Sports betting on the Iowa Hawkeyes could be a little bit different next season as the team will have a new head coach. Iowa fired head coach Todd Lickliter on Monday. Iowa has been a sportsbetting failure the last few years under Lickliter, with three straight losing seasons.
Sports betting numbers had Iowa going 10-22 this past season. The Hawkeyes were simply abysmal under Lickliter. They were 38-58 the past three seasons. The Hawkeyes were paying Lickliter a lot of money as he had four years left on a seven-year contract. The Hawkeyes were hurt by players transferring in the past few seasons as well. Four players transferred after the 2008-09 season. This season they lost guard Anthony Tucker who transferred.
The Hawkeyes thought they were getting a good coach in Lickliter. He had done very well at Butler. He led them to the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals in 2007 and he was named coach of the year. He replaced Steve Alford who went to New Mexico. Now it is New Mexico that is thriving under Alford while Iowa has struggled. The Hawkeyes were 13-19 in 2007-08. They were 15-17 in 2008-09 and this year was an official disaster. This year’s team was a mess that was very young. They even had to start a true freshman point guard in Cully Payne.
Iowa really suffered in sports betting as well as they lost to teams like Texas-San Antonio and Duquesne. And those games were at home. They were a pathetic 4-14 in the Big Ten Conference this past season. They were blown out in sportsbetting losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Iowa finished the season 12-19 vs. the college hoops odds. The Hawkeyes were very bad on offense as they just barely averaged over 60 points per game this season. Not only did Iowa lose, they weren’t even fun to watch as they couldn’t score enough points to be competitive.
Iowa ended up losing 20 games for the first time in school history. The Hawkeyes have also seen their attendance drop in recent years and that is never a good sign for a head coach. They drew under 10,000 fans per game this season at home. When a team can’t draw fans and doesn’t win games; the head coach is oftentimes in trouble so it should not be a surprise that Lickliter was let go.