch his success. It is not surprising but very enjoyable. We worked diligently on the foundations of the program. Brad and I spent a lot of time doing that: he had been in the corporate world and I tried to study successful organizations. This helped us develop a vision for our mission statement, which was our foundation, our values, and our guiding principles. Over the course of that process we knew exactly what we were, what we wanted to be, and how we wanted to operate. With that said, being able to articulate that is a process, and Brad was instrumental in helping me formulate the guiding principles for the Butler program.
In the 2003 NCAA tourney Brandon Miller scored 14 PTS including a runner in the lane with 6.2 seconds left in a 1-PT upset of Mississippi State: did you think the shot was going in, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? I thought that every shot Brandon took would go in! I never doubted Brandon: he had a huge heart and loved to compete. He was really a competitor but was also skilled and a good player. He had good players around him and it was a fun group to coach. To give you a little background, we had a freshmen guard named Avery Sheets. He hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer to clinch the regular season championship. If he did not make that shot then I do not think we would have been in a position to receive an at-large bid and have the opportunity to advance and enjoy the excitement of that tournament run. Those two guys provided some very special moments but our entire team played a role in that run. They actively made it happen: things just did not fall into place. The neat thing is that we were not done after making the NCAA tourney. Mississippi State was highly favored in that game so it was a big win for us. After that we regrouped and won the next game against #4-seed Louisville.
Your 53 wins during your 1st 2 years as a head coach rank #3 in D-1 history behind Bill Guthridge of North Carolina (58) and Everett Case of NC State (55): how were you able to come in and have so much success right from the start? To come in and have that much success was a testament to having the chance to coach some very special players in a very special place. I was fortunate to have been hired by Barry Collier and when he left for Nebraska I was retained on Thad’s staff before being elevated when Thad took the Xavier job. From the start I was very familiar with the players; our group was very connected and I had tremendous belief in them. My first year we won 26 games…but lost in the first round of the conference tournament and were left out of the NCAA Tournament. Just from a coaching perspective, many of us at Butler thought that might have been the best team during my time there as head coach. I have always had a little bit of disappointment: not in the players at all, but that we did not advance as far as I knew that we were capable of going. If we could have gotten into the NCAA tournament, I could have easily seen that becoming our first Sweet 16, but possibly advancing even further. They were a special group capable of making it to the Final Four.
In April 2007 you were named NABC national COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was such an honor. To be selected by your peers makes it so special. In order to even be considered for it you need to have a really good season. We started off by winning the Preseason NIT and if that would have been it then that would have made for a good year, but our players just kept building and building. The work that those guys and our staff put in made it possible for me to receive that honor so I am indebted to them. That was one of our most special years at Butler.
In 2014 as coach at Marian University you led the nation with 58 PPG allowed: what is the key to playing great defense? I think you have to know the system and embrace the techniques involved. You have to be really unselfish and connected to play unified defense. You are so dependent on one another on the defensive side. On offense you can play a two-man game and almost let the three other guys watch. On defense it is all five on every possession for the entire possession if you are going to be effective. Those Marian guys were just a real pleasure to coach. They were committed to one another and to what we were doing, and it showed.
Last year Coach Walter McCarty started 9-4 at Evansville (including a win at Kentucky and a 3-OT win over Morgan State in the Bahamas), then after he was fired in January you were hired as head coach and lost each of your final 13 games: was it as bad in reality as it looks like on paper? I was familiar with the players because I was here as an assistant just 1 year earlier. It was such an honor to be asked to come back and it was so gratifying that they accepted me and welcomed me back. I felt like we had a really close relationship. When I came back I was able to share with them my vision for what we were going to do with the program and how we were going to do it together. They have really embraced that. I am so excited for this opportunity because I believe in the university and we have tremendous support here. The individuals on this team are committed to not only being a good basketball team but also being community and campus leaders. It is very realistic to think that we can build something very special here, especially because of all the resources that the University of Evansville offers.
Last spring DeAndre Williams transferred to Memphis/KJ Riley graduated, and now you only have 2 freshmen on the roster: do you feel like you are in rebuilding mode or is there enough experience left on the team to compete for a conference title this year? I heard a statement one time where they said you have to replace the irreplaceable: that is kind of the way I feel about KJ. You always knew what you were going to get out of him, not just in the games but every day in practice. He was always here early ready to work, paid attention, had a great spirit, and valued his teammates. Everyone appreciated him and enjoyed being on the team with him. There are just so many positives about KJ and we really cannot replace him one-to-one. It does not have to be one person that is the new leader: you can have multiple leaders and that is how I feel about this team. He showed the way with a great attitude and approach, and even though we struggled down the stretch last year he never wavered during a hard time. I think all of our guys can take a lesson from KJ in that regard. This group has multiple leaders and they are the kind of people that understand servanthood. If you are going to be a leader you need to serve and I think that we have a lot of those guys. They will serve others and make everyone around them better. That is one of the beauties about basketball.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? One of the advantages of last season was that we were able to gauge that we were making progress: we were looking at the stats and the way we were approaching things. We were able to lay the foundation and now we have to keep building goals. Our next goal is to win the next game. That is pretty simple, but overall we want to have a mission of vision: it is more than just a goal. What we want to do is grow this program while allowing our players to grow as individuals. We want them to take experiences and be thankful for them, whether they are challenging or whether we have success. Be thankful and build on them. So, the most important thing to me is the way that we approach things. An improvement in a way we approach our responsibility to one another, to the institution, and the thankfulness we show for this opportunity.