The Coaches: Tom Davis, Steve Alford, Todd Lickliter

IOWA CITY - Tom Davis' basketball coaching tenure at the University of Iowa ended with the indignity of a shove on basketball's biggest stage.

In spring 1998, former athletics director Bob Bowlsby told Davis the school would honor the final year of his contract but not extend it. Davis, Iowa's all-time wins leader, was shocked when he learned the 1998-99 season would be his last.

“Oh yeah, very much. Very much,” Davis said. “I couldn't believe it, to tell you the truth.”

Davis teams advanced to the NCAA tournament nine times in 13 years. Iowa won every first-round NCAA game and three times advanced to the Sweet 16, including his final season.

Since his dismissal, Iowa has been in three NCAA tournaments. The school has lost more games in each of the last three seasons than ever before and, barring an unlikely Big Ten Tournament championship, Iowa will miss the postseason a fourth straight year.

“I think everybody now knows he never should have fired Tom Davis,” said a person close to Iowa's program on condition of anonymity. “When people look back at it, (Davis) freaking won. If Tom would have gone to the Elite Eight, what was Bowlsby going to do then?”

Davis, 71, still lives in Iowa City and sometimes talks basketball with Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter. Davis also has spoken with his successor, Steve Alford, since his departure. Davis said he harbors no hard feelings toward Alford.

“He did a much better job than what people realize and certainly there are going to be some problems,” Davis said. “I think he's showing he can coach. There's no question he's a good, talented basketball coach. It didn't work out as well for him here, but sometimes that happens.”

It's quite possible Alford's era was the most polarizing in Iowa sports history. He was hired at age 34, just days after coaching Southwest Missouri State to the Sweet 16. He was an All-American guard for Bob Knight at Indiana and won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games. He was considered the nation's hottest young coach, and Bowlsby called Alford “the popular choice” to replace Davis.

Iowa beat top-ranked Connecticut in Alford's first game but limped to a losing record his first season. He rallied and took Iowa to the postseason the next six seasons, including three NCAA tournaments. But a string of off-court issues involving arrests and transfers gradually turned public opinion against him.

The shot heard 'round the Hawkeye world came Sept. 7, 2002, when starting point guard Pierre Pierce was accused of raping an Iowa female student-athlete. Alford stood behind his player, saying, “I totally believe he's innocent. I believed it from Day One, and I still believe it.”

Days later Pierce was charged with third-degree sexual assault and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Pierce was suspended and red-shirted that season. The Pierce case became a lightning rod of controversy in Iowa City, where two groups presented the university with more than 3,000 signatures in a protest demanding Pierce's removal. Pierce stayed with the team.

In 2005, Pierce again was charged with sexual assault when he threatened an ex-girlfriend with a kitchen knife, choked her and forcibly removed her clothes. He was dismissed from the team before charges were filed. The Pierce incidents drove Alford's reputation to irreparable levels among Iowa fans.

“They kind of blame Steve for supporting (Pierce) but as a coach, you've got to support your player,” a person close to the program said on condition of anonymity, “It's maybe how he did it or the words he chose maybe weren't good.

“I think it had a very negative effect, and how it was handled turned some people off. To say it was a critical point in the program, it didn't help.”

In a brief interview last week, Alford said he shrugs off any misconceptions Iowa fans have about him.

“If I spent every waking hour worrying about every fan, I wouldn't sleep,” Alford said. “Fans are going to have their ideas and thoughts about how you do. All I've tried to do through my 19-year career is just make sure I put a product out there that people can appreciate following. I think for the most part we've been able to do that.”

Alford's 2005-06 season brought his second Big Ten tournament title, a second-place Big Ten regular-season finish and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. But Iowa blew a 15-point second-half lead to Northwestern State in the first round and lost on a last-second shot.

Alford's eighth year at Iowa, which ended in 2007, netted a Big Ten winning record but no NCAA or NIT berth. In a postseason interview with The Gazette, Athletics Director Gary Barta - who replaced Bowlsby in 2006 - told The Gazette he expected improvement the next season.

“I definitely want something better next year, and Coach Alford wants something better next year,” Barta told The Gazette. “That's not a secret.”

With an unhappy fan base, Alford bolted for New Mexico with five years left on his contract. Alford has led New Mexico to unprecedented success this season and a No. 10 national ranking.

“Overall, as I look back, it was a great eight years, and I thought it was time to move,” Alford said. “When an opportunity came here at New Mexico, I thought this was an incredible basketball environment with an incredible commitment to basketball and all those have come true.”

Barta scoured the nation for top coaching candidates. His finalists included Butler's Todd Lickliter, who was named the 2007 national coach of the year, and Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings. Barta hired Lickliter to a seven-year deal.

Lickliter twice led Butler to the Sweet 16 and nearly beat eventual national champion Florida 10 days before he was hired at Iowa. Lickliter brought a professorial approach to basketball and his almost self-effacing personality was in stark contrast to Alford's.

In Lickliter's first season, the fledgling Big Ten Network aired nearly every Iowa game but wasn't available on Mediacom, Iowa's primary cable system. Late starts and a harsh winter kept many fans away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The team's top returning scorer, Tyler Smith, transferred closer to home, leaving him with a depleted roster.

“It's been a tough deal,” Lickliter said. “We lost Tyler Smith, we graduated Adam Haluska, we graduated Mike Henderson, and I don't think anybody would argue the league is good. Then we added 18 (games). There's been some things that have been very demanding while we're building.”

Lickliter had Iowa moving in the right direction his second season with a 10-3 start. But injuries to two starters and another ruled ineligible sent the Hawkeyes reeling to a 15-17 finish. After the season, four players with eligibility and starting experience transferred.

“There's no hard feelings,” Lickliter said. “But when you do that, you've got to replace and you've got to somewhat start over.”

Barta said he's still confident that Lickliter can turn around the program.

“The same things I saw in him at that time are still there today,” Barta said. “He's a person who has a tremendous passion for the game of basketball. He knows basketball better than anyone you'll meet. He knows it inside and out. He knows how to bring in recruits and develop them. All those things, and he hasn't forgotten how to coach.

“So while we're going through this tough stretch, he still brings all those characteristics to the table, I trust him implicitly.”