Can Lickliter Right the Ship?

McCarty out and Lickliter In

(St. Louis, MO) – Walter McCarty is out and Todd Lickliter is in at Evansville. In just under one month, McCarty was suspended and then ultimately fired for ‘Title IX’ violations and Lickliter, the former Butler head coach, has been signed to replace him.

Now the question is, ‘can he right the ship?’

Tuesday and Wednesday were crazy days for the Evansville fan base and local media members. The basketball beat writer for the Evansville ‘Courier-Press’, Chad Lindskog has covered the on-going saga and has kept us all informed.

The Process

Lindskog (@chadlindskog) says the Universtiy received complaints concerning McCarty’s activities, so in late December they placed the former Kentucky Wildcat on a leave of absence and began an investigation. They promised an independent investigation, assistant Bennie Seltzer became the interim head coach. University officials kept respectively silent for the three weeks since the announcement and then there was a flurry of activity.

Lindskog says the whole story caught people off guard and due to University silence fans were left to their own imagination.

 

 

The original announcement happened on December 27^th and alluded to previous infractions by McCarty. Ultimately more allegations surfaced and Evansville administration decided they needed to part ways with the second-year coach.

Evansville officials decided last week to fire McCarty and to hire Lickliter. Athletic director Mark Spencer told media members his conversations with Lickliter took place last week. While they came to those conclusions, they waited until this week because of some personal situations going on in McCarty’s life.

His step-father had passed away last week, so wanting to respect McCarty’s grieving process they held off until this week to make all the official declarations.

 

 

Firing Versus Criminal Action

Lindskog tells us UE authorities came to the conclusion McCarty was not the right person to represent the university. It is an on-going investigation, but McCarty’s attorneys say their client is totally innocent. Lindskog emphasized that none of his sources have indicated that any of allegations were of a ‘criminal nature’.

 

 

Why Lickliter?

The veteran coach had retired after being a part of the UE coaching staff. He helped recruit and coach most of the current players. Due to his history with the current players and his wild success at an in state at then a mid-major Butler University, Lickliter was the natural choice.

 

 

For our entire conversation with Lindskog, head to the Valley Hoops Insider Podcast.

The 64-year-old Lickliter is a former National Coach of the Year at Butler when the Bulldogs were a ‘mid-major’ program. Can he right the ship at Evansville? His previous Division 1 coaching record is 169-119. Twice Lickliter led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen.

He briefly retired last offseason when he sustained an injury that he says included a ladder. Lickliter didn’t really want to retire, but felt he wouldn’t be healthy enough to serve the Aces until his concussion symptoms cleared up.

 

 

The Aces and Lickliter lost their first game together. Drake defeated UE 70-53. His ability to right the ship seems obvious and with 11 conference games remaining he has ample time to turn things around.

Lindskog tells us star DeAndre Williams is still listed as ‘day-to-day’ with his back issues. If he gets healthy and the Lickliter and the players get on the same page, this could still be a dangerous Missouri Valley team.

Do Good